Moonshine raids

KENNEDY, MARSHALL, MERKEL, TEMPLETON, TIERNY, SULLIVAN, MANGLER

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 3/3/2008 at 21:09:37

Dubuque Herald, re-printed in Jackson Sentinel,
February 15, 1921

Federal Agents From Dubuque Swoop Down on Jackson County Stills

Seventy-three gallons moonshine valued at more than $3,000, four complete stills – two the largest ever found in the state – and parts of several others, four arrests on the charge of illicit manufacturing of liquor, and the prospects of several more arrests, are the results of four days work by the United States prohibition enforcement officers in Dubuque in charge of R. C. Adams.

The first raid was made Tuesday morning at the Byron Kennedy farm, near Dubuque, two miles east of Zwingle. The farm had been leased to a man named Edward Marshall, 8 Levee street, who had rented the right to trap there. When the officers went to the place Tuesday morning they found two complete thirty-five gallon stills each with two coils. There was a third still in the making and the officers believe the owner has been constructing stills for sale. Five gallons of liquor already manufactured, and 500 gallons of corn and syrup mash in the stage of fermentation were also found.

The place was a veritable young distillery, with apparent prospects of a prosperous existence. A man who gave his name as Ernest Merkel was arrested with Marshall. Both men denied making the stills and said a third man, no longer here, had made them. Each is being held under bonds of $500.
Further Raids

The second of the series of raids was made by the officers Wednesday morning at a farm, eight or ten miles south of Dubuque. In this case no parties have yet been charged with operating a still, although eighteen gallons of manufactured liquor was found there. A man under suspicion, the renter of the farm, said that he had been giving $60 rent by subletting it to moonshiners, who manufactured the liquor there. The liquor was carefully hidden in various places in the house. The officers found one and a half gallons under some clothes, in the closet of a front bed room, and two and a half gallons similarly hidden in a back bedroom. Underneath the porch, carefully covered with leaves were four gallons. In a bin of oats in the granary, and well covered up by grain, was another 8 gallons of the liquor. Under a wagon box that was on top of the corn in the corn crib, were the remnants of a cooker. There were also several twenty gallon beer kegs on the place, that had been used for making mash, but no mash was found there.
Had Bad Dream

The arrest of Don Templeton, alleged to be one of the most notorious bootleggers in the state, took place on Wednesday. He was living on a farm, twenty miles from Dubuque. The house was banked up high all around so that it had the appearance of having no cellar. The cellar door in the pantry was fixed so that it looked like a door. The officers reached the place about noon and found a ten gallon still in the cellar in full operation. All liquor was stored in the cellar. A gross of pint bottles was found.

Templeton told the officers that the night before he was arrested he dreamed that search warrants had been signed to hunt his place, and that his stills had been found.
Another Sortie

From Templeton’s the officers went to Washington mills, where they searched the place of Eugene Tierny, a section foreman. That liquor had at some time been manufactured there was evident, but there was no proof that it was going on at present time. A cooker was found in the attic of an old abandoned house. Templeton had been there in the past and it may have been part of an old still which he owned.

The arrest of John Sullivan took place at the home of his brother, Tom Sullivan, at Washington Mills. When the officers reached the place, they found two loaded shot guns on the porch. John Sullivan was not on the place, when they arrived, but Adams found him in the woods near the house, hiding behind a tree. He told Adams that he was not afraid of the officers but that he was just looking at some wood he wanted to cut down. There were 300 gallons of barley and syrup ready for distilling. There was no still. Sullivan is being held under $500 bonds.

While is not the duty of the United States marshal’s office to enforce prohibition, the United States agents have been aided by the deputy marshals in their work.

Report of the arrest of Charles Mangler at Green island for making moonshine was telephoned into the office of the United States marshal by Assistant marshal A. P. Houston, who is aiding the prohibitions officers in raiding stills near Dubuque. Many complaints in regard to this activity had been made from Green island, Maquoketa, Bellevue and neighboring towns. Mangler had been holding dances on his farm, located east of Green island, every two weeks. At these dances he sold liquor. He is the first man who has been manufacturing liquor on his own land. All the others have been operating stills on rented land. His land may be confiscated. When the officers arrived at his place, about 9 o’clock this morning, they found fifty gallons of moonshine and one hundred and fifty gallons of mash, in addition to a still that had been in operation.