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
tlIlers Il 10 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 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
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 it that way.
II one wants 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
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 VIII
solemnly declare to you that he hasn't
the most remote idea where there IL
an Illicit distillery and he does not
know any one that deals in the stun
but he is of the opinion that II YOU
leave the jug and the price OF gallon
of the fluid at given point you may
get some relief. 1t Is remarkable wha
a night will bring forth in case o
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 t
the man who drinks II out Of til
cup. He takes the contract of a sor
Of progressive and retrospective jag
The first day he is delightfully."- drunk
the second day he becomes mean, thu
third day he is a maudlin. crying
drunk, and then 1t takes two or thre'
days to ascend the scale to a state o
sobriety. One deep. gurgling draf
will do all this. It takes native Il
the manner born" to know how 4
imbibe this product of the worm" ant
live to look unfiinchingly In the eye
of his friends. He touches 1t lightly.
The moonshiner has a plausible de
Tense for his unlicensed night work
He says he has to do 1t to live. Thi
country, being high and backward II
the spring, produces unlimited quaint
ties of peaches. Being miles AM
miles from railroads or other mean
OF transportation, they cannot be mai
keted. The same is true Of apples
corn, wheat and rye. The next bes
thing is to convert these commoditie
into a product which can be transport
ed to market and which is valuabl
in condensed form, and the most cor
venient and profitable thing is to cor
vert them into whisky and shirk tn
government duty. The moonshine
argues, II one can get an expression