Sidelights on Home Mission Work in Tennessee By W ILLIAM THORNE, Home Mission Evangelist McKenzie, Tennessee ' v ' 1
(The following sketch of Home Mission Work in West Tennessee came recently in a letter to the editor. It was not sent for publication in the K in g ’ s B u sin e ss but it was so interesting and so helpful in many ways that the editor thought it worth giving larger circulation in this form.)
NE experience of a reve- nue officer in the field, as told to the press by Deputy Revenue Collec tor T. H. Baker. Dep
buttermilk. The girl knew in a min ute that the officer had her dead to rights, and began to cry. This was a new procedure to the revenue officer, and he was at his wit’s end for a time. The girl then began to tell how her father was very ill at the cabin on the mountain, and that she had made the trip for him. Feeling very sorry for the girl, Baker climbed into the buggy with the girl and she drove him to her humble home on the moun tain, which they reached about sun rise. When they got out and went into the cabin there was a smell of fried bacon and corn-cakes. “How are you, Miss Elizabeth?” said a nice looking gentleman, coming up to the girl with outstretched hand. “Howdy, Brother ——,” said the sobbing girl. “What’s up?” the man asked. She told him. “1 am a minister doing Home Mission work through this section,” the man said to Baker. “Old Zeb Hinton, the man you want, is not a bad man; he helped us build our little church in this community, and he attends every preaching ser vice. He does not realize that it is wrong to make moonshine whiskey. It is not severe punishment, but Chris tian teaching that he needs. The gospel of Christ will eventually de stroy every monshine whiskey still in this country—something the govern ment will all its power has failed to do. Old Zeb is a dying man, and
uty Baker is the man who led a posse in Hardin county recently, when Jim Olive was killed, and, according to the story, he was on another in spection tour when he came upon the following experience: It seems that Baker had information that a certain still was being operated in definance of law in Hardin County. Accord ingly the deputy collector went to Savannah and learned that certain jugs of newly made whiskey were to arrive on a certain morning. He went out the road by which the mo6n- shiner would have to come into Savan nah, and about 2 o’clock he heard a horse and buggy coming along the road, and jumping out of the bushes, called to the occupant to halt. Imag ine the officer’s surprise when instead of a grizzled old moonshiner with a rifle across his lap seated in the buggy, he found a beautiful mountain lass with raven hair. “Where are you going?” asked Baker. “I guess I is gwine ter Savannah,” answered the girl. “What have you in the buggy?” asked the officer. “Butter-milk,” she replied. Baker went closer, and pull ing the corncob stopper out of a con venient jug discovered that it con tained moonshine whiskey, and not
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