The End of an Era

Friday, Christmas Eve, 1915. It's mid afternoon in downtown Kingstree, and a number of farmers from out-of-town are hanging around in front of the three-story Gourdin building on Main Street. There's a sign on the door of the state-controlled dispensary on the first floor which says CLOSED UNTIL 5:30, and the men are hoping that this is true. Kingstree residents, however, are snickering behind their backs because they know that whoever put up the sign did it as a prank. Dispenser DuBose had sold his last pint of gin at 1 p.m., and when he locked the door behind him, all knew that it was for the last time. After 21 colorful years, the state dispensary system was finally history.

South Carolina Dispensary bottles showing various designs used.

Source: Treasure.net

The idea of the state having the monopoly on liquor sales was the brainchild of South Carolina's controversial governor, Benjamin R. Tillman. And if The State newspaper can be believed, Williamsburg County got the first two dispensaries, or at least two of the first dispensaries opened were in Kingstree and Greeleyville. The January 3, 1894, issue of The State reported, "Williamsburg County, which has been dry for a very long time, was the first to catch the state gin-shops." The reporter went on to note that this was very strange as Rep. E.R. Lesesne had made it clear that he only wanted one dispensary in the county at Kingstree, "and only wanted that one to be there in case of some emergency when liquors might be required for illness or something of that kind."

South Carolina Governor Benjamin Ryan Tillman.

Source: Wikipedia

It didn't take long for things to go crosswise for the Kingstree Dispensary. In late January, O.A. McDonald, who had been appointed dispenser, went to Columbia to pick up stock. However, as his bond had not yet been approved, he left empty-handed. A year later, in March 1895, McDonald found himself in hot water when the dispensary showed a shortage of $800. Newspaper articles speculated that it was well-known that McDonald had lost a large sum of money in a recent bank failure. The dispensary was closed for a week as investigators went over his books, and although the people of Kingstree solidly supported McDonald, he was replaced by R.R. Stutts.

At that time the dispensary was located on Academy Street next door to M.F. Heller's Livery & Sales Stable, in the area where The HomeTown Chamber and Miles & Co. are located today. On March 12, 1897, Stutts, who lived across the street from the dispensary, was robbed in a most mysterious fashion. He said he had arrived home just before midnight after attending a Masonic meeting, carrying $195 in cash and a $22 check, most of which belonged to the dispensary. The money was in his vest pocket, and he remembered putting the vest under his pillow before going to bed. However, the next morning, the money, check, his watch and chain, his double-barreled shotgun, his hat, five cigars and two one-cent pieces were all missing. Stutts said he believed the burglar must have come through the window and chloroformed him and his wife as they both felt "stupified" upon awakening. Neither of his two children, who were also asleep in the room, nor a boarder in another room were aware of anything out of the ordinary. There were no clues left at the scene.

1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. The dispensary is the sixth building from the left

in the line of pink buildings on Academy Street.

But that was not the end of Stutts' troubles. In July, his reports showed that he was $473.50 short. Apparently, he simply paid the shortage, but on August 3, while inventorying his stock, he discovered several sealed cases of liquor that were actually empty. Enraged, he tracked down his 16-year-old brother-in-law, Peter Matthews, who had been working at the dispensary for about four months and confronted him about the empty cases. Matthews did not give Stutts a "satisfactory answer," and Stutts fired two or three shots at him. Although he did not hit him, the incident caused "quite a sensation" in town. Once again the board of control closed the dispensary to investigate. The investigators found 13 empty cases hidden underneath full cases. Stutts continued to blame Matthews, but was dismissed as dispenser. Again, the townspeople solidly supported him, and he was soon hired by the Kingstree Town Council to serve as Town Marshal, the equivalent of a policeman today.

The Dispensary would have been located in this area of Academy Street.

Ashby Mouzon, the dispenser at Greeleyville, replaced Stutts. During Mouzon's tenure, there were no problems reported at the dispensary. Sadly, Mouzon died suddenly in December 1899.

In early 1900, Frank Player was appointed to replace Mouzon. His troubles began shortly thereafter. In early April, the dispensary was burglarized after the rear door was broken open and $21 worth of liquor was stolen. After this incident, Player began sleeping in the dispensary at night; however, he would go home on Saturday night after he closed and return to open for business on Monday. In early September, another burglary occurred on either Saturday or Sunday night, as Player arrived on Monday to find the window pried open and $114.88 in liquor missing. 

A third incident occurred on December 28, 1900, when Player alleged he was robbed by four masked men who stole $1800 and 2 croaker sacks full of whiskey. He said he was sleeping in the dispensary when he heard someone calling his name from outside the back door. He opened it to find two masked men who demanded all the money in the safe. They were joined by two other men who filled two sacks with liquor bottles. 

