Virginia Still Raid, C17, Drew Pearson Films, Washington Merry-Go-Round.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I'm out down in Southwest Virginia, about 15 miles from Rowan Oak in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And I'm going to report to you on one of the most amazing rackets in the United States, moonshining and bootlegging. Most people thought that when prohibition was over by we wouldn't have to worry about bootlegging anymore. But that is not the case. As a matter of fact, there are millions of illicit gallons of liquor sold in this country every year. And when it is sold, that means money out of your pocket. Because when the government loses money from liquor revenue, you and I have to make it up. I persuaded Mr. Colonel Tom Bailey, who is chief of enforcement of the alcohol tax unit, and incidentally, they do a wonderful job. I sometimes think that the Gman, the FBI get all the credit, but the T-men do a lot of bullet dodging and really are efficient. I've watched them over many years in Washington. And I persuaded Colonel Bailey to take us on a raid of a still. And on my left is Walter Elmore in charge of the Ron Oak office who is in immediate command of this raid. Mr. Elmore, will you tell us exactly what we're supposed to do now? We have a steel in a in an old apple packing house in a holla about 3/4 of a mile from Route 11. To get to the to this uh still, we'll have to cross the mountain and come in the back way to prevent anybody from warning the operators and getting them out before we can arrive. We'll have to put four men above the steel and then we'll have the other men to come in below and raid it. We'll use walkie-talkies to keep in touch with each other and also to notify the men when to raid. We'll set our time to raid the distillery at 12:30. We'll come back around the mountain, separate on the top of the ridge, and then you and I will come on down what the old slide where they used to bring apples down to the packing house. And we'll have a time set at 12:30 and a raid will be made at that time. >> All right. And then from from this point on, we go on foot. >> That is correct. We'll we'll start on foot. We'll go up this high ridge and then cross over and come down in on the back side of the packing island. >> All right. I guess from now on we go. We start on foot. We sure do. >> All right. Fine. Let's go. >> So, we started up over these hills to carry out Mr. Elmore's carefully laid out strategy. These hills are beautiful, but believe me, they're cold. 10° above zero and they seem colder than Greenland where I'd been shortly before. To surprise the moonshiners, we had to climb up over this mountain range and descend from the rear. It was tough going, especially for the man who carried the walkie-talkie radio. It was really cold waiting up on top. We had to wait almost an hour for the other men to skirt around to the other side of the mountain. Finally, the walkietalkie man got word that everyone was in position and the raid started. We had to keep in the shadow, stay behind trees because once these moonshiners spot a revenue agent, they're off over the hills like jack rabbits. So, our leaf party had to sneak very carefully past a house leading up to the still. We were afraid the moonshiners might have a lookout in that house. They had to creep along the sides of a gully full of rocks and ice while the rest of us came down from the other direction. It reminded me of the old frontier days, Mr. Elmore, who'd been up all night and laid out his plans very carefully. and he and I came down one mountain side together, made a quick dash forward, closing in from all sides, encircling the barn where the still was located. We had no idea how many men were inside. At last, the moment came. The first two agents reached the barn and split up. One going around one side, another going around to the main door and into the still. In he went, surprising the moonshiners at lunch. They ran for it. one of them riped into the camera, which is why this picture is so blurred and black. However, it's a genuine picture of what actually happened. The moonshiners were fairly docile once they were caught. And if you look very carefully, you may be able to see one of them walking back to the still with the revenue agent right behind him. Then we had a chance to look at the old apple barn where the still was located. An old dilapidated building long ago abandoned and just the place for a moonshine operation. Inside were stacks of sugar used to make the moonshine mash and vats full of mash from which comes that famous white lightning. There was a homemade still with a sort of a boiler built out of oil drums. Each one of these vats held about 600 gallons of mash. Each vat able to produce about 60 gallons of moonshine. Quite an odor around that still. I couldn't get it out of my clothes for days. The mash was pumped through a rubber hose from these bats into the still. All very elaborate. And the moonshiners were quite proud of it and a little sad that it was going to be broken up. Finally, the white lighting itself poured out into the old washub. Just plain good old white mule. So clear it looked like water. But believe me, it wasn't. They filled 5gallon tins and