| Mary Lou's Father
Strong Drink at the Prohibition Party
Rally
Venedocia Politics
My
grandmother's [?] brother, was a very strong political
man in Ohio, and he was active in the county politics, and
they were organizing the first Prohibition ticket. And they
were meeting, he was chairman of the group that was planning
the Prohibition ticket. And he had the meeting at his home.
And it had a nice crowd, and he decided to give the crowd
a little refreshment, and he sent his two boys out to bring
in some cider. They went out to the ice house and, or the,
yes, the ice house, and brought back the cider.
And
when it was served, why, they thought it was very fine. The
boys had gone out to the plant, and the cider was frozen stiff,
and they used pokers to melt it. It so happens that when you
take cider, hard cider, and melt it, the alcohol comes to
the surface. And that was what they brought in to the party.
And they all got a little bit soused [laughter] and
my mother's brother had no more to do with the organization
of the Prohibition Party. He was still a strong prohibitionist,
but he didn't use his name because of the jokes that were
circulated through the county on him on that occasion.
L: Did the boys know what they were doing there?
Si: Knowing the boys, they did.
L: I know that you have a reputation of being a practical
joker. See why.
Si: [laughs] No
L: I guess it may run in the family.
Si: I think they knew.
Si:
When I was five or six years old, I took part in the first
parade in town. We had a "Vote for McKinley" parade from one
end of town to the other. Lighted torches, a brass band, [bad
tape]
L:
Did you ever meet any famous people?
Si: [inaudible] All those people, their names don't
mean anything to me now on them [sic] Yes, we had a
chance to get acquainted. I shouldn't say "get acquainted"
but to meet those political people. They all came to Venedocia,
because as one person voted in Venedocia, they all did.
L:
Your father was postmaster, is that right?
Si: That's right. He was postmaster in '96
until about the time that he passed away. It was a Republican
town, and we had two Democrats living in it, and [laughs]
it was easy to make sure that it was a Republican postmaster.
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