The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-05-03
BATTLE WITH
MOONSHINERS
Another Gang of Lawbreakers Finds
That it Doesn't Pay to Defy
Uncle Sam
(Tampa Tribune. 1st)

gerously wounded, are the casualties
after a bloody battle between federal
revenue officers of this city and moon
sinners yesterday afternoon in the
depths of a cypress swamp three
miles north of Mango and about
twelve miles from Tampa. Allen FL
lis was killed and B. H. Lovelace was
shot through the hip. Maj. F. NJ.
| Williams, prohibition officer; J. E.
Cox, deputy United States marshal,
and w. NJ Moore, the three men
forming the attacking force. escaped
| injury, though Marshal Cox got a
bullet through his hat. Three or four
of the lawbreakers escaped. AS a re-
suit of the hot conflict, the officers
captured the largest still and quantity
of mash on record in this section.
Information was received some time
ago at the office of Oscar P. Hilburn,
federal prohibition enforcement Off
Ger for Florida, about this particular
still, but as the operators were taking
vacation just then it was not raided.
The forces of the law were modified
yesterday afternoon. Armed with
rifles and six-shooters, Williams, Cox
and Moore went to the place about 4
o'clock. The still was hidden in the
heart of dense swamp and sur
rounded by water waist deep-the
backwaters of the Hillsborough river.
The three men deployed in open
formation to surround the stronghold
Of the distillers, slipping through
thick underbrush and trees, guns held
well above the water. Suddenly a
moonshinef sentry sighted Major
Williams, who shouted:
'Throw up your hands Instantly
the swamp resounded with shots fired
thick and fast by both parties. A bull
let bored neat hole through the hat
brim of Marshal Cox. Every man
found a cypress tree for shelter while
in action. The officers were outnum-
bered two to one, but the gloom and
underbrush concealed the actual num-
bers in this guerilla warfare. Every
tree seemed to spit bursts of yellow
flame. The moonshiners as well as
the officers were heavily armed.
The swamp re-echoed with the rapid
fusillade, and the smoke hanging low
over the water soon thickened until it
was impossible to tell friend from foe.
The battle became something of
running fight, first one side and then
the other making a charge, and con-
tinuing, apparently. until every gun
was emptied, when the surviving
whisky makers beat a hasty retreat,
making good their escape into the
Businesses of the forest.
The victors then reconnoitered the
scene of carnage.
!. They found the body of a dead man.
A shot had crashed its way through
the skull, smashing open the whole
right side of the head. The blood and
brains we're mingling with the brown
waters of the swamp. This was was
afterward identified by a neighbor as
: Allen Ellis. He was about thirty five
years old, and lived at Mango.
. They found a wounded man, B. II.
| Lovelace of Thonotosassa. They rails
eG him out of the water which was
. waist deep and laid him groaning on
a platform near the still. He was shot
through the hip and was suffering
great pain. They gave him first aid,
left him some drinking water and
. hastened back to Tampa for an am
! bulance. Returning to the swamp the
officers were reinforced by several
) others. Upon arrival at the swamp it
became evident that during their alb
: sence the routed moonshiners had re-
turned to the rescue of their wounded
and removal of the dead.
! Just then an officer stumbled over
an inert object half-hidden in the
2 marsh grass. 1t was the bloody body
of Ellis. 1t seems that his compan-
: ions had carried the corpse out of the
4 swamp to carry it away and were on
the point of rescuing Lovelace. who
1 had been answering their calls thru
the woods, when the officers returned.
The officers heard the exchange of
calls as they neared the swamp.
The distilling apparatus was an i'm
I mense affair, the largest yet captured
around here and said to have capac-
ity of 120 gallons every forty-eight
hours. 1t was double still, compos-
ed of two fifty-gallon gasoline drums,
with a first-class copper worm. There
! was a small amount of moonshine
ready for use. There were seven bar
rels of mash. There was also large
amount of cane syrup in gallon cans
reported to have been stolen.
All this outfit was located in the
most inaccessible part of the swamp,
shaded by towering giant expresses,
surrounded by tangled underground
in several feet of water. Holes had
been bored in two big expresses and
poles driven in the ground, for the
= -lsupport of a platform on which was