The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1912-03-19
Then he was obliged to shoot to protect

Then he was obliged to shoot to protect
himself.
Discovery Of thelmoonshine operations
Of Floyd Allen and his nephews. the Ed
wards boys. was one Of the most impor-
tant Developments OF the day. Jack
Allen was the only member Of the gang
whose name had been connected with
illicit trafficking In liquor and nobody
had ever accused him OF moonshintng
The most that was charged against Jack
was that he was "a blockader. a man
who handled and sold the white light
ming" turned out by the moonshine stills
II was supposed that the Aliens were
too clever to risk themselves in the actual
manufacture OF the moonshine, that they
had made their money by supplying the
funds for others to operate. The incov-
ering Of these stills puts a new light on
the motives OF the Allen gang in shoot
ing up the Carroll County Court. They
realized that the sentencing OF old Floyd
Allen to Jail foreshadowed the cleaning
up OF the Fancy Gap section by Sherin
Webb. the enforcement OF the law by
Judge Massie. II meant the end OF an
industry that had made the Aliens rule
and possibly prosecutions by the Federal
Government. This threatened invasion
OF the mountaineers' right to moonshine.'
together with the pride OF the Aliens
in their band that not one OF the clan
would ever. go to Jail, helps to explain
tH0 COWdIuly III thC Nati oh
County Court.
The right OF the moonshiner to make
whiskey from his corn was just as valid
in the code OF the Aliens as was the right
OF the farmer to make meal from the
same product
The still which the mountain detectives
found in the basement of Floyd Aliens
house was fine one with large capacity.
Floyd's house. like those OF the other
Aliens, is up to date and comfortable.
This still In the basement might easily
have been mistaken for laundry room
in a modern New York city home; Floyd
stored the white lightning in his cellar
as II came from the still. The detectives
took possession Of the ninety gallons
and also carried the still away with them
as evidence. The two stills discovered
at the home OF the Edwards boys were
operated in as barefaced a manner as
the one OF old Floyd Allen. This is
one OF the first instances on record in
this moonshining country where a still
has been found in the home OF a moon
sinner.
These circumstances are further evil
dence Of the oraftiness OF the Allen gang
Federal revenue officers acknowledge to-
day that Floyd Aliens cellar would have
been the last place they would have
looked for plant. Yet this. the officers
now realize. was the very place in which
a moonshiner could conduct his opera
lions with the greatest safety. 10 make
moonshine 1t is necessary to have smoke
and the smoke more often than anything
else leads to detection. Often the moon
sinners in the Fancy Gap section have
carried their smoke fumes through little
tunnels in the mountains 100 yards or
more. stationing guards at the vents
to give warning OF danger. Floyd Allen
piped the smoke from his still to the chin
ney and let II go up with the cloud rising
from the kitchen cook stove.
This idea OF tapping the house chimney
wasn't entirely original with Floyd Allen.
1t has been applied by one or two other
Fancy Gap moonshiners who have laid
their smoke pipies underground from
a mountain cave TO their homes.
The thing that was absolutely new in the
Floyd Allen outfit was the cellar. A
cellar to a mounta ineer's house is about
as rare n thing az can be imagined. so
rare in fact that the detective who runs
down the manufacturers Of illicit whiskey
in this region never have thought OF
looking for one. Floyd Allen apparently
had appreciated for years the advanta ge
that cellar possessed. for there were
evidences that his moonshine operations
had been OF long duration.
II il believed now that he and other
members OF the Allen gang have been
carrying on this unlawful industry for
at least fifteen or twenty years. The
finding OF the stills is important in that
it will draw the Federal authorities into
the hunt for the Aliens who are still at
large