The Death of John Barleycorn: Kennewick Goes Dry
As Washington state's prohibition laws took effect in 1916, the local paper penned a mock-obituary for the liquor trade.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
John Barleycorn, one of the oldest residents of Kennewick, died a natural and expected death at his homes in this city at midnight last Friday. A large number of the deceased's old-time friends and associates were gathered at his bedside and voiced their last farewells as the once vigorous old John crossed the bar and slipped from the realms of the things that are into the shade of things that were. Death was due to chronic legislation from which the veteran had suffered many years. The beginning of the end came in November 1914, when his strength was fatally shattered by his coming in contact with an initiative, directly connected with a dry battery which sent a 30,000-volt majority crashing through the old man’s frame. The deceased was among Kennewick’s earliest settlers. He leaves no direct descendants. It is understood that the chief beneficiaries under his last will and testament are Mr. G. Ale and Miss Sweet Soda.
“There was not a dry voice in the lot. Hardly had the last drop ebbed from life’s vial when the old man’s remains were ceremoniously laid upon the water wagon.”
In early 1916, Washington implemented statewide prohibition four years ahead of the 18th Amendment. This story captures the gallows humor of the era as local saloon culture faced an existential crisis under the weight of new morality laws.
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