Moonshiners' Caught

New York, 1895

THEY HAD A VALUABLE PLANT IN FULL OPERATION.

A Dairy Stable as a Cover for the Manufacture of Whisky Which was Carted Away in Milk Cans — Located on Sheriff Doht's Land at Melvina.

Acting Revenue Collector McKinney of Brooklyn and half a dozen of his deputies early on Sunday morning raided the illicit distillery from which the three Italian moonshiners hailed who were captured in Brooklyn on Saturday night with 100 gallons of whiskey tucked away in milk cans. It was located in a two story frame building which stands all alone on an acre plot of ground at Melvina, a short distance from the Fresh Pond crematory. The property is owned by Sheriff Doht.

When Mr. McKinuey and his men broke into the place only three persons were there. They were the three daughters, aged 3, 5 and 10 years, of Hyman Rubin, the lessee, who with his wife was off visiting some friends. The children were asleep on the second floor and were not disturbed.

Rubin and his wife came back at 1 o'clock, and the former was scared almost out of his wits when one of the officers seized him by the neck as he entered the dark hallway.

There was a fine still in the cellar and a full rectifying plant on the second floor, and the stock included two barrels of spirits, twenty-eight barrels of molasses, and a quantity of mash and yeast. In addition to this there were in the outhouses 104 head of cattle, three horses, over 200 chickens and geese, and 150 milk cans all of which, together with the buildings, are liable to confiscation. The cellar was covered to the depth of a foot with sawdust, and other precautions were taken to carry on the business in the slickest possible manner. The moonshiners are supposed to have been at work for three or four months.

There is no suspicion that Sheriff Doht had any knowledge of the business carried on there.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 29, 1895, p. 1.

Hey, Diogenes!

1919

The Honest Man Is Found Among Alabama Moonshiners

ANNISTON, Ala. — The rugged honesty of the mountain folk who make "moonshine" and are caught at it by revenue men was shown when twelve of thirteen Federal prisoners began serving terms in the jail here. The thirteenth man sent word that he would be in as soon as he had finished killing some hogs and his cell has been made ready for him.

The men had all been convicted at the last term of Federal Court, and had been sentenced to thirty and sixty day terms in jail by Judge Walter I. Grubb. All of them are farmers and Judge Grubb allowed them to go to their homes and gather their crops before beginning their terms, each man giving his word that he would be on hand at the promised time.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 5.

Moonshine in New York

1906

"Don't talk to me about moonshine in Kentucky," said the internal revenue agent. "There's more moonshining going on all the time in little old New York than could be done in ten Kentuckys. In the crowded sections of the East and West Sides stills spring up right along and for a while conduct a flourishing business in the low grade whisky they manufacture. You see, it doesn't take much trouble to equip a still with corn and yeast and start in to make the mash which is finally turned out as a pretty poor sort of whisky. The great difficulty is in getting rid of the peculiar smoke and odor from stills without exciting suspicion. This is usually attempted by running the still in connection with a dye shop or some other chemical enterprise as a blind. We keep watch on all such establishments and have the town well covered by sharp eyed and sharp nosed agents besides. We are constantly arresting these small moonshiners and sending them to jail. But enough spring up in their places for you to say with safety that, as I say, there's more moonshining going on in New York City right along than there could be in ten Kentuckys."

Moonshine and Murder

1914

A dispatch recently appeared regarding a maniac now pursuing his murderous career throughout various of the Western States, armed with an ax, which, according to the view of the benighted, he is moved to wield only in the dark of the moon. Why in the dark and not in the light, they do not explain; anyhow, most of his deeds have been accomplished in the absence of the lunar glow, and hence is argued a mysterious connection between that fact and his recurring fits of homicidal insanity.

Every scientist in the land will scout this theory at once, just as they have the theory that the things that grow down should be planted in the dark of the moon, and the crops that grow upward in its light. Some of 'em will admit that crabs fatten under moonlight, but this, they claim, is because they can see better to hustle around for their meals under such conditions. They will further point out, no doubt, that most murderous deeds, and especially those that have been deliberately planned, will be perpetrated when darkness lends a measure of protection to the murderer and removes the same from his victim.

Be that as it may, we still have the poets to fall back on. Didn't Byron say "The devil's in the moon for mischief?" And Othello, who had his own reasons for knowing, could cry:

It is the very error of the moon;
She comes more nearer earth than she was wont.
And makes men mad.

Which may not have been altogether grammatical, but it is far more convincing than anything the scientists have had to offer up to the hour of going to press.

