The Web : $b The Authorized History of the American Protective LeagueHough, Emerson
History
The Web : $b The Authorized History of the American Protective League
Hough, Emerson
American Protective League; Propaganda, German; World War, 1914-1918 -- Secret service -- United States
The District was noted in years gone by as the “favorite stamping
ground of Jim Morrison and kindred outlawed spirits.” Most of the
inhabitants of the surrounding country are employed in the mining of
brown iron ore, which is taken out of large open cuts and washed by
machinery and shipped to the furnaces of the Birmingham district.
Nearly all of the labor, black and white, are the descendants of small
farmers of Tuscaloosa County and the southern part of Jefferson County.
Many of them still carry on farming in a small way, and the region
has long been famous for its smooth and creamy “moonshine,” which in
some mysterious way still continues to be made. It was for many years
a favorite pastime of old Judge Shackelford, who lived and died in
sight of the D—— home, to mix his corn juice in an old sugar bowl
while dispensing justice in the good old way. Shortly after the events
narrated here, the sheriff of the county was murdered in cold blood on
the village street by one of the outlaws of the section.
Two other interesting cases handled by the Birmingham Division
concerned two brothers, S—— and R——. S—— deserted from Camp Pike,
Arkansas, October 5, 1917, and R—— from Camp Mills, N. Y., September
25, 1917. The peculiar part of the case was that while S—— was listed
as a deserter, the War Department had no record of R—— deserting,
though they were advised that he was in this section of the country and
efforts were made to check the records. While their desertions took
place the latter part of 1917, it was not until August, 1918, that
Operative No. 202 of the Birmingham Division received confidential
information that both men were in Shelby County, Alabama, making
moonshine whiskey, which they were selling to the miners and also to
citizens in Bessemer, Alabama, a town thirteen miles southwest of
Birmingham.
A party was organized to go after them, but unfortunately missed them
by four days, the brothers and their family having moved elsewhere.
Operative continued giving the case active attention, and finally
information was secured that the brothers were in Coosa County,
Alabama. Arrangements for automobiles having been made over long
distance, a party of A. P. L. men, six in number, headed by Agent
Crawford of the Department of Justice, left Birmingham at 3:50 P. M.
Thursday, November 7 (the day made famous by the premature Armistice
celebration), arriving at Goodwater about 6:00 P. M.
After supper they were met by two 100 per cent American volunteers
with automobiles, and were driven about five miles beyond Goodwater.
The latter informed them of the danger of arousing these parties by
going over the regular road, on account of dogs barking, so they left
the machines about two miles away from the cabin they were seeking and
detoured over a large hill, in the dark and cold, to get to the cabin.
The report says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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