The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-04-15
MOONSHINING IN BIG CITIES
CtUSEs MORE TROUBLE THAN HE
4 MOTNTITN DISTILLING.
More Men Required to watch Infrnction of
tn. Laws In cities Than In tn" Rest Of
~. Country Raids In Town-Dif-
il'ulty %; Disposing OF the Whisky.

officer the other day. The average person would
probably b" surprised 10 learn that the person
who gives The Government the most anxiety In
cvAdiug the tax ON whiskpy IL not the picturesque
mountainc0r Il the Southern States, but aprar
enly III" well To do citizen 81 New York, Jersey
city, Philadelphia and Chicago II takes more
men 10 watch these metropolitan moonshincrS
than are dctailcd in half the rest Of the country,
and | venture To say that more corn Juice escapes
pt wing its quota into the Treasury Of I nclc Sam
in New YORK city alone than in North aud South
Carolina aud Georgia put together.
There Is nothing romantic about your city
distllcr lie does not have the forests and the
caves in which to hide his calling lie seldom
fights when the officers Of the Law interfere with
his occupation. Just now | can recall hut one
raid IN New York which resulted in any one get
ting hurt Your mountalneer looks on a revenue
officer aS his natural enemy, and considers the
breaking mp Of wildcat disabling as an inter,
ference with his vested rights. His New York
comp"or takes the matter more scnsibly. lie
knows that ho is violating the law, and when he
is caught he merely figures that he is out Of luck.
and that be might as well pay the penalty without
adding any more offences 10 the charges already
against him
~ iH''' i''i''l WV " ui ''''i vi VI
the city is in or near a saloon. The distillcr thus
las 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 assail
the nostrils Is likely to throw an officer oil the
scent uf the Ntcaming sour mash. Many u these
stills have n capacity Of from thirty 10 forty gal
Ions a day. When YOU figure that = tax Of 81 20
a gallon is thus eluded You can see whether the
occupation is profitable.
The muonShiners Of the South show no more
ingenuity In hiding the stills than those Of New
York. | remember one still which bothered the
boys for years. They had spotted the locality,
but could not fix the place exactly. There WAS a
saloon which was doing a tiourishing business,
and 10 our certain knowlcdga they had no, bought
a barrel Of whiskey for yesrs. When they caught
onto tho fHct that We were watching them tho
propretIrs made a bluff ut laying in a stock.
We had searched the place time and time again.
buy Hll 90 no purpose. Finally We got one Of our
men pu' in Their" as n helper In serving the free
lunches for which the place WIS lannon's. lie
n y"d there for three months without getting onto
u thing that would help us out, aud II We had not
boon an Cucksure that We were right We would
hav" given up IN disgust
"Nt las, our man gave US the in that he had
landed, and We swooIed down on the saloon.
We put The rroIrietors Of the saloon under arrest
and went down into the cellar where we found
. trap door that was hidden with wonderful cum
ming TINS ulEn"d INTO an Underground pas
sHCc which led for a hundred feet Or more until
"" got directly beneath a Jewish synagogue.
Horc We found barrel ut0n barrel Of fine whlsAey
that had been stored here for years. There was
also q complete diStillirg apparatus, although
none Of the things had been used for some time.
W. Anu'ltT sill thVf RDNn 1S n GOOD deal Bf tFNI1-
he was IN one of the biggest office buildings in
New YORK. down in the basement The janltor
was an old dlstillcr and he had gathered some
of his friends 10 carry on the graft doubt
whether We would ever have caught these Jao-
PIE II the snap had not been given away by one
Of IA" IertnprS who was dissatisfied with q dlvi-
sion Of the spOils, We arrested the men without
any difficulty, and they served their terms with
out grumhllng. The reason for this was that
The !anitor and one Of his partners had banked
over $1,000 apiece rs a result OF three years work
at their still.
