We all know about Lizzy Borden and the horrific results of her axe wielding but how many of you have heard of another axe afficianado (much less lethal) named Carrie Amelia Nation? Carrie was born in Garrard County, Kentucky on November 25, 1846 and was a radical leader of the temperance movement, which was an organized effort to encourage moderation in consumption of alcohol. Carrie was an advocate of “teetotalism” and thought people should abstain from alcohol altogether. Carrie described herself as “a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what he doesn’t like.”
Carrie was born in Garrard County, Kentucky on November 25, 1846 and was a radical leader of the temperance movement, which was an organized effort to encourage moderation in consumption of alcohol. Carrie was an advocate of “teetotalism” and thought people should abstain from alcohol altogether. She is well known throughout the midwest for attacking alcohol-serving establishments (most often taverns) with a her hatchet. She claimed she was called to do this work from divine ordination and chose to promote her brand of temperance by literally destroying bars with her axe.
When Carrie came to Cincinnati in 1901 she was in utter disbelief over the sheer number of bars, saloons and taverns. There were 136 bars on Vine Street alone. It’s been written that when asked why she didn’t use her hatchet to destroy the plethora of bars in Cincinnati she said, “My goodness, child, if I had undertaken to break all the windows of all the saloons on your Vine Street I would have dropped from exhaustion before I had gone a block.”
SOURCE CITATIONS
Jones,V.B., Lutz, N.J.,Grote, J.A.(2012) American Progress: Battling Fear, Discrimination, and the Great Depression, Ohio: Barbour Publishing
Feck, L. (1977) Yesterdays Cincinnati, New York: Seemann Press
Leave a Reply