Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-16

The sheriff's Office locked and the key gone.
He placed another lock on the door and the
once OF the sheriff was doubly protected with
two men holding the keys.
Not only the enemies Of the governor in
Berkeley County got into trouble Sometimes
his friends well have run afoul of the law.
Charges put his friend, Senator L. j. Dennis,
in pretty hot water for time.
The Senator, In his righteous wrath aroused
at the scandalouS operations in Hell Hole
Swamp, went to the governor, and asked for
some State constables to help enforce the law
there. He recommended the names of some
excellent men who could help dry up that
fostering sore" One Of the men was named
Meyers another was named Rourk Another
held commission without pay as constable.
His name was Anderson and he belonged to
the old anti-McKnight faction. The men were
duly appointed by the governor, but there vas
no noticeable decline in Berkeleys output
THE Federal Government having finished
with the prosecution Of the cases made by
Meningitis famous cleanup raid, was looking
for more business when 1t heard the murmur-
tngS Of Ballentine and Woodward, whose heads
were about to be chopped off by Gov. Richards.
The real people in the whisky business they
testified in proceedings brought by the Federal
authoritieS-h they really wanted to know
were none other than Senator Dennis and his
precious State constables.
The system, they said, was tri-cornered
affair by which the Dennis crowd was pillaging
the bootleggers and the public alike. The con-
stables, according to the sheriff and his deputy
would arrest the moonshiners and seize their
whisky. They would then sell the whisky to
their own set Of bootleggers, among whom was
one Of the old Villeponteaux gang, while Sena-
tor Dennis got his pickings out Of lawyers fees
from the culprits. He could arrange to have
the cases dropped or continued indefinitely"
for consideration, they said, and the fees
amounted to paying tribute to q king of the
bOOtleggers."
special investigator and a special prosecute
ing attorney went into Berkeley County poked
around the Hell Hole neighborhood and soon
indictments were issued against the Dennis
Anderson Vi1eponteaux combination. The de-
PENDANTS were tried in Charleston and long
line Of moonshiners paraded across the witness
stand to tell Of their dealings with the Senator
and the conStables.
That was all nonsense, the Senator and the
others said; and who could believe a lot of
sef-confeSSed bootleggers, anyway? When q
brilliant array Of defense counsel including a
former member Of Congress and many of the
foremost lawyers Of the State, impressed upon
the jury that the Federal Government in Wash.
1ngton was invading the rights of the sovereign
State OF South Carolina by prosecuting its
omceTs of the law, three was only one thing
70 do-and the jury brought in q verdict OF
acquittal
NO Drancn OF the government in Berkeley
County has escaped, therefore, without a scent
Of the corn whisky which still pours out OF
Hell Hole Swamp They have all been probed
and investigated, attacked and maligned The
moonshiners 60 merrily on While oficials
squabble they build more stills The soualid
little cabins with leaky roofs and rotted floors
II there are any hOorS-are gradually being
improved. Few are getting rich but none Is
starving to death. conservative estimate
places the number Of bootleggers in Hell Hole
at IS per cent Of the population. Others say
1t Is IS high as so per cent.
Every now and then somebody makes a raid
on the bootleggers there, but for the most part
life wags along. The people do not want TO
be bothered by outsiders They respect the
rights OF others, and they wish to be left alone
IN their moonshining. Typical Of the spirit
OF the people Is the impassioned statement
made years ago, long before prohibition made
lawbreakers Of most Of the adult population.
There was an alteration at a county conven.
ton once, and . member Of the Hell hole
delegation arose.
IN have you to know" he said in regal
majesty, that the delegates of Hell Hole have
just as much right here as those from Christ
Church Parish"
And there the matter stands.