The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-07-15
TOLD BY A MOONSuINER.
A Revenue Detective Who Came, but
Did Not Go Away.


'Sit down, sah-sit down." said the
grim-faced old man to me as we were
returning to his cabin after a visit to
the Illicit still hidden away in the deep
and dark ravine.
l sat down on mound In little
glade in a laurel thicket. while he seat
ed himself on rock, and after we had
filled and lighted our pipes. he said:
1.-The guv'ment's agin us fur maxim
moons hine whiskey. but yo' kin see fur
youseh how 1t Is. We kin raise con
about yere, but thar's no market fur 1t.
II we turn 1t into whiskey, we kin git
some money out O. 1t, though 1 never
knowed a moonshiner to make over a
dollar day IN the best Of times. It's
jest changin' about SO we may live. but
maxim whiskey IL against the law. and
the guv'ment hunts us down as If we
was wolves. All the whiskey made fur
twenty miles around this spot wouldn't
sell fur 5000, and yit fifteen men hev
been sent to state prison, a dozen mo-
kept IN jail fur months and months.
and twenty families bin put to it to sell
Off everything TO pay lawyers. l tell
yo', it's wuss nor wah times, with the
g,lerrillas Tidfn' about and Robin and
KILN"
"And there's no money in making
moonshine whiskey?" asked.
"Yo' see, it's this way" he replied.
'Yo' hev TO pay cash fur q still. We'unS
is pore folks around yere, and five or
six men must jine together to buy. IT'S
also agin the law to sell the whisl1ey,
and we must let 1t 60 to traders fur
what they viii pay. 1t must be toted
over the mOuntings ON our backs, and
by the time thst we've got shet Of ten
gallons and divided up the money. no
man has huff to buy a pound o coffee.
and hev free swing. 1t would be clus
work to make q decent livin'."
But you were going to tell me about
the revenue Spies"
"Yes, they cum sneakin' round now
and then" he slowly replied ''The
last time saw one was about q var
aga He cum along purtendin' to- look
fur iron and coal, and he stopped over
at Joe Rutley's fur q hull week. He
talked far 'fnIff, and never once did
he say anything about moonshiners,
but thA boys suspishuns him and kept
their eyes open. The stranger would
be out lookin' aroupd all day, but he
wasn't arter coal and iron No eah.
That was all a. blind. He was jest
tryin to locate our still, and he was a
brave man to cum up yere among US
wi,en he knowed what the penalty
would be. He must hev travelled
around a heap, for it was six or seven
days befo' he hit n right Joe Rutley
follered him for two days and knowed
he wasn't arter coal or iron"
"'H'hen he knew you suspected him?"
I asked.
Reckon not. No, we never let on by
word or look. Yo' see. this yere path
il the only way to get down to OUT
still, and in that bresh heap over thar
we had H,an to watch. or q Saturday.
when 70 Of us war down thar at work
and the stranger out lookin' fur coal and
iron, sunthh1 happened. The spy found
this path wiiar' It starts In by the rocks
and knowed that 1t led to game. The
sentinel heard him cumin', though he
| was on tip- toe, and got ready fur him.
Arter a Dit the Teller showed up right
yere in this openin', and looked this
way and that, and had a cunnin' smile
or his face. YU' kin see that we had
to cat some trees and trim branches,
and as the ravine Is right down thar, 1t
was easy fur him to figser 1t out. Dye
see that mark on that chestnut"
"Yes, plainly"
And the scratch on that soft rook2"
"Yes"
"WaJl, he put 'em both thar with his
knife, SOS to make sure when he cum
asin. Then he was ready to 80. He
hadn't follored down into the ravine,
but he knew what was thar"
"And 80 he went away?" 4
"Yes, his soul went away!" n
| "You-you mean--?"
"But his body stayed right yere!"
| you don't mean that he was shot
DOWN." exclaimed as 7 rose UP.
"Yo, are standan right on his gravel"
said the old man as he knocked the
ashes from his pipe and led the way
along the path.