December 22, 1921
Deputy Sheriff A. H. Meeker is the most envied man in West Union.
He is the possessor of 6 gallons- think of it, six whole gallons- of moonshine, and right on the eve of the Christmas holidays, too.
All the boys are making a big fuss over Aaron, shaking hands with him, patting him on the back, and promising to vote for him whenever he runs for office, but Deputy Meeker refuses to give ‘em even a “little smile” in return for all their pleading demonstrations.
As a matter of fact the Deputy Sheriff is not really the actual possessor of the booze-he is only the custodian. But what we started out to say was the Deputy Meeker has a good “nose” for moonshine and that is how he comes to have such a generous supply on hand at the present time. He located the booze about nine o’clock Saturday night, picking up the “scent” in this instance rather unexpectedly.
It happened in this way: Deputy Meeker and his official driver, Gil Edwards, were on their way home from Peebles. When about a mile from West Union, their Ford machine got balky and stopped. While Mr. Edwards was investigating, another Ford car, with one eye closed, came humming merrily up the pike, also headed for West Union.
The Deputy Sheriff promptly flagged the approaching car, and asked the driver to throw his headlight rays on the disabled car to assist them in locating the trouble. The driver of the car, whom neither the Deputy Sheriff nor Mr. Edwards recognized in the dark, said he would drive up the pike a piece and turn around.
In the meantime Deputy Meeker, who had stepped up on the running board of the car while talking to the man, got a good whiff of the cargo in the machine and he held his place when the driver started the car up the road. After going but a short distance, the officer said to the unknown driver: “I guess I will ride to town with you.” A few seconds later, the man suddenly slowed down on the side of the road, then stopped the car and hopped out of the machine and over the fence and was gone before the Deputy Sheriff could offer and check to the move.
Mr. Edwards had gotten his own car under way by this time and the two men transferred 12 half-gallon jars of moonshine from the deserted Ford to their own car and drove into West Union with their load of wet goods.
While the moonshine was brand new the abandoned Ford car, which was not brought in until Monday morning, bears the label of 1911 vintage. It was parked in the stable back of the jail. The Deputy Sheriff wont tell where he parked the moonshine.
When the booze car failed to arrive in West Union Saturday night, the various parties who were waiting for their Christmas packages, sorrowfully wended their was home, richer in purse, but poorer in spirits.
