The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1897-09-10
MAINE MOONLIGHT.
Crooked VIII sky as 1t Is Made in
the Temperance State.
4 Liquor That Carves Its Way Down
and Makes N Msu Disown
His Parents-DodetnE
the LAW.

For 20 years after the passage of the
Neal Dow law there were many Illicit
stills in Maine, all of which Welded a
fair profit To the owners. The hard
times, which lasted from 1873 TO IsS,.
drove most of the manufacturers aut
Of the business. Soon aftervard AN Or
land genius discoN cred Il vNaN of max
ing hisky from alcohol by mixing IL
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
cohoi was divided, though the inventor
and his friends have always termed il
ten-mlnute whisky" because. of the,
short time in which it was prepared
lhe cost and manner of making two
gallons of ten-minute 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 I0-rod whisky.
q
Three drinks of this mixtur. ynuIJ
make good man diSoXn 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 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 il was made into ten-minute
whisky they doubled the price
Meanwhile the price of grain went
lower and lower every day Cor.
which had generally sold for 20 cents
a 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 had downward ten
dency when the spring of 1897 opened.
According to the Maine standard a
pushel of corn, when sprouted, roasted.
ground up, fermented and distilled, viii
yield four gallons of whisky, and with
corn at 10 cents Dushel good corn
whisky should not cost over 20 cents
a gallon. As long as alcohol WAS sold
at one dollar d gallon, it was cheaper
To make ten-minute whisky than run
the risk of conducting still; but \, hen
alcohol and the internal revenue .ax
on whisky went up. and the price of
corn went down, the distilleries started
once more and are reported 10 be doing
Il 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 ina iority of
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 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
ldllN TISSUES LOT llit dIlilldlS ana now
much to the illicit stills nobody knows
though when a man who keeps two
COWS uses ten bags of whole corn a
week ii may toe 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 " no pe,ldln
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 it,
population in the union where so mucli
so o-Called spring water is sold. Evers
place of 5000 inhabitants is supplied
Toy three to ten water carts, represent
ing many springs. The teams call at
houses and stores every day, lcavinc
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 a half gallon for
it, the dealers say that typhoid fever
is abroad, and they fear their customers
may catch the malady.-N- \. Sun.
POINTED DARTS.