Prohibition went into effect January 1, 1915 and Sheriff Joe Young was intent on making it stick. It was the middle of May when he made his first big sting. Before all was said and done, however, one of the informants would be charged with soliciting a bribe.
“Shortly after the first of the year Sheriff Young…gave warning that the sale of liquor must cease upon penalty of vigorous prosecution,” the Journal-Miner cited.
The first wave of nine arrests included people familiar to newspaper readers. All either owned or were employed by businesses that openly sold alcohol before prohibition took effect. “Complaints have been issued against three or four other parties,” the paper reported, “and it is expected that the warrants will be served upon them some time today.”
Eventually 25 were arrested, mostly from Prescott, Jerome and Humboldt, which was a well-populated town then, due to the work opportunities with the smelter. “The complaints were sworn to by Perito Alto and John Van Order…[to which] there seems to be considerable mystery surrounding [their] identities,” the paper reported. In fact, they were secretly on the Sheriff’s payroll; making $5 a day ($130 today) plus expenses. They referred to themselves as “spotters” and both men had done similar work in other Arizona counties. Within a week of the sting, Sheriff Young appointed Alto a special deputy.
Sidney Birch, of the Birch Bros. cafe and one of the accused himself, provided bail sureties for seven other defendants. Each would be tried separately, only a few got off.
One who avoided the heavy hand of the law was Maria Treviso, who was happy to turn state’s evidence after her charges were dropped.
The first to be brought to trial was Peter Gautriaud. John Van Order testified “that he had tried to get booze in the front part of Gautriaud’s saloon three or four times,” but failed, “so he finally decided to go around the back and there he was successful,” the paper related. When asked by county attorney PJ O’Sullivan to identify the whiskey by smell, Van Order said that he could tell better by taste. “So he broke the seal and tasted the contents saying that it was whiskey, while a majority of the spectators looked on with longing and envious eyes,” the paper reported.
Maria Treviso testified that Gautriaud had “sold her all the liquor she desired.” Gautriaud was found guilty and fined $200 (over $5000 today). He was lucky. Most of those arrested had to pay fines and serve ten days in the county jail.
The succeeding trials, for those who pleaded not guilty, went a similar way. In the second trial, Perito Alto was the main witness and he too needed to taste the evidence in open court to be sure it was whiskey.
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Then, two weeks later, after his promotion to special deputy, Alto was arrested for soliciting a $400 bribe from Sidney Birch. “Sensational as were the arrests of the 25 men and women charged with bootlegging a short time ago,” the paper reported, “that pales into insignificance when compared with the features surrounding the taking into custody of one of the main witnesses for the state.”
Alto had allegedly made overtures to the Birch brothers previously. This time they were ready. In order to avoid the noise of the cafe and to hold their discussion in private, Alto was taken to “the upstairs portion…of the building in the last room on the right hand side in the rear of the building.” Little did Alto know, that just above the room's open window, five men were stationed on the roof on top of mattresses in order to remain silent. Four of these five would end up testifying in court that Alto told the Birch brothers that for $400, he and his assistant “spotters” would disappear from the state just before Sid Birch’s trial. Alto stated that “he wanted to get out of this damned business and for $400 would…go all the way to New York.”
Sidney told Alto that he would not bribe anyone. When Alto opened the door to leave, a deputy was waiting right outside to arrest him. “Alto was so taken by surprise that he completely collapsed,” the paper reported, “his legs refusing to support him.”
Four other defendants reported that Alto made the same offer to them for $100 apiece. He was released after providing a $1000 bond and would plead not guilty. Oddly, he continued to testify for the state in case after case; no one considering his arrest as impeaching to his testimony--with the possible exception of Sidney Birch. There is no newspaper evidence that he was convicted of anything even though nearly all the other convictions were duly reported.
Alto’s first trial ended after a whopping 95.5 hours of jury deliberation. The majority of that time was spent with eleven of the jurors trying to convince one that Alto should be set free. They were unsuccessful. The jury was hung and a new trial ordered.
Alto’s defense was that he was acting in his official duties as a special deputy despite the fact that he did not obtain permission from any of his superiors. The jury, made up of “six drys and six wets,” found his story to be plausible enough to set him free.
However, by this time Alto’s cover as a “spotter” was completely blown and his industry was over. He did get out of “this damned business,” and was never heard from again.
Of those arrested, as many as six had their cases dismissed; one was sentenced to a year in prison with the sentence suspended; three were levied fines of $25-$200; and fifteen were given 10-15 days in jail and fined between $25 and $300.
Still, like the rest of the country, these arrests did little to stem the tide of bootleg whiskey in Yavapai County.
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SOURCES:
Weekly Journal-Miner, 5/12/1915; Pg. 1, Col. 2
Weekly Journal-Miner, 5/19/1915; Pg. 2, Cols. 2-4
IBID; Pg. 6, Col. 7
IBID; Pg. 4, Col. 5
Weekly Journal-Miner, 5/26/1915; Pg. 3, Cols. 1-3
Weekly Journal-Miner, 6/2/1915; Pg. 4, Col. 7
Weekly Journal-Miner, 6/23/1915; Pg. 6, Col. 5
IBID; Pg. 3, Col. 2
Weekly Journal-Miner, 8/11/1915; Pg. 3, Col. 3
Weekly Journal-Miner, 8/18/1915; Pg. 5.
Weekly Journal-Miner, 6/23/1915; Pg. 3, Col. 3
Weekly Journal-Miner, 8/11/1915; Pg. 4, Col. 3
Weekly Journal-Miner, 6/23/1915; Pg. 3, Col. 3
IBID; Pg. 3, Cols. 2-3
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