Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-08-15
B Big MOONSHINE u.
Still IS FOUND
( /. IN BAD LANDS
Illicit Plant Said e Be
est Ever Unearthed il
United States.

SBBisrnarck... M DE- Aug. 15.-rucked,
saWAy among the buttes Of the Bad
AA.nds Of western North Dakota, I25
miles from a railroad, federal OFF,
GERS have found and destroyed the
s1lsasrrgest Illicit still ever captured III
StheNNEEUlnfted States, according ;to Ian.
sMMAloney, North Dakota chief for the
eprohibition forces.
1.-The still--ofIl34 gallon capacity
yKssalsss1operated by a. Kentuckian, assis-
stedssHsby a., French-Canadian. All the,
range to test the alcoholic content Of
SthE$sssliduor, was found, according to
Mr:S& SMaloney.
III, y laimft this is.not only the. .larges,
etillsseizedsin disappointment since ma
btiOral prohibition became effective
but ALlso the largest unregistered still
seyexMseized by government agents in
thANVynited States or It's possessions"
ssaid9Mr. eMoloney. land / believe the
records OF, the internal revenue de-
partihens will bear me out in the
statement"
One of the largest stills seized here
stoffore was found in Georgia, rs miles
from the city OF Atlanta, according to
the dry chief. This was Of about $50
gallon capacity and was seized by Mr..
Moloney and other agents. 4,
s3 b ferreting out Of the hiding
place Of the still by the federal agents
cut short the hope OF Lee Williams
OF paying off a mortgage on his 900
acre ranch in the 'northwesternf corner
LOT Golden Valley county, a half mile
from thesMontana line, according to
the story he is said to have told
SMoloney. Il
Would Pay Ranch Mortgage.
Williams. 80. came to North Dako-
ia from Kentucky IS years ago and
of cattle and 100 horses. but had been
unable to lift a mortgage from his
place. c4sf
Last fall he conceived his scheme
|bf making liquor on a large scale, and
when he decided to build a. new.
house or the edge of a coulee on his
lonely ranch he made plans to put in
the big still, the agent said. When
the foundation of the house was
completed the still was installed-it
was SO large it could not have been
put in after the house was finished.
Son two sides of the basement, built
into the wall. were four watts, each
sof 800 gallon capacity. The best
copper coils made were used and
necessary appliances were OF
quality. The big still wa OPP
Grated from 6SIa. m. until midnight
when working at full capacity. and
this. necessitated Williams and his
French-Canadian assistant workink
Tin shifts. However, when they did
mot desire to operate the. big still they
astill ofss1002 gallon capacity "a
Federal officers refuse to give de-
tails on the amount of liquor which
might be manufactured in the big
still in a day, but as an Indication of
the extensive scale on which the
manufacturing was carried on per-
mitted it to be known that they learn
Fed Williams had bought a carload OF
corn for use in liquor making, had II
shipped to Beach and hauled it over
Gland rs miles to his ranch. They
found the watts full It the time Of the
seizure, containing 1900 gallons OF
mash. They confiscated 11.50 gallon
barrels full Of moonshine whisky and
also found a few gallons in a keg
which was used in catching fluid as
it escaped from the still, which was
in operation at the time of the seizure,
Two Barrels Float Away. 1925
z An incident of the operation was
told the officers by williams. During
Ia %cloudburst in the Bad Lands, when
the coulees filled up with rushing
water from the hills, two so; gallon
4 barrels Of whisky, cached in the path
of the waters. were being carried
away. In attempting to recover them
with a horse the horse was drowned
and Williamssh had a narrow escape
from drowning.
When the officers began to de-
molish~the still they found they could
not take it out of the house intact
They chopped it into sections and re-
moved the connections.
Williams is.a married man but his
Jwife was away visiting at the time OF
the raid. He was taken before
United States Commissioner Halliday
at Beach and released on bond OF
$4,000 pending the serving Of q war
States marshal. The French-Canadi.
an was released on bond of ST. 600
williams did not tell the officers OF
having had any previous experience in
moonshine making in Kentucky but
the officers say he was very familiar
with the process Of manufacturing
liquor. @
Tells OF Other Raids.
Moloney said that in his prohibition
enforcement work in. the northwes,
he had found one or. two cases where
many stills were operated but the
combined capacity was not as large
He said that he raided q Finlandei
Wing river in Minnesota who operated
IS stills, bnt that allfof them did no,
have one-third the capacity Of VIII.
N