Foreword: By dating the dawning of the automotive age as 1908 when Ford made its first Model T, the next 12 years before the imposition of National Prohibition allowed those involved in the liquor business to engage themselves in varying degees with the on-rush of the “horseless carriage.” Each of the four "whiskey men" profiled here had his own special experience with the motor car.
Dodge City, Kansas, above, was known as the roughest, toughest, most lawless town in the West. It was, that is, until Chalkley “Chalk” Beeson, shown here, came to run the famous Long Branch Saloon, stayed to help bring law and order, and in the process organize a highly celebrated cowboy band that played at a Presidential inaugural.
Beeson has been seen as a transitional figure, living long enough to see the wild West tamed or, as the Kansas City Star put it: “One may now walk the streets of Dodge City and Abilene, and by exercising reasonable control of his mouth, may get back to the hotel without being carried on a screen door.” The photo below, showing Beeson, center, standing as repairs are made to an early automobile, epitomizes the changing times. The age of horse transportation was ending.
For Beeson, however, perhaps not soon enough. In August 1912, he was sitting on a horse at his ranch watching a nearby construction crew. A sudden noise spooked the animal. It bucked and Chalk was thrown hard against the saddle horn causing internal rupturing. The man who had survived for years amidst the constant dangers of Dodge City could not be saved. Three days later, Beeson died at the age 64.
Deemed by some a “historic figure” of the American West, Warren Richardson Jr. , shown here arrived in newly founded Cheyenne, Wyoming, as a toddler and stayed there for the rest of his life, devoting himself to the advancement of that frontier town. Richardson’s efforts included meeting the needs of the populace for alcohol and other pleasures he called the Tivoli Saloon.
During the early 1900s Richardson developed a new passion: Fast cars. Described as “an enthusiastic member of the Cheyenne Motor Club, he threw several thousand dollars and his abundant energies into creating a four mile race track outside of town. A 1917 issue of Automobile Dealer and Repairer magazine reported: “Mr. Richardson worked unceasingly, and it was not long before what had been a stretch of prairie was transformed into a hard packed level race track.”
Barney Oldfield, the celebrated early race driver, was enticed by Richardson to Cheyenne in his 200 H.P. Benz and created two new world records. A photo exists of Oldfield sitting behind the wheel of his machine. Richardson is standing coatless at the left of Oldfield.
When John Withers, shown here in maturity, was growing up in a distilling family, he may have thought there were better ways to make a living and so he became a jeweler. After working about 23 years at that trade he apparently decided that the real “gold ring” was captured by making whiskey. And so created the Withers Distillery in Allenville, Missouri.
With the coming of the motor car, Withers became obsessed. With the profits from his distillery, he bought an expensive convertible machine, one in which he could seat his entire family of eight. According to one account, the family “takes delight in taking a spin in the high-powered car that Mr. Withers owns and operates.” There is a marvelous 1913 photograph of the Withers clan in their automobile.
Sitting proudly in the front seat is Distiller John, his wife and baby Opal. In the back seat, seemingly somewhat crowded are Roy, Adam, Eddie, Myrtle and Waldo. Note that the steering wheel is on the right side.
“It will pay you to meet me,” claimed Abraham Freeman, pictured here, the flamboyant proprietor of a “cut price” liquor business in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Men named Brown, Fleming and Sooy would have taken issue with that assertion. They probably would have been much happier had they never met Freeman.
The three men figured in a bizarre episode in Freeman’s life: While automobiles were not an entirely new conveyance, they were expensive and many people, including Abe, did not own one but he liked “joy riding” with friends around town and the countryside. In 1913 Freeman engaged a vehicle from one William Brown who rented out his open touring car for $4 an hour (almost $100 in present currency) and provided a chauffeur, in this case Mr. Fleming.
Loading the automobile with friends, Freeman jumped into the front seat beside driver and they took off. Enroute, a gust of wind blew Fleming’s hat in the air and in an effort to catch it he let go of the steering wheel momentarily. Seizing the opportunity to drive, Freeman grabbed the wheel. The car swerved to the side of the road and crashed into a ditch. According to an account given in court: “All the occupants of the car were more or less injured and Fleming sustained a dislocated shoulder.” 
Freeman’s troubles had just begun. The car was left where it had been ditched and Abe hied off to the nearest inhabited place where he met, likely for the first time, Mr. Sooy. He hired Sooy and some bystanders on the spot to remove Brown’s damaged car from the ditch. By the time the party returned to the scene of the accident, it had turned dark.
They carried a gas lantern to assist their work, sitting it on the ground to light the scene. As they began to remove the vehicle an odor of gasoline was detected where it apparently had leaked from the gas tank and soaked into the earth. In an instant the flame from the lantern touched off the fumes and the ground caught fire, spreading quickly to Brown’s expensive automobile. The vehicle swiftly was consumed by flames and rendered a total loss.
When Brown sued Freeman for damages, the liquor dealer contended that it was Sooy’s fault and he himself bore no responsibility. The court of first jurisdiction disagreed and told him to pay up. Continuing to object, Freeman appealed the verdict to the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals. There the result was the same. Sooy was found to be in the employ of Freeman and as the employer Freeman was liable. He paid. It is doubtful that Abe ever went “joy riding” again.
Note: Each of these whiskey men has been treated in a longer biography elsewhere on this blog. Chalk Beeson, August 17, 2014; Warren Richardson, March 12, 1914; John Withers, April 3, 2013; and Abe Freeman, July 10, 2014.
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