Bootlegging On Bicycles Checked By Mystery Bullet Near Lawndale
Bootlegging on bicycles is the new fashion for the
South mountain boys.
Lawndale's Chief of Police, Harvey Guinn, oldest officer in point of
service in Cleveland, and Deputy Sheriff E.J. Cordell, reported this
unusual liquor locomotion after a foray in a patch of woods above
Lawndale, on the Polkville Road, Saturday morning.
They arrived in Shelby about 10 o'clock, bringing with them 18 year old
Leroy Hudson, of Casar, who was suffering from a gun shot in the right
leg, and was taken to the hospital. He, it seems, was one of the bicycle
riders.
It all started when Guinn and Cordell, who's been watching certain
alleged bootlegging activities for several weeks, followed the trail of
two bicycles along a dirt road, damp with dew, to a clump of grapevines.
There, cached under the leaves, they found two and a half gallons of the
best South mountain 'shine, which they seized. Then they concealed
themselves in the bushes and waited.
Shortly thereafter, there appeared on the scene two young men on
bicycles. They ran when they found their liquor had been tampered with.
Cordell and Guinn shouted for them to stop.
Mysteriously and out of nowhere there then appeared two more men, also
running.
"It was like flushing a covey of quail," said the Chief. "We started to
go after them, then there was a shot. Can't tell which way it came from.
No Sir, Cordell and I didn't shoot at all, no Sir."
"Then this feller that was running began to holler and we caught him and
found he was shot through the leg."
The officers took the bicycles, the liquor and the wounded man in
custody.
