Chalfant: Prohibition raids kept agents, courts busy

Revenue agents charged with enforcing the Prohibition amendment worked regularly in Sedalia and the surrounding area, destroying stills, confiscating beer and whiskey, and arresting those who made, sold, or used illegal alcoholic beverages. In late November 1929, agents working under the supervision of Western District Deputy Administrator W. Harold Lane conducted a six-week investigation that resulted in thirty-six arrests in Boone, Cole, Miller, and Osage counties and twenty-eight arrests in Pettis County.

The primary target of the raid was East St. Louis Street, then a mixed-ethnic neighborhood. The street was short, running east from South Lamine Avenue to Mill Street. The 1929 Sedalia City Directory identifies twenty-six households and three businesses on East St. Louis. Two of the businesses were restaurants, one owned by Malcomb Palmer at 220 East St. Louis and the other by Paul Wigginton at 317 East St. Louis. The Cohen Salvage Company maintained its headquarters at 400 East St. Louis. This address was also the home of Anna Pugh, the widow of William F. Pugh.

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