Mental Health Issues Associated with Moonshine

An illustration of dementia praecox

Mental Health and Moonshine

While Beck claims that he “took the delirium tremens,” a severe form of alcohol withdrawal that causes confusion and hallucinations. Delirium tremens, by most accounts, does not start until at least 12-48 hours after the last drink is had, and symptoms can appear 7 days after the last drink. Since Beck's drinking schedule in the days before the murders are unknown and he most likely had some whiskey that night, the tremens cannot be pointed to as a certain cause for the murders.

In the Georgia Supreme Court case summary for Beck’s appeal, it is notable that A) Beck’s attorneys thought he had a very real chance of being acquitted on the basis of insanity and B) mental health issues were certainly prominent in his family. His mother “...was a ‘high-strung’ woman and did some unusual acts.” She had threatened to burn down their house and shot at a woman whom Beck’s father had been with. One of Beck’s cousins had been put in an asylum for reasons unknown, and another cousin reportedly stabbed himself in the throat with a knife. [footnote p. 457] Several witnesses testified on behalf of Beck’s plea to insanity. (Full document here) One stated “on the afternoon of the day of the killing, about two o’clock, he thought the defendant’s conduct strange; his eye was bright and seemed to sparkle, and he was nervous, appearing to be unable to control the motion of his head and hands; his conversation was not connected, and ‘it seemed like his mind was wandering…’” Another witness stated that although Beck had been drinking hard for several weeks beforehand, he was “...more sober than the witness had seen him for a long time…that generally he was a good euchre player, but that day he agreed to everything the witness said, could not keep count, and lost every game.” Another witness said “...that the defendant said he saw buggers night and day, and looked wild.” One other witness said that, two years before, in a hotel, “...the witness found him pacing the halls, and on being asked what was the matter, he said: ‘They are after me! They are after me!’” [footnote p. 459] Based on the evidence provided, Beck appeared to be having symptoms of schizophrenia: delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking, speech, and motor behavior.¹ While schizophrenia itself does not typically cause violent behavior, paired with substance abuse, it could lead to a heightened risk of violent behavior.²  

Although he certainly exhibited symptoms of schizophrenia, it is impossible to say whether Beck had the illness or not, given that the term “schizophrenia” did not appear until 1911. Rather, during the late-19th and early-20th centuries, blanket terms were commonly used to cover a wide variety of symptoms. In Beck’s case, it would have been dementia praecox, “...‘the terminal cancer of mental disorders’, a ‘diagnosis of hopelessness’ that foretold ‘permanent disability and no hope of complete recovery.’”³ The options for treatment of mental illnesses at this time were few, and conditions in asylums were cruel, leaving little hope for those who suffered. 

Beck was also not notably mentally unwell at any other point in his life. His alcoholism, more specifically, his consumption of moonshine most likely played a large role in the murder of the Bailey sisters. It is known that Beck died of lead poisoning, most likely due to the high levels of lead found in most moonshine. Lead would find its way into moonshine through the copper pipes used in the distilling process.⁴Furthermore, a 1923 report on the clinical effects of moonshine on the body found that “Various aldehydes, of which acetaldehyde may be considered the chief example, are responsible for the increased toxicity. Practically all alcoholism now encountered clinically is of the ‘moonshine’ type.” Acetaldehyde is reportedly “...a rapid intoxicant inducing profound stupor and deleterious after effects.” The report goes on to say that “the physical and mental morbidity…are high…[and]...mental deterioration is a common sequel even after a few sprees.”⁵ [footnote p. 609] Although he was relatively sober the night of the murder, Beck had just come off of one of these sprees (a binge in modern terms), lasting 30 to 40 days.