MANNERS & MORALS: Americana

MANNERS & MORALS

¶When he ran short of cheap "sugarhead" moonshine to fill a big order consigned to Atlanta's Negro slums, 360-lb. Bootlegger John R. ("Fat") Hardy whipped up a substitute. Police said that he bought a 54-gallon drum of poisonous methyl alcohol, often used for hot-rod fuel, and mixed it with well water, peach flavoring, regular moonshine and a "beading oil" calculated to make it foam when shaken. Seventyseven gallons were delivered. Within hours Atlanta's Grady Negro Clinic began to fill with men & women who panted, frothed at the mouth and...

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