Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-03-06
SHE SELLS MOUNTAIN DEW.
When the Revenue 0Acers Come to
Arrest Her She Says "Take Me-"

When the Revenue 0Acers Come to
Arrest Her She Says ''Take Me-"
From the Atlanta Evening Constitution.
Betsy Mullens is the largest woman in
Tennessee. She lives in a little log house
on top Of Newman's ridge, in the noun
tains OF Hancock county, where she earns
living by the sale Of illicitly distilled
" Risky in open defiance Of the government
officers, who have time and again been sent
to arrest her, but have never been success
full. Her avoirdupois is about $40 pounds,
and this accounts for the woman never
having been arrested.
1t was in the fall of the year just passed
that 1 visited the Mullens home. in COM
pany with the revenue officers from Knox
vile. The place where she lives Is sixteen
miles from the railroad, and by no means
easy of access AS you near the foot of the
ridge where the woman lives you can see
her cabin on the top. A conveyance can
not wend its way to the home, and those
who wish to see the largest woman in Ten
nessee, and one who has caused more talk
than any other woman in the state, have
to leave their conveyance behind and make
1t on foot up the steep mountain side.
Approaching the house. the first thing
out Of the ordinary which attracted my
attention were four mounds in the back
yard, which, upon inquiry, l learned were
the graves of her husband and three sons,
the latter having given up their lives in
mountain fights and had been buried in the
yard, where the mother could turn from
her bed in the little house and gaze at the
spots which contained beneath their grassy
sod all that was mortal of those who were
SO near and dear to her.
For years the woman has been bedrid-
den. Not that she is sick, but her i'm
E;ense size Is such that she is unable to
walk or move around like other people.
Her husband was for years an invalid, and
the family was without visible means of
RptSv conceived
selling whisky. There are any number of
Illicit stills in the mountains near by, and
just across the line in Kentucky, and with
their operators Betsy made arrangements
for her supply of mountain dew 1t is
brought to her in stone jugs, and from her
bedside she can reach down and pour out
any amount of whisky which the patrons
of her place may desire.
In open defiance of the law has Mrs.
Mullens carried on this method of liquor
selling for years. The federal grand jury
has indicted her time after time, and off,
GERS have been sent to arrest her, but that
was all. They would come to her bedside
and serve the papers, but could not take
her to court or to jail.
Her size baffied them. 1t would take half
a dozen strong men to carry her out OF the
house, and when the outside was reached
they would not be able to get her to the
road at the bottom of the ridge. as 1t is
impossible to get wagon to the top, where
her cabin is located.
Every tinie the officers call at the house
she simply laughs and says, Take me if
you can" The officers cannot take her, and
that is the end of 1t.
In Mrs. Mullens will be found the per-
sonification of ignorance. Her knowledge
of the world is confined to q radius of three
miles of her home. She was born near the
place where she lives, and has never been
off the ridge. Never saw the little county
town of Tazewell, the county seat of Taze-
well county, and has never seen a railway
II ain, although she is at present nearing
the fifteth milestone of her monotonous
life. She delights in having visitors call
to see her and talks interestingly.
During all the years that Mrs. Mullens
has been confined to her bed she has seen
her three sons and husband pass to the
beyond. She could not attend the funeral
services at the little church, which is sit
uated several miles from her home and
the funeral services. if such they might be
called, We're held in the rooms where the
mother and wife lay On the bed, and their
bodies were laid to rest just outside the
door In the back yard, where she could
witness the interment.
The woman takes her misfortune good
naturally, and says that she will continue
the sale of whisky until her time to die
has come, and then she. too, expects to be
laid to rest beside the bodies of her hus-
band and sons in the little plot in the bac k
yard, known the family burying ground
of the Mullens family.