The San Francisco call., 1898-04-13
WHISKY OF
 LOW PROOF
 IS SEIZED Several Saloon Men Paralyzed by an Agents Visit. Special Revenue Agent Towne Mows Down a
 Wide Swath. How Amateur Rectif1ers Were Caught Mapping by
 Stranger.
VERY EXPENSIVE WATER
They Put Spring Valley Into Bonded Stamped Barrels and All the Li-,
 quor May Be Con6scated.

A tall, smooth-faced young man, with a guilelesS expression of countenance and with the suave manners of an Fastener, walked into the California saloon, kept by A. M. Fink, on the corner of Pine ana Market streets last Monday morning and asked for a glass of whisky.
 Straight goods,'' he added, with a wink characteristic of a connoisseur
 MT. Fink smiled and affectionately patted a fat barrel with his right hand while he held the glass in his left
 i've some fine stuff here," he said; "only two days out of the United States bonded warehouse. See the stamps? Pure from the distillery. No better goods in town.
 The young man became deeply inter ested.
 "Yes. sne's stamped all right he said after a swift glance at the barrel. The whisky is all right, too, he added, as he slowly and critically drained the glass, which had received sone of the contents of the barrel. But it seems to me that it's not 1G6 proof
 Nobody could drink whisky that strong" commented the saloon man. Tt has been mixed with a little Spring Valley"
 By the way" inquired the young man.
 
 fine whisky"
 II have nine barrels more down in the cellar
 Then I'll go down and see them,'' said the stranger My name is R. E. Towne and I'm d special internal revenue agent. 1 have business with those barrels pear ing the Government stamp.
 lie showed hlS authority, and was uShereQ into the cellar, where he found the nine Darrels bearing the Government stamps certifying that they had been taken directly out of bond and that the contents were spirits of so much proof.
 The contents were tested in the usual way, and Special Agent Towne announced that he would seize the lot of ten barrels. he explained that Government internal revenue stamps and marks meant what they said, anu that it was a violation of law, punishable by conflSoatlon of the goods, for any person to dilute or other wise tamper with the contents of the barrels while said contents remained in the barrels. They could be drawn of into a denijohn or any old receptacle and SpringN alleyed, but not in the original package. Besides, MT. Fink had no li- cense as a rectifier.
 The barrels were seized to await the action of Internal Revenue Collector Lynch and the authorities at Washington
 MT. link said yesterday he was un- aware that he was Violating any regula- ton of the Internal Revenue Department; that he had been in the saloon business for only two months and was not in formed as to the Federal laws regulating his business. He had made similar ex- planation to Mir. Lynch, and hoped that he would be let off with fine instead of being so severely punished as the con- fiscation of ten barrels of whisky would certainly do. It was the custom of the department to be lenient in cases where the accused showed, as in thls case, an absence of malicious intent.
 The smooth-faced young man went elsewhere, and seized barrels of whisky by the score. He caught one barrel in the establishment of an od-timer a block be- low and left a trail of desolated saloon keepers up Market street and into Larkin
 By this time the saloon men in other parts of the city were in a state of panic, the news having been carried to them of the beardless raider, and there was quite a boom in the five and ten gallon demi- john business to get, the below-proof whisky out of the original packages.
 But MT. Towne changed his tactics yes terday, and left for the Los Angeles country, where, if rumor is to be believed, the whisky is as weak as a one-lunged cat
 Mir Lynch has submitted a report of MT. Towne's campaign to the department in Washington, and has also transmitted the offers of compromise made by the trembling and repentant victims.
 All eyes are now turned on Los Angeles