to trade on the reputation of the term “whisky” by compounding a liquid which looked and tasted like whisky but the effect of which was harmful. That was the capital fraud—the capture of the name “whisky” for a synthetic poison. There was a concealment of the meaning of “rectified spirits,” a deceptive use of the word “blend,” and even a most fraudulent misrepresentation concerning aging. If chemical deception could be used to make a whisky taste as if it were nine years old, then it was advertised as “Nine Years in the Wood.” Here is a bit of Jewish court testimony:
Q. Is your make of whisky nine years old?
A. Nine years old, but I want to explain in that respect that the whisky may not have existed nine years before it was put into that bottle.... That brand of whisky which we brand as nine years old blended, means that it is equal to nine-year-old whisky in smoothness and quality.
Q. How did you arrive at the fact which you put upon this bottle that the whisky was nine years old?
A. Because it is comparatively nine years old.
Q. How do you arrive at that result?
A. By sampling. You take the whisky that is allowed to remain in the original package for nine years and compare it with our nine-year-old blend and you will find them in smoothness the same. Therefore, we class it as nine-year-old whisky.
Let the reader form his own judgment on that type of mind. The whisky bore a name resembling a time-honored brand of pure goods, and it flaunted the name Kentucky, when it was not whisky at all, was not a Kentucky product, but was compounded of neutral spirits from Indiana, prune juice from California, rock candy from anywhere, and raw Illinois whisky from Peoria to give it flavor.