A Buster Article On Moonshine ;:

I supplied a small anecdote which is included in the article. There were a couple of others that I thought of but did not share since some of those involved might not be appreciative! I do remember someone who lived, as I recall, somewhere around where the high school now is who sold bonded spirits and beer out of his house after hours. I think he had a pretty good business going and I never remember him getting busted!

Here is Buster's article and, as always, I have posted a printable PDF over on the right under the "Digital Ink" heading.

This article was sent to the local newspaper and will soon be published. Thanks for your input.




In the late 20's Jim Thorton and his buddies would go by a downtown blacksmith shop where the blacksmith would let them fan the bellows to help keep the fire hot for iron work and to also keep his liquor still warm.
The late Charlie Williams could recall as a little boy going with his family to help unload the small boats which had been sent out to the rum runners who were located outside the national 3 mile line. Charlie's job was to serve as a lookout.
Fred Deaton can remember in the Westville area a kind black gentleman who would periodically get arrested for making moonshine. Every four years when the sheriff's election race would come around this gentleman would get busted and then after the election his business would return to normal.
The late Henry Thomas said that during prohibition his father kept what he needed to make home brew behind the family wood stove, which was used to cook all of the family meals.
If you were born between 1920 and 1933, you were born in the era of prohibition. The prohibition movement had begun in the late 1800's but there were several factors which allowed the 'drys' to defeat the 'wets.' The prohibition amendment was the most violated law in U.S. history.
Prior to prohibition the tax on alcoholic beverages provided almost 40% of the government's revenues, but in the teens the personal income tax was imposed which gave the government a new source of income. The Anti Saloon League proved to be a formidable political force, and even though women were not allowed to vote until later in the 1920's, Carrie Nation and other suffragists attached themselves to the prohibition movement and this moral tide became the law of the land.
WW1 was also a driving force to eliminate alcohol sales, paticularly beer. Pabst, Schlitz, Miller, and Blatz were German companies and the propaganda of the war changed attitudes. Frankfurters became hot dogs and sauerkraut became Liberty Cabbage.
In both the rural South and Midwest a major prohibition force was the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan had looked with distrust upon the cities with the recent growing population of Italians, Germans, and Irish. The Klan from 1870 to WW11 was a social, political and an economic force. There was a rumor in the 1890's that the Pope was on a paticular train and he was moving the Vatican to Indiana. At the various town stops, the locals met this train with signs of protest. I can recall in the 50's a big sign on the outskirts of Kershaw which said "The Ku Klux Klan Welcomes You to Kershaw." In the early 60's the Jaycees replaced the Klan.
There were three legal ways to have a drink during prohibition.One could attend a Catholic Church, ferment your own produce, or for medicinal reasons. The Catholic Church was allowed to serve wine as part of their religous ceremony. This of course allowed the California vineyards to remain open. Farmers were allowed to have their fruit drinks fermented, which provides us with the definition of hard cider and Doctors were allowed to give you a prescription for 'medicinal alcohol,' which allowed druggist the latitude to keep Jack Daniels on the shelves in case one got a sore throat.
In the 1500's various government began levying taxes on alcoholic beverages and the spin off for a new business was born. As in any government effort to raise revenue by taxation, there have been people and ways to circumvent the tax increase. Pirates were some of the first bootleggers.
Stock car racing can draw part of its heritage from bootleggers. Those boys in the mountains of N.C. jetted up some awfully fast cars to outrun the law. The former Pat Price remembers her grandmother feeding lunch to one of her sons visiting friend from the N.C. Mountains. She never asked what was in the trunk, and she did not want the visitor to stay much past dessert.
Henry DuRant had an old mountain buddy named Sam who had his still hooked up to his home's wood burning heating system. Henry once took Sammy Small to see the still but Sam would not show Sammy , because he thought Sammy looked too much like a revenue agent. Sam was later amazed by the wonders of satellite television. He said it was amazing that you could watch 'preachin' on one channel and flip to another station and see a French movie.
The former Lyndell Price of Camden can recall finding an illegal still while walking through the woods in Dillon County. Of course in Dillon County (home county of David Sloan) you can do anything but vote if you are 15 years of age.
Every Christmas Vic Paschal's grandmother would use French Brandy to make homemade eggnog. One year Xmas fell on Sunday and the grandfather had forgotten to purchase the brandy, so he went to a friend's house and returned with some apple shine. In family lore this Christmas is referred to as the one where everyone threw up.
In the early 60's, Jim Ring's parents felt that he and his older brother Kirk were responsible enough to be left alone for a weekend. Kirk convinced Jim to ride with him to Rembert to purchase some 'swamp water.' The 13 year old Jim stayed in the car while his older brother went inside and watched the liquid burn a pure flame, which is what Kirk's head felt like as he practiced the art of commode hugging the next morning.
Tony Perez says that when you receive some moonshine, put dried peaches in the bottle and let it sit for a couple of months and then the 'shine will taste like a good French brandy. Ed Walden contends that a good DuPont measure, which he learned from several of his engineer buddies, is to filter the moonshine through charcoal in order to remove any impurities.
All of your friends and neighbors have moonshine stories. Some are humorous and some tragic. It is not the alcohol which makes the alcoholic no more than it is the drug which makes the drug addict. A majority of my uncles and grandfathers chased a good drink with the back of their hands and my family like your family has witnessed the battles of the 'Wets vs. the Drys.'
Thank you for your attention.

My grandfather made homemade muscadine wine in his barn in the DeKalb community. I never thought of that as moonshining, but I guess that it could have been considered so. The only time I ever remember him drinking any was at Christmas and my uncle Claude would have a pint of Jack Daniels. Other than that I never remember any hard spirits when I was a young guy. I have had moonshine several times in my life of varying quality. Some was smooth as silk and others burned with a horrible after taste which meant that it went down the drain pretty quickly. Reading Buster's article has made me wonder just how hard it would be to set up a small still, for personal use only of course, in my garage!