The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-04-07
eocoANur WHISKY.

How Refreshments are Prepared In
New York for Prohibition Com.
mun1ties.
'There is still large business done
with Maine, Vermont Iowa and Kan
sas. the four great prohibition States, !"
said Front street wine and liquor
merchant ''but the trade is not what
it used to be. The danger of losing the
goods by confiscat;on and of having
agents arrested. fined and imprisoned is
SO great that but very few of us care
to take the risk. A few of US, how.
ever, enjoy the fight aud keep 1t up.
The great point Of the trade Is
sending liquor In such form oil
disguise that the excise con.
stables and temperance spies will
not recognize it The best idea We
got from the soldiers on Governor 8
Island. During and after the war the
rules were very strict against br nging
liquor there from the city. Neyerthe-
less the men got drunk all the time in
the most unaccountable manner.
After awhile the commandment got
tired and ordered an investigation,
and lie found that the men took their
muskets with them each time they
visited the city and had the barrels
filed with rum or whatever they pre-
ferred. We applied this idea to the
Ma ne trade and sent gas-pipes. water
pipes and even sewer-pipes filled with
Jersey lightning and securely plugged
in the best style. .
The best system was the filled
cocoanut You know probably that
sometimes the contents of a cocoanut
will ferment and produce sour beer
of some sort. l never drank it my
self, but am told that ii is not so very
bad. and that 1t Is strong. We took
natures hint. tapped the nuts through
the eyes, washed or scalded out the in
terrier. filled it with liquor and sealed
the eyes with wax that was a
wonderfully good imitation of the
natural substance. We packed these
whisky cocoanuts SO that the barrel
contained three rows of ordinary nuts
at the top and bottom. Any one.
especially constable, opening bar
rel. would get an ordinary nut, nc
matter from what end he started
This scheme lasted quite time. You
can still see traces of it down in Maine
in the vast number of cocoanut drink
ing vessels. soup dishes. flour scoops
and the like. Some smart individual
in Portmouth, N. H.. tried to initiate
it and plugged some five or ten water
melons on the same principle. Th'
first melon that went across the rivel
into the Granite State had its plu!
and half its contents fall out. The con
stable who made the discovery laid il
wait for watermelons and contiscatet
all that came over that were whisk,
filed. That ended the brief career Of
the humble watermelon as portable
saloon.
THE next plan, and the one tina
ran the longest-it is in fact being usee
to days the packing of demijohns
kegs, runletst and little puncheons il
barrels, VIII CHI are then filled W Il
flour, corn-meal, salt, rock salt, suga
or potatoes. There is hardly any gro
GERS article which goes in barrels blu
has been used in the Maine trade TO
harboring five gallons and upward o
fire water. The grocer in the littl
town receives the barrel and opens /
late at night Or very early in the morn
ing, and when no disc pie of Neal Dow
is around conveys the precious pack
age that is concealed inside to SOM
place of safety.
Another branch of the trade. ant
much safer one. is the bottle bust
ness. Til $ cons SITS IMPLY in bottln!
cheap whisky, adding some harmless
color and favoring matter, past ng oil
label with some medical name ant
formula and sending it off by the doc
en- or gross rs medicine. said cheal
whisky just now. and mean it. TIL
dealers in Maine can't afford to buy
good VIII sky. The T. customers can
afford it either. in turn. All that tn
latter wants is to get drunk as cheaply
quickly and thoroughly as poss BILE
For that reason they want the cheapes
and rawest stuff they can buy-some
thing full of fusel oils and proof spin
its. This rule applies to all the pro
hibiton States and explains to my sat
isfaction why they have more intoxica
ton there n proport on to the popula
ton than in the great cities. where
more liberal policy is pursued by tn
State Government Or the bottle trad
bitters used to be the biggest feature
But when thev got to sell ng gin cock
tails by the quart as Pine Tree BIZ
ters' and rum and molasses as 'Opodel
doc Biters' that was loo much for til
temperance agitators. They appoint
ed chemist, who analysed each bran
and classified them into medicinal an
non-medicinal beverages and cor
demned all the latter. The liquor me
got even with one of the State chen
lists assistants, though. who, althoug
he drank on the sly, bothered ther
moro than any one else. They CAV
him some fine cordial to which the
added croton oil. The assistant cam
very near dying after drinking on
sample. There is still good deman
for gin. tansy and fennel. This is yer
much like the gin and tansy of til
east. and is good drink as well as
good medicine. Uncolored whisky
, cinnamon and alkanet root makes
very superior bitters. and is also
splendid liniment for colds and rher
mat SIN.
THE tendency nowadays in th
struggle between New York brains an
Ma ne morals. so called, is to fight la