Scofflaw Heschs and Prohibition

"The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the manufacture, sale and importation of intoxicating liquors, was ratified on 16 January 1919. Its provisions went into force a year and a day later, on 17 January 1920. Prohibition remained in effect until the 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment, which was ratified on 5 December 1933 with immediate effect".

When I was a kid and heard about moonshine and Prohibition in school, it took awhile before I realized someone around here might have been involved...lol

One Sunday, when we were out for a drive, we asked daddy if he knew any moonshiners personally?

He said sure, even our Grandpa made moonshine, and Grandma sold it. Every Sunday afternoon during the summer, Buckman's baseball team played some other town, but Grandma never saw a game although the "whole town" was there. She was at home, 'taking care of business'.

Dad said a byproduct of cooking moonshine was something called mash, and that his job was feeding it to the cows to get rid of the evidence. They had a shack in the woods, in the middle of the pasture, where Grandpa had a still. "The Feds" were always a threat, and the cows were often sorta tipsy, but they gave more milk, too.

We thought staggering cows was incredibly funny, and dad's stories made our silent Grandpa MUCH more interesting. WOW!

This morning, I went to the mailbox, and found more pictures from Irene Kulig, with proof that Hesch Shine was a family affair...lol

This was Math's shack, and Irene says he made moonshine from 1919 to 1932. Click the picture to see the detail--this was 1921--the barrel and copper boiler, and the jug? I don't know much about what made moonshine "good", but didn't it have to age in an oak barrel, at least for a couple weeks? You know there was a pretty neat system involved.

Hmm...the massive woodpile in 1932....no wonder it was all small logs. This information gives a whole new meaning to it! And here's Math the Moonshine Connoisseur. What a precious photograph of him at 35, and what a handsome guy he was, huh?

THANKS, Irene!!