The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-02-13
HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF
WHlSKEY is FOUND.
The Whole Thing 4 Masterpiece of Irgeniu-
ty, Existing in the Heart of the City
All of it Fcrreted Out.

The Whole Thing 4 MaSterpIec Oh lESenlu-
ty, Existing in the Heart of the City
All of it Ferreted Out.
COLUMBIA, S. c., Feb. S.-Slick
moonshiners who have for years been
makinga study ofingenious methods to
evade the United States Revenue laws
are simply not in it with the South
Carolina dispensary law evaders. But
they are not so liable to have their in
genuity outdone by ''mformers as
the Carolina liquor man is. His way
is hard one. When he feels safe and
secure. down come the constableS,
knowing where to look for the lair Of
the tiger. and forsooth he is ousted.
Yesterday a lair was unearthed
right in the heart of Carolina's Capt.
al, which was almost in the bowels Of
the earth-a lair which rivals that of
North Carolina moonshiners, who
dived through a rivers waters to reach
the mouth of their underground dis
tiIlery. It was way down under The
cellar Of the store of Messrs. Plat,
Hook & Shull, and the whole con-
struction Of the underground tunnel,
particularly the manner of corceallng
the way of entrance was masterpiece
of ingenuity It IS safe to say that it
would never have been discovered
had not some informer needed the 20
cents Il gallon reward offered by the
State. As result the owners of the
liquor-whoevert they are-have about
81, 800 less than they had yesterday
morning, for between 800 and 100
gallons Of good liquor was found and
confiscated.
The search Of the place was made BY
Liquor Constables Speed, Davis and
Beach, Trial Justice Constables Cooper
and Hartin, and Sprgeant Morehead
and Officer Sheppard and Strickland
of the police force. They swept down
on the place in the forenoon. and Mr..
Ed. Shull was so abusive, so Constable
Speed says, that he ordered him lock
ed up in the stationhouse. Officer
Sheppard took him away.
The owners of the store refused to
allow the officers to 90 into the store,
but opened up the cellar. The build
ing is a very long one, and the ceIler
the officers were ushered into runs on.
ly about half way At the rear end
was solid earth and plenty of it. The
officers knew what they were doing,
however, for they sent for shovels and
spades and began to dig into the wall
of earth. After digging forward about
six feet, their instruments struck air
and they soon got into the rest of the
cellar. They went in and searched all
around On one side, next to the brick
was what appeared to be the solid
foundation of a large chimney, run
ming on up through the building. On
this their attention centered. Pretty
soon they began to cut into the brick.
and in short time they gazed through,
and. by the fickering light of a candle.
they could see that the chimney was a
false one: that inside a ladder ran up
wards and there was neat little bar
with all necessaries inside They cut
the hole larger and got inside. They
could see the bottom CT an ingenious
trap door in tie floor, which could not
be detective above. as it was covered
by shelving. But the liquor had not
been found. and thereal ingenuity of
the hiding place was yet to be seen.
The constables looked around the in
side walls of the chimney and towards
the outer wall they finally discovered
a door about four feet high. They
broke this down and stood at the
mouth of long dark tunnel running
back into the bowels of the earth.
4 man could almost stand erect in
theneatly constructedtunnel. Then the
exploration of this tunnel began. The
constables went on until they struck a
point where the tunnel devided and
branched in opposite directions, and
then the liquor was in sight. There
was about forty feet of tunneling, and
the earth taken out oft had been used
10 make the false back to the cellar.
1t took the constables until aboot I p.
m. to get out all the liquor stored in
the tunnel. And there was lots OF 1t.
In all the constables estimate they got
nearly 400 gallons. There were 22
five gallon jugs, 20 five gallon deml-
Johns, is boxes. formerly containing
"Octagon soap" but found to contain
80 pint bottles each; and Is or ~ five
gallon kegs. The liquor was all
hauled to the State dispensary during
+1,n.