Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-08-07
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STILLS IN BIG CITIES.
IL Takes More Men to Watch the
Metropolitan Moonshincra Than
Are Detailed In Hnlf of MI the
y Hest of the COuntry

E
when n man speaks of illicit distilling,
everybody Immediately has an idea that
he is referring to the moonshiners of Ten
nessec. North Carolina and other parts OF
the SOUTH" said an old revenue officer the
other day. The average person would
probably be surprised to learn that the
person who gives the government the
most anxiety in evading the tax on whis-
ky is not the picturesque mountaineer
OF the southern states, but apparently
the we'll to do citizen OF New York, Jer-
scy City, Philadelphia and Chicago 1t
takes more men to watch these metro
politan moonshiners than are detailed in
half the rest OF the country, and ven
paying its quota into the treasury of
Uncle Sam in Chicago alone than in
North and South Carolina and Georgia
put together.
There is nothing romantic about your
city distller. lie does not have the for
tests and the caves in which to hide his
calling. He seldom fights when the Off.
GERS OF the law interfere with his occupa-
ton. Just now Lean recall but one raid
in Chicago which resulted in any ones
getting hurt. Your mountaneer looks on
a revenue officer as his natural enemy.
and considers the breaking up of wild
cat disiiling as MI interference with his
vested rights. His Chicago compeer takes
the matter more sensibly. Hc knows
that he is violating the law, and when he
is caught he merely figures that he is out
of luck and that he might rs we'll pay the
penalty without adding any more offenses
to the charges already against him.
The most frequent location of an ilic-j
1t still in the city is in or near saloon.
The distiler thus has a market for his
stuff. and he can carry on the business
with less chance Of detection. The odor
of old beer kegs and the other refuse
which assails the nostrils is likely to-
throw an officer off the scent of the
steaming sour mnsh. Many OF these
stills have capacity Of from so to 40
gallons day. When you figure the tax
thus cluded, you can see whether the oc-
lcnpation is profitable.
The moonshiners of the south show no
more ingenuity in hiding the stills than
those of Chicago. l remember one still
which bothered the boys for years. They
hid spotted the locnlity. but could not
find the place exactly. There was sa-
loon which was doing a flonrishing bust
ness and to our certain knowledge they
had not bought Il barrel of whisky for
years. When they caught on to the fact
that we were watching them. the propric
tors made bluff at laying in n stock
We had searched the place time and
time again. but all to no purpose. Final
~ we got one OF our men put in there a;
n helper in serving the free lunches for
which the plnce was famous. He staisi5
there for three months without getting
ION 10 a thing that would help us out. and
40 we had not been 50 cocksure that We
We're right we would have given up in
disgust
At last our man gave rs the tip that
he had landed, and we swooped down on
the saloon. We put the propfietors OF the
saloon under arrest aud Went down inta
the cellar. where we found trapdesr5
that was hidden with wonderful cunning
This opened into an underground pas
sage. which led fora hundred feet or more
Until we got directly beneath jewish
synagogue. Here we found barrel upon
barrel Of fine whisky that had been stored
{tfere for years. There was also con-
lllete disiillins apparatus. although it had
not been ,lsed for some tue.
Another still that gave Us II good deal
of trouble wis in one OF the biggest Office
buildings III Chicago. dowiisin the base:
tneflt. The iaiiitor was an old distiller,
and he had gathered some OF his friends
+ To carry on the graft. doubt whether
We would ever have caught these people
II the snap had not been given away by
one of th,. partners. who was dissatisfied
With 4 division Of the spoils. We arrest.
red the men without any difficulty. and
they served their terms without grL:n
hing. The reason for this was that ths2
! janiior and one OF his partners had bank
led over $4,000 apiece as Il resul, Of three
I years work ut their still.
There is no doubt that there would &c
money in Illicit distiiling il it were posi-
bic TO dispose of the product. That IS
! where the men get caught most OF IL!