From my grandfather's scrapbook an old Knoxville News-Senitnel clipping regarding a ruckus between two old friends, brother-in-laws, from what it says.  Maybe you will recognize the characters. One is Preacher Hugh Stanifer, b. 1873, son of BENJAMIN STANDIFER and SARAH BAKER

Sam Veneable in a December 4, 2007 - Venable: A toast to the day it ended said regarding the end of Prohibition and Burt Vincent's comments on it:

Actually, I should have said "strolled through" because there was no better chronicler of the times than the late "Strolling" columnist Bert Vincent.
On the day of repeal, Bert penned an essay about how Knoxvillians would continue to drink bootlegged spirits.
He quoted one local seller "who keeps three light cars busy delivering about 100 jars daily."
Bert also described the "quality" of local wares:
"This liquor is so-called corn from Monroe and Union counties, so full of fusel oil that when one shakes it there are rainbows on the bottle. Sugar and wheat-bran liquor from Cocke County and from the Copper Ridge, Brown Mountain and Riverdale sections of Knox County is so bitter that it really shouldn't be taken straight."
Even a member of the Anderson Payne family, a son of Byrd Maynard Payne, TIPTON JENNINGS PAYNE was said to have sampled what was called "Jamaican ginger" following Prohibition and almost died from it. Tip had a condition called "jake leg" but survived to continue to drink only "good, clear" corn liquor from that point on.

Bert Vincent
BENJAMIN F. STANDIFER enlisted in October 1862 in the Confederate Army at Tazewell, Claiborne County, Tennessee, and was mustered in on November 14, 1862. He was a private in Company 'F', 1st Regiment Tennessee Cavalry (Col. James Carter's Cav), Vaughn's Brigade; He was a member of Capt. Francis Fulkerson's company. He was wounded by sabre on his left shoulder and back causing damage to his spine that would crippled him for the rest of his life. This wound occurred during the battle around Winchester, Virginia in the fall of 1864. Benjamin remained with his unit until May of 1865 when General J. E. Johnson surrendered near Charlotte, North Carolina; Benjamin was present at the surrender, his name appears on a Roll of Prisoners of War and he was paroled at Cumberland Gap, Kentucky by Col. William Y. Dillard, 34th KY. Inf. Vols.on April 26, 1865. He took the Oath of Allegiance to the U.S. Government in Cumberland Gap, Kentucky on May 29, 1865; he then returned home to New Tazewell, Claiborne County, Tennessee, where he lived until he died on November 28, 1910. He was born in Lee, County, Virginia in 1839. He filed for a Civil War Pension on December 17, 1904. Benjamin F. Standifer was dark complected, with dark hair and blue eyes and was 5 ft.9 inches high. (from Soldiers application for pension #6562 and widow's pension application # 3420) - Rootsweb Database

Now, those of you who know the Kennedy's know what really made them rich and famous was Joseph P. Kennedy, just before Prohibition was repealed, Kennedy lined up several lucrative liquor-importing deals. Therefore stockpiling Scotch liquor toward the end of prohibition was part of what made him wealthy. My grandfather Joe Phillips, a civil servant, fought illegal spirits during prohibition and was said to have held the keys to a warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky that contained all the illicit spirits from raids throughout prohibition. Too bad he couldn't have sold all that liquor to the Kennedy's after prohibition. He did remain with the Alcohol Tax Unit of the IRS until 1949. No fortune in that. And then to loose anything he might have made in the Scott County, Tn Courts. Staying a step ahead of the Kennedy's has always been hard to do, even for special agents.

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