Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-10-29
MO0NSHINE WHISKY.

The "wild cat" still is usually quite a
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
member of which is always sure to be found
at the shed or cabin of brush and logs in
which it is located. The corn from which
the whisky is made is secured from the sur
rounding farmers, or raised by the owners,
and the whisky sold to any one in the neigh
borhood who is willing to pay fifty cents a
gallon for it and keep mum. BY reason of
this, enabling them to secure fair quality
Of whisky cheap, the moonshiner makes
friends of all his neighbors, and as a rule
they are ever ready to warn him of i'm
pending danger, and at the approach of an
officer or even a suspicious looking stran-
ger, all evidences of the still are quickly
removed. This fact makes it an exceeding
ly 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 moon
sinners comes from the whisky they sell to
storekeepers in small towns, in dealing
with whom they adopt such precautions
that while the storekeepers may have an
idea, they never know precisely with whom
they are 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
congregate around them, drinking, smok-
ing 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 be-
cause he has never been hunted so per-
sistently, having been allowed in a man.
ner to pursue his business unmolested by
meddlesome officials. Hence, while many
a revenue officer has dropped from his horse
dead at the crack of the mountaineer moon
sinners rifle, there is but one or two instan
ces on record where officers have been kill
ed in West Tennessee.
Years ago when the revenue officers
hunted 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 a grudge against
the moonshiners, or some negro, who would,
for consideration, agree to pilot the Off
GERS to the still. Then deputy marshal
went to the town nearest the point he wish
ed to reach, and summoning posse, start
ed out In all Of this it was necessary to
preserve the utmost secrecy, as the moon
sinners 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. Sometimes
they were successful in capturing the men,
bnt generally these managed to escape.
The officers always cut up the STILL tear
down the shanty and pour out the mash
and whisky that happened to be on hand.
A raid on moonshine distillery is always
interesting and exciting because fraught
with so much danger, one never knowing
when rifle ball will tear its way through
his body.-Menphis Aualapche.