On February 21, 1921, authorities in Greenville County, South Carolina, destroyed a 25-gallon moonshine still. While such events were common during the Prohibition era, what made this particular raid noteworthy was the man who led the charge—John Kramer, the nation’s first Federal Prohibition Commissioner.
Kramer, an attorney from Mansfield, Ohio, had been appointed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 to oversee the federal government’s efforts to eliminate alcohol consumption. He had come to Greenville on February 23 for a visit and decided to accompany state revenue agents on their hunt for illegal stills in the county. As luck would have it, they found one abandoned in a wooded ravine, its owners having fled just in time.
Rather than simply observing, Commissioner Kramer was given the honor of destroying the still himself. Armed with a hoe left behind by the moonshiners, he went to work dismantling the operation.
Kramer described the experience as “most interesting.” However, what was perhaps most surprising was his candid admission that, until that day, he had never even seen a still before. For a man tasked with leading the nation’s fight against illegal alcohol production, it was an ironic twist.
He made sure to save the copper condenser as a souvenir of his first-ever moonshine raid.
