On a Saturday night in September 1922, two Power County officers saw a lantern at the mouth of a cellar on a ranch at Sunbeam and found a copper still at work inside. The young man running it was the nephew of H. M. Saulsberry, a farmer at Pauline, and the two were charged together. The American Falls Press told the story on its front page of September 14, 1922.
Sunbeam lay about eight miles east of American Falls, on the mountain road between the town and Arbon Valley. In 1925 the American Falls chamber of commerce talked of repairing "the Arbon road over Sunbeam" for light travel. Arbon Valley had been part of Power County since 1913; before that it belonged to Oneida County.
A Pauline farmer
H. M. Saulsberry appears in the Press from 1916 on. That August the county board named him one of the three judges of election for Pauline precinct, with E. C. England and John Bollenbroke. In May 1918 he spoke at a Red Cross war-drive meeting at the Arbon Central school and auctioned off a cake that Mrs. Myrtle Poppie had made. A draft order list printed in October 1918, for the men who registered that September, includes a Harry M. Saulsberry of Pauline, probably the same man. In January 1919 the Arbon correspondent reported that he had moved onto "the Donman Daniels place on West Fork," the homestead of Donum Daniels. Notices in 1919 and 1920 put his ranch about four miles west or northwest of Pauline. By 1922 the Press could describe him as a man "well known in the county where he has taken an active part in politics for several years."
Saturday night at Sunbeam
Idaho had been dry since its saloons closed on January 1, 1916. For several months the sheriff's office had known of a still somewhere in the Kluck neighborhood at Sunbeam, but it had not been able to connect the still to anyone. On the night of Saturday, September 9, 1922, Sheriff George H. Hanson and his deputy, W. L. Oliver, found it. The Press began its account this way:
While Sheriff George Hanson was scouting around the fields for a confederate of H. A. Saulsberry, Saturday night, his deputy W. L. Oliver was running about forty gallons of perfectly good mash through a copper still located on the Frank Kluck ranch about eight miles east of American Falls.
The still was hidden in a large pothole in a corner of the Kluck ranch. The paper added that Frank Kluck was "in no way connected with its operation as far as is known." A light gave the place away:
A lantern sitting in the mouth of a cellar in the pot hole revealed the location of the "still" to the officers who discovered Saulsberry operating in full force. The white mule was trickling into a jug in most approved fashion and the big boiler was steaming away without a care when the two officers appeared.
"White mule" was a common name for moonshine whiskey. Of the young man at the still, the paper wrote:
Saulsberry realizing that he was caught with the goods did not show the white feather. He showed the officers how he operated and allowed them to operate the "still" themselves for an hour or so, explaining the different processes the mash went through. A tester was used to test the quality of the product which was judged to be at least as good as the average.
The officers kept the still running for about four hours, hoping the confederate would come. No confederate appeared. At three o'clock on Sunday morning they gave up, emptied out what the paper called $250 worth of moonshine, and took Saulsberry to town.
Charged together
The Press described H. A. Saulsberry as "a young Kentuckian who came west last spring to spend a year or so with his uncle H. M. Saulsbury of Pauline." It printed no first name and no age for him. The complaint named nephew and uncle together and charged that they had operated a still and had been found in possession of intoxicating liquor. On Monday the nephew waived a preliminary hearing, and his case went to Judge O. R. Baum in the district court. The headline named the uncle as the moonshiner's alleged accomplice and said that he too would take his chances in district court. A line in the headline gave the uncle's side: "Latter Protests Innocence—Is First Offense." Another said the young man "WISHES IT HAD HAPPENED IN OLD KENTUCKY." The paper did not explain that remark.
The Press also had a guess about where the liquor was going. "The liquor was being prepared for the Roundup evidently," it wrote, "and the officers timed their visit nicely in order to find their friend at home." The Power County Roundup, a three-day rodeo, opened in American Falls on Wednesday, September 13, and its first day led the same front page. That report praised the policing of the grounds and said "perfect order was maintained in the grand stand and bleachers." Sheriff Hanson was listed on the same page as a director of the fair association that put on the Roundup.
