Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-01-28
SPlLLINe coNFlSCArED LIQUOR
Bud Ledbetter Has bumped 10000
Gallons of BOose at
Muskoaee

At the southwest corner OF the federal
court building in Muskogee. l. T., the
brick wall furnishes the buffer for Bud
Ledbetter in action, and there thousands
OF gallons OF liquor. from the finest cham
payne to the lowest grade Of beer, have
been spilled. A spadeful Of soil from that
spot burned In the fire will give on an
odor OF burning alcohol II the glass OF
broken bottles were allowed to remain
there would be a pile half as high as the
court house itself.
Under the law when an oficer finds
liquor in Indian Territory he must conhs-
cate and destroy It. Dedhetter Is n special
officer whose duty It is to suppress boot
Logging He has come nearer breaking It
up than any other man in Indian Terri
tory. But even he is at this time more
or less discouraged.
To keep liquor out Of a town of 1900
people with Eve railroads In the city. in
addition to having half a hundred other
towns in his district. is not small mat
ter, especially when a bootlegger can
double his money on every quart OF whisky
he can get into the territory. and when
profit and thirst create geniuses In the art
OF getting liquor past the marshals.
When Bedbetter finds any considerable
| quantity OF liquor he gets dray, hauls the
! stun to this corner of the old court house
! and destroys It by hurting the bottles
| against the brick wall. Letbetter In action
| always draws a big and thirsty crowd. All
are willing to assist, with the hope of
/ being able to get away with one bottle
! without Ledbetter seeing them. often
| liquor runs IN a stream down the gutter
and negroes will kneel down and drink II.
! When this is done a match Is applied so
that flames will spread over the top Of
| the liquor soaked ground. This keeps the
negroes off. no matter how thirsty
The court house corner was selected be-
cause It is sheltered from the wind In
the winter and there is a large shade tree
valued In the summer. How much whisky
| has been spilled there Ledbetter does not
know, but he says there have been thou
sands OF gallons He has figures to show
that during the last three years he has
confiscated 10000 gallons of liquor. worth
at Indian Territory prices $4,000.
Bud Bedbetter is "a years old, a six-footer
and weighs more than 200 He has been
an officer for twenty-five years and has
never been seriously wounded In a hght.
He has been deputy marshal in Indian
Territory for thirteen years and is consid-
cred the best field deputy in the country.
He made his reputation at that reckless
period when the fight for supremacy was
gangs of outlaws which Infested Indian
Territory
Since the outlaw days are past Ledbetter
has been specially detailed to break up the
liquor business. He has worked faithfully
at Il for three years, and while he has
not suppressed It entirely, II is harder to
get a drink in Muskogee today than II
ever was before, and that, too. in spite OF
the greatly increased population. He can
find liquor where no one else would ever
think of II.
His most effective resource is the fence
he has established on the express lines
and freight trains entering this district.
He has spoilers and scores Of packages
containing liquor are tipped of to him
before the trains reach Muskogee. BY
watching a negro walking down the street
he can tell by his actions whether he ID
bootlegger. BY shaking box or trunk
he can tell every time whether there IL
liquor in it.--Kansas City Star.