The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-21
TOOK HIS PIPE AND SAT- DOWN BY THE WINDOW

trate the wilderness thus far calls them
under his breath 'Po white trash
Living away from the great centers
of trade. away from the busy life to
the north, east, south and west, these
people are not, nevertheless, simple
Arcadians, trusting. guileless, and hos
pitable. The wayfarer receives scant
welcome among them. His coming is
viewed with suspicion and his depart
ure often FASTENED by a curt request.
For the explanation of this conduct
ask of the incense arising from some
secluded nook; of the barrels consigned
as 'molasses," though no cane is
raised; of the streams redolent with the
odor of spiritus frumenti. 1 say, ask
them, for I will not answer. Many a
revenue officer with more curiosity
than discretion has failed to report to
Uncle Sam the cause thereof. Some
times 1t was because he did not stay
long enough; sometimes because he
stayed too long; but mainly it was be-
cause he could not dodge the bullets
from the ulerring muzZleloader of the
moOnshiner. Yea 1--WE cry it not from
the housetops) here thrives the worm"
which is probably a degenerate de-
scendant of that biblical reptile which
''biteth like a serpent and stingeth like
an adder" The obstinate soil, which
aided by bucolic arts alone, would
scarcely feed mule is able, with the
assistance of a wildcat STILL" no
larger than a lunch counter coffee
boiler. to supply half the neighborhood,
give employment to four or five reve-
nue. officers and keep the community
in a state of terror. Poor crops. low
prices and no market furnish the ex-
cuse for Illicit distilling, and woe be
unto him who fails to see in this eX-
cuse a God-given reason for the re-
mission of the tax.
Ono - Of in,
November a stranger arrived at Per-
simmon Gap and engaged board at old
man YeldelIS No one knew whence
he came, except that the fast mail had
dropped him at the Merton water-tank
twelve miles to the south. He was evil
desely from the north; first, because
his accent betrayed him; second, be-
cause ne ate sparingly of the pork,
heavy biscuits and cornbread, and
drank three glasses of milk with each
meal. His white hands, his hair, which
refused to stay parted on one side, and
a certain ineradicable polish told in
spite of jeans trousers and hickory
shirt, that he was a well-bred city man
Besides. he paid his board for a month
in advance.
What northern city he hailed from
no one was able to decide. Many a
guess was hazarded, but the stranger
smoked aromatic tobacco in his short
briar pike and preserved a sphinx.like
silence. Bill Hornday, who had brought
him over from Merton, was interro-
gated, but the inquiry was about as
satisfactory as Il one of Bills mules
had been put on the stand.
Wal L dunno nothin' baout it,"
quoth Bill, as he tore off a large chew
of ''homespun." Il taken a bale o. cot
ton down 10 the deppo when the pas
senger come in. He steps an axes me
VIVA / wuz a-goin'. I tol' him, an he
ak me af the town growed much lately.
1 tor him 'twant no town; onl bad
place in the road, an he say he guess
he come, an he came"
''Wha' did he come from?'
He never say. Feared like he didn't
AK no questions an didn't answer none,
neither" And Bill shifted his quid un-
easily.
The community received little in
formation from this source 4 few OF
the faithful deputized Mort Reed to
take the strangers confession. and, in
the absence of complete satisfaction.
TO hint more or less pointedly that Per-
simmon Gap was too small field for
his abilities. Morris position as the
supposed leader of the wildcats"
made it eminently fitting and proper
that he should be the inquisitor- gen
eral.
The stranger was sitting on the
chopping- block Of Yeldell's woodpile,
smoking his pipe and tossing chips at
q couple OF pups that were wrestling
with one another. His fierce pale face
had an expression of dreamy medita-
ton. His clear gray eyes had an in
Irrespective look, and. while they were