Evening star., 1926-03-28

| Maryland, as a result of it's recent
| charges anent the widespread produc-
| tion of Illicit liquor in Maryland, par.
| ticularly in the southern counties
! thereof f
| The board had said that conditions
| in Maryland are bad; that lin some
of the southern counties utterly dis
| graceful conditions prevail and that
large stills are operating seemingly
| without the least OPPOSITION on the
part of the local officials
| The Star curiosity was aroused by
! these statements, emanating. it was
/ said from DIR. Clarence True Wilson.
| 1t was decided to send a reporter into
some of those counties to see IL con
| ditions were as bad as all that.
, The stars representative did see
one Of those large stills in operation
| He saw many gallons Of the whisky 1t
| had produced, and he heard from ma
| tiNes of the state of countless other
amateur and profession uor plants
in the counties of south, Maryland
| Still Now Deceased.
| But il must he added that said still
| no longer is extant, and as for the
others. they are. after all. but rumors,
| for he was not permitted to inspect
them. He has grave suspicious, how
/ ever, that Washington supply of
| bootleg corn and rye from Maryla nd
Is safe. al least for the present.
| The reporter did not himself dis.
| cover the aforementioned still Ii
! previously had been located by some
| scouts of one Edmund BudnitZ, pro
| hibition administrator for Mary nd
| and points sOuth-the same gentlema II
I tab -l I.,.t ha Mnth digt
| board for the presence Of SO much
liquor in southern Maryland Mr..
Budnitzs agents allowed The star S
agent to accompany them on the day
set for the stills seizure. and 40. hum
ming Maryland, My Maryland, the
sleuthins party set out in the gen
eral direction of Upper Marlboro.
The agents had been informed the
giant still was operating in thicKiN
wooded section near the state roao III
the Huntington section. Arrived III
the locality specified by the sfou'S
the locality specified by the scout s.
distance away and struck off quietly
Through the woods.
Rum SIeuths sniff.
The party had not progressed iar
before they knew they were on IVe
ltrsiI. over the treetops not far aWay
lcould be disCerned dark CLOUDS oA
smoke bilowing heaVenWard. ms
| sight would arouse no suspicion III
Washineton's residential section, out
out there in the forest il was most
significant.
The agents began to spread out
steslthily. their holstered guns ready
for action. Members of the party sooi
had surrounded the spot from Whlch
the smoke was arising.
Rut the raiders already had been
tdiscovereA Suddenly three men
broke through the woods in clIiereIi'
directions. Two were colored ana one
was white. In the resulting cohiu
sion the trio disappeared. Inc asenls
| were certain that at least one OF tht
fnpitives was In hiding in the under
hrnah Strategy was resorted 10
While other members of the raidinf
| marty went ahead to the still, one
agent hid. crouching. at the oase o.
a tree Soon he was rewarded oy lnf
| breaking of twigs nearby. the fofn
of a colored man, trying 10 gum
shoe" his way out of the WOODS move
into view. "a
The agents casual display of his
.3S-caliber automatic was surhcieht lo
effect an ga sy capture. Inc negro,
forIoru-looking individual, gave Ills
i. | name : rom ray
Only St0ker. Says Tom.
Tom readily admitted he had just
hean nj the still There was no USE
dapvins that. But all he had done
ba exnIained. was TO coal the ooller
cto.inr a steam boiler for d1stii
iery Tom reasoned, was not moon
shining. x,,ao
TIC hsndcuffs which had been plao
| cd around Toms wrists were refnoNe'
land he was set to work 10 snlasn VI
the whole works. There appeareu y
| 10 taars in his ewes as he hacked
n,arciIassly into copper coils, connec
tions mash containers and othei
naraphernaliA of the plant, inciudlnt
the big steam boiler.
| Nearby stood an abandoned mouse
In II were found sacks or sugar ant
meal. hundreds of glass Jars aht
other materials used in the trade =
fnII barrel of green "cawn and
large tub of fresh drippings from tn'
coils we're emptied on the SOIL.
The destruction of one OIL southern
NsryIands large stills had been ao
connlished. Could there be more
The revenue informant, who hac
guided the agents to this one, De
clsred there not only could be ou'
we,N But not so many. he added, III
calvert County as there were west
of the Patuxent River, in Charles ano
Ct Marys Counties. 1t was pointed
ont that Prince Georges and Anne
Arundel Counties also had yielded
moonshine in the past. The sxac'
| state of affairs in the latter two
counties, it was asserted, had not beer
ssoertained recently by prohloitior
authorities.
Reporter Goes It Alone.
Across the Patuxent, then, into ole
Charles County, the reporter wendec
his lonesome way. The agents nae
returned to the city, leaving him ir
the very heart of Marylands moon
Eshine country. Crossing from Bene
1 dict, he landed where despots hee
had feared to tread and struck up ar
acquaintance with the first old-tmel
he met.
There are but two main topics OF
conversation In southern Maryland
he learned. One is the weather ano
the other bootlegging. Sunshine ant
moonshine. He used sunshine rs ar
opener and followed up with moon
shine.
pretty dry hereabouts. eh, cap'n?'
the scribe queried.
FWa.al," the stranger drawled. shift
ing a cud of we'll worn cut plug, yes
and no. All depends on how yor
mean IT,"
81 mean speaking from the stand
point of one who's sort Of thirsty
for instance" ...
Brother, l don't know who you
are, and I don't care, but you can gel
all you want, / reckon, providing
you're properly introduced, which al
present I figure you amt
The reporter reminded him this
didn't bear out the story told by q
motorist who stopped at a country
store down that way not long age
to get some alcohol.