The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-10-31
THE MAN WITH A NOSE.

YES. the reVenOO fellerS played all
sorts OF tricks on me when was in
the moonshine business" said the old
North Carolinian, as we preached the
subject of illicit distilling. land 1 had
to be on the watch all the time to
escape bein' nabbed.
"One day a Teller appeared at the
cabin who said he was an artist and
wanted to paint some mountain scenery
fur one O. the richest men in New York.
He drawed a pictur' of the old woman
on paper. and was so handy about it
that l reckoned he was all right. He
went to stop with Dan Shaw, and he
had paints and breshes and things, and
used to work away by the hour. No
body was mindin' him in the least,
wnen my ole woman speaks up all of a
sudden and says:
Sam, hev yo' took a good look at
that artists nose vit?''
Not SO very Dertickler. Why?"
'.Bekase it was made fur sniffin' out
moonshir:e stills. and he's allus snuffin'
about He's out on Bald Hill every
1nawnin' soon arter daylight to sniff
the wind. and he's gwine to find yo'r
still befo' another week has passed.
could smell the mash myself this
mawnin' when 1 opened the doah.'
THAT set me to thinkin," said the
old man, land jest made up my mind
to lay low. took TO, kaigs of whisky
from the still and hid 'em in the ra-
vine, and then l got Dan Shaw's old
est gal to watch the path and gin the
alarm. Fur two days nuthin' hap
pened. Then the gal cum down to the
still and said a big bear was rollin' the
kaigs around and try1n' to bust 'em
open. I started off to once, but when 1
reached the spot thar was three bars
thar. They had knocked one of the
kaigs around til it had busted open,
and they was lappin up the whisky as
If it was SO much water. l hadn't any
gun with me, and as l had never seen
a drunken bar in my life l jest kept
quiet and let 'em go ahead
And did they get drunk?" was
asked.
"They did, sah-got drunk as regular
as three men. It was a sight to make
yo' laugh all over. I reckon every one
and it was con mash whisky without
any water in it. At first they was
mighty jolly and went dancin' around
and tumblin' over each other, but arter
awhile they got out O. sorts, same as
men do. The biggest varnint of the
three wanted mo- whisky, but the other
two thought he'd had huff and kept
him off. They was gittin' ready fur a
row when that artist cum Sneakin'
down a side ravine. He was on the
trail of my still, and right thar he was
within five hundred feet of it,
And he ran up against the bears,
of cOurse?"
Most shorely he did, sab. He was
right among them bars befo' he knowed
it, and they was powerful tickled 10 see
| him. They looked at him fur a spell, as
l
and then they went in to hev some fun.
The big bar reached out and got hold
of him and begun to dance around, and
fur awhile the artist was too skeered to
holler. When he did begin to yell yo'
could hev heard him for a mile, but the
mo- he hollered the mo- it seemed to
i tickle the bars When one got tired of
waltzin him around another was ready
to begin, and bin1eby the Teller got so
weak that his legs gin out and he fell
| in a heap"
But didn't the bears hurt him?'
mot a hurt, sab. That is, they didn't
bite nor claw him. They did roll him
around purity rough, though, and fur
| the last ten rninits he was in dead
| faint and purity nigh naked. I wasn't
gwine to interfere, even if they had be-
gun to eat him. and / wasn't gwine to
harm the critters who had done me SIGH
a good turn. However, my old woman
| had heard the runapus up at the cabin,
| and as she Gums down to see what-was
! the matter the bars got sight of her
and staggered off. When she seen the
artist a-lyin' thar and l had told her
the rest, she draps down on her knees
and thanks the Lawd and seq:
Sam he's got the nose of spy, and
a spy I told yo' he was. The critter
may call hisself the Governor of No'tn
Carolleny, but yo' jest look at his nose
befor' yo' trust him and take him fur
a fule.' M Quad.