Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-03-27

huSeS Employed 20 Doo9e SoNernInenl
Agents and Sell Whisky to Indians.
In the liquor business the bootleggeI
fills identically the same position. to
the legitimate trade that Mrs. Nation
fills in the cause Of temperance. He Is
an outlaw, because he not only has nc
regard for the law, but studies up all
kinds Of ways to break 1t. The boot
logger is pretty tough proposition In
any community and gives the entire u
quor business a bad name; but he Is
in the height Of his glory in the In
dian reservations, where the govern
ment has very strict laws against the
sale of liquor. He is not selling liqour
for a living. He could make a much
better living at some other line OF
business in nearly every instance. II
is the fact that he Is breaking a law
getting ahead Of the government, that
appeals to him.
The officers at Muskogee recently
discovered a new method Of smuggling
the liquor into the Indian country. A
teamster working on the railroad grade
near that point devised the plan. He
had two very large horse collars made,
and they were watertight. He would
make regular trips to Texas, and every
time he returned the laborers in camp
would get drunk. After watching him
for a long time the officers discovered
that he would take the extra horse col
lars with him and bring them back full
of whisky. Each collar would hold
about two gallons Of liquor.
During the last year, according to
the report Of ]. L. McCracken, of the
Federal prison at Guthrie, they have
had 523 prisoners In their Jail, and of
these more than 800 were charged with
bootlegging whisky among the Indians
or taking 1t upon the reservations, the
penalty for which Is just as severe as
for selling 1t.
During the last year there was but
one woman in the Federal jail at Guth-
rie, and she was convicted at Lawton
Okla, of selling whisky to Indians.
She was an old hand at the business
and was hard to catch, as she under
stood the business sufficiently to keep
the officers of her track and was good
at leaving a blind trail.
Only recently, just over the Oklaho-
ma border, three men and two women
were arrested, and taken to Tulsa, on
the charge of selling liquor to the In
dians. Upon searching them, 1t was
found the women had pockets on the
inside of their dress skirts, made to fit
a pint bottle snugly, and from the five
prisoners the officers took It's pints of
whisky, which they could have sold at
a handsome profit to the members of
the Creek tribe.
The Federal officers have become so
strict on the trail OF such offenders
that all manner of schemes are hatch
ed up to avoid suspicion, and each
bootlegger thinks tha. his plan Is infal-
lible, until he Is at last caught. Only
few months ago man driving a
handsome team hitched to an ordinary
looking farm wagon was surprised In
camp by a posse of United States
marshals and arrested.
In the camp at the time were plenty
Of Indians, and all Of them with plenty
of money with which to buy whisky,
and the fellow was running the whis-
ky out In buckets from the axles OF
his wagon. Both axles were made of
iron and were hollow, and when filled
up with whisky had capacity of sew
eral gallons, and by removing a tap
from one end Of each axle the whisky
would come out the same as from a
spigot. He had been carrying on a
successful bootlegging business In this
manner for a number OF years.
The fellows engaged In this class OF
business sometimes work up schemes to
fool the Indians, but II Is needless to
say they do not resort to any such
methods until they are preparing to
shake the dust of the territory from
their feet forever. as they would not
fare we'll at the hands Of the Indians
II they were caught.
A man was recently arreSteu III Tic
neighborhood Of Holdenville, /. T., on
the charge Of selling whisky to the
Indians, and was later released, when
II was found that he had been selling
them bottled coffee. The Indians are
cautious, and slip In and out of a boot
legger's camp and use every effort to
throw off the suspicion of the watchful
officers. This particular vendor was
taking advantage of this wariness, and
knew that they would not attempt to
open the TASKS until they were far
away from the camp, and he had sold
several gallons of coffee at a fancy
price and was about ready to leave
camp when arrested. He got off much
easier than If the Indians had caught
him after finding out that they were