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Galleries / Around Town

Moonshine Over Hell Hole Swamp

Photos 17Issue December 2015
A vignette of a former working still is on display at the Berkeley County Museum & Heritage Center in Moncks Corner.Sabb Canty Cumbee, aka the “king of Hell Hole Swamp,” was the leader of one of the Berkeley County moonshine gangs. In 1926, he was seriously wounded in an ambush by a rival gang that left his son LeGrand dead.(Left to right) Al Capone, David Shuler, and an unknown man in Hell Hole Swamp; “Mr. Shuler ran a mercantile store in Jamestown. This photo hung in his store until it closed,” says Jamestown resident Douglas Guerry.Infamous Chicago mobster Al Capone is said to have conducted business with Hell Hole bootleggers, allegedly meeting them at a roadhouse in St. Stephen a number of times.Part of the McKnight gang, 30-year-old “Sporty” Thornley was arrested and convicted of the assassination of State Senator Edward J. Dennis in July 1930. Senator K.D. McKellar of the Brookhart Committee, which investigated the Hell Hole raidsPart of the McKnight gang, 30-year-old “Sporty” Thornley was arrested and convicted of the assassination of State Senator Edward J. Dennis in July 1930. Senator K.D. McKellar of the Brookhart Committee, which investigated the Hell Hole raidsExamples of vintage stills in the SoutheastExamples of vintage stills in the SoutheastWith its thick forests and unimproved roads, Hell Hole made an ideal location for illicit liquor production.With its thick forests and unimproved roads, Hell Hole made an ideal location for illicit liquor production.U.S. Senator Smith Wildman Brookhart of Iowa, the namesake of the Brookhart Committee, which investigated discrepancies and corruption revealed in the Hell Hole raidsA view of a still site; a boiler would be set up in a remote area, preferably on a small stream since water was essential for production.A photograph of Moncks Corner on the day of the great shoot-out between rival bootlegging gangs, the McKnight organization and the Villeponteaux clan, in 1926Hell Hole Swamp was purportedly one of the biggest suppliers of illegal liquor to Chicago during Prohibition. Stories abound about how racketeer Al Capone would arrive in a fancy limo with his henchmen and wads of money “to take care of business.” Moonshine kingpins Glennie McKnight and Jerry “Foxy” Christian would buy all the corn whiskey they could from local bootleggers and ship it to Chicago in railroad boxcars. One yarn tells of the time Capone didn’t pay for a shipment sent up by McKnight. When McKnight refused to send more, Capone supposedly sent six Cadillacs filled with his toughest hoods down to teach the Hell Hole moonshiners a lesson. McKnight’s boys led the gangsters in their leather shoes and fancy suits into the swamp and left them there after taking their money and their cars.Headlines of the 1930 assassination of Senator Edward J. Dennis in Moncks Corner filled newspapers across the country.More than a year into Prohibition, readers of The Charleston Evening Post no doubt appreciated cartoonist Rube Goldberg’s “mocktail” commentary on legal drinks.Raids of stills took place throughout the state, with authorities taking possession of the liquor, as shown in this circa-1930s photograph taken in Pickens County.

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