ST. LOUIS • On New Year's Eve 1922, the hottest draw was the bash in the swank new Chase Hotel, which had opened only three months before. About 2,200 people jammed its spacious Palm Room for dinner, dancing and silly midnight noisemaking.

There was to be no booze, of course, this being the second "dry" New Year's under national Prohibition. At each table, a card warned: "Patrons are earnestly requested not to violate the law."

But by 1922, any worthy reveler knew how to slip a flask into a public place. Restaurants covered tables with long, draping cloths, the better for patrons to hide their hootch.

At $10 a ticket, the Chase party drew a well-connected crowd in tuxedos and gowns. They danced to Paul Whiteman's orchestra. Less-fortunate partiers milled outside the hotel, at Lindell Boulevard and Kingshighway, for a glimpse of the glamor.

The party also attracted Gus O. Nations, a dedicated teetotaler and St. Louis' chief Prohibition enforcer, or "dry agent." At 1:30 a.m., Nations and five assisting officers entered the Chase for a look. Without doffing their hats, they strolled brashly into the Palm Room, checking drinks for tell-tale aromas and glancing beneath tables. The band played on. The crowd became surly.

A woman screamed, claiming an officer mistook her gown for a tablecloth. Her offended escort slugged the agent. Outraged patrons shouted, "Throw them out!" They threw plates and silverware at the officers, who retreated with revolvers drawn as a nattily dressed mob pressed toward them.

Somebody knocked down city detective Ed Sullivan, who fired a shot into the floor. It ricocheted, winging three dancers — a widow from Clayton, the son of a court official and a business owner. Commotion spilled onto Lindell, attracting more tipsy night-owls.

The shooting victims recovered, but local "wets" were stirred with fury. Chase Ulman, hotel owner, accused Nations of lacking a proper warrant. Henry S. Priest, a former federal judge who attended the party, sued Nations on behalf of the grazed dancers. Nations quickly transferred two agents to other cities.

Priest wasn't done. As leader of the Missouri Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, he called for a rally. On Jan. 10, about 2,000 people filled the Odeon Theater, North Grand Boulevard and Finney Avenue, to cheer speakers bashing Nations and Prohibition.

Lee Meriwether, a lawyer, urged them to demand that any nosy dry agent produce a warrant. "If he cannot, then stand your ground," Meriwether shouted.

Priest fought Prohibition until he died at age 77 in 1930, three years before repeal. Nations continued busting stills and speakeasies but was more ginger about public gatherings of the prominent. He died at age 49 in 1942.

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Read more stories from Tim O'Neil's Look Back series.