Unopened whiskey bottle tells story of bootlegging in Louisiana

GUEYDAN, La. (InvestigateTV) — A century-old bottle of Golden Wedding Rye Whiskey sits in a display case at the Gueydan Museum, its seal still intact and a small amount of dark liquor inside.

The unopened bottle is a survivor of Prohibition-era bootlegging and a legendary train raid that turned into a Cajun version of the Great Train Robbery.

On Jan. 16, 1919, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, banning the manufacturing, sale and transportation of intoxicating liquors.

The era that followed led to organized crime, corruption and widespread bootlegging.

In southwest Louisiana, the remote town of Gueydan became an important stop for bootleg whiskey.

“Because where we are in this little far corner of Louisiana, if you go south as the crow flies, it’s not too far to the Gulf,” said Jeri Chapman, president of the Gueydan Museum.

One of the best-known rum-running stories involves the schooner I’m Alone, captained by Jack Randall, who was hired to bring liquor from Belize to the Louisiana coast.

“And he would wait, so I think 20 miles or so off the coast of Gueydan. And then whoever his connection was would come and unload the boat,” Chapman said.

The Coast Guard intercepted one of those shipments.

“They followed him and there was a battle and the ship was sunk with the whole cargo on it,” Chapman said.

Gueydan’s train station was also targeted in a liquor raid. Federal agents were suspicious of a boxcar supposedly filled with bags of rice.

“And the bottles had been sewed into different sacks to transport the booty up there,” Chapman said.

Before the whiskey was destroyed, local residents did their best to save the bootleg booze.

“And it was wild. Some of them stole bottles,” Chapman said.

One of those rescued whiskey bottles surfaced years later when a homeowner passed away. It was donated to the museum.

“This is the Canadian whiskey and it’s pure rye whiskey. That’s what we have left and we treasure it,” Chapman said.

The museum operates in one of the community’s oldest homes and is filled with artifacts of Cajun culture, duck hunting and early merchants. The town claims to be the duck hunting capital of America.

“Because in order to function properly, you have to be in touch with your roots, so you can see where you’re going from,” Chapman said.