The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-11-17
A LOT OF SHREWD MEN.
U. s. NIARsHALs AND THEIR DEPU-
TIES TALKED ABOUT.

How They Find the Stills-The Use of
the Way Bills-The Noonshiners' Dis
like for Them-How Riots Have Been
Avoided The Manner in Which IL
licit Distillers in North Georgia Used
to Treat Deputies ies-Congressman
Grimes Speech-Popularity of the
Late Marshal Lamar.
MTLLEDGEvnLE, GA. Nov. 1G.-The
greatest spies in Georgia are the United
States deputy marshals, the fellows who
help United States Marshals Corbett and
Buck. The former, in the southern district,
has sixteen deputies, and the other, in the
northern.d district, has upward of fifty depu-
les. Thenorthern district being more infested
with the moonshiners and the Illicit distilers
than the southern is the reason why more
mon are given Mr.. Buck. All up in Dade,
on the lines of Alabama and Tennessee,
the deputies are kept busy
hauling in the moonshiners In
Towns and Rabuu it is equally as bad
Men do not regard illicit distilling as any
great fracture of the law. They have so
many good hiding places in the mountains,
too, that it is sort Of n temptation to i'm
provise q STILL Nearly every still is located
away down in some mountain gorge, where
foxes and panthers live, and a man might
hunt all day right around it and never find
it. Thousands of gallons of the intoxicant
are made every year, and hundreds of
moonshiners are hauled up before Judge
Speer for making it.
In the southern district the worst coun-
ties for manufacturing liquor unlawfufly
are Jones, Jasper, Upson and Pike. The
dry counties. as a rule, make some whisky,
but they are watched more closely than the
others.
The manner in which the deputies get on
the scent of the stills Is Il puzzle to the
moonshiners-and everybody else, for that
matter. They are never seen prowl-
ing around through the country Whom
they make their rounds they generally take
back to Macon or Atlanta an illicit dis
tfller. Their visits into the rural districts
mean something.
| rode on the train yesterday with dep
| uty who was returning to Macon after
working county. He was we'll dressed
fellow, and rode right along with all of us
in the first-class car. Nobody would ever
have suspected him of being a spy. He
pretended to be reading, but nobody
dreamed of the web he was weaving. He
had in his pocket twenty odd waybills to
stills. They were mapped out by blue, red
and black lines, indicating roads, gullies,
woods, houses, swamps, etc; in short, a
regular diagram of everything in the
neighborhood Of the still. BE could
have made his way to it in
the night. This Is the kind of guide they
\ have. They do not require somebody to
point the way out to them, by going along
| in the buggy They know before they leave
Macon or Atlanta how many creeks they
are going to cross in capturing such and
such still, in such and such a part of the
| county.
Very shrewd-very clever men, to work
| a case up so WELL
But how do they do it9 People have
wondered how they managed it, / asked
the deputy how he found these stills, hid in
| the swamps and the inaccessible parts of
the mountains.
1--WE don't find them," he replied. "Other
people find them for US. Neighbors in the
country do it for u.s.
QUARRRLs AMONG NEIGHBoRs THE CUE
The deputy said that the revenue business
would afford very scanty living Tor q
man IL there were 10 quarrels among neigh
bors. That's where we look for our hauls, I"
he said Let a man be arrested for Illicit
distilling, and he is sure, almost, to inform
on his neighbor if he distills. He tells on bis
friend because he thinks his friend told on
him. The spy said that they would not find
| one still in a year, if they had to. scout about
in the various counties to locate them. Be
sides, it would be at the peril of their lives
to inaugural such schedule. When they
make descent upon the moonshiners the
work has to be done quickly. The moon
sinners must be taken unawares They are
generally reckless, daring fellows who
would rather kill than surrender. he said
A hnv 10 4l,.. a, i.
| They will use him up IN short order, and no
body will ever know it,"
The deputy said that various means are
adopted in finding out what is going on in
the different counties in the districts
The marshal is not surprised at any time TO
receive letter from somebody out in the
country, informing him Of the location OF n
still. Immediately on receipt of that letter
a deputy goes out and from the5informant
he gets the way bill. Women, the spy said,
are good detectives themselves. The other
| day, he said, an anonymous letter was re-
ceived froma lady in Taylor county, stating
that on old colored man was selling whisky
| without license. The old fellows
name was furnished and the exact location
of his house given. The lady gave the
name Of two citizens OF tho county as wit
nesses. The case was worked up and it was
found that the old black man had been SELL
| ing liquor ever since the county went dry
| four or five years ago. When O person is
| arrested for Illicit distllling the deputies
pump him, because many times they are
able to obtain information enough
| to warrant two or three arrests
before they leave that section. II the ar
rested man does not give any information
| at once, the deputies allow him to rest, but
| they test him again when he is upon trial.
| Then, most likely, if ne knows that his
neighbors are running still, he will inform
| on them.
The deputy said that Illicit distilers
hardly ever kept back anything after being
convicted. They become the best kind Of
friends to the deputy, and tell everything
they know.
The Office ofssUnited States marshal is
without a fixed salary, and so, with his
| deputies, compensation is based upon per-
centage Of fees. The deputies get 60 per
cent, and the marshal 40 per cent, of the
| fees.
The spy that makes the greater number
| of arrests makes the most money. He is
ordinarily the man that stands highest in
| the estimation of the marshal
| Marshal Corbett's fees annually run his
| compensation up 70 something like S4.50O.
| while Marshal Buck makes a good deal
more. The deputies make anywhere from
| $40 to S75 month. Their expenses while
out at work are paid by the government.
HARD, BUT 1T HAS A FASCINATION.
TIE work is very hard, an old deputy
I II i II III