County officials kept busy pursuing moonshiners

Johnston County’s legacy of moonshining presented quite a challenge for lawmen of the region. In 1950, writer Herman D. Lawson reported that the new sheriff was finding Johnston County “hard to dry up”:
Destruction of 600 whisky stills with a total capacity of 45,000 gallons is the record Sheriff C. L. Denning estimates for himself and his deputies during the 60 months he has been in office.