TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT HAD ROOTS IN SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO...Pg 3

"On Tuesday morning the band of praying and singing women turned out, and numbered nearly fifty," the Journal reported a week later (SJ, Feb. 20, 1874). "The women engage in the work about six hours a day. They devote about half an hour to each saloon...Two prayers and three hymns are given for the benefit of each place they visit...The first day the women were out George D. Barkalow, who kept liquors in connection with his groceries, surrendered. He has determined to retire from business, and having only a few gallons of whisky on hand, he deemed it policy to capitulate...and this morning Craft & Martz and C. Stuber have announced their determination to give up the business."

Despite early success, the movement showed signs of faltering. "It can not be said that the movement has as yet had any effect in abating drunkenness or drinking," (SJ, Feb. 20, 1874). "There were more intoxicated men in Sidney on Sunday than we ever knew. Dealers in whisky say that the demand for the article by the quantity is largely in excess of former times. The brewery of Wagner Brothers is running double its former capacity the present week."

And, the crusade was caught in some inappropriate private sting operations. In the words of the Sidney Journal: "Some of the efficacy of the ‘Woman’s Whisky War’ in Sidney has been vitiated by imprudence accompanying it. Divers attempts have been made to induce liquor dealers to sell to minors. On Saturday evening two boys made application at the grocery of N. Levi for a pint of whisky. Their design was anticipated, and when questioned they said they had been furnished with the money by James R. Fry and sent to get the whisky. These transactions were no doubt instigated by men conspicuous in the movement. The cause has also suffered from men who join in the cry for temperance and persist in imbibing intoxicating drinks" (SJ, Feb. 27, 1874).

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