The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1927-03-25
TO ROUT MOONSHINERS
WITH TEAR GAS BOMBS
Airplanes and Tear Gas May Be Effectively
Employed In Breaking Up The Isolated
and Fortified Industry in Carolina
Swamps

OWd
! There is going to be hell to
ipay in the swampS OF Pasquo-
tank, Camden, Tyrrcll, Dare.
Hyde and Washington counties
lit plans hatching in the minds
,oi certain officials connected
with Federal prohibition en-
iorccmcnt are carried out.
At last an effective way To make
Use nf the uirplanc in locating and
Nrcckin. di>tillericS in these
SwampS on Il wholesale scale has
been suggested and this newspaper
got the tip this week trCm an init
mate inside source. Tear "HS may
hr employed ut au early date i'll
routing. identifying and capturing
the gentry who operate innumer-
able mnonShinc stills in these Won
lcrful SwampS.
With its limited resources in mrn
and money the Federal authorities
have been hard put Ia il To break
up the moonShinc liquor business
in the jungle like Businesses of the
great SwampS here in Northeastern
North Carolina.
Hundreds of mOnn>hincrS are ef
frcriyciy concealed in these >wampS
and they know their $wampS. They
have innumerablc trails II their
stills and they know their trails.
The officers ,lo not know the SwampS
50 we'll and they do not know the
trails. They send out their scouts
and locate Il chain of stills. y
whole region is mapped and raid
Is planned and staged. But when
the raiders reach the stills they tlnd
them cold. The guards AMI >cnti-
nClS uf the stills never sleep. They
not only know their Swamp>. hut
they know prohibition officer the
minute he appears within miles ot
their ueighbourhoOd.
The Use 0f airplane< for Spottin@
the stills hidden away in the Great
Dismal Swamp region of Camden
and PaSquutank III the even more
inaccessible swamp regions of East
Lake and along the Alligator River
in Tyrrcll and Hyde counties has
been thought about before. Bnt
little could hc gained i'll using air
planes merely tu spot the stills. No
airplanr could make landing i'll
any Of these mora>>eS and flying
low over these SwImpS Is hy no
means plra>urahlc sport I" he
rcckle>Sly INDUCED i'll.
Besides. if the men i'll tn" air
spotted the stills. every diStiil"r
would h. OH his guard and out ot
Si-hf hy the time the forces on land
could he organized and directed /"
;hr still. thus located
But - new humch is >tirrim. in
The minds of the prohibition Of
ficcr<. They are thinking "f air
planes seriously now. Ia spot In"
stills AMI do more. And here then
is what has hccn Il deep dark secret
10 date. The suggestion Is SteWln-
i'm the minds of certain officials /"
u<,. tear yaS dropped from airpIanrS
To c:rrtrally break mp the swamp
mOon>hinc Industry Oh Il wh"l"Sti"
scale.
Dynamite WAS thought Uf LONG
ago. but the idea of uSim" dynamite
WAS abandoned 1t WAS Il brutal
thought. Manufacturing moonShine
liuuor i not Il crime incurrin% the
death penalty. Government has II"
right to kill Il man just because h"
is rUmmittin" Il crime calling for
fine and imprisonment. Besides. II
would hr 80 easy TO drop dynamite
on an innocent lumber camp or Il
hunters shack by mistake. and then
there would bc trouble i'll the land.
Bur tear gas is different. With
tear "a< the air raiders could I'M
mrdiatcly put Il still out of com
mission by binding every man III
the vicinity of it and before the
victims of the tear "a$ c0lltd re-
cover from the effects of the gas.
the officers OH foot could capture
them with ease AMI certainty.
The airmcn would dO their work
with the tear gaS and the land
forces would rush into the SwampS
To hunt for men who were tempOr-
arilv blinded and craZcd by tear
gas. In this way the operators OF !
the swamp stills would be identified
and captured and they would have
Il hard time indeed proving an aiibi. .
sick nf Indy and Sifk of Snirit i'm