In 1851 Maine passed a law against the manufacturing and sale of all intoxicating liquors. Within four years 12 other states had followed and the average consumption per person per year fell from 7 gallons to 1 gallon.

The political crisis preceding and during the Civil War had the states so disturbed and divided that their attention to the terrible menacing problem was ignored or their attention completely distracted from prohibition. Illegal manufacturing, transporting, and selling intoxicating liquors during the war was common. Especially among the Federal troops who hid their whiskey bottles in their cowhide bootlegs, thus the word "bootleg" was coined.

After the Civil War there was a rapid increase in the population of the country. Soon there were more than one hundred thousand saloons in the country or one for every four hundred people in our population. Many of the saloons permitted gambling, prostitution, sales to minors, public drunkenness and violence. In 1873, women throughout the country began gathering at churches and marching on saloons in defiance of their operations. By 1900, millions of men and women became hostile to saloons. In Ohio the Anti- saloon League "ASL" was organized. Others followed and the League began endorsing candidates who stood firmly against alcoholic beverages. By 1916, 23 of the 48 states had adopted the Anti-Saloon-Laws prohibiting the manufacturing and sales of any alcoholic beverages. By January 1919, ratification was complete. Eighty percent of the 48 states recorded approval and prohibition, the Eighteenth Amendment, became effective at midnight January 16, 1920.

Prior to 1920, whiskey and other alcoholic beverages were legally manufactured. There were several legal operations in Elliott County. Applicants seeking license to operate were carefully checked as to their ability, responsibility and character. To name a few of them: Jordan Bailey in Sandy Hook; John Ison in Isonville; Wag Greene on Bruin; Grant and Allen Porter on Brushy Fork; Thomas Jefferson Porter on Lower Brushy; and Jack Conn on Sinking Creek. After they were granted license and a number they built their stills in compliance with the requirements given them by the area Federal Inspector called a Store-keeper Gauger. The one covering Elliott County was Billie Manning. Upon completion of the still and passing inspection by Mr. Manning they were told by him the kind of whiskey to make. All measurements of ingredients had to be by weight and a daily record kept. Thomas J. Porter a great grandson of Thomas Jefferson Porter has the daily records of the operation on Lower Brushy and was kind enough to bring a large volume to Sandy Hook for me to see. Here are the quantities of grain put into the mash tub on April 1, 1896. Malt 16/56 or 16 pounds, since a bushel of malt weighs 56 lbs.; 20/56 of Rye or 20 lbs.; and 4 bushels and 36 pounds or 260 lbs. of corn. When fermentation was complete it was ready to apply the heat. After the "run" was made the whiskey was tested in the same way that you would check the anti-freeze in your car. If it tests more than 100 "proof" it would be tempered down with pure water to the desired 90 to 100 proof. Mr. Manning, the Federal Inspector would make the final test before it was put into the 50 gallon barrels for shipping. Upon his approval, the barrels were sealed and the operator's number and date burned on the barrels. The barrel or barrels from the Brushy operations were then taken by Ox-Cart Teams to the old EK railroad depot at Willard, Ky. to be switched to the C&O railroad at Greenup. Jim Porter, a relative and a Cabinet and Casket maker lived on Brushy. He was also a good banjo and fiddle player. He made his own instruments. He made the white oak whiskey barrels for both distilleries on Brushy. It seems the Brushy Porters were a very ingenious family.

The Government directed that all whiskies made in Elliott County be shipped to Jason H. Bean, 56 East Short Street, Lexington, Kentucky, and a Federal Tax of $1.12 per gallon collected. There it would be stored until properly aged and then shipped out to licensed Saloons and Taverns. I believe that J.K. Hunter had the only licensed Tavern in Sandy Hook at the time.

I was unable to get the price per gallon paid to the maker of the whiskey. So, I suppose it varied with the market.

One more operation that I would like to mention, because its the only one of which I was able to get a picture. This one belonged to John Ison at Isonville and set on the banks of Newcombe Creek. I was unable to get a picture of Mr. Ison. He was called "Liquor John." Two of his grandsons told me that one time he decided to place a barrel of his whiskey in a pile of sawdust to hide it from the tester. The sawdust was wet and caused the staves in the barrel to swell breaking the hoops and spilling all the contents. The loafers and his friends began teasingly calling him "Liquor John." The nickname spread and stayed with him.

