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Jack Bondurant

Andrew Jackson "Jack" Bondurant (8 April 1910-6 November 2000) was an American Prohibition-era gangster and one of the three Bondurant brothers of Franklin County, Virginia.

Biography[]

Andrew Jackson Bondurant was born in Franklin County, Virginia on 8 April 1910, the son of Granville Thomas Bondurant and Malissa Elizabeth Barbour and the younger brother of Howard and Forrest. He and his brothers became moonshiners during Prohibition, with Jack serving as their driver and mostly being kept out of the business because of his perceived lack of grit. In 1931, while helping his brothers distribute moonshine at a local dance, he fell in love with preacher's daughter Bertha Minnix at first sight. He courted her in secret, and - aiming to become more involved his brother's business - he and his friend Cricket Pate snatched 200 gallons of their brother's liquor and brought it to Rocky Mount to be sold to the Chicago gangster Gummy Walsh. Walsh attempted to double-cross Jack and Cricket and had the taken to an open grave to be shot, but Walsh's boss Floyd Banner intervened after Jack revealed that he was a Bondurant. Floyd made amends by offering Jack $5 for each barrel of liquor, and he also gave him the address of the two men who had wounded his brother Forrest.

Great Moonshine Conspiracy[]

Jack Bondurant suit

Bondurant in 1931

Jack went on to become business partners with Floyd, and he and Cricket made several profitable cross-county liquor runs. Bondurant soon bought himself a new car and bought a dress for Bertha, and he took her on a trip to visit his family's still, where they had their first kiss. However, he was tailed by US Marshal Charley Rakes, his brother Forrest's arch-nemesis, and Jack managed to escape the shootout after briefly stepping on Rakes' face and calling him a "nance". However, Cricket was captured and choked to death by Rakes, and Howard later informed Jack of this. Soon after, Sheriff Pete Hodges drove to Blackwater Station to warn Jack that the bridges had been closed down by ATU officers from the city, and that Rakes was preparing for war. Jack - seeking vengeance for his best friend's death - drove to the bridge to confront Rakes at the blockade. Rakes shot Jack in the side, but Forrest and Howard soon arrived, followed by several local bootleggers. In the ensuing shootout, Forrest was also shot several times, but Sheriff Hodges shot Rakes in the leg before he could execute the brothers. The deputies then warned Rakes to leave Franklin County, but Howard and Jack followed him into the covered bridge, where Howard stabbed Rakes in the back, killing him.

Later life[]

Bertha Jack Bondurant

Bertha and Jack with their children, November 1940

The repeal of Prohibition in 1930 ended the "Great Moonshine Conspiracy", and the Bondurant brothers returned to working legitimate jobs. Jack married Bertha in 1933 and had three sons and two daughters with her, and he went on to run his father's farm, raise cattle, and grow tobacco. Jack outlived both of his brothers, who died in the 1960s, and Jack died in Martinsville in 2000 at the age of 90.

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