Prohibition in the North Country — Halfway House

The latest in an occasional series of posts

Two men walk into The Halfway House, located halfway between Glens Falls and Lake George, and asked for an acquaintance.

This is not the set up for a punch line, although it does cause a chuckle to picture six partial bottles of alleged liquor being kept in the Glens Falls Police Department vault over night as evidence.

“The six bottles … was placed in the vault of police headquarters and left there until last night when the agents left for Albany, taking the bottles with them for a chemical analysis of the contents,” The Post-Star reported on Jan. 17, 1921.

Daniel Hurley, owner of the Halfway House, and Thomas Mansfield, an employee, posted $1,000 bail each, and were not detained.

The two men that walked into The Halfway House that Saturday evening in the Prohibition era were federal revenue agents.

“It is said that the two agents went to the Halfway House and after inquiring if a certain person had been there and being told that he had not, seated themselves in the bar room and said they would wait,” The Post-Star reported. “After a time it was said one of them remarked that they might as well have a drink while waiting and when they walked up to the bar it is said that a bottle of what was claimed to be liquor was set up for them.”

Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series.