Large barn on J. Thomas Benston's Farm in Graham that held a bootlegging operation that operated for 6 months undisturbed before it was raided by federal agents in July of 1931. The barn was in clear view of the highway and received frequent shipments of fuel oil, sugar and supplies. It is estimated that it took 25 tons of sugar to produce 1 filling of mash for 1 of its 8 redwood vats. The highway also carried frequent shipments from the farm, trucks loaded with cans and kegs of alcohol. Little trouble was taken to disguise the enterprise and its operation was common knowledge in the neighborhood. The still operated for 6 months and produced over a half million dollars worth of alcohol before it was raided by federal agents. (TNT 7-17-1931. pg 1)

Benston, J. Thomas--Homes & haunts; Barns--Graham; Prohibition--Graham; Stills (Distilleries); Police raids--Graham;

Unidentified men pose with several of the large redwood fermenting vats used in illegal alcohol production in the barn located on the property of J. Thomas Benston in Graham, WA. The barn contained eight of these huge circular vats, each having a capacity of over 5,000 gallons. It is theorized that the operation could produce $20,000 of alcohol every 24 hours. Little effort was made to disguise its operation, and it managed to remain in business six months before it was raided. Operators were said to have paid up to $8,000 a month in protection. In an odd twist of fate, the operators were producing their last batch and getting ready to clear out when the barn was raided. Benston maintained his innocence, stating that he only rented the barn and was not aware that it was being used for illegal purposes. (TNT 7/17-19/1931, pg. 1)

Benston, J. Thomas--Associated objects; Prohibition--Graham; Stills (Distilleries); Police raids--Graham;

An insider's view of some of the details of the bootlegging operation at Benston's Farm raided by Federal agents in July of 1931. One Federal agent, in his sleeveless T-shirt, inspects a pipe on part of the still. Another agent climbs a wooden ladder. There are metal beds in the middle of the "room". The fire for the still had to be maintained 24 hours a day. There is a large stack of metal containers waiting to be filled with alcohol, the still actually used an automatic filler system. The distillery operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ironically, the actual dismantling was done by inmates of McNeil Island, some of them incarcerated for bootlegging. The copper and vats from the distillery became the property of the prison and were put to legitimate use. (TNT 7/17-19/1931, pg. 1)

Benston, J. Thomas--Associated objects; Prohibition--Graham; Stills (Distilleries); Police raids--Graham;

Two men believed to be Federal Prohibition agents worked on July 17, 1931, at dismantling the boiler from the still found in the barn at a Graham, Washington, farm. The illegal operation was as modern and complete as a commercial pre-Prohibition distillery. It was estimated to have been built for $50,000, was in clear view of the highway and operated for six months. The owner of the farm, a Pierce County road district employee, maintained that he rented out the barn and was not aware of the illegal activities. In fact, this location was probably chosen in part due to the respectability that the farmer lent to the operation. In an odd twist of fate, the bootleggers were preparing to abandon the still, or dismantle and move it, and were making their last batch when the raid was made. It is estimated that the operators manufactured over a 1/2 million dollars of alcohol before the still was shut down. 52,000 gallons of mash were seized in the raid. (TNT 7/17-19, 1931, pg. 1-various articles)

Prohibition--Graham; Stills (Distilleries); Police raids--Graham;

A federal agent stands beside one of the huge redwood vats found in the July 1931 raid of Benston's Farm in Graham, Wa., to demonstrate its awesome size. This vat was calculated to hold 7,500 gallons of fermenting mash. The Prohibition era illegal distillery set up in Benston's barn contained a total of eight of these vats. The still operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week and could manufacture 100 gallons of pure alcohol every hour. At a market value of $10 per gallon, the feds estimated that the plant produced $20,000 worth of alcohol every 24 hours. It was reported that the operation was set up by a California syndicate, that rented the barn from Benston, and that it was backed by local capital. (TNT 7/17-19, 1931, pg. 1)

Benston, J. Thomas--Associated objects; Prohibition--Graham; Stills (Distilleries); Police raids--Graham;

Pierce County Sheriff Tom Desmond stands next to the what is left of a $12,000 still at the County Courthouse on October 23, 1930. Somehow thieves managed to spirit away part of the still, a seven-foot contraption with twelve compartments and twelve faucets. The grain alcohol still, capable of producing 250 gallons of grain alcohol a day, was seized in a raid at Point Fosdick on October 18, 1930. It was put in a corridor of the courthouse near the entrance of the jail. The seven-foot part went missing on the night of the 20th. Consequently, two deputy sheriffs were fired for "gross carelessness." (TNT 10-23-30, p. 1)

