A strange find I recall

[Monty]

Several years ago an older friend of mine (about my age now) went on a fishing trip to SE Okla. Being a live bait fisherman he decided to dig some night crawlers (worms to non-fishermen) as they can be found nearly anywhere there is loose soil, especially river bottoms. Anyway his shovel struck a solid object just under the surface and out came an old quart fruit jar The lid had rusted off and it was empty but he could tell there were several more jars in the ground. He proceeded to dig up sixteen quart mason fruit jars and all were rusted through but two. Curious, he pried the lid off one of them and found moonshine! Oklahoma was a dry state until well into the late 70's and moonshining and bootlegging was a flourishing business in parts of the state. It was common for moonshiners to run off a batch and bury it to keep from getting caught by the revenuers. As they sold off their stash they would go out and dig up the hidden booze. The location of booze caches were well guarded secrets...and I do mean guarded! Digging up someone's stash was a good way to get shot! I would bet that there are hundreds of such booze stashes located through out certain areas that had been buried and the owner arrested or the location forgotten for years. It would not surprise me at all if someone were to come across such a find around old homesteads in southeast OK as nearly eveyone has cooked off a little "shine" at one time or another. I remember my grandmother talking about hiding the moonshine when a revenue agents vehicle was reported in the area. This was back during the depression when very few people had jobs and the ones that did not migrate to California as Okies had to make a living somehow. Just an interesting fact that I thought some of you might like to share. Sorry, no metal detectors in use around here at the time the stash was found but the lids of the jars would certainly set one off. I wouldn't recommend trying a nip of such a find as quality control was not a common virtue back then. JIM

 

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[Monty]

I'm a retired LEO and one of the guys testified in court one that he recovered so much bad moonlshine and so much "good" liquor in a raid on a bootlegger. The defense atorney asked him if he was an expert on liquor to which he replied," No.". The next question was," Well then just how can you tell "good" liquor from "bad liquor"?" The officer replied that "bad" liquor left a ring around your nose from drinking it out of a fruit jar!" JIM

 

[rgecy]

Jimmileo,

Check out the 3 gallon ceramic jug I pulled out of one of the rivers here.? As the story is told, during prohibition the Sheriff broke up a moonshine ring and busted up the moonshine jugs and tossed them over the bridge into the river.

Over the years many divers have brought up these same ceramic 3 gallon jugs.? Most everyone figured the area was picked over.? We were doing a night dive about a month ago and I came across this one in about 15 feet of water.

The bottom has been busted out like someone hit it with a hammer.? Other than that, its in great shape.? When you set it on the floor you cant tell.

Robert in SC

 

[stoney56]

Actually Jimmileo, good liquor left money in the fruit jar-bad liquor left rings around the wrists from the cuffs chaffing. HAHA. By the way my wife's great-grandmother was arrested several times for moonshinin' down in Muskogee. Running it out of her restraunt in the local hotel. Was the only way to make extra money raising 5 kids by herself.

 

[cedarratt]

Hey if one of those jugs has Jack Danails printed on it its worth some money...

 

[spotz]

Yep! Some nice jugs! Spotz

 

[GunFarce]

Nice jugs!! I've used that phrase in the past!! Nooooo I'll just leave 'that' alone.. and bite my tongue