BERRY AND LINCOLN GET A TAVERN LICENSE.
But all this was fatal to business, and by spring it was evident that something must be done to stimulate the grocery sales.
On the 6th of March, 1833, the County Commissioner’s Court of Sangamon County granted the firm of Berry and Lincoln a license to keep a tavern at New Salem.
It is probable that the license was procured to enable the firm to retail the liquors which they had in stock, and not for keeping a tavern. In a community in which liquor-drinking was practically universal, at a time when whiskey was as legitimate an article of merchandise as coffee or calico, when no family was without a jug, when the minister of the gospel could take his “dram” without any breach of propriety, it is not surprising that a reputable young man should have been found selling whiskey. Liquor was sold at all groceries, but it could not be lawfully sold in a smaller quantity than one quart. The law, however, was not always rigidly observed, and it was the custom of storekeepers to treat their patrons. Each of the three groceries which Berry and Lincoln acquired had the usual supply of liquors, and it was only good business that they should seek a way to dispose of the surplus quickly and profitably—an end which could be best accomplished by selling it over the counter by the glass. To do this lawfully required a tavern license; and it is a warrantable conclusion that such was the chief aim of Berry and Lincoln in procuring a franchise of this character. We are fortified in this conclusion by the coincidence that three other grocers of New Salem—William Clary, Henry Sinco, and George Warberton—were among those who took out tavern licenses. To secure the lawful privilege of selling whiskey by the “dram” was no doubt their purpose; for their “taverns” were as mythical as the inn of Berry and Lincoln. Lincoln may, of course, have desired to go into the tavern business and so have taken out a license, but it is certain that he never realized his ambition and that it was only in the grocery that he sold liquor.
A DISCHARGE FROM SERVICE IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS CAPTAIN.—NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.
The license issued to Berry and Lincoln read as follows:
Ordered that William F. Berry, in the name of Berry and Lincoln, have a license to keep a tavern in New Salem to continue 12 months from this date, and that they pay one dollar in addition to the six dollars heretofore paid as per Treasurer’s receipt, and that they be allowed the following rates (viz.):
| French Brandy per ½ pt. | 25 |
| Peach Brandy per ½ pt. | 18¾ |
| Apple Brandy per ½ pt. | 12 |
| Holland Gin per ½ pt. | 18¾ |
| Domestic per ½ pt. | 12½ |
| Wine per ½ pt. | 25 |
| Rum per ½ pt. | 18¾ |
| Whiskey per ½ pt. | 12½ |
| Breakfast, dinner or supper | 25 |
| Lodging per night | 12½ |
| Horse per night | 25 |
| Single feed | 12½ |
| Breakfast, dinner or supper for Stage Passengers | 37½ |
who gave bond as required by law.