Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-08-30

miles from Kings Creek, and not being
very we'll acquainted with the neigh
borhOod called upon Sheriff Brown to
go with us to 1t. The sheriff made no
hesitation in complying with our re-
quest, and I want to tell you that we
found him to be about as thoroughly
up to his business as any officer l have
run across in quite a while.
Following the Instructions We had
beforehand, we arrived at the place we
were seeking shortly before daylight
Monday morning. There was the STILL,
and ten big fermenters containing
about 1900 gallons Of mash, all ready
for distilling, but nobody In sight.
1T was pretty clear that We were on
to something warm, and that all we
had to do was wait. Accordingly we
posted ourselves at different points In
the woods and put ourselves on the
lookout.
Along about o'clock a white man
showed up at the still. 1t developed
that his name was Martin. We asked
him il he knew who the still belonged
to, but he was very ignorant. He knew
absolutely nothing. We decided that
we would take no risk of his disturb
ing anybody, and Mr. Poole and Mr..
Brown left me to guard him, while
they followed some paths to ,finl out
where the same might lead to.
After Mr.. Poole and the sheriff had
been gone a little while, negro came
by where Martin and / were. had a
shotgun loaded with birdshot and a
revolver. Pointing the revolver at the
negro, 1 told him to come up to where
We were, and he came. l asked Martin
IL he knew the negro. He said no
You don't know anybody or anything
do you?' l asked. He claimed that he
knew something's. / told the negro to
sit down by Martin and as there was
no use trying to get anything out OF
them. l just kept still.
Presently l heard footsteps ap-
preaching and looking out. saw anoth-
er negro coming down the path to-
ward the still. He had In his arms
load Of wood. To me II looked as II he
was going to make fire and | wanted
to let him do it; but whether from
some noise made by Martin or the ne
gro, or other cause, he looked ovei
our way. l saw 1t was all up, ant
with my pistol leveled at him l com.
manded halt" But he did not hal
worth a cent. Instead, he dropped hi.
armful Of wood and ran.
| II blazed away at the negro three
times. l knew l had no right to shoot
but somehow | just could not help 1t
However, really did not try to hi
MIN. At the third shot he went dowr
in the branch, and l felt sure that
had killed a negro. Hearing the report
Of my pistol, Sheriff Brown and Mr.
Poole came down to- where 1 was, anC
after we had arranged for the safety
of the prisoners already in hand, went
to look for the negro. / was very much
relieved to learn that he had not beer
killed. can't say for certain; but
don't think / hit him.
| We'll, 1t was all up now, and there
was no further chance to capture any
body. In following the paths along
which they had started, Sheriff Brown
and Mr.. Poole had come on a house ir
which there were eight or ten bushels
of meal, and they also found a lot OF
vessels that had recently held whisky
We cut up the still, smashed the fer
menters and poured the meal out or
the ground, after which we made some
further examination up the branch anC
found where some three or four Other
stills had been located in times past.
| In conclusion Mr.. Hammett took oc.
casion to say that his department
stands ready to give all the assistance
In it's power to break up Illicit stills
anywhere in South Carolina, and that
II anybody anywhere knows Of such
still that they would like to see de-
stroyed, all they have to do Is to send
a confidential communication to ~. b
Hammett, Deputy Collector, Sumter
| .