The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-07-08

A dispatch was published Inst week by
tho daily paper7 mentioning the receipt
of o telegram from the revenue coIisctol
at Atlanta by the treasury department Ia
| Washington, representing that. while
raiding Illicit stills in Campbell County.
| Ga., his posse was fired upon by moon.
sinners. An Associated Press dispatch
said, however, that party Of young men
we're passing ia the read, and the revenue
,, posse fired upon them, in0r.ally wound.
Ing two, They wsre not moonshinera.
and were nnarmed. Tn this connection
the following letter from Blairsyills, Ga,
to the Atlanta Coaafitttfiep, will be OF
interest: Il.
Union County has been the principal
source OF complain. 10 the recent revenue
troubles. Here the operations of armed
posses have been Most active, and hero
have been found the most conclusive ey-
idences that the policy pursued by reye-
nue. otiicials Is wrong In principle aud
hard In practice. These facts were amply
attoated by the proceedings I'M the com
nisslo nef's court last week. "a half dozen
Sitizens; had been brought here for use.
less tf1ai, on warrants sworn out by QUO
y. u Cheseer Chessor ssssTTa ssssTT Cd his term
10 the Penitentinfyl for LARCENY, end them
meyeq2to Union County, where he joined
sne cnurcn; he mas soon expelled for
lying and gambling, and fed The county
TO escape arrest for fcrrery. . Il rrsl FeeaInsll
that he gratl6ed many pefeonal rspitea
before he LEFT by suing out warrants ia.
discriminately against the citizens of the.
county. In each case he would furnish,
the names Of nearest neighbors as wit
nesses. Il happened that these warrants
and twenty were sworn out on Chesser's
oath-were nearly every one for persons
IN Coestoe district Of this county, where
some of the revenue alarnists say no
mans life 10 safe. Raid after raid had
gone through this district, bus most Of
tine accused were still at large. After
the appointment Of commissioner for
this county, Col. Fitzsimons sent his
deputies to arrest these men. Not the
slightest difficulty was experienced I'M
DONG so, and what armed raids could
narer have done was thus peacefully ac-
compiished In o few days. The district
had been so aggravated by these raida.
and had suffered 10 many hafdships that
these men would have Iainii Ii, mountain
caves all tho year before they would have
given up TO body of officials euuipped
Like cavalry ready for an engagement.
,They readily came ID, however, when
assured that they could haye a hsarine,l
ana have an opportunity of giving bond,
at homo. Several of these cases were
disposed of to-day. As usual wish Ches.
ser's worrants, no evidence was found to
snsta. !: them; the witnesses all testified
that they did not know how their names
came TO be given in the cases, and all
ssoro that they would not balieve Chesser
on HE oath, If there had been no COM
missioner here these men would have
been dragged away to Atlanta, taken
way from their crops when they most
neea attention, and suffered q severe
hardship, absolutely for nothing. n
The armed posse plan has been a farce
ana q freud, If nothing worse In one
week nearly al CT the forty warrants for
men IN the county have been disposed
of In the most peaceabie manner. Mem
nave voluntarily given themselves np by
the dozen, and though some of the most
noted moonshiners in the State have l,esn5
arrested, there has noS been q show Of
resistance to the single deputies Of the
marshal who have performed their duty
without the posse. In the mean time the /
scores of mounted armed men EN- mployed
In the service of this and adjoiP. ugH
counties have been moving around, ti
have really done nothing. The expense
g day. s.G7T
After one has taken a tour of the
counties north of the Blae Ridge, and I
carefully observed all that such a trip
brings TO his notice, it 10 hard for him 70
believe that he has been through q rerion 4
which has been declared In cfffcial reports
TO be IN etate alarmed resistance 10 the 4
authority Of the United States. Every
where iarmere are planting their rocky 1
fields; everywhere people are Iospiteble
end kind. The only arms one SEGA arsI
the carbines of revenue posses, and the
search for any show of resistance to stt- ]
thority results In o dead failure.
:. Illicit distilling has been. a curse to
these counties. It has caused the arrest
OF hundreds of citizens. The guilty have
been punished, bat they have involved
the innocent in the consequences of their
rssendiDg. The farmers there live ca /
small plantations, which are literally 4
locked In on oil sides. Communication i
with the outside world is almost iFnpnasi.
bic; They raise few hogg, g little wheat,
and make the bnik Of their crop in corn.
There !, is no market near them, and when
the years accounts ere cast up they find
themselves with enough meat and bread
60 live on, but without cent Of aloney. 4
If they iisT5 made surplus Of m 5.s Or
grain, there is no market for Il around
them, end If they haul it sixty or eighty 4
miles over the mountain roads to tiie1
railroad, it will be losing business.
They can easily mako q hundred bushels
OF the finest Irish potatoes in the wosil
OF the rich mountain coil, but there is
no way Of getting them out. It was just
titii5 stats Vi Things which engendered
the acknowledgements of illicit tlistili-
ing. There is among most of these people
that spirit of Mountain independence
which believes that d man has right 10
do pretty much what he pleases. They
have always heartily d;-likcd the Levy
imposing q revenue OF ninety cents =
gallon on ,whiskey, agreeing with Mr..
stephens that farmer should have the
same right to boil his corn into sweet
mashn as to boil &c into hominy. Dis.
tillstie.. opened tho way for supplying
their own wants, and also for making q
little spare change. It became common
in the years first succeeding the war,
when there was q decentralization in the
administration of the law. Then many
of the offenders could honestly plead
ignorance, and the first attampt 10 sun,
press ulo0nshining in Georgia caught
many q man who honestly believed that
he had right to make 20 little Iickar.t,1
There ese ia A &c denial cf che fact that Ella
revenue laws ere unpopular For tlihl
reaeon they should have been cafcfnliy
enforced from tho start. 1t has seemed.
however, TO be the policy Of most Of the
officers directing the enforcement of these