Compliments to the Bear: Adventures of an Alaska Prohibition Agent - Paperback

by Judith Ripley (Author)

Warren S. Harding, a prohibition agent, leads a rough-and-tumble life pursuing bootleggers and rumrunners in the vast, sparsely populated Territory of Alaska in the 1920s. In Juneau, a moonshiner's trial involves a stolen car, a shooting, perjury and harboring a criminal; in Ketchikan, seized liquor mysteriously vanishes at the city dump; in Nome, local officials and a six-foot Portuguese prostitute challenge Harding. Prohibition enforcement is a daunting task in the wilderness of Alaska where Harding travels by boat, car, sternwheeler, rail, and horseback, on foot and by snowshoe trying to stop the flow of illegal liquor. Conditions are harsh, with below zero temperatures in winter and swarms of mosquitoes in summer. He survives a bear attack, suffers seasickness while motoring on roiling waters and lands in a hospital after posing as a laborer at a mine. For these hardships, the Alaska prohi agent is vilified and ostracized, seeking solace in liquor denied the general population, an example of widespread corruption that is one of many factors that eventually leads to repeal of the unpopular law.

Author Biography

Judith Ripley is a seventh generation Alaskan of Russian and Aleut descent. She was born in Juneau, Alaska, where she and her artist husband operated a graphics and printing business for over 30 years. The Ripleys, retired, still live in Juneau, They have three daughters and six grandchildren.