In 1926, seven years after Governor Frederick Gardiner signed the act that would make the sale, manufacture and transport of alcohol illegal statewide. However, instead of “drying out” the state, crime rates went up as many people turned to the illegal production and sale of alcohol.
Even in Ridgeway, people were arrested for the possession of alcohol. In 1926, Harrison County Sheriff J. B. Manifold, Deputy Sheriff John York and Ridgeway officers raided the home of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Winkler. Prosecuting attorney L. R. Kautz obtained a search warrant from Justice B. P. Sigler after he had decided that liquor was being kept in the home. They found two gallons of ethyl alcohol, two pints of “medicated alcohol meant to be used for external use” (aka rubbing alcohol) and eight pints of “bottled in bond whiskey” in the bottom of a piano in the front room of their home. The Winklers were not home at the time, but a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Winkler was being sought. He owned a restaurant in Ridgeway which had been searched the previous week, but the officers found nothing of significance there.
Art Ham, who owned a café in town, also had his home and business raided by the officers when the Winkler restaurant was searched and “alcohol mopped up oc(?) the kitchen floor, where it had been poured as the officers began their search” of the café. Both Winkler and Ham were expected to be charged for possession of intoxicating liquor, a lesser offense than the sale of intoxicants.
