21 Photos of Prohibition Agents Destroying Perfectly Good Booze
On January 16, 1920, hundreds of booze-loving Americans took to the streets to buy their last legal drinks from liquor stores and bars. The United States officially became a “dry” country the next day, when the 18th Amendment banning “the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors” went into effect.
Here, prohibition agents are seen dumping or destroying seized liquor in public.
Warning: This content may be disturbing to some readers, especially the booze-lovers.
Prohibition agents dump liquor out of a raided building, 1929
Barrels of beer slated for destruction, 1929
IMAGE: IMAGNO/AUSTRIAN ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
Public Safety Director Smedley Butler uses a pickaxe to destroy barrels of beer and lets it run into the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1924
IMAGE: UNDERWOOD ARCHIVE
Prohibition agents smash bottles of wine and alcohol in Boston, Massachusetts, c. 1921
Photo: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
Agents pour alcohol into the sewers of New York City, c. 1920
Photo: FPG/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
1925
Photo: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
New York City Liquor Agent Izzy Einstein dumps liquor into the gutter, c. 1920
Photo: DAILY NEWS/NY DAILY NEWS/GETTY IMAGES
c. 1920
Photo: ULLSTEIN BILD/GETTY IMAGES
1921
Photo: GRAPHICAARTIS/GETTY IMAGES
c. 1925
Photo: BETTMANN/CORBIS
Beer vats being rolled away at a brewery in Washington, D.C., switching from brewing beer to making ice cream, c. 1920
Photo:
33,000 gallons of wine are pumped into the sewers of Los Angeles, February 1920
Photo: HULTON-DEUTSCH COLLECTION/CORBIS
c. 1920
Photo: UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD/CORBIS
c. 1920
Photo: CORBIS
Beer with an ABV above the local legal limit of 2.75% is dumped into Lake Michigan, October 9, 1919
Photo: BETTMANN/CORBIS
c. 1920
Photo: CORBIS
March 25, 1931
Photo: LEONARD DETRICK/NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
June 18, 1931
Photo: NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
May 19, 1925
Photo: LARRY FROEBER/NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
Nov. 11, 1920
Photo: NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
c. 1920
Photo: NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
...and comes the night they ended Prohibition, December 5, 1933
Originally intended to prevent drunkenness and crime, it soon became clear that Prohibition did just the opposite, as speakeasies began popping up and bootlegging essentially led to the establishment of organized crime in the country.
Originally intended to prevent drunkenness and crime, it soon became clear that Prohibition did just the opposite, as speakeasies began popping up and bootlegging essentially led to the establishment of organized crime in the country.
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