Stephen Jordan
White Lightning during Dry Times:
Moonshining and the Men who fought it
October 29, 1929 is a day that truly stands out in American history. It is known to many as Black Tuesday, and it is well known as the day that the Great American Depression truly reared its ugly head. It was on this day that the American stock market crashed, causing economic strife to the United States. But as with most things in life there’s more to this amazing time in our country’s history than meets the eye. The Great Depression had many facets to it: woman’s suffrage, the rise of organized crime, the Dust Bowl of the Midwest, inner city slums and starving farm families, the rise of American photography, and Prohibition are just a few.
Being the great grandson of a local moonshiner from this time, Prohibition really caught my eye and struck my interest. What caused my great grandfather to make “White Lightning” and travel to Chicago and Youngstown to sell his wares? Why did he feel the need to buck the Federal Government to make his own living? I can’t get the answers to these questions from him because he passed away 15 years ago, but by researching and writing about this subject, I may understand a little bit more about his decisions, and what drove him and others to risk their lives to make a living.
It was at the turn of the 20th century that religious fervor called for alcoholic beverages to be outlawed, so “[prohibition] did not suddenly pounce upon the unsuspecting American public on January 17, 1920. It had been for a long time, menacingly and noisily, lumbering in for the kill” (Allsap 24). But as with most new laws, there are always people who are reluctant to follow them. My great grandfather was one of those reluctant types, as were many others. Many of the Prohibitionists believed that they had fought and won a great battle, but “…the dawn of that January day in 1920, was the most Alcoholic period in American history” (Allsap 25). Prohibition began in America on January 16th, 1920, with the activation of the 18th Amendment, which banned alcohol, and the Volstead Act, which “…permitted the manufacture of “cereal beverages” with an alcohol content of not more than half of one per cent” (Allsap 35).
The supporters of these actions believed that the days of wild drinking were over, but little did they know that they had opened the floodgates to drinking.
During this dry time, alcohol, especially moonshine was requested in high demands by a thirsty public so much that,”[never] again has so much moonshine been produced by so few, working with primitive equipment…” than during the rise of Prohibition and the Roaring Twenties (Maurer 21). Moonshine and moonshiners had deep roots in this nation, extending all the way back to men like Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. So it was almost inevitable that men and women would step up to make a quick dollar, and show a lack of concern with the risks involved. As I mentioned earlier organized crime was on the rise, and so “…in 1920 …the entire liquor business passed into the hands of gangsters for a hectic fifteen year period” (Maurer 20). But these mobsters had to get their goods from somewhere, and even though illegal alcohol was made in many places, it seemed natural that a good bit of it should come from the state that was famous for it: Kentucky.
Kentucky’s reputation as a “whiskey making” state was, and still is, very prominent, and for a good reason. Many of the old settlers of the state were frontiersmen of Scotch-Irish descent, who made home brew and passed it on down the generations. So taking that into consideration, the art of moonshining is as much a part of the area’s heritage as anything else. Especially during Prohibition it was noted that not only did quality corn liquor come from the state, but also with its low population and large rural areas, it was easier to get away with making and selling moonshine than in most areas. Add to that a closer distance to the big towns of the north, and the main waterways of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the state became a major exporter of the illegal beverage. Many people believed that:
Up to this time, the moonshiner had been a home-spun fellow, honest,
industrious, agricultural in his ways and pursuits, and usually very
well thought of in his community, except by the burgeoning
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (Maurer 21).
With this in mind, you can begin to see what a moonshiner of that era looked like. While most people nowadays envision a moonshiner as an old, grizzled, hillbilly, with a long, white beard, sitting on the porch of a ramshackle house with a coonhound laying in front of him, that isn’t necessarily true or always the case.
He generally wasn’t a hardened criminal, or an unjust hell raiser. He was just an ordinary man, trying to make a living in what he thought was an honest way. Even though when Prohibition began, the stock market hadn’t crashed yet, times were still hard and the nation was starting on the downward spiral of the Depression. Times were hard and a man could make a lot more money running moonshine than he could by trying to scratch a hardscrabble life from farm work. Were these men true criminals or just criminals defined by their time? Now, don’t get me wrong, there were and still are plenty of bad apples in the bunch, but you find those types anywhere you go. If you truly look into it, the moonshiner has an almost “Robin Hood” appeal to him, and while not necessarily a gentleman, it seems as though the moonshiner had good intentions for making their ‘shine.
But for every good reason to make ‘shine, there was a reason for why not to make ‘shine. First and foremost, it was against the law. Remember the 18th amendment and the Volstead Act? Another good reason to stop the production of ‘shine, was that not all moonshiners were in it to make a quality product. These types of men
… helped lower the standards of moonshining, the emphasis became the
quantity of liquor, with quality taking a backseat. Faced with little
alternative, thirsty drinkers were often not very discriminating and accepted
[the] mean liquor.” ( Manning…)
These fellows could care less what affect their drink had and “[the] results of these crude attempts were often fatal, and the incidence of blindness, paralysis, jake leg, and perforation of the internal mucous ran very high” (Maurer 21).