What the papers do not tell
No report of how the case ended has been found. The Press pages searched for this post, from that fall and the following winter, do not mention it again. Whether the charges against the uncle were tried, dropped or settled by a plea is not known.
Who the nephew was is also unclear. On March 31, 1922, the Press reported that "Henry Saulsberry arrived last week from Newark, New Jersey, to join his Brother H. M. on the farm at Pauline." A Henry Saulsberry had also been in the valley in February 1921. On October 12, 1922, a month after the raid, the paper noted that "Henry Saulsbury left Saturday for New Brunswick, N. J., his home." That Henry came in the same spring as the young man at the still. But the Press called Henry a brother from New Jersey and called H. A. a nephew from Kentucky. The papers do not settle whether they were the same person.
The article as printed
American Falls Press, September 14, 1922, page 1. Transcribed from the page scan.
OPERATES STILL
H. A. SAULSBERRY CAUGHT WITH GOODS, SHOWS HANSON AND OLIVER HOW IT IS DONE WISHES IT HAD HAPPENED IN OLD KENTUCKY.
WAIVE PRELIMINARY
Moonshiner With Alledged Accomplice, H. M. Saulsberry Will Take Chances In District Court—Latter Protests Innocence—Is First Offense.
While Sheriff George Hanson was scouting around the fields for a confederate of H. A. Saulsberry, Saturday night, his deputy W. L. Oliver was running about forty gallons of perfectly good mash through a copper still located on the Frank Kluck ranch about eight miles east of American Falls. The sheriff and his deputy conducted the still for about four hours in the hope that said confederate would show up, but at three o'clock in the morning they surrendered, emptied out $250 worth of moonshine and brought Saulsberry to town where Monday, he waived preliminary hearing and will take his chances before Judge O. R. Baum in the District Court.
Saulsberry is a young Kentuckian who came west last spring to spend a year or so with his uncle H. M. Saulsbury of Pauline. The complaint is filed against them jointly and charges that they operated a still and were found in possession of intoxicating liquor.
H. M. Saulsberry is a Pauline farmer and is well known in the county where he has taken an active part in politics for several years.
"Still" Cleverly Concealed.
The sheriff's force has known of a still in the Kluck community for several months but has never been able to connect the "still" to any particular persons. It is carefully concealed in a great pothole in a corner of the Frank Kluck ranch at Sunbeam, though Mr. Kluck is in no way connected with its operation as far as is known. A lantern sitting in the mouth of a cellar in the pot hole revealed the location of the "still" to the officers who discovered Saulsberry operating in full force. The white mule was trickling into a jug in most approved fashion and the big boiler was steaming away without a care when the two officers appeared.
Saulsberry realizing that he was caught with the goods did not show the white feather. He showed the officers how he operated and allowed them to operate the "still" themselves for an hour or so, explaining the different processes the mash went through. A tester was used to test the quality of the product which was judged to be at least as good as the average.
The liquor was being prepared for the Roundup evidently and the officers timed their visit nicely in order to find their friend at home.
On this site: the Daniels family page tells of the West Fork homestead H. M. Saulsberry moved onto in January 1919, and Pauline and West Fork tells the history of his neighborhood. Two years later, officers raided a still on Bannock Creek, a separate case told in the Stories.
Sources
- American Falls Press, September 14, 1922, page 1
- American Falls Press, March 31, 1922, page 5
- American Falls Press, October 12, 1922, page 5
- American Falls Press, February 4, 1921, page 2
- American Falls Press, August 17, 1916, page 2
- American Falls Press, May 21, 1918, page 1
- American Falls Press, October 18, 1918, page 3
- American Falls Press, January 17, 1919, page 10
- American Falls Press, August 29, 1919, page 3
- American Falls Press, January 16, 1920, page 6
- American Falls Press, December 30, 1915, page 2
- American Falls Press, October 15, 1925, page 1