On April 6, 1926, Placer County Sheriff Elmer Gum and Deputy Frank Dependener raided the Frank Petroni Ranch outside of Auburn and seized 85 gallons of bootleg wine.
The 18th Amendment, which prohibited the sale and manufacture of “intoxicating liquors,” was ratified Jan. 16, 1919. Later that year, Congress passed the Volstead Act, which provided for the enforcement of the 18th Amendment. Both came into effect Jan. 17, 1920, and the era of Prohibition was born. Bootleggers seized the opportunity to make profits while flaunting the law.
Though a federal law, it was mostly up to local law enforcement to conduct raids and arrest bootleggers. Fines paid by those convicted of breaking the law went to the U.S. Treasury. In California, the Wright Act was passed in 1922, which made the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act the law in California. It allowed for all the fines paid to remain in the county or city in which the culprit was arrested. This greatly inspired local law enforcement throughout the state, like Placer County Sheriff Elmer Gum, to conduct countless raids and arrests. The photograph is from a Sacramento Bee article published Feb. 12, 1923, documenting the seizure of 2,500 gallons of liquor from a bootlegger near Penryn. Left to right: District Attorney Orrin J. Lowell, Sheriff Elmer Gum, unnamed driver and Deputy Frank H. Dependener (Big Dip). Prohibition was repealed with the ratification of the 21st Amendment on Dec. 5, 1933.
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