Cañon City record., 1897-07-29
MAINE MOONLIGHT.
Crooked VIII sky as It Is Made in
the Temperance State.
A Liquor That Carves Its Way Down
and Makes Msn DIsown
HIS Parents-Dodgtng
the Law.


stills in Maine, all of which yielded a
fair profit to the otvners. The hard
times, which lasted from 1873 to 1857.
drove most of the manufacturers out
of the business. Soon afterward an Or
land genius discovered way of maxi
ing whisky from alcohol by mixing it
with water and crotch oil, and then the
revenue officers rested, believing there
were no offenders in the state.
The compound which was put up by
the Orland man has been known under
various Names 1t wps generally called
split on account bf the way the al
cohoi was divided, though the inventor
and his friends havesalways termed it
'ten-minute whisky because of the
short time in which it was prepared
The cost and manntr of making two
gallons of ten-minue whisky are as
follows:
To one gallon of alcohol, valued at one
dollar. add 90 centss worth of croton
oil. Shake well fors ten minutes and
add gallon of pure water. The re-
suit is two gallons of 4o-rod whisky.
at cost of 60 centsh gallon.
Three drinks of this mixture would
make a good man disown his parents.
The ten-minute whisky came into gen
eral use and the owners of the Illicit
stills moved over the line into New
brunswick in order. to live, alcohol
came 10 Maine by thequart, gallon, bar
rel and hogshead until the Boston deal
ers grew curious andsent secret agents
down east to learn what became of
so much raw spirits. When they found
out that it was made into ten-minute
whisky they doubled the price.
Meanwhile the price of grain went
lower and lower every day. Corr
which had generally sold for 20 cents
bushel, and had not gone below so
cents since the days before the war,
dropped to 40 cents last fall. held there
all winter, and hadA q downward ten
dency when the spring of 1897 opened.
According to the Maine standard !.
bushel of corn, wisensprouted. roasted
ground up. fermcnte9 and distilled. wiil
yield four gallons ofwhisky, and with
corn at 10 cents afoushel good corn
whisky should NOT cost over 20 cents
n gallon. AS long ns alcohol was sold
at one dollar gafiep. it was cheaper
TO make n-minute4 whisky than rs;n
the risk of fs&still: but when
alcohol and the int ernal revenue tax
ON whisky went - - ssthe price q
-ee.-.. -enr aown, rhsmstiiferies srarf tssf
once more and are reported to be doing
a good business
Though some of the Maine liquor
dealers are rich and prosperous. most
of them lead sorry lives. and are GLAD
enough to get through the year with
out falling in debt As their real bust
ness must be concealed. majority o.
these men conduct cigar or candy
stores. or make pretense of being victu-
alters and boarding house keepers The
few who have saved money enough buy
farms in the country. which supply the
shops with fresh fruits and vegetables.
OF late these farmer saloon keepers
have engaged largely in stock raising.
keeping fat cattle and hogs on places
that can hardly support rabbits Nat
urally they have to buy grain; and
while they are at it they might Us well
purchase enough. So great quantities
are bought and consumed to fatten ,se
stock and restore fertility to the run-
out farms. How much of this goes Il
fatty tissues for the animals and how
much to the Illicit stills nobody know :,
though when n man who keeps two
cows uses ten bags of whole corn
week it may be inferred that the stills
get the larger portion.
Another method adopted by the men
who cannot afford to own farms and
thus make their own whisky is to give
heavy patronage to the men who petitiie
spring water of certified purity
Though all the Maine cities and most
of the larger towns have public water
works there is no other state of its
population in the union where SO much
so-called spring water is sold. Every
place of 5000 inhabitants is supplied
NV three to ten water carts, represent
ing as many springs. The teams cali al
houses and stores every day, leavirr =
fun jugs and taking away empty one
or late the liquor dealers have begun
to patronize those water peddlers VERY
freely, buying ten to twenty-five gal
Ions a week. When asked why they buy
so much water, paying from half
cent to a cent and half n gallon for
il, the dealers say that typhoid fever
is abroad, and they fear their customers
NAV catch the malady.-N. y. Sum-
Pic.usc Frames.
In the present-day desire for np-