The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-10

aged the making of charges in order that
they may earn the resulting fees. The
deputy marshals and the clerks MAKE
their incomes from serving processes, ar
rests, mileage, etc., and without prisoners
their incomes would fall off.
A moonshiner who admits that he has
spent twenty-five years in the business
and whose boast is that he has made 49,
900 gallons of whiskey that has never
paid a cent Of revenue to the Government
is now serving @ six months sentence In
the Jail here. He is "Cage" G. Muse, and
he glories in his record. Yet his rewards
have been small, for even his vainglor1ouS
boast sets no higher value upon the liquor
he has produced than $4,000. To make
this wh1skey, he says, he has been arrest
ed thirty three times and has served
dozen or more terms in jails or pen1ten-
tiaries, including one sentence in Missouri
and one in Kansas. He has taken part in
twenty fights with revenue officers and
proudly owns up to having killed three
men and wounded @ score or more. Like
many habitual moonshiners, he boasts o
his exploits and very coolly related the
story of his life the other day.
II was born," Muse said, Sin Pulaski
years ago. Ny father and mother lived
on a little farm. When was IA years Of
age my father died, and then mother and
l worked the farm for three years. Moth
er married again at the end of that time,
and my stepfather and did not get along
well together. He accused me once of
setting the revenue officers OH his track
for selling whiskey, and [ took down q
rifle and fired shot at him. l missed
and l set out for the hills. I had no kin
folks and there was no place for me to go
to. One night stopped in a little valley,
where had found cabin Back OF 1t
was still During my life among the
moonshiners of Pulaski, for that is one of
the biggest moonshine counties in the
state, had learned considerable about
making whiskey and could run doub-
ling as we'll as the best of them. l saw
the owner had become scared by the reye-
nue. officers and had abandoned the still
for good. I concluded to take possession
and did so. In a short time I had run
out a lot of ..the wh1test whlskey had
ever seen. 1t was prime stuff, and did
not have the slightest trouble in ceiling 1t
at 81. so gallon. WE'LL sir, l worked
there for four months and made on rise
of 400 gallons. The whole batch ! sold for
$500. This gave me a start, and bought
u good little still and became one of the
mpneyed men of the community.
"But the officers had feared that I was
there, for by this time I had made many
friends, and the old folks were glad to
claim me again. The shooting was for
gotten as soon as began to get money. ]
soon had to move and transferred my still
six miles north to Casey county, on Little
Deer Creek. Here 1 got a job to fur
nish 400 gallons of whiskey to an Eastern
man. / made the stuff in six weeks, and
got 5000 for it. A licensed disti1ler
bought it. But the people in that section
did not take kindly to me, and. after l
had shot follow in the shoulder and bit
nff ha oh Of thar
was forced to leave. At this time / had
fight with fellow l beat in a horse
trade, and he shot me here in the mout
where you see this scar. ] didn't have
my gun with mo or he would never have
seen daylight again.
Much of MUSES. story is corroborated by
the Federal Court officials who have got
Macdonald said that one man Muse shot
in Casey county died soon afterward of
blood poisoning resulting from the
wound, but somehow or other the desper-
ado escaped conviction. He knows Muse |
to be one of the worst moon sinners with |
whom the authorities have had to deal, |
and he has heard many remarkable stories |
of the man.
OF quite different type of revenue VIC. |
lator is prisoner now in Louisville Jail. |
He is George Rowe of Madison county |
and is only IS years old. His offence was
not making whiskey, but selling without |
q license. He is confined in the Jail with
fifty moonshiners.
Il didn't do anything wrong" said |
Rowe. IA man told me if would de-
liver jug of whiskey for him he would
give me n quarter. l was saving money
to puy my sohoolhooks with and wanted |
to make all I could. So took the fellow
up and delivered the stuff all right. l |
also collected for it and returned the
money to the man who hired me. The |
marshals heard of this and arrested ME.
I'm getting pretty tir d of living down
there in Madison court. / thought l |
would try to make sonnet ng out of my
self. At any rate 1 made up my mind
that | would keep out of Jail. If I'm
cleared I'm going to move to another
If l have to leave home.
Rowe is a handsome little fellow, with
black hair and big blue eyes. He spends
his time playing tricks on his fellow pris-
oners Hundreds of persons are arrested
every year whose cases are similar to his.