Moonshine Madness: The Source of Prohibition Alcohol

Prescription form for medicinal liquor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Prohibition did not stop drinking--in many ways it glamorized it. For example, people began flavoring the whiskey with fruit drinks and sodas, making cocktails. o to any bar today and look at the wonderful, colorful creations with the alcohol masked by alluring flavors.

Since drinking didn't stop and bootlegging increased, from where did the populace find its hooch?

1. They imported it. Canada had no prohibition, so border states would cross the line and buy in bulk and sell at a profit back in the States.
2. Rum-running is a name that describes exactly what was done. Boats would sail to the Caribbean, pick up a load of rum and sail it back home
3. Industrial alcohol. Potable booze is made from fruit and grain, industrial comes from wood and is toxic. Wood alcohol or methyl alcohol has a denaturant added. This makes it stink and taste awful. Skillful chemists would remove the denaturant and then flavor was added--voila, a new drink--mortal moonshine.
4. And speaking of moonshine--this had been manufactured in Appalachia from corn-sugar mash,to avoid excise tax. It became a new pastime. Only, many people didn't know the correct techniques and many toxins were often include.
5. Wine and cider--most people could make these at home. Vineyards would sell juice making kits with the caveat to not let it sit too long or it would ferment.
6. Sacramental wine. Many rabbis and priests (or rabbi and priest pretenders) ordered lots of sacramental wine for their huge congregations.
7. Prescription. Alcohol could be used medicinally. Thus many pharmacies arose.

Bootlegging In Malone

Mary Riley Road--top left, in pink
Lost Nation Road--to the right, in blue

Bootlegging was not considered a big deal--thus when Dutch Schultz arrived in Malone, NY for his second tax-evasion trial, no one thought of him as a gangster. Grandpa and Dad both made hooch in the barn.

English: Dutch Schultz 1935
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

However Malone saw its share of crime from bootlegging--mostly gangsters from the city, but then, as now, our proximity to the border makes this area an ideal spot for smuggling.

Tales gleaned from The Malone Sesquicentennial by a renowned local reporter, Del Forkey, talk about death rides and bootleggers swerving to avoid rabbits but aiming their hulking cars at the feds. Two roads infamous for this are: the Mary Riley Road in Franklin County and Lost Nation Road in Churubusco, Clinton County. Also ill-famed is the Poke-O-Moonshine Road. To the best of my knowledge, that road is in Essex county near Elizabeth town and the popular hiking mountain of the same name.

(My map, with apologies, doesn't show in great detail the location of the roads as my skill with Photoshop is limited, but you can see their locations).

According to Forkey, We were part of a "bottleline" use to stem the illegal flow of liquor from Canada. Our area had seen bootlegging, high-jacking and gun fights. "Malone became occupied by a colorful garrison of prohibition enforcement officers and, in flush years, the community was accustomed to seeing long fleets of seized booze cars brought in almost daily."

Prohibition was enacted with the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919 and repealed with the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933. Never popular, and largely ignored, by the end little was done to enforce prohibition.

Glossary of terms:

A revenuer--the federal agent in charge of stopping bootlegging

Booze, hooch, giggle juice, mule--whiskey

Cadillac--one ounce packet of cocaine or heroin

Micky, Micky Finn-a drink spiked with a knock-out drug

Rot gut, bathtub gin--prohibition alcohol

Speakeasy--an illegal bar disguised as something else

Bootlegging: Then and Now

1930 Model "A" Ford - Deluxe Fordor Blindback #170-B (Photo credit: Timothy Wildey)

Wending my way to Ellenburg, I run into an old friend, Sgt. Martin (or whatever you call the border guys). He sports Elvis-styled sideburns and a gun. Yikes. You know I stop, not because I'm an Elvis fan. We meet on a regular basis--either on Rt. 11 of 190.

