BOOTLEGGERS WILL SERVE MOST OF 60 DAY SENTENCE ON BREAD & WATER
Lincoln, Nebraska (JFK+50) On June 9, 1926, Associated Press reports that convicted bootleggers* Ray Carson and Thomas Nelson, having been sentenced to sixty days in jail, will get "only bread and water" for forty days.
The pair's appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court was rejected today because "the sentence did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment."
AP says the bread and water diet will be administered during the first 20 days and the last 20 days of the sentence.
*bootleggers produce, transport or sell illegal liquor. The term originated in the American West in the 1880s when traders carried illegal liquor bottles in the tops of their boots.
SOURCE
"Bootleggers Face 40 Days in Jail on Bread and Water," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., June 9, 1926, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
