The Kentucky Ranger | Page 8

a coonskin cap he wore, and was
supplemented by a large mustache of which he was very proud.
Behold this leader of the moonshiners as he stirs the fire of logs under
the still and speaks to his pals:

"That war a mighty fine trick I played on Dick Granger, the revenue
deputy t'other night. He was after me with his dorgs, and saw me as I
was crossin' the road near Franklin Schoolhouse. 'Halt, there!' he
hollored; but I was not in the haltin' bizness, and I made tracks fur
Pigeon Crick close by. As I run he fired off his gun; but the light was
dim and I was mighty peart, and dodged in time. He called to his
bloodhounds and said, 'Sic 'im, Rex; ketch 'im Bull,' but by that time I
was wadin' in the crick. I run 'long till I cum to that big white oak
which grows by the crick where it makes a turn north, and I jumped and
caught a big branch an' pulled myself up into the tree. Then I walked on
the thick branches till I got to the furder side, and there war standin' by
the oak a mighty fine sugar maple with branches which touched the oak.
I walked out on an oak branch as fur as I could go, and then swung
from my hands back and for'ard with all my might. At last my feet
touched a branch and letting go my hands, I swung down like a ham of
meat in a smokehouse. Soon I pulled myself up and made fifty feet
crossing that tree, and then I dun the same turn to a big walnut tree; and
so on till I knew the dorgs could not track me, when I clim down to the
ground and got safe back to the cave."
"That war a monkey trick, shore nuff," said Tom Walker, a gaunt
fellow over six feet tall, who was stretched on the ground by the fire,
and who, because of his height, was usually called "Long Tom." In his
cavernous mouth he held an immense chew of tobacco, and ever and
anon he squirted tobacco juice into the fire with a precision and force
which showed long practice.
"I wish the devil would kill the whole crew of revenue officers," said
Wiles. "Why should we be hunted like wild beasts for makin' a few
gallons of whisky? Do we not raise the corn, and have we not a right to
turn it into drink? You fellers know how hard it is to make a living on
these hills; and if we make more money by changing corn into whisky,
why should we be hindered and our lives put into danger? We have a
right to make whisky and to drink it and to sell it, and I'm goin' to do it
in spite of all the officers in Kentucky," and he brought his big fist
down with a thwack on his knee to give emphasis to his words.[1]

[1] It was impossible for this lawbreaker to foresee that in about one
hundred years the whole whisky business in its beverage aspects would
be prohibited by law in the United States, and that the sophistry he used
would be employed by multitudes in denying the eighteenth
amendment to the national constitution.
"Now yer speaking the truth, pardner," drawled Long Tom as he
ejected from his mouth a generous quantity of tobacco juice. "My
father fit in the Revolutionary War for liberty 'way down in ole Virginy,
and I'll never submit to have my right to make home-distilled whisky
taken away."
"Always stick to that and you'uns will be a man, even if you'uns die
with yer boots on."
The speaker was Zibe Turner, a creature who would pass for a Calaban.
A monster he was except his legs, which were short and slim, giving
him a dwarfish appearance. So he was a monster dwarf, if such a term
is allowable. His head was immense in size, covered with long
unkempt hair. His shoulders, arms and trunk would become a giant. A
look at his face showed a low forehead, black, restless eyes, wide apart,
flat nose, and large mouth.
Like Calaban he could be called "hag-seed," or the son of a witch and a
devil.
His moral nature was as misshapen as his body. His mind was degraded,
yet keen in plotting mischief and violence. His affections were debased.
Prospero's description of Calaban applied to him:
"Abhorred slave which any print of goodness will not take Being
capable of all ill."
The words of Saint Paul to the sorcerer fitted him: "O full of all
subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all
righteousness." He was a type of those