A pile of slot machines awaits the sledgehammer of Chief Deputy Sheriff John Piper on October 9, 1929 at the county courthouse. These were a sample of the 39 slots ordered destroyed following seizure by county officers from various places of businesses in Pierce County. A total of $244.85 in nickels, dimes and quarters was taken from the machines. This amount, less $10 for trucking, was turned over to the county school fund. The machines, minus their cash, were taken to the waterfront and dumped into Commencement Bay. (TNT 10-10-29, p. 17) TPL-8466;

Six plain clothes detectives from the Tacoma Police Department stand next to a uniformed officer, perhaps the police chief, on March 18, 1927. The building to the rear is possibly the Elks Club on Broadway. Boland B16553, TPL-9068

Tacoma Police Department (Tacoma); Police--Tacoma--1920-1930;

Parked outside the Colonial Hotel, 701-05 Commerce St., on August 31, 1926, were a Tacoma motorcycle policeman and a very small open top automobile with its driver squeezed in. Several Tacoma police officers were included in the photograph. The minute car was being used to advertise the impending arrival of the silent film, "The Wise Guy," starring Mary Astor and James Kirkwood. The name of the film was prominently displayed on the hood of the automobile. G42.1-014; TPL-3553.

Tacoma Police Department (Tacoma); Police--Tacoma--1920-1930; Motorcycles--Tacoma--1920-1930; Signs (Notices); Colonial Hotel (Tacoma); Automobiles--Tacoma--1920-1930;

ca. 1926. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fletcher pose in happier days on the steps with their grandchildren Charles (in lap) and Muriel Mattson. On the evening of Dec. 27, 1936, ten year old Charles Mattson was kidnapped from the family's home. His parents received several ransom notes, but despite frantic attempts to contact the kidnappers, were unable to do so. On Jan. 10, 1937, the boy's battered body was found near a snowy road in Everett. The kidnapper has never been identified or caught. (filed with Argentum)

Kidnappings--Tacoma--1930-1940; Mattson, Charles; Mattson, Muriel; Fletcher, Charles;

Inexperienced safecrackers failed to blow open the massive safe at Bye Thompson Motor Sales, 3320 South G Street, on early Friday morning, December 5, 1924. The thieves abandoned their efforts when the explosives they used broke the windows in front of the safe and threw the office into disarray, but only succeeded in blowing off the combination dial on the safe's door, not in releasing the bars holding the door in place. This was the second time in less than a year that Bye Thompson Motors had been robbed; on December 18, 1923, thieves somehow carried away the company's 1000 pound safe and blew it open several blocks away. That robbery netted the thieves $362. This photograph was taken at the scene of the crime on December 5, 1924. G24.1-056 (TNT 12-5-24, p. 1)

Safes; Robberies--Tacoma; Bye Thompson Motor Sales Co. (Tacoma);

H.L. Phillips and Willliam Farrar of the city dry squad are shown emerging from the tunnel dug under the home at 7813 A St. on September 6, 1924. The residence was raided that Saturday afternoon and after two hours of searching, elaborate moonshine stills were discovered and confiscated. Barrels, bottles and other distillation apparatus along with a shovel are pictured above. The stills and other equipment, including 200 gallons of finished moonshine, were taken as evidence. One man was arrested in the raid. (TDL 9-8-24, p. 1) G24.1-073

Stills (Distilleries); Phillips, H.L.; Farrar, William; Tunnels--Tacoma;

On September 6, 1924 the Tacoma "Dry Squad" dug out an elaborately concealed illegal bootlegging operation that was hidden in a "cave" under the house at 7813 A Street. Two stills were found, each with a capacity of 50 gallons. One man was arrested and 200 gallons of finished moonshine seized. The Dry Squad members who took part in the raid were: (l to r) Captain Adam Wiley, R.C. Mowre, H.L. Phillips, William Farrar, William Blacksmith and W.H. Warren. The Dry Squad had been in business since May 15, 1923. (TDL 9-8-24, p. 1) TPL-9488; G24.1-078

