Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) an unlicensed drinking house, a speakeasy, an ‘after-hours’ bar; also attrib.

[1870		D. Macrae Americans at Home II 315: In desperate cases it has to betake itself to the exhibition of Greenland pigs and other curious animals, charging 25 cents for a sight of the pig and throwing in a gin cocktail gratuitously].
1887		Minnesota General Statutes Supplement (1888) 248: Whoever shall attempt to evade or violate any of the laws of this state ... by means of the artifice or contrivance known as the ‘Blind Pig’ ... shall ... be punished [DAE].
1889		St. Paul Globe (MN) 23 Nov. 5/3: [headline] Drunks, Vags and Blind Piggeries / Punished by Judge Mahoney.
1893		G.A. Sala in Daily Tel. 25th Oct. in Ware (1909) 110/2: In many places (U.S.A.), especially in the cities, the existence of the law makes no real difference; in some few, by fits and starts, it is rigidly enforced, and the consequence is that the drinking is driven underground, into what they variously call ‘dives’, ‘speakeasies’, and ‘kitchen bar rooms’ in the North; and ‘blind pigs’ and ‘blind tigers’ in the South.
1893		Jamestown Wkly Alert (ND) 13 Apr. 4/3: Attorney general Standish has delegated State Senator John Burke to prosecute the blind piggeries [...] The W.C.T.U. ladies recently visted the ‘joints,’ yclept pigs, for evidence of illgal liquor traffic.
1900		Bismarck Wkly Trib. (Dakota, ND) 8 June 5/2: ‘Blind Pigs’ [...] It is hoped [...] that not on or more who have been engaged in the liquor business [...] intend to continue under the ‘blind pig’ system.
1900		Williston Graphic (ND) 29 Nov. 1/6: More ‘Guff’ from the Cranks. [...] The Enforcement League has set to work [...] to the suppress the blind piggeries.
1908		Junie McCrea & Albert Von Tilzer [song title] Bl—d and P—g spells Blind Pig.
1908		Imperial Valley Press (El Centro, CA) 11 Apr. 11/1: Evidence was obtained against Robert Hal who runs a ‘blind piggery’.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Oct. 19/3: I’ve often wondered what the Americans mean when they speak of ‘boot-leggers,’ ‘pocket-peddlers,’ ‘blind tigers,’ ‘speak-easys’ and ‘blind pigs’ in connection with the ‘dry’ territories in the land of the grilled nigger. I know, of course, that they are all contrivances for the illicit sale of grog [...].
1914		Ade ‘The New Fable of the Wandering Boy’ in Ade’s Fables 127: Being in the heart of the Residence District, this select Organization could not obtain a regular License. However, having the moral support of the Best People, it maintained a Blind Pig.
1916		Evansville Press (IN) 12 June 3/3: Managers of blind piggeries, drug store men who have been openly defying the new law and all such other violators are looking askance at the handwriting on the wall.
1921		Santa cruz Eve. News (CA) 17 May 1/3: The great majority [...] desire the speedy abolishment of the blind piggeries .
1923		N. Anderson Hobo 67: In Chicago today bootleggers and blind pigs in the vicinity of the ‘stem’ thrive upon the homeless man’s love for liquor.
1936		K. Mackenzie Living Rough 27: If it’s booze you are after I guess we can take you into some blind pig where you can get a drink.
1946		W.L. Gresham Nightmare Alley (1947) 32: I bet that joint is a blind pig.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 157/1: Pig. [...] 2. (Abbreviation of blind pig) An illicit establishment with a deceptively innocent exterior, as a cheap barroom or roadhouse often housing prostitution and gambling units.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 127: Started in 1937 primarily as a blind pig and turned into a late spot after the repeal of the state’s tough liquor law.
1968		J. Hersey Algiers Motel Incident 94: It was a raid on a blind pig that touched off the Detroit riot of 1967. [Ibid.] 95: He wanted one of our men to [...] find out where it was, get a drink and bust the pig.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 37: A blind pig and poker trap in Vicksburg’s sin district.
1986		S. King It (1987) 454: They wasn’t speakeasies; that was too grand a name for em [...] They was what folks called ‘blind pigs’. [Ibid.] 455: You could pick up a woman at any pig.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 298: A blind pig (also a blind tiger) is a place where liquor is sold illegally.
1993		I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 72: The old terms blind tiger and blind pig were revived for humorous use during Prohibition and New Yorkers applied them to any speakeasy.
1996		(con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 210: Morgan [...] had sent her over to that colored reefer party at the blind pig off 7th.
2014		T. McCauley ‘For Whom No Bells Toll’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] We were in a blind pig where I knew this kind of dust-up was frowned on.