Many of us popped the cork on a bottle of champagne to welcome 2024. But a century ago, such celebrations that involved alcohol were illegal across the United States.

Wyoming’s own noble experiment banning liquor began on June 30, 1919, even before national Prohibition began on January 17, 1920. Voters had high hopes that outlawing alcohol would reduce societal problems. Yet like the rest of the nation, the Cowboy State soon faced hurdles enforcing the unpopular law.

Newly appointed Federal Judge T. Blake Kennedy had a front row seat to Wyoming’s difficulties enforcing Prohibition. In his unpublished memoir at the American Heritage Center, Kennedy described factors that enabled spotty enforcement and corruption.

According to Kennedy, the leader of Wyoming’s Anti-Saloon League, Fred L. Crabbe, had ambitions of becoming a national Prohibition commissioner. But rumors swirled that Crabbe himself was playing both sides. Kennedy wrote, “Just before he left Wyoming and while he was still in the position of Prohibition Commissioner, [Crabbe] came to me for the purpose of borrowing two quarts of my best gin which I had been careful to place in my private stock before prohibition went into effect. He promised that he would return a like amount in a few days and said he wanted the gin for a party which he was going to pull off. If he could replace it, it seemed to me that he was getting liquor from an illegal source. The fact that I never enjoyed the fulfillment of his promise as I was out my two bottles of gin.”

By 1922, hundreds of Prohibition violation cases flooded the courts, overburdening the system. Kennedy blamed the bottleneck on ill-equipped and unqualified Prohibition agents, stating “The enforcement agencies were not equipped with agents and employees who were skilled in the matter of preparing cases for prosecution like those who were in charge of the other classes of Federal crimes — the Post Office Department or the Treasury Department.”

He also noted the difficulty of even finding capable agents, writing “No doubt it was very difficult to secure the proper types of men to fill the positions in the Prohibition Agencies. This added greatly to the matter of securing convictions and also to the trials and tribulations of the Judge upon the bench.”

Kennedy handed down stiff fines around $200 and refused to show leniency to those who went to trial versus pleading guilty. His policy, he admitted, “became fairly well-known.” In fact, he would “boldly announce” his sentencing policy in court “so that counsel would understand.”

Routine issues spelled doom for Prohibition in Wyoming and nationwide – inadequate staff and funding, inconsistent enforcement, and moral hypocrisy. Bootleggers stayed a step ahead, fueling contempt for the law.

As we celebrate the new year, we can raise a glass and agree that Wyoming’s “noble experiment” was indeed full of foibles.

To learn more about Wyoming’s Prohibition challenges, take a look at the T. Blake Kennedy papers at the AHC. Photographs by prohibition agent Otto W. Plaga also capture more Cowboy State history from the era.

Post contributed by AHC Archivist Leslie Waggener.