A homemade moonshine operation apparently turned deadly in New York in 1920 when a man was found dead in his lodgings beside an improvised still.
Oscar Swensen was discovered dead from gas poisoning after what police believed was an accident involving the apparatus he had assembled on top of his gas stove. The setup was simple and makeshift. A gallon can had been fitted with a tube described as a “gooseneck,” leading to a receiving container that held a dark brown liquid.
At some point, investigators believed, the still boiled over. The overflow apparently extinguished the gas flame beneath it, but the gas itself continued to escape from the stove.
With no flame burning to consume it, gas gradually filled the room.
Swensen was apparently asleep while this was happening and never woke in time to escape. By the time he was found, the improvised still remained sitting on the stove, and unlighted gas was still escaping into the lodgings.
The incident came during the opening weeks of nationwide Prohibition, which had taken effect in January 1920. Homemade liquor production soon became one of the many ways people attempted to get around the new restrictions on alcohol, often using improvised equipment assembled from ordinary household objects.
Moonshiner Is Killed By Gas Of Own Still
New York. — Oscar Swensen was found dead of gas poisoning in his lodgings, the victim of his homemade gas stove “moonshine still.”
A gallon can with a tube “gooseneck” and a receiving container containing a dark brown liquid were found on top of Swensen’s stove, from which the unlighted gas was escaping.
The police believe that the still boiled over and extinguished the light, allowing the gas to flood the place while the man slept.
Source: Polk County News. Benton, Tenn. February 26, 1920.
