The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-08-21
GETTING A DRINK DOWN SOUTH
All Sorts Of Schemes to Get Around
the Law.

known to his friends as Colonel
chiefly because he is a native of Ten-
uessee, has returned from a visit to
his old home at Tate Springs with
some Impressions of the political bait
tie down there between the forces of
Prohibitionlsts aud others call the
Demon Rum. The colonel says he
has made something oi a study of the
situation in Tennessee.
"The ingenuity of the man with a
thirst down there" he remarked. lis
working overtime. never heard Of
nor saw so many schemes for getting
drinks on the sly. The umbrella
mender even is in the business, carry-
Ing two or three short uips in the hol-
low Of each umbrella handle One OF
a group of commercial travellers with
whom ] talked told me story of a
big angular colored woman who In
creased the symmetry of her figure by
strapping around It certain bulbous
receptacles-dem | suspect
the contents of which she sold on the
quiet, thus reducing her girth and iu-
Creasing her wad.
MANY arrests for 'bootlegging' are
being made in the State and the blind
tiger is everywhere. A merchant SELL
ing a bill Of goods always slips in a
bottle as a gift By many devices
storekeepers manage 50 they can dig
up sip Of good cheer water when
1t Is urgently sought by "a wayfaring
brother. A brand Of soft stuff
known as prohibition beer is on the
market. Being non-alcoholic it may
be sold within the law. The mer-
chant in addition to his stock of pro-
hibition beer will have stored in his
blind tiger department a stock of sure
enough beer When a stranger, a
man unknown to the community and
who may be a spotter, comes into the
joint and calls for prohibition beer he
! gets IT, But II the caller be a citizen
| whose beer thirst is a matter OF com
mon knowledge in the town. the store
| keeper fishes out a bottle of real beer,
I'm the moonsHine districts a dol
| lar placed on a blind tiger stump
will turn up a bottle Of booze before
morning. An improved scheme In
this same class is to have blind
drawer in partition wall A dollar
placed in this drawer will turn to
| whiskey when the drawer Is again
! opened. If one is assigned to a two
| dollar room in a blind tiger hotel he
will find one dollar bottle OF whis-
| key in the room. If he calls for a
| three dollar room he will find two
bottles or jug of frewater under
the bed
II went into a shooting gallery in
well, | won't give it away--and was
| told that my poor shooting was due
to unsteady nerves. A wink went
with this remark. Some pantomime
followed and then a little brown Bet
| tie was fished out of a closet. II was
disclosed later that my poor marks
! manship had been due TO the fact
that the bell had been purposely re-
! moved from the target. The express
| companies stock up with dummy
packages, and when the thirst victim
! enters the express Office and inquiries
! If package has been deceived for
John Smith he is answered in the
affirmative, and after receiving the
package departs in peace
The nrohihitiCn laws Of the South
&C ..-. ,....-.. B.. ,n... a.ClutiCn and
as a result some strange business
freaks have come about In Chatt-
anooga, for instance, prohibition
failed to carry, and as result 1t has
become the leading wildcat dstribut-
ing point in the South. saloon man
named Rose, eXiled from dry Atlanta.
moved his traps to wet Chattanooga
and started a distribution agency. His
business has reached mammoth pro-
portions. He operates through the
express companies and daily sends
ont many thousand packages to all
parts of the South.
After prohibition struck Dixie mid
ships Chattanooga became the harbor
of refuge for fireworks artists
throughout Georgia, Alabama and
| Mississippi The saloon men, accom-
panied by the fixtures of their dis
mantled saloons, piled into Chatt-
anooga from all sides. and the storage
! places of the town under Lookout
Mountain now contain enough second
hand fittings to rig out another Ho-
boken, The Chattanooga brewery
found itself showed under with
saloon fixtures which it had originally
furnished to places handling its stun
throughout the South.
THE old time moonshine trade in
the uplands section of the South,
which had been we'll nigh extermi-
mated by Uncle Sam, promises to
spring up again as an adjunct to the
blind tiger business. A real. casehard-
ened old soak. If he can't tickle his
palate at some local quenchery, will
HE himself to a nearby mountain
trail and get line on moonshner's
plant, This BODIES no good for the
'reyenooors,' for be It remembered
these ofcers-who under old condl-
tions upheld the dignity OF the law
at mere pittance-wlll now have to