The Washington times., 1923-09-17
TEAR BOMBS TO.
BE CARRIED IN
DRY RAIDS
Enforcement Agents Will Use.
Trench Warfare Method in
Campaign on Stills.

Still raids of the future VIII be
featured by many of the spectacu.
| lar activities Of trench days. Tear
bombs will be carried by enforce
ment agents, and high explosives
used in wrecking the country moon
sinners plants. Prohibition Off
! cials are to take no chances, for
experiences that the moonshiners
and their auxiliaries, the bootleg
gers, have developed into gun fight
ers who attach but cheap valuation
to human life. With the expecta-
| ton that each raid will develop a
| fight, the dry agents will go pre-
pared to "put 1t over quick" They
declare they will apologize for their
rough methods later-if necessary.
Enforcement agents working out
Of the District of Columbia head
quarters will be among the first. It
is understood, to employ tear bombs
in carrying on raids.
Each agent sent into the country
on still-aiding expedition will be
provided with two OF these bombs.
by them sufficiently heavy to
blanket the moonshihers' Iairs and
make the capture Of the men operat-
king them little less than inevitable.
1 Dry agents declare 1t a humane
way OF handling a. situation. pre-
venting the loss of life.
In addition. to. the bombs a sup.
ply of high explosives will be avail
liable .tp be. used in .wrecking the
captured still. This will be left
lat a. safe distance from the still
while the raid Is in progress.
4 TSps0sH nf N...4 UHwv.Asw1
The idea OF gun fighting for
several hours with the possibility
that some of our men will be
wounded Is not to be entertained
longer" declared a phoribition to-
day. ''There Is just one way to
deal with .Inoonshiners, clean them
up in the shortest time and COM
plete the wrecking Of their plants
so thoroughly they cannot be re-
paired. During the past year we
have learned q great deal about the
country monsifinerr from men for.
merly in the internal revenue
eervfcs operating in Kentucky and
Tennessee against the hin 'InooA-
fshiners, and we are profiting by it."
According to prohibition head
| quarters, the great volume Of. moon
shine whiskey is coming from coun-
/ try stills. Manufacturers OF syn
thetic spirits have become a minor
factor. The reason the country
still has multiplied and its product.
| greatly increased is because the
Liquor Is sold cheaper than the
] synthetic grades and Is being. con-
sumed in larger quantities.
4 Numerous stills, with capacities
/ ranging from fifty gallons to 100
gallons, where from three to six
men are engaged IN moonshine
actfvities, are hid away IN. the
<vooded sections OF southern Mary
land and the northern section Of
Virginia. They are not IN opera
ton at all times. This intermittent
method in operating them makes it
difficult for the dry agents to To-
cate them. Some Of the smaller
stills, the fifty-gallon plants, are of
the knockdown type which can be
taken apart and scattefed when not
In use.
/ Corn mash In quantities gives off
/ a peculiar odor This has led local
dry agents to discovering several
large holdings recently.
/ A Raid Carried Out.
LESS than week ago we To-
Gated q moonshine plant in m old
deserted stone building over the
District line," said one Of the field
agents today. There were but two
entrances to the building, a narrow
door in one end and small win
dow in q side wall so far above
the ground it was impossible to get
view Of the interior through It.
A large open fireplace leading into
stone chimney faced the door.
way. The building was well buried
in underbrush, much of which had
been transplanted. The plant had
been in operation within few
hours Of our visit, but the still was
missing. Two empty barrels used
for holding the mash, and a broken
stone jug, emitting fumes pungent
with the odor OF fusel oil. was the
rest of our find.
"For three days we kept the plant
under observation. No one appar.
emily approached 1t. A day or two
: ago we revisited it and all evidence
of the moonshiners had disappeared.
In the interior of the house we dis.
covered, however, a place in the
1 floor recently dug up. Examina-
ton revealed the wreckage of q
= large packing case in the soft
2 ground. Unquestionably the still
! was hid there during the time we
: watched the house and was re.
. moved as soon. as we gave up our
vigil. Now those moonshiners, in
some way, discovered we were after
them and never took their eyes off
us. Under the law we cannot
wreck the house, but had we lc.
] Gated the still while it was there
that house would have gone up and
everything it contained along with
it. 1t is not probable the moon,
+ sinners will reoccupy it,"
u Possibility OF the moonshiners re-
- taliating by using tear bombs
: against the dry agents was dis
cussed by the enforcement agent.
"Moonshiners can obtain tear
bombs, of course, and they coufl
use them" he said, but it is doubt
I full if they will do so. The moon
}; sinner when caught operating q
q still, fights because he knows the
still will be wrecked and that If he
q is taken he goes to the penitentiary
n Usually however. the fight is I
short one, ended by the moonshiners
n getting away, If they can. We gen