Ferguson Features

As we continue the April theme of alcohol awareness, we consider a bill introduced by State Senator Walter Scott Ferguson, son of T.B. and Elva Ferguson. According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, “Oklahoma Senate Bill Number Fiftyfive, known as the 'Bone-Dry Law,' stipulated that 'it shall be unlawful for any person in this state to possess any liquor received directly or indirectly from a common or other carrier.'

With the firm backing of the state's Anti-Saloon League, Sen. Walter Ferguson introduced the bill that many considered to be among the most stringent of its time. Violation of its mandates constituted a misdemeanor and carried a penalty of up to five hundred dollars in fines and six months imprisonment. The bill's passage in 1917 marked ten years since Oklahoma had entered the Union as a dry state.”

Walter Ferguson had entered the University of Oklahoma in 1906, the year his father completed his service as Territorial governor. In 1908, Walter left the University, married Lucia Loomis, and purchased the Cherokee Republican.

He served in the 6th Oklahoma Legislature from 1917-19 as Republican representing the 7th district. (Wikipedia.com).

“Despite its almost unanimous passage, the bill became one of the state's most contested prohibition laws. It failed to exempt liquor distribution for sacramental use in churches while providing exemptions for hospitals, pharmacists, universities, and scientific institutions.

The Roman Catholic Church challenged the law's capacity to prevent carriers to deliver wine intended for sacramental use in De Hasque v. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company. On May 21, 1918, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that distribution of wine for sacramental purposes would be exempt from the aw.

The law's intent was further diminished by a December 1918 ruling that allowed an individual to possess liquor provided it was not received from a common carrier. Despite losing its initial efficacy, the Bone-Dry Law remained on the books until Oklahoma repealed prohibition in 1959. (Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.)

It seems that Walter Scott Ferguson was not always “dry”. His son, Benton, wrote “In 1931, at the 25th anniversary of the founding of Beta Eta of Kappa Alpha, he (Walter) was presented with a ring from the other founders of the chapter, inscribed, 'To the Daddy of Kappa Alpha in Oklahoma.' There such facts were brought to light that he and 'Deac' Parker, another founder (now editor- in-chief of Scripps Howard newspapers), had a contract with the local bartender to sweep out for all the beer they could drink, and the fact that the chapter's first presidential chair was a beer keg.” (January 1936 issue of The Sooner Magazine)