The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-06-19
Plenty OF Wildcat stills.

Cyclone Streak.
Plenty of wildcat stills.
so far as know, and so far back as
the records run, nothin very good has
ever come out of Cyclone Streak, unless
it mought be few great gobs of fun.
It is a wild and rough and reckless
scope of country, with strange and
pecurious people. The woods are full
of wildcat stills, and they make moon
shine whisky in them parts even unto
the third and fourth generations. 1t
would seem like everybody is kin to
everybody else in Cyclone Streak. 1t
would seem like the revenue officers
got in there amongst EN- and found
big copper still and two or three barrels
of white ink" as Aunty Lucas were
wont to say. They tore up the still and
emptied the barrels right there on the
spot. In the meantime they had run
in on Billy Bledsoe and two or three
of the Hankins boys runnin the thing
in the dead hours of night-caught EN-
in the act, as it were. So consequential
ly Billy Bledsoe and the Hankins boys
have now gone to Jail in reply to papers
of compliment from the general gov
ernment.
But from what they say about it
neither one of the gang lSnowed any
thing for certain about the still to start
with. They had started en- a camp
:ish that night and jest happened to
stumble up on the ding thing" over
there in the swamp Under the circum-
ference of the surroundins they didn't
think ii was any harm to shove up the
chunks and take a drink in passin.
That is the way they sung the song at
first, but the revenue officers were
on the trail, and they het the
ground so hot under the boys till they
had to change the time. Then they all
owned up to running the still for
that one round, but they swore
the thing belonged to old man Steve
Hankins, the uncle of the HanI<ins boys.
Now old man Steve swears he never
heard tell of the concern before. To
hear him tell it. he never did sec but one
wildcat still in all of his born days, and
that belonged to old Buck Ridley.
Since writin the above Luke Blcdsoc,
a secont cousin to Billy, rid by to tell
me that old mar Steve Hankins is POW
talkin through different hat. The
revenue men come down on him last
Saturday and called on him for the his
tory of that still. Whereas old man
Steve went over there in the swamp
and examined the shattered fragments
of the thing and then swore by the
Iivin and the dead that it was the prop
erty of old Buck Ridley-the same one
which he had borrowed to make a run
13 years ago this summer. Neverthe-
less, old man Steve had to pack up few
dirty duds and go to jail.
BY this time things are warmin up
considerable over there in Cyclone
Streak. / am lookin every day to hear
from old Buck Ridley, which, accordin
to the evidence in the case, he is the
man which owns the still at the present
writin. But when you get the next
news / will bet the best mule on the
place that old man Buck never owned
no wildcat still. Raley don't reckon
he would know one if he was to meet
it in the gig road.
AS everybody knows there are
stills and stills-plenty of stills over
would seem like they don't belong to
anybody in particular. Billy Bledsoc
and the Hankins boys got caught run
min the machinery and climbin up
around the producements thereof, but
they jest Mapped to find the ding
thing" If it didn't jest naturally grow
up there out of the ground, reckon
the last cyclone must of blowed it in
from somewheres up in the hin country.
1t may be that the revenue men thinI
they have got dead open-and-shut case
for the government but they don't know
the people of Cyclone Streak. They
may break few kindred ties, and bring
en- general family disturbance, and
blow in a whole lot Of time and money
But finally at last they will find out
that that wildcat still has belonged to
everybody in Cyclone Streak more or
less. but to nobody for certain.