 Fortunately, Sgt. Elvis isn't interested in me or what I'm toting in my suitcase. He's looking for drugs or aliens (of the earthling persuasion), and he knows this old granny doesn't fit the profile of a drug runner.

And speaking of profiles, Sgt. Elvis fits that of North Country law enforcement fighting the opportunism of a rural border which allows good to happen--like the runaway slaves and the Underground Railroad--as well as bad.

But my tale deals with Prohibition which became law on November 18, 1918, and according to Del Forkey in the Sesqui-centennial of Malone: 1802-1952, "...a complete history of this region's part in the 'dry era' would contain some rather stirring, blood-flecked pages, including everything in the rum-toting category from bootlegging and high-jacking to running gun fights through the streets of peaceful villages" (87).

Ouch. And Sgt. Elvis thinks we have it bad.

The bootleggers means of hiding booze aren't different from drug hiding today--in the woman's bloomers (which is why they grope us in airports), baby diapers, false doors in their cars. And they loved BIG cars (carried more Mountain Dew aka hootch). Some bootleggers became such good drivers they could spin the car around and then aim for the law officers. Or they'd use decoy cars--autos that would speed off in an opposite direction allowing the one loaded with white lightening to flee.

 I love this stunt the best. A bootlegger would get through the road blocks and then be hijacked by another bootlegger who now didn't have to face the 1920's Sgt. Elvis.


 These booze runners were depraved. One even went so far as to dodge rabbits skittering across the roads, but he'd aim his car at law enforcement officials.


 Forkey claimed most of the villains were outsiders like the infamous Mobster Dutch Shultz and Legs Diamond. I'm not so sure. Many arrested for drug dealing aren't native, but many are. And we must remember:
     

     What has been will be again,
   what has been done will be done again;
   there is nothing new under the sun. Eccl. 1:9

Kidney Quest: Surgery & Recovery

Cardiac operating room (Photo credit: Ruhrfisch)

If you are anticipating becoming a donor, the hardest part has past once the day of surgery arrives. The procedure is much like any other peritoneal surgery.

1. You will be taken into the OR.
2. You will be given an IV and anesthesia.
3. You will have a breathing tube because the anesthesia suppresses your respiratory system.
4. You will wake up and discover you have save a life.

The recipient will follow the same procedure. In our case, my brother's procedure began about two hours after mine. He had the adjoining OR.

Your recovery will be a bit more difficult than the recipient's. The surgeon must penetrate the peritoneal cavity. So the next day you will have a liquid diet.

The kidney is implanted in the peritoneal pocket. This is a section under the hipbone. My rail-thin brother can feel the kidney when he bends. Because the surgery is not as invasive, the recipient will be on a full diet the next day.

The donor will be released in one to two days, and you can return to work in about a month. The recipient will be released in about four days.

If you have any questions about what to expect, please feel free to leave a comment.

Related articles

• Kidney Quest: Last Tests

Kidney Quest: Last Tests

In the last week, you will have the last tests. For us, the test came five days before the transplant. Alan and I returned to Mount Sinai for final testing. Since the HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigens) can change, within a week of the transplant, the recipient and donor must be re-matched to be sure we were still negative antigen reactive--i.e. he won't reject my kidney.

Alan had to have an X-ray and CAT scan. We both needed to be examined by an anesthesiologist. Alan had to be seen by the doctor who would do his surgery. I had to see mine.

So on surgery minus one week--you can expect:

1. an additional cross matching
2. and X-ray and CAT scan
3. a check-up by an anesthesiologist
4. a check-up with the surgeon

Site of kidney extraction:

Formerly, ribs had to be removed and the kidney was taken out from the donor's back. This left the donor in a lot of pain and often produced unsightly bulges in the muscles. Donors complained, so doctors began taking the kidney from the front. Still, ribs had to be removed.

Once laproscopic surgery became feasible, the kidney had generally been removed near the navel and no ribs were taken.

My doctor took it one step further. He would remove the kidney near the pubic bone. This would leave the scar hidden by bathing suits or underwear. I nice thought for a single, fifty-year-old!

