The age-herald., 1897-09-12
JAMES CROW, WHISKY MAKER.
The Man Who Reduced DistiIIing to Science in
 Kentucky Back in the Thirties.
the New York Sun.


 Versailles, Ky, Sept. 4.-Beneath the | blue grass sod of a country burying | ground near the little hamlet of Mill | vile, in Woodford county. sleeps James
 Crow, who nearly three-fourths of a 1 century ago originated the process of | distilIing whisky in scientific manner. | To him, more than to any other man, is
 due the international reputation that
 Kentucky whisky enjoys, and the vast l distilling interests of the country are | largely the result of his discoveries.
 Back in the thirties James Crow was
 a celebrated character in the west whose opinions on medicine law, theology, and
 science generally were final in his baili-
 wick. He was educated for physician
 being a graduate-ef the College of Medi- cine and Surgery in Edinburgh, Scot land, ard was philosopher, wit, and man of letters. In religion he was a Presbyterian of the John Knox type. Crow was a native of Scotland, a man of herculean build, broad, intellectual forehead. smooth-shaven face, with the deep blue eyes and sandy complexion characteristic of his race. He emil
 grated to America about 1922 and en-
 gagged in merchandising in Philadelphia.
 He became bankrupt in a year and
 then came west, locating on Griers
 Creek, in Woodford county, Ky, where
 several small and very rude whisky dis tilleries were in operation.
 At that time distillng was not accom-
 plished by any regularly defined rule, but rather after the manner of the old
 negro mammy's formula for bread mak-
 ing, by taking "a passel' of meal, "a
 passel' of malt, and about "so much"
 water, billed down" until it was done. By this process there were frequently days when good whisky was made, but just as often the run, like the old wo-
 mans bread, failed to produce the hoped-for result, the failure being in-
 variably attributed to a charge in the moon
 James Crow possessed (and it con stituted his entire worldly estate) what
 was said to be the most extensive li- brary in Kentucky at that period, and also some costly chemical apparatus. Chemical science was his hobby, and it gave to him the secret of correct dis tilling. For many weeks, in a leg cabin,
 he experimented and studied, until he at last reached the nice proportions that were destined to revolutionize whisky
 making, and establish the fame of Crow whisky throughout the world. From | that time there were no off days. and the pure extract of corn flowed from " Jim Crow" whlskey was soon being i shipped to Washington, New York, Ros- 1 tor, and to England, Scotland, and other | foreign countries It became the favor 1 ite beverage of not a few of Americas 1 most eminent stasesmen. For many l years ther= was treasured in Versailles l IS a relic an old letter from Henry Clay 1 to his friend Crow orderng a barrel of 1 his wonderful elixir to take to Washing | ton with him to lubricate the wheels of | government. Dani=l Webster, it is said 1 was never without a demijohn of | Crow in his closet.
 | Anywhere from two to two and half l gallons was at first the full capacity | of Crows still house. which seems very l insignificant when compared with the l modern manufactures, ths output of | some of which exceeds 150 barrels a 1 day Where nowadays it is not uncom- mon for a distiller to make five and six l gallons of whiskey from a bushel of | grain, Crow made only two and quar- ter or two and a half gallons to the bushel and h. maintained that it was impossible to extract a greateT' amount of pure liquor from that quantity Of | grain-that the dstillation over that amount was a noxious drug that ought | To be drained off and thrown away. An old citizen of this town who pass | ed his youth in Crows time, and who has drunk whisky all his life, attrib- l utes all of the drunkenness of today to | the greed of the distillers.
 'In the days of Crow,'' said he, "we had pure whiskey, for then it was made l for quality and not quantity. Every l gentleman took his grog fifty wars ago, | and a drunken man was never heard of. l The pure liquor stimulated you with | out befuddHng your brain. Why, in | those days the farmer was as careful l to lay in his barrel of Crow as his bar | rel of sugar or sack of coffee. It was | deemed indispensable in every well regu- fa mil nf | would not proceed without 1t. I can re- l call instances where Kentucky courts l have been adjourned, while life or the | property of some poor litigant was held
 in suspense, that the jury, judge and 1 bar might quench their thirst. The re- l cords will show that business in those 1 days was despatched promptly. Who | ever heard then of a hung jury or even | an appealed case? Even the clergy, St. l Paul-like, took little for the stomach's sake The only perceptible difference 1 before and after taking was a more flu 1 ent tongue, stronger lungs and more l erect carriage. In these degenerate | days if one takes three drinks he is | raving maniac, and usually wants to kill l somebody
 | After time Crow removed to a point | on Glenn's creek near which he is buri- 1 ed. His last run was made in 1859. He l dropped dead in the harness one morn- | ing while at work in th@ distillery. As l is so often the case the fruits of his l scientific discoveries were more valua- l ble to others than to him, and he deid l penniless leaving his widow and daugh- l ter to the care of friends. Many sto- | ries have come down of Crows kind | ness of heart, how he used to practice | medicine for the poor alone, refusing all | fees and how he would sometimes lsave I his distillery and walk miles to bleed | @ sufferer.
 | MN Nn =,