The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-09-18
Oh 7 POSTS
GUARDED
DAILY
Dangers Lurk in Mountain
Vastness Where One Murder
Has Been Committed


most notorious moonshine nest In
the east, located in the mountains
Of the southern part of Washing
ton county and almost inacces-
sible except to it's residents, is
the job that has been cut out by
prohibition agents to stop the
enormous flow of illicit whiskey
from the hundreds of stills located
there.
more moonshine liquor flows
from Frog Hollow than any other
spot in the East" a prohibition
agent who has worked in this sec
ton since the Volstead Act be-
came effective, declared recently.
Cursory raids made into the Hol-
low by Federal agents and county
authorities in the last few years
have resulted in a few arrests
and the seizure of numbers of
large stills and hundreds of gal
Ion and tons of mash and equip
ment, but where one still is des-
troyed, two or three seem to
spring up in its place, and the
Illicit traffic is thriving at present
as never before.
Dangers Are Great
Owing to the convenient location
of the Hollow, which has its out
let on the Potomac river facing
West Virginia, the principal flow
OF its product has been into that
state and adjoining sections of
Virginia, and so enormous has
the traffic become and so dangerous
that prohibition agents and officers
of West Virginia and Virginia have
modified their forces to stop it.
Plugging up the Hollow from
that source has been decided upon
as the most effective method Of
checking the traffic across the
Potomac.
To this end. and following a
number of arrests recently OF moon
sinners operating out of Frog Hol-
low into Virginia, officers and
special guards have been placed
at the bridge over the river at
Harpers Ferry, Shepherdstown, and
WilIiamsport.
Rum runners, il is stated, come
out of the Hollow almost every
night with automobiles loaded with
contraband liquor destined for
Martinsburg, Charles Town, Berry
Vile and other places at a greater
distance.
Learning that this has been a
regular practice of tfaffickers and
casual visitors to the Hollow with
resultant disorder from drunkenness
and automobile accidents due to
reckless driving, strict watch OF
the outlets has been ordered and
u being maintained.
Shoot Tire Off Rim
A few nights ago, guards made
their first arrest of alleged rum
runners, when three men, Claude
Small, Roy Linthicum and Lemen
Armstrong, of Martinsburg, w.
Va, were arrested after they
crossed the bridge from Maryland
into West Virginia at Shepherds
town with an automobile said to
have been loaded with whiskey.
The prohibition agents were
forced to- shoot a front tire off Of
the rum running machine to halt it,
the driver of the car refusing to
obey a command to halt.
During the chase through Shep-
herdstown, all Of the liquor was
thrown from the machine excepting
q jug, which fell upon soft earth and
was not damaged, its contents be
ing kept as evidence. A young
negro. Garland Wilson, noted as a
TAEfSinioO found in tia a.
chine.
He had been taken to Frog Hol-
low, it is said, to entertain the
moonshiners.
Several weeks ago, a party of
prohibition agents operating out of
Martinsburg, made a raid into Frog
Hollow.
They were heavily armed with
rifles and pistols and intended to
mop up the rendezvous.
A complete signal system main
tanned by the moonshiners gave
warning of their approach, and
after day of hard work the
agents seized a few stills and some
liuuor, and confiscated a lot of
material, but failed TO make an ar
rest.
The moonshiners had disappeared
tuC CCItIOiiS VI tIt
mountains.
The agents are said to have
fired shots at a young man, who
was suspected Of being a sinner, -
to stop him for questioning, with
out getting any information.
A girl was held up and quizZed.
The agents left the Hollow ad-
hitting their raid was a failure, like
other raids.
Place of Wealth
But prosperity in Frog Hollow,
which has grown by leaps and
bounds as the manufacture and sale
OF liquor increased, the dry agents
say, is near an end.
Log cabin homes that never knew
any other music than that made on
a banjo or harmonica, now boast OF
kiRh-priced Victrolas. and some OF
them areadorned with pianos while
other costly furnishings have re
placed the modest furniture.
Men and women descended from
parents that wore homespun cloth
ing, adorn themselves in the fines
apparel and live a life Of ease or
n1000y made so easily and il
amounts they never dreamed Of.
Although within striking distance