By Glenn Dromgoole

My friend Jay Moore’s entertaining and informative new book, Abilene’s War With Whiskey and Other Hometown Commotions, deals with the colorful and contentious history of the wet vs. dry forces here.

And it brought back to mind my lone minor involvement in a wet-dry election, way back when.

It was in the ‘50s. I was 10 or 12, as I recall, and our little town was voting on whether to remain “wet” or go “dry.” Evidently Sour Lake had been “wet” for quite a while, but all it took to turn that around was a certain number of signatures to call an election.

And that wasn’t hard to come up with on such a divisive issue. The Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal,  Disciples, and Church of Christ congregations (but not the Catholics) usually could be counted on to gather the requisite number of names on any given Sunday morning. 

Of course, just because you signed the petition didn’t necessarily mean that you were against booze. Signing a petition was a public declaration, and it was prudent for most small town folks to be publicly aligned against demon rum. 

Voting — like drinking — was, however, a private not a public matter.

On this particular campaign, the ministers in town were properly and indignantly aligned against the “wets.” More than likely they were quietly encouraged by a would-be bootlegger or two who knew that they could make more money in a dry town than in a wet one. 

As the Baptist preacher, my dad was one of the leaders of the dry forces. Perhaps at that stage of his life he was privately dry as well as publicly, though that would change in time. After I reached adulthood, we would enjoy a little nightcap together. 

But back then, he hadn’t yet come out of the closet — or gone into the wine cellar. He helped organize a temperance parade through town to urge voters to “Vote Dry!”

It wasn’t all that much of a parade, if memory serves, just a few cars and pickups with signs and streamers. My dad was driving a pickup and had several boys my age riding in the back for emotional support. 

Suddenly, without consulting my dad, one of the boys started a chant: “Vote Dry! Liquor will gitcha in TROUUUU-ble. Vote Dry! Liquor will gitcha in TROUUUU-ble.” 

We picked up the chant. All through town we rode, singing at the top of our voices, “Vote Dry! Liquor will gitcha in TROUUUU-ble.”

Our town voted wet. Overwhelmingly wet. I don’t think the drys ever tried again. I know my dad didn’t.

Glenn Dromgoole’s newest book is A Few Encouraging Words. He and his wife Carol own Texas Star Trading Company in downtown Abilene. Texas Star published Jay Moore’s book on Abilene’s War With Whiskey.