Historic Headlines Episode 37: Is Lager Beer Intoxicating?

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A prayer meeting was held between the hours of half past six and seven o’clock.

At the later hour the convention was called to order by the chairman, Dr. Peck. The attendance was large; nearly every seat on the floor being occupied and the gallery being well filled. The subject of the evening session, “Temperance,” was taken up and the report of the committee on the subject was read by Rev. L. C. (Queal?) The report was quite emphatic in its denunciation of all parties not in favor of strict temperance principles. Of course the arrow was aimed at the Radical party. The report advised the convention to leave the political parties to perish in their corruption and form one that would carry out, not the principles of the rum interest, but the principles of righteousness and humanity. The sentiments favoring the formation of a third party were quite generally applauded.

The convention rose and sang—
All hail the power of Jesus’ name.
Let angels prostrate fall.”

Mr. Redington, of the firm of Redington & Howe, presided at the organ.

The chairman then introduced to the convention Rev. Mr. Head, of Clinton, Oneida county, who had been selected to read an essay on the “Sordid Evils of Intemperance.” The arguments presented by the speaker were able, and the examples he adduced(?) were quite startling. He plead for total abstinence at any cost, they must not only live it down but vote it down.

Rev. Mr. Queal then read the following resolutions:—

Resolved, That the liquor traffic and all things contributing thereto are crimes against God and man and subversive of all good government.

Resolved, That the M. E. Church in the State of New York owes it to its history, and to her discipline, to declare in this our first State Convention that prohibition of the liquor traffic is the exact right and the aim of temperance men.

Resolved, That the known barriers(???), pauperism, crimes and consequent sufferings occasioned(?) by intemperance, are sufficient reasons for demanding that the sanction of law should be withdrawn from this cursing and accursed traffic.

Resolved, That we are not ignorant of the sources and strength of the rum power, but believing in the righteousness of our purpose and in the power of god who has called us to this work, we confidently anticipate the breaking of the “whiskey ring,” and the triumph of Christ in the emancipation of the people from the slavery of intemperance and the establishment of prohibition.

The resolutions were commended by Rev. B. I. Ives, of Auburn. He advocated the passage of laws suppressing the sale of intoxicating drinks. Bishop Phillips(?) sang—

A drunkard reached his cheerless home,
The storm without was dark and wild,
He forced his weeping wife to roam,
A wanderer friendless with her child.

Rev. J. B. Foote, of Syracuse, presented a resolution calling upon delegates to vote for no person not in favor of temperance. As the resolution covered a topic to be presented today, it was withdrawn.

Resolutions condemnatory of lager beer, the Metropolitan(?) excise law and various other things, were, on motion of Rev. Mr. Crawford of Oneida, laid upon the table. They were also(?) condemned(?) by W. H. Comstock, a radical politician from Oneida county.

The first resolution was then read, and pronounced open for discussion.

Judge D. A. Ogden(?), of Penn Yan, thought the resolution too strong; he did not think all who had to do with the sale of intoxicating drinks were criminals; the resolution should be differently worded.

Rev. Prof. Flack, of Clanverack(misprint of Claverack), Columbia county, was quite in favor of calling all who had to do with intoxicating drinks criminals.

Rev. Mr. Taylor offered the following as a substitute for the first resolution:

Resolved, That the manufacture of or traffic in intoxicating liquors, as beverages, and all voluntary acts intentionally contributing thereto, are crimes against God and man, and subversive of all good government.

Mr. Nottingham, of Syracuse, said he raised barley, and he did not wish to be restricted by any resolution as to whom he should sell it, and he did not wish it should be called a crime; he was quite willing to call it a sin.

The amendment to the first resolution, proposed by Mr. Taylor, was then carried, with a few dissenting voices.

The second resolution was discussed. Mr. Nottingham—the man who raised barley—and several others, opposed the resolution. After remarks in favor of the resolution, it and the third resolution were finally passed as worded above.

A delegate amended the fourth resolution by striking out the words “whisky ring,” and inserting “that(?) power,” when the resolution was passed.

By Rev. S. B. Dickinson, of Olean:—

Resolved, That the attempt in the present Legislature to repeal the metropolitan excise law and substitute in its place a law recognizing drunkenness as not a crime but a misfortune only, and licensing the public desecration of the Christian sabbath by the private sale, on that day, of all intoxicating beverages, merits, and can but receive, our unqualified disaprobation.

The above resolution was passed, when the resolutions as a whole and as amended were re-adopted by the convention.

The convention joined with Mr. Phillips in singing the “Shining Shore.”

Rev. Mr. Reddy, of Utica, was appointed to lead the prayer meeting this morning in the hall at half-past eight.

FindAGrave: Rev. Dr. L.C. Queal

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…Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent hotels from receiving and otherwise entertaining the traveling public upon Sundays, or from allowing free ingress or egress on that day from any place so licensed as aforesaid, or from prventing the sale of lager beer on that day in any public garden or other place, not in public view, licensed as aforesaid…

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…Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent hotels from receiving and otherwise entertaining the traveling public upon Sundays, or from allowing free ingress or egress on that day from any place so licensed as aforesaid, (or from preventing the sale of lager beer within the limits of any city and in the counties of New York and Kings on that day in any public garden or other place, not in public view, licensed as aforesaid)…

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John Banes, by drinking too much lager, proved most forcibly that the latter beverage was intoxicating, but it being his first offense, he was let go.

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July 25th, evening
Syracuse NY Daily Journal 1870 – 0745.PDF

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July 26th, morning
Newspapers Syracuse NY Daily Courier 1870 – 0748.PDF

From FindAGrave: Xavier Zett

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Syracuse NY Daily Standard 1870 Grayscale – 0711.pdf
July 26th, morning

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Syracuse NY Daily Journal 1870 – 0749.PDF
July 26th, evening