Wild Frostburg, MD, During Prohibition
Although the United States government banned the sale, production and transportation of alcohol in 1920, it made no difference to the residents of Frostburg. Liquor and beer flowed so freely in the Mountain City that drunks staggered through the streets with little fear of consequences. Once the U.S. Congress ratified nationwide Prohibition in January 1919, the Volstead Act, passed later that year, provided the means to enforce liquor and beer sales and manufacture. Prohibition went into effect on midnight January 17, 1920, and the first arrest under the Volstead Act was made less than an hour later (in Chicago). The first arrest in Frostburg of someone violating the Volstead Act didn’t happen until October 21, 1922, nearly three years after Prohibition started. By then, the city had a statewide reputation for out-of-control drunkenness and not enforcement of Prohibition. A 1921 Read more…
Western Maryland Moonshining
When the sale, production and transportation of alcohol were banned in the United States in 1920, Western Marylanders had to choose between becoming teetotalers or criminals. Many law-abiding citizens chose the latter. “Illicit liquor, manufactured in countless stills in homes, farmyard barns, and even auto repair shops, could be bought all over the county.” Harry Stegmaier, Jr. wrote in Allegany County – A History. One of the first raids in the county on these places where illegal liquor was sold and produced came about almost accidentally. On June 2, 1920, Elmer Dumar, owner of the Vimy Restaurant on North Mechanic Street was not very happy. His wife, Jennie, had spent part of the evening flirting with “a Spaniard,” according to the Cumberland Evening Times. Dumar finally lost his patience and got into a fight with the Spaniard. The man ran Read more…
1931: Bootlegger vs. a revenue agent in Oldtown
The two revenue agents for the federal government crept into the woods around Oldtown on November 15, 1931. William R. Harvey was the senior agent so he led the raid. They were after three bootleggers who they had been watching lately. While making illegal liquor during Prohibition was a problem in Western Maryland due to its abundance of forests and lack of population, it usually wasn’t a fatal one like it could be in the larger cities. For the most part, it was a game of hide and seek between the bootleggers who would try and hide their stills and federal agents who would try and find them. If a bootlegger was caught, he would serve a few months in prison and then start all over again when he got out. Two of the bootleggers had been arrested previously for Read more…
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