The Red Flannel Rag

Uncle Shirley still gets excited and laughs every time he tells this story. “I

happened to look up and there was a revenuer on the other side of the creek looking

down for rocks to make his way across. I dropped the sugar, held onto my dinner

bucket, and ran up the ridge. He came after me. I ran until my lungs felt like they were

on fire.”

The revenuer relentlessly followed him. Uncle Shirley stopped at the top of a

ridge to catch his breath and looked back. The revenuer had stopped too; and when he

saw Uncle Shirley, he yelled, “Why are you running.” Uncle Shirley answered, “To see if

you’re dumb enough to try to catch me.”

Uncle Shirley s aid, “It was a good thing that he stopped. I couldn’t go any

further. I just stepped around the ridge and fell against the bank. I laid there to catch

my breath and then sneaked on home. I never saw him anymore. I guess he was tired

too. When I got home, my brother in law told me to change my clothes in case the agent

started looking for me house to house. I went into the bedroom to change my clothes

and my brother came by, found my dinner, and ate it. I lost at every turn that day. I lost

my sugar and my dinner, but I did outrun the revenuer.”

War Against the Revenuers

Moonshiners trained their dogs to sniff out the revenue agents. A moonshiner’s

dog would give a low growl. The hair on its back bristled when it heard or smelled

someone approaching. Although they would give a warning, the dogs were well trained

not to bark and give away the location of the still.

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