March 30, 1915: Burgess Dr. Charles B. Dotterer Determined to Discourage Drunkenness and Dirty Streets

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

March 30, 1915: The pitiful sight of a young man confined in Fort Lehman for several days suffering from the tortures of overindulgence has prompted Burgess Dr. Charles B. Dotterer to try to “clean up” the town. He has started a “flag list” and he will hold all hotel owners accountable for serving or selling an intoxicant to anyone on that list.

There are already quite a few “regulars” who have been turned down by bartenders and they will have to remain sober to get their names removed from “the list.” It is not yet known how long that will take.

Citizens who buy liquor and furnish it to known drunks are also warned to quit the practice. Nothing less than a jail sentence will satisfy our burgess if violators are discovered.

He is also trying to clean up our streets by asking residents to throw their ashes in their back yards and not dump them on our streets.

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