Moonshiners and Bootleggers in Amerrica

During the era of prohibition, when alcohol was forbidden, bootleggers became revolutionary. Many ordinary family men were made into ruthless outlaw icons. People were forced to lie, cheat, steal, and kill to protect themselves and their families. How did the prohibition affect it? The way the alcohol was hid and made was almost unheard of. Some say it changed this country for the good. Some say it changed it for the worse. Will the world ever know all of the truths during this lawless era?

How did prohibition affect bootlegging? When prohibition law was put into act, it made the sell and use of alcohol illegal. Therefore, the supply and demand went up for illegal liquor. The bootleggers were very crafty about where they hid there liquor. Some of the more popular hiding places were, gas cans, bookshelves, and in the back of disguised lumber trucks. The outlaws of this era definitely had a target painted on their backs. Law enforcement was constantly looking the stills and the men behind their stills. Because law enforcement was so heavy, many moonshiners and gangsters paid the cops to take some of the heat off themselves.

How did prohibition affect the alcohol made? When the prohibition first came into act, people had a strong desire for the illegal liquor. As people craved the liquor the supply and demand went up. When the supply and demand went up the quality went down. Think of it as quantity goes up and the quality goes down. For more quantity, bootleggers began to put harsh chemicals alcohol such as antifreeze and poisons to produce more volume. Instead of throwing out the first poisonous batch they would jar it and sell it. Many harmful sicknesses and deaths came from the carelessness form the bootleggers at this time. One very harmful side effect was called “jakeleg”. Jakeleg is when someone would drink poorly made alcohol that would paralyze one leg. In some ways one would ask, did the prohibition really protect people? Or did it do more harm than good?

So how did bootleggers hide it? Some would stash the illegal alcohol in corn or wheat bags. Many have seen the television images of the switches and levers the turns the wall or bookshelf. In many ways these were true. But what about the ones we didn’t see? Many bootleggers, when they made the liquor would hide it under trap doors in the ground.