21 Photos of Prohibition Agents Destroying Perfectly Good Booze

By | October 22, 2015

On January 16, 1920, hundreds of booze-loving Americans took to the streets to buy their last legal drinks from liquor stores and bars. The United States officially became a “dry” country the next day, when the 18th Amendment banning “the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors” went into effect.

Here, prohibition agents are seen dumping or destroying seized liquor in public.

Warning: This content may be disturbing to some readers, especially the booze-lovers.

Prohibition agents dump liquor out of a raided building, 1929
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IMAGE: DETROIT NEWS COLLECTION, WALTER P. REUTHER LIBRARY, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY

Barrels of beer slated for destruction, 1929
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IMAGE: IMAGNO/AUSTRIAN ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

Public Safety Director Smedley Butler uses a pickaxe to destroy barrels of beer and lets it run into the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1924
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IMAGE: UNDERWOOD ARCHIVE

Prohibition agents smash bottles of wine and alcohol in Boston, Massachusetts, c. 1921
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Photo: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

Agents pour alcohol into the sewers of New York City, c. 1920
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Photo: FPG/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

1925
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Photo: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

New York City Liquor Agent Izzy Einstein dumps liquor into the gutter, c. 1920
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Photo: DAILY NEWS/NY DAILY NEWS/GETTY IMAGES

c. 1920
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Photo: ULLSTEIN BILD/GETTY IMAGES

1921
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Photo: GRAPHICAARTIS/GETTY IMAGES

c. 1925
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Photo: BETTMANN/CORBIS

Beer vats being rolled away at a brewery in Washington, D.C., switching from brewing beer to making ice cream, c. 1920
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Photo:

33,000 gallons of wine are pumped into the sewers of Los Angeles, February 1920
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Photo: HULTON-DEUTSCH COLLECTION/CORBIS

c. 1920
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Photo: UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD/CORBIS

c. 1920
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Photo: CORBIS

Beer with an ABV above the local legal limit of 2.75% is dumped into Lake Michigan, October 9, 1919
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Photo: BETTMANN/CORBIS

c. 1920
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Photo: CORBIS

March 25, 1931
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Photo: LEONARD DETRICK/NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

June 18, 1931
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Photo: NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

May 19, 1925
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Photo: LARRY FROEBER/NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 11, 1920
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Photo: NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

c. 1920
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Photo: NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

...and comes the night they ended Prohibition, December 5, 1933
Originally intended to prevent drunkenness and crime, it soon became clear that Prohibition did just the opposite, as speakeasies began popping up and bootlegging essentially led to the establishment of organized crime in the country.
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Photo: NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

H/T Mashable