Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1901-08-02

They ne'er saw that soul of his,
(For it's wrinkled chrysalis
That was gashed and tore with it)
Sick to loathing with the knotted
Satyr-scented and besotted
Body that it bore with it.
Poor, dead flesh that lay in pain
Claiming what was Paul Ver1aine.
Post. Wheeler in New York Press.
Moonshiner Unique Among Criminals.
Margaret w. Morley, writing of the
moonshiners of North Carolina, says
the childlike simplicity of these people
never ceases to astonish the sophisti-
Gated northerner. That woman told
me all the family secrets about moon
shining during the three-quarters of
an hour that sat with her. 1t trans
pired that all the family were repro
bates-from the point of view of the
law. And yet they were not; they were
ignorant, kind-hearted mountaineers,
Quite as good as their neighbors in
livery respect but the one, and perhaps
even there they who made were not
much worse than they who drank but
did not dare to make. All the children
of this family had been baptized, and
they went to preaching" whenever
there was a preacher in the Church
house," a mile and half away. The
moonshiner is one of those contradict
tions that make life so puzzling. I
have known a good many since that
day and have always found them the
same simple-hearted people, honest,
kind, glad to see friend, quick to
make friends. Yet, interfere in any
way with his business and the moon
sinner is demon. He will not hest
tate a moment to shoot, and when he
does shoot it is to kill. The moon
shine districts are always full of
tragedy. The still is usually at the
back of those vendettas that have been
SO thrillingiy and so often described in
the newspapers. If two moonshiners
fall out one is very apt to report the
others still. The reporter is promptly
shot by the man betrayed, who in turn
is shot by a member Of the murdered
mans family. This murder is in like
manner avenged and SO a blood feud is
started that may last for generations
and until the males on both sides are
exterminated with the exception of a
single survivor who owes his safety
to the fact that there is nobody left to
kill him. OF course, not all the blood
feuds start in this way but most of
them do and most of the others are
in some way connected with the use
of whisky. Yet one sees almost no
drunkenness. Indeed, I do not remem-
Der to have seen a drunken man in
the mountains. Young and old, male
ad fem.le use the homemade liquor
without any perceptible i'll effect. Per-
haps their consciences have something
to do with their immunity-they do
not know they are doing wrong. To
them whisky means no more than
water. BY that I mean there is no
stigma attached to its use; they speak
of it with perfect frankness and they
simply cannot understand the point of
view of one who considers its use
crime. The efforts of the government
to suppress the moonshiner make one
think of very large man in hopeless
pursuit of a very small flea. Down
comes the ponderous hand right over
is somewhere else. The moonshiner
knows his mountains; when he is
caught, he isn't caught. If he is
wise man, instead of shooting and
really getting into trouble, he stands
out of sight in the bushes and watches
the revenues cut up his still. He also
watches them search-in vain-for the
stuff he has hidden OUT and which
Is far more valuable than the still that
made it. Before his enemy's back is
fairly turned he has another still IN
full operation, a little farther up the
Itream, perhaps, or on another equally
convenient water course, for often the
1noonshiner has an extra resort in
safe place in case some accident should
hefall the one in use. Naturally the
state lines are favorite moonshiner To-
calities, for when the skein of his life
becomes tangled by revenues and spies
tae moonshiner needs another state
handy to step into where he can medi-
ate in peace and incidentally attend to
ne spirituous needs of his brethren.