A bootlegger’s tale in Belen

Prohibition, which banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol, seemed like a good idea in the 1920s.

National leaders like Frances Willard and organizations like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) argued that liquor was the source of most evil in the world.

According to “dries” who opposed the use of alcohol, liquor caused widespread crime, the loss of jobs, the loss of income, the breakup of marriages, the neglect and abuse of children and many fatal accidents, to name a few of the countless dire consequences blamed on drinking.

With an active W.C.T.U. chapter and at least one visit by Frances Willard, many Belenites identified with the dry campaign, which led to the passage of the 18th amendment and the beginning of prohibition throughout the United States.

Despite its good intentions, prohibition was a dismal failure. In New Mexico, it was simply too easy for those who manufactured liquor to produce and hide their operations in the bosque, in the mountains, in the desert, in canyons, on remote farms and in Carlsbad Caverns. Built and transported in the beds of trucks, some stills were even portable.

But not all the moonshiners who produced illegal liquor or the bootleggers who sold it were clever enough to hide their homemade stills, make their sales and avoid capture. Some foolishly attempted to operate in nearly plain sight, often leading to their arrests, fines and punishment.

This is the history of one such ill-fated bootlegger who happened to reside in Belen and happened to belong to one of the town’s most influential families.

It is the story of Adolph Becker, his illegal liquor operation, his 1922 arrest, his short trial and his fate in the New Mexico legal system. It is the story of a Belen bootlegger and a “noble experiment,” two American tragedies of the 1920s.

Becoming a bootlegger

Adolph Frederick Becker was born in Belen on Sept. 23, 1881. His parents, Frederick A. and Johanna Christine Becker, were German immigrants closely tied to John Becker, the leading Anglo merchant in Belen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Frederick was John Becker’s brother. Johanna was John’s wife Anna’s sister.

Like many Beckers, Adolph worked for John Becker before branching out on his own, opening and operating a general store called the Golden Eagle. Other Golden Eagle chain stores existed in Clovis, Deming and Raton.

Adolph married Charity Belle Bowen in 1905. The couple had four children by 1922 when Adolph was 40 years old and Charity Belle was 37.

We do not know when Becker first engaged in the illegal production and sale of liquor. He blamed prohibition itself, saying that his taste for whiskey only began when he no longer had access to drinks like light wine and beer. We can suspect he also “craved” the additional income.

However he entered the moonshine and bootlegger trades, Becker found a skilled partner in crime with a most patriotic name — George Washington Wise.

Wise claimed to be a 100-year-old African American veteran of the Indian Wars. He also claimed that he had legally produced alcohol long before prohibition began.

Actually, by 1922 Wise was closer to 82 years old. He was a former Buffalo Soldier who had served as a Black private at Fort Wingate from 1875 to 1880.

Wise married Emilia Torres in 1881. By 1910, he was a widower with five children, aged 7 to 20, living in Sabinal and doing “odd jobs,” according to the census of that year.

It is likely that Becker met Wise when the veteran frequented the Golden Eagle and ran up a debt of $27 (about $500 today). In the course of conversations regarding his debt, Wise might have mentioned his liquor-making skills.

A deal was struck whereby Wise worked off his debt and then earned $4 a day working as Becker’s hired moonshiner. Becker bought all the necessary moonshining equipment and supplies, probably ordered as regular merchandise through his store. Wise did all the labor and promised not to sell any of the booze on his own.

Becker frequently visited Wise’s three-room dwelling near Belen to inspect the operation and remove the finished products. Only Becker and Wise had keys to the room where the still was kept running day and night.

Wise estimated that he produced a total of 100 gallons of liquor in one small and two large stills. He said that it took 18 days to make “hooch” if you wanted “good stuff.”

While Becker may have kept much of the “good stuff” for his own consumption, he sold most of the moonshine whiskey in various quantities, qualities and prices. He might well have sold his contraband goods to thirsty customers in the alley behind his Golden Eagle store.

Feeling optimistic about his flourishing business, Becker once told Wise that if they did not get caught, “I’ll be sitting on top of the world.”

Getting caught

Becker’s lucrative moonshining and bootlegging career ended abruptly on Feb. 15, 1922, after someone tipped off federal prohibition agents stationed in Albuquerque.

Staking out Wise’s small house, federal agent Thomas J. Brooks and a police officer spotted a Buick drive up. Becker stepped out of the vehicle and entered the building.

The agents followed Becker up to Wise’s doorstep and listened through a slightly ajar door as the bootlegger and his cohort conversed, implicating themselves with every word they spoke.

Moments later, Brooks pushed open the door and asked, “May we come in?”

Becker and Wise were taken into custody without resistance. Becker was held on a $1,000 bond. Becker only asked that his arrest be kept quiet because he hoped that the Becker name would not be tarnished by his connection to the case.

The federal agents did not comply. The Albuquerque Journal covered Becker’s arrest. The Journal, the Albuquerque Evening Herald and the Santa Fe New Mexican covered his subsequent trial. The Belen News did not cover the arrest or trial, if only because it seldom printed local news in the early 1920s.

Becker was charged with three counts: the illegal ownership of copper stills, the manufacture of alcoholic liquors and the possession of illegal booze. He pleaded innocent and hired an Albuquerque defense lawyer named William A. Keleher.

(Part 2 of “A bootlegger’s tale in Belen” will appear in next week’s News-Bulletin.)

(La Historia del Rio Abajo is a regular column about Valencia County history written by members of the Valencia County Historical Society since 1998.

Opinions expressed in this and all columns of La Historia del Rio Abajo are the author’s alone and not necessarily those of the Valencia County Historical Society or any other group or individual.)