Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/120

 114 THE SCIENTIFIC MOXTIILY

distiUiog increased greatly after the imposition of the liquet tax of tb Civil War. In 187* the government began lo suppress " moonshining in the region. By 1882 the supremacy of the law had been establishei But in 1894 the liquor tax was increased from ninety cents to oi dollar and ten cents, which resulted in increased "moonshining." Tl counties have boon voted "dry," which encourages the illicit traffi About the coai-mining eeoterg, "blockading" is increasing greatly, tl whiskey being brought to town under vegetables and in milk cans. Oi mountain guide in the saddle of Pound Gap pointed down the '"Tn of the Lonesome Pine," saving: " We can go right down there into Vi ginia and get all the spirits we want. I know where there is a still le than a mile away. There are a lot of 'em stuck 'round hereabouts in t rocks and the mist." One morning a strange young man, not fro

��Kentucky, boarded our train at a small station not far from the h of " Kingdom Come " and " Hell fer Sartin," and became my scat-m. He had dark circles about his eyes, and otherwise looked tired. As did not inform me as to his identity it is safe to recount his story. gained the confidence of a moiintain man and received a letter of in duction, which he presented to a second mountain man after walk some twenty miles up a certain creek. This man kept the letter, t him up a side branch and turned him over lo a third mountain This one led him to a cove and told him to "go straight ahead! " wl he did. Presently he was standing in the door of a "moonshine" s and three men faced him, their revolvers on a rude bench. After s ing that his business was merely one of curiosity, and after answei a host of questions put sharply, he was required to drink some of liquor. Then he remained with the men for an hour, talking with t'. and watching them at work, ITiion leaving he was offered a galloi

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