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Maine Variety Have Many Dodges to Fool the Federal Agents. FOUNTAIN SYRINGES USED “Walking Speakeasies” Are the Hard est to Catch—Liquor Is Cached in Odd Places by Itinerant Wenders, Buffalo, N. ¥.—John M. Evans, who says he has had years of experience in enforcing the prohibitory laws in the state of Maine, stopped off in Buffalo, says the Courier of that city, for a few hours and related some interesting methods of conducting the liquor business under strict enforce ment. Mr. Evans told of many ways of handling “wet” goods used by “boot leggers,” but not one of the hundreds with whom he has come in contact ever used a bootleg as a depository for his stock in trade. “While the name still sticks to in dividuals who defy the liquor law out side of regular saloons and kitchen barrooms, the bootleg full of booze ceased to be when the high boots with loose tops went out of style. Was Easy to Get Booze. “Up to the time of the passage of the Webb law by the federal govern ment a few years ago,” Mr. Evans said, “providing for the labelling of all ‘wet’ goods handled by I SS, companies and other common carriers, it was a comparatively easy matter to get a plentiful supply of liquor from Boston wholesalers, and even after that most of the bootleggers managed to smuggle in by water or automobile, and there were some who concocted a mixture out of alcohol, water, burnt sugar and a dash of tabasco, which they passed off on many an unsuspect ing victim. “The hardest bird we ever had to contend with was putting out booze for years. We knew he was doing it, butt we could not get the goods on him, and it was a long time before we got him, even after we were wise to his system. This was his system: “At night he would toad his over coat up with pints, half-pints and oc casionally a quart. These he would plant, one in a pile of clapboards in a lumber yard, another in a junk pile and still another under a doorstep or in a rubbish barrel in an alley. The next day his customers would come to him, pay him for their purchase, and he would direct them to the near est plant. “We began to be suspicious of him after a woman reported seeing a man remove a bottle from the muzzle of one of the two historic cannon that guard the Soldiers’ monument. Final ly we trailed him at night, watched him sow his ‘crop, harvested it and then placed him under arrest. Strangers “Not Wanted.” “We were unable to get a conviction against him, although the fellow was not working and had no visible means of support. It was not until we caught him napping with a couple of stool pigeons that we finally convicted him. In order for the system to work out well the bootlegger must be well ac quainted with his customers and have their confidence in a large degree. “Another popular method of dis pensing the hard stuff was through a couple of fountain syringes, suspend ed from the shoulders one in front and one on the back. They would fill a flask or serve by the drink as desired. “When things begin to get too hot for the pocket peddlers,” Mr. Evans continued, “they solicit business and fill each order one at a time by taking the customers’ money, going to the hide and returning with the goods. I doubt if there is sufficient trust in one’s fellow man for this system, to work out successfully in a city the size of Buffalo. “We have picked up men with a considerable stock of booze on their persons while to all appearances it did not seem possible that the indi vidual could have more than a flask of 80. “In the days before the form-fitting clothes, when long coats and peg-top trousers were in style, many a suit was tailored with huge pockets in the trousers, and sometimes inside the coat under the arms. “The blind tiger, so popular in the South, was never used much in Maine. Its only recommendation is that it of fers more or less safety in selling to strangers. You put your money through a small opening in a wall and out through the opening comes a drink. Beer Was Too Bulky. “The methods used by saloon keep ers to keep out of the clutches of the law were almost as numerous as those of bootlegging.The first step of the saloon keeper when the lid was clamped down was to eliminate beer and ale all together, as it was too bulky to handle in the event of a raid. In those days near-beer was a much despised and little known article in Maine. But when the district at torney hated all saloon keepers who possessed a United States license be fore the grand jury and fattened the county’s treasury by about $500 a head, they began to take more kindly to near-beer, as it proved an alibi for the federal tax. “In dry spells some saloons would sell only by the bottle to those they knew very well, while others would sell only by the drink, going on the basis that liquor in a man’s system could not be produced as evidence. In the latter places the saloon keeper usually kept a pitcher full of booze under the bar handy to the sink. Sev eral convictions were obtained in such cases, however. The combina tion of finding a whisky glass, the odor of liquor and the presence of a drunk or two in the bar room being sufficient to convince the judge. “The wiser ones would have two pitchers, one on each side of the sink, one full of ammonia and one full of whisky. One sweep of the arm would dump them both into the sink. The odor of the ammonia would prevent the odor of whisky to be noticeable and the contents of the sink could be analyzed only as spirits of ammonia. “All the saloons in the state were filled with ingenious ‘hides,’ most of which defied detection. When a ‘hide’ was discovered it was generally the result of some disgruntled employee giving the thing away. They range in capacity from ‘hides’ large enough to hold a half-pint close to the bar itself to false cellar walls behind which ten barrels might be concealed. Most of the saloons had large and small ‘hides,’ the smaller ones being filled up daily from the big one by the boss himself. “Some of the ‘hides’ consist of tanks set inside of hewed-out girders in the floor above. ‘These were connected with a small pipe which generally ended in a little ‘office’ right off the bar. You would order a pint, the bar tender would return to the ‘office,’ close a door, remove a calendar from the wall, behind which was a little disguised gascock, from this he would remove a cap and draw off the re quired amount. Other stores of booze were kept in the tanks of flush closets, which could be flushed from behind the bar in case the searchers got too close and the evidence would go down the sewer. “Some had their main ‘hides,’ an adjoining property that would not be covered by the search warrant, to which access was had by means of secret doors and subterranean pas sages.” Beer Sold Openly. “What about 2.75 per cent beer?” was asked. “Ever since 2.75 per cent beer was brewed,” he replied, “it has been on sale openly in Maine. Fruit stores and small stands of all kinds paid $25 for a federal license and put in a stock of bottled beer, while the sa loons sold the bottled and draught goods both. If the saloons have a right to sell it because it is non-in toxicating and if it is non-intoxicat ing I can’t see the necessity of carry ing an excessive tax. I can’t see what is there to prevent soda foun tains or anyone selling 2.75 beer af ter paying the federal tax of $25. “Prohibition in Maine for many years was a joke except for occasional spasms of enforcement just before an election when the party in power figured that they needed votes or the county treasury needed money. It is an interesting game to chase the evaders and I anticipate it will be even more so in the event of nation wide prohibition.”
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Washburn Times
Washburn, Wisconsin, US
Thu, Mar 04, 1920
Page 2
Full Page
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USA 22 Aug 2026
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