The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-09-14
a.lss.. = alis9.7
STILLS IN: BIG CITIES,
UNCLE SANS CONSTANT SEARCH FOR
'.., p" ILLlciT WHISKY. 49, rs

Il Takes More Men to Watch the
Metropolitan Moonshinern Than
Are Detailed In Half of All the
Rest of the Country.
"When man speaks of illicit distilling,
everybody Immediately has an idea that
he is referring to the moonshiners of Ten
nessee, North Carolina and other parts of
the south" said an old revenue officer the
other day. 1.-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 mountaincet
of the southern states. but apparently
the well to do citizen Of New York, Jer-
sey City, Philadelphia and Chicago. Il
takes more men to watch these metro
politan moonshiners than are. detailed in
half the rest of the country, and l ven
ture to say that more corn juice escapes
paying its quota into the treasury of
Uncle Sam in Chicago alone than in
North and South Carolina and Georgia
put together. .,s,.s .-.. s.v.
There is nothing romantic about your
city distiller. he does not have the for
ests and the caves in which to hide his
calling. He seldom fights when the Off
GERS of che law interfere with his occupa-
sion. Just now can recall but one raid
in Chicago which resulted in any. ones
getting hurt. Your mountaineer looks on
a revenue officer as his natural enemy
and considers the breaking up of wild
cat distilling as an interference with his
vested rights. His Chicago compeer takes
the matter more sensibly. He 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 as well pay the
penalty without adding any more offenses
70 the charges already against him.
fThe most frequent location of an illic-
1t still in the city is in or near saloon.
The distiller thus has 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 assaifs the nostrils is likely to
steaming sour mash. Many of these
stills have capacity Of from 80 to 40
gallons day. When you figure the tax
thus eluded, you can see whether the oc-
cupatfon il profitable. 49,.
''The moonshiners Of the south show 10
more ingenuity in hiding the stills than
those of Chicago. 1 remember one still
which bothered the boys for years. They
had spotted the locality. but could not
find the place exactly. There was a sa-
loon which was doing fiourishing bust
ness and to our certain knowledge. they
had not bought a barrel of whisky for
years. when they caught on to the fact
that we were watching them, the proprie-
tors made bluff at laying in stock.
1--WE had searched the place time and
time again, but all to no purpose. Final
iy we. got one of our men put in there as
a helper in serving the free lunches for
which the place was famous. He staid
there for three months without getting
on to thing that would help US out, and
If we had not been so cocksure that we
were right we would have given up in
disgust.
AT last our man gave US the tip that
he had landed, and we swooped down on
the saloon, We put the proprietors of the
saloon under arrest and went down into
the cellar, where we found a trapdoor
that was hidden with wonderful cunning.
This opened into an underground pas
sage, which led for hundred feet or more
until we got directly beneath Jewish
synagogue. Here we found barrel upon
barrel of fine whisky that had been stored
there for years. There was also a COM
plete distilling apparatus, although it had
not been used for some time. -a
Another still that gave us good deal
of trouble was in one of the biggest office
buildings in Chicago, down in the base
ment. The janitor 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
il the snap had not been given away by
one of the partners, who was dissatisfied
with division of the spoils. We arrest
ed the men without any difficulty. and
they served their terms without grun-
bling. The reason for this was that the
3anitor and one of his partners had bank
ed over $1,000 apiece as result of three
years work at their still.
"There is no doubt that there would be
money in illicit distilling if it were posi-
BILE to dispose of the product. That is
where the men get caught most OF the
time. as it is not possible for US to find
every plant merely by the scent of the
fermenting mash. A great many tricks
are planned, and some of them work for
awhile. but they don't last. l have seen
men walking along the street with an in
nocent looking joint of stovepipe in their
hands. Now, there is nothing suspicious
about a jeint 6f .stovepipe even If it is not
more than three. feet long But it does
not weigh much. and when man carries
it as though he were Juggling bag of
shot man in my business begins to won
der what is inside of it. We don't bother
the fellow until we are pretty certain,
and it is about even chances that we find
a long, slim demijohn inside the pipe.
Scl- l. orN @4,v. Oh, oFh az
ding moonshine, and they won't enter in
to negotiations unless they are certain of
the men with whom they are dealing.
The surest graft that has ever been work
ed was one that had long run in Chica-
so about five years ago., The driver of a
brewery wagon was the man who attend
ed to the distribution. He called Mt the
saloon where the whisky was distilled
and carried the moonshine out in beer
kegs and loaded them on his wagon as if
he were only taking away empty casks.
He would take them around to the place
and leave them. The saloon keepers who
were handling the stuff always put beer
in the kegs after they had emptied out
the whisky and in this way deadened the
fumes of the stronger liquor. One of our
men who was inspector at the brewery
had a pretty keen nose, and he suspected
that something was wrong. He started
q little investigation himself. and his in
quiries resulted in our mailing all of the
men who had been mixed up in the deal.
81 do not pretend to say that the rev
enue officers can stop the manufacture or
sale of whisky on which the government
tax has not been paid. AS long as men
will take chances on making money fast
and easily without needing the provisions
Of the law !, suppose there is little hope
of suppressing the illicit dstilling in Chi
cago and the big cities. 1t would as
found you if would tell You the number
of revenue agents we have TO keep in
Chicago. It pays, however. as there
would be no limit to the traffic if we Gid
not hold it down Chicago Inter Ocean.