El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-04-29


doubtedly something 10 do with the cir
cumstanoe that nearly 2000 illicit still
were found and destroyed by revenu'
agents, In what is known as the moon
shine" region, during the last year. Blu
the treasury officers say that railroad:
are penetrating into districts which
hitherto have been safe refugees for law
defying distillers. by reason of their IN
accessibility, and that they have beer
thus enabled to make many more cap
| lures than usual.
The fact that there is money in I'M
lawful distilling Is illustrated bv the case
/ of a young man who, during the second
/ Cleveland administration, held a gov
! ernment Job at SIS month in Wash
/ ington. When he resigned, to 90 back tC
his home in South Carolina, he frankly
said that he was going to make taxless
whisky. whats the use of working
for two dollars and half a day fol
/ Uncle SAM" he asked, Hwlen [ can beat
! him for ten dollars a day7''
1t is known that he went into the
tsmoonshine" business tof which, 1t ap-
pears. he had had some previous ex-
| perience), and, inasmuch as his outfit
has not been located up to date, the
. presumption is that he is still engaged
in making Illicit whisky. One may
add that while q great majority of the
people who pursue this perilous occu-
patton are miserably poor, there are
few who make quite a handsome liv-
ing by it.
North CaroIlnian Causes Trouble.
The treasury department has had
much trouble TO put stop to the ac-
tivities Of North Carolina man who,
being engaged in the production OF
unlawful whisky on a considerable
scale, has made a business of buying
heads of whisky barrels from dealers
in Baltimore He paid a good price
for these heads which bore the revenue
stamp and the gager's mark indicating
that the goods had been withdrawn
from the bonded warehouse. with tax
paid at $1.10 a gallon. When the rev.
enue agents attempted to confiscate
the liquor, they were unable to do so,
because 1t was found in barrels prop
eriy marked and branded, even the de-
gree of proof being strictly correct.
A Famous District.
One Of the most famous moon
shine" districts is the socalled- Dark
Corner Of South Carolina. where three
counties in two states come together
in the midst OF lofty mountains That
is part of the country where human
life is held cheap, and it is matter
of record that. not long ago, one jury
sitting in the small town of Greenvi1le
was obliged to consider no fewer than
SO cases Of homicide
Down there, half dozen years back.
there was a rather notorious moons5in-
er who rented part of his land 70 a
tenant There was quarrel between
the two men about money, and the
tenant declared his intention to leave.
threatening at the same time to give
information to the revenue agents
against his landlord. He never had
chance to put the threat into execu-
ton, however. for the Illicit distiIIer
killed him. He cut the mans throat
from ear TO ear, and, on a dark and
very windy night. carried the body
down to nearby. stream and threw it
in
The body was found later. on, and
Identified; but the murderer would
never have been suspected of the
crime had it not been that. one day.
while in his cups. he spoke Of being
haunted When asked what it was
that haunted him, he said that it was
a wishing; and. on being further
questioned, he made what YVES in eff
feet a full confession Said he: Ever
since did it. I've heard him whistIing.
He whistled while I carried him down
TO the creek, on my back, after I had
killed him, and he's been doing it ever
since"
When the case came up in court.
the evidence turned to great extent
upon this whiStling-Which. it would
appear. was not wholly a matter OF
Illusion; at all events, not as an incl
dent of the murder itself For. as was
shown pretty conelusiveiy by medical
testimony. the wind, blowing a gale at
the time. caused the throat of the vic
whistling noise as his slayer bore the
body down to the rivers brink
The upshot of the matter was that
the murderer was convicted, and he is
now in the penitentiary under life
sentence.
There was another case in that
same Dark Corner, where two men
both named William Howard. were
known respectively as Little Bill and
Big Bill. They were, however, in no
way related, and between them there
was a deadly feud. One day, Big Bill
was found dead. shot through the
body. Little Bill was suspected of
the crime, and, being fetched to Green
vile for trial, was convicted on purely
evidence and sentenced
to death
How Bill Escaped.
Only a short time before the date
set for the execution the condemned
mans wife came to the jail, carrying
in her arms a baby four months old.
and begging to see her husband She
was allowed to spend the night with
him in his cell, and the next morning /
she took her departure. after much !
lamentation, with the child Her face
was hidden by the poke bonnet which /
women in that part of the country
commonly wear, and the jailer sus-
pected nothing. AS a matter of fact. |
however. the two had changed clothes.
and it was Little Bill who marched out !
Of the prison. Leaving the infant with /
a woman of the neighborhood, and ex-f'
that it would be called for |
later. the convicted murderer. made, his
way into the Businesses of the noun |
tains. and wrote a, letter to the prison. /
keeper. saying. You pretty near got |
me hanged; but you can bet I'll never
give you another chance
So. indeed. it proved. Little Bill |
easily evaded capture, and his wife. !
when the deception was discovered, was
simply let go. Folks rather admired |
her "spunk.' and nobody thought OF |
her. Thus Is months pass
II by Then it so CHANGED that a man |
in the neighborhood was MORALLY |
wounded in a shooting scraDe Pc