The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-12-15
THE THIN BLUE SMOKE
It Rises Now in Another Part of the
Mountains.

1t Rises Now in Another Part of the
Mountains
In the cafe of weil-knoSn hotel,
where fanoas political 'sdeals'' have
been made. sat party of four. One of
them has often been described as a
''eoal king the s'king.- of course. de-
noting as does when used in that way
millions, and the coal the way the
millions were made. The four were
telling stories.
speaking of whisky said the coal
king-a captain he is. too by title
whisky nearly killed me once. 1t was
this way. Up in the Allegheny mount.
aims l have a summer home. EN- fond
OF shooting, as you know. One sum
mer l was off on hunt. l and my
man had got long way from my
mountain home. We were trying to
get over the mountains to Join Col.
c., who had been shooting down
the mountains for three days on the
other side. There seemed to be no
trails in that part of the country. and
we stumbled about aimlessly for a
long time. But finally we struck a
rough path and pushed ahead Coming
out of a thicket of "a sudden, saw that
which made me say something under
my breath. It was d thin blue curl of
smoke rising straight up along the
mountain top. Saying nothing to my
man l pushed on, and we soon came to
cabin at the edge CT the wood In
the door stood a woman, a baby in her
She aTy
she eyed us keenly. After she had di-
rected us on our way. / looked back
and could still see her gazing intently
after us
Il need not tell you much about the
rest of our hunt, save only this After
leaving the woman and her child, I
cautioned my man to say nothing about
what he had seen, for that blue smoke
meant only one thing--a still, AN Illicit
distiliery.
Three years later | was sitting in
my private Office in Pitts ourgh when a
mountaineer sent in his name:
What can do for you??' said, when
he came in.
Nothing he answered. Il just
came in to tell you something. lam
just out of prison. want to congrat-
ulate you, sir, On being alive
81 began to feel nervous and wished
some one else was in the room
"'How is that?' asked. trying to
appear calm
Three years ago. he said, you
were riding over the Alleghenies. and
stopped to speak to a woman with
baby in her arms
YES said, recalling it all.
Two days after that, said my vis-
itor, "a United States marshal came
down on me and arrested me. Then
l swore I'd kill you on sight
"'Wait minute, ] cried.
mo, he said, wait minute for me.
When l got sentence of three years /
swore the first thing ] would do when
l got out would be to kill you. Well,
you see, I'm out -.
convinced that l would have to fight
for my life. ..r \
" No. he repeated, wait minute
for me-
".'Well,' T said, swinging. slowly
around in my chair and getting ready
to spring upon him when he should
move toward me.
Well he replied, my boy was sick
when ] got ont, and so went straight
home to him, and wandering around
your place up there, I eame. on your
overseer. and he told me that you had
cautioned him never to say a word.
So when I came back here went to
the revenue Office, and they told me
you had nothing to do with my arrest.
So say congratulate you ON being
alive.
Thank you said, really CRATE
fully. But say added. let me talk
to you about this.
"'We don't talk about such things
said the moonshiner, with dry little
laugh, and he stole out Of the room,
turning at the door to say:
"'Blit, captain. and he chuckled
when he said it, lucky for you my boy
was ST ick..''' 80 a9a-si<'A ts' '-i
The captain was through with his
story, but there was something else
Captain, said the newspaper man,
where is the moonshiner now?'
The captain flushed little |
Il still go hunting in the Alleehe-
MES" he said, finally.
And the moonshiner?' |
The thin blue smoke stu floats over |
he peaks. he said, slowly, and then |
ne added, sign;ficantiv. hbut in an |
,ther place N Y. Tribune.