Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-12-05
COMING OF THE "REvENUERs."

/ SS"tNS vt INS INV
John Ingram, Typical "Biockader,"
Talks of Georgia Moonshining and
j Its Elimination.
The day of the Illicit distiller is
passing. Where once thrived this
hazardous yet profitable business
there is now scarce q trace.
The north section of Georgia, bor-
dering the Carolina line, has in the
past been a most prolific producer of
corn Ticker" Today, following the
systematic work of the Federal reve-
nue. officers, an illicit still is all but
curiosity The process of eliminating
the "blockader'' in his Georgia lair has
| been slow, but sure. The records of
! the United States Court for this dis
trict show fewer and fewer cases each
| year brought against the mountain
men who, in former years, believed
they had all but Divine right to make
their corn into whisky the same as the
valley man made his corn into meal.
| The philosophy of the mountain dis
tiller touching upon his vested rights
in the manufacture of his corn into
drinkables or eatables Is not hard to
digest. In fact, 1t has sometimes
been recognized as logic in the Georgia
1 Courts.
One prominent revenue officer, who
| has been in the Internal Secret Ser
vice in this safe for years, is author
ity for the declaration that half the
/ cases made against "moonshiners"-
so called-were made necessary by
I'd L., -
mon sense. This authority declares
that in days past many a man has
/ been sent to prison for an act which,
| in his heart, he could not brand as
wrong when the act was that of dis
tilling his own whisky.
! Take, for example, the life history of
John Ingram, typical mountaineer,
/ typical ''blockader," typical American,
If you please.
/ This simple, godly soul, filled with
| the lure of life rs handed down
| through generation afetr generation of
| fighting men who hail from the time
! when King Arthur's knights rode bold,
paint the passing of the moonshiner
in the dark tones Of one putting on
/ life's canvas the picture of dead but
| glorious history of his race.
| Without the slurring tones of his
| high pitched voice. without the Pc
cuhar phrasing of his sentences
given to him from his mother, who. in
turn, learned the queer words of her
mother--old John Migrants epigram-
matte farewell to the "blockader' is
told here as best as it can be trans
lated:
My folks were all blockaders ever
since l can remember. My paw had
| two brothers. Both dead now, but
they were in a still with paw for so
many years that time don't take no
reckoning of it, 1 guess.
Paw and my two uncles held out
that they was in legal trade. They
never were bothered by revenuers nor
no one come prying into their affairs
at all. They went right on year in
and year out attending to their STILL
running off good enough whisky regu-
larly, and selling it to valley men who
came through in wagons, and took the
stuff off to the railroad.
Summers, paw and my two uncles
made a little crop of corn-just
enough to keep the still in meal. The
low BIairsville, where I came from,
| ground meal for all of our neighbors,
and the old miller knew what the meal
was for. 1t was general knowledge
that we mountain folks made our liv-
| ing out of blockadins.
when I was a right peart spit Of a
lad, first saw the revenuers at work,
as | can remember. One night l was
just going from our cabin to the we'll
| to draw some water. / remember
NAV told me to bring it in the big, old
wooden bucket we had, instead Of the
smaller one she used to keep the
spring water in. The moon was high
that night. and as got near the WE'LL,
which was about so yards from the
| house, on Decline, / saw two fell
lows standing near the worm fence
which surrounded our place.
Il hollored, which is mountain fash
ion of welcoming folks at night, but
they didn't answer. Instead. both OF
them took to their heels and made off.
Now, that amt the way folks act in
the hills, and / went back into the
house and told NAV.
! Paw got back from the settlement
about moondown, and told him what
1 had seen. He couldn't make head
or tail of it. Long about o'clock in
the morning-first candle-light time
l was awakened by knock on the
door of our cabin, and there stood two
men, with short derringer pistols in
| their hands.
"One of them yanked me outside,
and asked if my paw was at home.
Before / could answer, there was paw.
He asked the men who and what
they were and they displayed badges
of some sort, and said they were Fed
eral officers. They told paw he was
under arrest for making and selling
contraband whisky against the statute
provided by tho Federal laws Of the
United States.
Paw said he guessed it was all
right, and then went back into the
cabin, saying he wanted to get his
| aa,t bafora ba cfartad down the noun