Shoal Creek

TWO BIG STILLS ARE DESTROYED

United States Revenue Collector G.B. McClurkin with a  posse on last Saturday, 
captured two big moonshine plants in operation in Cleburne county, some seven 
or eight miles north of Edwardsville, in the Shoal Creek neighborhood, 
destroying both.  The two plants were about a mile apart. Two operators were 
surprized by the officer and undertook to flee from the place but found 
themselves surrounded.  Theirs was a very large, well equipped plant, the 
still being of copper.  There were 30 stands of beer, amounting to some 1,500 
or 2,000 gallons, besides a considerable quantity of newly made whiskey, all 
of which was destroyed.  The posse then moved on to the next plant which was 
itself at considerable proportions, the still being of copper and with its 
fourteen stands of beer. The owners of this plant had made their escape, 
having, it is presumed, gotten an inkling of the coming of the officer with 
his posse, but the plant was left hot by its owners.  A bonfire, started by 
the officer, told the tale of the passing of that plant also.