"STATE SUPREME COURT RULES NOT CRUEL & UNUSUAL"

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/ 

 

 

Bootlegger Shirt

by Dixxon Flannel Company

www.dixxon.com/ 

"BEWARE WOMEN WEARING CHEST PROTECTORS"

POLICE CHIEF PRODUCES BOOTLEGGER'S COPPER TANK CONTRAPTION  IN COURT

Peabody, Massachusetts* (JFK+50) On February 15, 1922, Police Chief Grady said that "women bootleggers are plying their trade...using moonshine containers made for wear under their waists."

The Chief produced one of the contraptions that had recently been confiscated during a raid on the home of Mrs. Anne Shanaway.  It has a copper tank that can hold a gallon of illegal liquor and resembles a baseball catcher's chest protector.

Mrs. Shanaway was fined $50 for "keeping liquor for sale."

*Peabody is a city in Essex County, on the north shore of Massachusetts.  It was originally part of Salem, a district of Danvers.  It is named in honor of George Peabody, the "father of philanthropy."

SOURCE

"Woman Bootleggers Wear Copper Tanks Hidden Under Waist," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., Chronicling America, www.chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

   

 

Distilling Apparatus

Estes-Winn Antique Car Museum

Photo by Jane023 (2012)

"BY NEW YORK CITY BOOTLEGGERS"

GOVERNMENT DEFRAUDED OF $50 MILLION IN TAXES & PENALTIES

New York City (JFK+50) On November 17, 1921, Frederick J. Kopff, assistant United States attorney of Brooklyn stated that between 25 and 30 bootleggers* here in New York City "have defrauded the government of more than $50,000,000 in 1920 income taxes and penalties."

In one case Mr. Kopff is investigating, Edward J. Donegan**, a Brooklyn contractor, is compelled to pay more than $1.6 million in taxes and penalties.

*Bootleggers, a.k.a. Rum-runners, in the business of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such transport is illegal.  The term comes from the Civil War when soldiers would sneak liquor into camp in their boots.

**Edward J. Donegan was a laborer who became a millionaire within 4 months by bootlegging.  EJD attempted to bribe IRS agents & was convicted of the intent to defraud the United States. 

SOURCE

"Bootleggers Defraud U.S. of $50,000,000," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., November 17, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

   

 

Captain William S. "Bill" McCoy

Florida Rum-Runner

1900-1920