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From: "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>
Subject: [IASCOTT] !! Davenport Democrat; Scott Co, IA; Nov 1922 Bootleggers
Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2006 09:36:48 -0600

Davenport Democrat and Leader
Davenport, Scott, Iowa
November 15, 1922

WHITE POWDERS, HOOCH AND 13 PEOPLE NABBED
Donahue Place Raided by Government Men and City Police

One of the biggest steps toward a clean up in the city of Davenport was
made, according to Night Police Captain Walter Homeyer, when he, one
government narcotic agent, two prohibition agents and Police Officers Kuehl
and Dietz swooned down on the resort said to have been operated by Mrs. Ella
Donahue at 420 West Fifth street at 8:30 o'clock last night.
Five capsules and a box of white powder which the government say is
cocaine was confiscated, as was more than a gallon of moonshine liquor,
nearly three gallons of wine, four quart bottles and four pint bottles of
home brew and a quart bottle of Kimmel.
The powders are to be sent to the government chemists in Minneapolis
for analysis. If the chemists report that it is cocaine, new charges will be
filed on all of those taken in the raid.
A total of 13 people found in the house at the time were subjected to a
severe questioning. They were, Mrs. Donahue, the alleged proprietor, Robert
McGrath and Thomas Hines, said to be the two bartenders and Loretta Donahue,
alias Loretta Hassan, a daughter of Mrs. Donahue, Mrs. Ed. White, who gave
her address as 1305 Second avenue, Rock Island, and who claims to have
operated the Market Square hotel on Seventeenth street in that city, Mrs.
Gene Johnston, 113 Brady street, Mrs. Ebba Munson, 619 Iowa street, Hilda
Witt, 528 West Sixth street, Margaret Donahue, another daughter of Mrs.
Donahue and George McDermott.
Mrs. Donahue, Hines and McGrath were arraigned before United States
Commissioner A.G. Bush this morning and bound over to the federal grand jury
under $2,000 bonds. These three will all of the others were arraigned in
police court on charges of operating and being inmates of a disorderly house
and the cases continued. The alleged proprietor was released under $50 bonds
and the others under $25 bonds. Louis Roddewig appeared as their attorney.
Captain Homeyer said that for the past six months this place had been
an eyesore to the city, that time after time officers have picked up drunks
who told him that they bought the booze of Mrs. Donahue and that several of
them had signed affidavits to that effect. He told of several raids that the
police had made and when they reached the place they found that it had been
cleaned and the liquor dumped. One dope addict told police that there was
dope sold there as well as booze.
The government came and secured several "buys", then went to police
headquarters and asked for help. He said that the police department was only
too glad to give it to them.
The house was full of people at the time of the raid. It was given a
thoro search by the raiding party. The powder which is said to be quinine
and the full capsules and several empty capsules were found behind one of
the pictures that was hanging on the wall.
The quart of Kimmel, made in 1906 in Berlin, Germany, was found
concealed in the piano. It was only after the piano was dragged from the
wall by Officer Kuehl that the liquor was discovered.

Davenport Democrat and Leader
Davenport, Scott, Iowa
November 19, 1922

Alleged Opium Joint, Hooch Palaces Raided by Davenport Police
More Than a Score Arrested in Clean-up of City Saturday Night; "Hop" Pipe
Found in Dresser Drawer Furnishes Evidence of Dope Rendezvous; Officials
Kept Busy Booking Inmates and Storing Varied Receptacles of Liquor; Lone
Officer Stages Raid.

Federal agents and Davenport police joined hands to clean up the city
Saturday night, raiding an alleged opium joint, gin palaces, and houses of
ill fame, arresting twenty four persons and confiscating opium smoking
apparatus and a large quantity of liquor.
Held either on government or city warrants are Mrs. M. Brown, 208 East
Fifth street, Mrs. Clara White, 614 West Fourth street, Lill Maloff, wife of
the proprietor of the notorious Hollywood Inn, and Mrs. May Arnold, 1125
West Second street.
While desk sergeants at the city police station worked to place inmates
at these places in cells or to send them to the house of detention, a squad
of officers was busily engaged in finding nooks in which to stow carboys,
kegs, cases and bottles of illicit liquor. Orders were given those arrested
to line up and a long queue leading to the booking slate was formed.
It was at Mrs. Brown's place, which has been under surveillance for a
long time, that police and federal agents obtained the biggest haul. The
most important find here, however, was an opium pipe, secreted in a dresser
drawer-evidence which will be turned over to narcotic inspectors in an
effort to obtain substantiation for the police that the Brown place was a
rendezvous for drug addicts.
The liquor obtained at the Brown place consisted of four ten gallon
kegs of wine, nine quarts of gin, two gallons of moonshine whiskey, several
jugs and bottles of wine, a number of cans of cereal extract and a quantity
of whiskey mash.