Player said he was told not to sound the alarm until the men had time to escape or his life would be in danger. He waited for some time and then went across the street to awaken Town Marshal Stutts. Stutts would claim that he could hear buggies crossing the Black River bridge when Player came to get him. Stutts went to awaken H.O. Britton, who was jailer, but also served as clerk to the board of control, the local body that governed the dispensary. Britton instructed Stutts to wait with Player at Stutts' home until Britton arrived after daybreak and ordered the dispensary closed for yet another investigation.

The investigation turned up many irregularities that caused a round of finger-pointing among those in charge. Player, it turned out, had not been making regular deposits to the county treasurer, nor had he  been putting money overnight in M.F. Heller's safe as he had done in the past. In addition, Player's bond had expired on December 15 and had not been renewed. County Treasurer R.D. Rollins said he had spoken to Player about the lack of deposits, but Player ignored him. According to Rollins, Player had deposited only $285 for December. Rollins said he had notified Britton about that and about Player's bond expiration; Britton said he had taken the matter to the board of control, but other members had ignored him. Mayor W.H. Kennedy said he, too, had spoken to Player about the necessity of depositing money with the treasurer, but that Player had paid him no attention and that Britton, when he took the problem to him, had refused to back the mayor up.

Stutts claimed he knew who the robbers were, based on Player's description of one of their coats. However, he appeared to be in no hurry to search for them. This robbery was the largest to occur at a state-run dispensary. 

Player resigned the day afterward, and the board immediately appointed W.D. Crooks dispenser in what turned out to be a violation of state law, of which they were swiftly reminded by the state board of control.

The people of Kingstree were angry and demanded the removal of the members of the board of control. They were concerned about rumors that with all the trouble at the dispensary that year it might close permanently. The majority of funding for the school came from dispensary profits, and should it close, it would take a long time to find an alternative method for funding education, meaning that the school also would have to close. Replacing the board became a priority.

Kingstree Academy as it would have looked in 1900.

The investigators discovered that $2,030.49 was missing, and on January 5, 1901, Player was arrested for malfeasance in office. He was accused of selling liquor on credit and using dispensary funds to make loans to his friends. Player continued to insist that he was robbed, but he also confessed that he had made small loans to his friends. He was sentenced and served a portion of his term but was  pardoned in 1902 by the governor.

The dispensary remained closed until February, when it re-opened with J.W. Coward as dispenser. In May, Coward was called to Columbia to explain why he had more cash on hand than his accounts called for. Once this was straightened out, he ran the dispensary without further problem. In May 1901, the old dispensary building was torn down, and R.H. Kellahan built a new building for the dispensary on the same spot. From May until August, the dispensary operated from a building across the street, next door to Dr. D.C Scott's drugstore.

By 1905, there was much talk about prohibition. In July, groups across Williamsburg County met to organize opposition to the dispensary system.  By the autumn of 1905, it had become a hot-button issue, with the two Kingstree newspapers taking opposite sides of the issue. The Stoll brothers, owners of The Weekly Mail, were in favor of the dispensary; Charles Wolfe, owner of The County Record, was just as strongly in favor of prohibition.

A referendum on the issue in late 1905 saw Williamsburg County narrowly vote for prohibition. The State Legislature announced in 1906 that it would gradually phase out the dispensaries. Each county had to petition for another referendum, however, and Williamsburg County was unable to produce enough signatures to call for the vote. So, the dispensary stayed open. 

The question was again on the ballot in 1909, and this time Williamsburg County voted resoundingly for prohibition. Although heavy voter turnout was expected, it did not materialize, and county and town officials were concerned about how they were going to make up the $30,000 loss in revenue. The dispensary closed on November 15, 1909, and by 1912, petitions were circulating to call for a special referendum on re-establishing the dispensary in Kingstree.

The referendum was held in August 1913, and the results were unsurprisingly controversial. The case eventually made its way to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which ruled in April 1914 that Williamsburg County would once again have a dispensary. It opened July 14, 1914, on the first floor of the Gourdin building. In September 1915, there was another statewide referendum on prohibition. This time the vote was 565-132 that Williamsburg County prohibit the sale of liquor within its borders.

The Dispensary re-opened in 1914 in this building on Main Street.

When it closed Christmas Eve 1915, building owner P.G Gourdin remodeled the space into a bakery.

When the dispensaries closed for good in December 1915, some counties found themselves in a quandary about how to dispose of the leftover alcohol as it was now illegal to sell it in South Carolina. That wasn't a problem for Williamsburg County, as it was one of only two counties that completely sold out of its stock of alcohol before closing.