When liquor was illegal in The Dalles, 1926

Fred Smith and Barney Scott, Granddalles ranchers, pleaded guilty to the charge of violating the liquor laws and were given sentences of six months and fines of $250 each, by Judged Robert S. Bean in the Portland federal court yesterday. The men were given five days in which to settle up their affairs. George Pepper, arrested with the other two, was not prosecuted.

The men were arrested on the evening of October 27 by Federal Prohibition Agent David F. Towe after one of the most carefully planned coups ever devised here had been worked out. After more than a month of investigation, Towe posing as a bootlegger persuaded Smith and his aides to deliver 50 gallons of liquor to him from a car on the road between the Granddalles depot and the Smith farm. Towe arrested and held the men at bay with a revolver until assistance arrived from the Oregon side, where deputies were watching with field glasses.

[a few days later] Suit demanding more than $16,000 in back wages was filed in circuit court yesterday by Helen Knetchly against Fred G. Smith, Granddalles rancher, who is to start serving a six-months term in federal prison next week ... Miss Knetchly was Smith’s housekeeper for more than 20 years, the complaint alleges. — The Dalles Chronicle