Mobtown Lives Up to Its Name

Picture of a store in Baltimore before the Volstead Act came into effect. From The Maryland Historical Society

The semester has come to a close and so has my blog. I regret to say that my scanner isn't working so this entry will not have some of the visuals that I wanted to include


It wouldn't be a blog about Baltimore's History without talking about some kind of riot. From some New York Times articles I was able to find reports of mobs and riots during Prohibition. Surprisingly, they both took place well into the Prohibition age, meaning that these riots weren't in reaction to the new legislation. There very well could have been, but I never came across any documentation.

The first article is from March 20, 1927. The headline reads:

MOB IN BALTIMORE ATTACKS DRY AGENTS
Crowd of 500 Wields Axes on Autos and Hurls Bricks at 16 Federal Men on Raid

The article reports that while prohibition agents were conducting a raid in South Baltimore, a mob of 500 people descended on their cars. There were few casualties and no arrests. Only three agents were struck- two by stones and one by... a jar of mayonnaise which "broke and injured chiefly his personal appearance."

The other riot happened in May 5, 1923, but there was no mayonnaise involved. The title reads:

BEER RIOT IN BALTIMORE
Mob Menaces Dry Agents Attempting to Seize Two Trucks- One Escapes

An excited crowd of more than 1,000 people shouted threats of violence to three prohibition enforcement agents who were "engaged in interrupting the transfer of more than 200 cases of real beer from a freight car at a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad warehouse to two trucks," but were forced to permit the escape of one of the trucks. They poured out the bottles that they did confiscate from the other trucks.

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"MOB IN BALTIMORE ATTACKS DRY AGENTS"New York Times(1857-Current file); Mar 20, 1927, ProQuest Historical Newspapers The NEw York Times (1851-2006) pg. 20.

"BEER RIOT IN BALTIMORE" New York Times (1857-Current file); May 5, 1923; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2006) pg. 13

Photo courtesy: The Maryland Historical Society "Prohibition-1922" Z24.47.VF