Two Hillbillies from Tennessee Lickered Up

1916

Pilfered Some Whiskey, Then "Lickered Up" — One Sent to Juvenile Court

Two hillbillies from sunny Tennessee graced the court of Mayor Lowrey this morning. They were Charles Pelfry and James Ivey charged with disorderly conduct. The disorderly conduct was really petit larceny as they were arrested for stealing a pint of milk, a pint of whiskey and other articles from a boarding house.

Charles Pelfry's case was called first. When the tall mountaineer gave his age 16, the mayor was much surprised. He had no recourse but to send him over to the juvenile court. He came here in August and has had employment. The boy admitted taking the whiskey.

James Ivey was next called. He is 22 years old and also a native of Tennessee. He came to this city first with a carnival company. His brother, John Ivey, was the Wild Man of Borneo, in the carnival. James remained in Mansfield and worked. Later he returned to Chattanooga and upon his return brought the mountain youth with him. Ivey said he reckoned they had been drinking.

Pelfry told the juvenile court, "I wasn't plumb drunk, because I worked all night." He says he does not drink moonshine because they do not make it in his part of the state. He admitted he had "lickered up" some since he came to this city. The boy will be put on probation and an effort will be made by Judge Cummins to get his job back for him.

—Mansfield News, Mansfield, Ohio, Oct. 21, 1916.

Juvenile Ideas – Children's Questions and Answers

1916

A little girl once said to me. "Are there people on the moon?" I said I didn't know, but that perhaps there were. " "Well, what do they do," she said, "when there's only a little bit? They must get very crowded. Don't they?" Which was almost as perplexing as the query put to me by another little maiden, who asked, "What do angels do with their wings when they lie down and go to bed?"

Very quaint was the idea of a little girl who was once visiting a house where a small child had died recently. She was asked to draw something. So she drew a grave with some flowers on it. Her mother, on seeing it said, "Janie. you mustn't do that; Mrs. —— wouldn't like it. You see, it reminds her of very sad things." "Oh, well," said the child, "perhaps it was thoughtless of me, but I can easily turn it into a beehive." And she did, with all the bees coming out — Hilda Cowham in Strand Magazine.

—Stevens Point Daily Journal, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, July 29, 1916, page 3.

Walking 1100 Miles on Hike, No Money or Baggage

1910

WALKING 1100 MILES ON HIKE

Pedestrian Traveling from Atlanta to New York in Two Months. Reaches Gettysburg. Held up on Mountain by Moonshiner.

B. F. Pearce, Atlanta, Georgia, a pedestrian who is walking from Atlanta to New York City, over the route taken by the Atlanta to New York good roads automobile run of the early part of this month, arrived in Gettysburg Friday evening, coming here from Waynesboro. He left Gettysburg Monday morning.

Mr. Pearce left Atlanta on his 1100 mile walk to New York, May 18, and has been walking steadily ever since, making 25 to 40 miles per day. He is due to arrive in New York City, July 18. He is now four days ahead of his schedule.

Because of the very hot weather, he does some of his walking at night. He left Harrisonburg, Tuesday evening, and walked all night and all of Wednesday, arriving in Hagerstown about six o'clock Wednesday evening.

He gets from the postmaster the postmark of each town in which he stops, this being one of the requirements of the wager.

He was compelled to leave without money or baggage and is not permitted to ask any one for aid. So far he has had no trouble.

He doesn't have a penny and hasn't had one since he started from Atlanta but that has not caused him any deprivation. Some one always takes care of him when he tells his story.

"He always has two and often three meals a day. On the road here one man noticed that the soles of his shoes were becoming thin. He had a shoemaker repair them.

When he reached the Natural Bridge in Virginia he was asked whether he wouldn't like to go under it and view it from that position. He pointed to the sign, "$1 admission," and said:

"That sign and I don't agree."

"That makes no difference; I'll let you in free," said the caretaker.

Once when crossing the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia he was held up at a lonely spot in the road by a man he supposes was a "moonshiner." He had a big double barreled shot gun thrown over his shoulder and he stopped Pearce's progress until be had answered all the mountaineer's questions in a satisfactory manner.

Pearce takes some pride in the fact that he is still ahead of three of the autos that started on the recent Atlanta to New York run. One is in Staunton, with its engine torn apart, one is in a farm yard farther south and another in a garage.

Pearce is a married man, with two children. He has lived in Atlanta for ten years. He is a Yankee, however, and was born in Connecticut. He has not seen his relatives there for ten years and may make a visit to them when he reaches New York.

He does not travel on Sunday.

—Adams County News, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1910, page 2.

Plenty of "Kick" in Grocer's Brew; Still Blows Up and Wrecks Store

1920--

NEW YORK, N.Y., May 20. -- The plate glass windows of a grocery store in South Brooklyn were blown out a moment after Policeman Francis Smith had passed the building at 2 a.m. By the time Smith and Policeman McMahon had climbed through the jagged aperture and made their way through the store's tumbled heaps of cans and green goods, scores of residents of the neighborhood were pouring into the street.

