The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-01-12

go right down in the cellar, you
will find it working alright" was the
rather unusual greeting which Sheriff
William Rauen received just before
five o'clock Saturday afternoon when
the sponge squad of the sheriff's office
raided the home of Ed Reve, supposed
farmer, in the town of Somers. 1t was
not one of those "wayside home stills
but according to the information Sc
cured by the sheriff, it was the biggest
liquor plant found in Kenosha county
since the famous day when the amend
ment providing for prohibition went
into effect. AS result of the raid a
good portion of the space on the ground
floor of the sheriff's Office was cluttered
up with stills and washboilers and bot
ties filled with the white liquor which
looks like, smells like, and kicks like
moonshine.
Find Regular Distillery.
Several complaints had been received
against the Reeve place and they got so
persistent that the sheriff decided that
it was good time to make the raid
and armed with full supply of search
warrants the, sheriff left the Jail Sat-
urday afternoon. With him were depu-
ties Jake Keul, Nick Otto, Stanley Rau-
en- and "Red" Bonn. When the party
reached the house they made their way
cautiously to the door, but there was
no need of caution. The woman in
charge of the house appeared at the
door.
"I'm the sheriff and l have search
warrant for this placed Sheriff Rauen
began.af "Justrigoo Eight down In the
cellar, you'll find it~working. You have
got US and there is no use of making
any fuss about it," was the rather I'M
expected and philosophical response of
the woman who afterward admitted
that she was the wife of Reeve. The
officers lost no time getting down the
stairs into the cellar of the house.
Just Like Real Distillery.
asgAs tRey opened the door, there was
a greeting Of the pungent smell Of
mash and moonshine and as they came
farther down into the cellar they no.
ticed the steaming still working away
and turning out mule" at rate which
would make it possible to supply lot
of dry places. The room in which the
still was operated was regular dis
tillery. There were more than 200 gal
Ions of mash in containers ranged
about the floor. and most of this was
destroyed. There were a. lot Of bottles
containing the finished product and the
still contained something like 20 gal
Ions of the hot liquor. The squad
brought in gallons of the moonshine
liquor and a generous sample of the
barley mash. Reve did not put in an
appearance while the officers were at
the house and he was ordered to come
into court today. The sheriff was
forced to call 2 truck in order to haul
in the portion of the evidence which
had not been destroyed.
Find Account Books of Business.
Reve is supposed to be a Russian
and it is believed that he was doing q
decidedly lucrative business in the
moon. A book, which appeared to be
the credit ledger of the place, was
found and it had a large number OF
entries, showing the production of g
decidedly large quantity of liquor. II
appeared from the book that the man
had a regular route which he was sup
plying with liquor and from the charg.
es made, the purchases must have been
decidedly generous ones. For the most
part the names appearing in the book
were names of aliens and an effort is
to be made to find out whether or moi
these men have been disposing of the
LIQUOR to other customers.
All Comforts of Home.
''It was real plant with all the com.
forts of home" declared the sheriff
"The basement room was fitted up II
fine shape. They had bed and easy
chairs and table and cards and lots
and lots of the liquor. It must have
been real place there nights. We
found sales slips which indicated thai
Reve had been buying his materials il
Racine. One of them showed generous