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Published by www.EPlusPromotes.com www.TheCatoctinBanner.com The Catoctin Banner Newspaper October 2016 Page 11
M a k i n g M o u n t a i n D e w , W h i t e L i g h t n i n g , H o o c h , M o o n s h i n e —Continued from page 10
The finished product was often you’ve got to put it all back or my sentence in 1950, when Lewis was they didn’t stay very long in one
shipped out of the area on the dad will be mad.” sixty-five. He died a short time after place.
railroad in barrels labeled cornmeal, his release.
according to Mills. Luckily, the agents were lazy The Gettysburg Compiler
and chose not to dig. Martin’s There is still much speculation reported that one informant about
It could leave other ways as well. grandfather moved the moonshine over whether Lewis was the actual the bootlegging at Pen Mar saw “a
Black recalled that his grandfather out of the house after that. murderer. Mills pointed out that bootlegger with a suitcase, placed
would often run moonshine right he was probably the informant the latter on a rock near the old
under the nose of the county sheriff The revenuers did eventually who told the sheriff’s department Blue Mountain House path and did
and his deputies. He would get the catch up with Martin’s grandfather. about the operation. Names get a land office business by handing
family together to take a ride in their According to Martin, they came in suggested as do motives, such as a the liquor out by the pint and half
Studebaker, and off they would go. the front door of the house, chasing love triangle gone bad or one man pint to people who appeared from
There was an ulterior motive for Martin’s grandfather while the coveting another man’s job, but no among the bushes.”
the drive, though. Moonshine was man went out the back door. The other person has been conclusively
hidden underneath the seats. revenuers chased after him. shown to be the killer. After a few minutes, he closed
up shop and disappeared into the
“My grandfather would wave ‘hi’ Martin’s father, a young boy at Today, the Blue Blazes Still is woods, only to reappear in another
as they went by the sheriff,” Black the time, chased after the revenuers. gone, but the NPS has a 50-gallon location about half an hour or so
said. “Dad, he caught up with one revenuer pot still captured in a Tennessee raid later.
and bit him on the leg and my on the same location. NPS uses it for
Two of Black’s uncles were some grandfather got away,” Martin said. presentations about moonshining in In 1925, revenuers tried to get
of the biggest bootleggers around the The Blue Blazes Still the mountains. Daniel Toms’ 30-gallon still in
Thurmont area. Even his father was Cascade. He held them off for a
known to drive moonshine out of the On July 31, 1929, two cars drove The NPS actually operated the short time with a shot gun, but they
area to sell. One time he took Black up Catoctin Mountain on Route 77. still for demonstrations from 1970 eventually surrounded him and
and his siblings along for the ride. Six men rode in the cars. Only five to 1989. It was the first still ever caught him and his henchmen.
The kids fell asleep. would be alive two hours later. to operate legally on government
property, according to Thurmont
“The three of us woke up and The cars pulled off the side of the Historian George Wireman. Smithsburg Moonshining War
asked, ‘who lives here?’” Black said. road. Frederick County Deputy John
“Some senator, they told us. They Hemp and Lester Hoffman climbed When the NPS started operating Revenuers also spent plenty of
were rolling the barrels up to the out of one of them. the still, the Hagerstown Morning time in Smithsburg, combing the
house.” Herald reported, “National Park hills for moonshiners. They tried to
Although not a deputy, Hoffman officials hasten to assure that the pass themselves off as tourist hikers.
