The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-03-01
Auaessun 'gatelligsases,
coNTRABaND wH1sKEsY. u;
Primitive Life In the Mountains-How
the Whiskey is Manufactured and
Disposed of. ''i15iit ~ - ''.
ATLANTA. Ga. Feb. IA, 1877. :

the .Whiskey is Manufactured and
Disposed of ''5VFHs,1 - - 90
ATLANTA, Ga, Feb. IA, 1877,
The unprovcked killing of Lieutenant
Mcintyre, of the Second Infantry, and
private Sutherland by the Illicit distillers
has caused the intenses. excitement in
military circles here. The bushwhacking
volley that killed those men was the first
that has ever been fired by the distillers
against regular United States troops.
Time and again they have riddled the
deputies, but heretofore they lave always
scattered in confusion upon the approach
of the blue coats.
This audacious attack, SO unexpected
and so deplorable inS its results, will has.
ten into immediate execution plan that
has long been ripening in revenue circles
to make grand raid through the in
vested belt and sweep it clean. AS this
systematic crusade is apt 10 be protracted
and full of desperate work it has occurred
to your correspondent that it would be
we'll to furnish some facts concerning the
strip of country that is held by the illicit
distillers and touching the habits Of these
lawless men themselves. -.
ssaSFHEiILLIcIT DIsTILEERs.S -
doubt if any section was ever so thor
oughl infested with illicit dealers as is
the mountainous region running through
North Georgia and the western end OF
-both,the Garoliuas at the present time.
Italy, in the palmiest days Of brigandage,
never had ione- half as many men who
were defying justice. They haunt every
hillside during the night time and peo.
pie the friendly shadows of every vale
during the day. They have regular
camps, with sentinels thrown out to halt
all passers by and throttle the revenue
spies. The mountains are filled with
cares and "bnrrows,'a in which. sthe
wretched men. hide when pursuit be
comes too hot and the pursuers are of
overwhelming strength. 1t is impossible
to calculate as, TO, the number of these
illicit distillers; there are thousands of
them; they swarm amid the almost i'm
penetrable businesses of the Blue Ridge
chain uf mountains in countless bands.
Beyond the reach Of railroads. way be-
vond even, the, ,dcsuiWry Stretch of the
wagon oads,'Ewhereithey can be reached
by horsemen or pedestrians only through
certain hidden paths, they plant their
primitive "stills" in natural or artificial
''snpggeriessa and soon shave 'crooked"
whi<kev gushing from every rock. They
live as wild and restless life as the trap.
pers of the upper Rocky Mountains.
They are all we'll armed and of course
good hunters. A more, athletic. hardy
and selfreliant people can be found no;
where. The mountains abound with
game of all sort, even up to bear and
panthers. The distillers are about the
only inhabitants of these inaccessible
parts, and hold them inviolate by sort
of Alexander Selkirk title.
HOW VISITORS ARE TREATED. D.
Occasional parties of hunters from the
cities stray into these mountains, and as
SOON. as theS make it perfectly clear that
they are in no wise connected with the
revenue service, are received with the
most cordial hospitality. Guides are
furnished them and the best game haunts
are freely pointed out. They are hand
somely entertained by the outlaws, and
are regaled with what is peculiarly ex
hilarating to~.a Southerner-namely,
home made yewhiskey that was distilled
in a mountain cleft, under the winking
stars, and has never been ,debased by one
of Uncle Sans revenue stamps. But 8
man who looks like a revenue informer,,
or has not clear titles to being 'good.
square man" had better not venture into
this wilderness. Our brawny rustics feel
no more hesitation in ."shucking" reve-
nue. informer or any man who looks like
one than you would have in kicking
pebble from your path. They are q law
unto themselves up there. Not long
since the State Geologist, with force of
some ten men, carried in three wagons,
struck one Of these mountain "nests,"
and without suspecting that his labors
were being carefully spiednp0n from be-
hind every bush went quietly to work.
The distillers stood it for some time, and
then coming out in some force they noti-
fed the astonished scientist that he must
get up and travel. After some argument
he succeeded in convincing them of his
thoroughly pacific designs, and was then
not only permitted to proceed, but was
almost overwhelmed with various sorts
of "rocks" that the simple-hearted noun
taineers would bring to his camp.
EXTENT OF OPERATIONS.
Some idea of the extent Of one ofthese
squads" may be had when we state that
the revenue officers, with company of
troops to back. them. frequently. destroy
from forty to!fiftys stills, and from 10000
to 10000 gallons of crooked whiskey,
besides capturing anywhere from twenty
to eighty distillers at one single raid.
The great bulk OF illicit distilling is done,
however, in a much quieter and more un-
obtrusive way than this. In the vast
area of the section of the three States re-
ferred to the settlement is very sparse,
and the people as class exceedingly
poor. The enormous profit of distilling,
'swithout the ceremony of stamp" has
tempted great numbers of these squalid
people to engage in the business. AS
consequence there are little stills. tucked
away snngly sunder the ioSerhanginga
banks of nearly every creek or branch.
Hundreds of families have their worm
at work somewhere, the wife or daughter.
usually stationed on some adjacent hill
topqto;announce;by boot or whistle the
coming of strangers, and the father man
aging the sstill" with his rife thrown
into the bend of his arm ready to make
it "speak" to any new conner this side of
a blue coat. The whiskey thus made is
carefully packed away in old-fashioned
wagons, frequently being hidden under
load of chickens and eggs, and carted off
to neighboring town or to the city of
Atlanta, where it is quietly and surrepti-
tiously sold. :s.a4,..5sa fg,,..f.s,ll
ORIGIN OF THE BUSINESS.
The origin of this illicit business is
Given as follows by a Legislator from one