The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-12-10
Moonshlne Whiskey.

The "wild cat" still is usually quite
primitive affair, consisting of copper
still of small capacity, the necessary
worms and one or two barrels or hogs.
heads in which is kept the mash, The
still is usually owned and operated by
one family, some male member 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 whiskey is
made is secured from the surrounding
farmers or raised by the owners, and the
the liquor sold to anyone in the neigh
borhood who is willing to pay fifty cents
gallon for it and keep mum. By rea-
son of this, enabling them to secure q
fair quality of whiskey cheap, the moon.
sinner makes friends of sll his neighbors
and as rule they are eves ready to warn
him of impending danger. and at the
approach Of 40 officer or even suspi.
ciou. looking stranger all evidences of
the still are quickly removed. This fact
makes it an exceeding difficult task to
apprehend the violators of the law, and
it is necessary to use the utmost caution
and discretion in order to apptehend
them at all. The chief source of revenue
derived by West Tennessee moonshiners
comes from the whiskey they sell 10
storekeepers in small towns, in dealing
with whom they adopt such precautions
that while the storekeeper may hsve 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 Sundays and other idle days dozens
congregats around them and pass the
time drinking, smoking and telling sto-
ries. While the West Tennessee moon
sinner is fully as shiftless as his brother
in the Tennessee Mountains, about whom
80 much has been written, he is not near
as bloodthirsty, probably because he has
never been hunted 80 persistently, hav-
ing been allowed, In manner, to pursue
his business unmolested by meddlesome
officials. Hence, while many revenue
officer has dropped from his horse dead
at the crack OF the mountaiueer moon
sinners rifle, there is but one or two in
stances on record where officers have
been killed in West Tennessee.
Years ago when revenue officers hunt
ed the festive moonshiner in his lair, the
method of entrapping them was to in.
duce some one familiar with the country,
generally man who had q grudge
against the moonshiners or some negro
who would, for consideration, agree to
pilot the officers to the still. Then q
deputy marshal went to the town near
est the point he wished to reach, and
summoning posse started out. In all
of this it was necessary to preserve the
utmost secrecy, as the moonshiners in.
variably 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. Sometimes 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 happened to be on hand.
A raid on a moonshine distillery is al
ways interesting and exciting because
fraught with so much danger, one never
knowing when rife ball will tear its
way through his body.-Msmphis Ava-
lancke.