Green’s Dictionary of Slang

paralysis of the leg or legs caused by an excess of jake n.³ ; thus jakeleg liquor/whisky, ‘bad’ liquor or whisky (which may well cause paralysis); also as adj.; thus adjs. jakelegged, jakeylegged.

1931		I.L. Reeves Ol’ Rum River 351: Much of the present liquor being poisoned, as a result of the Government’s own acts, and thus directly responsible for thousands of cases of blindness, paralysis, ‘jake,’ and death .
1934		W. Lofton ‘Jake leg Blues’ [lyriucs] I say jake leg, jake leg: tell me what in the world you going to do .
1947–53		W. Guthrie Seeds of Man (1995) 313: No doped-up jakeyleg gambler.
1947		Democrat 22 May 4/5: That stuff not only gives you the jake leg, it gives you ‘jake legs’ [DA].
1954, c.1960		in DARE.
1970		E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 41: Miller was a jakelegged bootlegger.
1979		T. Alibrandi Killshot 81: Now he had [...] a roommate who doubled as his resident manager-of-morals and jakey-legged handball coach.
1982		(ref. to early 1930s) W. Safire What’s The Good Word? 85: ‘Jake Leg’ [...] was the name applied to one who, by virtue of taking on too much Jamaica ginger, temporarily lost control of his leg muscles and gave all the appearances of being plastered.
1995		in R. Polito Savage Art (1995) 120: As a Texas roughneck recalled, ‘I’ve seen a lot of ’em that had jake leg. You can’t walk straight, and you have to have crutches and walking canes, and then whenever you step, why, your leg goes to trembling. Your feet goes to trembling. And they’re mighty near jerked out from under you.’.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hot-Prowl Rape-O’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 311: Wiggling wineheads and jakelegged juicers made mad by Muscatel.