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History Space: How Vermont handled Prohibition
Vermont had its share of rum runners and Line Houses on the Canadian border during the 80-year period of Prohibition. DENNIS REDMOND/FREE PRESS
When we look back at the period of Prohibition, in Vermont and elsewhere, federal Prohibition (from 1918-1932) comes to mind.
It brings romanticized visions of rum runners, smugglers, and police chases. These actions did indeed take place in Vermont. But there is more to the story. Prohibition had a far more implications on the state and its history than we may be aware. The remnants of Prohibition are in the Green Mountain State in plain sight, only you don’t see it.
Vermont was the second state in the United States to go into Prohibition in 1853. This was on the tail of Maine and the prohibitionist power that Portland’s Mayor Neil Dow wielded. Dow even came to the Statehouse in Montpelier to help drum up support for state Prohibition in 1852. Vermont had flirted with the idea from 1848 until actual enacting a state Prohibition.
Hard to enforce
Once enacted, enforcement of the law was nothing more than the law on paper. Enforcement was extremely difficult. Hard cider, for example, was in a gray area of the state prohibition laws. The pasteurization process did not materialize until decades later. One could barrel fresh cider. What happened to the cider in the barrel, well, happened. Liquor, on the other side, was drastically reduced in the state except for the very porous borders with states and Canada that did have liquor.
As a state, Vermont flipped a switch on March 8, 1853, creating criminals among the citizens in doing so. Most cases of smuggling alcohol in this time were captures that occurred at the point of sale or storage. This would change under federal Prohibition with the advent of the automobile. Prosecutions then were from transportation of alcohol rather than storage and point of sale.
A common focus of enforcement after the state enacted Prohibition became the railroad. An arrest in 1882 showed how pervasive alcohol was flowing down the rails. Referred to as the “Jug Case” in many publications, the premise was that police in Rutland and surrounding communities noticed an increase in alcohol seizures. After some searching, the answer to why so much booze was present in the area was John O’Neil of Whitehall, New York. Now you may have a romanticized vision of someone evading police under the cover of darkness on a horse laden with booze. O’Neil was actually a respectable shop owner in Whitehall who had a wine shop. He would receive orders by rail with jugs and instructions. He would fill the order, repack them, and send it back on the rail with cash collected on delivery by the conductor. A mail order business.
A warrant was issued for O’Neil’s arrest on 457 counts of selling alcohol against the law. Yet, the warrant could not be enforced in New York. To his credit, O’Neil appeared at his hearings. The original ruling against O’Neil was a fine of around $10,000 and a month to pay. Or an alternative sentence of close to 80 years in prison. The case would continue through 1889.
Over almost a decade of court hearings, rulings, and appeals, O’Neil served 60 days in prison and paid fines over $6,000. Either way, these were large sums of money for this time in history. The “Jug Case” was unique and tested Vermont’s legal system. It was also an early case, as arrests would increase in court cases from the 1890s.
The Brunswick whiskey case
The Thursday, Jan. 16, 1919, issue of the Burlington Free Press And Times noted the 13 million pounds of maple sugar was produced in 1918. But the story fell short next to another article: “Can Tell Brand By The Taste – Representative from Brunswick [Vermont] Causes Laughter by Testifying in Whiskey Smuggling Case.’
Michael J. O’Dowd, the representative from Brunswick testified in a case where John Mullins was accused of smuggling whiskey in the Northeast Kingdom. While testifying, O’Dowd toiled with the prosecutor of the case. It caused many in the courtroom to erupt in laughter.
An example of an exchange came when the prosecutor asked: “What does the label say as to where it came from, whether made in Canada or somewhere else. Imperial Whiskey that was the brand. Can you tell what is said with reference to where it was made?” O’Dowd responded, “if the court please, I will tell you if you will allow me to take a small taste of the liquor (laughter).” Asked later if he knew the taste of Imperial Whiskey, O’Dowd responded “I do not want to testify until I taste it (Laughter in court).” The court case ended in Mullins’ favor.
In early October of 1920, another liquor incident made the news in Burlington. It was a tradition for newspapers in Vermont and New England to run a weekly or monthly rundown on seizures of alcohol. Sometimes they were as simple as where and the amount of bottles or barrels seized. Some mimicked a traditional police blotter with all the details of each seizure. One instance that appeared in the Thursday, Oct. 7, 1920, Burlington Free Press and Times, told a different story: “Boys Find Whiskey – Ten Bottles of “Old Crow” Located in Very Heart of City.”
Three small boys found a stash of 10 quart bottles of whiskey behind some buildings on Main Street between St. Paul and Church streets. What sparked curiosity was that the bottles of whiskey that had shown extensive weathering. Yet they bore the government stamp of “Bottled-In-Bond.”They were distilled in 1914, but bottled in 1920 for “Medical Use.” The article noted that the rumor was the bonded whiskey had found its way to Canada for retail there. The bottles were considered evidence and would be “destroyed” by order of a court.
