The Red Flannel Rag

hundred pounds of sugar and two hundred gallons of mash after it was distilled. Of

course, that was after running it the second time to make ‘doublins’.” He added, “Now

that sounds like a lot of moonshine, which it was, but at that time the owner was only

getting’ $1.75 to $2.00 a gallon for it, so it didn’t amount to a lot of money after he paid

us, even at that.”

Uncle Jim was also young when Grandma Mary and Grandpa John died. He was

only fourteen years old, and he survived by becoming a helper at his older brother,

Uncle Charlie’s, moonshine still. He said, “I’d been helpin’ with moonshine since I was

twelve. So I fell right into it with Charlie. Later, I hired folks to make for me. I

produced about one h undred gallons a week.”

There was an unwritten agreement between the owner and the workers. If a

moonshine still was discovered and raided by government agents, the workers would

take the consequences without revealing the name of the owner. The agreement between

owner and laborer was so strong that even today, I have never heard Uncle Jim, Uncle

Shirley, or my daddy mention the names of the large-scale moonshiners for whom they

worked.

This system allowed the owner to reap all the profits, yet be immune to potential

punishment. My dad worked for a large-scale female bootlegger and ended up getting

caught twice. It wasn’t real common for a female to be a large -scale moonshiner, but the

boys who worked for her were just as loyal to her as if she had been a man.

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