took them upstairs and poured the whiskey through a filter bag to get the dirt out. Then they siphoned the whiskey into half gallon glass jars and these cases of jars are trucked out to bootleggers to be sold. Then I talked to the moonshiners themselves. >> Now boys, as I told you, you don't have to answer any of my questions, but I thought it would be interesting to let folks see what a still is like and know something about it. Do you mind giving me your name? >> Ray Shelton. Ray Shelton and Wilson Hall. >> Wilson Hall. Could you tell me first about this steel? How how many gallons does it hold roughly? >> Any idea? >> Uh from 3 to 400 gallons again. >> And these boxes of mash, I understand you let them set here for how long? About 3 or 4 days? >> Yeah, 3 to four somewhere on there. >> And when they're just right, you put them through the still. Is that right? >> That's right. And you got in the in these boxes of mash, you got sugar and uh water and and and and grain. >> That's right. >> About how much mass you got in here? About how many gallons of whiskey could it make? Do you think? >> Somewhere around 100 cases. >> Tell me about this this business of uh moonshining. Isn't Isn't it a rather uh unprofitable business? >> My uncertain business. look like? >> Um, what do you what do you think your your future is in it? >> There isn't much less it doesn't look like. >> You think that uh you think this this might be the last time you might try something else? >> Expect better try to figure something else. Well, gentlemen, I certainly appreciate you letting me and the the American public look at one of these raids, and I congratulate you on the efficiency with which you did it. I want to tell you, Colonel Bailey, that it was awful cold up on that mountaintop with Mr. Elmore here. >> I imagine it was, sir. >> And uh I might say that Mr. Elmore is really a terrific woodsman. I went up that hill behind him and he can go right up that mountain side. How many times did you go up there, by the way? Well, the first time we came across the mountain was uh Tuesday uh Tuesday night. And uh last night we made uh two trips across the mountain and back. And then of course this morning we made one trip across and we came on down to the still. >> You made one early this morning. Then you came back with me about noon time today. >> That is correct. And we made one trip last night. >> When did you get any sleep? >> I haven't been to bed yet. You haven't been to bed since I saw you last night. >> That's correct. >> About how many hours do your men work, by the way? Approximately 60 hours a week. >> 60 hours a week. >> That's correct. >> And you keep your men with you? >> Well, uh, we split them up on different details. Uh, some of them on steel work, some on patrol, some of them on undercover work. >> And today we had the cooperation, as I understand it, of the Mr. Fulture's ABC liquor board of the state of Virginia. About how many men did you have here, Mr. Fulture? >> I had five, sir. >> Five. They certainly worked well together with the federal agents. >> Colonel Bailey, um, how many stills do your men seize a year? >> We seize about 10 to 12,000 a year, Mr. Pearson. >> 10 to 12,000. >> Yes, sir. Do you find that uh liquor violation is increasing or decreasing? >> I think that we have it uh just about running uh the same as it has been running for the last few years. I believe we're getting it somewhat under control. And uh where is the worst violation? The worst violations, Mr. Pearson, are in the 14 southern states. We seize about 90% of our stills in the 14 southern states. >> Are there any particular states that are worse than the others? >> Well, I would say North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama are three of the worst states we have in the country for moonshining. >> And uh what about up around New York and New Jersey? Isn't that pretty bad, too? >> In that area, Mr. Pearson, we have the alcohol column still. And uh those stills are operated by syndicates and uh we keep on top of them pretty much. >> That's the old gangster crowd that's still operating up there. >> That's correct, Mr. Pearson. >> Here you have the sort of native mountaineer. >> That's correct. Yes, sir. >> Well, finally, I want to tell you that I think you're doing a a wonderful job and that this cooperation between the state of Virginia and the federal government is something that I didn't realize. And I'd like to say also that I don't think the American public realizes how bad this problem of moonshining and bootlegging is. And I hope that you'll get more cooperation. And I hope to say something about it and try to increase that cooperation to help in your fine job. >> Thanks, Mr. Pearson. While we talked, the revenue agents who work under Dwight Davis of the alcohol tax unit were smashing the stills in the cans of whiskey. They had been up all night. They've been climbing over ice and rocks, dog tired. But they finished the job. They'd risked injury, illness, even death. In recent years, 38 of them have been killed. A thousand have been attacked or injured. All part of their job of protecting you and me against men who evade taxes, evade their fair share of the cost of keeping our country strong and free.