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CONTACT:
Dean Dixon
Historical Resources Assistant
(941) 749-1800 ext. 4070
April 2003 Article
Introduction: The Manatee
County Historical Records Library is a wealth
of information about our local past. Documents from
as early as the 1850's describe the life and times
of Manatee County residents and weave many an interesting
tale. Each month, we will post a new story for you
based on documents in our library. We invite all of
you to come to the library, located
at 1405 4th Avenue West, to see these documents
for yourself and to touch, feel and experience our
heritage.
Moonshine in Manatee
Click here to
see Sheriff's Deputies Seize Bootleg Whiskey
The history of Manatee County can be told from many perspectives;
one of the more colorful ones has to do with the history of
bootleg whisky. The good folks of Manatee County decided in
1897 by a vote of 417 to 58 to make alcohol illegal within
the counties borders. Despite that, the Circuit Court crime
files are replete with alcohol related crimes, including everything
from selling liquor without a license to possession of alcohol
in public. So many of the records of the more serious crimes
include recounts of drinking before the crime took place.
One of the most notorious crimes in the county's history was
the murder of the Sarasota Postmaster Charles Abbe. The testimony
of the witnesses talks at length about the drinking that the
perpetrators had done before the murder. Some members of the
group had drunk themselves into unconsciousness at the time
of the murder, yet they still went to prison along with the
conscious. The testimony talked about the group's meetings
where they made frequent trips out to the Palmetto scrub where
the still was hidden.
The rural nature of the county made it hard to police all
the stills and illegal gambling often accompanied the illegal
whisky. The Sheriff's department was hard pressed to keep
up with the extralegal libations. Yet, valiant efforts were
made and often the bootleggers were brought to justice. During
the era of prohibition, the Sheriff's department, run by Sheriff
Wingate, caught someone trying to sneak 900 quarts of liquor
into the county by way of the river. It was the largest confiscation
in county history. Judge W. T. Harrison ordered the contraband
poured down the drain into the sewer. With great fanfare on
February 1, 1924, Judge Harrison, Sheriff Wingate and Prosecutor
Gordon Knowles, with "honorary cork pullers" Joe
Pedrick, Rox Pollard, W.B. Kirby and Frank Webb, poured the
whisky down the drain of a sink in the jail in the Manatee
County Courthouse. The sewer emptied into the nearby Manatee
River causing onlookers to back away from the powerful aroma
that wafted off of the water. It is said that many fish ended
their lives in an alcoholic haze that day.
Despite the best efforts of law enforcement, it is clear from
old legends that alcohol was obtainable. Before prohibition,
along the banks of the Manatee River, once stood Sinbad's
castle, a place where young men would often gather to play
poker and drink until the early morning hours. Sinbad himself
liked to help the ships unloading on the docks in Bradenton
for an intoxicating wage. The captains that regularly came
to the docks of Bradenton knew that Sinbad's favorite wage
was a bottle of rum. Trade with Cuba in those days was common
and it was inevitable that a little rum would find its way
here. Sinbad also ran a ferry service across the river, but
many customers found themselves stranded when Sinbad would
take them across one way, only to get too drunk to get them
back across the river.
America and Manatee County has had a love-hate relationship
with liquor through most of its history. The push-pull contest
of prohibitionists and those who want their drink has provided
us with colorful stories and interesting events in our history.
Sources:
1855-1993 Manatee County Sheriff's History
Clerk of Courts trial records
The Singing River, Joe Warner
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