MoonShiner #6 Tommy Gerald Johns
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You are searching for one of my well hidden ammo cans along with My Shine.
Inside the lid you will find part of the cords to finding my still.
Born in 1938 to Kathryn (Davis) and Clarence Johns, he probably knows more about the people of Macclenny and Baker County during the days of card games and gambling, moonshine making, bootlegging, and drag-car-racing than any other person living in the area today.
He was named in honor of his father's favorite moonshiner, Tommy Holland, of Jacksonville.
A way of life was selling moonshine from the house in pints, half-pints, fifths, a gallon, or even five gallons, if you wanted it. "Daddy made, bought, sold and hauled whiskey. In 1943, he started bottling and selling it here at the house. We'd store it in the attic, and bring it down at night by the five- gallon jugs. We'd bottle about 32 halves, 16 pints and 8 fifths, except on weekends or holidays we'd bring down more. We bought our bottles from Spirit and Bottle Company out of Jacksonville.
"Daddy used to haul whiskey to the Al Capone gang down in Miami and they would hide the whiskey in the elevator shafts of their hotels. I remember daddy saying he could drive right on in and unload his whiskey, sorta like a basement. And when he got well after the kidney operation, he started in the whiskey business in a big way again. He hauled to the Queen of the Bootleggers, a lady named Sue Cause, in Miami.
The house is still standing today that daddy owned across the street from Knabb's Sports Complex on West Boulevard North.
We stored whiskey there for several years, and I remember it was so full of whiskey we had to make trails to walk through. The same in the attic and I'm guessing we had about 50 or so five-gallon jugs stored there for further distribution.
"I remember going with daddy to the train depot in Macclenny on at least one or two occasions when he sent several five-gallon jugs of moonshine to Tallahassee. We pulled up to the east side of the platform and two African-American train conductors knew all about it because they took the shine and loaded it onto the car and it headed out to Tallahassee.
"Daddy got to where he'd let me go for small loads of whiskey, especially if he was into a big poker game and really winning. I'd been with him so much, I knew how to do it. I could tell if it was good liquor or not. You'd shake the jug about three times and if the bubbles left the edges and went to the center, it was 100 proof. If they went up and didn't all connect, it was under a 100. I could taste it and tell if it was made in a copper still.
Tommy went off to college with his best friend, Pee Wee Brinson, in 1956. He was 25 years old when he married Jacquelyn 'Jackie' Colley from Starke. Their 16-year marriage produced two children, Tommy Gerald Johns II and Leslie Jacquelyn Johns. Three years ago, he married Janie Echols.
An avid sports fan, his home is decorated from front-to-back with Gator souvenirs. The station wagon he proudly drives has more than 352 Gator stickers plastered over the entire body of the vehicle and a sign that says, 'A Gator Fan is in this Vehicle.
Would he change his life in any way, if he could live it over?
"You know if I could live my life over, I'd want my mama and daddy to have a job like everybody else, because it was a strain, if you get down to it, the bottom line.
They were as good a mama and daddy as you could get. They loved me, and I certainly loved them, but it was a hard life on all of us due to the constant strain.
"I was elected a deacon last week. It takes three years to be a deacon before you can even be elected, and then you can't be if you've been divorced. However, the Board wavered, and I got elected. I've been studying the Bible. The guy that just studies it occasionally can't talk to me about the Bible because I'm getting to know it pretty good. I study almost every day, because it takes a lot of studying to finally get the whole picture. I haven't missed but twice in three years.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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