Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1922-12-01

Last ThurSday relying upon 1nIOI-
nation he had received the Assistant
Attorney General, Sen. Jno. D. Tay-
lor, directed Sheriff Wilks and his
special deputy, J. w. Taylor, to go
down south of Dalton on what is COM
monty known as the bar to the farm
occupied by Fritz Gottschalk to make
an investigation as to the location OF
a still. The officers located what
they thought was the site of a still
Thursday night. They returned on
Friday morning. Taking Gottschalk
into custody, they proceeded out into
the middle of a corn field on the
premises occupied by him where they
discovered the still located in most
clever manner. At first view it look
as though they were approaching an
old stack bottom where alfalfa hay
had been stacked but upon investiga-
ton they found that this was merely
a blind beneath which was hidden the
STILL. Gottschalk had excavated .
place seven feet deep, IL feet wide
and % feet long, had constructed q
metal roof over this and covered it
with the rotted hay. In this cham
Der he had a 40 gallon still, rs bar
rels 13 of which were filled with
mash which had almost reached the
stage Of fermentation to be cooked"
off. He had constructed well in
this chamber which was equipped
with force pump so that it was
unnecessary to go outside when max
ing liquor for any purpose. He had
even knocked the ends out of barrels
and sunk them into the coarse sand
so that waste and sand could be
emptied out through these. The earth
from the excavation had been loaded
into a wagon and hauled more than
a quarter of a mile away and seat
tered over newly plowed ground. In
addition 10 the mash and still he had
seperal hundred pounds of dried fruits
and about seven hundred pounds of
sugar, The officers were unable TO
find any finished product and Colts
claims that he had just started and
at the time Of the seizure had never
made any whiskey.
Gottschalk was brought into court
Friday afternoon and gave bond for
his appearance at the May term of
court. 1t is believed that the officers
have information that would involve
q number Of other people with Cots
chalk In this matter. It Is known
that this plant was constructed and
equipped at an expense of several
hundred dollars and that Gottschalk
did not have the money. If there
are others involved in this matter we
hope informations will be filed against
them.
The Circuit Court was apparently
discouraging to bootleggers last We'd
nesday and Thursday. Two cases
were tried in the Circuit Court which
attracted more attention probably
than any other cases on trial during
the term. They were the cases of
State of Missouri VS.. A. C. Salter, No
and No. 2. Salter is engaged in the
hotel business just north of the depot
at Brunswick, and was indicted by
the recent grand jury charged with
selling whiskey. In the first case
Salter was found guilty by the jury
and his punishment fixed at four
months in the county Jail and fine
of $500. A second jury was empan-
eled and went to trial Thursday af-
ternoon on the second charge of SELL
ing whiskey. The jury was out four
or five hours. They could agree
unanimously on defendants guilt but
could not agree on the amount of pun
ishment. Some Of the jurors insist
ed on the maximum punishment of
twelve months in Jail and $1,000, and
others wanted to give as little as 500
fine. Thursday night the jury re-