1910's T. Herbert White Bangor Political Paper Democratic Candidate For Sheriff

1910's T. Herbert White Bangor Political Paper Democratic Candidate For Sheriff

A century ago, prohibitionists in Eastern Maine succeeded in ousting three Penobscot County sheriffs for not doing enough to stop liquor sales. Between 1913 and 1918, two years before federal prohibition, the battle over booze escalated rapidly, especially in Bangor, the hub of the area’s liquor supply.

The new sheriff, White, even though he ran as a Democrat, was greeted by the Bangor Daily News with a large photograph and the comment that he had “more than the average man’s number of friends.”

Ironically, in 1918, White was ousted from office by Gov. Carl Milliken and the Executive Council for not doing enough to enforce the prohibition law. By then, a new state constitutional amendment had given governors more power to remove sheriffs,