Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1894-05-11
a TENNESSEE MYSTERY.
How a Moonshine Stin Was Dis
'A = covered and Destroyed. s."
;lts S1hoke1tacki Was Thought for sCno
-E.a Time 60 Bs . Smoking Tree-An
.. AdroItly Concealed Retreat
OF Law Breakers.

The1discovery0 Of ..smoking tree" in
the mountain wilds near the Big Butte,
about twenty miles southeast. of this
place, led to the disclosure Of one of
the most perfectlYconcealed wildcat
distif1eries known to the oldest man in
tho revenue service. =. -E., Gr
The tree was found one night not
long ago, says the st. Louis Globe
Democrat, by a party of! young men
while out hunting, and the report of
the phenomena caused great excite
mcnt- party Was being organized to
visit the arboresl. wonder, but twas
abandoned by q second report, pur-
porting to come from one Of the orig
ina1 finders, that the whole story was
fake. The sensation soon died out,
but not until it had reached the cars Of
oTreveuuea marshal. who saw in it q
clew, and went over in that region at
once He was surprised; however, to
f1nd, 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
mountaineers told him that they had
never heard Of it before, while others
laughed and said it wastonly hoax.
This confirmed his opinion that there
was something Illicit at the bottom OF
the tsmolSing tree,pi but, after. spend
ing two days in futile search for in
formation, ]le was compelled to. return
without even finding one of the young
men who started the report.
He still kept mp his efforts on the sly;
however, and was rewarded. recently
by finding ayoung man. who agreed to
to show kim s'thetree fop' q certain re.
mnneration. Negotiations were en-
tered into ut once, and the dag follow
ing the persistent officer had tho Plea
sure of destroying the best hid still he
had ever seen.
It was located near a mountain road,
in a cave, which wasat least three hun.
dred yards in length and ran like d
tunnel from one side Of small noun
tain almost through to. the other. Tho
entrance was' small, and was almost
entirely concealed by the bushy top of
tree which had been felltd directly
over It. Once inside, the officers found
a great ttInncl-iike cavern, the ceiling
of which was thirty feet high in some
places. In the blind end OF this frrcgu..
lar grotto was well-equipped still OF
good capacity; the mash tubs, Hnka
stands and barrels were all convenient
ly arranged. There was a small strcaui
running across the cave about twenty
feet from the still, from which water
was obtained by dipping it;up " witls u
bucket but the most remarkable
feature of this underground distillery
wos.the. .cnnningly-d -deuiaed contrivance
for concealing the smoke. The moon.
shiners had discovered that about thir4
ty feet from the end of the cave in
which the still was located stood n
dead Chestnut tree. about three feet I'M
diameter at the butt and hollow TO the
very top. ibis end of .4the. cave had
probably at one time been open also;
but had been filled mp by IN enormous
earthslide from the top OF the noun
tain. There wns, .thcrefore; nothing
except earth from the still inside to
tho tree without, and these daring
men had actually dug small tunnel
from thet end sof the caye 20 thd tree,
thus allowing the smoke to enter ita
hollow beneath the ground. There be-
ing no openings in the tree 1iesr the
earth, the smolse eotld not escape nm
til It reached the crevices and wood
peckor holes In the rotten top, sixty
feet in the air.
Itwaathis Eeuharkst,ic 'stacls7 which
the hunters had seen. and started tho
report Of the ''stnolanE tree" not
knowing the true source Of the smoke.
ai I------------r---------------- {. -
MAN is nm Initiative cheattre. ant,
whoever is foremost leads the herd. -
Soi,fIIer ..ftr' w eN'