I was watching the Ken Burns documentary on prohibition recently and saw a profile of Carrie Nation, a wild woman who used to smash up saloons with a hatchet. Carrie Hatchet, as she came to be known, was a temperance advocate who had lost a husband to alcoholism and a few years later heard a voice from God urging her to wreak havoc on poison peddlers. I couldn't believe I had never heard of her before; this woman was a grade A wackadoodle!
At the time, women were not even served in bars and saloons. (Ironically, bars did not become co-ed in the United States until the speakeasy era during Prohibition.) The six-foot tall Nation traveled around the country, starting in Kansas, astonishing bartenders and their patrons by entering and proceeding to smash up the bar and liquor bottles with her signature hatchet until the police arrived to arrest her. Needless to say, she racketed up an extensive arrest record over the years. She also became quite a famous woman, supporting herself in her later years by selling tiny souvenir hatchets and making celebrity appearances at vaudeville houses and lecture halls.
Time travelers from the turn of the century would be astonished to learn that most people today have never even heard of the notorious Carrie Hatchet. I am a bit astonished myself that Nation's fame has not persisted; she is one of our more interesting historical figures! Hopefully, we can do a small part to keep her crazy memory alive.
At the time, women were not even served in bars and saloons. (Ironically, bars did not become co-ed in the United States until the speakeasy era during Prohibition.) The six-foot tall Nation traveled around the country, starting in Kansas, astonishing bartenders and their patrons by entering and proceeding to smash up the bar and liquor bottles with her signature hatchet until the police arrived to arrest her. Needless to say, she racketed up an extensive arrest record over the years. She also became quite a famous woman, supporting herself in her later years by selling tiny souvenir hatchets and making celebrity appearances at vaudeville houses and lecture halls.
Time travelers from the turn of the century would be astonished to learn that most people today have never even heard of the notorious Carrie Hatchet. I am a bit astonished myself that Nation's fame has not persisted; she is one of our more interesting historical figures! Hopefully, we can do a small part to keep her crazy memory alive.