It took us three months to complete everything. However, all the tests can be completed within three weeks. Most of the time and effort is spent before the surgery.

Kidney Quest: Interlude--The Last Days--Perspective

Night lights (Photo credit: dlanham)

Our kidney transplant would take place shortly after the results for the MRI and sonogram came in. I returned home. Within a week, I knew everything was a go, and I needed to make my final journey back to Mount Sinai for our last tests scheduled for November 13. My brother-in-law flew his Cessna up to Malone, and whisked me back to New York City.

I sat in the back of the plane and studied the world beneath my feet. The sky was dark, the ground studded with lights. I watched the cars snake along mountain roads, watched light pool in towns like Lake Placid, saw them flood Albany. This scene always mesmerized me, made me realize how small we are, how vast the world.

Inside those tiny lights lived people, many with big problems, but how small they seemed up here. The perspective made me remember Isa 55:8-9. "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"  declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" We struggle here on earth and forget the big picture. We forget our suffering, in the scheme of eternity, is slight and is short in duration. Life hurts everyone. No one is left unscarred. We have to remember that God sees all, has all in perspective and cares more about each of us than we can fathom.

The peace in the sky lulled me to sleep. I awoke as we flew over the Long Island Sound, a black desert with no boat lights on this dark and foggy November night.

We descended through clouds, trusting instruments to make a safe landing. In a few days, I'd be trusting more technology to keep me and my brother safe. My life would be in the hands of a skilled physician. 

No matter what trial we face we have to remember two things:

1. Keep all in perspective.
2. Keep all in God's hands

How about you? Have you let life distort your vision of the bigger picture? How have you let go and trusted God?

Related articles

• Kidney Quest: Hurry Up and Wait: Interlude
• Kidney Quest: The Final Sonogram and the MRI
• Kidney Quest: The Story of Organ Donation
• Kidney Quest: Initial Screening for Donors
• Kidney Quest: Blood Tests: AKA The Vampire Syndrome
• Kidney Quest: 24 Hour Urine Collection
• Kidney Quest: Save the Urine

Kidney Quest: The Final Sonogram and the MRI

Once blood tests have been completed, two additional tests remain: an ultrasound of the kidneys and an MRI.

an image of kidneys from an MRI

Most people today have had ultrasounds. The most difficult part of this test is the cold jelly. Like stethoscopes, I believe the jelly is stored in the freezer before use. But the ultrasound test is surprisingly comforting. The cool gel relaxes. The tech kept the lights dim, and the slow rotation of the trandsducer probe--the probe that sends the sound waves to the computer, felt like a soft massage--a belly rub which lasts about fifteen minutes.

The ultrasound checks the health of the kidneys, but a more detailed test must follow. This is the MRI or magnetic resonance imaging. This will test, in depth, the blood vessels and the kidney.

An MRI representation

How the MRI Works:

1. You are slid into a large open tube so that the kidneys are central to the imaging
2. The MRI can make images along any plane. The CT can only take it alone one plane and then the patient needs to be re-positioned.
3. The magnet in the MIR is one-thousand times stronger than the earth's magnetic field. Thus stethoscopes, paper clips, pens, etc. can be unexpectedly pulled out of pockets and hurled toward the magnetic center.
4. Patients are screened for metallic implants. If a patient had a staple or pin implanted at least six weeks prior, he or she can safely withstand the magnetic field because scar tissue builds up and holds the pin in place.
5. The MRI works with hydrogen atoms.As the magnet of the MRI works, the atoms essentially line up along the magnetic field, with the MRI either pointing toward the patient's head or feet. However, enough don't, and it's from these that we get the image.
6. MRIs have no radiation. The only drawback is for those with claustrophobia. Since can be in the machine for over an hour, the closed space terrifies some people. But today, we have open MRIs--so essentially, no complications from the MRI unless the patient develops an allergy to the dye.