The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-07
ARKANSAS MOONSHINERS.
NTP AND TUCK BETWEEN THEM AND
THE REVENUE OFFICERS.
nneit DistiIisrs Driver r-o- Other Part.
ofthe south Have Coiouized n Arkansas
ss Their Lest niteh-seventy Mocn-
shtners - Ne Tried n Batch.

1
to the death-,has been going on between tn
United States revenue officers, assisted by
score Of United States deputy marshsls, and tn
| moonshiners who operate in the western part o
| the State. The struggle has been conducted Will
signal energy and determination on one hand ant
| relentless ferocity and unyieldinR obstinacy OF
| the other. A number OF men have fallen OF
| either side, and the warfare has been market
| with numberless hnnd-to hand conflicts ambus
cades. and assassinatlons. The criminal history
of the entire South will contain no more darl
and tragic pages than those made by the EVENT.
in this State in connection with the moon
sinners war in the past six weeks.
One tragic event has followed another with
frighttul rapdity. And, worst Of all. Il looks
as II the war had only fairly begun. How
many more men will be sacrificed before the
moonshiners are driven from their mountain
Businesses, Killed or forced TO surrender is mat.
ter OF surmlse as gloomy as Il IL uncertain. It's
ending at last must be that tho moonshiners
will be forced to the wall, but there IL no mis-
take that they are dying hard, and that in max
ing what appears 10 be their last fight on South
ern coil the Government will be forced TO spend
large sums Of money and sacrifice many lives
before they are subdued or exterminated.
The strongholds Of the moonshiners are in
Montgomery, Howard, SEWER, Pike, and Polk
section Of the State named is hilly and noun
tainous. II embraces an area nearly as large as
some Of the New England States. There is much
good farming land and valuable timber, and
many thriving towns and villages, and scores Of
honest, law-abidlng people: nevertheless the
moonshiners carry on operations from one end
Of the region TO another and claim 1t as their
own, contesting every inch of ground with the
revenue officers with all the virulence Of rattle
snake disturbed In its den.
Never before have the moonshiners been 40
numerous and active, and never before have the
officers Of the law been 80 energetic in their
efforts TO arrest or destroy them.
Two reasons are advanced for the increasing
army and unusual activity OF the moonshiners.
In the first place, those already in the business
have been recruited in the past two or three
years by q score Of men whom the revenue Of
ncers chased out OF Tennessee, North Carolina,
Alabama and north Georgia, desperate fellows.
for the most part, who, forced to vacate their
haunts in those States, made their way to Ar
kansas, selected favorable localities and began
work with determination to hold the ground
against all odds, defying even tho Government.
It is these men who are now making tho
trouble, and who will no doubt die with their
boots on rather than surrender Indeed, tho
officials here believe that the leaders feel they
~
making moonshino whiskey is concerned. and
that II their business is broken up in this State
there is no future for It, there Is no other
State or country where IL can be carried on with
any degree Of success. Hence the desperate re-
sistance which they offer the revenue officers
II Is . life-or-death struggle with the moon
sinners, and the bulk OF them seem TO have de-
cided to accept determination rather than per-
NIT their peculiar industry to DO overthrow.
Most Of them are evidently prepared to die in
the last ditch.
But, in the second place. tho increase of the
tax on whiskey to $1.1O a gallon affords the
moonshtner3 great announcement, Rs IL will
cause the shutting down Of many, registered dis
tilleries. Furthermore. the law has heretofore
required Yield Of two and one-halt gallons Of
spirits to each bushel o. gra!n used at each legal
Of three and one-half gallons al. a steam and
three gallons at all furnace distilleries to each
tilleries in the state which can fulfil this re-
qurement, and every one that closes opens up q
S ,bo for the
counties In which the moonshining traflc is ex-
= per gallon can be found in that section
is trsmpled on with IMMUNITY. and whiskey is
peddled as freely to-day In the Indian country
5sam sh , wsss no PS5ohi6isys law
81 q, mconshins whisky draw their revenue; and
70 them Indian Territory Is veritable Ell
Dorado. nder these circumstances. with the
law favorng the production of the stun indi-
rectly. and with market never fully supplied,
The EFFORTS II The deputies and agents. seems TO
1.-Two In n golden era.
Aud in this state, at least. he Is fighting for
the territory In which he may ply his vocation
with the energy OF lion at bay. Pike. Mont
Eomery, ssSSisr, and Polk Polk counties have each
hosts OF moonshiners and revenue posses within
u abort time past.
Marshal Tom Grisson made raid into the iirst-
ns me to arrest two brothers
sinners as we'll as desperadoeS.
jority in years, was considered oneof the bravest
Soapanied BY he local e oeers he invaded the
haunts OF tho Cooks, coming on them near a |
lovely sp9 the road being az shsded on eitGss
SIDE by tall trees, the tops OF which were still !
Eilaed by the last beams OF the setting sun as
nAnd 20 surrender, the Cooks opened fire. pour
ng a volley into the officers from winchesters.
10 be one OF tho blOodiest battles which have as
ret been fought in the present war.
bullets flying in every affection Pistes s and
ng the hottest OF the fight the combatants were
'9mbai ended Grissom was found to have been
<nied, having been struck by number OF
he Cook boys was wounded, but both escaped,
md at this time are defying the officers.
Grissom's death was the most serious blow
which the mooHshiners have yet inflicted on the
Government forces. II created widespread In
ligpation. United States Attorney General OIL
10y has been requested 20 offer a reward for tile
,oOk brothers. and will no doubt do So Tho re-
Yards offered from other sources already foot
lD several hundred dollars and an unsuccessful
lunt for the muTderers has been I'm progress for
ONE days. There is little prospect OF their i'm
mediate capture. as they are now In the noun
aims OF Pike county among those who are in
arrest sympathy with them, and who viii aid
hem in every way possible TO battle their pur-
uefs, The eldest brother, the one charged
With firing the shot which killed Grissom,
'Oasts that the revenue officer doesn't live who
an take him alive, and that IL he himself goes
own the Officer dies with him.
IL Is conceded that the moonshiners OF Pike
ounty have made greater, more successful, and
more bloody resistance 10 the Government than
hose In any other section Of the state. IL Is
Ike wise believed that n war Of determination
I'll be the only means OF getting rid OF them.
The Government also sustained another severe
Dss Ia the death OF Deputy sheriff Martin OF
'olk county, Recently Deputies Carpenter and
tcClure ratded a section OF the county. Polit-
,ally the county Is POpulist stronghold. In
he state election II was carried fOr Barker the
candidate on the Populist ticket,
nd for some years IL has been under POpulist
onination. The revenue officers allege that
he g0untg lOfal Ofipara ref sd IN ali In Z