In a back room of the grocery were found two stunned men, who later at the police station, where they are held for the Federal authorities, described themselves as Dario Santeveshl, 35, proprietor of the grocery, and Tony Petitschi, 49, the grocery man's friend.

The police say the explosion was of a home-made still. Apparently a milk can filled with "mash" had been put to boil on a gas stove. From the top there had been a spiral copper pipe running to a barrel. The lid of the milk can was clamped down so tightly that the steam supposed to condense in the pipe, and run into the barrel as "hootch," blew up. There was little left of the can and windows in several other buildings in the neighborhood were broken. The residents for a time attributed the explosion to a "blackhand" bomb.

According to the police, they found near the wrecked apparatus a forty-gallon barrel of wine and a three-gallon jug of alcohol. The two prisoners suffered only from shock.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 4.

Moonshiner's Remote Hideaway, Loot Discovered

Oxnard, California, 1922--

Henry Helmold Tells Finding Moonshiner's Santa Clara Shelter

Constable-elect Henry Helmond is already on the job, for yesterday he participated in the capture of a moonshiner's camp in the Santa Clara river bed, where a large amount of loot apparently stolen by the moonshiner, was found. Helmond said one never would have noticed the camp unless he had been shown the spot. It was surrounded by high blackberry bushes and other trees.

E. L. Gardner of Saticoy had been robbed Saturday and while trying to figure out who committed the robbery, he traced some footprints to the Santa Clara river bed, near the Saticoy bridge. He learned that someone had a camp in the river bed, somewhere, so decided to hunt for it. With Pete Donion, and Constable Helmold they searched for a long time. Undersheriff Sullivan also went with them. They searched for a long time among thickets of trees and blackberry bushes before Sullivan spotted the corner of a tent just above the top of a blackberry bush. He saw the small bit of tent after the party had been attracted to the scene by a strong smell of liquor.

Arming themselves with revolvers the party expected to engage in a hard gun battle, but when they came upon the tent no one was there. Possibly the moonshiner had heard them approaching and made a get-away.

Around the tent were found two barrels of mash, which were broken up. Many bottles of "jack-ass brandy" were found and several large five-gallon bottles of recently manufactured booze were found, and smashed. Much of it was thrown down a well the moonshiner had dug in the river bed.

Constable Helmold found a large lard pail. Taking off the lid he noticed what he thought was lard, but on closer observation, found it was cotton. Under the layer of cotton was found two gold watches, in cases. 12 other ladies' watches, a pearl necklace, a pair of dimaond earrings, some gold lockets and much jewelry. It is believed that the articles were stolen from places here. Three valises filled with clothes also were unearthed, besides two good overcoats, two guns, a revolver and some school books stolen from the El Rio school. In some of the books the name of Charles Grubb is written.

So far as is known, no trace of the moonshiner has been found. Men from the sheriff's office are making every effort to find a trace of the man or men who operated the place. That probably only one man was living there recently was shown by the presence of only one cot, covered with army blankets. The tent, cot and blankets had evidently been stolen from some store selling army goods.

--The Oxnard Daily Courier, Oxnard, California, November 28, 1922, page 1.

Successful Raid

Wednesday, March 24, a posse of eight, composed of U. S. Deputy Marshal W. E. Garrett and U. S. Deputy Collector U. G. McFarland, of Middlesboro, Ky., Billy Tucker, of Pennington, Gap, Va., and C. H Redmon, Wilson Lewis, Arnold Hoskins and Mays, of St. Charles, Va., went over the Cumberland main range from St. Charles to Day's Branch of Crank's Creek of Martin's Fork, in Harlan county, Ky., captured Joe Setser, destroyed a copper still of 105 gallons capacity, several hundred gallons of mash and beer.

Setser and Joe Napier were tracking the posse in the snow with guns in their hands and were only discovered by the posse when the location of the still was nearly reached and a distance of about 150 yards separated the parties. Members of the posse hid behind trees and squatted in the snow until Setser and Napier were close at hand when Setser was covered and captured. Napier kept up a running flight, during which about twenty-five shots apiece were fired, and escaped. Two others, Hiram Day and one Duncan, were taken, but later released.

Joe Setser was taken to the Pineville jail and held on $1,000 bail for the next term of the U. S. Court at London, Ky.

U. S. Revenue officers have heretofore kept clear of the locality of this raid on account of the difficulty of getting into it and of the stubborn resistance of the moonshiners.

--The Pinnacle News, Middlesboro, Kentucky, April 1, 1915, page 1.