Sheriff Isaac Seizes Stills

Stanley Ludwig, a farmer residing one mile north of Hysham, was arrested Monday on a charge of violating the prohibition law and held in $500 bonds for the district court.

Ludwig came to Hysham Monday afternoon with Herman Schmidt and William Gress in the latter’s car. In the car Sheriff Phil Isaac found a bottle of moonshine, and the three men were placed under arrest.

Securing a search warrant Sheriff Isaac and Undersheriff W. E. Williamson drove to the Ludwig home where they found two stills, of 10 and 20 gallons capacity, in the basement. Further search revealed two jugs containing five gallons of liquor, and two barrels of mash, in th bedrooms. In one of the bedrooms where a barrel of mash was working were three beds, apparently where the children slept, as one of the beds contained six small pillows arranged lengthwise of the bed as though six children had rested there. Mr. Ludwig’s family consists of 13 children, the oldest of whom is 17 years. The mother of the family died at Forsyth about a month ago following the birth of the 13th child.

At the hearing before Justice K. N. Grunhuvd Tuesday morning Ludwig pleas guilty to illegal manufacturing of liquor and declared that he alone had knowledge of the bottle of moonshine carried in the Gress car. Both Gress and Schmidt were released.

At the hearing Ludwig said that he secured the small still of Edward Vandromme, who died about two years ago, and that he found the larger one in a well near his home. He said that his liquor was made from rye, double distilled and strained through cotton, and that the children knew about his making the liquor but did not drink it. (Hysham Echo June 3, 1926)

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