The only time l ever knew any resistance to
be made to he officers q the law was over in Jer-
board . bum boat They had been making
WhIsRry Tor more than four years at the rate Of
Ton gallons a day, and We had not the slightest
ihea that anything Of the sort was going on In
fact II was next 10 impossible TO run down a den
If this character BY the mercst chance one Of
orr men saw an Italian carrying a sack on his
shoulder and thought that the contents looked
like a lug. He followed him 10 n saloon, but
did not 70 inside. When the Italian came out
the officer tracked him down 10 the hou~aboaL
Although he had no positive evidence that the
Italian was engaged 10 making wildcat vh!skcy
he reported the matter 10 headquarters and a raid
was made
The arrest might have been made without
any disturbance II the Italians had not been drunk
and quarrelllng among themselves. There were
only three Of US while there were eight Of the dis
ullrrs. When We got on board the boat the alarm
was given and We had 10 break IN the door IN
getting inside We found more knives flashing
theu would b" displayed In n COrsican vendetta.
and We had to use our pistols. ~ n result We
Nor" lrnitty badly slaShed np and three Italians
were Elilrd, That was fully fifteen years ago,
and II taught the Illicit ~distlllers such a lesson
that they have come To the conclusion tha, II Is
better 10 throw up their hands than Ia add more
crimes to the list in an effort Ia yet away. Vt
present th' officers have Jersey City pretty well
IN Land. and the business ~ not very profitable
"IhrT" Is no doubt that ther" would bc money
in Illicit disabling # II Was possible to dlsp 81 ui
III" product That Is where the men get caught
most II the time, asst Is not possible for Us To- find
every plant merely by The scent Of the fermcniins
mash \ great many tricks are planned, and
II them work for awhile, but they don't
last ! have seen men walking along the stree,
with an innocent looking Joint Of stove pipe in
their hauus Now there is nothing suspicious
about a Joint oi stove pipe, even ifit is not more
than three feet long, BUTT does not Weigh much,
and when a mcu carries IL a. though he were
Juggling n bag ut shot u man in ny business h-
gins To wonder what It inside Of H. We don't
the fellow until We are pretty certain, ana II
j. about even chances tia; We find a long slim
demijyh I'm inside the ViTr.
"Salnon keepers are pretty shy Of handling
nOon,hlnp, and they won't enter into ungu,ia--
lions unless they are certain Of the men with whom
are dealing. Tie SureSt graft that has
ever been worked was one hat had a long run
IN New YORK city about FIVE years ago. The
driver 81 u brewery wagon Was The man who at
Tended 10 the distribution. He called AT the sa-
where the vhiSkey was distilled ana car
th" moonShine on, in beer kegs and loadel
ihcm on his wagon as II he were only taking away
nN1T'N casks He would take Them around In
he places and leave them. The saloon Eeepers
Who were handling the stuff always put beer
N the kegs after they had empiied out the wills
KEY, and in this way dcadened the fumes # he
stronger liquor, ON" ~ our mon who was in
'%porl,r AZ The brewery had n pretty keen nose
lnd h" Inspected that something was wrong
i'o started n nttlc investigate ion himself, and his
inquiries resulted in our mailing all uf IL" men
who he'd been mixed up in n" deal
y de- not pretend 90 saE that The revenue officers
IAN stop The manufacture ~ sale n whiSkcv on
which the Government tax has no; been naid
AT ~ the whiSkry that goes down the throat II
Ne toner u not the product Il HE sin In most
he red liIror is largely adulirratcd / vii give
a pul2l" that j. before your eyes every day
S'"u into a cheap sal Non be- tax on Viii.
,ov l., - 90 q gallon Some whiSkey l. sold Al
The r"Norur Ulcers No not interfere much with
his class ~ liquor for the reason that II carries
Is own punishment Some II the sal"on keen
RS have their own hnr'ondcrG make il. bat il
an Frequently be bought in large quantities
= 4 ru. iroly the product 81 drug. ard no fiery
'usIltv J. impaired hN ~ AGTiy'urru # rot pcp"rr
hAy" seen negroes who thought ihHt they were
1nt getting tlclr moneys worth unless the
ylislrv made 'hn tears come tu their o'o..
Us long ~ men viii tnkc chance On making
Money fast, and 'gNil' without he"dirg the pro.
.i-innS ut H." low ! .ilppy~" thefrl /, little bone -
uu0ro,-inr the ilirit dienllng IN New York
IND th" hiC dics II would a-iuund you II
would tll Won tie number 81 revenue agents We
lHv' g. keen IN New Nurk. II pays. however.
Is there would he no limit 10 tho traffic If We did