The New York herald., 1922-04-23
Continued From Page Ten.

"Uh-huh; | fggered We was" The boy
a pause, continued: II 'spects / know
whar they's a still You-all amt goin' to
tell on me. air ye?"
mot on your life. You show US the still
and We'll forget we ever set eyes on you,"
the sheriff assured him.
well, follow me up that hollow over
thar l know whar it's at"
Falling in behind the mountain boy the
officers walked almost mile over rough
ground, following a little stream in the
hollow most of the way.
At length the boy stopped and waited
for the raiders to catch up with him.
Il amt goin' no futher. You-all find
Mister Still t'other side of that bank
thar. Reckon they amt no one thar to-
day, but better be keerful'
The informant started back in a dog
trot. The officers watched him until he dis
appeared down the creek
I'D give a five spot to know why he's
turning them up" exclaimed Dettor as
the officers headed for the embankment
The still, a seventy-five gallon outfit,
was in plain view in front of them. 1t
was mounted on rock furnace a dozen
PAGES from the stream and water was car
ried to the fakestand by means of a rudely
contrived gutter. 1t was one of the COM
pletest and most costly outfits found in
weeks. 1t was demolished on the spot
The officers have never seen their guide
again.
Two of the most active raiders in the
White Top section are Deputy Sheriff j. A.
Shoup OF Johnson County Tenn, and
Deputy Sheriff T. J. King of Damascus,
Washington County, Va. Shoup has seized
thirty-six stills in the past year and King
about fifty.
1t is common in the mountains for the
raiders to destroy a STILL arrest it's op-
orators and then receive invitations to eat
at the cabins of their prisoners. Noun
tain hospitality is extended more frequent
ly to the sheriffs than to the Federal Off
GERS, probably because the county officials
are usually themselves men of the noun
tains, while the Government. agents are
generally "furriners" Some mountain
eers, however, hold more tolerance for the
Federal officers than for the sheriffs.
Tain't the sheriff's business to fool
with Stills" once asserted Link Ramey
while awaiting trial for moonshining. Hes
got enough to tend to at the courthouse
without botherin' we uns / amt never
voted for this probition nohow. and /
knows heaps OF others that amt; yit we-all
got to stand for it."
Several months ago a newspaper man in
terested in the moonshining situation ar
ranged for visit to a still In cove OF
Roam High Knob in the Iron Mountains
on the line between Carter County. Tenn.
and Mitchell County. N. c. The trim was
sponsored by moonshiner friend of tie
newspaper mans, who had acted as his
suide on previous trips through the noun
tains.
The newspaper man and the moonshiner
arrived at the still just as run" was
starting. wood fire was blazing in the
furnace and tiny drops of pure. white
mountain Dew" were dripping from the
worn stem into small glass container
AS quickly as the vessel became full the
whisky was poured into keg near by. One
man devoted his entire time to the FIRE
seeing that it should not become hot
enough to cause the mash to stick to the
copper sides of the still and yet keeping IL
brlsk enough to prevent the mash from
becoming viscous and sticky.
After the first curious appraisal of the
visitor the moonshiners paid little heed to
him. They went ahead with their work
leisurely moving about, testing the luke
warm whisky now and then, bringing IN
wood for the fire. feeling the sides of the
stiil to estimate the temperature, examin-
ing Kegs to see that they we're not leaking
and making preparations to move the ont
mt to another location when the run" was
finished
One OF the men, who had been sampling
the product at intervals, seemed to resent
the presence OF the visitor This one was
tall, 1.-THE youth-about % years old
with somewhat evil countenance. He he
came clumsier and clumsier in his move
ments as he drank increasing quantities az
The stun He deigned to glance not
single time at the "furriner" after his ar
rival, cursed on the least provocation and
over the most trivial incidents. and was
apparently, trying to work himself into
emper
Finally his half-suppressed resentment
'eached the overflow point. "Derned dudes
lint got no business foolin' aroun' here
4aint got no use for 'em MYSELF
The remark was addressed to No ono
n particular. The youth staggered over
Q the wooden fermenter. placed his hands
IN II and lifted himself to a seat
Then the father Of the sullen youth took
lim In hand, old Jonas Trumbuil. who