The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-05-19
CHARACTERS OF EAST TENNESSEE.
The Hull Tribe" En- 3oHte for the
lyest-!oonsiine Nl,isISy-Darl5 Ways.

went in the smoking car after boarding
the train anu saw the hull tribe" 1t COM
prised men, women and children. IEey
were taking advantage OF the low passenger
rates to go west and locate. Ihey were the
lowest type OF east Tennessee humanity,
ard l wondered ly what means they had
sc"aped together anl saved enough to en-
able them to 60 Oh so long journey. Most
Of them were young nlcll, and the tender
portion consisted oe two women and four
children. Tle women ha on stripe! calico
bonnets, dresses of the same material and
color and were chewing the ends OF sticks,
which at intervals they dipe1 in small tin
boxes filed with snuff. Some Of tae men
looked too mucn lost to sit down; others had
recovered the. equilibrium and were eating
Euge slices OF pork carved from Who.e hanls
and pieces OF corn dodger broken from the
loaves with which their soilcd muslin "poies"
were filed
At the little villages most Of the male
population wore con 5regatM about the de-
pot aid on the porches OF the stores facing
the track. An atmosphere OF general lack
of incentive ana aim to accomplish anything
pervadcG all thes, groups, that IS, if the ap.
pearance of eich individual III :nlber was the
portrait Of the inner man. do not e%aS-
gerate, bat speak from actual count, that
on an average four out of every five men at
these stations had his hands in his pockets,
aud from which, evidently, they were sell
dom drawn 1t was not u cold day. One
fat, red checked, good man, who
had his hands otherwise Occupied, and his
rockets, to- was = character worthy OF
Porte C!ayon's pencil. l bad never seen
one like him outside OF Tenn cssee or western
North Carolina. lie had on blue overallS
stuffed in low boots; q slouch hat set on the
back of his head, revealing fully his round,
red face: a blue and white checnered shirt
exposed by lis unLutconed sack coat, out OF
the outside pockets OF which latter pro-
truded the long necks Of two Suspicious-looE-
ing bottles. lie had enough OF tie product
OF the still about him to make one think he
was III "cahoots" with s"rno of the moon-
sinners of the Smokes, but he himself coulI
not have been tal.n for one Of that class.
y great deal OF this pure product finds
its way into tie villages Oh this side and
across the nouatlins, but so secretly is its
manufacture carried On tlat there are few
persons outside the Brotherhood OF Block
aicrs who over saw the smoke OF still lire,
or much less the Larxcovertd, shelving
roof, the mui- -plastered furnace, the barrel
and its worm, the array of Jugs of all sizes
and descriptions, the dip2ers made OF
gou:ds. and ,Eo co2tie>s, lones s-haired, home
spun-c!ad ard lean-visased mountaincers,
who work by the light OF the moon might
tell you bow empty Jugs, with silver cons
under their corn-cob shoppers, are by their
owners set at night in dssignate places be-
hind rail fences OF unlcr farmhouse Win
dows, to be taken charge of again by them
in the morning, we'll filled, but minus the
money; OF kew horses grazing in pastures
ad Joining dwellings are at night bri>lo by
the go between" AID us d by him to carry
him ;lnl lis two jugs in bag to the still
in the laurel labyrinth a few miles distant;
of how even at the still the "go between's"
money is dropped on the ground at the suS-
gestion that "cnestnuts fail 10 the ground" !"
50 that 10 ons knowech VINO picked up the
payment for the "moonshine'-and all this
that there lie no witnesses in court to swear
away the liberty Ct him who ma%es or sells
the unlawful arlicle.-Cor, San Francisco
Chronicle,