Stills were hidden on Catoctin was the only one in the group who whiskey is not for presidential
Mountain near streams that could knew his way through the forest to consumption, although the pungent Smithsburg made national
supply them with the water needed what an informant had described odor of mash undoubtedly wafts headlines as having an “old-time
for the moonshine recipes. According a week earlier as a “large liquor over the mountain retreat to mountain feud” between John
to Black, if you follow the streams plant.” be inhaled occasionally by VIP Cline and Henry Russman. There
on Catoctin Mountain upriver, you nostrils.” were reports of night raiding,
can still see the remnants of stills “The officers, in attempting to indiscriminate shooting, and fights.
that were destroyed. creep up on the small vale in which However, though the park They were accused of wrecking
the still was situated, ascended a had received permission from a church, dynamiting a sawmill,
Martin shared some of his family winding mountain path, which led the Treasury Department to killing one person, and wounding
stories during a presentation at the abruptly to the scene of the tragedy,” manufacture whiskey, park others. A 1923 article estimated
Thurmont Regional Library about reported the Frederick Post. personnel hadn’t talked to that there were 500 stills between
moonshining. state authorities about it. The Hagerstown and the Pennsylvania
As they neared the still, shots Hagerstown Morning Herald wrote, line. The interest in this fighting may
One grandfather kept a quarter rang out. Deputy Clyde Hauver fell “on the first day the still was in have been due in part to the recent
keg of moonshine in his attic, and and the deputies scattered for cover, operation, an agent of the state’s coal mine riots that had grown so
when friends would come by with as the moonshiners fired on them, alcohol tax division appeared at the violent across the country.
Mason jars, Martin’s grandfather hidden by the underbrush. park with two deputies, all set to
would tell his son to “go up and get make another raid on Blue Blazes.” One newspaper reported about
some ‘shine for the friends.” Once Hauver was on his way to Since the still was on federal the moonshiners, “They are
Frederick, the remaining deputies property, they couldn’t do anything unmolested. It would be as much
At some point, Martin’s used picks and axes to destroy the about it, though. as an officer’s life would be worth
grandfather moved the keg from the vats and boiler. The newspaper to try and interfere. The natives are
attic to the basement and buried it in reported that Blue Blazes Still was “I’m still known as the only silent. They know a bullet in the
the coal pile. one of the largest and best equipped park superintendent in the service dark would follow any giving of
in Frederick County, according to who’s been raided for being information.”
Once, revenue agents came by reports. It had a boiler from a steam a moonshiner,” former Park
wanting to search the house while locomotive, twenty 500-gallon- Superintendent Frank Mentzer told End of an Era
Martin’s father was alone. The boy capacity wooden vats, filled with the newspaper. Due to its unpopularity,
didn’t know what to do because he corn mash, two condensing coils, Moonshining in Pen Mar
couldn’t get on the phone to call his and a cooling box. Prohibition soon ended after the
parents, so he let the revenue agents Pen Mar, with its ideal location election of Franklin D. Roosevelt
in to search the house. A National Park Service (NPS) as a resort on the border between in 1932. With that, prices of liquor
ranger told me that the still produced Maryland and Pennsylvania, became dropped and moonshining lost its
They started in the attic, which alcohol so fast that if a man took a popular spot for bootleggers appeal to many people.
worried Martin’s father, but the away a five-gallon bucket of alcohol to hide their stills. Also, being at
men didn’t find anything. Martin’s and dumped it into a vat, by the Pen Mar put them close to people Advertise
father thought he was safe and that time he returned to the still, another who wanted to relax and enjoy in The Catoctin Banner
the moonshine was no longer in the bucket would be filled and waiting to themselves with a drink.
house. The revenue agents continued be removed. • Full Color •
their search, ending up in the In 1921, an informant told police Affordable •
basement. A manhunt started for the that there were thirteen stills that he
moonshiners and eight men were knew of in the vicinity of Pen Mar. Effective
One of the agents saw the coal eventually jailed. Charles Lewis was The bootleggers were making good
pile and wondered if moonshine convicted of first-degree murder money selling their product, though • 301-447-2804 •
might be buried in it. Martin’s father, in the Washington County Circuit The Catoctin Banner, serving Northern
not knowing that was the case, Court on March 7, 1930. Governor Frederick County, Maryland, since 1995
held up the coal shovel and told Theodore McKeldin commuted the
the agents, “Go ahead and dig, but
M a k i n g M o u n t a i n D e w , W h i t e L i g h t n i n g , H o o c h , M o o n s h i n e —Continued from page 10
The finished product was often you’ve got to put it all back or my sentence in 1950, when Lewis was they didn’t stay very long in one
shipped out of the area on the dad will be mad.” sixty-five. He died a short time after place.
