Herbert Asbury - H. L. Mencken and The American Mercury

H. L. Mencken and The American Mercury

Asbury achieved first notoriety with a story that H. L. Mencken published in his magazine, The American Mercury in 1926. The story profiled a prostitute from Asbury's hometown of Farmington, Missouri. The prostitute took her Protestant customers to the Catholic cemetery to conduct business, and took her Catholic customers to the Protestant cemetery; some in Farmington considered this woman beyond redemption.

The article caused a sensation: The Boston Watch and Ward Society had the magazine banned. Mencken then journeyed to Boston, sold a copy of his magazine on Boston Common, and was arrested. Sales of the recently-founded Mercury boomed, and Asbury became a celebrity. Asbury then focused his attention of a series of articles debunking temperance crusader Carrie Nation.