Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1922-04-27
BOOZE BANDIT CASE
is BITTERLY FOUGHT
All Angles OF D. L. Moore Distil-
lery Robbery Come Out In
Federal Court Trial

I
Iten defendants charged with rob
bing the D. L. Moore distillery il
Mercer county of 4S barrels ane
five cases of whisky on the night
of Macrh 10th last.
1t required all of "Wednesday
afternoon for the prosecution tc
introduce its testimony, ant
Thursday was occupied by the de
Tense. The story brought out
was vivid one Of the raid by a
band of masked bandits on the dis
tillery, how they captured the
guards, neighbors who came III
and finally a deputy sheriff and
his posse, tied them up and held
them prisoner and got away with
most of the booze only to have it
discovered by officers and recov-
cred in less than "a hours.
Only one of the defendants
was positively identified by the
prosecution witnesses and he was
a negro of the crowd who work
ed without a mask. The white
raiders all used blue bandana
handkerchiefs to conceal their
, identity.
p When the defense witnesses
began to testify, all sought to re-
fute the evidence which had been
piled up against them, circum-
stantial though most of : was.
but apparently rather convincing.
Several had what seemed like
copper-riveted alibis.
Two local attorneys appeared
in the defense ranks Thursday.
Hon. c. c. Wallace, representing
the Brashears, and Col. r. {.
ham joined forces with Attorney
Glenn HIuggins, of Louisville, on
behalf of Hum Collins and the
McCutcheon negro.
The defense of Hum Collins
and others indicted on the D. L.
Moore distillery robbery charge,
exercised so many challenges
that a bystander had to be called
in to fill up the jury box. He
was Col. Harvey Chenault, Of
Richmond. Other members of the
jury selected to try this, the most
important liquor law violation
case that has perhaps ever been
! tried this district we're: Johnnie
'lVoodard, Of Powell county; j
John Land, OF Garrard county :;
G.. c. Cox, of Richmond; ]. r.
Dunbar, of Richmond; John
Scott, of Powell county; Ben
Calico, of Garrard county; Earl
Baker, Of Lincoln county; D. c.
Biggerstaff, Of Richmond; Luth-
er Burrus, Dave Cobb, and w. N.
Fades. OF Richmond.
After District Attorney Saw
yer Smith had made short oper
ng statement to the jury Ira
Schoolcraft, who was a govern
ment guard at the distillery at
the time of the robbery, was the
frs twitness introduced. He said
that about 7:l5 o'clock he was in
the office when someone knocked
on the door. He opened it. Out
side were Is or 20 men with RI
fes and pistols. They told him
to throw up his hands. He said
he jumped back in the room and
closed the door and tried to put
the lamp out, but it overturned
and caught fire and he had to
open the door and throw it out.
Then the men made him throw
up his hands, took him inside and
a negro tied his hands behind
him and tied him in a chair to-
getFer with couple of neighbor-
hood boys who were there with
him. Schoolcraft said that all
of the men with the exception of
the negro had blue bandana hand
kerchiefs over their faces, some
tied under their eyes; others
with holes cut to see through.
The boys inside they captured
were Leonard Dean and Henry
Turner. Another named Malcolm
Baker ran out. Soon the men
came in with John Cummings an
other government guard whom
they had captured outside, and
him in. Others came and were
captured and tied. They M s..
Milton, John Trant, Mansfield
Dean, and soon an automobile
drove up and Deputy Sheriff Tom
Coleman, his father. ex-Sheriff
Clell Coleman, and Robert Horn
captured and brought in. These
last were not tied up. Soon all
were marched to an old stone
warehouse and locked in. Milton
was taken to the warehouse and
forced to show them where the
whisky was stored. One man
was left to guard them before
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