Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-08-13
Death Turks IN
BOOTLEG WHISKY
How Poisonous Alcohol Is Re
distilled and Other Methods
Used To Fool Drinkers

Washington, August 13-Pos-
sibilities of insanity, blindness
and death lark in every bottle of
distilled liquor bought from boot
leggers today, according to an
official statement of government
chemists who have been engaged
III analyzing seized samples.
Wood alcohol, ether. cologne.
hair tonic and spirits Of ilitre are
among the many poisons which
the government has found in its
analysis OF Illicit cOncoctiOnS.
This does not mean that all OF
even the major part OF the boot
leg liquor now flooding the coun- !
try IS mixed from these death
dealing materials. A great part
of it is real whisky, brandy and
gin. Much of it is colored and
favored with grain alcohol which
is not poison, essentially, altho
it works havoc with the internal
organs.
But the really dangerous liquor
is in wide circulation; too, and
any given bottle Of supposedly
sale liquor obtained through I'M
lawful channels may contain a
deadly poison.
Revenue stamps and impress
sively autographed labels Of well
known brands are no protection.
The boOtle2gers have counter
feited these marks. The govern
ment has seized thousands OF
them. Records at headquarters
here show that in New York !
alone nine men are under indict- !
ment and await trial for having
manufactured and sold these
counterfeit labels and stamps.
The government has no COM
plete record Of the deaths caused i
by Illicit whisky, but the total IS
known to run to thousands. One
bootlegger alone, Carmine LIEN
Eiata, who now IS serving an 18-
year sentence in Sing Sing, sold |
wood alcohol in the Connecticut !
River Valley, which, according to !
reports, caused the death OF more
than 100 persons and brought |
blindness TO many more. Ihei
man escaped the electric chair |
only because it couldn't De prov
ed that he knew the true nature
OF what he was selling.
Every city III the United States
has its own death list-large or
small Reputable physicians say
that more insanity and debility
have been caused by drinking IL
llcit whisky than were caused by
she'll shock in the World War.
Few men are wicked enough or
ioolhardy enough deliberately to
sell deadly poisons as a beverage.
How then is this murderous stuff
circulated? 1t is explained simply
by government experts.
Certain kinds of ethyl alcohol
(WOod alcohol and similar pois
onS) and certain commercial spir-
its. like spirits Of nitre, can be
redistilled, with proper knowl-
edge and scientific apparatus. to
yield a low grade OF nonpoison-i
GUS alcohol.
Bootleggers obtain the COM
mercial liquid in its poisonous
state and proceed with their own
crude efforts TO eliminate the
poisons by distillation But they
haven't the knowledge. or para
to do it effectively. A
results that is ION the
border line" One drink. two
drinks, may not do great harm.
but a half bottle OF the same stuff
may be deadly.
Aside from the poisons at the
one extreme and the real import
ed or bonded liquors at the other,
the great bulk OF the bootleg
whisky now being foisted upon
the American people. at robbers
prices is composed by govern,
ment analysis, generally as fol-
lows: Il
rye WHISKY One part ethyl
(grain alcohol, one part to two
parts water, caramel coloring.
burnt sugar, fusel oil, rye flavor
ing.
"Gin-One part ethyl alcohol,
one to two parts water, a minute
Of juniper oil.
To make fake Bourbons, runs ).
and corn whisky, the same for.
n111laS are followed exceot +bo+;