Edmunds County Tribune -

From the Ipswich Tribune

June 24, 1925 edition

NEW LAW HAS SHARP TEETH

Bootleggers to be hit hard by Act passed by recent legislative session.

Harder times than ever are in sight for the South Dakota bootlegger and also the outside dispenser of illicit alcoholic drinks under the new law passed by the legislature last winter and which will go into effect on the first of July. No more can he solace himself with the thought that in the event he is caught in his illicit operations that he can get out of the scrape with the payment of a fifty dollar fine and the accrued costs of prosecuting the case. Heretofore, a fifty-dollar fine has been the rule, as that was the minimum penalty in that case, and the bootlegger would pay the fine and smile at the leniency of the court.

Under the new law on booze transportation that will become effective the first of next month, the minimum fine for such offenses will be $250.00, and the discretionary power of the court can make it as high as $1,000.00. That is a considerable raise in possibilities as compared with the old law. But the new law provides that a jail sentence of from one to six months may be added to the fine in each case.

Under the new law the sheriff “shall” confiscate the car or other vehicle, motor boats and row boats included, and upon the final disposition of the case, if the person charged with the offenses is convicted, the court shall order the sheriff to sell the car and turn over the proceeds to the county treasurer, unless good cause is shown to the contrary by the owner.

The new law further provides that for the second and every subsequent offense the party convicted thereof shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for not less than six months or more than two years, and in addition thereto the court at its discretion may impose a fine of not to exceed $2000.00.

The very least sentence that a bootlegger can expect to get under a transportation charge, is a fine of $250.00 and it is generally believed that booze transportation will be considerably diminished by the action of the new statute.