New Britain, Connecticut is cracking down on illegal construction in a big way. Deputy Building Inspector A.N. Rutherford has launched a sweeping campaign that's already caught 20 buildings erected without city permits, including two garages built over a year ago by Gozzo La Rocco on Washington Street. Now police patrolmen are being enlisted to spot unauthorized construction during their regular beats, making this the most aggressive enforcement action yet. Meanwhile, Prohibition continues to spark creative criminal enterprises. In Rochester, New York, federal agents raided the home of Professor Frank M. Keith, discovering an ingenious bootlegging operation: caramels filled with pure grain alcohol, each candy containing one ounce of whiskey 'of sufficient strength to knock out any ordinary person.' The scholarly-looking technologist had the sweets neatly packed in tin boxes, ready for distribution, along with whiskey label-making equipment and stamps marked 'Bull Run Whiskey.'

These stories capture America in 1926 perfectly—a nation simultaneously building and breaking the law with equal enthusiasm. The construction boom reflects the Roaring Twenties' explosive growth, as cities like New Britain struggled to keep up with rapid development. At the same time, Prohibition's unintended consequences created an underground economy of remarkable creativity, from whiskey-filled candy to the speak-easies mentioned in the Broadway enforcement story. This was an era when ordinary citizens routinely flouted federal law, while local governments focused on mundane but essential tasks like building permits—the unglamorous work of managing a rapidly modernizing America.

• Professor Keith's whiskey caramels each contained exactly one ounce of pure grain alcohol with a wax coating to prevent leakage—a precise engineering solution to bootlegging
• Young spelling champion Claire Renshaw walks a mile and a half to Monroe School every morning, leaving home at 7:15 AM sharp and proudly declaring 'I'm never late'
• The New York Civic League pays undercover agents $40-50 per week to infiltrate speakeasies—good money when you consider their expenses are covered too
• Joseph 'Speck' Carroll has appeared before New Britain police court judges 20 times since 1918, starting when he was just 16 years old for running away from home
• Race car driver Ralph Hepburn was knocked out of competition when a sparrow hit his goggles at 125 miles per hour, smashing the glass into his eye

• That $750,000 paper mill fire at Gould Company would be worth about $12.5 million today—the plant manufactured newsprint, possibly even the paper this very Herald was printed on
• Nathan Leopold was in solitary confinement for stealing sugar when fellow convicts offered him a chance to escape—showing that even infamous murderers faced punishment for petty prison infractions
• The New Britain Herald's daily circulation of 13,397 was impressive for a city of about 60,000, meaning roughly one in four residents read this paper
• Federal attorney Emory Buckner, mentioned in the speakeasy story, would later become a legendary prosecutor who helped establish the modern U.S. Attorney's office system
• Auto racing was so dangerous in 1926 that a sparrow collision at 125 mph was newsworthy—this was before safety equipment like roll bars and fire suits became standard