The Washington herald., 1919-06-16
REVENUE AGENTS
FIGHT FOR HONOR
OF KILLING men
Wage Fierce Battles in Hills
OfVirginia Over Illicit .
Whisky.

Douson, va, . SuHe lo.-Aldhlng DOCK
ade whisky is the principal Industry
OF the southwestern part OF Virginia
Almost every man in this section
either is or has been a moonshiner.
The country is so mountainous and
the soil so poor that there is very
little farming. Wheat and corn are
practically the only crops grown. The
wheat makes bread: the corn makes
moonshine whisky.
This spot on the map is conspicuous
only for a general store which has at
tained the dignity of a fourth-class
postoffice. The store and the house
where its owner lives are the only
buildings in town"
But the Dodson general store sells
cornmeal, and the moonshiners up
here in the foothills Of the Blue
Ridge Mountains need cornmeeI in
their business. A few grow their
own corn-but not many.
Two miles down the mountain from
| Dodson is a great mill. operated by
a mill wheel and a sluice leading from
a creek. The grist mill, 100, helps
the moonshiners in their business,
Moonshining Beats Farming.
What do these farmers with
out farms do for a living?" i asked
one of the revenue officers.
Make moonshine whisky" he re-
piled. They make more money in
a day distilling liquor than they
can in month at farming.
They make so much money at it
that they don't mind spending I.
few months in Jail every year when
they're caught. It's very common
Tor moonshiner to make 100 gal
Ions of whisky in a week 1t brings
about $40 gallon down n.re.
which brings the maker $1,000
cash"
Do you wonder they take a
chance with life and liberty?
Yet some of them have been
cured. l stopped at one farmhouse
near Ferrum. Va, and had a talk
with the farmer. He made the
usual protestation that he didn't
know of single still in the neigh
borhood, and didn't have a drop of
liquor in his house. / asked him IL
he ever made it.
Blockades Fight Themselves.
"Oh. yes suh." he replied. 81 done
made plenty in my day, but that
war twenty year ago. I served my
seven months in Jail. an right theah
l swo' of: I 'clar I did! 1 hain't
made nary drop since, an 1 don't
reckon I'm goin' to. neither. / had
enough of hit.
The revenue officers assigned to
the State of Virginia spend most of
their time in this district. Desper-
ate men are not SO numerous as they
are in the more remote parts of Ten
nessee and Kentucky, but hardly a
week goes by that doesn't mark a
! battle between revenue officers and
moonshiners.
often the moonshiners, suspecting
one of their number of reporting
their stills to the revenue officers,
! fight fatal battles among themselves.
Last week a revenue officer named
Ben Gardner was shot and seriously
wounded in a fight with a barl of
moonshiners who resisted est.
Gardner was alone and the bano got
away.
But Sam r. Brame, chief of the
revenue agents in Virginia, was in
the district. Alone and unarmed.
Brame went from house to house
within a radius of ten miles of the
scene of the shooting. rounded up
every man he could find. and re-
turned to Floyd, the county seat.
with eleven prisoners.
Gardner from his bed identified the
man who shot him, and the moon
sinner was convicted and sentenced
to prison within a few days.
Wise County Bad Spot.
Wise County, in the Cumberland
mountains. has the worst reputation
for desperate deeds of any county in
lying along the Kentucky line. that
John Fox, jr., laid his famous
| story. THE Trail of the Lonesome
Pine"
up there the moonshiners think
no more of shooting a revenue officer
than they do of shooting a rabbit"
said Collector Brame. ''In the south
ern counties of the State the NOON
sinners are afraid of us, and they
| usually run when we approach a
still. They can all run like deer. and
It takes a fleet officer to catch them.
"But in Wise County they have q
nasty habit of shooting us from am
| bush. SO we have to adopt differen,
methods of catching them. Usually
we locate a stin during the night
travelling afoot or on horseback, and
lay in wait until daylight for the
moonshiners to make their appear.
CONTINUED on PAGE TWO.