Morning journal and courier., 1885-10-06
MOONsHINE WHISKEY.
How 1t is Made and Sold and Guarded
 in West Tennessee.

in West Tennessee.
 From the Memphis Avalanchel
 | The sswild cat'' is still usually quite 8 primitive affair, consisting of copper still of small capacity, the necessary worms and one or two barrels or hogsheads in which is kept the mash. The still is usually owned and operated by one family, some male mem Der of which is always to be found at the shed or cabin of brush and logs in which it is located. The corn from which the whis- key is made is secured from the surrounding farmers or raised by the owners, and the li quor sold to anyone in the neighborhood who Is willing to pay fifty cents gallon for it and keep mum. By reason of this enabling them to secure a fair quality of whiskey cheap, the moonshiner makes friends of all his neighbors, and as a rnle they are ever ready to warn him of impending danger, and at the approach of an officer or even a suspi- cious looking stranger all evidences of the still are quickly removed. This fact makes it an exceedingly difficult task to apprehend the violators of the law, and it is necessary to use the utmost caution and discretion in order to apprehend them at all The chief source of revenue derived by west Tennessee moonshiners comes from selling to store keepers in small towns, in dealing with whom they adopt such precautions that while the storekeeper may have an idea, he never knows precisely with whom he is trading.
 These moonshine stills are great resorts for the men who dwell in the vicinity of where they are located, and on Saturdays and Sun days and other idle days dozens congregate around them and pass the time drinking, smoking and telling stories. While the west Tennessee moonshiner is fully as shiftless as his brother in the Tennessee mountains, about whom so much has been written, he is not near as bloodthirsty, probably because he has never been hunted so consistently, hay ing been allowed, in manner, to pursue his business unmolestsd by meddlesome officials. Hence, while many a revenue officer has dropped from his horse dead at the crack of the mountaineer moonshiner's rife, there are but one or two instances on record where of ficers have been killed in west Tennessee.
 Years ago when revenue officers hunted the festive moonshiner in his lair, the meth cd of entrapping them was to induce some one familiar with the country, generally man who had grudge against the moon sinners or some negro who would, for a con- sideration, agree to pilot the officers to the still. Then deputy marshal went to the town nearest the point he wished to reach, and surnmoning posse started out. In all of this it was necessary to preserve the ut most.secrecy, as the moonshinsrs invariably have friends to warn them. Piloted by the guide the officers would approach until they could see the smoke of the still curling above the tree tops, and then charge down. Some times they were successful in capturing the men, but generally these managed to escape. The officers always cut up the worm, chopped up the still, tore down the shanty and poured out the mash and whiskey that hap pened to be on hand. A raid on a moon shine distillery is always interesting and ex- citing because fraught with so much danger, one never knowing when rife ball will tear it's way through his body.