Index to Taverns & Saloons or Business Directory S-Z
Menomonee Falls News: Sept. 6, 1929
A combination of circumstances, misunderstandings, bad telephone communication, people passing half-accurate information on to others and mangling of the facts in the process erupted in Lannon this past week.
It all began when the driver of a little Ford coupe, possibly under the influence tried to turn his car around in front of the August Gius home, only to end up with his wheels in a ditch. He then went to the Gius home for help. Mrs. Gius called the Lannon garage at 11:15 p.m., but no one answered . She then called the Louis Gissal tavern. It was a bad connection, however, and Gissal misinterpreted the message, figuring it was a car accident and possibly a fire.
Gissal then raced over to the Main Street fire station and rang the fire bell, alerting the whole village. The firefighters responded, and dashed off to the Gius home, only to find the coupe with its wheels in the ditch.
The incident attracted a lot of onlookers, who nearly lifted the car onto firm ground. So many people drove to the scene, including some late-arriving firefighters, that they created a traffic jam that took an hour to clear.
When the little coupe finally returned to the road, its starter would not engage.
Knowing Lannon's old-time firefighters, I figure that incident gave them a lot to talk about after they got back to the fire station and the village's many taverns. (Though Prohibtion was still the law of the land, Lannon prided itself in those vendors of "snake-bite remedies.")