The Sturgis deputies were very unpopular enforcers of equally unpopular prohibition laws about 100 years ago.

That’s an unmistakable conclusion when you read many of the Lewiston Evening Journal accounts of the deputies’ alleged strong-arm tactics. Their raids and arrests drew the ire of many L-A residents, and the newspaper reporters took every opportunity to paint a Keystone Kops characterization of both the lawmen and the hapless offenders.

Abuse of liquor led to laws prohibiting booze in Maine as far back as 1851, and that legislation was a model that several other states soon followed.

Although drunkenness was recognized as a serious social scourge and liquor was declared illegal, the reality over the course of many decades was for police to look the other way if they could be persuaded with a bit of money. County officials also came under fire for lax enforcement, so the Maine Legislature created the Sturgis Commission in 1905.

The purpose of the Sturgis Commission was to replace the liquor enforcement authority of county sheriffs and deputies with “Sturgis deputies” who were brought into several Maine communities.

The Twin Cities had a large number of surreptitious drinking establishments and “kitchen bars” at that time a century ago, so the Sturgis deputies came to town on state orders. The news followed their colorful exploits with much delight and with a tone that definitely would be politically incorrect by today’s standards.

A Lewiston Daily Sun Page 1 headline on April 29, 1908, read, “IT WILL LOOK AS IF A DAMN CYCLONE STRUCK IT.” It was a quote from a Sturgis deputy that came out in court when owners of a house in Lewiston won their suit over damage caused by raiding enforcers.

After that threat, the story said, deputies used an ax, pickax and pick and they “tore down plaster, smashed laths, and even cut into the studding besides cutting bed clothing with an ax and smashing the concrete floor of the cellar.”

Apparently, no illicit liquor was found.

Month after month following creation of the Sturgis Commission, the stories told of raids and confiscation of large quantities of liquor all over Maine . . . not just the Twin Cities. There were many descriptions of the ingenious methods used in stores and homes to conceal the shady trade in booze.

In January of 1906, Sturgis deputies were withdrawn to allow newly elected sheriffs a chance to show that they could handle enforcement. Just 14 months later, a headline of a local news story said “Rum Flows Freely.” A reporter wrote, “Those who have been watching conditions . . . assert that certain ones conduct their businesses with an apparent fearlessness that would indicate protection.” This led to the Sturgis deputies being called back to enforce liquor laws in the area.

In January of 1908, the newspaper said, “A real genuine surprise party was tendered the quiet little village of Lisbon Falls this evening when a squad of eight Sturgis deputies swooped down on the town and raided everything in sight from the barbershop to the club rooms.” The deputies seized 500 gallons of beer and “a small quantity of hard stuff,” it said.

“The residents of the village, however, were not aware of the Sturgis plans and when the deputies blew into town and began their search for the unlawful liquids, there was much excitement and only a few places had been visited before a little army of men and boys were following the deputies from place to place watching the work with keen interest as it progressed.”

Those stories are just a few of the colorful accounts of the Sturgis deputies’ exploits. Even though the temperance movement had established a solid foundation in Maine many years before the “Roaring Twenties” appearance of national prohibition, the consequences of selling and drinking “demon rum” were extremely ambiguous in the press. The goals of the Sturgis deputies to reduce drunkenness were saluted, but residents and officials were strongly critical of the heavy-handed methods.

David A. Sargent is a freelance writer and a native of Auburn. He can be reached by email, [email protected].