In early 1924, prohibition had been in effect for years and as a result, many locals had turned to cranking out their own illegal “hootch” in copper stills, a problem that wouldn’t entirely go away until the late 1950’s, even after prohibition was long since revoked.
The attached photo illustrates the level which illegal alcohol production had reached, when a Courtney’s moving truck, was required to haul all the illegal booze back to the Williamson County Jail on S. Van Buren St. for disposal after the latest raid in February, 1924.
At the time, the jail side yard on right of photo, was absolutely full of scrapped copper stills which Sheriff George Galligan had sold for copper and brass scrap to a scrap metal dealer, making sure each one was crushed out of existence. The metal weighed out at over 3,000 lbs. and made the sheriff’s department a nice amount of money.
The illegal alcohol was dumped into the street and ran down W. College Street into the storm drains, drawing many complaints from local citizens about the smell, although I’m sure a few watched in frustration.
The jail is now the site of the Williamson County Historical Society museum located at 105 S. Van Buren Street.
(Photo courtesy of the Williamson County Historical Society)