Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-06
LITTLE MART DODSON

N'H~SS -
Red knobber" is known By the purple hue
of his boots, usually well stained by the hem
attic dust of his patrimonial acres Lying
at the foot of the Chilhowee mountains, the
rocky Businesses behind then. were long the
congenial sphere of the nloollshiner's hidden
toll and trouble.
| Little Mart Dodson Lad peddled wildcat
| whisky" from the time be became able to
take three gallon keg along the country
| roads after dark He had been arrested,
bound over before commissioners, tried. re-
leased or convicted SO many times that the
varied phases of federal justice or leniency
/ had long lost the spice of novelty under
monotonous conviction of their tyranny and
general futility as related to moonshining in
! general and Little Mart in particular.
But one summer there came lady and her
/ daughter from Chattanooga to board at
! Hawk Cliff, ragged spur of the Chilhowees,
where a mineral spring or two dubbed out
! from beneath the precipices.
Mrs. Baird needed some pure whisky for
medicinal purposes. Following the instruc-
/ tons Of the "Widder Green" with whom
/ they boarded Agnes, the daughter of the
! former, left bottle and some money one
( night in cleft of large rock. called the
''Devils Anvil" On going back the next
/ morning she found the money gone and the
! bottle filed with mount'in dew.
! Little Mart air always up ter time" said
the Widow Green HE gifts to that thar
rock every Chuesd'y night ez regular as
clockvuk"
There was no society in a social sense at
! Hawk Cliff, and Agnes, a lively girl not yet
/ out OF her teens, when not reading to or wait
ing upon her mother, found herself at some
/ loss to pass the time. There was no one to
/ dress for or flirt with, and the country folk,
ever suspicious of social superiority were
shy and evaSive She sought solace in long
rambleS over the mountains, and though
warned against the danger Of getting lost,
venCured further and further with feminine
( perversity, until one day she found herself in
that uneviable predicament
| A thunder cloud had yelled the sun, tho
blue sky was vanishing, and the very depths
OF the mountain seemed to moan softly az
! though the earth was feverish and in dread
4 Agnes stood at the juncture of several wind
ing ravines, all equally wild and misleading,
with great forest trees frowning over her,
| and without definite idea as to her proper
| course.
oval, mis-, air We sure huff lost, or what
air the matterl'
/ The sound of any human voice was well
come in that solitude. Turning, she saw be
! fore her short stout, freckled face young
man, having sack swung over his shoulder
with a key in each end OF it. In few hur-
ried words she explained who she was and
that she was lost.
/ "Yore a good three mile from the Wilder
Green's" he said, '''n' l was a goin' the
yuther way"
Agnes instantly suggested e pecuniary in
ducement as a reason for guiding her home,
but the young fellow looked at the clouds
and said hurriedly:
4 you jest wait hyur minute"
Then be disappeared round huge bowlder
before Agnes could demonstrate. In two
minutes he reappeared, minus his sack and
kegs, with the remark:
Now, miss, we mus hurry ter git ter the
/ Hangin' Rock afore that shower vets us"
/ They plunged into wild gorge-the very
/ one Agnes would not have taken if left to
/ herself-and soon came upon a trail that
wound here and there among the ridges, over
rocks, through shadowy laurel brakes and
across several small brooks The rain ap-
preached, and the guide kept increasing his
speed, until Agnes, painting and stumbling,
was about to ask him TO go slower But at
this juncture sudden turn round beetling
crag brought them out on rocky platform,
fronting the valley lying along the foot Of
! the mountain.
/ Overhead the cliffs projected, so that they
were sheltered from the drops already fall
ing. The young man brought her drink
from spring near by, and she sat down 10
survey in security the solid wall Of gray rain
now sweeping over the distant knobs and up
| the intervening valley.
81 don't believe | know your name" she
remarked, as he stood awkwardly gazing at
her as upon a new revelation III the line OF
feminine loneliness
I'm Little Mart he replied
sob, to be sure; you are the person who
put the whisky In mammals bottle"
wal, now, miss, I'd be purity fool ter
own ND ter sech as that" he returned, with,
however, q very knowing look
II suppose YOU are afraid Of detection; yet
you need not fear me. But don't you wish
YOU were in some nicer business. Have you
ever thought Of the trouble whisky brings
/ upon peopleT
( Mart could not say that he bad. yet for the
first time he felt q vague shame OF his occu-
patton but said:
Pore folks has ter make money somehow
'thout stealin' it"
YES, but would rather make 1t any other
way than by breaking the Laws to sell people
that which Injuries them"
Somehow Mart felt that the usual argu-
rnents in favor of rDoonshining would not
have much effer. on this refined, delicate
| girl, whose presence now beaIned upon him
almost Ike some angelic presence from en-
other world
The rain st length ceased, and they soon
arrived at tie Widow Green's Agnes, ss
the door step. offered hin ziver dollar,
saving she knew she bad put hin 10 asood
deal Of trouble Silver dollars we're tempt
iuE. but be declined taking II saving:
~ reck'n kin erbseeSe fecpA, e An
rroousainerr
Never mind she said. win reasF-1rins
smile, ''you must take it tsss TO piease ne.
. Perhaps it viii help you Little in getting
better employment"
The re1. day Little Mar returned for his
sack and kegs. resec1.g deeply. Af,ar get
ting them Re went 70 TIE Hanging Rock, and
there kIa6Ied fire with chestnut hA-z On tbs
very spot where Agnes had 81 and talked 70
him Then BE- placed tie sack aid empty
kegs tasreoa azsd Sri-aly WATCHED then t-ra
to ashes IS az last be turned away ns 1-7i-
tered;