Barrels of beer emptied into the Schuylkill River, Philadelphia (1924)
Library of Congress photograph captioned "Putting a kick in the staid old Schuylkill", showing barrels of beer emptied into the Schuylkill River. The man with the axe is identified only as probably the U.S. Marshal, with an alternate identification.
- Date
- 1924
- Kind
- photograph
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-11
- Rights
- The Library of Congress item record states: "No known restrictions on publication." Collection: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, SSF - Prohibition. Call number: SSF - Prohibition [item] [P&P]. Reproduction number: LC-USZ62-15182 (b&w film copy neg.).
The Library of Congress caption reads “Putting a kick in the staid old Schuylkill here go a few barrels of beer – not 1/2 of 1 percent – into the Schuylkill River.” The Library’s summary says the man swinging an axe “probably” is W. Frank Mathues, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania 1921-1930, and gives an alternate identification of Public Safety Director Smedley D. Butler. The identification is the cataloger’s query and is not settled by the record.
The photograph is in the Prints and Photographs Division’s Prohibition subject file, credited to Underwood & Underwood, dated 1924. The copy stored here is the Library of Congress service JPEG.
