Wilmington, NC 05 - Murder On The ICW

outside on the beach and watch the grown-ups dance."
    "And don't forget," Binkie reminded, his eyes twinkling merrily, "watch for German submarines."
    "Oh, I do remember that. How much I wanted to see one, but I never did."
    "And then the black-out came," Binkie said, "and all those brilliant lights -- thousands of incandescent lights -- had to be extinguished for fear enemy ships would spot our coast. Sadly, Lumina closed until the war was over."
    He turned to Melanie and me. "Then after the war, my beguiling dance partner returned to Savannah with her family. I never saw her again until last spring."
    "All's well that ends well," Ruby, the more practical of the two, said heartily.
    "And if it is not well, then it is not the end," Binkie declared smartly.
    They smiled happily at each other and for a second there was no one else in the room. I suspected they knew just how lucky they were to have each other to love for the rest of their lives.
    "Now, Melanie, my dear, what does the doctor say about your concussion?" Aunt Ruby asked briskly.
    "You'll get to question her yourself, Aunt Ruby," Melanie said. "She stops here every morning to check on me."
    "My stars, that is something."
    " Binkie ," I said, "I've got an interesting story for you." I told him about the bones that I'd found under the antique bottles on the Boleyn estate and the interest of an ATF agent.
    "Ah, the Prohibition Era," Binkie sighed, a gleam in his eye. Binkie adores nothing more than to share his knowledge of our town's history with those who are interested.
    "Prohibition in North Carolina began in 1909," he began, "ten years before the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified and became federal law. The amendment and the Volstead Act that followed prohibited the manufacture, sale, import or export of alcoholic beverages. The Bureau of Internal Revenue was charged with enforcing the law, through their revenue agents. Also there were police officers on the local level, referred to as the rum running squad, and they too enforced the law."
    "The ATF agent mentioned a local officer who had been ambushed by moon shiners," I said.
    "You are speaking of Leon George, who was well-thought of in this town."
    Aunt Ruby reached over and placed her hand on his to halt his speech. "Now, Binkie , these young people don't want to hear a lecture."
    Melanie, who ordinarily would be fidgeting by this time and rolling her eyes heavenward, said, "Yes, we do, Aunt Ruby. Go on, Binkie ."
    "I'd like to hear too," I said. "I am basically ignorant when it comes to the Prohibition Era. From everything I've heard it was a romantic period. Flappers and speakeasies. Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald. Bathtub gin and bobbed hair. The Charleston." I raised my eyebrows. "Free love."
    Aunt Ruby said somberly, "For every romantic notion you have about that period, I can give you one that is sobering. Free love, you say? Syphilis, I say. The disease was sexually transmitted and highly contagious. And in those times before penicillin, there was no way to treat it. People died of it or went blind. And then too, young women, some of them still in their teens, died of botched abortions."
    Now Binkie patted her hand. "Now who's the lecturer, my bride?" he asked, smiling at her fondly.
    "And bathtub gin," he said. "Some of those moon shiners made gin in galvanized metal tubs, such as the ones that were used for bathing and laundry. And the galvanized metal could be a problem. Often there were health risks associated with galvanized metal.
    "But people loved their alcohol," he went on, and lifted his glass as if in toast. "And still do. Just as we are enjoying these cocktails now, they wanted theirs. And they were being deprived one of their pleasures. So the 'Noble Experiment' as it was called was a great failure.
    "And moonshine -- they also called it white lightning -- wasn't at all difficult to purchase. Why, they used to sell it at a filling station at Seventh and Castle."
    Aunt Ruby laughed. "And when they traveled, they'd hide it in their hot water bottles."
    Binkie said, "At one point, the agents discovered five hundred pints of corn whiskey at the Atlantic Coast Line Depot, waiting to be loaded onto the train like any other goods." He threw back his head and laughed.
    "And with our waterways, fine yachts, which you wouldn't suspect of being involved with rum running, would attempt to smuggle huge quantities of foreign alcohol into our ports. One was seized right out at Banks Channel.
    "The