W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

9. THE WHISKEY WAR
When a little lad the “Sons of Temperance” first organized in our country, and I heard of them eight miles
distant. Mounting a horse, I hastened to them that I might enjoy the coveted privilege of joining the crusade
against King Alcohol. Therefore with great delight I took the pledge of total abstinence, which I have kept intact
to this day, having all my life been an uncompromising rum fighter. As a pastor I always made it a rule to run
whiskey out of my circuit. In this I always succeeded, though sometimes the Conference would take me away
before the victory was complete.
But the temperance ball always rolled on, until victory perched on the prohibition banner and they would
dispatched me the glad news.
When the Civil War closed I was in Indiana, where I had spent the period of conflict between the North and the
South, as I was a Union man, having migrated away from slave territory, where I remained till after the
emancipation and the cessation of hostilities.
Soon after the disorganization of the armies, my principal assistant teacher, who was also a preacher, and twenty
years my senior, came to me in the college building bearing the sad news that two soldiers had arrived in town
and were making all arrangements immediately to open a saloon.
I told him at once that we must not permit it, as it would be a temptation to our students and its very existence
would ruin the hitherto unsullied reputation of our amiable town, which had been celebrated for temperance and
religion. I suggested to him that we go at once and see the men and do our utmost to dissuade them from their
diabolical enterprise. Therefore we got a citizen to give us a polite and favorable introduction to them. Then we
proceeded with the utmost kindness and respect, inwardly praying fervently to God for His help, to ask them to
be so kind as to desist from their enterprise, as it would be much against our college, at the same time assuring
them that we knew that the majority of the better citizens were fairly represented by us in the matter. Though we
had taken every possible precaution to avoid giving offense, they pretty soon got angry and notified us that they
had a government license paid for, as well as having laid in their stock, and it was too late for them to change
their plans. As we continued to plead and insist and even importune, they broke out into angry denunciations
and violent threats, looking us in the face with demoniacal oaths, and said, “We have been down South the last
four years shooting rebels, and we now have a government license to sell whiskey in this town, therefore, those
who oppose us are trespassing on our governmental rights, and we will shoot them as quickly as we shot the
rebels.” We, keeping perfectly cool and full of love and kindness, continued to plead with them. Finally we told
them, “We are going to hold mass meetings and make speeches to the citizens and arouse public sentiment
against your enterprise. Rest assured we are not going to let you sell whiskey in this town. If you undertake it,
you will make a failure, loose money, and be sorry for it. Therefore we advise you, as friends, to desist at once.
Though they cursed and threatened us to the last, manifesting the most obdurate determination to go ahead with
their Satanic traffic despite the combined efforts of the good people to avert the awful temptation, the ensuing
night we gathered a crowded audience into the Methodist Church and harangued them with all our might to
unite with us in a persistent effort to prevent the opening of that horrific Hell-hole, to swallow up our students
and their children. They entered into the most hearty sympathy with us and unanimously responded to our
appeal, resolving that “the institution” should not be conducted in our town; that we would prevent it at any
cost. Though the proprietors gave us no encouragement, we continued our mass-meetings and temperance
speeches, and they never did open their stock, but went away.
When we moved back to Perryville, Ky., we found it flooded with whiskey, having suffered awful moral
deterioration during the war. I first moved the organization of a temperance society, contemplating it as a
nucleus around which to rally the prohibition sentiment. In due time we vacated our hall for mass meetings in
the Methodist Church. There we had much prayer to God to help us in the awful trouble, and made temperance
speeches the great specialty of the occasion. The Lord helped us to arouse popular sentiment against the horrific
reign of Satan which had debauched the community during four years.
Though Kentucky is the worst whiskey state in the Union, we have a law investing the citizens with the right of
local option, in case that the majority of legal voters can be secured. By the help of the Lord we were enabled to