Prohibition, Bootlegging and All That

Carol W. Kimball

Rum-running Books
The Real McCoy
Bootlegging and prohibition

Kim11-026

Scrapbook

8: Communication Artifact

Documentary Artifact

The Day

New London, CT

03/26/2007

Carol W. Kimball

Recalling the 13 years, 10 months and 19 days our country spent under the 18th amendment, which made it illegal to manufacture, transport or sell liquor in the USA, Frederic F. Van de Water's book, The Real McCoy, recalls the nation's bootlegging days. Prohibition went into effect at midnight, Jan. 16, 1920, fortified by the Volstead Act with its enforcement laws. When it came to bootlegging, the quality of Bill McCoy's product was such that it gave birth to the expression, it's the real McCoy. Stephen Jones and Bob McKenna of the Flat Hammock Press at Schooner Wharf in Mystic have embarked on a program to reprint a number of sources on rum-running. There was a woman known as Cleo, Queen of the Bootleggers, variously rumored to be a gypsy, an American Indian or an Egyptian countess. She was actually born Gertrude Lythgoe in Bowling Green, KY. Her autobiography is titled, The Bahama Queen: Prohibition's Daring Beauty. There are Alistair Moray's book, Diary of a Rum-Runner and Robert Carse's book, Rum Row: the Liquor Fleet that Fueled the Roaring Twenties. Ellery Thompson's book, Draggerman's Haul, appeared in 1950 and it has descriptions of New London, Stonington and other vicinities. Stephen Jones is working on a new book, The Actual McCoy. Most of these books are available at Bank Square Books in Mystic.

van de Water, Frederick
McCoy, Bill
Wilson, President
Jones, Stephen
McKenna, Bob
Barleycorn, John
Thompson, Ellery
Cleo, Queen of the Bootleggers
Lythgoe Gertrude (Cleo, Bootlegger)
Moray, Alistair
Carse, Robert
Jones, Stephen

liquor
prohibition
bootlegging
rum-running
alcohol
booze
eighteenth amendment
Volstead Act
Flat Hammock Press
Schooner Wharf in Mystic
gypsy
American Indian
Roaring Twenties
books
The Real McCoy
Cleo, Queen of the Bootleggers
The Bahama Queen: Prohibition's Daring Beauty
Diary of a Rum-Runner
Rum Row: the Liquor Fleet that Fueled the Roaring Twenties
Draggerman's Haul
New London
Stonington
The Actual McCoy
Bank Square Books in Mystic.
Women's Christian Temperance Union