Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-04-20
DRINKING INAAIxE..
I ~SstHs-ssF-
Ingenious Devices to Evade Neal
Dow's sfricf Law. + Saa9 u
FROM tha BOSTON (Ylohe

Ingenious Devices to Eyade Neal
L Dows strict Law. s sHaas
Prom the Boston Globe.
/ A very singular ILLUSTRATION of The
fact that the liquor, traffic is still car
Tied on Ia Maine, and that in the most
unexpected and uulookedtifor nlaces,
was recently given, much to the sur
prise and Indignation of a Eoau who ia
not in the fabit of giving much comfort
snd assistance to evil-doers and law
breakers. This gentleman In question
was called upon to make some repairs
In house from which a tenant had
just moved. and while looking the prop
erty over found "closet" door that
did not open. The door was forced,
but not without considerable difficulty,
and then the good man saw a sight
that filled his soul with righteous indig.
nation, and led him to exclaim: "Can
such things be?" In the-closet, small
as it was. were slI the Char" features
on small scale, while sink with q
hole in the center large enough to allow
the passing down through It of a Jug,
was u somewhat uucom mon and Port
land feature. From the opening in
the bottom of the sink, a tunneLway
led to the cellar, and overhead was
some sort OF an arrangement connected
with rope, the exact nature of which
the good man could not at first make
out. A pull at the rope, however. solv-
ed the mystery, for . heavy weight
it was found later to weigh seventy-five
pounds-fell from overhead and made
its way through the hole in the sink,
and down the tunnel to the ground be-
low. The plan had evidently been to,
when alarmed by the coming of the
officers or suspicious ofthe approach IF
danger, send the liquor. whether in
jugs or bottles. to the ground below.
and then to send the heavy weight sf-
ter it, the weight of course smashing
the jugs or bottles at once. A consider
able quantity of broken glass was found
in the bottom of the cellar, thus show
ing that the "trap," as it and ike ar
rangements would be called here, have
been often used. A very large number
of similar and in some instances very
much more com plieated schemes to
evade the law are in existence here.
They are not always in use, but are
fallen back upon when the officers COM
mence to enforce the prohibitory laws
with extra earnestness. There is man
here who devotes the most of his time
to the construction of these "traps,"
and some of his devices are said to be
marvels of their kind. He stated re-
Gently, when little laxative, that he
had made, all told, about 200 of these
"traps," of which number only about
thirty have been found. In the above
mentioned case the finding of the "trap"
was complete surprise to the owner
of the building, and doubtless there
are many private houses in the city
that are provided with similar fixtures,
and the result il that, in too many cases
children are made familiar with the
sight and use of liquor from the
time they commence to walk about.
In the above case it is estipated
that the trap" cost about $50. The
owner of the building ordered it
taken out, which led gentleman in
the trade" to observe: "Sure, an it's
big pity to spoil SO good bit of
work" ~