Newly elected Sheriff Franklin Smith and his family moved into their new home on the first floor of the Lawrence County, Alabama, Jail in January 1951. He would lead a war against moonshine liquor that became the stuff of legend, rising from the mists like a ghost, the story goes, to nab unsuspecting makers and sellers of illegal spirits. Sheriff Smith and his fellow moonshine raiders busted more than 1,000 stills during his eight-year tenure and jailed hundreds of distillers. But the aftershocks of one of those raids turned the sheriff's life upside down. Facing possible prison time, his...

Newly elected Sheriff Franklin Smith and his family moved into their new home on the first floor of the Lawrence County, Alabama, Jail in January 1951. He would lead a war against moonshine liquor that became the stuff of legend, rising from the mists like a ghost, the story goes, to nab unsuspecting makers and sellers of illegal spirits. Sheriff Smith and his fellow moonshine raiders busted more than 1,000 stills during his eight-year tenure and jailed hundreds of distillers. But the aftershocks of one of those raids turned the sheriff's life upside down. Facing possible prison time, his...