Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-09-06
G0THAM'S MOONSHINERS
AN INDUSTRY RivALLINc TpAT OF
THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS.

| Napaclous stills In Tenement
| How the Liquor is Sold.
When William L. Strong rs Mayor
OF New York, visited the Atlanta Ex
position few years ago, with a del
egation Of New York business men.
ne was escorted one. night by his
southern hosts to a far-off mountain
top that he might moisten his lips
with drop Of the original mountain
dew, distilled by the famous moon
sinners of Georgia and Tennessee, re-
lates the New York Post. The trip
| up the dark mountain-side TO the little
! distillery, tucked away in the crevices
or huge rocks, was made with all the
mystery and secrecy with which ira
dltlon has surrounded such q pilgrim
age, and the Mayor was much i'm
| pressed. Upon his return to Atlanta
he frequently referred to the expedi-
ton. Finally one Of his felIow-towns-
men suggested, that after all, the af-
| fair. so far as the Colonel. as Mayor
| of New York, was concerned, very
much resembled the carrying of Goals
to Newcastle. "You can get the same
stuff distilled with the same disre-
gard for the Government" he as
serted, fright in your own town-al-
most, in fact. under your official nose.
What's the use of breaking your back
climbing around rocks and up slip
perry mountains"
THAT'S Just it. precisely" retorted
the Mayor. 81 never yet knew n man
bred and brought up in New York
who had the slightest regard for the
eternal fitness of things. OF course
I could get it in New York, but where
up to Central Park and shoot grizzlies
and lions, and tigers. but that
wouldn't be hunting game, would it?
There is not one Of you fellows that
has any sense of the proprieties.'
To those who have always aSso-
| ciated this ancient work of moonshn-
ing with double-barrelled shot-guns
poked through the crevices in remote
|
esque old outlaw at the butt end OF
the gun ready to annihilate the Gov
p, eminent officer, who had been lured
within range by the "tiny wreath Of
smoke curling upward from the still"
New York does seem to be lacking in
| the proper stage setting. That metro
| politan moonshining should be carried
on at the present day almost exclusive
| ly by the Russians and Poles would
seem to be almost sufficient provo
| cation for the late Mayors comment
regarding the properties. And yet
| New York-lacking as it apparently
is in all the essential details-can fur
| nish some excellent sport for those
! whose business it is to hunt moon
shiners-in the runaNa xs-0f- the ma
| tive moonshiners these hunters are
known as them fed'ral haounds." In
the capacity Of its Illicit stills, in fact,
and in its modern methods Of rcduc-
| ing solids to spirituous liquids New
York is far in advance Of the old
4
the stills are almost universally con-
| structed upon q small scale, with the
object of moving them on consider
| ably less than q moments notice.
| They are all portable and can be
taken from one place to another al
| most by hand In this city, on the
| contrary, the plants are evidently put
up with some idea Of permancncy.
They vary in capacity from one hun
| dred to one thousand gallons. IRE
uuently four and five tanks have been
found by the Government officers
linked together, each tank having
capacity of one thousand gallons. The
most elaborate moonshincrs' plant
ever discovered in New York was in
West Fifty-ninth street The camp
occupied the entire upper stories OF
large building, and contained, besides
all the necessary modern utensils for
| distilling, three large tanks, with a
capacity CT three thousand gallons
each. From the plant it was possible
to turn out nine hundred gallons
daily.
The "boss" moonshiner CT this still
was a Russian-a man looked upon by
| the outside world as an eninently
proper and prosperous member Of the
community. The seizure of his plant
meant loss to him of several thou
sand dollars in money and n number
of years Of liberty. Few Of his local
r1oonshining contemporaries, how
ever. cherish such ambitious plans
| for defrauding the Government. The
vast majority Of the Illicit stills are
| found il the Easements o. the East
eide tenement houses. 1t is neceS-
sary that the Illicit distiller should
have at least one 'inslde" confeder-
ate, and he generally works in col
fusion with the janitor. Years ago
the Irishmen had a practical monop-
oly of the moonshining industry and
| the whisky then was distilled from
molasses. Nowadays 1t is made al
most altogether from sugar. inc
ayera ge- sized mash is made from 100
pounds of common graduated sugar
mixed in q barrel of hot water ana
with enough yeast added to produce
fermentation. This mash is allowed
to stand for forty eight hours, aud is
then boiled and the vapor from 1t con
densed. This condensed vapor is tie
finished moonshine article. 1t IS
colorless liquid with swedish od"r'
but although harmless to the eye ana
nose, it is deadly to q mans rae
,,,+iee IF Frequently tests as high rs