Booze in Chicken Coops.
This booze literally filled every crevice of the East Fifth street
house. Officers Dietz and Kuehl and Federal Prohibition Agent Roy E. Muhs
removed from mattresses, drawers, closets, ice boxes and other cubby holes,
ransacking the place from top to bottom and always finding more liquor. The
whiskey mash was discovered in a chicken coop. Officers found the opium pipe
in Mrs. Brown's bedroom, but were unable to find any narcotics.
Federal Agent Muhs stated last night that he has obtained evidence of
sale on Mrs. Brown, and will file charges against her in federal court.
Following the discovery of the opium pipe, the woman was subjected to a
rigid examination by police authorities, with somewhat unsatisfactory
results. The grilling is expected to be continued today.

Kept "Bar Tender."
Those arrested as inmates of the Brown place gave their names as Betty
Jerome, Maurice Hanson, John Smith, and W.M. Chalupa. Hanson is alleged to
have had charge of the liquor-dispensing end of the establishment, and
appears to be well known to the police.
Simultaneous raids were made on the Clara White and Lill Maloff places
by officers who, called to raid one place, found two.
The White house was raided under government warrant, and yielded two
jugs of wine, drinking utensils, and several hydrometers, used in
ascertaining alcoholic content of liquor. At this place, it is claimed, a
pitcher of hooch was poured out of a window by panic-stricken inmates.
Besides Mrs. White, four inmates who gave their names as C. Endorf, P.
Canary, John Gray and Ed Murphy, were arrested.

Nicknamed "Buckskin"
Mrs. White is a well-known police character and is known affectionately
as "Buckskin". Charges of sale of intoxicating liquor will be filed against
her, Federal Agent Muhs says.
At the Lill Marloff home, Night Captain Walter Homeyer and his aides
found a merry party in progress and proceeded to break it up as quickly as
possible. Besides Mrs. Maloff, seven inmates calling themselves Ed O'Connor,
M.D. Coburn, A. Hebbeln, J. Rowley, J.H. Reistoffer, H.P. Kerr and Edna
Smith were found drinking or indulging in other forms of vice, police say.
The Maloff place was raided under a city warrant, the woman being
arrested on a charge of keeping a disorderly house. Two cases of beer were
seized, but it is not probable that federal information will be sworn out
against her.
Mrs. Maloff is also known as Lill Tank, and is supposed to have acted
as an agent for John Looney, vice ring leader.

Lone Officer Raids.
Officer John McDermott staged a lone raid early in the evening when he
was called to the May Arnold home, 1125 West Second street, to investigate a
call which had been received at the police station. A woman had stated over
the phone that Nick Johnson, a man living at that place, had been slugged.
When McDermott arrived at 1125 West Second street he at first could
find nothing wrong. Finally, in the rear, he discovered Mrs. Arnold washing
dishes in her kitchen, while Johnson, his head bleeding, was leaning against
a door. In the kitchen were John Phillips, Mrs. Nick Johnson, and Martin
Blanick, and Austrian. Mrs. Johnson and Phillips appeared to be intoxicated.
In response to questions they asserted that a man named "Jimmy Smith"
had slugged Johnson and had struck Blanick on the mouth, following an
argument.

Escapes Thru Window.
While they were talking, "Jimmy Smith" himself entered thru an outside
door, and was promptly apprehended. He appeared willing to remain under
arrest, and Officer McDermott, after locking the kitchen door, started to
investigate other rooms of the house.
After he had gone into the parlor, "Jimmy Smith" made good his escape
thru a window. It is expected he will be arrested soon, as his whereabouts
are known.
Fifty bottles of home brew beer were found in the Arnold cellar by the
officer.
Mrs. Arnold was taken to the police station where she was booked on a
charge of running a disorderly house. The rest were booked as inmates. All
will appear for trial in police court Monday morning.
The hectic evening began with the somewhat sensational arrest of H.W.
Michaels, No. 12 Petersen building, caught with a pint bottle of moonshine
at the corner of Third and Brady street by Federal Agent Muhs and Officer
Pete Kuehl.
Mr. Muhs has been trailing Michaels ever since he was fined $500 and
costs on a liquor charge at the last term of federal court here. He
suspected that the fine had not curbed Michaels' liquor dispensing
proclivities, he states, and therefore determined to watch him closely.
Another reason why Michaels was watched was because he had failed to
pay the $100 installment of his fine within the 30 days given him by Federal
Judge Martin J. Wade.
Saturday evening, Mr. Muhs asserts, Michaels was on his way to deliver
the liquor to a customer. Evidence of sale of liquor may be produced against
the man, who is now being held in the county jail pending a conference
between Judge Wade and Mr. Muhs.

