The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-28
MAKING MooNSHINE.
THE "COPPER,o THE "WORM,, AND
 THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN.
Many Stills in the Picturesque Noun
 tains of Georgia and North CaroIi-

tains of Georgia and North CnroIi.
 
 It's cornmeal when it goes in and it s
 proof liquor when it comes out. It's a
 little worm on the mountain top, and
 a man behind gun. It's keep youl
 eye on guard twenty-four hours to the
 day, and come out at the end of the ' year as poor as the duly respectable
 farmer your neighbor. It's a risky
 business all the way through, but when
 it comes right down to the fascination
 it's the ideal. It's ''moonshine whis-
 key" that's what 1t is and it grows in
 the country where ther ain't no Ten
 Commandments and man can raise a
 thirst
 The moonshiner is an ignorant coun-
 tryman, very uncouth in appearance,
 but as shrewd as Connecticut Yan- kee. He is also a prince of hospitality, as may be said of nearly all of the Georgia and North Carolina mountain eers. He lives with a sword of Damo- cles constantly suspended above his head, and no one is more conscious of this fact than he is. As he is in daily almost hourly, fear of detection, he re- gards every one with more or less sus- picion; even his best friends and mem-s bers of his own family are sometimes. and with good reason, suspected of Jtreachery. Every stranger who arrives in the neighborhood is looked upon as possible revenue officer. and. every knock on the door of his dwelling is an- swered with inward feelings of doubt and nervousness.
 The reader must not infer from this that the moonshiner is coward, for he is not. As rule he resolutely opposes any interference with his calling, even to the shedding of blood, if this can be accomplished without too much risk of detection
 During the year 1900 1955 illicit distil- leries were seized by revenue officers within the United States. Of this num- Der 673 were located in Georgia and 483 in North Carolina. Nearly all the rest were distributed in the order given, I over the states of Alabama, Virginia, | South Carolina, Kentucky Tennessee, | Arkansas and Mississippi. It is proba- bic that the total number seized did not | represent more than one-half of the il- licit stills in active operation. The to- tai seizures in the ten years last past have been 16.O57.
 Georgia leads all other states by near ly two. to one, In one district alone the ninth--54S illicit stills were captured | during the above mentioned period. | Rabun county, situated on the northern | border of this district and of the state | may be, called the hub center of the | moonshine whskey traffic of the coun- try Ninety per cent. of it's population either owns, operates, deals in, furnish es material for or consumes the pro- duct of the large number of illicit stills within it's bounds. As may well be inl- agined, no person, however worthy and we'll qualified he may be. can hold an office or position of trust in this county unless he sympathizes with the moon- shine faction.
 The extreme northern part of the state of Georgia contains some of the toughest. widest and, most grandly beautiful scenery in the Union. this region are numberless high mountains, roaring torrents, deep sorges and almost impenetrable laurels. Amid such picturesque surroundings in the most inaccessible parts, at some distance from public roads and trails he moonshiner sets up his still. The < spot chosen is in most cases in the twi- ;