Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1920-09-04
MANY ARE THE RUSES OF THE
BOOTLEGGER CLAN OF PHOENIX

aver, water, everywhere, and not a
I'D I'D 10 drink, is tie cry Of local boot
~ I'm winter approaching and the
eiue OF bonded whiskey at the lowest
fnoenlclans have experienced
~, 1Arlzona became a desert for sure.
the local dealers in the tfirst-orancbl
ils hquor are racking their brains for
new methods of getting their wares
gust the Watchful eye of the law
Yearly every conceivable method has
peen tried in the county. fre0nent1,-
successfully for "a time. only to end in
ILe capture of the man or men and
their supply of goods.
according to officers, there are three
classes of bootleggers: Those who SOIL
TIE feal or alleged bonded LIQUID. those
NHo sell the moonshine product made
by some one else. and those who make
the noonshine" and sell it, Each of
THESE three classes match their wits
against the law only to come to grief
When their business is bankrupted bv
the officers.
Among the most notable cases in
Phoenix Of getting liquor to the sellers
OF Whiskey made before prohibition
became and honest to goodness thing.
was the case of the hot water bottles.
a Fubpef rot water bottle made a dan
dy thing to ship it in, and fer Ions,
time steady stream of LIQUOR flowed
INTO Phoenix through an endless chain
OF bottles. These bottles were filled
with Whiskey. the plug screwed in and
seated with sealing wax.N Placed in a
trunk they made ideal containers for
the rubber could not be broken by the
Earring knocks the trunk received en-
route The chain was finally broken
when the officers found twenty of the
bottles under the closet floor in a local
rooming house
Secret Tank in Car Tried
Another iTpaninTJc .
his wares into the city in the seat of
an automobile. but he, like the rest.
met grief, and the mystery of his an
parentiy amending source OF supply
was feTreted out. This man removed
the springs on the back seat of his
car and replaced them with a metal
tank made TO fit the seat bottom. IT
was several inches in height and held
four or five gallons.
Many methods have been used with
automobiles as carriers for the booze.
spare tires have been filled with it
and carried successfully for a while.
Some times the man would fill suit
case with bottles and place the s1Iit
case on the running board. The meth
od worked for time. as the conta liner
was IN open sight and seemingly above
suspicion; then it was detected
Another man had a copepr tank made
which he placed under the dash of his
car and got the whiskey out by lift
ing the hood of the car and drawing It
off through a small faucet in the hot :
tom of the tank. For a long time one
man brought many bottles of whislev
into the city by packing them in com
mon gunny sacks and putting them in
the tonneau of his car. Two layers of
the bottles were placed in the sacks
with the corls against each other. then
cardboard and chicken wire was laid
on the bottom of the last LAYER and
the process repeated. Each sack was
packed so tightly that fall of several
feet to floor failed to break any of
the bottles.
At Glendale an officer noticed a box
shipped by express with three rabbits
IL. It. The distance from the floor to
the bottom of the box excited his
curiosity and upon examination he
found that the box contained false
bottom with nine quarts of whisIxey
in it Some barrels apparently con-
tanning sauer kraut were found upon
closer examination to have 40 gallons
of whiskey concealed beneath the noted
partner of wieners. The barrels con-
tanned four-inch false top of sauer
kraut: the rest of the barrel was whis-
key
Another Ingenious schener
One man beat the dry law for a time
by carrying a supply Of the stuff in a
double gasoline tank on his car and
using a siphon to draw it out. Half
of the gasoline tank was copper com
partment which held several gallons
of booze. It was poured into the tank
and removed through a slide which
fitted into the regular plug in the gaso-
line tank. Moved one wav the slide
opened into the gas" and the other
way into the Joy juice"
Barrels of crude oil shipped to a To-
cal man did not cause anw curiosity
at first, but after a time officers be-
came curious to know where so much
crude oil went to. An examination OF
the barrels brought forth the startling
fact that each barrel contained a ten
gallon key of whiskey lowered into the
oil.
For a time some local japanese Sc
cured a, supply of the contraband
stuff by shipping it in in wooden casks
of bean paste. a deIicacy much in de-
nsnd among the Orientals. A til
led to an investigation and each casl
of bean paste was found to contain {
copper tank which held four gallons
of whiskey. About two inches Of
bean paste hid the tank from the idle
gaze of the curious.
The blowing out of a rear tire or
an auto truck in a chase led to the cap
ture of % cases Of whiskey which the
owner carried brazenly on truck
When the tire blew out he was forced
wzvs WITH WIZ