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lew days.Gfartf* OMrsIct.N. yTworld.The report ot the commiS'ioccr a, -pointed by the governor of Georgia to examine into the condition ot affairs in the counties of Gilmer, Fannin and Pickcna, where many arrests had been made for illicit distilling, and some violence had taken place, is an interesting document, not merely as a political paper, but os a revelation of the customs and habits of the mountaiu counties o: the state. It appears that aulla are as plenty in that region aa in the highlands of Scotland, and the United States deputy collectors and deputy marshals drove a thriving t ride tn procuring warrants ag rinst the men guilty of breaking the revenue laws, and then compromising with the accused for whatsoever blackmail they might be able to levy. The testimony on this point is conclusive. It is also established that the marshals and the soldiers whom they called on to assist them selected the night for their raids and made their expeditions as burdensome and annoying as they coaid. The result was to intensify the bitter feeling that has always existed between the distiller anil t.ie gauger. In the long chronicle of lawlessness on the _ part of the officials two tragic incidents stand oat prominently. A. party of deputy collectors, i sisted by fmr United States soldiers, were ou an expedition in Gilmer county and cime upon the still-house lt;f a mau named Emory. They took possession of the place and arrested four men who were there, but who declared they had no connection with the concern. Emory hearing that the officer-wereinthe neighborhood ran hastily down to his a:i I and was shot on sight. His body was thrown into the creek and brush and logs were flung over it; but the dead man’s cap floating down the current next morning was fo uni by his wife, who was thus led to the discovery of her husband’s corpse. The men who committed this homicide were indicted for murder and sc quitted, the jurymen being mostly of a merciless color. These facts c jolly recited have not mnch romance in them, perhaps, but they are full ol dramatic intercut to a vivid imagma-ti n, to wh'ch ihov suggest the wild ui mntain count y, the illicit still in operation, the set ret expedition to cap-i are it in the nigut time, and the miserable slaughter wh.ch followed. In fie second murder case, the victim was a federal officer, Lieutenant McIntyre. He had set out with a party, consisting ol a corporal and a soldier, two deputy marshals, a deputy collector, and two guides, to look for distilleries at Frog Mountain, and in the course of the night, as one story runs, they saw a bright light in the house, or rather cabin, of Ayers Jones, where they supposed they would And a still. It was a log hut, twelve by fourteen, and was neither chinked nor daubed, but left ia most places with yawning seams in it nearly five inchei wide. It was reached by a re ugh, untraveled mountaiu road. The marshal's party divided, three of the men going to seek stills elsewhere and the rest pushing in the door of Ayers Jones' cabin and taking possession. There were in the hovel a woman, Mrs. Jones, and her seven children, all under eleven years of age; and such a visit on aJrebruary night, between oneand two o’clock, was a thing to trj their nerves.To add to their terrors the leader o: the party, a deputy marshal, insist nc upon searching the house for a still and thnatened the woman to make her tell where the dbtillery was acc where her husband was conceaed The testimony differs on these pointi as well aa the on the point whether thlt; woman was in ced when the party ar rived; bnt we adopt the most reasons ble interpretation of the affair. In i few minntes there was a sound of peo pie approaching the cabin, and thideputy marshal, thinking his friend: ---- tE»,-were returning, opened the door, lit was greeted by those outside with i savage oath and the warning: “Yoi are in the wrong place to-night,” ant: at once sprang behind the door. Firm; begin on both sides, and Lieutenan McIntyre, who stood in the mid die of the floor.was mortally wounded. As aoon aa the firing ceased, lho* within made their way out, Mclntyn holding the deputy marshal by thlt; hand; but ho miscalculated the heighiof the steps and tumbled down them lying helplessly where he fell, his comKiona running to the woods. Mrs1 e* githercd her childred togethei and went to bed with a pool of blood upon the floor and the noise of a macgroaning in aecnv outside ringing ic her ears. The federal officials returnedat daylight to find her adeep withic the cabin and Lieutenant Mclntyn dead behind it. Ho clue to I he.murderers was found, tirnqgh it ,*u» pected that Jones had returned and discovered the' revenue party in possession of his house and treating his wife with very little consideration, and exasperated^st the indignity, had taken vengeance into bu own hand?. After this murder there ihn no other instance of resistance b. officers making lawful arrests, .and United States warrants ran in Pickcna, Gilmer and Fannin without dispute, th«t rather wild region submitting with more patience than could be expected to the exactions of a set of overbearing rogues clad in a little brief au tbority, and collecting blackmail ol every description, from greenbacks to bed quilte.
Newspaper Details
Atlanta Weekly Constitution
Atlanta, Georgia, US
Tue, May 22, 1877
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Andrew W.
USA 03 Mar 2025
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