Amos Owens Kept Making Liquor After Nine Stills Were Destroyed

Mamie Jones wrote that Amos Owens of Cherry Mountain was arrested and imprisoned many times for making illicit liquor and that nine of his stills were destroyed by federal authorities. Despite this, Owens continued to make contraband liquor. Jones says he believed he had a moral right to do so. He felt that the land was his, the corn was his, the still was his, and the liquor was his, and that the government had no right to interfere.

Jones adds that even after repeated arrests, jail sentences, and the destruction of his stills, Owens never accepted the idea that he should stop. His persistence made him one of the most well-known figures connected with blockade liquor in Cleveland and Rutherford counties.

Source: Mamie Jones.