Stills (Distilleries); Wiley, Adam; Mowre, R.C.; Phillips, H.L.; Farrar, William; Blacksmith, William; Warren, W.H.;

Illegal stills at courthouse. Theodore Mohrbacher, Joe Desmond and Jack Bodaylea, left to right, of the county dry squad examine confiscated stills at the county courthouse on January 19, 1924. These are just a few of the dozens of huge liquor stills that will be converted into junk by jail trustees in the near future. The stills are now piled up in the lobby of the county jail. Stills can range in size from small tea kettle types to huge commercial boilers capable of holding hundreds of gallons of mash. The manufacture of alcohol was made illegal by the passage of the 18th amendment and the Volstead Act, which went into effect in January of 1920. Prohibition was abolished with the passage of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution in 1933. (TNT 1-19-24, p. 1) G24.1-074; TPL-9895

Stills (Distilleries); Mohrbacher, Theodore; Desmond, Joe; Bodaylea, Jack;

Still. The man only partially seen on the left is Pierce County Sheriff Tom Desmond who along with Deputy Sheriff Theodore Mohrbacher of the county "dry squad" stands next to a large still recently confiscated deep in the woods east of McKenna. It was the biggest copper still ever unearthed locally as of May, 1923. 200 gallons of "moonshine" ready for sale were found close to the still and destroyed. The perpetrators vanished before they could be apprehended. People were still making illegal homemade hooch and daily newspapers of the '20s regularly reported upon the discovery and arrest of these liquor manufacturers. Stills and their products were then generally destroyed. G24.1-075 (TNT 5-12-23, p. 2)

Stills (Distilleries); Mohrbacher, Theodore; Desmond, Tom;

Although this April, 1923, photograph resembles a scene from a cops-n-robbers movie, these six policemen from the Tacoma Police Department were not pointing their guns toward an unseen quarry but instead were practicing for a sharpshooting competition. Only the best shooters would be selected for the revolver team that would represent Tacoma in the Northwest Police athletic meet held later in June in Portland. From L-R: night patrol driver Lee Kane; motorcycle officer A.E. Paul; sponsor of the team Sgt. Charles Rohrs; Detective C.W. Brooke; "Dead-Eye Dick" Greenwood -in charge of the local elimination shoots; and "Two-Gun" Hubbard. Kane, Rohrs, Greenwood and Harry Shaner (not pictured) were members of the previous year's team which narrowly lost in Seattle. TPL-2053; G42.1-018 (TNT 4-20-23, p. 14)

Tacoma Police Department (Tacoma); Police--Tacoma--1920-1930; Firearms; Sharpshooting; Kane, Lee; Paul, A.E.; Rohrs, Charles; Brooke, C.W.; Greenwood, Dick;

Prohibition actually began early in Washington state where saloons were ordered to close at midnight on December 31, 1915. However, alcohol was soon readily available as enterprising entrepreneurs produced "moonshine" from homemade distilleries, "stills," like the one pictured at (Old) City Hall in August of 1920. A long tube comes to a narrow point, allowing the liquor to drip conveniently into a bottle. (TDL 8/15/1920, pg B-5) G24.1-076

Prohibition--Tacoma; Stills (Distilleries);

Prohibition came to Washington State early, with its passage taking effect at 12:01a.m. on January 1, 1916. By 1920, local entrepreneurs were very savvy at brewing "moonshine" in homemade distilleries, or "stills." This pile was only the most recent installment of confiscated stills in Pierce County. (TDL 8/15/1920, pg B-5) G24.1-072

Prohibition--Tacoma; Stills (Distilleries);

At midnight on January 16, 1920, the United States went "dry." Overnight, breweries and distilleries closed their doors as the 18th Amendment made the manufacture, sale or transport of alcohol illegal. America was thirsty and enterprising individuals stepped forward to fill the void with alcohol made from home made distilleries, or "stills." Many of these apparatus, such as the one pictured at (Old) City Hall, were confiscated in Pierce County. (TDL 8/15/1920, pg B-5) G24.1-077

Prohibition--Tacoma; Stills (Distilleries);

Interior of the machinist room of the McNeil Island Federal Prison. Prison guard and two men can be seen speaking around a work desk at the right side of the room.

Interior of dining hall of the McNeil Island Federal Prison.

Exterior of facilities at McNeil Island Federal Prison. Prison yard, dock and smoke stack are visible.