The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-28
FIND AN ABLE DEFENDER.
GENERAL LONGSTREET TAKES UP
THE CUDGEL FOR INCONSISTENCIES.

They Believe They Have the Right
to Manufacture whIsky-MOst of
Them Are Harmless and Peace
Loving Citizens-Possess Excellent
Qualities That Command Admit
ration.
From the Detroit Free Press.
''The terrible mountain moonshiner
is not the terrible desperate he is
painted by writers of romance and men
who have never come in contact with
him." said Gen. James Longstreet. the
present railroad commissioner and
United States marshal for Georgia
back in the '7Os, to Washington corr
respondent. II have lived among these
people and 1 dislike to hear them con-
demned as a whole simply because a
few among them show a spirit of law
lessness. The mountaineer, and es-
pecially those of Georgia, is a harm
less, peaceable fellow until cornered,
when he will fight like a demon for
his liberty, and do not know but that
this trait is to be admired rather than
condemned. They are mostly descend
ants of the old pioneers who came from
South Carolina and Virginia and set
tied when the Indians were yet in Geor-
gia. They are people who love ND
erty and freedom with an earnest ana
honest love only second to that which
they have for their God. In their es-
timation a man who is dishonest and
will lie is the lowest and meanest or
creatures"
War Upon Revenue Agents.
'"The first shot fired at a revenue off,
Ger in Georgia was on June 10, 1879,
and 1 believe that from that day to
this the moonshiners have kept COM
pact to show no quarter to revenue off,
GERS and spies. On that date James
Findley, a brave deputy marshal who
lived at my Gainesville-wa
was making a raid with a posse on the
Illicit distillery of old man Jacob
Shane, near Leather'S Ford, place
where John C. Calhoun and other pub
lie men frequently visited many years
ago, when the gold fever was at it's
fury in that section. Jacob Shane had
extracted the juice of the corn for years
unmolested and when Ffndley and his
men went in search of the still they
were met with a shower of leaden balls
from the mountain sides. Findley's
horse was shot from under him and he
received two ugly wounds in the leg,
and others of the raiders were slightly
injured. The sound of the rifles had
scarcely sent echoes through the noun
tains before there were wild yells of a
half hundred mountaineers. who gave
chase and followed some of the raid
ers almost into the very heart of
Gainesville. The wounding of Findley,
who was one of the best known young
men in Georgia, caused great deal of
feeling and United States troops were
ordered to that section, but the SOL
diers got no farther than Gainesville,
and had they gone into the mountains
they would have been met by armed
mountaineers who could and would
have killed many of them from their
hiding places in the crags. Why, with
their old long rifles the mountain boys
could have plucked away at the SOL
diers and they would have never known
where the leaden missiles came from.
Let me tell you, when a mountaineer
pulls bead on an object with one of
those long rifles death is sure to fol-
low. The mountaineers are taught to
handle a rifle from their very infancy
and some of the women can shoot just
as true as the men too.
Think Their Cause Right.
after a time the soldiers returned to
healthy to make a tour Of the noun
tains, and things quieted down. 1t is
reasonable to suppose that some of
these same people are still making
moonshine whisky and I guess it will
be made to the end of time, for they
believe they have the inalienable right
to do as they please with the proceeds
| of their own labor. The law that mo-
Tests them in the exercise of this right
fhaU consider fUr1 Tlninal apH
pressive and they will fight even unto
death. The moonshiner is by nature
hospitable and kind, but he has no
love for a revenue officer and spy. He
looks upon a stranger with suspicion,
but when convinced that the newcom-
er is not a hated 'revenuer he is taxi
en- in and given the best treatment
possible, in every instance refusing to
accept pay for lodging or meals. They
| are an honest people and make their
living by the sweat of their brow. For
women they have the highest respect
and the toughest mountaineer is gentle
and quiet in their presence. They will
not permit any man to insult or treat
a woman with unkindness, for they
consider man the natural protector of
woman. In almost every instance
where there has been bloodshed at one
of their mountain frolics the cause has
been traced to the offering or an in
suit to some woman. That a noun
taineer treats his women folk as
slaves and allows his animal nature
and pursuit of material and selfish
happiness to dominate is entirely I'M
true and rank Islander upon a people
who have good and noble traits of
character. The priceless gem of virtue
is as sacredly and dearly priced by
them as any people on earth and he
who casts slur upon woman is made
to pay the penalty in short order.
Profit I'm the Business.
MANY of the mountaineers are well
to do, but majority of them exc out
a mere existence by cultivating small
patches of ground, fishing, hunting
and making Illicit whisky. The soil in
the mountain counties is very poor and
it takes the most faithful work to raise
even enough corn, potatoes, oats, veg
etables and tobacco for home consump-
ton, and the rough roads over the
mountains make 1t difficult to cart
the stuff to market. The mountaineer
has always believed that it was his
right to distill his own corn into whis-
ky, which is easily transported to mar
ket and which will bring him from