Born in June of 1846 in Kentucky, Carry Nation, shown here, was woman who stood six feet tall and weighed in at 175 pounds. A fervent member of the Temperance Movement, in 1900 she heard a “Voice from Above” that told her to take something hard in her hands and go wreck saloons. Her first adventure was in Kiowa, Kansas, where she stormed into a barroom and proceeded to heave rocks. So far as I know, none of her rocks have been collected. Other Carry Nation artifacts, however, are collected, as documented here.
Recognizing that once a rock is thrown through a saloon mirror, it loses its usefulness as a weapon, Carry soon switched to an implement known as a Crandall hammer, normally used by masons to dress building stone. When that proved inadequate to her purposes of smashing barrooms, she moved to — and stayed with — the hatchet. In time she owned three, naming them “Faith,” “Hope,” and “Charity.”
This axe became an enduring symbol as Carry performed her “hachetations” in saloons across the country. Invited into speak in his Guthrie, Oklahoma saloon by Moses Weinberger following her pledge not to do any hatchet swinging, Carry reneged and chopped a chunk from his mahogany bar. This was only one of dozens of bars bearing the scars of her fury.
Early on she began to need funds for her living expenses and to pay jail fines, railroad fares and hotel bills. According to the Kansas Historical Society, while she was speaking to an assembly on a Topeka street in 1901, a man handed her some small pewter hatchets. He suggested, "Sell them to this crowd and you can pay your costs and fines this month." The listeners quickly snatched them up.
After that the zealot in a bonnet was never without a bag full of them to sell, stored in a bag slung over her shoulder. In her autobiography, “The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation,” she said of the pins, "They carry a message with them, it is the heart of a mother crying, "Carry A. Nation for my baby, for my loved ones, Carry A. Nation against the saloons.” Women all over America who supported Prohibition wore them with pride.
Other hatchets with her message were contributed by adherents. Shown here is a tiny medal item that bears a presumed likeness of Carry on the blade. Dated 1901 and reading “Axe of All Nations,” the handle implored “Cut Out the Whiskey.” Meant as a watch fob or for a keychain, this hatchet was the handiwork of a friendly Michigan stove manufacturer. 
The origins and use of another, painted hatchet remains a mystery. The slogan “All Nations Welcome But Carrie,” was used against the lady but she cannily adopted it as her own mantra to disparage the saloonkeepers who shut the door on her. As shown here by the “Down with Rum” plaque, the hatchet became a symbol for the entire Temperance Movement.
“The badge of our army,” Carrie declared widely of her “Home Defender” pinbacks. Historians note that the concept of women as Home Defenders was central to the prohibition movement. Women were seen as protecting the home from the ravages of alcohol and other vices. Nation herself donated one of these buttons to the Kansas Historical Society in 1901. The Home Defender carafe shown here obviously held nothing stronger than sweet tea.
Photographs of Nation abound. Those she also sold. In her autobiography she declared: “I never want to picture taken of myself without my Bible, my constant and heavenly companion.” The hatchet was a second “constant companion,” abeit somwhat less heavenly. My favorite photo, below, is of Carrie talking to two men on the street. Her hands hold neither Bible nor axe, but are extended as if in supplication — a humanizing and sympathetic pose unlike the others.
Other Nation memorabilia are the many cartoons that were inked about her during her rampage and even afterward. The one at right was contemporary with her crusade. The one at left, by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was aimed at latter day prohibitionary efforts. 
The last artifact is a ceramic figural made by Schafer & Vader, a German pottery that made mini-flasks call “nips” for both European and American liquor outfits. I date this statuette from the early 1900s. It is not clear whether it is meant to represented Nation herself or one of her acolytes. The woman is carrying a Bible, but no hatchet, and wears a large cross around her neck, something I have not seen on Carry. In either case the object is satirical. Schafer & Vader had a lot to lose if America went dry. And did when it did.
Note: Kansas, a state in which Carry Nation spent much of her life, through its Museum of History in Topeka has preserved a considerable amount of material about her. Several of the photos used here are from the Museum’s online exhibit that features posts on various aspects of the hatchet-swinger’s life, including a quiz. The contact: kshs.kansasmuseum@ks.gov.
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