Authors: Ron, Don, and Ed Guenther

Written: August, 2014

A Samuel Guenther Family Story

Marcus, Washington, Abt 1930

Marcus, Washington 1928

Located on the upper Columbia River, Marcus was incorporated in 1910. Population was about 500. Logging was a mainstay in the economy at that time, including shipping on the river. Travelers coming up the Columbia River would stop in at Marcus, since Marcus was located just above impassable Kettle Falls. 

Prohibition

From about 1920-1933 America was in the time called Prohibition. 

Alcoholic beverages had been designated as nasty stuff, no end to trouble.  It was outlawed, prohibited, thus the designation Prohibition. John Guenther(1912-1991) told stories of the bootleggers flying through town in Marcus, Washington, with the police hot on their tails. If they could just get rid of the evidence, they could not be prosecuted, he said. According to John they hurtled the hooch out of the car windows ‘like popcorn out of the kettle’.

Transporting Illegal Hooch

‘Hooch’ was the standard term for the illicitly made liquor, bad stuff, sometimes toxic.There were several ways they brought the liquor over the border. The river was useful, but Kettle Falls stopped the boats at that point, and it would have to be transported around the falls into Marcus, where it was then put back on the river, most heading to Canada. Transporting liquor at this time was called bootlegging. The road system was useful in moving hooch, but the volumes a car could carry were minimal, although there were trucks that could carry more. The trucks were easier for law enforcement to spot.

The wheelbase of a Model T or a Model A was the same as the width of the rail tracks, so they would take off the tires and only have the rims there, and then drive the cars down the rails at night when no trains were coming. Actually, Hooch was a colloquial term, another term was moonshine.  It was a high alcoholic drink, whiskey, corn liquor, apple jack, etc., just anything that was alcoholic.  The critical thing was, it was illegal and the alcohol content was high.  This was during the prohibition so even good stuff was outlawed for sale.  People could make enough for their own family and private use and there were kits for making beer and people made wine. 

Marketing Hooch, The Speakeasy    

Once the hooch was brought into an area, one of the places in Marcus that procured the hooch and peddled it was a little speakeasy. A speakeasy simply meant that you kept things quiet, crept in at the back door, and tanked up. They were also called a blind pig or blind tiger. One of the features of the Marcus speakeasy was a little dance band that they would occasionally hire. The manager of the local band was none other than the notorious Samuel E. Guenther, John Guenther’s father. 

All three of Sam Guenther’s children played instruments, as the now deceased mother, Alice, had taught them. There was Berchion(1907-1983), Noma(1911- 1993), and John. John played the 

violin and was part of Sam’s band in the speakeasies. The girls did not play in this band, but did play when Sam bought a theater in Cheney. They showed silent films and Noma and Berchion played piano for background music and intermissions. Noma and Berchion played ragtime and later Jazz.

Sam’s Traveling Band

As for Sam’s speakeasy band, they played in the local towns, as far South as Kettle Falls and North across the Canadian border.  One of the band members was a drummer and once, he fell down the stairs coming out of a place they played in and his drum burst open and it was full of good whiskey. Sam played the violin.  

Cards in the Speakeasy

Along with the hooch, the speakeasies would feature illegal gambling in the form of cards. Sam put his son John at the card table as a dealer, even though John was under age. 

Sam had his ways of conniving. It probably was exciting for John, who had no trade or skills or much in the way of education. Any money that John made at cards went to Sam. After marrying, John limited his cards to a non-gambling form known as pedro, which he taught all his children.

The speakeasies typically had an upstairs room, as did the Marcus speakeasy.

Sam’s Shenanigans

There was the episode of the disappearing ink that Sam would sell and then leave towns in a hurry, or the way his brother shot him in the head after Sam finagled the family farm from his father, not sharing it with his siblings, or his gold mine shenanigans, or any number of other shady businesses. 

One of Sam’s Gold Certificates

Sam had gold certificates supposedly worth 10’s of thousands of dollars. He tried to sell some to his daughter Berchion. The stocks were worthless.

Childhood Lovers

Thrown into the mix, Berchion had her childhood boyfriend, Cliff Perry, coming to fetch her and marry her. He was coming from Marshfield, Oregon, where they had met when Berch was in 6th grade at age 11. Cliff was 13.

From the start Berchion and Cliff were angling toward marriage. It was a done deal supposedly, if that is possible at age 11. As Sam moved his family frequently, they would periodically find their way back to Coos Bay where Berchion and Cliff would renew their vows. Even when apart they stayed in touch via mail and an occasional phone call. So when Berchion was good and sick and tired of her dad, Sam, and all his shenanigans, she called up Cliff and said something like, “Cliff, you’ve beat around the bush long enough. You get on up here so we can get married or I’m finding somebody who will!” You may think this is stretching it, but if you knew Berchion you’d be sure that she was a dominant personality. Cliff wasted no time. It was sudden to be sure, but where in the world could he ever find the like of Berchion! He jumped in his car. She was 20, he was 22, plenty old enough to get hitched. But maybe Cliff was a little reluctant, maybe there was a bit of trepidation. Who can say for sure?

Now is where the story gets interesting, and there are several renditions to it:

Take 1 

Cliff drives to Marcus and somehow is walking, not driving in his car. He walks right into a snowbank. John mysteriously knows where to find him and pulls him out of the ditch and saves his life.  It is another mystery as to why Cliff could not pull himself out. 

Take 2

Cliff gets cold feet about the marriage and needs a bracer. He stops by the speakeasy and one thing leads to another until he can’t drive. He wonders out onto the road looking for the outhouse and falls into the ditch, buried in snow. The snow felt warm so he didn’t bother trying to climb out. John knew right where to find him, near the speakeasy.

Take 3

Cliff shows up and Aunt Berchion is ecstatic. Her ticket out, her one true love. A marriage is in the works and everyone knew how the Perrys loved to celebrate. So they all head down to the speakeasy, perhaps Sam’s band even had a jig that night. Cliff was high, high on life, high on Berchion, his true love, and high on hooch. One drink of moonshine led to another and another and another until he was tanked, plumb full. He may have been looking for the outhouse, it is uncertain, but he wound up in a cozy little snow bank. He would have been content to lay there and dream of Berchion and prosperity until he would have died, but John found him, not so mysteriously, and dragged him out. John literally saved his life!

Which one?

John, Berchion, and Cliff would laugh uproariously as they shared Take 1 with the family, but perhaps that is because they knew there was a little more to it. Berchion’s laugh played music like her piano, as she leaned back in the rocker and reminisced. Funny how her stories would make her brother John nervous in later years, almost like he was afraid she would slip and tell too much. But if you knew Berchion, you’d know that she meant it when she would say, “I’m taking that one to the grave with me,” and the melodious music would play from her vocal cords. Who could ever find the like of wonderful Berchion!

Cliff took Berchion back to Coos Bay where they had two children. Berchion outlived two husbands and then the third finally buried her. Many a Thanksgiving Berchion could be seen in a rocking chair at brother John’s house, telling stories and making music with her laughter.