It appears you got three strikes before serving jail time for the sale of illegal liquor.
At least that was the case 100 years ago.
The Thursday, Aug. 3, 1922 issue of the Wingham Advance Times reported that an odor is what attracted Huron County Officers Pellow and Whitesides to the premises of Sigmond Frieburger on the Teeswater road five miles from Wingham on Friday (July 28, 1922). Upon their arrival, they found a large and elaborate distilling outfit.
The strong yeast smell led the two officers into the thick of the bushland on the property, near a spring, where they discovered not only swarms of flies by the hundreds, but also an illegal whiskey still. It was reported that the prohibited outfit consisted of “a large still and auxiliary with all necessary appliances and a stock of about 700 gallons of mash on hand.” The in-process mash was sufficient to make $1,000 worth of liquor when distilled and another eight barrels were found empty.
According to the Bank of Canada’s online inflation calculator, $1,000 in 1922 would be the equivalent of $16,802.20 today.
The two officers caught two men – identified as Frieburger and Stafford Paisley – red-handed at work in the bush, where they were arrested and taken to Goderich.
The barrels of mash, the stove which had been specifically made for the purpose, the still, and the copper coils were supposedly taken to Goderich for destruction.
However, on the Friday evening after the arrest, the outfit was standing in front of the Queen’s Hotel in Wingham on display, and one of the men who saw it reported to the Wingham Advance Times that it was “a vile smelling affair.”
“The still was a substantial affair, the body being a water tank off a tractor engine of about 50-gallon capacity and at the bottom, a firebox had been built in and the coils were in the tank.”
Frieburger claimed he knew nothing about the still, but because the outfit was confiscated on his property, he will be held liable.
The trial was set to take place in Goderich on Saturday, Aug. 5, 1922, however, was adjourned for two weeks with the defendants provided a bail sum of $1,500 ($25,203.30 today) each.
This trial ultimately came to a close in December 1922 when Frieburger pleaded guilty to owning and operating a still in court before Police Magistrate C.A. Reid, of Goderich.
Frieburger was ordered to pay a fine of $400 (worth $6,720.88 in 2022) plus legal costs amounting to over $100 (worth $1,680.22 in 2022) for his misdeeds. Paisley, who was associated with Frieburger in the selling of the swamp whiskey, was fined $200 (worth $3,360.44 in 2022) and costs.
It was reported by the Wingham Advance Times that “their method of brewing the coffin varnish was to start up about five o’clock in the evening and keep the still busy all night. Their selling and shipments were made under cover of darkness, and many in the town and vicinity were suspicious of what was going on, but held their peace, knowing that sooner or later the parties operating the business would get caught.”
It was also reported that this was Frieburger’s second offense relating to the manufacturing of “tarantula juice,” and it wasn’t his last.
Four years later, in May 1926, an even larger operation was confiscated from Frieburger. It was said by the officers of the day that this was one of the largest whiskey stills unearthed in this part of the province to date.
Again, it was located on Frieburger’s property five miles north of Wingham. However, this time it was found in his home, or rather under his home.
“The officers were rewarded in their search when they found an excavation 25 feet long, eight feet wide, and seven feet high in a bank under the verandah of the house,” reported the Wingham Advance Times as if they were on scene when the officers discovered the location of the still. “It was all reinforced with concrete, with no ventilation except a small pipe through the wall. The entrance to this excavation was by way of a secret combination lock in the basement, which was opened with a crank raising a huge cement slab in the wall.”
Inside officers found a huge still capable of turning out 25 gallons of hooch per day, with 13 barrels of mash, a quantity of homemade moonshine, and tins of alcohol.
Again, the outfit was seized and destroyed by the authorities, however, this time Frieburger served a jail sentence for the sale of liquor among other charges that were not stated. However, same as his last offense, Frieburger was not punished alone.
In August of that same year, it was reported by the Zurich Herald that his wife, only referred to as Mrs. Sigmond Frieburger, was also charged and pleaded guilty before Police Magistrate Reid. She was fined $250 (worth $4,200.55 today) plus legal costs, based on the fact that she was part-owner of the property where the still was found.
I question whether she was also involved in his first two offenses. It also begs the question of how she could not be aware of what was going on in her own backyard. This leads me to believe Mr. and Mrs. Frieburger were like the Bonnie and Clyde of Culross Township.
In my research, I could not find how long Mr. Frieburger’s jail sentence was, nor did I see his or his wife’s name in ink in the newspaper archives again.
Some quick math shows that the charges against Frieburger and his wife were less than the worth of their confiscated merchandise. Based on the assumption that they drew a profit from their elicit business prior to police impoundment, they likely still had money in their pockets. Perhaps, like the escalation of their previous endeavours, their next illegal operation was even better hidden and never found.
Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this trip back in time.
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Kelsey Bent is a journalist with Midwestern Newspapers. She can be reached by emailing kbent@midwesternnewspapers.com.
