Originally posted by Joshua Rogan
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'The first murder occurred on Saturday night about a quarter to one. That evening there was a discussion in the club: “Should a Jew be a Socialist?” The hall was packed and the discussion was very lively. The debate went on until approximately eleven o’clock. At about 12 o’clock all the non-members scattered, and about twenty of the members remained in the club. These same [members] created a choir and sang various songs, for the most part, Russian.
[P. 3, col. 1 cont’d]
At about one o’clock the steward of the club, Comrade Louis Dimshits, came with his cart from the market. He was the first to notice the dead body.'
Regarding alcohol, I could swear I read somewhere that Louis D stopped off for a pint at the Grove Tavern on Lordship Lane, Dulwich, on his way back from the Westow Hill market.
I can't imagine there would not have been beer available at the club, for those who didn't fancy the cuppa offered by Mrs D. Most people drank beer in those days, unless their religion strictly forbade it, as safe drinking water was not yet the norm. But the beer - including ginger beer, which was always alcoholic before the 20th century - could be relatively weak, with several pints being knocked back without getting totally legless. A saying at the time was "he's had one over the eight", implying that it could take nine pints before a man would be very obviously inebriated.
Two halves of Young's Special are more than enough for me.
Love,
Caz
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