On this day, December 27, in the year 1900, prohibitionist Carrie Nation entered the bar at the  Hotel Carey in Wichita, Kansas, and began destroying the interior.  The hotel bar gained nation-wide recognition after the militant prohibitionist waged her attack.

Carrie Nation's hatred of alcohol was rooted in a deeply personal struggle.  In 1867, she had married an Ohio physician who had a serious alcohol problem.  Despite Nation's efforts to control her husband’s consumption of alcohol, his drinking problem eventually destroyed their marriage and he died shortly after they split.

Nation remarried to a Texas minister who supported her hatred of alcohol.  Convinced that drinking was the root cause of all social evil, Nation decided to close down the saloons in Kansas by traveling throughout the state and preaching her temperance message.

Nation soon found that her heartfelt speeches against "demon rum" had little effect on the citizens of Kansas, so she decided to take a more militant approach.  Claiming she was inspired by powerful "visions," in 1900 she began a series of attacks on Kansas saloons, sometimes using a hatchet.  Nation took great pride in smashing barrels of whiskey, destroying bar fixtures, and berating the stunned bar owners and patrons for their evil habits.  The sale and manufacture of alcohol was already illegal in Kansas, but the law was largely ignored, so Nation contended that it was the responsibility of law-abiding citizens to destroy not only the alcohol but also the saloons that sold it.

With this militant philosophy at heart, Nation, on December 27, 1900 enter the bar of the Hotel Carey.  This bar, which was reportedly the show saloon of Wichita and one of the most elegant in the Midwest, contained a nude picture "Cleopatra at the Bath," which was painted by noted Wichita artist, John Noble.  While shouting about the dangers of alcohol, Nation proceeded to destroy the massive mirror behind the bar, break several bottles of whiskey and attempted to ruin the painting by throwing objects at it.  "Peace on earth, good will to men!" Carrie called as she swept through the bar.  Customers and bartenders hustled to hide behind the bar, which Carrie severely dented with an iron stave.

When law enforcement finally arrived, Nation taunted them, saying "Why don't you arrest the man who runs this hellhole? Don't you know it's against the law?"  Nation was charged with "malicious destruction in a certain part of the Hotel Carey" and was jailed until January 21, 1901.

Although Nation's saloon vandalism won her national notoriety, the immediate results were disappointing.  She managed to pressure Kansas into enforcing its prohibition laws more aggressively, but when she died in 1911, most of the country still sanctioned the sale of alcohol.

Ironically, by the time the U.S. adopted prohibition in 1920, Carrie Nation had largely been forgotten, but the saloon destroying Kansas reformer unquestionably helped lay the foundation for America's "noble experiment."   Prohibition, however, ended up being a miserable failure and was repealed on December 5, 1933, by the 21st Amendment.  See December, 5, 1933, Today In Crime History.

DAMAGE AT THE HOTEL CAREY

Sources and more information:

W.C.T.U. Woman is Arrested for Smashing Mirror and Picture in Saloon, The Salt Lake Herald, December 28, 1900, Page 1, col. 5.

Carrie Nation: Activist, by Anne Adams, historyswomen.com

Carry A. Nation: Prohibition Activist, Kansas Historical Society

Carry A. Nation:  Retelling the Life, by Fran Grace (Indiana University Press 2001)