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Consumption Of Alcohol In The 1920's

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Consumption of alcohol was illegal, but that didn’t stop a number of Dartmouth College students from buying and drinking it in the 1920s. It was a regular occurrence on the campus of Dartmouth. One of the regular suppliers of alcohol during that time was Robert T. Meads. Meads, a senior at Dartmouth College routinely brought in alcohol from Canada to sell on campus. In 1920, the population of the college was 1,815 making up roughly three fourth of the town of Hanover New Hampshire’s population. Meads was well known for supplying alcohol to members of the college. Consumption of alcohol was so much a part of the culture at Dartmouth that seeing students stumble across campus drunk was seen as normal and nothing to get worried about. It was an above average day on June 16, 1920. The temperature was above average for the month and Henry Maroney, a junior at Dartmouth College at that time, who was battling an alcohol addiction that he acquired while serving in the United States Navy during the first World War, bought a quart of whiskey from Meads. Satisfied with his purchase, Maroney decided to buy another bottle from him, despite not having the the $20 that Meads was asking for. …show more content…

Maroney, who was already drunk at the time, grabbed the bottle of whiskey and fled the scene. Meads, who had a history of violence grabbed his pistol and went after Maroney. Meads wanted his $20 and he would do anything, even kill, to get his money. As the night progressed, Meads searched and searched for Maroney, running into him on three separate occasions, each time unsuccessfully trying to kill

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