The picture shows that it was a big operation and a wonderful place for loafers to enjoy themselves before the days of Computers, TV's, and Radios. Some people may recognize some of these young men. In case you don't, I will help you. Back row L to R. Logan Mason; Henry Whitley-peeping around the barrel; Nelse Lewis; and Jim Adkins.Front row, Gale Peters,the operator of the still; Tom Mason and Ike Lewis.Perfect place for loafing with the shelter overhead,

heat if needed and maybe a little something to drink if one wanted.

This legal operation was owned by John Ison of Isonville. The still was located on the banks of Newcome Creek in Elliott County, Kentucky.

Moonshining and bootlegging have gone on since colonial days. It has never ceased and it seems that it never will. The days of prohibition turned the market completely over to the violators and they loved it. This was especially true with big operators who could bring it into the country by ship loads and funnel it out to large distributors all over the country. Many made millions of dollars during the few years of prohibition. Small neighborhoods operators had a heyday too.

By the middle of the 1920's, Americans found the idea of repealing probation [The Eighteenth Amendment] very attractive. There was a new society emerging in the country. The returned Veterans of World War 1 were exercising their ideas. Young men were leaving the one-horse farms and going to the factories in the cities. Quoting a line from a popular song, "How you goin keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?".The steel mills, rubber plants, automobile and other factories that had been tied up in production of war needs were now turning to do their own things. Jobs were plentiful. Young men left the small farms and rural communities for manufacturing cities and soon returned with their dreams of driving an A-model Ford Coupe all decorated up with with colored tassels hanging around inside the enclosed cab or some other makes of automobiles. The days of the "bobby soxers"were here. Young women threw away their tight binding corsets and kicked-off their high button shoes. It was before the days of nylon and pantyhose. The young girls wore garters on which their stockings were rolled above the knees and their skirts shortened to three or four inches above the knee. Most had bobbed their long hair, many learned to smoke cigarettes and some smoked in public to assert their independence. They did the Charleston dance to the music of the old Edison phonographs and their scratching disc records. People were jubilant because we had won "The War To End All Wars". Jobs were everywhere and THE ROARING TWENTIES were in high gear. People felt that the old type saloon would never return and they wanted their individual freedom. Many felt that prohibition was depriving many people of jobs and the government's much needed revenue. Before prohibition taxes on alcoholic beverages was the Government's third largest source of revenue. In the late twenties general stagnation became so strong that the Congress submitted to the states the twenty-first Amendment to repeal the eighteenth Amendment. It was repealed by 73% and became effective in 1933.

Charlie Ward applied for license to operate a beer tavern in Sandy Hook. His license were approved and he opened a Beer Tavern in town. It was operated in an orderly way with no disturbances. The beer was only sold by the bottle inside the Tavern. He operated two or three years until the County was voted dry under the Local Option Election law, supposedly? The building is no longer there. When the Prichard Department Store enlarged their building on the east side it covered a part of the site of the Beer Tavern.

With the Repeal of prohibition, the doors were again thrown wide open for moonshining and bootlegging. In Cities Gangster's mobs were immediately organized to take over the illicit whiskey operations. For example, Al Capone and his gang had just about taken over the city of Chicago. It was bad everywhere. The great depression was on and many people turned to moonshining and bootlegging as a means to feed their families. In our sparsely populated rural community one man said that at the time he could stand on his front porch and point to five different locations of moonshine stills. I told that to a man in another community of the County and he said, "I could double that figure at the time."

Dorsey R, Keeton was born in Magoffin County, Ky. in 1889. Studied Law, passed the Bar Examination and was admitted to the bar in 1918. He was appointed U.S. Commissioner by Federal Judge Cochran of Maysville. His duties were to hold hearings in criminal offences against the U.S.Goverment. Issue warrants of arrest on complaints of Federal Offices, as the F.B.I, the I.R.S., Secret Service, Postal Inspectors etc. He resigned in 1928 to take another post as Prohibition Agent for Kentucky and Tennessee with Head Quarters in Louisville. He was transferred to Nashville for a while and then returned to Lexington, Kentucky.

This Elliott County still was seized at Ordinary, Kentucky on December 29, 1955. Pictured from Left to right are: Elwood Whitt, Dep. Sheriff, Sandy Hook, Ky. ; D.A. Lewis Jr., Sheriff, Sandy Hook, Ky. ; Nwel M. Rheins, Cr. Investigator, Catlettsburg, Ky. and Dorsey R. Keeton, Cr. Investigator, Catlettsburg, Ky..

