That the foxy wiles of the modern bootleg are not always effective was revealed in a raid in the western portion of Catawba county during the holidays when officers nabbed a 90-gallon copper still, 6,000 gallons of mash, one man and other moonshining accessories, according to an official report filed with State Prohibition Director R.A. Kohloss, with headquarters in the federal building in this city.
Discovery of the still happened in a most singular as well as cunning manner. A prohibition officer, well known in the district, was accosted by a man who requested the officer get in his car; that he had something to talk to him about. They talked.
The questioner quizzed the officer as to the possibility of “buying him.”
“I wouldn’t be bought for $10,000 or any amount of money,” the officer informed the man.
The conversation, a short time afterwards, was concluded. The officer went to his home. When he arrived there he was greeted by his small child. Putting his hand in his pocket to give the child an apple, instead of finding the apple, a roll of bills--$100 in cash—was discovered, put there, the officer states, by the alleged bootleg.
That night the officer raided the section where the bootleg resided and captured one of the biggest stills ever nabbed in that particular section. One man was placed under arrest and the names of three other alleged associates tabulated. Because of the escape of the other three men, the name of the captured bootleg is withheld. Officers are searching for the other three.
Besides the still, the mash, 55 gallons of liquor was found nearby; 14 five-gallon cans, two five-gallon jugs and 18 copper fermenters; two worms, cap, cooling tub, three buckets, 100-foot wood trough, ax, shovel, six bushels of corn meal, three bushels of ground malt, 13 empty sugar sacks and other distillery paraphernalia.
Thus, a bootleg, trying to trick an officer, tricked himself; the trickster tricked, it is stated.
Following the raid, the officer asked the man who had questioned him the day before, if he had put $100 in his coat pocket. The alleged bootleg denied any knowledge of the funds, but “he’ll have to tell it to the court,” the officer said, as he took him into custody.
The man arrested had on a previous occasion been arraigned in court on a liquor charge and was found guilty and fined $500 and costs.
If convicted this time, it means a prison sentence, it is stated.
The man nabbed by the officers is reputed to be wealthy and pretty well-to-do.
The still was located in a hilly section of the county and almost hidden by trees. A stream was running nearby.
From the front page of the Salisbury Evening Post, Thursday, Dec. 28, 1922
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