The morning times., 1896-07-26
M00NSHlNgRS and THEIR PECULIAR MODE OF LII
Getting Ready for the Whisky Needed for a Great
Political Campaign.
THE TRADE AS Piled BY CITY COUSINS

to the mooDshiner. The old professional
mana ges it by sending out gallon jugs until
lie has enough. And tie still more clever
one substitutes glucose for molasses, as
it is easier to obtain without suspicion.
one pecuiiority aLo-t tie fi.CUnsI.Iner's
occupation is that il rs enc that can be
started In u day. For that reason it can
never be stamped cut. Revenue detectives,
when frank, admit that though they may
capture the biggest still in this city today,
there may be Just such another in fun blast
tomorrow The requisites are bought at
any old pawnshop and fixed in shape by,
any who is clever at wiping Il plumbers
joint There re pawnshop me II and plumb
ers who are said 10 kEow OF these stills,
but who keep quiet about them on account
OF the revenue they derive therefrom- A
plumber can charge eaInoonslnnerf fifty times
as much es he can SOAK the same piece OF
work TO a house owner. 1t is these items
that make he moonshiner's lot a less easy
one than 1t would otherwise be-
There is remarkable feature about the
mooDshiDer's business peculiar 10 no other
III the world 1t must all be carried on at
dead OF night. For generations and genera
tioDs the noonshiners OF West Virginia,
Tennessee and the mountains across the
interior OF the country have sheltered q
race that never sees daylight.
TURN DAY TO NIGHT.
These moonshiners turn night into day
with a system undreamed of by the night
trades. They rise promptly at : as though
by whistle. They breakfast, and by 8
are at WORK. As the dark comes on they are
more and more secure, and 1t is Lot until
they see til moon 20 down and the sun send
up lis first red streaks that they stop. They
sup and go TO bed, and by 4 O'Clock in the
morning are sound asleep. None are awake
except the plckets that guard the camps by
day as night watchmen guard town build
1ngs at night.
Many OF the mConshiners children never
have seen the daylight So anxious is the
moonshiner 10 succeed in his vocation THAI
he makes his whole family keep his own
hours. There is less danger If all are awake
at night under the moon, when the world
is sleeping. The children play, grow up.
learn their trade, marry. settle down and
i've TO old age without ever realizing the
revolution they have made in the hours.
In moonshiners' camp raided by gov
ernment officers were found children whose
eyes blinked before the sun, and men who
said they had never been awake at midday.
To shield themselves, they had made their
beds IN deep, messy caves ami by night had
feasted and supped in the brown huts which
Trey ndu put uD IN tie SHADOW of rocks, to
escape observation.
In the city the moonshincr must work
at night. because by day he would be
located. Children pla ying over side walk
noticed the heat of a sidewalk covering
daytime moonshiners. Neighbors across
the street remarked upon the singular
closeup appearance of a house from whose
issued constant fumes and smoke
all day. The moonshiner must not belle
his name: TO do so is quick detection.
The revenue men OF the mountains tell
strange tales of these people, to whom
night is day. They are white from not
having seen the sun. and desperate from
not knowing the birds and flowers They
do not know the sound OF music, and their
women never sing. They kill as quick
as look. and. IL killed. die as martyrs
to their occupation. The sons take 1t up
with renewed vigor. They are the only
people on earth who Systematically choose
night for their daily living. despising the
daytime. And their wild faces, deep voices.
uncertain walk. and perverse views OF life
stamp them as of I world apart, n dark
race OF white men living unlawruily and
hunted down by men whose aim in life
Is To stamp out the race as they would
stamp out sewer rats