When anti-alcohol crusader Carrie Nation visited Miami in 1908, national prohibition was still 12 years away but most of the counties in the South -- including much of Florida -- had already banned alcohol sales. These were ``dry counties.''
But not Dade, where alcohol consumption and public drunkenness resulted, according to The Miami Metropolis, in ''many men reeling about Miami streets.'' In Miami, a city of less than 5,000 residents, there were eight saloons that engaged in ``a thriving business.''
However, a strong temperance element began to surface. In its vanguard was the Women's Christian Temperance Union, which in October 1907 joined with other anti-liquor groups to place local prohibition on the ballot. The referendum was won narrowly by the liquor interests, but the ''drys'' were not through.
As temperance advocates prepared for a second local-option election in 1909, they brought in Nation, one of the country's most influential, impassioned temperance advocates, to assist them in their campaign.
Nation was a woman of commanding size and passion who had been victimized by an alcoholic husband. During that troubling period, she had purportedly received a ``command from God to go out and smash saloons.''
In 1900, armed with a hatchet, bricks, and a Bible, she began assaulting saloons. After numerous saloon smashings in her native Kansas, Carrie embarked on a nationwide temperance tour.
Her list of targets broadened to include tobacco and sexual immorality. Carrie's modus operandi included an address containing a liberal sprinkling of quotations from scripture on the evils of alcohol, mixed with harsh words for local politicians and saloon keepers and their patrons. Following her address, Carrie often repaired to the town's saloon area, entered a tavern, and flailed away with a hatchet at everything within reach.
''Cyclone Carrie,'' as she was sometimes called, came to Miami in March 1908 at the invitation of the local chapter of the WCTU. Soon after her arrival, Carrie and two of her hostesses from the WCTU visited several bistros where they witnessed gambling, as well as men and women drinking. At Lassiter's saloon, near the center of Miami's business district, a patron grabbed Nation amid shouts of ''put her out,'' but when the temperance crusader threatened retaliation, her assaulter decided to leave her alone. Carrie and her escorts then ascended to the second floor of the saloon and walked into a ''gambling game.'' Their presence sent some of the participants scurrying from the room ``with cards and chips in their hand.''
Carrie's last stop was the area then known as ''North Miami'' -- the area just north of city limits, roughly between 13th and 16th streets between the bay and Miami Avenue. Entering a brothel, Nation ''found a number of women lounging around in loose attire, smoking and using profane and vulgar language,'' according to one newspaper account. Further examination of the establishment revealed a couple in a ''darkened room.'' Carrie managed to ''trick'' its startled occupants into admitting that they were not married to each other.
Next, Nation addressed an audience in excess of 2,000, the ''largest crowd in the history of Miami,'' noted another newspaper account, in the Gospel Tent near the county courthouse in downtown Miami. Carrie quoted scripture while blaming local authorities for the liquor traffic, insisting that Miami had a far-reaching reputation for wickedness owing to official corruption.
At the conclusion of the address, an angry H. Pierre Branning, the County Solicitor (the chief law enforcement officer), ''in thunderous tone and voice filled with apparent excitement and extreme anger,'' denounced Nation's charge that local officials had shirked their responsibilities after accepting bribes.
He challenged Nation to produce evidence. Removing two bottles of whiskey from the ''mysterious confines of her dress,'' Carrie thundered: ''These were purchased from North Miami on Sunday,'' against state law. Pandemonium ''reigned for the next several minutes,'' noted the newspaper coverage.
Soon the meeting was over, but Carrie was not finished. After leaving the tent, she saw some men smoking, and promptly pounced on them, knocking cigars from their mouths, while screaming, ``you tobacco-saturated loafers, why don't you go home to your wives?''
After the conclusion of her addresses in Miami, Nation took her crusade to other parts of Florida. But the effects of her visit continued long after her departure. Local and county officials began arresting numerous violators of the Sunday liquor laws. In May 1908, the Miami City Council passed a tough saloon ordinance, which Miami police enforced through periodic inspections of saloons and an intensified campaign against drunkenness. Finally, in 1913, prohibitionists prevailed in another local-option election, as Dade joined the other dry counties in Florida.
Ironically, prohibition, especially its national phase which began in 1920, lent additional credence to Nation's insistence on the wickedness of Miami. For the city not only flouted prohibition as brazenly as any community in the country, but its proximity to the Bahamas -- making liquor smuggling a lucrative venture -- enabled it to become one of the chief purveyors of drink for a thirsty nation in the era of National Prohibition.
Paul S. George, a professor at Miami Dade College and historian to the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, writes monthly for Neighbors. Have a question about South Florida history? E-mail paul.george@mdc.edu.
