Tipperary, that legendary coal mine and related village deep in Lucas County's Pleasant Township hills, also was command central for a leading cottage industry --- homebrew --- back in the good old days.
Prohibition had been law of the land since 1920, but Lucas County miners (and many others) still had a thirst and there were plenty of creative cooks out there to meet that need.
The little industry also kept law enforcement busy --- raiding homes and searching the hills for homemade hooch (whiskey) and choctaw (high-octane beer) and the paraphernalia needed to produce it.
Here's a report from The Herald-Patriot of March 16, 1922, about the biggest raid to date. Note the list at the end --- I know several folks who will find the names of their ancestors there (although quite possibly misspelled).
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One of the biggest liquor raids in the history of southern Iowa was staged Friday by a band of nine local, state and federal officers when they entered and searched 18 homes in Tipperary and Olmitz, mining centers in the northwestern part of Lucas County.
The officers participating in the raid were Sheriff C.C. Lyman, Deputy Sheriff W. A. Knotts, Constable W. C. Milthorpe, Marshal T. A. Norman, County Attorney C. F. Wennerstrum, D.F. Wilson, federal prohibition agent; C. M. Hanson, state agent; H. M. Stoner, state agent; and H. C. Gibson, of the Iowa Anti-Saloon League.
Of the 18 homes raided, all but four were found to contain stores of liquor and materials for manufacturing it. The goods were all confiscated. Samples of each lot of liquor were taken for analyzing and as evidence, and the remainder was destroyed. The stills and manufacturing devices seized were brought to Chariton and stored in the county jail.
State chemists have analyzed the samples seized and report each of alcoholic content, varying from 3 to 55 per cent. As of yet, no arrests have been made. It was at first planned to issue warrants for the 14 people in whose homes liquor was found, but County Attorney C.F. Wennerstrum announced Wednesday that since the grand jury will convene almost within a week he we will dispense with preliminary hearings and lay the cases directly before the grand jury. This action will save the county the expense of preliminary hearings for each of the accused.
March 22 has been set as the date for the hearing on the goods that were confiscated, when the former owners may appear before the court and set forth their claims of possession.
In spite of the territory embraced and the number of houses marked for search, the raid was planned and carried out without a single hitch. The local officers had been contemplating it for some time, while awaiting the assistance of the state and federal agents. They had reconnoitered and laid complete plans for each detail and the outside men, veterans of dozens of such raids, were able to ferret out the hiding places of the hootch and stills until the most cleverly concealed jug was brought to light.
The day was auspicious for the officers' plans. It was the day before pay day at the mines, and the bootleggers had full stores on hand to be ready for the heavy rush of business that would come when the miners received their wages. Moreover, it was such a disagreeable day that all who were not working would be sure to be found at home.
The party of nine men set out from Chariton early in the morning in the face of a snowstorm that became nearly a blizzard in the hilly mining country. The roads were almost impassable in spots and it took nearly two hours to reach Tipperary. One car, with Officers Lyman and Stoner, remained at Olmitz, where a few homes were marked for search, but the others spent the entire day at Tipperary.
Arriving at Tipperary, the officers split into two groups to work on opposite sides of the railroad tracks. These groups proceeded as rapidly as possible from one house to another, searching and seizing, and carrying the confiscated goods back to the cars, where they were guarded from recapture by two men.
Most of the homes visited were owned by foreigners, some of them miners and others evidently without any visible means of support. One was a woman. There were Italians, Slavs, and some whose nationality defied classification. Some of them welcomed the officers with smiles, and some with curses, in broken English. Some were frightened while others appeared calm and unconcerned, sure that their liquor was hidden in a secure spot. None of them attempted to offer any resistance to the officers, some of whom were not even armed, and every one of them protested volubly that he was a law-abiding citizen and would not think of keeping liquor on his premises, much less of manufacturing it.
Ingenious hiding places were uncovered by the officers. In some cases the liquor was found in caves in the hills near the homes, and in others jugs were found hidden away in cellars and other remote spots.
After the search had been made and the damaging evidence brought to light, many were the excuses offered. It some cases, it seems, over a hundred gallons of choctaw or moonshine were kept on hand because the doctor had prescribed whiskey for a bad cold, or as a tonic. others professed ignorance of the stores and wonder as to its source.
In the homes, officers found parts of stills, but never a complete still. A coil was found here, a boiler there, and other parts in other places which, when assembled, would be a distilling outfit. But no complete still was found. The copper coil and the metal parts --- only some junk that had been lying around the house, the officers were told. But the raiders were incredulous, and the "junk" is now in the hands of the sheriff to be used as evidence.
At some homes officers reported having been offered bribes varying from $10 to $100 for leaving some of the hootch undestroyed, or for forgetting entirely that they had found any contraband.
At each home the visit of the raiders was a complete surprise. The officers worked so rapidly and systematically that those who were visited first were unable to warn the others of the raid and give them opportunity to destroy the evidence.
Aside from being the biggest in the history of the county, the raid was unique in the degree of cooperation shown between the local and outside officers. The state and federal men, with their experience in such raids, and the local officers, with their knowledge of the ground to be covered, worked together so efficiently that their net caught even more offenders than had been hoped.
The following places were raided and seizures made as noted:
1. Mrs. Wren Gailey (Tipperary): 7-1/2 gallon white moonshine whiskey, one 10-gallon copper boiler cooker with top soldered on with neck; 18 gallons choctaw found, sample taken, remainder destroyed; 80 gallons fruit and grain mash, samples taken, remainder destroyed.
2. Matt Vidas (Tipperary): 3-1/2 quarts colored moonshine whiskey found in grip; 3 gallons corn and rye mash, samples taken, remainder destroyed.
3. Dominic Vernetti (Tipperary): 35 gallons finished choctaw, samples taken, remainder destroyed; 62 gallons fruit and grain mash, samples taken, remainder destroyed.
4. Andy Doolin (Tipperary): 15 gallons colored moonshine whiskey, 1 copper coil, 1 copper-top elbow for cooker, all seized.
5. Pete Cheri (Tipperary): copper coil (been used), brand new copper coil in original box as shipped, 1 copper top for cooker, copper tubing, lead tubing, roll of sheet copper, copper spouts, 2 copper necks for cooker, 12 pieces of copper sheets; bar of solder, soldering iron, pair tin snips, mallet, copper chimney for cooker, quart bottle bond whiskey, all seized; 100 gallons of fruit and grain mash, samples taken and remainder destroyed.
6. Alex Claro (Tipperary): found in Pete Cheri home, said to be a roomer --- 2 quarts white moonshine whiskey, seized;
7. Wat Davis (Tipperary): 1 brass blow torch, 1 funnel filler, 1 rubber hose, 1 top of boiler cooker with neck soldered on, three 50-gallon empty barrels with odor of moonshine whiskey therein, all seized but the barrels.
8. Tony Kauzlich (Tipperary): 100 gallons of peach and pruine mash, sample taken and balance destroyed; 16 gallons of choctaw, sample taken and balance destroyed.
9. Pete Viero (Tipperary): 110 gallons of choctaw, samples taken and balance destroyed; 5 gallons raisin mash, destroyed.
10. August Dunovich (Tipperary): 32 gallons choctaw, samples taken and remainder destroyed.
11. Tony Gurgovich (Tipperary): 20 gallons choctaw, samples taken and balance destroyed.
12. Marko Vudkovich (Tipperary): 16 gallons choctaw, samples taken and balance destroyed.
13. Robert Brown (Olmitz): 30 gallons peach and prune mash, destroyed.
14. Levi Zimmerman (Olmitz): 30 gallon copper cooker seized.
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