Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1918 — LIQUOR HIGH IN BONE DRY SOUTH [ARTICLE]

LIQUOR HIGH IN BONE DRY SOUTH

BOOTLEGGERS RESORT TO ALL KINDS OF SCHEMES TO CARRY ON BUSINESS. The Southern states after leaving Kentucky are all dry except Louisiana and it is a hard matter, in fact almost impossible to secure a drink, except in the larger cities, and there liquor can be bought, if one knows how—and has the price, but the price is high, and whiskey sells for from $3 to sl2 per quart, and it is generally of an inferior article. Since the U. S. bone dry law went' into effect bootlegging has been made a dangerous occupation and the illicit dealers in wet goods demand high prices for the risk they take. At Memphis, Tenn., recently, two car loads of whiskey were seized, but not until many cars had been shipped into that city. It is against the law for a railroad to accept shipments of liquor into dry territory. In this case certain railroads and city officials were in collusion with the bootleggers and a big profit was made by all connected with the illegal traffic before their scheme was nipped in the bud by the officers. It was the practice to bill the shipments to Memphis, but the cars were cut off on a switch on the outskirts of the city and the liquor secretly removed at night in automobiles and distributed among the different dealers in the city. All kinds of schemes were used to prevent detection. One car load was shipped in and had the appearance of a load of baled hay, the hay being piled around the sides of the car and the liquor stored in the center. Another car had the appearance of an emigrant car, a few bales of hay being piled next to the door and second land household goods stored in the car helped to carry out the deception. An innocent looking cow was tied near the hay and any chance passer-by seeing the cow munching the hay would have no suspicion that the car was other than it seemed. The liquor was removed that night and the next day the cow was grazing on the commons, -as it was no longer needed. It was only by accident that the officers got onUto the illegal shipments and stopped them. The liquor that was being shipped into Memphis was only six months old and retailed at sl2 per quart.

A favorite method of smuggling whiskey into dry territory is by the suit case route, but this is becoming dangerous and other methods are being adopted. A bootlegger having seven suit cases loaded with whiskey enroute to dry territory was arrested in New Orleans the other day by officers who noticed the weight of the cases and a suspicious clink. Usually the bootlegger has only one case; his capital is limited; generally he is a negro, because such modest smuggling does not offer returns that would tempt a white man. But seret service agents have some of the shrewdest crooks in the country to deal with in whiskey running. For instance, the internal revenue officer has just seized a lot of trunks containing liquor and clothing, and a barrel of sugar with a keg of whiskey placed inside.

Another instance is th> famous case of the shingles that leaked. Certain men in Montgomery, Ala., becoming tired of the suit case route, which meant a long and uncertain time between drinks,, planned to put in a real stock. So they went into wet territory, chartered a car, lined it with shingles, filled the central nest with whiskey, brandy and beer, and covered the whole with another layer of shingles. They billed it all to a fictitious lumber supply company. Everything went all right at first; the loading was done so secretly that not-even the railroad company suspected—shingles take a lower freight than liquor —and in time the car reached, Montgomery. But something had, happened—there had been a fearful : jolt somewhere on the line, and ■ a bundle of shingles had fallen bn some of the botltes. A police officer passing through the yards smelt a familiar odor. Full of hope, he followed it, and found the box car with its lifeblood ebbing away in the form of a trickle of bourbon. To the automobile the whiskey smuggler has been resorting more and more. This is the original joy ■ »'