The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1894-05-05
A TENNESSEE MYSTERY.
How . N0onahine Still Was Dis
covered and Destroyed.


14GO086E1s
The discovery of . "smoking tree" in
the mountain wilds near the Big Butte,
shout twenty miles southeast OF this
place, led to the disclosure of one OF
the most perfectly concealed wildcat"
distilleries known to the Oldest man in
the revenue service.
The tree WAS found one night not
long ago. says the st. Louis Globe
Democrat, by party of young men
while out hunting, and the report of
the phenomena caused great excite
ment. A party was being organized to
visit the arb0real wonder. but it was
abandoned by second report, pur-
porting to come from one of the orig
inal finders, that the whole story was
. fake. The sensation soon died out,
but not until it had reached the ears Of
. revenue marshal. who saw in it q
clew, and went over in that region at
once. He was surprised, however, to
dnd, on reaching the locality of such
great excitement . few days before,
that he could learn nothing Of the
whereabouts Of the tree. Most of the
monntaineers told him that they had
never heard Of 1t before, while others
laughed and said it was only . hoax.
This confirmed his opinion that there
was something Illicit at the bottom Of
the "smolking tree" but, after spend
ing two days In futile search for in
aformation, he was compelled to return
without even finding one Of the young
,-.>~ >.yH~o 81 II <kA vov>nrf
He still kept up his efforts on the sly.
however, and WAS rewarded recently
by finding q young man who agreed to
to show him the tree for . certain re-
muneration. Negotiations were en-
tered into 1T once. and the day follow
ing the persistent officer had the plea
sure Of destroying the best hid still he
had ever seen.
It was located near mountain road,
in . cave which was at least three hum
dred yards in length and ran like ,
tunnel from one side of . small noun
tain almost through to the other. The
entrance was small, and was almost
entirely concealed by the bushy top Of
q tree which had been felled directly
over it. Once inside, the officers found
q great tunnel-like cavern, the ceiling
of which was thirty feet high in some
plaoes. In the blind end Of this irregu-
Lar grotto was . well-equipped still of
good capacity; the mash tubs, flake
stands and barrels were all convenient
ly arranged. There was small stream
running across the cave about twenty
feet from the still, from which water
was obtained by dipping it up with
bucket. sBut the most remarkable
feature OF this underground d'stillery
was the cunningly-devised contrivance
for concealing the smoke. The moon
sinners had discovered that about thir-
ty feet from the end of the cave in
which the still was located stood
dead chestnut tree, about three feet in
diameter 1t the butt and hollow to the
very top. This end of the cave had
probably 1T one time been open also.
but had been filed up by an enormous
earthslide from the top OF the noun
tain. There was, therefore, nothing
except earth from the still inside to
the tree without, and these daring
men had actually dug q small tunnel
from the end of the cave to the tree,
thus allowing the smoke to enter its
hollow beneath the ground. There be-
ing no openings in the tree near the
earth, the smoke could not escape un-
til It reached the crevices and wood
pecker holes in the rotten top, sixty
feet in the air.
Itwas this remarkable stack" which
the hunters had seen and started the
report of the smoking tree" not
knowing the true source Of the smoke.