Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1907-10-17
. . D
HOW ! CAME TO
: BE A FARMER.

Illicit distillers In Tennessee, l was
seized with desire to try my hand at
the business. Polk county swarmed
with moonshiners, and to Polk county
! went. Reaching the locality that |
sought, ! began operations by pump
ing the inhabitants. Passing farm
honse l saw good looking young wo-
man on the porch taking care of
couple OF little children. dismounted,
went In and asked for drink Of wa
ter. The woman pointed to a gourd
hanging in well house, and l helped
myself Then. before asking any Ques
lions, l played with the children with
a view to opening way to the moth
er's confidence.
Sorry your husband isn't at home"
/ said. I'm looking out for timber
lands. Perhaps he might know Of
some to SELL"
Il haven't got a husband" she re-
piled; I'm wilder"
She went on to tell me that 1t was
hard for her to get on since her hus-
bands death. The country was ruined
by the Illicit distllling that was going
on. Instead Of farming, everybody was
making whisky, and that kept respect
able people away.
Would you,' I asked, "be willing to
do something to get rid Of the moon
shiners?"
well, don't like to gilt my neigh.
bors down on me-"
But supposing you could make a
nice thing of It,"
what d'y' call nice thingW
named sum I was willing to pay
| for the information l desired
Look a-here, stranger" she said.
You haint after lumber: you're
a-huntin' stills. Now, If you double tina!
| what yo said, It's a CO."
complied with the terms, and she
gave me minute information as to
where I could find half dozen secret
whisky manufactures, with the names
! Of persons who knew NIL about them
and could testify to their existence
and ownership in court.
| Having kissed the children-I want
| ed to kiss the widow, too; she was
very temptingI mounted my horse,
confirmed the information given me
by pretending to stumble on the stills
| while Ldnting timber lands, then rode
| to the county seat and swore out war
rants for the persons whose names
had been given me as the owners and
| subpoenaed the witnesses.
| Some time was required to serve the
| papers, and 1t was several weeks be-
fore we were ready for trial. Mean
| while called frequently on the widow,
| becoming quite at home In her house
taking the children out to walk with
| me while their mother was busy with
her household duties. feared that
| my being so much at her home would
lead those whom l was prosecuting to
| suspect that she had given me the
| necessary information, but they didn't
seem to trouble her. I began to feel
| that l would not mind settling in Ten.
| nessee with view to mlnistering to
| the widow and the fatherless.
| When the case came up for trial II
| became apparent that the stills l had
| seen WtIc OhcS, eiC hioih oAiii'
where the bulk of the whisky was
made remaining undiscovered. The
| fees paid the witnesses-whose testi-
| mony was northeastern the state
| round penny, and the amount paid
| the widow was a dead loss to me.
was riding away from the courthouse
| much discounted .5en one of my
| witnesses overlook me.
stranger" he said. "whatd you uns
| give for some more information?
| Nothing
| well, I'll give 1t to you anyway
| The wilder that put y on to 'em owned
| the hull kit Her husband owned all
| the big stills about hyar, and when he
| was shot year ago by n revenue OH
| Ger his widder TUX the property and
| has been runnin' 1t ever since Hyar
| a paper she writ you uns.'
| He handed me a missve from the
| widow inviting me to take supper WIN
her that evening. thanked the man
] for his Information and. turning, rode
| to the widows home.
| stranger" she said, Il hail't nc
| great lover Ter SUN HuHttIS, sethi ny
| husband was shot by revenue bu'
| hain't got over your takn' SHINE
| to Tommy and Maudie. Here's the
| money YOU uns paid me fer putin you
| ms on TO the stills. | own EN-, anu
| the witnesses | give y air all In my
| employ Reckon it wouldn't BE right
| to take pay fer that The state can
| afford TO pay the witness fees"
| We were soon seated ut table on
! which was a delicious supper OF nam
| and eggs, biscuit corn bread and cor
fee The widow did everything she
| could TO make me forget my failure &c
| break up moonshinilg in Polk county
| and by the time had finished my sup
| per / was in very contented frame
of mind. While smoked she put her
| children to bed, and during the tiho
| she wac doing" the dishes | went INTO
the room where the little tots lay ana
| played with tlem TN she had tnlshed
| When they were asleep the widow SAL
| down beside me and said:
| II want TO git ont q this MOON
| shinin' Fin a lone woman, and though
| I'm no fool at turnin' OFF revenues
| hain't got the head fer turnin NJ!