Olson SeriesBook II:
Sons and Daughters
Chapter 1
“Well, ma’am,” he said as he started to flush red, “I’m here about a loan that your husband made. You see, he borrowed from the bank for some land and cattle. The loan hasn’t been paid in two months, and I’ve come to make arrangements for the back payments as well as the current payment. Perhaps I can return when your son is available to discuss this with me?”
“You can talk to me about this. How much is the total loan and how much are the monthly payments?”
“Do you mind if we go inside and sit down? I can try to explain all of this to you.”
Karoline invited the banker into her kitchen, the place where she felt the most confident. She had never talked money with any man, especially one she didn’t know. She felt like she was on shifting ground, and she didn’t have sure footing with this topic of bank loans.
Taking out his papers, Horace Twigg started to explain the history of the farm loans.
“Well, Mr. Olsen borrowed at first for ten acres and then leveraged that to borrow for another ten. Overall, he owes on the total twenty acres. He bought the land for $24.00 per acre. That brings the loan to $480.00 without interest. With interest we’re looking at near to $500 plus a few more dollars.”
Moonshine by Moonlight
Chapter 9
Two years before Earl “Skeet” Miller was made kingpin of a bootlegging operation, another man, Alphonse “Scarface” Capone, was also made kingpin. One man in Iowa, and the other in Illinois. One German; the other, Italian. Both were from modest backgrounds. Both would make a pile of money.
Skeet, like his counterpart, was not generally a man who liked to have another man’s thumb on top of him. His adult life had been his own: he decided when he worked, for how long, and what tasks he accomplished. However, two events had shaken him enough to consider a new life view: the death of Jack Weber and the arrest of John Krupp. These were serious happenings with serious consequences. The federal law was now training its eye on Carroll County and was determined to bring it down. A raid only a few months past had convinced Skeet that business as usual was no longer effective. Each man making his product and minding his own business left them all vulnerable.
The raid had happened in the dead of night, the clouds covering the moon. Regulators converged on a farm with headlights from their many cars shining in different locations. Men poured from vehicles, rifles and pistols pointed in the air. The leader pounded on the farmer’s door, dragging him and his family from their beds. The small household could only watch as they tore apart the outbuildings, pulling boards from walls, digging trenches in the floors of the barn and hog shed. Even though the farmer insisted he was not distilling, the Feds continued to rip through his property with little care for the destruction they caused. When they found no trace of illegal activities, they left without so much as a simple “sorry,” the wreckage left behind for the farmer to repair.
The farm they should have raided was only a mile away, owned by the Schmidt family. Both husband and wife distilled and sold their product one jar at a time, bringing in only enough money to make their farm payments. The near-hit of the Feds frightened them so much they dug a large hole and buried their still behind their barn, closing shop for good.
Skeet believed distillers banding together would be safer for everyone. As the boss, he would buy and deliver the supplies for all the cookers, thereby eliminating multiple men going into businesses and buying whiskey materials. If the Feds were watching, instead of gathering multiple names, they would have only one. The farmers who were only providing the cook sites would be partnered with the setters; they would not start up their own stills (they often had no idea what they were doing), putting themselves in a dangerous position. Giving all men involved in the business a lawyer in the event they were caught ensured they had the best representation. Skeet could see no drawback in his new boss’s plan.
His first task involved finding setters and locations. Skeet knew everyone in the business. He spent a few weeks traveling throughout the county, selling the benefits of joining the organization. Some of the farmers who were distilling for themselves joined the business, but many of them wanted to remain independent and felt confident because of past successes. Men who didn’t have a farm and were cooking in their own homes or out in the woods wanted a more secure location and joined immediately.