[Mick]

[quote author=Mick link=topic=10129.msg91748#msg91748 date=1404055665]
... Nick joined the Palo Alto Sheriff's department, where he became the guy who would be the first one breaking in a door at speakeasies in the Whiskey Gulch area....

Wouldn't that be outside the jurisdiction of a Palo Alto officer? I wonder if family lore may have actually been referring to what was at one time the city of Mayfield. Mayfield was the wet town that refused to go dry for Leland Stanford, prompting Stanford to set up Palo Alto. Mayfield was incorporated into Palo Alto in 1925.  A couple of links:

History of prohibition in Palo Alto:
http://www.paloaltohistory.com/liquor-in-palo-alto.php

Mayfield incorporated by Palo Alto:
http://www.paloaltohistory.com/the-begin...ds-end.php
[/quote]


He was a Santa Clara County deputy sheriff who lived in Palo Alto.  He also worked in San Jose, and when a particularly tough criminal needed to be arrested, Nick would get the call.  Here's an example:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=19...064,379161

I met one of Nick's former fellow sheriff's deputies who told me a number of stories about breaking into speakeasies.  Very entertaining.

[Mick]

[quote author=Mick link=topic=10129.msg91748#msg91748 date=1404055665]
... Nick joined the Palo Alto Sheriff's department, where he became the guy who would be the first one breaking in a door at speakeasies in the Whiskey Gulch area....

Wouldn't that be outside the jurisdiction of a Palo Alto officer? I wonder if family lore may have actually been referring to what was at one time the city of Mayfield. Mayfield was the wet town that refused to go dry for Leland Stanford, prompting Stanford to set up Palo Alto. Mayfield was incorporated into Palo Alto in 1925.  A couple of links:

History of prohibition in Palo Alto:
http://www.paloaltohistory.com/liquor-in-palo-alto.php

Mayfield incorporated by Palo Alto:
http://www.paloaltohistory.com/the-begin...ds-end.php
[/quote]


He was a Santa Clara County deputy sheriff who lived in Palo Alto.  He also worked in San Jose, and when a particularly tough criminal needed to be arrested, Nick would get the call.  Here's an example:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=19...064,379161

I met one of Nick's former fellow sheriff's deputies who told me a number of stories about breaking into speakeasies.  Very entertaining.