Whiskey Theft
While prohibition took effect nationally in 1920, Pennsylvania enacted its prohibition laws on February 25, 1919. In April 1919, four men from Trafford were all working as brakemen in the Pitcairn railyards, a large switching yard that handled interstate freight. The four brakemen, Paul Earl, Ralph George, William Rainey, and George Zuteck discovered a freight car loaded with barrels of whiskey and planned on making an extra buck selling the whiskey to a Pittsburgh liquor dealer.
During this time, Federal agents were already aware that several thefts of interstate liquor shipments had occurred in the Pitcairn and Trafford yards along the Pennsylvania railroad over the past month.
Men of the Pitcairn Yard No. 4 circa 1916
Pitcairn Historical Society Collection
After one heist, the police traced the men to Wilkinsburg, where they found a truck containing eight barrels of whiskey outside of a restaurant. Federal agents hid outside the restaurant when they spotted the four men leave the cafe preparing to board a truck. The men were apprehended, one admitting to police that they had hid the remainder of the whiskey taken from the train car on a hillside near Pitcairn. In all, seventeen barrels of whiskey were stolen, valued at $10,000 (adjusted for inflation, that’s $164,000 today).
The men were committed to jail at $1,500 bail each and had to await trial. In November 1919, the men were found guilty before a jury in the United States District Court where Judge Charles P. Orr presided over the Western District of Pennsylvania. The length of the sentence was not stated in the press. The 1920 Federal Census does list Paul Earl (1895–1990) as an inmate in the Allegheny County Jail on Rose & Diamond Street in Pittsburgh, but by 1930, he had served his time, paid his debts to society, and was residing at 302 Cavitt Ave in Trafford with his family, now working as a “Craneman” for the “tin works.” This photo was shared by a family descendant, taken on his 90th birthday. Paul Earl passed away in 1990 at the age of 95, the father of six children, grandfather of 13, and great-grandfather of 19.
Paul Raymond Earl (1895–1990) photo courtesy Lori Troisi
