Put Your Hands — er, Corners Up!

The Gazette reported that a strange arrest had gone down on the morning of September 4, 1917: "Marshal Rose saw fit to close the saloon on the ground floor of the Hobart House by arresting the license. The action taken by Marshal Rose is quite unusual, and the first time such has been attempted in Hobart."

At the town board meeting the following week, the Marshal explained his action and the board voted to approve it. The Gazette displayed its usual discretion about the reasons for the closure, saying only that that saloon had not been "run according to law." The News was less tactful: "For some time complaint has been made, quietly if not openly, that the orgies taking place at the cabaret were not conducive to the good of the town or of the morals of our young people." Still, the News took pains to make clear that the technical licensee, Louis Dunham,* only held the license on behalf of the saloon's owner, W.L. Helm ("a common practice heretofore") and had nothing to do with the saloon's operations, or its orgies.

The Gazette that reported on the town board's approval of the closure also carried Louis Dunham's notice of intent to renew the saloon's license.

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*A couple of years later Louis Dunham would become the foster father of Richard Chapman.


Sources:
♦ "Application for Renewal of Liquor License." Hobart Gazette 14 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Hobart House Bar Following Complaint Is Closed Up Tight." Hobart News 6 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Marshal Rose Closes Saloon." Hobart Gazette 7 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Town Board Doings." Hobart Gazette 14 Sept. 1917.