The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-07-10
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THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1884.
HIDING WHISKY IN CON-
EGIICIT.
Ingenious Cuntrivances of Illegal Lii
quor Dealers---A Wonderful
Barrel.

quor Dealers---A Wonderful
Barrel.
The evasion of the cast-iron Con-
necticut license law, and the hunting
down of offenders by the prosecuting
agents. greedy for the 50 bounty paid
in every proven case OF illegal liquor
selling, furnish many novel episodes
To successfully evade the law the sa-
loon keeper must not only have his IL
| quor hidden so as to defy the keenest
/ search, both day and night, but he
| must be constantly.on guard against
( GERS. In spite of all difficulties, there
is hardly village in eastern Connecti-
7 cut in which there are not violators of
the law, who make q good living be-
. sides paying heavy after the agents
/ have hunted them down. The large
! factory villages in which the no licence
! system is in force are fruitful field
! for illegal liquor selling. The employees
! are crazy for alcoholic stimulents, and
| any one who is able TO furnish it to
| them is sure of from $4,000 to $1,000 a
| year The business is sometimes done
| by the proprietor of village restau-
rant, but oftener by mill hand, free
| and-easy fellow with large circle of
acquaintance. In Occum, a village a
village few miles north of Norwich,
| jolly young Frenchman, Moses Lam
| bert, was convicted in the Norwich city
| court of sixteen distinct violations of
| the liquor law in one year, and was
| sentenced to pay fines and costs in
| each case ranging from $50 to $12O.
| In all his cases he appealed to the SUI
perior court, and nearly all of them
were marked off the docket of that
court by the district attorney, the usual
fate of cases brought by prosecuting
| agents. Notwithstanding his draw
backs, Lambert makes money. He
smuggles his whisky into the village at
night.
| The hunt for Illegal dealers is going
on continually, the raids being made
| generally Just before davbreak by
agents who have ridden in light bug
| gies all night. Two men. the agent
| and his deputy sheriff, ride together.
The suspected man is awakened by a
gathering at his back door. The de-
mand follows: open your house. We
are liquor officers" He hastily COM
| plies and the officers search the dwell
| ing, by the light of lamp carried by
| the owner, from cellar TO garnet. Not
a Granny escapes inspection. Closets
| and pantrieS are invaded, wearing ap-
parel is searched, feather and straw
| beds are ripped open, floor boards are
| taken up, tables are sounded for double
drawers, the hearthstone is pried up
and the chimney peered into. Next the
barn and horse stables, the hay loft
| and the well are searched, and then
sink drains and stone walls are looked
after, the proprietor assisting in the
search and cracking jokes at the Off
| GERS expense.
Often a cunning liquor seller will
hoodwink the agents for years before
the hiding place of his liquors is fer
reted out. 1t had been long suspected
that Eli st. George, of Putnam. in
Windham county, was selling liquor
contrary to the law. His house was
| visited by squads of men at all hours,
| who apparently had no business with
him, but several searches instigated by
! spies resulted fruitlessly. On last Sat
urday Constable Davis and Herman
Carver entered St Georges place, and
after a long search discovered a pipe
in the ceiling of his reception room.
By pulling up boards and tearing away
plastering they traced it to tank con-
tanning several gallons of whisky be-
tween the floors in an upper story. On
the same day these officers surprised
Anthony Murhy, in the same village.
Anthony welcomed them with smile
and said: Search all you want to. gen.
tlemen; you'll find no rum about my
place. There is nothing stronger than
cider here and that is in that barrel
over there"
He pointed carelessly TO cider cask
in the corner of the room. The officers
looked the cask over carefully and
smelt of il.
''Got glass, Andy" said one of
them. Andy got the glass and the Of
ticer turned the spiggot. Out ran q
stream of sour old cider. Next the
officer got hammer and knocked out
the bung. He lowered his official nose
into the vent. Cider. true's yer
bornn was his comment. Then he no.
ced peg in the rear end of the barrel.
Might as well try this. too. Andy"
he said. Mr.. Murphy's countenance
fell. The peg was pulled out and the
constable drew glassful of Old Crow
whisky.
Quite barrel" he said, getting off
his knees. did you invent it, Andy.
Going to get q patcnt?"
There were two apartments in the
cask.
A few weeks ago prosecuting officers,
after searching a boarding house in the
early dawn ut Versailles. and descend
ing to the broad kitchen, noticed that
the dining table was singularly corpu-
lent. They rolled ii over two or three
times. there was clashing of wicker
covered glass and a gallon of whisky