Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-03

without finding more than some slops or
mashed corn. which McCarter declared he
had obtained from licensed distillery near
by. So careful had the man been in ar
ranging all the details designed for con-
eealing the operation OF the distillery. and
with SO much secrecy had he conducted the
that he manufactured blockade liquor for
sale and had II on the premises were I'M
able to give the officers any clue. further
than the fact that the thing was there II
they could find 1t.
Obtaining information that the place was
again In operation several days ago. Chief
Hall arranged for thorough investigation.
and went there with two assistants. AS
soon as the party arrived q search was be-
gun. Tubs filled with Stops found on the
premises meant nothing, for licensed dis
tillers are allowed to dispose OF this stun.
which Is used for feeding hogs. Noticing
from the main dwelling and hoping 1t might
suggest clue. they opened the door ana
looked in. They began to examine the floor.
for whisky Is frequently stored In such
places. But. instead Of finding half dog
en- jugs or more under the false covering.
which II proved to be. one officer was
startled to find himself looking down into
a pit probably eight feet deep. with q lad
der stretched up and inviting him to de-
scend.
THE thing looked forbidding. 1t did not
seem to promise anything good for the Of
ficers Of the law and smacked OF the days
OF old. when dungeons sheltered human
skeletons and other gruesome things Call
ing the other officers, one descended the
ladder, and with him went the others. At
the base the party found themselves in the
mouth Of an underground tunnel nearly
three feet in width and deep enough to &C.
commodate man of ordinary height. A
big underground cavern could be dimly
seen about twelve or fourteen feet away.
by striking matches and picking their
way through the tunnel the constables came
to the room. or artificial cave. and there
they found the distillery and all the other
utensils as the owner had left them. 1t
was a rough affair, but bore all the EVIL
dences OF having been in use long time.
The roof was supported by rough planks and
the walls were darkened with SCOT and dirt.
The floor was Of boards. In one corner
was the copper boiler of fifty gallons ca
pacfty, with worm and all annexed There
were measuring pots and other articles In
another corner, and still further on pile
OF wood ready for the furnace.
Having found the distiIlery. and after re-
covering from the surprise of walking into
such an ingenious affair, which was we'll
calculated to startle the officers. In spite
of years of experience, they set about fol-
lowing the smoke fiue which led from the
dark chamber. They found that 1t left the
place In the opposite direction from the
tunnel and appeared to extend toward the
house. BY examining the ground, which
had been carefully plotted with Bermuda
grass and appeared to be perfectly natural.
the smoke fiue was followed to the main
chimney OF the dwelling. This explained
the greatest enigma of all-where the smoke
went An examination of the fireplace
proved that the hearth had been torn up
and the fue which entered underground
connected with that of the chimney. When
McCarter was running his boiler people
thought he was cooking his dinner. He
had solved the problem of getting rid Of the
smoke-the greatest a moOnshiner has to
deal with in his business.
But there was still another clever con-
trivance. They saw water trickling from
a pipe into a tub In the still room and they
wondered where II came from. At the WELL
twenty or thirty feet away, was an ordi-
nary tub resting on the ground. In the
bottom was hole from which the drawing
on pipe led to the distillery.
above all these tunnels and underground
passages and the cavern in which the stu
had been operated Bermuda grass flour
ished and concealed everything. There was
nothing to create suspicion and had not the
constable examined the floor In the out
building the officers would have left as
others had done. believing the rumors
false J."