The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-11
MARION WILL
] 60 TO PRISON,
! STATES CLAIM
Moonshiner and Former Grocer
Breaks Arson Parole-Appan-
ing Conditions at Home.

T. J. O'Marron, formerly a Rocl
Island grocer, owner of the bigges
moonshine outfit ever uncovered IL
Rock Island county, Is to be prose
cuted for violation of his probation
after pleading guilty to a charge o.
arson nearly year ago.
49, 0sMarron is still in Jail, friends
having failed to pay a fine of $20(
$ imposed by Magistrate d. ]. Gle
s land in police court yesterday aft
ernoon on a charge of manufactur-
ing liquor.
8 Edward l.. Eagle, assistant states
attorney, announced this morning
that Probation Officer Charles Os-
valid will probably file complaint
in circuit court, charging violation
of probation. O'Marron was ad-
I rnitted to probation after he plead
ed guilty to having set fire to his
grocery store, 1928 Third avenue,
Oct. 2S, 1920. The nroonshiper
faces a prison term of from one to
ten years on the arson charge.
Such appalling conditions were
found in the O'Marron home, 1215
Twenty-first avenue, by Commits
sioner William II. Fitzsimmons.
who visited the residence after the
former grocer had been placed I'M
der arrest, that Inspector l.. K.
Eihl was instructed to take charge
of the situation Menacing condi-
lions to health caused by ferment-
ing stocks in upstairs rooms, where
500 gallons of mash were contained
in II barrels, were to be remedied.
There were three 32-gallon bar
rels, seven 48-gallon barrels and
seven 52-gallon barrels.
One of the larger barrels con-
tanned kimmel seed mash, five bar
rels contained prune mash and IL
barrels were filled with corn and
barley mash.
The fermentation caused the bar
rels to overflow, and in three rooms
and the hall upstairs this covered
the floor half an inch deep. The
stencil was nauseating and gnats
and flies swarmed through the
rooms.
b. Bury Quantities OF Mash.
The corn, barley, prunes and
kimmel seed was let down in buck
cts. A hole six feet long, five feet
wide and five feet deep was dug
buried Lime was thrown over the
ground.
Two coal stoves on which the dis
. tilling had been done, were found
but no stills were located. Two
copper coils and the cooling barrels
) were found in the rooms, but it is
5 believed that O'Marron or others
had made away with the stills be-
! fore the police arrived, on a call
from neighbors, who said that a
man was trying to kill his wife.
Enraged Over Splitting Liquor.
O'Marron first assaulted his wife
with a large butcher knife, and lat
81 err fired at her VITA a shotgun.
Mrs. O'Marron said that her hus-
band had been drinking hooch, and
! had brought a jar containing five
6 gallons of the liquor downstairs to
3 be jagged He asked her to help
) him. She claims she told her hus-
band she had never handled the
8 liquor and never would.
s While the argument was on the
+ jar slipped out of O'Marron's arms
i and crashed to the floor. In a
Z drunken rage over splitting the
9 liquor he attacked his wife. She
3 ran upstairs. He grabbed a butch
9 er knife and pursued her. A man
/ entered the house at this juncture,
presumably a customer, and took
S the knife away from O'Marron.
Mrs. O'Marron later went out on
the front porch and soon heard her
Z husband rummaging around in a
S room where he kept a shotgun. She
stood close to the wall between a
l window and a door. about five feet
apart. From the parlor her hus-
: band could see through both the
. window and the door and knew that |
his wife was standing against the |
side of the house between the two |
openings.
He held the shotgun against the /
wall and pulled the trigger. The /
shot tore a big hole, but did not !
penetrate the wall. Mrs. O'Marron !
ran away and did not return to the !
house until after her husband had
been taken by the police.
The wife indicated this morning
that she would bring no charges {
against her husband for the as |
saults made by him. and said: He |
is only mean when under the inf1u- |
ence of liquor. l have been told !
that l should bring charges, but it |
would take a hard heart 10 do il