Because of the popular demand and a strong black market for illegal liquor, the Federal Government stepped up counter operations. It literally became a war within our own nation, as the Government fought against the moonshiners. These men were called Revenuers, as they worked for the IRS, and their job was dangerous. As one man describes:
During prohibition in the 1920's "Revenuers" came into the Osark
Mountains and worked hard at putting the shiners out of business. They
would get a tip on the location of a still and head out into the forest to
find and destroy it and arrest the operators if possible. This was no
easy task. The shiners knew the area and most had their stills in places
pretty difficult to find. They would make their brew at night and hound
dogs would alarm them if anyone was nearby ( Moonshine).
Not only did they have to put up with all of the dangers surrounding the job, the majority of them were outsiders to the local areas, which made their job that much more challenging. As I mentioned earlier, the moonshiners had a “Robin Hood” appeal to them, and that appeal made folks reluctant to turn them in, not to mention that in many areas most of the people were related one way or the other, and this made for an even more tight lipped reception.
Because of these cold receptions “Federal agents therefore had to be strong men capable of meeting moonshiners on their own grounds and highly dedicated to the work in which they specialized” (Maurer 84). But the worse thing about being a Revenuer was when a moonshiner decided to fight back. When a Revenuer found a still, he or other agents would destroy it, usually smashing the stills or putting holes into them with a pick axe. This would cause a loss profit for a moonshiner, not to mention the fact that they would have to buy new supplies, and then find a new hiding spot to make his liquor. To curtail these actions, and to intimidate the Revenuers, moonshiners began guarding and fighting for their stills. “Pitched battles were not uncommon in these days,” and sometimes men on both sides of the law were killed or seriously injured (Maurer 85).
So now that I’ve seen both sides of the story, and some of the history behind this movement, where does this leave my great grandfather at? I mean he is the sole reason for me to pick this topic, and since I can’t get my answers from him, I look to my uncle, Jack Stephens, to answer some of my questions. When I asked about how my great grandfather, Papaw Dick, got into the business of making and selling corn liquor he told me:
Well Papaw Dick was born and raised in Breathitt County,
[Kentucky]. He was born into a large family, and he was the second
oldest. His family was poor, as most folks of that area were, and so after
being kicked out of the Army for being underage, he went traveling
around, trying to find work. He was working at a steel mill in Pittsburgh,
when he got a letter from his older brother, George, telling him of
how he should move back home and help him make and sell moonshine.
\ Being the rough type, he jumped at the chance for adventure and better
money. So in 1923, he moved back home and he and George made,
and sold, down home corn liquor. Papaw told me once of how he would
help George make it, and then he would load up a car and go around
selling it. He would make runs up into Chicago and Youngstown, and one
time at a illegal bar, he swore that he saw Al Capone!! Al Capone, now
that would have been something to see! And one time while sleeping off
the previous night’s fun in his car, he awoke to a lawman’s gun. He was
shook up and figured that he was going to get arrested for being drunk,
but instead the lawman wanted to see his I.D. because he thought he
was John Dillinger!!!! That happened to him somewhere up in Indiana,
and after that he and George paid a local boy to run their liquor for them.
(Stephens)
I was thinking of how incredible these stories are when I asked if Papaw and George ever got caught. He continued with his story::
Well you know that George lived a good part of his life in Wisconsin,
and there was a reason why. You see, Papaw and George were running 5
or 6 stills, and one night when they went to check them every single still
had been completely destroyed. George was scared that someone had
ratted them out for a reward, and so he moved to Wisconsin, where
no one knew him and he continued to sell and make moonshine through
the rest of Prohibition. He tried getting Papaw Dick to go, but Papaw was
shook up. That happened in April of 1927, and that’s when Papaw Dick
moved to Ashland to live with his uncle, Roscoe. He told me one time that
he was glad he didn’t move to Wisconsin, because he was tired of always
looking over his shoulder. (Stephens)
As I soak in all of these stories I begin to look at the plight of the people during the Depression. I can see how they had to straddle or sometimes break the law, just to be able to survive. It truly was a “survival of the fittest” situation and I’m proud of the path Papaw Dick walked. It might have been illegal, but because of men like him, our nation, and our local area, has added a rich part to its already illustrious history. So if you drink, before you take another sip, be sure to think of the moonshiners who kept the whiskey flowing when it was illegal to do so. And don’t forget that the men, who enforce the laws of the land, are still around, and waiting to catch people who break the law, especially when it involves drinking.
Works Cited
Allsap, Kenneth. The Bootleggers and their Era. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Manning, Micheal, Sarah Smith, and Eric Chernoff. Moonshining and Prohibition.
2008. January 25, 2008. http://www.ibiblio.org/moonshine/sell/prohibition
.html
Maurer, David W. Kentucky Moonshine. Lexington,KY: The University Press of
Kentucky, 1974.
Moonshine. 1999-2003. January 26, 2008. http://www.ozarkexplorer.com/moonshine.
Stephens, Jack. “Personal Interview.” January 25, 2008.
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