The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-20
NOTED MOONSH|NER
 CAPTURED AT LAST
"OId Tom" Lilly Defed Officers
 for Many Years
STILL IN THE ALLEGHANIES
Hidden in a Cave of the Mountains Lilly and Ills Two Sons Made Whisky In Spite of the
 Revenue Officers.
Special Dispatch to the Cincinnati En

Special Dispatch to the Cincinnati En- quirer.
 Huntington, W. Va.-Not since the cap ture of that famous North Carolina out lawed moonshiner Redmond, several years ago, have revenue circles been so stirred as by the capture of West Vir- ginia's most noted and oldest moonshiner,
 'Old Tom Lilly. who has operated Illicit stills back in the Alleghanies in both | Raleigh and Mercer counties, near the Virginia line. The capture of Lilly and his two sons. Young Tom" and Elias, was effected by Deputy United States Marshal Dan Cunningham and a posse of raiders, without single shot, as 1t was accomplished through strategy, the plans being laid as far back as last sum- mer.
 The reason that a deep laid plain was used to capture the Lillys was because they hod sworn that they would never be taken alive; and when cornered in Ral- eigh county in 1898, on Glades creek, had killed Captain Kelly, shot Revenue Agent Max Whitten through both legs and wounded two of the posse, after battle in which over fifty shots had been fired on both sides. Several times had the revenue officers and the Lillys met in deadly encounter, with the result that the moonshiners, sheltered behind rocks, had pumped lead from their Winchesters into the officers at fearful cost of life.
 Almost ImpregnabIe.
 Back in the coves of the Alleghanies, where the Flat Top mountain. a spur on the noted range which Is the dividing line | between this state and the Old Dominion rises in a sky line of $500 feet above sea level. is the favorite haunt of the West | Virginia moonshiners.
 | Some seventy-fve miles from any rail- road, with only mountain road or two, and they almost impossible for even the stoutest wagons, where the head waters of the Bluestone river cut their way down the gorges, being little more than dry and rocky channels in late summer, and raging mountain torrents in the winter when the snow is melted by warm rains; where the laurels grow so thick that l man cannot work his way through them | unless he knows the hidden pathways, | Is where for the past twenty years ! "Old Tom Lilly and his sons | have run their stills in comparative safety from the lynx-eyed revenue agents, or 'spys" as they are called by | the moonshiner.
 Time and again have the officers been so close on the track of Lillys still that
 1t was necessary for him to hunt new | quarters; but for the past five years he | has made and disposed of his illicit 1 corn juice" whisky with its pine top | flavor. without the keenest of the gov ernment men, having the slightest idea as to where he had finally located his still. Last spring Max Whitten, one of the bravest and keenest nosed men who | even hunted the moonshiner in his lair
 was put to work locating Lilly's last | stand. Disgusting himself as a hunter | and fisherman, he went to this section of the state In the edge of Mercer coun- | ty and began his hunt for the Lillys | hiding place.
 The only other inhabitant of this sec- tion Is the "Seng' digger, who with his log cabin and small clearing around it. perched on the side of the foothills. eking l out a mere existence, is the moonshiner. | It was here that Whitten fished, hunted | and watched. In one of the many ra- | vines of the mountain he often saw smoke arising, but for weeks he could | not locate 1t. When he did he found. at l Ait lOOI ol Ont Ol the ldiiS Oi d tHeIl uIy stream an opening to cave above which, on a ridge, faint smoke was often seen to issue from a crevice in the rocks.
 Finally Saw the Cave.
 Getting into the good graces of the Lilly family Whitten was finally shown | mountain, having another entrance. In | this cave were large chambers, and in one of these was Lilly's copper still, its worm being covered. when running, with fresh, pure water, which Is ever found in these | subterranean creek beds, which form the caves of the Alleghanies. It was here | that the grain was brought to make the
 mash" the wood to run the still and ! the kegs in which were placed the
 mountain dew" before 1t was taken by | long and laborious routes to the nearest | settlements for disposal.
 Whitten returned with his secret, but 1t was not until winter laid its icy hand upon these bleak mountains that the of | ficers dared to risk capture. So 1t was only recently that Cunningham and his | posse travelled over the rough, unguarded | roads, crept upon the Lillys at work and | captured them, the still and its appara- tus without the loss of life. The Lillys | were taken to Charleston ard lodged In jail and will have their trial at the April I term of the United States district court l In this city.
 This capture will likely put an end to | extensive moonshining in the state. The | Deepwater railway, branch of the Wa | bash system, is being driven into the very heart of this country, as is a branch | of the Chesapeake and ohio. They will | open up the fine and famous coal fields | of that section. and open to the markets the wondrous timber that stands so thick and so large in the mountain coves. | With the shril whistle of the locomo- | tive, the rattle of mining machinery, the | springing up of mining towns md lumber l camps will disappear forever from this | state one of it's unique and historical | characteristic moonshiner.
 l Speakers Announced. | Rfchmond, Ind, March 19-IIorace E