He not only worked all of Kentucky and Tennessee but, also North Georgia, North Carolina and West Virginia. From 1928 to his retirement in 1959 he participated in the seizure and destruction of more than

5000 illicit distilleries. The least stills had a capacity of 10 gallons per day. The largest operation was guarded and operated by six men. They had an artillery of many guns, different kinds and sizes and more than a bushel of ammunition. With help of aircraft in locating them, they were able to make a surprise attack. The find was:

140 [50 gal. barrels] of Mash or Beer.

2 [ 1000 gallon ] stills

2 [ 12 horse power] steam boilers

The capacity [400 to 500 gallons] of whiskey per day

During the time he worked the federal Tax was raised from $10.50 to $12.50 per gallon.

Over the broad area he worked with many hundreds of different Alcoholic Beverage Control Officers. After his return to Lexington most of his time was spent in Eastern Kentucky. In several counties Bill Young Manning, Elwood Whitt, Billie Lykins, and Murvel Caudill worked with him. In Elliott County, Alonzo Lewis,Jr. Sheriff, also worked with him.

I believe that if I told you the true story of the still shown where I am in the picture, you would better understand how difficult it was, and is, for the revenuers to do the job as they want it done.

In 1959, Bill Young Manning, as a sheriff had worked for years with Dorsey Keeton and he came to ask my help to get appointed as an Alcoholic Beverage Officer. I did and he ask me what he could do for me. I jokingly said, "Bring me the first good copper still you find." I had forgotten until two or three months later I heard the door bell at 2:00 A.M."Where did you find it,? I asked. "On Indian Creek in Lewis County," he replied. Ten or more years afterwards a concrete foreman on a construction job of mine was at my home and I told him

Author Curt Davis is pictured here with his still at his home in Sandy Hook.

about the still. He wanted to see it.

I opened the door and he could only see the side of the still at least forty feet away. He could not not possibly see the the top of the still. "I made that still he said." "No way," I said. and told him where it came from. He said, "You lift it down and examine the top. I ran short of copper and there

is a one and a half inch triangular patch in the top." I took it down and there was the patch. He said."I made that still for a man on the head of Wallow Hole in Eastern Elliott County and it was placed a few yards from the Lawrence-Elliott County line for its first operation". I told Bill Young, "That is a hundred miles from the head of Indian Creek." "Nothing unusual," said Bill."When we found a still and there was no one with it. We could not make an arrest. We would try to determine by the fermentation about when it would be ready for them to begin making whiskey. But If we left any sign of our visit or someone had "tipped them" that we were there, the still would usually be moved from five to ten miles and we would have to start the search anew. We probably

found that one five or six times before we found someone with it."

Bill Young Manning is seen here in the upper right as he and his men prepare to destroy this illegal moonshine still.

When I decided to set this one up for pictures, I wanted to be sure that it was set up right. So I ask a retired Revenuer, Bill Young Manning and a retired Moonshinner, Dutch Flannery to come for help and advise. I didn't know until they came that Bill had caught Dutch one time and had chased him on another occasion. But they are now good friends and left here together in Bill's truck. After we had the still in place, I said, "Now Dutch, lets you and I make a run of Brandy. How do we go about it?" "What kind?", he asked. "How many kinds are there?,I asked. "Well, I've made apple, peach, plum, blackberry, elderberry anything that will ferment", he replied. "Lets make some Apple-brandy," I said. He looked at the still for a minute and guessed it to be a 40 gallon size, then said." I had a wooden half barrel. you know, like women put flowers in. Slice about a bushel and a half of apples to put in that one. Pull your shoes and socks off and stomp them till the apples are mushy, then put 20 pounds of sugar in and cover with 2 or 3 inches of water". "Did you wash your feet?, I asked. "Yeah, when I got out and added the water I poured it over my feet." "O.K. thanks, that's enough", I said.

The amount of moonshining that was being done in Eastern Kentucky and especially Elliott County may be suggested by a poem by Mrs. Goldie Rice Horton Johnson, A lady that taught school for me several years while I was Superintendent of Elliott County Schools.

 

KENTUCKY HILLS IN AUTUMN

 

Tobacco in case in the autumn breeze,

Birds head South from the top o' trees;

Mist on the river, smoke in the hills,

Corn all shocked for moonshine stills.

 

Paw in his chair, mighty stiff an' sore,

Can't get help on the farm any more;

Kids an' the radio make a fearful din,

Maw on her knees, prayin' about sin.