ghost of new year's past: oregon governor declares martial law

in doing some recent research about oregon, i discovered something amazing: on new year's eve in 1913, governor oswald west declared martial law in oregon in order to stop the sale of alcohol...

oswald west, prohibition advocate
from wikipedia: [Oswald] West was a fervent prohibitionist. He believed so strongly in the idea that he once declared martial law on New Year's Eve 1913 in order to shut down liquor-selling establishments in the town of Copperfield, Oregon. He then dispatched National Guard troops, chaperoned by his own personal secretary Fern Hobbs on January 2, 1914 to enforce the order and shut down the saloons. The move made headlines across the country. When his "invasion" of the small town in Baker County failed to garner local support he sought, (but failed) to void the town's incorporation citing that it was "in the hands of a lawless element." He also once declared that he wanted to "shoot a bartender." ... Bend Mayor George Palmer Putnam criticized West in a New York Times interview shortly after the Copperfield affair. Putnam asserted that the Governor's theatrical methods, and his inordinate attention to the affairs of local communities, detracted from the governance and national image of the state as a whole.

just a scary, little footnote from the past to remind us of what may come again in the not-too-distant future...