Page:The War on the Webfoot Saloon.djvu/5

 the Temperance movement as hypocritical humbuggery, and he was possessed of an explosive temper equipped with a very short fuse.

Here is what occurred, as Frances Fuller Victor afterwards told it:

"As is well known, Mr. Moffett's place is upon a corner, with a door upon either side, so that one can pass into one on Morrison Street and out the other on First Street, almost at a stride. The two ladies, trembling, but full of holy zeal, paused at the entrance on Morrison Street, and stepped into the saloon whose proprietor was as unknown to them as the proprietors of other saloons. As they entered, Mr. Moffett, on the alert, (for the saloon-keepers on this Coast had not been reading the news without preparing for a contest), entered by the Front Street door, which brought him face to face with his visitors. Without giving them time to announce their errand, he seized each rudely by an arm, and thrust them into the street, exclaiming, "Get out of this! I keep a respectable house and don't want any d––d w––s here."

Shocking as such a reception must have been to any woman, many long and earnest prayers had not given these women a preparation for these things. . . . Mrs. Reid, one of the two thus insulted, turned and looked up over the door to ascertain what sort of place, kept by what sort of man, this might be; and the name, struck her with horror.

"Walter Moffett!" she exclaimed. "Can this be Walter Moffett? Why, Walter Moffett, I used to know you; and I prayed with your wife for your safety when you were at sea years ago!"

"I don't want any of your d––d prayers; I want you to get out of this and stay out; that's all I want of you. I don't keep a wh––e house.""

From which they gathered he wished them to depart, and so they did.

Frist blood for Walter Moffett.

This shocking reverse was reported that evening at the Taylor Street Church, and the account raised a wild storm of outrage and indignation. The Crusade, until now uncertainly and imperfectly assembled, was riveted by burning determination into a tireless and efficient war machine, with the destruction of the Webfoot Saloon as its first objective. Other establishments would be invaded, other barkeeps assaulted by song and prayer, but upon Walter Moffett would be visited the full fury of the petticoat revolution. And like