Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1896 — MANY ILLICIT STILLS FOUND. [ARTICLE]

MANY ILLICIT STILLS FOUND.

“Moonshining” Is Increasing at a Steady Rate. “Moonshining” has steadily increased during the last twelve years, according to the commissioner of internal revenue. Last year 1,905 illicit distilleries were seized by the government, the largest number discovered in any one year, and more than twice as many as were found in 1893, or in any year previous. In its efforts to enforce revenue laws in the last twelve years, the government has had ten officers killed and fifteen wounded. None was killed last year, but three were wounded, which record equals that of any one other year of the twelve. The largest number of “moonshine” distilleries, 587, was found in Georgia. One Congressional district, the ninth, developed 430. North Carolina was second in the “moonshine” industry, with 453 “blind stills.” Secretary Carlisle’s State, Kentucky, furnished eighty cases of illicit distilleries. Only one was found in the State of Illinois, that in the Fifth Congressional District