On this day in 1932 75-year-old Pete Settles, of Campbell County, Tennessee, was sentenced to five years in the Federal penitentiary in Atlanta for manufacturing moonshine, a violation of prohibition. This was the second time Mr. Settles had been convicted of moonshining, the first a few months before, for which he received five years on probation.
After his sentence he addressed the court:
“I can’t understand. In the first place I ain’t guilty. They just lied on me. Then five years for whiskey? Why, I can remember when the old Baptist preacher got his gallon every month for preaching. Now five years…that’s a long time at my age.”
He had been arrested on January 9th when federal agents raided his 1300-acre property and found two 50-gallon stills there.
