Black Sheep Sunday - Arrest by Prohibition Agents

I love old newspapers! I know that I have posted about them before, but I always seem to find something interesting in a newspaper search! I received an email offer from fold3 for a half-off subscription to newspapers.com. Since starting the subscription, I have been slowly going through each state to look for newspapers in the areas of my ancestors. I found The Daily Republican in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, which is only a few miles from Monessen.

In my search for Cubbage, Linneman and Speck families in The Daily Republican, I found some hospital admissions and reports of surgery, a few car accidents, a few articles about my great-grandfather's business, and this article about my great grand uncle, Christian "Christ" Linneman.

click image for a larger view

"At East Monogahela, the officers visited the East Monongahela hotel where they arrested Peter Yalch, 46, of Monongahela and Christ Linneman, of Monessen. They were released on bond in the sum of $1,000 for hearings November 20 before U. S. Commissioner Roger Knox. Beer on tap was found here, the officers say. The warrant was sworn out when a federal officer reported that he purchased four drinks at fifty cents each."

Christ Linneman was my great-grandmother's oldest brother. He never married and lived much of his life in Monessen with his mother or siblings. I have his Gesangbuch (German hymnal) and a photo of him from World War I. On several records he lists his occupation as bartender or "hotel clerk", so in some ways it was not surprising to find this article. 

A similar article ran in The Monessen Daily Independent, but Christ's name was not mentioned, just Peter Yalch (listed as Yehak). I looked in both papers after the stated November 20th hearing date, but found nothing. Next up is to see if I can locate those court records. Any suggestions? The county seat?

This was the only article that I have found about Christ's involvement with alcohol during Prohibition. I did perform a quick search on Peter Yalch in those papers and found a few other arrests, one after a raid on his "speakeasy" in Monessen. I guess it was hard to be a bartender during Prohibition!

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SOURCES:

"Dry Agents Hit Six Places In District," The Daily Republican (Monongahela, Pennsylvania), 12 November 1928, p. 1, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://newspapers.com : accessed 31 January 2014).

"County Detectives and Federal Officer Make Raids Over Week-end," The Monessen Daily Independent (Monessen, Pennsylvania), 12 November 1928, p. 1, col. 7; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 January 2014).  

"Six Monessen Buildings Hit By Dry Agents," The Daily Republican (Monongahela, Pennsylvania), 16 December 1932, p. 1, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://newspapers.com : accessed 31 January 2014).