Demon alcohol

“shut up and get out!” - then a gunshot

The afternoon of November 22, 1921, Nick Dugan burst through the door of Lambert’s Café, walking with an uneasy step.  He made his way through the crowded room to the lunch counter where he took his seat in a manner that made his presence known.  Dugan hollered over to a waitress demanding a cup of coffee and a sandwich. 

When thirty-eight year old Helen Reynolds brought over a cup of coffee and sandwich, Dugan immediately began yelling obscenities at the waitress, claiming she had brought the wrong sandwich even though Dugan had failed to specify any particular variety.  A cook in the back of the restaurant, Laura Ferra, came out upon hearing the commotion.  The surly Dugan then turned his ire toward the cook, loudly hurling obscenities at her. 

One patron in the crowded restaurant had enough of this spectacle.  Marcus Wherle, a decade long resident of Las Vegas, rose from his table and told Dugan, “Shut up and get out!”

Dugan pulled a revolver and turned on Wherle.“You going to make me?”There was a moment of hesitation on the part of Wherle before he made the decision to confront the drunken interloper.Wherle managed to grab Dugan’s wrist and nearly wrestle the gun from his hand, but not before Dugan used his strength to push the barrel of the gun against Wherele’s side and pulled the trigger.A shot rang out in the crowded restaurant.Wherle stumbled back and turned.Dugan fired another shot into the man’s back and Wherle collapsed to the floor.Dugan stepped over his unconscious victim, throwing more obscenities before exiting the establishment by a back door.

prohibition: a tough fit for las vegas

Prohibition came into effect across the nation on January 17, 1920.  But Las Vegas being an isolated desert outpost, a forgettable stop on the way to and from California, managed to largely avoid strong enforcement of prohibition laws.  In fact local liquor distributors and saloon owners largely ignored the law despite in the first months of 1920 a zealous prosecutor, egged on by the local newspaper, raided the Northern, one of the saloons that freely operated along Fremont Street. 

After the raid on the Northern it did become more difficult to find a drink in the Las Vegas valley.  But that state of affairs did not last long, as the local newspaper went on to decry the site of intoxicated men stumbling about the saloon district and chastising the local authorities for not doing enough to stem the flow of illegal booze. 

Naturally, when alcohol was involved with a murder, the local newspaper highlighted the role drunkenness had played in the violent affair.It came out that Dugan, who by all accounts had a sterling reputation and was traveling to Las Vegas on business, had dropped by Block 16 earlier that day.While touring the dive bars where liquor and beer still flowed despite Prohibition, Dugan had fourteen shots of moonshine over a few hour period.Around five or six that afternoon, he stumbled over to Fremont Street and wandered into Lambert’s Café where his life and the life of Marcus Wherle were forever changed.

if you’re drunk enough, is it still murder? (and the first women jurors in vegas history!)

The role of booze in the local community wasn’t the only centerpiece of the Dugan trial.  The Nevada legislature had recently voted to mandate that women be included in local jury pools.  This led to the first women jurors in Las Vegas’s history serving during the trial of Nick Dugan.  There was a considerable amount of concern among local Vegas attorneys, who worried that women would be unable to justly decide a case involving an “attractive or magnetic” man.

Dugan testified at his own trial, alleging that he did not recall anything after about five o’clock in the afternoon of November 22nd.  The last thing he remembered was taking a shot of moonshine in the back of one of the dives along Block 16 – the next thing he remembered was waking up in the local jail.  Guards at the jail and a local doctor supported Dugan’s version of events by noting he had been violently ill, likely from alcohol poisoning, after regaining his senses at the city jail. 

The District Attorney showed no mercy toward Dugan.  He sought to make an example of the young man, with an aim to show that illegal drunkenness would no longer be an excuse for violence.  D.A. Harley Harmon brought forth a slew of witnesses consisting mainly of patrons or employees of Lambert’s Café that testified to the brutal nature of the slaying.

The judge afforded the jury the option of finding Dugan guilty of first degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, or not guilty.Defeating the concerns of the entirely male local bar, the women of the jury urged a conviction of second-degree murder due to the wanton nature of Dugan’s crime – after all, he had discharged a firearm in a crowded restaurant after inviting Wherle to do something to stop his abusive behavior.After over five hours of deliberation, the men of the jury apparently convinced their fellow jurors to return a verdict for involuntary manslaughter due to Dugan’s extreme state of intoxication and lack of memory of the homicide.

a short sentence

Dugan only served about three years in the Nevada State Prison before being released on parole.  The Las Vegas Age continued to rail against the evils of alcohol.  And Las Vegas residents continued to have easy and ready access to alcohol for the remainder of Prohibition and beyond.