The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-02-25
IN The CUMBERLAND RANGE.
A Traveller Falls in With 0Ioonshiners and
Has 10 Prove Up.
fnct-oft Eraa preS.
Detroit Free Press. I


A Traveller Fall. In with SIoonshiners and
Has 10 Prove Up.
detroit Free Press.
As / was to take a short cut over a spur
OF the Cumberland mounteins in north
ern Tennessee, hired a colored boy about
| 10 years of age to 90 part of the dis
/ lance with me. He had q solemn, seri-
GUS look. and soon discovered that he
was philosopher. / had been told that
/ there were mOoDshiners in the Cumber-
| lands, and that the chances were ] would
be stopped and sharply investigated.
! When ready to part from the youth,
asked:
do you think I'll meet any moonshin-
ers?''
Dat depends, sab"
son WHAT"
''On whedder somebody hidin' behind
de bresh or rocks doan' pop you ober be-
| fo' you kin meet. If heun's gun hangs
| fab yo'un will probably meet"
Ii was a hot day in July, but | asked
! him If he thought the weather would
| hold, and he looked at the sky and re-
/ pied:
Moan want TO say, sab. II it should
| hold, you n wouldn't give me no credit; and
| if it should snow youn would cuss me
all day. Good dav, sab. Keep to de
right arter you cross de branch. If dat
| doan' bring YOU out. den cum back an
| keep to dc left"
/ l had gone about a mile when the trail
| braDched, and, after debating the case, l
I took the right hand again and went for
ward, with the comfortable feeling that
| had half of a big state at my personal
disposal TO get lost in. The path sudden
/ ly ended. and about that time a noun
| taineer stepped from a thicket on my
left and confronted me and inquired:
"Whar' from, stranger"
told him.
What you'n doin' hyar?
Travelling"
"Look hvarr' he said. as he came
nearer, ''you's kin either prove up or ye
can't"
That's So"
'You's either all right or you's cum
fussin."
"Well?"
kin We prove up?'
"I'll try"
''Then walk along"
He walked beside me, or behind me,
| through thickets and over rough ground
to a shanty Just at the mouth of ravine
! There was a man, a woman and boy OF II
| there. and my nose detected the OdOr Of
a still. The three people mentioned stood
at tine door as We came UP, and the man
| queried of my conductor;
Who's he'un?"
''Gwino ter prove no."
] sat down on rock, and leaving the
! boy to watch me the other three with
I drew a few yards and held consultation
| This lasted about five minutes, and when
| they returned the man who had captured
me said:
"We'uns is agreed on it. You's either
a revenue or not. You's can prove up or
! We can't
Can any OF you read7' l asked.
1--WE kin or We can't" replied the
woman who was smoking plug tobacco in
a clay pine.
well, perhaps you have heard oil
at Monroe?"
I'VE mought or we moughtn't," replied
the husband OF the woman.
"Well, here's line from him. If you
are moonShine-s you have sold him whis-
key and know him 10 be all right. Here's
| my card, here are letters addressed to me
at Monroe, and you can overhaul my
knspssck"
They couldn't read a line of writing, and
put up joD to catch me. Alter consult
ing together bit the woman said:
What did you say he'uns first name
was-George or William"
Neither one; it's Henry"
And does he'un live in a single or
double log house,"
I'm frame house"
(Which eve is he un blind in?"
Neither one. Come, now. he's big.
feshy man, wears long WHISPERS, is bald
on top the head, and has front tooth out
His vile is a little cross-eyed woman, and
has two children"
That settled it, and / was at once given
bite to eat and told to make myself at
home. | had some tobacco for the man
and pins and needles for the woman, and
the present of a harmonican set the boy
wild with delight.
"'Sposin yOu'n had shot heun down
thar" suggested the woman to my captor.
Then he'un would hev bin dead, OF
co'se," he calmly replied.
BY and by the men went up to attend
the still, and the woman unrollei the
paper OF pins TO the last row. opened the
paper OF need es, and, placing the two
spOols OF thread beside them she called TO
the boy:
Danny, cum hy'ar."
"Yaas.h
Look in my eyes"
"Yaas"
as | fiighty?"
"Skeercey, ma'am."
"Weil, Pze either Eighty or the richest
woman on these yere mountain, an /
wish pop would hurry back an tell me
which,"
The sylvan King.
lie dwells In a castle made of poles,
On the border OF the break
And the wood-slves finger about his door
mi NARA liz d fArsn ka.