Christmas Revelry

Nowadays we usually think of New Year's Eve as the primary hell-raising holiday of the year. Some of the summer holidays, such as the 4th of July and Labor Day, are also occasions for drinking and carousing for some people. 

However, most people, or at least most people I know, do not think of Christmas as a special time for partying, except maybe the office parties that some businesses hold a few days before the holiday. December 25 itself tends to be more of a solemn occasion, at least for Christians. It is also a joyous occasion, especially for kids, but it's not what most of us think of as a raucous, hell-raising occasion.

Apparently, that has not always been the case in America. In doing historical research, I've run across numerous mentions of men celebrating Christmas by getting drunk and raising hell. 

For instance, in late December of 1901 the Springfield Leader-Democrat lamented the revelry that had taken place in the city on Christmas Day. "Some persons," said the newspaper, "always insist on making Christmas an occasion of riot and debauchery, and they frequently come out of their holiday excesses badly worsted. The city calaboose had its Christmas aftermath last night and this morning Judge Mason inspected a penitent crowd of prisoners who waited for the admonition of the law. There were red eyes, gashed cheeks, muddy hats, tousled locks of dirty hair and other signs of the gross revelry of yesterday." 

The reporter cited several cases in particular.

S. A. Rowden, a Civil War veteran who lived east of town, had come to Springfield in a buggy, bought a bottle of whiskey, and got drunk. He was headed toward his buggy to head back home when he was arrested and put in the pokey. He told the judge the next day that he'd paid two recent fines for drunkenness, not realizing the judge's policy of being lenient on that count toward veterans. So, he thought the judge should let him off without a fine and that one night in jail was sufficient punishment. The judge apparently agreed, remarking that he noticed that Rowden had kept his drunken sprees to only about one every six months. He admonished Rowden not to take more than one or two big sprees between then and the next Christmas and sent him on his way.

Meanwhile, Buck Blades, "a young man well known about Billings and Republic," slept off his jag in the calaboose and paid a fine of one dollar the next day.

Ross Hall and George Williams were arrested for a cutting affray on South Street on Christmas afternoon. "The two young men swung their knives recklessly, and two or three persons were slightly cut." Hall and Williams were scheduled for trial in police court on the afternoon of 26th or 27th (exact date not clear).