Lawfully to do this required a tavern
license; and it is a warrantable conclusion that such was the chief
aim of Berry and Lincoln in procuring a franchise of this character.
We are fortified in this conclusion by the coincidence that three
other grocers of New Salem--William Clary, Henry Sincoe, and George
Warberton--were among those who took out tavern licenses. To secure
the lawful privilege of selling whiskey by the "dram" was no doubt
their purpose; for their "taverns" were as mythical as the inn of
Berry and Lincoln.
At the granting of a tavern license, the applicants therefor were
required by law to file a bond. The bond given in the case of Berry
and Lincoln was as follows:
Know all men by these presents, we, William F. Berry, Abraham
Lincoln and John Bowling Green, are held and firmly bound unto
the County Commissioners of Sangamon County in the full sum
of three hundred dollars to which payment well and truly to
be made we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and
administrators firmly by these presents, sealed with our seal
and dated this 6th day of March A.
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