Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1867-07-30

INFORMANT SEIZURE OF A LAeEk BEER
BHEwERr- Violation Of the Revenue Laws
Cs~icss Dert,opmeafs- Underorownd Boaling
Operations = The Sentiner- Wife and Cry Of
cxckoc."-On wednesday last the interna
revenue officers Of Collector Ciephane's de-
Joseph Widemann's, on N street north, bs-
tween First and Second streets west. ha wing
reason TO Suspect that the esta otish men
needed little wholesome scrutiny in bshaif
OF Uncle Sans revenues They ap.
preached the establishment BY the back
gate, and met there a woman, to whom
theJ made known their wish to visit
the vaults in which the process of m anufac-
turing lager, and bringing it to perfection is
carried on. The woman laid the vaults we're
locked, and che sent man to the house tor the
Key. She then passed hurriediy through the
establishment, over the vaults, calling out
'cuckoo ~ "cuckoo !" as If calling 70 Wis. On
reaching tho trap door she changed the word
TO "Snaries," apparently addressing herself TO
to the house, ostensibiy, 10 assist in procuring
the kew to the vaults, but soon returned
and ran around the brewery repeating
her cuckoo cry. Meantime the officers had
tried the trap and found IL was not
locked but bolted on the inside. They man.
aged 70 displace the bolt from the socket and
entered the vault and found two men engaged
In drawing off lager beer from q large .sstand
cask" into unstamped kegs. These vaults.
used In the manufacture Of lager, are extern
sive running under ground one hund Ied feet
OF more duO SUNK 10 Qeptn OF twenty or
thirty feet. Such a cave, it will De seen, af
fords peculiar facilities for carrying on fraud
ulent practices In violation OF the revenue
laws. BY such practices, however, the man.
ufacturer lays himself open to heavy penaities
In the way Of imprisonment and confiscasion OF
the entire establishment Section 81 of the
Internal Revenue laws provides that the
owner, agent, or superintendent, OF any brew
cry vessels or utensils used in making fer
mented liquors, who shall evade attempt to
eyade the payment Of the tax thereon, or frau.
IDENTIFY neglect or refuse to make time aud ex.
act entry and report Of the same. &C., &c,
liquors made by him and all the vessels, uten.
sils. and apparatus, need in making the same,
and be liable to penalty Of not less than Ave
hundred, or not more than one thousand dol.
lars, to be recovered VITA costs of suit and
shall be imprisoned for q Or IN not ex ceeding
one year Section So, provides that every per-
son who snail withdraw any fermented liquor
from any hogshead, barrel, keR or other yes.
sci upon which The proper stamps shall not
have been affixed for the purpose OF bottling
the same, &C., shall be liable to fine Of five
botling or business shall be liable to forfeiture.
Following upon the detection Of the guilty
parties in this case on Wednesday watch
man was placed upon the premises to hold
the property, and on the next day Collector
Clephane made a formal seizure OF the prem
ises. The loss to Wtddemanns will probably
not fall short Of $4,000. He has been carry
ing on the manufacture of lager for some
years Repeated warnings have been given
by the revenue authorities to manufacturers
concerning the stringent provisions or the
law, but the temptation to evade it seems to
be TOO strong to be resisted in many cases.