1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: Hey, history fans, here's a rerun for today, brought to 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: you by Tracy V. Wilson. Welcome to this Day in 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: History Class from how Stuff Works dot Com and from 4 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: the desk of Stuff you missed in History Class. It's 5 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: the show where we explore the past one day at 6 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: a time with a quick look at what happened today 7 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: in history. Hello, I'm Holly Fry and I am sitting 8 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: in for Tracy V. Wilson this week. It's December, and 9 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: on this day in nine hundred, Carrie Nation smashed the 10 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: bar at the Carry Hotel in Wichita, Kansas, and I 11 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: will tell you why she did that. Nation was born 12 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: Carrie Amelia Moore in Kentucky on November On November one, 13 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty seven, at the age of twenty one, Carrie 14 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: married a man named Charles Gloyd, but she left Gloyd 15 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: just a few months into the marriage when she found 16 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: out she was pregnant. She believed that Charles could not 17 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: support a family because he was an alcoholic, and Charles 18 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: died shortly after the baby was born. Carrie next married 19 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: a journalist, lawyer, and preacher named David Nation, who she 20 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 1: believed had been sent to her by God after she 21 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: prayed for a solution to her problem of being a 22 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: single mother with no income. The marriage was not very happy, though, 23 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:22,320 Speaker 1: according to Carrie's autobiography, the biggest conflict was that she 24 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: was much more devout than her preacher husband. Carrie's faith 25 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:30,399 Speaker 1: continued to grow throughout her life. At a Methodist conference 26 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 1: in Texas, four she was deeply moved during one of 27 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: the sermons, later writing of the experience, quote, my first 28 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: impression was that an angel was talking and that the 29 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: house was ascending to heaven. I felt my natural heart 30 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: expanding to an enormous size, and this moment led her 31 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: to the decision that she should devote her entire life 32 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: to God. Carrie became involved in charity work in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, 33 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,120 Speaker 1: where she and David had moved, working with women's and 34 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 1: children's causes, and starting a local chapter of the Woman's 35 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: Christian Temperance Union. It was through her volunteer work offering 36 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: religious counseling to imprisoned men that Carry determined that most 37 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: criminal behavior was linked to alcohol, which only intensified her 38 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: fervor for temperance. She began to organize protests, which consisted 39 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: of groups of women like herself gathering outside or just 40 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: inside of bars and saloons to sing hymns and talk 41 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: about God. Nation did not want the men who ran 42 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: those bars and saloons to get into legal trouble. She 43 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: literally blamed drink and not them for their sins, and 44 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 1: so she tried to counter the lure of alcohol with 45 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: the promise of religious salvation. She also wrote to the 46 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,640 Speaker 1: county attorney and state attorney many times to report the 47 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: sale of alcohol in Kansas, and sometimes got her information 48 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: on illicit alcohol sales from the men that she ministered 49 00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: to in jail. In June of nineteen hundred, carry her 50 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 1: what she believed to be a divine voice speaking to her, 51 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: promising to stand by her in her fight against alcohol, 52 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: and directing her to go to Kiowa, Kansas, a place 53 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: that she knew illegal alcohol sales were taking place. Carrie 54 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: Nation traveled immediately to Kiowa, walked into a men's club 55 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: carrying a number of small parcels, and told the owner, 56 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: quote Mr. Dobson, I told you last spring to close 57 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: this place. You did not do it. Now I have 58 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: come down with another remonstrance. Get out of the way. 59 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: I do not want to strike you, but I am 60 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: going to break this place up. And then she hurled 61 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: her parcels, which were in fact paper wrapped bricks around 62 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: the bar, making good on her promise to destroy the place. 63 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: This was the first in a long series of bar 64 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: smashings performed by Carrie, but one of the most famous 65 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: was the assault on the Carrie Hotel on December, a 66 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: bar that she selected as a target because of an 67 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: indecent painting that was hanging above the bar. She went 68 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: at the place with a cane that she had reinforced 69 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: by strapping an iron rod to it, and she did 70 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: thousands of dollars of damage in the process, and that 71 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: resulted in her arrest. Her time in jail did not 72 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,799 Speaker 1: deter carry nation. She continued in her mission to destroy 73 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: establishments that served spirits or alcohol of any kind, and 74 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: she became quite famous in the process, particularly for her 75 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 1: use of a hatchet as a means of destruction, something 76 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: that she adopted during one of her many smashings, which 77 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: she started to call hatchetations. She went on to start 78 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: to temperance newspapers, and she made public appearances both in 79 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,679 Speaker 1: the US and abroad, always with her trusty hatchet and Bible, 80 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: always speaking about the importance of temperance and selling souvenir 81 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: photos of herself holding that hatchet and Bible along the way. 82 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,480 Speaker 1: Carrie died in nineteen eleven after collapsing during a speaking engagement. 83 00:04:58,040 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: She did not live long enough to see the eight 84 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,360 Speaker 1: Teenth Amendment past in nine, which outlawed alcohol sales nationally. 85 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: She also did not live to see its repeal in 86 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 1: ninety three, which ended prohibition. If you would like to 87 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: learn more about Carrie Nation and her life, which is 88 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: quite fascinating, uh there is a two part episode by 89 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class in the archives. You 90 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:25,239 Speaker 1: can find that in July. I want to thank Chandler 91 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: Mays and Casey Pegram for their work on the audio 92 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: for this show, and I want to thank you for listening. 93 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: You'd like to hear more, you can subscribe to This 94 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: Day in History Class on I Heart radios, app, at 95 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Tomorrow, you 96 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,840 Speaker 1: should come back because we're going to talk about an 97 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: important moment in early film history.