railroad in barrels labeled cornmeal, his release.
according to Mills. Luckily, the agents were lazy The Gettysburg Compiler
and chose not to dig. Martin’s There is still much speculation reported that one informant about
It could leave other ways as well. grandfather moved the moonshine over whether Lewis was the actual the bootlegging at Pen Mar saw “a
Black recalled that his grandfather out of the house after that. murderer. Mills pointed out that bootlegger with a suitcase, placed
would often run moonshine right he was probably the informant the latter on a rock near the old
under the nose of the county sheriff The revenuers did eventually who told the sheriff’s department Blue Mountain House path and did
and his deputies. He would get the catch up with Martin’s grandfather. about the operation. Names get a land office business by handing
family together to take a ride in their According to Martin, they came in suggested as do motives, such as a the liquor out by the pint and half
Studebaker, and off they would go. the front door of the house, chasing love triangle gone bad or one man pint to people who appeared from
There was an ulterior motive for Martin’s grandfather while the coveting another man’s job, but no among the bushes.”
the drive, though. Moonshine was man went out the back door. The other person has been conclusively
hidden underneath the seats. revenuers chased after him. shown to be the killer. After a few minutes, he closed
up shop and disappeared into the
“My grandfather would wave ‘hi’ Martin’s father, a young boy at Today, the Blue Blazes Still is woods, only to reappear in another
as they went by the sheriff,” Black the time, chased after the revenuers. gone, but the NPS has a 50-gallon location about half an hour or so
said. “Dad, he caught up with one revenuer pot still captured in a Tennessee raid later.
and bit him on the leg and my on the same location. NPS uses it for
Two of Black’s uncles were some grandfather got away,” Martin said. presentations about moonshining in In 1925, revenuers tried to get
of the biggest bootleggers around the The Blue Blazes Still the mountains. Daniel Toms’ 30-gallon still in
Thurmont area. Even his father was Cascade. He held them off for a
known to drive moonshine out of the On July 31, 1929, two cars drove The NPS actually operated the short time with a shot gun, but they
area to sell. One time he took Black up Catoctin Mountain on Route 77. still for demonstrations from 1970 eventually surrounded him and
and his siblings along for the ride. Six men rode in the cars. Only five to 1989. It was the first still ever caught him and his henchmen.
The kids fell asleep. would be alive two hours later. to operate legally on government
property, according to Thurmont
“The three of us woke up and The cars pulled off the side of the Historian George Wireman. Smithsburg Moonshining War
asked, ‘who lives here?’” Black said. road. Frederick County Deputy John
“Some senator, they told us. They Hemp and Lester Hoffman climbed When the NPS started operating Revenuers also spent plenty of
were rolling the barrels up to the out of one of them. the still, the Hagerstown Morning time in Smithsburg, combing the
house.” Herald reported, “National Park hills for moonshiners. They tried to
Although not a deputy, Hoffman officials hasten to assure that the pass themselves off as tourist hikers.
