Carry A Nation: Hatchet- Wielding Bar-Smasher

As a writer of cultural and heritage community history, it has always been a challenge to discover some uniqueness that heretofore had not been uncovered, rather than simply to replenish that which was already there, but now empty due to being out-of-print or removed from public access. Therefore, much like a person performing restorations to former stately edifices, I attempt to glean that which is available but with a perspective for the truth of factuality. As the storm winds blow the sands of the dessert, I have become a grain of sand that has been blown away from its former beachhead at Pass Christian and have now come to adopt a new habitat. I find Eureka Springs to be very comfortable, challenging, overwhelming and with new histories to uncover. It usually takes two or three years of research before I commence to write, but having attended several of the Crescent Hotel Wine Tastings, I decided to put together a booklet that would be a nice Door Prize for the many beautiful folks. What could be more appropriate than to introduce Carrie to her adversaries? Prior to 1900, Carrie Nation was caught up in the developing years to prohibition along with other Christian Temperance Ladies who attempted to close up saloons and Blind Tigers but to no avail. Previously, she experienced dreams that proved to come true in forecasting meaningful occurrences in her life. Enraptured by religious zeal at age 54, she began believing in her hallucinations wherein God instructed her to smash the whiskey joints much as did Jesus Christ in casting out the immoral Money Lenders from the Temples. She began her crusade of Hatchetations by smashing Saloons, the bars, the liquor, the gambling tables, the mirrors and all that she could attack before being arrested while threatening any who attempted to stop her raised menacing hatchet. At 185 pounds and standing nearly six feet, she was a startling figure to confront. She called the saloon keepers swill-faced, beak-nosed bed mates of Satan. During her celebrity tours, she was witty, out-going, and brazenly armored with the confidence of controlling her audiences. Beyond doubt, she can be signaled out as having rendered the impetus to Prohibition Laws that lead to the passage of the18th Amendment on December 18, 1917, followed by ratification on January 16, 1919. Carrie chose Eureka Springs as her chosen place of retirement, where she established a boarding home for battered wives and children and a training school for young women. Ah!, but, where is a better place for one to reach their end but right here, in Eureka Springs?