Detective Fiction Inspiration!

http://www.vintagelibrary.com/pd.php?pcode=da002701

http://www.vintagelibrary.com/pd.php?pcode=cd004001

1890 Voice (N.Y.) July 17 The ‘boot-legger’ is a grim spectre to the anti-Prohibitionist... He is a man who wears boots in whose tops are concealed a flask or two of liquor.

1903 N.Y. Even. Post 25 Sept. 3 In this bottle was some of the native spirits called ‘hooch’, distilled from sugar and graham flour.