The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-26
MOoNSHINE WHISKY MAKERS.
MOONsHINERs AND THE LIFE
WHICH THEY LIVE.

COusins-Under Your Very Feet
May BE Great Vault Where
MOonshine whisky Is Made.
New York. july . There are mO0nshin-
ers working secretly AZ dead Of night 10
this city. As you wax along the pave
ment. on your way nome from an enter
tainment al night you may De stepping |
over one OF the secret vaults that sheller |
the mO0nshiners and their still livery
town Is more or less honeycomhed win
them, do what The revenue officers VIII 10
prevent IT, and AZ your feet. almost at
your very door the nicit occupation may
be going on witho1- your suspecting g.
Political years are "m0onsnine' years and
moonshiners count upon the thirst Of po-
Eticai orators
only last week q stiu vas raided in the
second largest city In the United States.
When the revenue officers entered they
found themselves .n a vault that extend
ed under nearly whole city block. A
llght In an untenauted house aroused their
suspicion. Breaking On at midnight. the
moonshiners' busiest hour. they found
themselves in total darkness. Cropping
back to a rear stairway they descended TO
the basement. There a loose board show
ed a light below with desperation they
tore up the board and sprang dc.wn into
the cellar at risk Of their lives At the
hrst note Of warning the hands Of the
moonshiners stole towards their pistols
on the wall. One man was on guard at
the window. a mere slit. looking upward
TO the street. Another was watching the
Kettle; others were pouring out the stun
into jugs. All were captured except the
man at the window. who was shot down
for supposed treachery
TWO weeks ago. a loose board in
rear fence facihated the eyes of a rev
enue oihcer. He crept in, guided by a
peculiar alcoholic smell which haunted
| the neighborhood. Nothing could be
seen but a dark yard. on. on, he stole.
/ Climbing softly step by step up a rear
hre-escape he reached the roof. There.
| pouring forth from the chimney. was
1 the unmistakable fume. But where did
it come from? The house was dark. BY
4 day he watched. The upper fiat was
/ untenanted, but there were mysterious
/ packages carted UP TO it.
One night two bands of police climbed
up to it, one on the fire escape, another
! by the stairs. They broke in the door
l and found ten men around a great con-
per vat boiling the fluid to make wills
key The men fought game and three
/ escaped.
The making of whiskey'is so easy and
/ the process so cheap that it Is a tempta-
1 ton to low-class criminals TO try it. It
needs only barrel of molasses. big
| kettle some pipe and plenty of running
4 water The big kettle is filled with
/ molasses and water This is set over q
/ furnace 10 ferment over the TOP of the
| Kettle is tight cap fitted with a pipe
| This pipe runs through a barrel of cold
/ water As the molasses and water fer
ment they send up fumes through this
/ little pipe. The fumes on being cooled
| make a liquid which is whiskey. 1t is
/ sharp as acid and biting TO infnity, but
| II passes for whiskey With WORKOUT
! Threats.
The most announcement Is given
! "moonshiners' by private customers. In
/ this city. in every city, are hundreds of
! people who buy their whisky "cheap &"
! They know IL must be the moonshine
/ product. But they wink at the price
! For cents they can get a pint bottle
! OF the stun and for 10 cents nearly half
/ q gallon. 1t Is so cheap to make that
| the moonshiners can sell it for anything
/ In certain mountainous parts of this
| country the original moonshiners dwell
! They have had for generations no other
| way Of making a living and in Justice TO
! them, IL can be said thar they regard
! their trade as a legitimate one and re-
\.
/ These mountain moonshiners make a
| higher test whisky than can the town
! ones, for they have followed the business
| longer Their work IS done under heavy
! fere with them
The city moonsh,ner is. at best. only
| a maker of whisky for a few months.
| In that time he is sure to he annre-
hended. He is. as a rule. FOREIGNER
| often Pole, or a native of some one
! or the Industrious cold countries In
: this country he cannot make a living
| without knowledge of the languag 90
I and when tod of the easy making of
| whisky and It's big profits, he is ready
! to embark in it. His informers seldom
inform him Of the gravity of the offense,
/ ana the courts are often lenient to this
| class of moonshiners
The day of arrest comes to the city
moonshiner sooner or later on account
| OF the eVer-ready clue to his occupation
! the odor from the burning fluid This
! cannot be disguised. The few town
! moonshiners who have followed their
! occupation for years without being ac-
| tually detected have done Il by locating
| in the most crowded, ill-smeliing tene-
, ments and moving away at the end of
a few months. After a certain time the
| very building becomes so saturated with
! alcoholic smells that even the passer-by
/ can detect it,
The burning of molasses is another
clue to the moonshiner. The old pro-
| fessional manages it by sending ont
/ the still more clever one substitutes
/ glucose for molasses, as it is easier to
! obtain without suspicion.
one popularity about the moonshiner's
! occupation is that It is one that can be
started in a day. For that reason it
can never be stamped out Revenue
! detectives. when frank admit that
! though they may capture the biggest
still in this city to-day, there may be
just such another in full blast to-mor-
row. The requisites are bought at any
old pawn shop and fixed in shape by
any one who is clever at wiping a
/ plumbers joint. There are pawn-shop
! men and plumbers who are said to
/ know of these stills, but who keep
/ quiet about them on account of the
revenue they derive therefrom A
/ plumber can charge a moOnshiner fifty
! times as much as he can soak the
same piece of work to a house-owner
| IT is these items that make the moon
/ sinners lot a less easy one than it
would otherwise be-
There is a remarkable feature about the
/ moonshiner's business peculiar to no other
/ in the world. 1t must all be carried on
at dead of night For generations ana
/ generations the moonshiners of West Vir-
| ginia. Tennessee and the mountains across
/