CAN AN E. GOUGE BOTTLE TALK ?

Probably not, but a reporter did back in 1954.

The following is an article taken ver batim from the Bristol, Virginia-Tennessean newspaper dated Tuesday, August 10,1954.

What Titilating Tales

COULD THIS BOTTLE BUT MAKE A SPEECH !!

Jim Dalton

If an ordinary whiskey bottle could talk it could probably tell some titilating tales but if the one uncovered by Earl Crumley* suddenly found its voice it might relate some interesting tidbits about Bristol when Twin City men were men and the women were glad of it.

Crumley's discovery is at least 50 years old. (yes, it was empty). Crumley drives for Rutherford Brothers and he recently got to rummaging around in an old warehouse in St. Paul,Va. He uncovered a clear glass quart (32 oz.) bottle which plainly told about its original contents. And, it came from Bristol.

On the outside of the bottle is an inscription which says, "Happy Valley Corn Whiskey- Guaranteed 100 Proof - Distilled by E. Gouge & Company, Bristol, Virginia-Tennessee."

See The Bead

The bottle was made of clear glass so a man could see the bead on its contents and the neck plain so a man could hear the cork pop - or probably because the screw-caps hadn't been invented then.

Since the Gouge Distillery is said to have gone kablooie about the turn of the century,along with open saloons, it's pretty easy to figure the bottle's minimum age.

However, it isn't possible to tell whether it graced the shelves at one of the Twin City's 22 saloons of that day, from the swanky "Phoenix" to the "last Chance", near State & Commonwealth.

That story the bottle would have to tell.

Too, the bottle would have to tell whether it graced the table where some sure fire plot was being hatched or hid behind the blankets in milady's linen closet - ready to be mixed with camphor in case anyone got too inquisitive.

Was It Romance?

Did some lasting romance blossom when its cork was popped out or did it ease the pain of some chronic who had reached the stage where he couldn't stop with a "couple of social ones?" That question,too, would have to come from the bottle.

At any rate, it would be safe to wager that the bottle, if emptied anytime near the period of its being filled, didn't cause any traffic mishaps, even though it traveled all the way to Wise County. In those days, oldtimers tell, one just gave Old Dobbin the reins and went to sleep, waking up when the horse nudged the barn door.

Just how the bottle got to Wise County would be fun to speculate. Was it hidden secretly in the pocket of some flapping overcoat or did it ride in the saddle bags of some prancing, spirited horse of the era?

Sour Note

Its tale of travel could be a sour one, if local reports are true. Some say a canning firm in Dungannon bought some of the bottles when the Gouge Distillery closed here - using them for bottling and shipping vinegar - and the bottle may have held nothing more spirited than unfermented apple cider. At any rate, its future now is a bright one. And that can be taken literally.

It will join the collection of a Bristol woman** who makes a hobby of getting bottles, jars,jugs and odd-shaped containers, painting them a bright green or red, and hanging them up around the porch to hold creepers and clinging vines......

*Having spoken with Earl Crumley some years ago, I found that the above article is true but has an omission or two: Seems Crumley found several cases of the Gouge bottles, many with labels from the Dungannon Packing Co. indicating the contents were indeed vinegar. And , during the Bristol Centennial Celebration in 1956, he was selling them in downtown Bristol for 50c each.

** I have encountered this woman's "work" several times over the years: green painted White House Vinegar cruets and a stoneware jug, but no green (or red) Gouge bottle.

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Sources - Bibliography

i)      Library of King College, Bristol,Tenn. - Newspaper Microfilms

ii)     Bristol,TN-VA Public Library - Newspaper Microfilms &  City Directories

iii)     1904 Bristol Herald Industrial Supplement

iv)     Bristol-Goodson Industry & Resources in 1885 -W.F.Henry/Reporter

v)    Witness To An Epoch - Chas.J. Harkrader

vi)     Double Destiny   - Robert Loving

vii)    Historic Sites of Sullivan County - Muriel Spoden

viii)   Bristol Tennessee-Virginia : A History - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

ix)     Spirits & Medicinal Bottles of Bristol, Tenn.-Va.   - Charlie Barnette

x)       The Passing Years   - Bristol Historical Association

xi)      City of Bristol @ 1915

xii)     A Pictorial History - Bristol Historical Association

xiii)    Whiskey, An American Pictorial History - Oscar Getz

xiv)    Prohibition, 13 Years That Changed America - Edward Behr

xv)     The Shadow Of The Bottle - Review & Herald Publishing Co.

xvi)    Historic Sullivan - Oliver Taylor

xvii)   One Year At A Time - Bristol - 1907 - Lonnie & Kim Blevins

xviii)   Honoring Our Heritage: Faces & Places From The Past -

                       Lonnie & Kim Blevins and Roy & Carolyn Williams

xvix)   Between the States: Bristol Tennessee - Virginia During the Civil War - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

xx)      Pioneers in Paradise - Bristol, Tenn-Va. - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

xxi)     A Good Place to Live - Bristol, Tenn-Va. - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

*** NOTE:

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