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DiscoverMaineMagazine.com
Lewiston’s 1910 Prohibition War Sturgis deputies raid liquor sellers by Brian Swartz
Y
ears before Eliot Ness and the Untouchables took down Chicago gangster Al Capone, Maine liquor agents tackled the bars, booze halls, and other places where liquor was illegally sold in the Pine Tree State. Assigned to the Sturgis Commission (so named for a York County state senator whose bill created the outfit in 1905), the so-called “Sturgis deputies” enforced Maine’s prohibition law statewide. Maine had enacted Prohibition in 1851, repealed the law in 1855, restored the law in 1855, and then written it into the state constitution in 1884. Repeal efforts steadily failed, but with many Mainers thumbing their noses at
Prohibition, the law faced nullification by December 1905. “A state law which cannot be repealed may be nullified in rebellious localities,” wrote Charles E. Owen that month. Secretary of the Christian Civic League of Maine, he explained how “in certain portions of Maine, notably in the cities … the demand for liquor was sufficient to encourage lawless men to engage in the liquor trade.” Forging friendships with “local officials,” liquor dealers enjoyed local protection that later “extended beyond municipal administration” to encompass “county officials, sheriffs, and county attorneys” in 14 of 16 Maine counties, Owen wrote.
The Sturgis Commission set about replacing corrupt officials with honest men. “When in the judgment of the commission honest and efficient enforcement” of prohibition “is not being attempted,” deputy commissioners could be appointed to enforce Prohibition in certain counties and cities, Owen noted. Androscoggin was first up at the county level, and Lewiston at the city level. “Lewiston … was the seat of difficulty,” Owen groused. “A large foreign element subject to bribery in elections” controlled local politics, and a recent local election resulted in the appointment of anti-prohibition county officials. (cont. on page 22)
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