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Clairemont Times V7.E6
News of the Neighborhoods
4
JUNE 2017
17
10
Charles Cass: Bay Park’s Fearless G-Man by Bill Swank
During the Roaring Twenties, Chicago had Eliot Ness and his “Untouchables.” San Diego had Charles Cass and his “Drys.” They were not as dull as the name implies. The National Prohibition Act, known as the Volstead Act, became the law of the land in October 1919. The purpose of this edict was to prohibit the production, transport and sale of “intoxicating liquors.” The result was bootleggers, speakeasies and bathtub gin. Charles Lewis Cass was San Diego’s no-nonsense G-Man in charge of the federal prohibition office at 228 B Street from 1921 to 1927. In May 1921, several prominent members of the San Diego Country Club complained to Cass about “drinking parties” on the premises. Prohibition officers nabbed illegal contraband, arrested the miscreants and polite society members were once again able to bump gums and enjoy sweet tea and lemonade at the 19th hole. “Glad Bacchus Absent in San Diego” was the colorful headline from a February
5, 1924 article in the Bakersfield Californian. A federal prohibition officer with a sense of humor remarked,“I am glad Bacchus (the Roman god of wine and intoxication) is not here, for I hate to see a man weep.” Under strict orders from Charles Cass, the agent poured confiscated giggle juice into a San Diego sewer. “Fifteen hundred gallons of wine, 500 gallons of whisky and other miscellaneous liquors and mash flowed freely into the drain.” In September 1924, Cass and three Indian policemen entered the Sohoba reservation in Riverside County to arrest Bernardo Resvolosa on alcohol charges. They were quickly surrounded by 45 Mission Indian policemen and Cass argued that as a federal officer, he was only subject to federal law. The Indians disagreed and countered that whatever happened on the reservation was their business. Arrests were made, but the city marshal of Escondido refused to accept the prisoners. A good, albeit expensive, way to obtain alcohol during prohibition was to have Charles Lewis Cass, Federal Prohibition Agent SEE Charles Cass, page 8
(from the Charles Cass Collection; courtesy Sam Ames)