Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-17
M@0mshimers Had Illicit
@Still'' Cleverly hidden

THAT the revenue service Of the gov
eminent is still field fruitful OF
strange and exciting adventure has
| been recently proven by the experience
Of a party OF Uncle Sans sleuths while
in quest of suspected Illicit dist,llery in
the mountains of east Tennessee.
In a thickety. wooded glen. nestled deep
in these mountains, there dwells fam
lily, or rather clan-Jones will do for
name. It was made up of an old man
and his three sons, all married. Upon
small section of fat land that stood
out from the prevailing hilliness along
the sides of this glen stood the home
stead of the old man: scattered around
| him, each in his little home. and with
their wives and children. dwelt the three
| sons
The home place of the father consisted
of a substantial log house and several
outhouses, squatting around back yard
and remember the back yard. Here he
dwelt with his aged but sturdy wife and
his two daughters, one a widow.
X
Attached to each of the four home
steads was few ecanty acres of cleared
~ of corn, was raised each year. A few
hogs of the .razor-back" type. which the
clan possessed in common, to which may
be added half a dozen lean COWS and
couple OF spawned horses. completed the
list Of the available working material
| possessed by the collective clan. 1t Is
clear that TO wiring the scanties1 hVeh-
hood from such unpromising means
would require the hardest ana most
active energy, coupled with most care
full economy.
Yet the Joneses were lazy, easy-eo.
ing lot of mountain folk. They rareiy
worked, saving when the woman ioiks
at the old mans place got busy. niue
blowing for corn, little or no WORKING "
the crop and then the harvesting ABOUT
completed the entire years iaoors OF 'n nr
four families. They had little to sell OF
trade at the country stores for groceries.
And vet despite these circumstances,
there were no people in mat sectloh "
the country who lived in more comiorl
than the Joneses. There was always
plenty to eat in their homes, and tins,
too not only of the wholesome but coarse
hog and hominy, the staple food OF the
mountaineer, but also of groceries SUCH
as would be considered ample py lam
iiy I'M the best of circumstances. Their
houses were comfortably furnished ana,
II their clothes were not cut on the lat
cat paris model, they were always ample
in quantity and entirely suited 10 the
season. ants
comfort as many without means VINO
f1y higher than their income Warram,s
that is, by obtaining credit. Inc
Joneses didn't have any bills. Iney al
| WAYS paid cash at the mountain seoieS
| for whatever they bought
r. was these circumstances seVeTai
wears ago that aroused first the iale
curiosity and then the professional IN
| terest of a party OF lnIeInai ~,
| the double sense of the words, through
| the mountains of east Tennessee
| The Jones clan had. from time to
time for many years. let loose in night
vague rumors as to the estate OF rich
and distant relative. long since de-
ceased in a PARKWAY land, to account
for their steady possession OF ample
ready money without any apparent re-
sources whence they could honestly
obtain It, These rumors were sufficient
to explain things to the simple noun
tain folk, who would not have known
how to Investigate the truth or falsity
| Of the rich relative claim, even II they
had been SO minded. But 1t did no,
1
when once their suspicious were thor
oughly aroused They Swallowed every
known channel through which the
Joneses communicated with the outside
world-which are few and simple in
the case of mountain people-and be-
came absolutely convinced that the
family obtained no financial assistance
| from the outside. Therefore, argued
the "revenooers," they must make that
money somewhere on the barren TANKS
Of that glen. Certainly they did not
make it out of the land or out OF
their live stock.
| BY this process of reasoning by ex-
clusion the government detectives be-
came absolutely convinced a couple of
years ago that the Jones clan was
engaged in the manufacture and sale
of moonshine whisky. This put them
on their mettle. They had prided
themselves that, years before, they had
discovered and broken up the last
moonshine 'still' in that section of the
mountains. To have the industry spring
up again. in this hydra-headed shape,
with every Jones man apparently en-
gagged in it. nettled them.
| Accordingly, they concentrated all their
skill and energy upon discovering where
| the Joneses were operating the plant they
| were certain must exist Anticipating
| an easy task, they were, at the end of
several months, much peeved to find
that, in that time they had not pro-
crossed STEP Not one scintilla of evil