In June, 1870, County Clerk A. C. Phillips addressed the Newton County Teacher's Institute, saying "Jasper is a prosperous town with four stores, two attorneys, a physician, a clergyman, and a school. But yet there is one dark cloud that seems to give this picture [of Jasper] a little different color — the worm of the still" (Morning Republican 30 Jun 1870).
What Mr. Phillips was referring to was the illegal distilling of alcohol. At first, this product was called "crooked whiskey" and the distillers "crooked whiskey makers."
Aug. 26, 1876, the Arkansas Gazette reported that Deputy Marshal Kline and his posse had arrested 18 "crooked whiskey makers" in Newton County and had destroyed six stills. The Independent Arkansan (11 Aug. 1876) reported Marshal Kline "passed down on the steamer Ella Hughes with seven prisoners that they had captured in the Boston Mountains in Newton County. The prisoners were a rough looking lot."
The paper went on to report that there was quite a number of men making "crooked whiskey" and that authorities believed there could be up to 30 stills in operation. In the latest raid, the Marshal and his posse had captured three stills, a barrel and several kegs of whiskey, a wagon, and fifteen head of horses.
The gang had been exposed when one member tried to pay "old Doc Morgan" for his professional services using the whiskey. When the doctor refused, the gang beat him, hung him, then flung him in a creek, thinking him dead. He was rescued and revived and rode to Little Rock to alert authorities.
In the Aug. 13, 1876, edition of the Daily Arkansas Gazette, the term for these illicit distillers was changed. The paper said "Several parties in Newton County were arrested for making crooked whiskey by moonshine."
Moonshiners were again in the news in 1884, when the Daily Arkansas Gazette reported that a posse broke up and burned an illegal distillery, killing one moonshiner and arresting the other.
This arrest actually was controversial. In an exchange of letters to the editor, some people accused the marshals involved in murdering the man, saying he had merely drawn his pistol and not aimed it at anyone. In his rebuttal letter, the marshal stated that the posse had come upon the still while in operation, and ordered the men to surrender. The two men drew their weapons instead, and so the posse fired upon them.
The last account of marshals and moonshiners was the most shocking.
The Arkansas Gazette reported Sept. 20, 1887, that Marshal R. M. Frye and his posse rode up to a still house in a hollow called Devil's Den and were fired upon by the moonshiners within. They killed one and captured two others. The man they killed turned out to be a deputy sheriff of Newton County!
Barbara LeRoy is the author of “Which Side Were They On?,” a new 302 page book listing biographical sketches of the Newton Countians who were involved in the Civil War, available for sale either in the Bradley House Museum or by purchasing online at www.newtoncountyar.com. The book sells for $33.
