100 years ago: Police in area investigate moonshine plant
GRAVETTE — On July 21, 1922, the Arkansas Democrat — now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — published a story about an investigation in Gravette. Alongside advertisements for Kempner’s ladies and children’s shoes and “Dainty” cooking flour, the headline reads: “Still Is Captured, But Owner Has Gone West.”
This piece — written 100 years ago — covers an event during Prohibition of a local unknown moonshiner whose still was raided by Sheriff George Maples of Bentonville and Deputy Andy J. Russell of Gravette. Together, they staked out at a location “two miles west of Decatur” and “eight miles from Gravette,” waiting to capture a moonshine suspect.
Maples would go on to have a distinguished career in the police force, with many feats under his belt. These include: “collecting $700 in whiskey fines in three months … destroying 17 stills” and assisting in “150 criminal and 500 civil cases” in one year.
According to the “Legal Information Institute” at Cornell Law school, during Prohibition, moonshiners could face charges up to “$5,000” and imprisonment for “one year,” depending on the severity of the offense. The “Increased Penalties Act,” also known as the “Jones Act” of 1929, increased these penalties up to “$10,000 or imprisonment … up to 5 years.”
In this particular case, Maples and Russell were hoping “to catch the moonshiner along with his outfit.” But after waiting for some hours, an informant alerted the police that the “shiner had gone westward, maybe to Oklahoma, to deliver goods to a dance.”
Regardless, Maples and Russell worked hard on their investigation, which lasted for some weeks. Their investigation was fruitful and resulted in the confiscation of a large moonshine still and 30 gallons of mash.
Moonshine mash — in its most basic form — is made from water, sugar, yeast and a grain such as corn or barley. After some days, the ingredients will ferment and become mash to be distilled. The heat in the still will evaporate the alcohol out of the mash, which becomes the moonshine.
Thirty gallons of moonshine mash can produce approximately nine gallons of alcohol. According to Winning-homebrew. com, “at the beginning of prohibition, moonshiners typically sold their product for around $25 a gallon.” When considering inflation, that would be more than $325 by today’s standards. This means the moonshiner could have run off with $2,925 in our day.
The production of alcohol does come with risks. These risks can cause blindness and even death via methanol poisoning. Many fell victim, especially during Prohibition.
Even though Officers Maples and Russell missed the opportunity to catch the moonshine suspect, they were successful in slowing down the production of the moonshine.
Although the whereabouts of the moonshiner remains a mystery, the police departments of Bentonville and Gravette 100 years ago certainly exerted themselves and put forth every effort to keep Benton County alcoholfree. Despite their lack of resources, many officers like them worked hard to enforce the laws of their day.