Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-04
BOOM |NIM0ONSH|NE
Government Had Busy Year
With Illicit Stills.
MANY DESPERATE FIGHTS
One Revenue Officer Killed and Five
Wounded in the Last
Ninety Days.
MANY DESPERATE FIGHTS

During the fiscal year which ended
June 80 there was an unprecedented
boom in the moonshine whisky busi-
ness. While almost all lines OF legiti-
mate industry were anxious. owing to
the agitation incident to the enacting
Of tariff law early in the year and
by trust prosecutions and legislative
uncertainties during the = winter and
spring. illicit distilling f1ourished.
Prohibitory legislation in the southern
states, coupled with the advance of the
price Of legitimate corn whisky to $3.50
gallon, created such a demand for
this product. and at such profitable
prices, that the moonshiners have ex-
tended their operations to a startling
extent and doubled and trebled the work
of the revenue service. SO
When the ofiicial report for the year
just closed has been compiled. Internal
Revenue Commissioner Royal E. Cabell
says it will present some surprises. No
Official figures are available at this
time, but unodicial estimates place the
number Of illicit stills raided and seized
during the year. at more than z.evv;
while the figures for the year ended
June 80. 1903, were l, 743.
l. One revenue officer was killed and hVe
were wounded during the last ninety
days. g.,
the moonshiners paradise. Is not IN
GUIDED in the moonshine belt, although
some illicit distilling goes on In that
state. '-'
Shot From Ambush.
Deputy Collector Anderson lost his
life by being ambushed. He and one OF
his deputies were shot down without
chance for their lives in fair night
The deputy was wounded. but escaped.
Three moonshiners were captured and
received sentences Of twenty to thirty
years.
Collector Dunlap of the eastern dis
trict of Tennessee risked his life within
two weeks after he had received his COM
mission. 1t Is seldom that revenue col
lectors take part in raid, but Dunlap
had formerly been the United States mar
shall for that district. and when he located
a still, through his agents. he organized
a raid and headed Il himself. The party
charged the still in the face of broad
side from the moonshiners. Dunlap sus-
tanned a minor wound but did not fall.
When the moonshiners saw that the
officers were not to be stopped they sig
nailed their surrender, and Dunlap was
about to handcuff the leader when the
man drew a weapon and started to fight
again. Dunlap clinched with him In a
rough and tumble struggle. in which they
rolled down the mountainside. Dunlap
was severely injured in addition to the
gunshot wound he had sustained, but he
got his man. There were six persons at
that still, four men and two women.
Hundreds Of Shots Fired.
One of the most spectacular encounters
which the federal officers have had with
moonshiners in recent years was the raid
headed by Agent Sans in North Carolina
three weeks ago. A pitched battle took
place. In which more than 400 shots were
exchanged. but no one was seriously in
tured. and the moonshipers surrendered
after a long siege.
Moonshiners realize that arrest and con-
viction mean long terms Of Imprisonment
Consequently they rarely submit to arrest
without a fight and shoot to kill. Many
Of them feel that they are justified In
killing the officers. Local sentiment is
invariably with the moonshiners. Still
1000 stills were captured during the last
eight years.