My hometown of Schodack New York is populated by the suburbs and rural areas. Many people now commute to other areas like Albany to work. It is located in southern Rensselaer County in upstate New York. People go other places to shop and do their recreation. It was not all ways so , in the 1920's it was a much more self contained world. Farms , small manufacturing , small stores. It was also a much more isolated community. You stayed closer to home back then. So , it turned out to be an ideal place when National Prohibition was passed in 1920 that this is one of the many towns that took part in the breaking of that law. Booze may have been outlawed but the desire for that product was in some ways elevated by it's illegal nature. People were still going to drink even if it was made more difficult. So began the illegal bootlegging trade and the making of bootleg booze. This is essentially the incomplete story of one Leroy Harris who was one of the biggest illegal distillers in the counties of Rensselaer and Columbia Counties. I trust that some of this information I have accumulated will shed some light on my hometown's more shady past. Much of my information comes from his last surviving child one M. Peters , the youngest of thirteen children. Yes that is correct he had thirteen children living on a farm on South Schodack Road near the Columbia County border. He had many hungry mouths to feed and the farm life could only supply so much. By the way as a younger man he was a bartender and did not much like what he called "church ladies" telling him what he could and could not do. His daughter recently turned 90 yrs old and lives in Connecticut and I conducted two interviews with her this past summer. By the way I am related to her , so she finally opened up to me. So let me tell you some of what I through her and other sources discovered.
1. He made a distilled alcohol from his own hand built still. As the 1920's progressed he hand built larger stills to keep up with demand. He also used a local blacksmith to fashion parts.
2. He also made a form of homemade beer in the old fashioned milk cans of that era. Part of his formula still survives and was found in his wife's Fanny Farmer cookbook. It called for well water or spring water from a nearby source. Brown sugar appx 1.5 ponds per milk can. , homemade malt or store bought malt extract. In season wild hops were also used. The rest of the formula was lost. His own notation written in pencil referred to the concoction as"piss raw beer."
3. The children other than his two oldest sons were kept away from the operation , he also signed over the house and farm to his wife in the mid-twenties in case he was arrested so that it would be harder for authorities to confiscate what few assets he owned. One of the jobs was to skim the beer as it fermented and the waste was used in further brewing.
4. As the prohibition era continued and Harris's skill and production increased to fill the supply from the increasing demand he needed increased storage. Being caught with a large supply of distilled alcohol was not good , so he dealt with other local farmers through purchase or barter for barn storage space. Nearby Graw Road was an area of storage he often used. I have on several occasions explored this area which is still a back water road. It was not even fully paved untill the early 1970's. There are old barn foundations from Pre - 20th century barns that dot that area of Nassau / Schodack. Being many were hay storage barns were even better , better to hide the product under .
5. How he would end up transporting his product I was mildly surprised by. More often by truck or horse drawn wagon he would go to nearby Schodack Landing ,so named as it was a landing for boats in the Hudson River that into the early 20th century was used to ship produce and milk to market. Barges and boats of various types would dock and load up the cargo or make anchor and have it rowed out to the boats. From there it would be transported to nearby Albany or Troy. This would often be done in the night time usually after 10:00 pm. Codes with flashlights were established for when it was safe to begin the loading.
5. It is fairly well known that many police did not all ways agree with the legal structure of Prohibition and so in late 1927 a County Sheriff who was also a customer stopped by to alert Harris to a coming potential raid. It took three strong men to move the large still into a secluded wooded area of an adjoining property. He ended up being fined in a local court on some technical violation. Within 2 weeks he was back in operation.
6. Harris was not a man to be messed with , especially in a business deal with lets face it not the most honest of citizens. He had a shotgun in his outbarn where he made the alcohol and when he was transporting and selling had a pistol with him. I am told by his daughter that he "did not suffer fools gladly." So it would be honest to say he could at times be somewhat of a dangerous man in an illegal activity.
7. At prohibition height he essentially distilled 24/7. The income allowed for his family to be fed better and it was said by many of his children that he never had any apologies for supporting his children in this trade.
8. By the way ......his children grew up essentially as one could say were solid citizens. They became secretaries , science teachers , carpenters , housewives , and in one case a Town Clerk. One went on to be awarded a Bronze Star in World War Two. Ms. Peters would want me to let you know that.
My thanks to M. Peters....J. Wilston and RP Kunicki for their assistance in my research.
1. He made a distilled alcohol from his own hand built still. As the 1920's progressed he hand built larger stills to keep up with demand. He also used a local blacksmith to fashion parts.
2. He also made a form of homemade beer in the old fashioned milk cans of that era. Part of his formula still survives and was found in his wife's Fanny Farmer cookbook. It called for well water or spring water from a nearby source. Brown sugar appx 1.5 ponds per milk can. , homemade malt or store bought malt extract. In season wild hops were also used. The rest of the formula was lost. His own notation written in pencil referred to the concoction as"piss raw beer."
3. The children other than his two oldest sons were kept away from the operation , he also signed over the house and farm to his wife in the mid-twenties in case he was arrested so that it would be harder for authorities to confiscate what few assets he owned. One of the jobs was to skim the beer as it fermented and the waste was used in further brewing.
4. As the prohibition era continued and Harris's skill and production increased to fill the supply from the increasing demand he needed increased storage. Being caught with a large supply of distilled alcohol was not good , so he dealt with other local farmers through purchase or barter for barn storage space. Nearby Graw Road was an area of storage he often used. I have on several occasions explored this area which is still a back water road. It was not even fully paved untill the early 1970's. There are old barn foundations from Pre - 20th century barns that dot that area of Nassau / Schodack. Being many were hay storage barns were even better , better to hide the product under .
5. How he would end up transporting his product I was mildly surprised by. More often by truck or horse drawn wagon he would go to nearby Schodack Landing ,so named as it was a landing for boats in the Hudson River that into the early 20th century was used to ship produce and milk to market. Barges and boats of various types would dock and load up the cargo or make anchor and have it rowed out to the boats. From there it would be transported to nearby Albany or Troy. This would often be done in the night time usually after 10:00 pm. Codes with flashlights were established for when it was safe to begin the loading.
5. It is fairly well known that many police did not all ways agree with the legal structure of Prohibition and so in late 1927 a County Sheriff who was also a customer stopped by to alert Harris to a coming potential raid. It took three strong men to move the large still into a secluded wooded area of an adjoining property. He ended up being fined in a local court on some technical violation. Within 2 weeks he was back in operation.
6. Harris was not a man to be messed with , especially in a business deal with lets face it not the most honest of citizens. He had a shotgun in his outbarn where he made the alcohol and when he was transporting and selling had a pistol with him. I am told by his daughter that he "did not suffer fools gladly." So it would be honest to say he could at times be somewhat of a dangerous man in an illegal activity.
7. At prohibition height he essentially distilled 24/7. The income allowed for his family to be fed better and it was said by many of his children that he never had any apologies for supporting his children in this trade.
8. By the way ......his children grew up essentially as one could say were solid citizens. They became secretaries , science teachers , carpenters , housewives , and in one case a Town Clerk. One went on to be awarded a Bronze Star in World War Two. Ms. Peters would want me to let you know that.
My thanks to M. Peters....J. Wilston and RP Kunicki for their assistance in my research.
1 comment:
It's good to see you back. Hope you had a good holiday and all is now normal again for you. Ryan
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