Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-08-07
MlONSH|NERS ALERT
Strangers Swallowed in Certain
West Virginia Districts.
They Often Can Be Very Generous
information Concerning Illicit Dis
tIlers Ii Is 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 a hunted deer-shrewd
and suspicious and as dangerous as
edged tools in the hands of a novice
to those suspected of having evil de-
signs upon his peace and welfare. but
generous to a fault toward those who
he is satisfied are his friends. He will
shoot at the drop of hat or divide
his last meal, as the case may be. No
stranger comes around into these
mountains without being Swallowed
from the time he comes in until he
departs and is well out of the country,
writes a Pocahontas CIV. Va) CORE
srondent- 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 it, 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 it that way.
II one wants a jug or bottle of this
young and peppeTy mountain product
there is way to get it, however. Just
casually remark in the hearing OF
native that it would require 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 stuff,
but he is of the opinion that If you
leave the jug and the price of a gallon
of the fluid at a given point you may
get some relief 1t is remarkable what
a 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 1t is almost color
ess and looks harmless. but woe to
the man who drinks it out OF a tin
cup. He takes the cOGtract of sort
II progressive and retrospective jag
The first day he is delightfully."- drunk.
the second day he becomes mean, the
third day he is maudlin. crying
drunk, and then it takes two or three
days to ascend the scale to a state of
sobriety. One deep, gurgling draft
will do all this. 1t takes native to
the manner born" to know how to
imbibe this product OF the worm" and
live to look unf1inchingly in the eyes
Of his friends. He touches it lightly
The moonshfner has a plausible de-
Tense for his unlicensed night work
He says he has to do it tc live This
country, being high and backward in
the spring, produces Unlimited quaint
ties of peaches. Being miles and
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 Valua6 bic
in condensed form, and the most con-
yenient and profitable thing is to con-
vert them into whisky and shirk the
government duty. The moonshlner
argues, if one can get an expression