85th Anniversary of Prohibition Abatement Charges Dropped
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 marks the 85th anniversary of abatement charges being dropped against Schell's Brewery during Prohibition. Here is the transcript from the New Ulm Review on August 1st, 1923:
SCHELL BREWERY TO HAVE HEARING IN NEAR FUTURE
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Was Ordered to Show Cause Why Their Place Should Not Be Closed
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Case In Court Has Been Continued
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Opportunity Will be Given To Show No Intent To Violate the Law
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Last Thursday, Judge Wilbur F. Booth in United States district court in St. Paul issued an order to show cause why the August Schell Brewing Company of New Ulm should not be closed for one year. When the case was called last Monday continuance was granted.
No arrest for violation of liquor laws has been made in this case, the action having been started on instructions from Attorney General Daugherty in Washington upon information received from Federal Prohibition agents in Minnesota.
The action before Judge Booth was started after a conference between S. B. Quale, prohibition director for Minnesota, and H.L. Duncan, federal prohibition supervisor for the northwest.
Were Here in April.
It will be recalled that some time in April, Federal Agents made a test of some of the beverages manufactured by the Schell Brewing Company of this city. The brewing company operates under a permit from the government authorizing the manufacture of cereal beverages containing not to exceed one half of one per cent of alcoholic contents.
Slightly Exceeds Limit.
It was claimed by the agents who made the test, that the alcoholic contents slightly exceed the percentage allowed by law. It is understood that it is claimed the tests showed an increase of from a quarter to on half per cent approximately. It is claimed by the Schell Brewing Company that if the government tests were correct, that the slight increase was entirely unintentional and due to the fact that the demand for beverages during the winter and spring is very light, and that beverages tested were unusually old. There is always a possibility of a slight increase in the alcoholic contents on account of the face that all of the fermentable matter cannot be removed from the brew thru the de-alcoholization process.
Abatement Proceedings Instituted
The report made by the Federal Agents was sent thru to Washington and abatement proceedings were instituted. The abatement proceedings were returnable at St. Paul last Monday, but these proceedings were continued on account of the fact that the Prohibition Director is arranging to give the Schell Brewing Company an opportunity to be heard before the prohibition director on the question as to whether or not there was any intentional violation of the law.
Hearing Will Be Soon.
This hearing will be held some time within the next ten days or two weeks, and the future action of the department will be largely determined by the result of this hearing before the Prohibition Director.
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It was another eight months before the charges against Schell's were finally dropped. Here is the transcript from the New Ulm Review on April 2, 1924:
SCHELL'S BREWERY FOUND NOT GUILTY OF LAW VIOLATION
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Dismissal Of The Abatement Proceedings Ordered By Federal Judge.
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PLANT WAS RAIDED BY AUTHORITIES YEAR AGO
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Prohibition Director Quale Compliments Brewery On Fine Showing.
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Friends of the August Schell Brewing Co. will be pleased to learn that the abatement proceedings instituted against them some time last year have been dismissed. The motion to dismiss was made by United States District Attorney Lafayette French Jr., and the order for dismissal was signed by United States District Judge Wilbur Booth and filed last Saturday.
Brewery Raided
Some time in April last year the brewery was raided by two federal agents who made themselves very conspicuous by discharging their revolvers at some rats which they claimed to have seen in the brewery at the time of the raid. The agents took some samples of the products brewed at the place which it seems did contain a trifle over 1/2 per cent of alcohol, the limit placed on beverages of this kind. This slight excess was due to defective machinery.
Permit Refused.
Nothing more was heard of this matter until almost sixty days after when a permit for running a de-alcoholizing plant was refused by the local concern. This was immediately followed by abatement proceedings to prevent the brewery from continuing business. In other words, an attempt was made to close up the plant for good.
Hearing Clears Up Difficulty
After some delay the attorneys of the Schell Brewing Co. succeeded in arranging a hearing on the matter of issuing a permit to the local concern and the whole matter was cleared up to the satisfaction of the prohibition authorities. Prohibition director Quale made the statement after the hearing that this was the best showing that had ever been made in similar proceedings and he immediately recommended to the authorities in Washington that the permit be granted. This was complied with very soon.
No Intentional Violation
With the permit granted, there was really nothing to base the abatement proceedings on and negotiations were opened to have them dismissed. This took considerable correspondence, because it became necessary to transmit the information that had been gathered in the prohibition department to the Department of Justice. This was finally accomplished and the order of dismissal followed.
It was conclusively proven to the prohibition department at the hearing that altho there might have been a technical violation of the law, there was no intentional and it necessarily followed that the abatement proceedings had to be dismissed.
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To honor this nerve-racking time in Schell's history, was have released "Not Guilty" 1924 Deer Brand as the sixth release in the 150th Anniversary Draft Series. This is a recreation of the actual Deer Brand recipe that we took from our brewing logs during Prohibition. Weighing in at almost 6% alcohol with a generous malt bill and a whopping 60 pounds of hops per 80 barrels, "Not Guilty" gives you a chance to try what Schell's would have tasted like during those 13 long years of Prohibition.