In honor of National Moonshine Day, which is observed the first Thursday of June, we bring you this story from the archives.
During the time of prohibition, moonshine was manufactured not just in the back woods of the Appalachian mountains, but in the city of Los Angeles. One of the problems with making moonshine in a big city is that you are stuck indoors in a house or an apartment. You need fire to heat your mash so the alcohol can turn into vapor, which in turn is a hazard. Sometimes a fire can start from other sources in the house not from making moonshine. This is what happened to Sam and Fannie Rosen. A fire broke out in their home and when the fire department showed up they found a still. The fire department called the police and they in turn called Federal Prohibition Agents who got a warrant. What W. J. Mosher Prohibition Agent found in the Rosen’s house at 1015 ½ Sunset Blvd. was 1 still, three 5 gallon kegs, one 10 gallon keg liquor, one 5 gallon glass jug jackass brandy, 1 ¾ gallon glass jug wine, 1 funnel, and 2 pieces of rubber tubing.
This is documented in United States District Court for the Southern District (now the Central District) of California criminal case number 3833, United States of America vs. Fannie Rosen and Samuel Rosen. During the trial, the Rosens claimed that all the items found in their house were not owned by them. However, the four pictures presented as evidence of the still were brought in by the police and staged by the photographer. In closing arguments the prosecutor stated that if the Rosens claimed the items found in their house were not theirs, then why did they petition the court to have the items returned to them? Fannie Rosen and Samuel Rosen were both convicted of violation of the National Prohibition Act of October 28, 1919, to-wit manufacturing and unlawful possession of property and apparatus designed for the manufacture of intoxicating liquor. They both got six months in jail and a $500 fine.
Series: Criminal Case Files 1907 – ca. 1998. Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States 1685 - 2009. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/294957
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