Stills were hidden on Catoctin was the only one in the group who whiskey is not for presidential
Mountain near streams that could knew his way through the forest to consumption, although the pungent Smithsburg made national
supply them with the water needed what an informant had described odor of mash undoubtedly wafts headlines as having an “old-time
for the moonshine recipes. According a week earlier as a “large liquor over the mountain retreat to mountain feud” between John
to Black, if you follow the streams plant.” be inhaled occasionally by VIP Cline and Henry Russman. There
on Catoctin Mountain upriver, you nostrils.” were reports of night raiding,
can still see the remnants of stills “The officers, in attempting to indiscriminate shooting, and fights.
that were destroyed. creep up on the small vale in which However, though the park They were accused of wrecking
the still was situated, ascended a had received permission from a church, dynamiting a sawmill,
Martin shared some of his family winding mountain path, which led the Treasury Department to killing one person, and wounding
stories during a presentation at the abruptly to the scene of the tragedy,” manufacture whiskey, park others. A 1923 article estimated
Thurmont Regional Library about reported the Frederick Post. personnel hadn’t talked to that there were 500 stills between
moonshining. state authorities about it. The Hagerstown and the Pennsylvania
As they neared the still, shots Hagerstown Morning Herald wrote, line. The interest in this fighting may
One grandfather kept a quarter rang out. Deputy Clyde Hauver fell “on the first day the still was in have been due in part to the recent
keg of moonshine in his attic, and and the deputies scattered for cover, operation, an agent of the state’s coal mine riots that had grown so
when friends would come by with as the moonshiners fired on them, alcohol tax division appeared at the violent across the country.
Mason jars, Martin’s grandfather hidden by the underbrush. park with two deputies, all set to
would tell his son to “go up and get make another raid on Blue Blazes.” One newspaper reported about
some ‘shine for the friends.” Once Hauver was on his way to Since the still was on federal the moonshiners, “They are
Frederick, the remaining deputies property, they couldn’t do anything unmolested. It would be as much
At some point, Martin’s used picks and axes to destroy the about it, though. as an officer’s life would be worth
grandfather moved the keg from the vats and boiler. The newspaper to try and interfere. The natives are
attic to the basement and buried it in reported that Blue Blazes Still was “I’m still known as the only silent. They know a bullet in the
the coal pile. one of the largest and best equipped park superintendent in the service dark would follow any giving of
in Frederick County, according to who’s been raided for being information.”
Once, revenue agents came by reports. It had a boiler from a steam a moonshiner,” former Park
wanting to search the house while locomotive, twenty 500-gallon- Superintendent Frank Mentzer told End of an Era
Martin’s father was alone. The boy capacity wooden vats, filled with the newspaper. Due to its unpopularity,
didn’t know what to do because he corn mash, two condensing coils, Moonshining in Pen Mar
couldn’t get on the phone to call his and a cooling box. Prohibition soon ended after the
parents, so he let the revenue agents Pen Mar, with its ideal location election of Franklin D. Roosevelt
in to search the house. A National Park Service (NPS) as a resort on the border between in 1932. With that, prices of liquor
ranger told me that the still produced Maryland and Pennsylvania, became dropped and moonshining lost its
They started in the attic, which alcohol so fast that if a man took a popular spot for bootleggers appeal to many people.
worried Martin’s father, but the away a five-gallon bucket of alcohol to hide their stills. Also, being at
men didn’t find anything. Martin’s and dumped it into a vat, by the Pen Mar put them close to people Advertise
father thought he was safe and that time he returned to the still, another who wanted to relax and enjoy in The Catoctin Banner
the moonshine was no longer in the bucket would be filled and waiting to themselves with a drink.
house. The revenue agents continued be removed. • Full Color •
their search, ending up in the In 1921, an informant told police Affordable •
basement. A manhunt started for the that there were thirteen stills that he
moonshiners and eight men were knew of in the vicinity of Pen Mar. Effective
One of the agents saw the coal eventually jailed. Charles Lewis was The bootleggers were making good
pile and wondered if moonshine convicted of first-degree murder money selling their product, though • 301-447-2804 •
might be buried in it. Martin’s father, in the Washington County Circuit The Catoctin Banner, serving Northern
not knowing that was the case, Court on March 7, 1930. Governor Frederick County, Maryland, since 1995
held up the coal shovel and told Theodore McKeldin commuted the
the agents, “Go ahead and dig, but
