Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-22
An AmlABle OUTLAW.
4 sympathetic Sketch Of the North Carolina
Moonshincr.

The moonshincr of the North Caro-
lima mountains Is not Yet the sur
vival" he is So often reported az being.
Nor has one the strength Of character
Ia wish him extinct. he is such q
unique malcfactor. Year after year.
generation after generation. he keeps
on distilinE Illicit corn whiskey In
secret places and passing the cup that
cheers and most certainly inebriatcs
to his willing neighbours in defiance OF
Uncle Sam. who declares he shall not
do these things. His is a simple soul
with but two ideas. how to quench
the unquenchable thirst OF the noun
taincers and how to escape the
paw of the great governmental cat
that is always prowling about after
him.
one never sees the typical mountain
,noonshincr without a thrill Of delight.
He may not tie an ornament to So
cicty. hut he certainly ~ To the noun
tainS one meets him on lonely roads.
"A lank figure fearfully and wonderfully
clad in rags. with ragged locks and
FULL ragged beard. coorskin cap on
head. coonskin pouch at side and an
old rifle taller than himself over his
shoulder. Wherever hi goes he has
this rifle. and when you ask him what
he does with IL he looks at you with
guiliess eyes and says he is hunting
squirrels
He is a friendly man as you meet him
on the lonely road. willing To gu "A mile
out of his way to put you right If you
have gone astray. willing TO do any
thing for you as long as he does not
suspect you Of being a revenue as he
calls the officers Of the excise law, or
spy" or an ''informer." as he terms
those over jealous neighbors of his
Vi no for the $40 reward paid for such
service tell Uncle Sans supernumcr-
aries where on SOME lonely mountain
stream To md his guilty still"
II he does suspect you. you will not
meet him on the lonely road nor meet
him at all. but you may get a bullet
through you hat. This is hint that
you are not wanted. For clearness of
meaning il leaves nothing to be de-
sired, and the wise man will act upon
il promptly and without question.
Unless you really are a spy or
suspicious looking stranger you have
nothing to fear at the hands of the
moonshncrs. There are no tramps in
the mountains. and you can wander
safely about the loneiest places sure
of meeting nothing more alarming
than the gentle seeming moonshincr
with his long gun and his friendly
'howdy.'
The stills are always on. or very
close to. running water, and for a
small still very small stream will
cuff hn in
brooks that come rushing down gorgcs
or playing blackly under rhododendron
thickets are as often as not repre-
hcnsiblc in the extreme, their charm
ing courses thickcst with wicked
stills.
When the road was surveyed up
Tyron Mountain not less than half
dozen moonshnc stills were routed on
the little streams that adorn that dig
nified cmincnce. Only the remains of
the stills were found. for by the time
the surveyors got there the watChful
owners had taken away the copper re-
tOrts and the pipes. the only really
valuable parts Of the still. Six little
stills gone off Tyron Mountain means
six little stills set up somewhere else in
the mountains near, for not unless
the retOrt is found and destroyed and
he is too poor to buy another does the
owner of still abandon his fascinat-
ing occupation.
The mOOnshiner calls his Illicit prod
uct blockade" thus attaching to him
self something of the responsibility
and even the hcroism of a man run
ming the blockade against the enemy
In a just cause. No moonshiner thinks
his calling wrong. He considers the
| whtskey tax an abominable extortion,
and says he has right to do as he
pleases with his own corn When his
still is discovered he sometimes argues
the case quickly and to the point with
his gun, but generally he hides away
1t is only from the revenues that he
hides. however; in the case of spy
he seldom spares the bullet and. it is
! as ant to come from behind as from,
anywhere else, the miscreant not being