The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-07-08
VARIEGATED MAINE WHISKY.
The Ten-Minute Kind. the Kind in
Water Jugs, and Others.

The Ten-Minute Kind, the Kind in
Water Jugs, and Others.
For 20 years after the passage of the
Neal Dow law there were many illicit
stills in Maine, all of which yielded
fair profit to the owners. The hard
times, which lasted from 1878 to 1887,
drove most of the manufacturers out
of the business. Soon afterward an Or
land genius discovered a way of maxi
ing whisky from alcohol by mixing it
with water and croton 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 was generally called
split" on account of the way the al
cOhOl was divided, though the inventor
and his friends have always termed it
"ten-minute whisky" because of the
short time in which it was prepared.
The cost and manner of making two
gallons Of ten-minutc whisky are as
follows:
To one gallon of alcohol, valued at one
dollar, add 20 cents worth of croton
oil. Shake well for ten minutes and
add gallon of pure water. The re-
suit is two gallons of 4O-rod whisky,
at cost of 60 cents gallon.
Three drinks of this mixture would
make good man disown his parents.
The ten-minute whisky came into gem
eral use and the owners of the Illicit
stills moved over the line into New
Brunswick in order to live alcohol
came to Maine by the quart, gallon, bar
rel and hogshead until the Boston deal
ers grew curious and sent 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. Corn,
which had generally sold for 70 cents
bushel, and had not gone below 50
cents since the days before the war,
dropped to 40 cents last fall, held there
all winter and had a downward ten
dency when the spring of 1897 opened.
According to the Maine standard
bushel of corn, when sprouted, roasted,
ground up, fermented and distilled will
yield four gallons of whisky, and with
corn at 10 cents a Ioushel good corn
whisky should not cost over 20 cents
a gallon. As long as alcohol was sold
at one dollar gallon, it was cheaper
to make ten-minute whisky than run
the risk of conducting a still; but when
alcohol and the internal revenue tax
on whisky went up, and the price of
corn went down, the distilleries started
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, a majority of
these men conduct cigar or candy
stores, or make pretense of being yictu-
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 as well
purchase enough. So great quantities
are bought and consumed to fatten the
stock and restore fertility to the run
out farms. How much of this goes to
fatty tissues for the animals and how
much to the Illicit stills nobody knows,
though when a 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 peddie
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
Dv three to ten water carts, represent
ing as many springs. The teams call at
houses and stores every day, leaving
full jugs and taking away empty ones.
o. 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 Il cent and half a gallon for
it, the dealers say that typhoid fever
is abroad, and they fear their customers
may catch the malady.-N. y. Sun.