Davenport Democrat and Leader
Davenport, Scott, Iowa
November 21, 1922

FEDERAL AGENT AND COPS SEIZE LIQUOR IN RAID
Residence of William J. Burke Yields Quantity of Illicit Beer.

Raiding the residence of William J. Burke, 508 1/2 Harrison street,
late this afternoon, Federal Agent Roy E. Muhs and Police Officers Dietz and
Kuehl, siezed a quantity of home brew beer.
The warrant under which the place was searched was issued from the
court of Justice Merle F. Wells upon affidavit sworn out by Officer Dietz.
According to Justice Wells, no evidence of sale has been obtained.
A curious co-incidence occurred when the officers went to the Burke
place to raid it. A man named Rice, ice-wagon driver, was found hauling a
suitcase filled with 30 pints of beer thru an alley near the residence. Rice
was arrested and is being held for investigation.

Davenport Democrat and Leader
Davenport, Scott, Iowa
November 26, 1922

POLICE RAID HOOCH JOINT, GET BOTTLES
Proprietor Admits Sales and Says He will Plead Guilty.

Police Captain Homeyer and Officers Kuehl and Snyder conducted an
energetic raid on the residence of Charles H. Hawkins, 1040 West Second
street, Saturday night, obtaining as their reward two large crates of
whiskey bottles and a minute quantity of moonshine whiskey.
A bottle of real "evidence" was destroyed by Hawkins while the officers
were searching the upper rooms of his place. When arrested, Hawkins admitted
he had been selling liquor, and stated that he would plead guilty to a
charge of keeping a disorderly house when he is arraigned in police court
Monday.
In the arrest of Hawkins, police believe they have captured one of the
biggest hooch distributors in Davenport. Captain Homeyer asserts that
numerous complaints about that Hawkins place have been received, indicating
that it has been a menace to the community.
The only liquor secured in the raid just covered the bottom of five
gallon jug.



[Sorry, can't resist...was the following the beginning of LIGHT beer? ;-)]

Davenport Democrat and Leader
Davenport, Scott, Iowa
November 29, 1922

Still, Liquor, Seized in Raid on Three Homes
Big Source of Supply Believed Stopped by Desert Squad.

Acting on government search warrants, Federal Agent Roy E. Muhs,
together with Police Officers Lodge, Dietz, Phelan, Gerdts, Kuehl and
Hennehy raided three homes in the same neighborhood late yesterday
afternoon, seizing a 15-gallon still and a large quantity of liquor.
Authorities believe that the raids have stopped an important source of booze
supply in Davenport.
Arrested as manufacturers are Robert Light, 2021 Telegraph road, Ray
Meuman, 2116 [or 3116] Telegraph road and Henry Sothmann, 2733 Telegraph
road. Light was the only one of the three to be at home when the
simultaneous raids were staged. The other two were arrested later.
A thousand bottles of alleged home brew beer, besides two five gallon
kegs and a five gallon jug of wine were seized at Light's residence.
Fifty-two gallons of beer ready for bottling were also found at this place.
The still, 25 gallons of whisky mash, and a gallon of moonshine whiskey
were taken at Sothmann's place.
Meuman's residence yielded 600 bottles of beer and a five gallon keg of
whisky.
The booze and booze-manufacturing apparatus seized at the three places
provided two full loads for the police patron wagon, which hauled the stuff
to the police station where it is being held for later destruction. Five
hundred bottles of beer were broken at Light's home as it was not thought
necessary to retain as evidence. The mash and unbottled beer were also
destroyed.
Light and Sothmann are former brewery wagon drivers, and according to
police, were unable to get out of the habit of handling liquor. It is
asserted that Light and Meuman have furnished merchandise for local bootleg
parlors, altho they and Sothmann are charged only with the manufacture of
liquor. No connection between the three seems to have been established.
Light waived preliminary examination before Commissioner Bush today and
were bound over to the Federal grand jury on $1,000 bonds which he
furnished. He plead not guilty. Sothmann also plead not guilty, waived
examination and was bound over on $500 bonds. A continuance until Dec. 6th
was granted to Roy Meumann. He furnished a temporary bond of $500.
The cases were called before United States Commissioner A.G. Bush this
morning.



Cathy Joynt Labath
Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project
http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/
Iowa Old Press
http://www.IowaOldPress.com/

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