TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT HAD ROOTS IN SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO...Pg 4

The outcome of the crusade had been in doubt from its beginning. "The excitement in Sidney in consequence of the temperance agitation has been subsiding for a few days," reported the Journal (SJ, Feb. 13, 1874). "There is not as much flutter and anxiety among the saloon keepers as there was a week ago. Some believe that it will be spasmodic, and that it will be of short duration. The demand for whisky in large quantities has been greatly on the increase for the past ten days." By the end of March, the Journal reported that "the female combatants of whisky are still in their harness in Sidney," but "..the movement, having lost all its novelty, is attracting very little attention" (SJ, Mar. 27, 1874). News of the local movement then largely disappeared from the Journal. Finally, in August, came this forlorn, syntax-challenged announcement: "The call for a meeting of the temperance people of Shelby county, in Sidney, last Saturday, was not numerously responded to" (SJ, Aug. 7, 1874). "

While the public’s ardor for temperance in Sidney cooled, the abuses of alcohol continued, as the Sidney Journal colorfully reported 10 years later: "On Saturday John Johnson, blacksmith, a young man, put in the day going from saloon to saloon, until he seemed to feel the thrill of Samson’s strength, and fairly ached for a chance to exhibit it. He swaggered along the sidewalks, full of oaths and obscenity, emphasizing his swagger by defying all authority. Between 7 and 8 o’clock he was arrested midway between Main and Ohio streets in Poplar street, and at once resisted the officer, striking him with all his might. Other officers came up to assist, and a crowd of two hundred or more congregated. A large number of roughs, pals of Johnson, rushed in, striking right and left, cursing and denouncing the officials, and interfering with their discharge of duty. A riot was imminent, as the mob grew fierce. Johnson at last was manacled, after a sound and wholesome beating, and taken to jail. On Monday morning he was arraigned before the Mayor, plead guilty, and was sentenced to fifteen days in the city prison on a diet of bread and water" (SJ, Aug. 22, 1884).

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