The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-15
MOONSHINERS
LOSING FIGHT
IN TENNESSEE
Blood of Mountain
GERS ing eS
Streams.
BY ROBERT MKER.

/
Copyright, 1922, by The Argus.)
/ Britson, Tenn.-Va, June IS
4 Shut off from the outside world by
range after range of high, rugged
mountains, government agents,
state officers and scores of sheriffs
and their deputies today are en-
gagged in the greatest offensive
ever waged against the mOonshin-
ers of Tennessee, Kentucky. Vir-
ginia and North Carolina The
present drive marks the culmina-
tion of nearly three months of
preparation and preliminary skirm-
ishing
Already blood is trickling down
some of the mountain streams, but
the toll of dead and wounded can
not even be guessed at this stage
of the struggle. But there is every
indication that the officers of the
law are winning their battle
/ against white lightning" The
mountaineers who have been sent
back from the front as prisoners
admit that for the first time since
! prohibition enforcement was at
tempted the moOnshiners have been
unable TO put stills in operation
| faster than the raiders seized them.
/ This is a clear indication that the
| flood tide of Illicit liquor from
many of the mountain districts
has turned to the ebb.
Many Stills Working.
! Hundreds of stills are in oper-
alton. There is no doubt of that
And many of them will be in oper-
alton for some months to come.
But these Illicit plants in the
/ mountain Businesses are daily be-
coming harder to find. Having ap-
parently gained the upper hand.
| the enforcement agencies will
/ strive hard to hold advantages they
have won. So vast is the under
taking that state prohibition Off
GERS are just beginning to realize
the scope of their operations prior
to the arrival of the federal
army"
The most significant phase of
the battle today is that the moon
! sinners elYes.s4appear to be
ey values and in life have been
| heavier than they care to admit
Furthermore they are realizing ap-
}
scope of the prohibition movement.
/ Heretofore they have regarded the
flight as an individual grudge"
! against them. They know little
| that transpires outside their own
/ mountain districts Many of them,
/ in jail. have been told for the first
time that liquor-making is out
lawed all through the United
/ States.
! SheriffS Help %RevenuerS."
Unlike many other sections of the
country where the federal agents
/ have been refused local and state
! assistance in the enforcement of
/ the prohibition law, the govern
ment 'reyenuers" who have been
sent into the mountain country of
| the south have been Loyalty sup
ported by the sheriffs and their
! deputies Without this support it
/ is admitted little progress could
! have been made. The mountains of
/ the south are unknown to those who
| do not know them well. In the en-
| fOrcement activities thus far the
sheriffs and their men have been
! by far the heaviest sufferers, for
] they have led the way and have
been first on the firing line With
out their keen eyes, their cunning
! wOOdcraft, and their stout hearts,
/ the moonshiners would reign su-
( preme in the mountains today
/ As it is, the courts already are
/ cIogged with cases and many jails
are cluttered with whisky-making
prisoners. Within the last few
months it is estimated that more
than 5000 stills have been seized.
Prohibition enforcement, in short.
( is today nearer a reality than ev-
er before. Close observers agree
that the production has fallen
about One-half and the summer of
/ 1922 which was all set to be the
banner season for the output of the
| fiery liquor. already has entered a
! stage of deep depression. Moon
shine is moving more slowly to-
ward the cities and both makers
and runners are demanding higher
prices for the heavier risks they
are running day by day.
1t is estimated that something
! like 100000 gallons of white
/ stuff came out of the mountains
| last year. Production for d record
year started with a rush in the
early spring, but it is falling off
! rapidly now, for raids during the
past few weeks have extended from
! the Cumberland Mountains along
the kentucky-Virginia border as far
south as the Great Smokey chain
on the North Carolina
/ border and as far east as the Blue
( Ridge in Virginia.
The relentless sunshine of state
and federal enforcement is slowly
but surely dissipating the Illicit