Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-08-05
COL. w. G. RUTLEDGE.
A Noted Revenue Man Re-
signs.
STORY OF Gus THOMAS AND HIS
DIsTILLERY.

Col. w. G. Rutledge, general
deputy collector for Middle and
West Tennessee, q man who has
the distinction Of being the second
general deputy collector who ever
llVed to serve more than five
years, the others sooner or later
meeting their fate from moon.
sinner, has resigned. One of the
finest piece of work done by the
revenue men under the leadership
Of Col. Rutledge was the utter
routing out of a nest of West Ten.
nessee moonshiners, of which Gus
Thomas, who is now serving o life
sentence in the State penitentiary
was the ringleader. Ed Thomas,
a nephew of Gus Thomas, was
killed in one of the battles with
the gang. Dick Thomas is serv-
ing a life sentence in the peniten.
tiary and Bob Thomas has gone to
Indian Territory. George Davis,
another of the ringleaders, is do
ing a four-years' term i n the
Federal prison at Columbus, Ohio.
The other members of the gang
were either arrested and placed
in the penitentiary, or fed the
State forever.
There were q number of raids
made on the gang which was do
ing moonshining business near
Red Sulphur Springs, in Hardin
County. They had often boasted
that the revenue men were afrai d
to come after them, and, indeed,
it seemed that there was some
ground for their boast, as the of.
ficers never ventured too near
that locality. The first raid was
made on the morning of Saturday
Feb. 2, 1895. In the posse were
Col. Keller Anderson, now Colon
ell of the Second Tennessee Regi.
ment; John II. Trice, one of the
Prison Commissioners; Bill Rob-
ertson, Jim Lloyd, Joe Parks and
James Lightfoot, besides about
twenty other men.
Story of the Raid.
The meu arrived near the distil.
lery of Gus Thomas in the early
morning in the face of a blinden
ing snow and a cold wind. DIS
mounting they hid their horses
and started on foot. 1t was first
decided to postpone the attack
until daylight, but the men sur
rounding the house in which the
! Thomas boys were sleeping, said
T that they could not hold out much
longer in the face of the biting
= cold, so the destruction of the
, still was begun at once. The mer
= in the house soon found some
thing was going on, and as soon
: as stir was made inside the
3 house, the officers knocked on the
, doors, demanding admittance. AT
ter some delay the doors were
opened by the women of the
household, but the officers fount
that their game had fed, or more
a properly burrowed out, for al
f open trap door told the story O
the flight. Rushing outside, the
@ officers saw the fleeing forms o
the moonshiners and opened fire
which was responded to by thu
I moonshiners as they ran. Pro
7 ceeding to the still of Ed Thomal
! a few miles away, it was also de
stroyed, though no one was fount
there.
The raid in which Ed ThomaI
1 lost his life was not made until tn,
l following December, by which
q time the moonshiners had man
= aged to get their stills in operation
;, again, and were as full of blustel
i as ever. A posse composed o
b many of the same gallant officer
d who had made the previous de
scent came upon Ed Thomas as h
was at work. AS soon as h
caught sight of the officers ant
g heard their command, "hands up,
e he brought his Winchester rifle t
3 his shoulder, but just as he did e
. he fell fatally wounded. Befor
= he died Ed Thomas confessed tina
IT he did wrong in not surrenderinl
h and also stated that his wife ha
q been all along opposed to his bus
p ness, and for her sake he was sol
> ry to die in this way.