[Ads-l] antedating of bootleg

[Dan Goncharoff]

Here is a use from 1860 that I read as using "bootleg" to mean a kind of
drink:

https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/118330569/
Brooklyn Evening Star, 18 May 1860

"A new whiskey called "tangle-leg" has been invented. It is said to be made
of diluted alcohol, nitric acid, boot-leg, and tobacco, and will upset a
man at a distance of 400 yards from the demijohn."
DanG


On Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 2:57 PM James Eric Lawson <jel at nventure.com> wrote:

> 'bootleg' (OED a1889 [quote in Barrère & Leland actually from 1886
> _Omaha Herald_] attributive, "with reference to illicit trading in
> liquor"), also 'bootlegger' (OED 1889 noun, "an illicit trader in
> liquor") and 'bootleg' (OED 1906 verb).
>
> 1844 _Council Grove Republican_ (Council Grove, Kansas) 16 Nov p 3 col 2
>
>   2. 9 Puncheons of Old Rum (real New England "bootleg,") the balance of
> a very large stock that has gone off very freely.
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/67711333/
>
>
> 1886 _San Francisco Chronicle_ (San Francisco, California) 28 Oct p 3
> col 5 [article reprinted from _Omaha Herald_]
>
> There is as much whisky consumed in Iowa now as there was before, but
> less beer, throughout the state "for medical purposes only", and on the
> boot-leg plan, and saloons run openly in the larger towns in defiance of
> the laws.
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/27398048
>
>
> 1886 _Fort Scott Daily Monitor (Fort Scott, Kansas) 17 Jan p 4 col 6
>
> Joe Reed, received the next dose, he was found guilty by the jury for
> boot-legging whiskey. The court gave him sixty days in jail and assessed
> a fine of $250.
>    The same sentence was administered in the case of Andy Colbert,
> another boot legger.
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/57225823
>
>
> 1886 _The New North-West_ (Deer Lodge, Montana) 12 Mar p 2 col 6
>
> The Iowa liquor law has given rise to a "boot legger." He wears high-top
> boots and carries a flask of liquor in each, which he produces when he
> sells a drink. The Federal revenue officers find it very difficult to
> detect the "boot legger."
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/171859268
>
>
> --
> James Eric Lawson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>

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