Any whiskey bearing a Bottled-in-Bond stamp was a very prized whiskey. Some will argue that is still true today. It originates from a law in 1897 signed by President Grover Cleveland. The bill was a food safety act in many ways. For a bottle of whiskey to be sold as Bottled-in-Bond and have the all-important government green stamp, it had to meet many requirements. Production needed to be from the same distillery, distiller, and the same distilling season. It had to be aged in a government bonded warehouse for at least four years. The release on the market had to be at 100 proof.
A Bottled-in-Bond certified whiskey was backed by the federal government. It was not adulterated or altered. When smuggling was an everyday occurrence, quality always a concern. A bottle of Bottled-in-Bond whiskey was a prized score during federal Prohibition. Any whiskey from the few distilleries that operated was strictly for export or medicinal use. Medicinal use had to come from a prescription from a doctor with permits to prescribe it. Bottled-In-Bond still exists. By most accounts the title has lost its lust of a quality standard.
The Roaring ’20s in Vermont
In the midst of federal Prohibition and the Roaring ’20s, a definitive counterculture appeared. Silent movies were fading into the past with the onset of new technology. Cars became faster. Jazz started to disperse through the United States like wildfire.
In the third issue of a new and novel publication, a cartoon sketch showed two women in conversation. The caption for that cartoon in the March 7 issue of The New Yorker read, “Mother, Peg’s new bootlegger is simply marvelous – tall, small-mustache, and just out of Harvard.” Vermont’s nightlife and culture was no different. It did not matter if you were in Burlington or a Line House that spanned the international border.
A Line House was what one may think, a house on the international boundary. What made these structures renown was that it crossed the international boundary with Canada. Alcohol could legally be present on the Canadian side. Picture walking through someone’s front door and the kitchen across the room was a bar. Notable line houses existed in Derby, Canaan, and Richford, among other towns. One Line House in Richford was a legend in Vermont during federal Prohibition. The owner was a larger than life character, known as “Queen Lil.”
By the time of federal Prohibition, there had already been a ban on new structures built spanning the international boundary. Lillian Miner, returned to Vermont after a stint as madame of one of Boston’s finer gentleman’s clubs. She managed to buy a plot of land with the ruins of a former hotel in East Richford. The hotel had burned to the ground and the ruins spanned the international boundary.
‘Palace of Sin’ in East Richford
After a court battle, Queen Lil, as she was referred to in the Vermont press, won the case on the grounds that she was not constructing a new building, but rather remodeling the old building. Her Line House was quickly remodeled from the bare stone foundation. Known as the “Palace of Sin,” or more commonly “Queen’s Place,” the first floor held a bar. Private entertainment rooms were on the upper floors. Girls from Boston and Montreal operated them.
The private rooms of the hotel “were all of a color, décor, and furnishings alike, blue or red, giving an exotic aura of a time out of time.” Queen Lil’s house of vice made her a fortune during federal Prohibition. There are countless accounts of her in newspaper records that showed her as a force of nature against the law.
Vermont had its rum runners with their romanticized stories. But the state’s history through state and federal Prohibition was also a difficult and dark time. Prohibition laws often targeted Irish and Italian immigrant communities around the state. It was utilized to hamper the women’s suffrage movement. It caused stunted economic growth with an 80-year loss of tax revenue. Today, lawmakers have removed most of the lingering strings of Prohibition. In its place Vermont beer, wine, and spirits are enjoying a long overdue renaissance.
Adam Krakowski has worked at museums, historical societies, art galleries and restoration firms all over New York and New England. He wrote “Vermont Prohibition: Teetotalers, Bootleggers, & Corruption” (2016) and co-authored “Vermont Beer: History of A Brewing Revolution” (2014). He writes for Yankee Brewing News, a brewing industry newspaper. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Weston Cate Jr. Research Fellowship from the Vermont Historical Society on the project “A Bitter Past: Hop Farming in Nineteenth-Century Vermont.”
Party like it’s 1929 with
the Vermont Historical Society
The Vermont History Museum in Montpelier will hold a Roaring Twenties Party from 6 p.m.to 8 p.m. on Friday, May 12.
Guests are invited to get dolled up and step back in time to a world of flappers, speakeasies, and illegal hooch. Discover hidden gin joints and dance the night away in the newly updated Vermont History Museum while racing other party-goers to solve a mystery that will crack a rum smuggler’s safe. When you crack the code and solve the case, who will you help – the bulls or the bootleggers?
This party, hosted by the Vermont Historical Society, includes:
•Tastings from Mad River Distillers, who will feature four of their premium Vermont-made liquors throughout the exhibit
•Hors d’oeuvres from Bon Temps Catering using 1920s flavors and food trends
•Dance lessons and demonstrations from Just for Kicks. Learn to Charleston and Lindy Hop or just watch the pros.
For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit www.vermonthistory.org/roaring20s. Tickets are $25 for VHS members, $35 for non-members.