The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1897-04-22
SHE SELLS MOUNTAIN DEW.
When the Revenue Officers Come to Ar
rest Her, She Says, Take Me-"


rest Her. She Says, ''Take Me-"
Betsy Mullens is the largest wom-
an in Tennessee. She lives in a lit
tie log house on top of 'Newman's
ridge, in the mountains of Hancock
county, where she earns living by
the sale of illicitly distilled whisky
in open defiance of the government
officers, who have time and again
been sent to arrest her, but have
never been successful. Her avoirdu-
pois is about $40 pounds, and this
accounts for the woman never hav-
ing been arrested.
1t was in the fall that visited the
Mullens home in company with the
revenue officers from Knoxville.
The place where she lives is 16 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 cannot wend its way to
the home, and those who wish to
see the largest woman in Tennessee
and one who has caused more talk
than any other woman in the state
have to leave their conveyance be-
hind and make it on foot up the
steep mountain side.
Approaching the house, the first
thing out of the ordinary which at
tracted my attention were four
mounds in the back yard, which,
upon inquiry, 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 We're so near and dear to
her.
For years the woman has been
bedridden, not that she is sick, but
her immense 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 sup
port until Betsy conceived the idea
of selling whisky. There are any
number of illicit stills in the noun
tains near by and just across the
line in Kentucky, and with their OPP
orators 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 fed
eral grand jury has indicted her
time after time, and officers have
been sent to arrest her, but that was
all. They would go 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 dozen strong men to car
ry 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 it is i'm
possible to get wagon to the top,
where her cabin lis located.
Every time 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 it.
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 stu
ated several miles from her home,
and the funeral services, if such
they might be called, were 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 I'M
til 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 back yard, known as the bury
ing ground of the Mullens family
Atlanta Constitution.
She Wasn't a Lady.
The English paDorS foil q glory,