Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1894-07-17
A YrNNrssre MvsTeRv,

TIE discovery ofa "smoklng tree" In
the mountain wiids n~ar the III. Enttc,
about twenty mil~s southeast of this
place, led to thu disclosure NJ me ~ the
moot perfectly con~esIet "wildcst" dls-
tillerses known "a tie oldcst msn In the
revenue service.
The trrc Was found one night not
long ago. says the St. Louis Globe
Democrat, by q party OF young men
while out hunting and the report OF the
pheuomena caused great excitement. A
party Vas belng Organized IN visit the
srborcal wonder, hut u wss shaudoned
by q second report, purporting io come
from one Of the original tlnders, that tbs
whole story Was q fake. Tie sensation
soou died out, but not until u had reach
ed the ears Of = revenue marshal, Who
saw In Il q clue, aud went over In that
region nj once. lie was surprised. how.
ever, % find, on reaching the locality of
such great excitement . lev days before,
that be- could learn nothing ofthe where
abouts of the tree. Most of the mount
aineers tpld him that they had never
heard of Il befor, While Others laughed
aud said u Was only y hoax. Thls con-
flrmed hls opinion that there Was some
thing Illicit ut tie bottom of the "smok.
Ing tree, but. after spending two days
In futile search for Information, he was
compelled to return without even find.
Ing one of the young men who started
the report.
lie stiil kept up bis efforts on the ely,
however, and Was rewarded recently by
finding q young man Who agreed To show
him the tree for certain remuneration.
Negotiations were entered Into at once,
and the day following the persistent
officer had the pleasure Of destroy Ing
the hest hid still he had ever seen.
II was located near mountain road,
In A cave which Was at least 300 yards
In length and ran like q tunnel from ons
aide of q small mountain almost through
Ia the other. The entrance Vas small,
aud Was almost entirely concealed by the
bushy top % q tree which had been fell
ed directly over u. Once inside, the
officers found Q great tunnel-like cavern,
the ceiling of which wss thirty feet high
In some places.
In the blind end Of this Irregular grot.
To Was . wellepulpped .till Of good
capacity the mash tubs, fake stand'
and barrels were all conveniently ar
ranged. There was small stream run
ming across the cave about twenty feet
from the ,iili. from which wAier va'
obtained by dipping II up With = bucket
Hut the most remarkable feature Of THU
underground dl.iiiiery WAS the cunning
Ia devised contrivancc for conccsling
the smoke. The moonshiners had dis
covered that about thirty feet from thu
end Of the cave In which the still wa'
located stood a dead chestnut tree, about
three feet In diameter At the butt, ant
hollow Ia the very top. This end nj tn
cave had probably at one time been opet
also, but had been flled up by an enor
nous esrth.llde from the top OF tn
mountain. There was, therefore, moth
Ing except eart.i from the stlll inside u
the tree without, and these daring mel
hsd actually dug q small tunnel fron
the end 81 the cave to the tree, thus al
lowing the smoke To enter lts hollow be
meath the ground. There helm. no open
ings In the tree near the earth, tn
smoke could not escape until IL rrsche,
the creyices and woodpecker holes u
the rotten top, sixty feet In the air.
u Was thi. remarkable "stack" whi,i
the hunters had seen aud started th'
report of the "smoking tree, not know
| Inc fh., tfue soufpe of the smoke.