Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-09-02

INNOCENT LOOKING ILLICIT DISTILLEIY.
might have remained there coming mon
ey to this day. hut it Seems that the
thrifty wife OF one of the gang went into
the game ON her own plan aud began
selling illicit whisky to such Of her fri nds
in rhe quarter as knew what to Cali for
who had the secret password, you might
say-and the Ginger Ale. 'SlrSaDsrill;i
and other spOuts of her little soda foun-
tain flowed pure illicit gin, whisky. rum
and what not when the occasion demand
ed The whole neighborhood was su,i-
piled with whisky at the expense OF the
saloon and the internal revenue, for she
sold pint of pure whisky for a dime,
and it was remarkably good stuff too"
Then there is money in making Illicit
whisky!'
Certainly. else why would men take
such great risks? You can make a good
grade of whisky from molasses, doctorin,:
it as you see f. or as customers demand.
The actual cost is from IS to 30 cents !,
gallon. The revenue tax is S1.10 Il gal
Ion Now, il man wants to take the
risk and has an illicit distiller whom he
can trust. he can buy his whisky for 60
or 50 cents a gallon, and the distiller will
make from 200 to 400 per cent profit,
while the retailers profit will Iun into
the thousands.
''In the first place, the most of the spir-
its is high proof say 90. This is the
way it is bought, but Ii is diluted almost
one-half before manipulated and sold.
This gives the retailer an enormous prof
it, but his risk is also very great, and if
he runs away TO escape capture he usual
ly leaves good deal of valuable stock
behind.
Yes; they all get rich in the illicit dis
tilling business if they can keep at it long
enough before being caught, but it goes
hard with them then. There was Il man
at Bayside, for instance. His name was
Sprohl. but he had half dozen aliases,
and his acquaintances were legion. We
got wind of the fact that somewhere on
Long Island there was a deal of illicit
whisky pouring into New York and
Brooklyn. and we secured the Black
Stump and other forests with guns and
dogs. ostensibly hunting game, but all
in vain. One morning the citizens of the
little village of Bayside heard tremen-
dous explosion and ran TO n small build
ia:s which was occupied by modest sa
loon keeper and his family. 1t was right
on the main thoroughfare too. The whole
back of the house had been blown into
the yard, and the stencil of hot mash was
talebearer to the four winds. =,
"When the deputies arrived there, they
found the owler of the place burying
some cope; trumperies in Il compost
heap, although in the explosion of his re-
tort ho had himself been blown through
the oack of the house and landed near
the Larn half dead with the blow and the
scalding. Two children, sleeping by the
side of the distilling room in the upper
rear chamber. were nearly blown to at
oms.
1T seems that Sprohl only kept the
saloon as blind, and neighbors said that
for man who only caught an occasional
soft drink wheeiman he did a great bust
ness, for every night or two there ar
rived wagon filed with barrels, and
while some of these were rolled into the
cellars of the tiny saloon others were
rolled out. The truth of the matter is
that while we were hunting through the
woods for this man he was on Il promi-
ncnt Ii ghway turning out about $4,000
worth Of spirits every year and had con
tinued the place for four years or more