Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-11-13
HOW NELLIE WAS RE-
VENGED.
A Story Of a Murder in East Tennes-
see, and It's Terrible Sequel.

A strange race are the"moon-
sinners" Living apart among
tie hills and mountains in huts
roughly put together, and rare
ly mixing with the denizens of
town or village, they seem, by
their wild ways, to be a link
between the old savage times
and the modern days Of civili-
zation. They are a solitary
people, pursuing their calling
in the loneliest hollows of the
mountains, never seeking to
change their manners and modes
of living; never assimilating
themselves to the refinements,
the religions or the culture a
round them. Their children are
as untaught and as wild as young
wolves. They attend no school,
they go to no church, and their
dwellings, are foul with smoke
and dirt. Why this should be
the case, we are unprepared to
state. We can fancy, however,
that in the lonely hollows Of the
mountains a race Of men might
grow savage; finding themselves
despised and Stunned, might
learn, Oh their side, to contemn
the civilization and the religion
of those who scorned them.
But would this make them wick
cd? Surely in the green, quiet
cloisters of the wood in the long,
leavy naves of the glade, in
its shadowy arched choir, the
human soul is more a;tuned to
worship the holy and the pure
than in the city, where sin
walks unabashed, insolent and
loud.
Not a great while ago the
writer had occasion to visit East
Tennessee, and one day, during
his rambles in that mountainous
country, he came suddenly upon
a country grocery in the very
heart of the forest. -Four or
five rough looking men were
Iounging about the establish
ment," evidently the worse TO:
drink, and at his approach each
shouldered his rifle and made
off in the direction Of the noun
tain. At the edge of the 'clear-
ing" one of them turned, retrac-
ed his steps and entered the
building. His face was hard
and brOnzed, his features good,
the eyes piercing, the cheeks
thin and hollow, with a mouth
firm and grave to such strange
degree that it seemed never to
have smiled. 1t was this which
gave to his face a popularity so
remarkable that the writer
could not refrain from watching
him almost rudely. He took
no notice, however, of his steady
gaze, but calling for q glass of
whiskey, which he swallowed in
a single gulp, he turned and
walked to the door.
"Who is that mani" l ask
ed the proprietor.
ellis name is William Perry;
the boys call him Billy" repli-
ed the keeper of the grocery.
ale has strange history, Billy
has. He hasn't been known to
smile in several years. If had
time | would tell it to YOU"
81 would rather hear it from
the man HIMSELF" / said.
"Then you shall. Here, Billy"
he said, pitching his voice a key
or two higher, for we had been
conversing in an undertone,
"Iere, Billy, this gentleman de-
sires you to drink with him."
Mhave drank enough already"
said Billy, "but if the stranger
insists | will take one more"
He said this with a sudden
flash in his fierce eyes,while there
fell OH his face an expression of
hate and suffering indescribable.
"This gentleman wants you to
tell him your history, Billy"
said the grocer after we had
drank.
Il am not used to talking" he
said, especially III houses. If the
gentleman is not afraid to come
out in the woods?"
81 am not afraid" l answered,
and following him we left the
house.
Down in "a little glen where the
trees grew thick and tall, shut
ting out the sun, and the loneli-
ness was SO intense that the voice
grew hushed and the heart seem
ed stirred with memories of other
worlds, | heard, in broken phra-
ses, uncouth and roughly spoken
the story of Billy Perry, the
moonshiner. fF =
81 am alone in the world, he
said. Il am an outcast of the
woods, and a rougher fellow
you'll rarely meet with in these
mountains. | am what they cal
a moonshiner. / love the wild
free woods, and there isn't q
sound in il that | can't tell from
the whippoorwill down to the
weakest cry of the smallest III