Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1913-08-29
MOONSH|NERSALERT
Strangers Swallowed in Certain
West Virginia Districts.
They often Can Be Very Generous
information Concerning Illicit Dis
tIllers Il ls Well for Visitors
to Possess.

Pocahontas, w. Va. - The merry
moonshiner is a picturesque character
on his native heath, possessed OF all
the cunning of hunted deer-shrewd
and suspicious and as dangerous as
edged tools In the hands OF novice
to those suspected of having evil de-
signs upon his peace and welfare. but
generous to fault toward those who
he is satisfied are his friends. He Will
shoot at the drop Of a hat or divide
his last meal, as the case may be. NO
stranger comes around into these
mountains without being shadowed
from the time he comes in until he
departs and is well out of the country
writes a Pocahontas (W. Va) CORE
spondent Every stranger Is regarded
as a government spy until he is proved
to be otherwise beyond the shadow
of a doubt A perfect system OF
espionage is in vogue and no man can
expect to come in and go out unherald-
ed. Me may not know 1t, but the
watchful mountaineers in the neigh
borhood keep the strictest tab on his
movements. At the first demonstra-
ton revealing his mission he Is met.
Unexpectedly to himself, and shot, or
commanded to move out of the country
at once.
No stranger can buy whisky face to
face with the seller. Not even In case
of snake bite will he sell 1t that way
II one wants a jug or bottle OF this
young and peppery mountain product
there is a way to get it, however. Just
casually remark in the hearing OF a
native that 1t would require a gallon
jug of real, genuine moonshine' to
make you happy and he will find way
out Of the dilemma for you. He will
solemnly declare to you that he hasn't
the most remote idea where there is
an Illicit distillery and he does not
know any one that deals in the stun.
but he is of the opinion that IL you
leave the jug and the price of gallon
of the fluid at a given point you may
get some relief II Is remarkable what
night will bring forth In a case OF
this sort In the morning the money
is gone and the whisky Is in the jug.
And such whisky! II Is almost color.
! less and looks harmless. but woe to
the man who drinks II out of tin
cup. He takes the contract of a sort
If progressive and retrospective jag
The first day he is delightfully."- drunk
the second day he becomes mean, the
third day he is a maudlin. crying
drunk, and then IL takes two or three
days to ascend the scale to a state OF
sobriety. One deep, gurgling draft
will do all this. Il takes a native to
the manner born" to know how to
imbibe this product of the worn" and
live to look uufiinchingly In the eyes
of his friends. He touches II lightly
The moonshiuer has a plausible de
Tense for his unlicensed night work
He says he has to do it to live. This
country, being high and backward in
the spring, produces unlimited quaint
ties of peaches. Being miles anf
miles from railroads or other means
of transportation, they cannot be mar
keted The same Is true OF apples
corn, wheat and rye. The next best
thing is to convert these commodities
into a product which can be transport
ed to market and which Is valuabl,
in condensed form, and the most con
venient and profitable thing is to con
vert them into whisky and shirk thu
government duty. The moonshinel
argues, II one can get an expression