The Washington herald., 1918-07-01

Tarheel Mountain. in North Caro-
lima, is again part of the United
States. Never a real part OF the
country when it came to the enforce
ment of revenue laws, it withdrew ut
terly when the draft came.
Tarheel would fight for Tarheel
against the entire United States il
necessary. but Tarheel would not go
to a foreign war.
But today the mountain is 100 per
cent loyal.
The home of slackerism and army
desertion has become a center OF pa
triotism. The foulest nest OF disloy-
atty in the country has been cleansed.
and Washington credits 1t all to the
Judgment and heroism of q special
agent Of the Department Of Justice,
whose name the department with
holds and refers to as agent A"
way back in the hills Of Carolina,
where runs undiluted blood Of the
early English settlers. but where ig-
norance and superstition hold firm
against the feeble inroads Of eJuca-
ton, old Tarheel Mountain rears its
wooded crest.
Name is Historic.
Tarheel is loved by every Caro-
linan. Its name Is inwoven In the
history OF his State. Such a great
figure has 1t been. that the familiar
name of the Carolinian is "Tarhecl."
like the Indiana "Hoosier'' and the
Wisconsin Badger
""The people Of Tarheel read no
newspapers and have few schools.
They have seen telephone wires and
few have ridden on trains, but to
most the fastest means of communi
| cation Is horseback. when the woman
still rides on a pillion behind her
man, and the movement of freight is
by oxen. yoked six and eight to
rough wooden cart and "Geed'' and
"Hawed'' over the narrow corduroy
roads by walking drivers brandishing
long goads.
Their language is a corruption from
the old Elizabethan English and to
most of them the "outlander" Is a
"revenuer' or at least an object of
suspicion.
Into this land came the draft, and
with the draft resentment that they
should be taken from their homes to
; fight on alien soil. Many refused to
register. others failed to respond
when called to the colors, and 1t was
only by the most diplomatic use of
the mountain clan leaders that the
government was enabled to make
showing in the national army. Won
derful fighting men. reared from the
cradle to use the rifle and knife.
| Wonderful material for raiders in
No Mans Land, when taught the
self restraint of discipline. But sus-
picious, ignorant and resentful.
Twenty-one in Hiding.
Gradually the men were won in
until but nine were left who had re-
fused to report to the draft boards
Hiding with these far out in the
caves of the mountain or concealed
in the homes of their mountain kin
were thirteen deserters. who had been
called in the draft and sent to camp
whence they had fed. ,.a
The $50-a-head reward offered by
the government for deserters and the
pride of the law officers stirred then,
to every effort at capture. But as
they rode the mountain trails, their
approach was signalled by the hoot-
ing Of an owl or the call of the dove.
closely initiated by the mountain
sentinels.
Every trail was guarded There
was no way of approach so that the
fugitives could be taken by surprise
And when the sheriff's posses too
closely pressed the fugitives. the
whining Of a bullet across the road
in some dark patch of trail was
warning that 1t was not well to push
further along that path.
The mountain was made for
ambuscades and its people knew
every art of guerrilla warfare. Posse
after posse came back empty handed.
The mountain boasted that it held its
own, and about the sheriffs office in
the courthouse at Bakersville gloom
fought with tobacco smoke for the
air. =
Deputies I'm Despair.
There was no solacef for the depu-
ties even in the corn whisky that
slipped down from the mountain in its
usual mysterious channel, and the
long leaves Of tobacco, sun cured at
the back doors Of their homes lost
their usual fragrance.
Local authorities, desperate, planned
huge roundup and encircling move
ment on the mountain of a great
armed posse. to comb its trails and
secret places until 1t had yielded up
its all. The sheriff knew this meant
a battle. in which all the mountain