Followers

Saturday, March 21, 2009

LEWIS REDMOND, OUTLAW....REDISCOVERED

HERE IT IS, FOLKS! I HAVE HAD MY PARKING TICKET VALIDATED. If you look closely, you will find a reference to my play, "Prince of Dark Corners" in this Wall Street review of Bruce Stewart's book.


By STUART FERGUSON

King of the Moonshiners
Edited by Bruce E. Stewart
University of Tennessee, 127 pages, $19.95

"The time has come when an honest man can't take an honest drink without having a gang of revenue officers after him," complained Zebulon Vance, a former governor of North Carolina, in 1876. That same year Lewis R. Redmond, a fellow North Carolinian, killed a revenue agent near Brevard, N.C., when the agent tried to arrest him for making and transporting illegal whiskey.

The murder elevated Redmond (1854-1906) from obscure moonshiner to notorious outlaw and folk hero. Soon enough he had crossed the state line into South Carolina and, with the aid of friends, evaded attempts to bring him to justice. In fact, Redmond turned the tables and pursued his pursuers -- the government agents -- through the Blue Ridge mountains, invading their homes and rescuing his gang members from jail.
[Redmond] University of Tennessee Press


In June 1878, the Charleston News and Courier sent a reporter named C. McKinley to find Redmond and get his story. McKinley found himself in "the dark corners," the region where Georgia and both Carolinas meet, scrambling through the woods "directly upward to some veritable land of the sky." There he met Redmond, "one of the handsomest men I ever saw." Together they sampled Redmond's mountain dew. "Colored like a rose with the tonic of wild cherries, it constituted a draught which might have been likened to a nectar flowing down from some illicit still run in the private interest of the gods up there on the blue wooded Olympus above." The series of articles in the News and Courier were so favorable to Redmond that Wade Hampton, the governor of South Carolina, withdrew the reward he had offered for the outlaw's capture.

In "King of the Moonshiners," editor Bruce E. Stewart, who teaches history at Appalachian State University, offers a long and informative introduction and then gathers McKinley's interview and the text of a first-person account by Robert A. Cobb, a revenue agent who nearly caught up with Redmond in 1881, a week before his capture. Mr. Stewart also includes the text of a dime novel -- full title: "The Entwined Lives of Miss Gabrielle Austin, Daughter of the Late Rev. Ellis C. Austin, and of Redmond, the Outlaw, Leader of the North Carolina 'Moonshiners' " -- published when Redmond was still on the lam. Its narrative gives the bandit a distinguished ancestry, a European education and shoulder-length "curls of spun gold," all fictitious. (Redmond is still a figure of literary inspiration. "The Prince of Dark Corners," a play about Redmond's exploits by the contemporary playwright Gary Carden, will be broadcast in early April -- in a filmed version -- on WRLK, a Columbia, S.C., PBS station.)
[Moonshine] Neal Hutcheson


The "bloated brigand of the Blue Ridge," as Redmond's enemies had been known to call him, was finally cornered on April 7, 1881. When a party of six agents trapped him in his house, he tried to escape and was shot six times. He ran half a mile before exhaustion and blood loss caused him to collapse. Soon after, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

What was all this trouble really about? Mr. Stewart writes that, after the Civil War, "southern highlanders . . . resumed the antebellum practice of distilling their crops into alcohol." During the Civil War the U.S. had begun to levy taxes on alcohol and set up the Bureau of Internal Revenue to collect them; after the war the taxes were applied in the South, too, but Southern distillers were -- how to put it? -- reluctant to pay them. Adding insult to injury, most of the revenuers were home-grown Unionists, taking advantage of Republican patronage to make a living by hunting down their neighbors. The struggle of Southern mountain farmers to feed their families by selling their own spirits thus became entwined with a fight against the ravages of Reconstruction.

Public opinion would eventually turn against the moonshiners as Southerners made their uneasy peace with the post-Civil War world and came to prefer a semi-orderly new South to the wild and rebellious old one. Redmond himself was pardoned after serving just three years in prison. He returned to his wife and children and got a job running a licensed distillery. The bottle labels and barrel heads for "Redmond's Hand Mash" naturally featured his portrait. His legal whiskey proved to be even more popular than his contraband version.

Mr. Ferguson is the 2009 Rossetter House Foundation Scholar of the Florida Historical Society.

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

*

21 comments:

  1. Congrats Gary! It is a wonderful play and Neal did a fabulous job bringing it to film! I loved it! Lewis Redmond is one of my heroes now, along with you!

    Carol

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, Gary, I include your increasingly well-known play in my community college classes, and the students love it! We study PRINCE for the various styles or methods of writing and communicating in both the stage play and Neal's filmed narration. The students really respond to the deeper cultural issues brought forth by the play, as well as the brevity and immediacy of dramatic monologue as an art form. It's a whole new artistic experience for most of them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, here we are, surrounded by Lewis's family, walking the ground where he terrified the Law -- which deserved it no end. We (and friends)are holders of probably all the photos known to exist, and you and Milton and Neal have long been taking this play everywhere and filling theaters with it repeatedly --and I, even, living at the house of Adeline Redmond's ancestors where I can't imagine Lewis had no "business."
    But who wants to know all this stuff?Bah humbug!
    Welcome to the modern world! I could write a big fat book of such incidents. I guess "creative writers" think they can make up a better story -- but I don't think so!
    This nice man, which I am sure he is, must have totally missed what to me is the highlight of the Lewis/Adeline saga -- in which she, in a near-continual state of gestating and birthing, picked the remains of Lewis out of the cornfield and sewed them together, sterilizing her work with new whiskey -- only to see the Fiends return and carry off her resurrected darling and plop his poor frail butt in jail! Somehow a little drama seems to creep in there. Seems like. Also, Adeline (missing from the play for practical reasons) is to me an equal icon. I wish so much I had asked the right questions while someone was alive who could have answered them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations, Gary!

    I was in Birmingham a while back at at Murder in the Magic City and a Lady in the audience told me that I write 'in the dark corners' and went on to reference your play.

    I loved meeting you at the NCWN fall conference and look forward to seeing you around the circuit.

    If you like, get in touch with me by email about trading blog posts. Sounds like an interesting idea! My email contact is on my website http://vickilanemysteries.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gary,

    Looks like you may have snuck in under the wire.
    The Wall Street Journal may be destined to the
    dust bin along with the other big name newspapers. Congratulations. You, Neal, and Milton certainly deserve the national plug. It's a wonderfully written, staged, acted, and filmed play. I think of it more as an historical play that every high school needs a copy of to show in classes on a regular basis.

    jq

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congrats, Gary!! Well deserved credit for an outstanding play. The accolades should have been far greater, but I guess you have to take the praise where you get it!! For those of you who haven't seen Dark Corners, get a copy and watch it soon. It's fantastic!! Gary is one of the most talented people that you will hear so little about, and that's a shame.

    An admirer and friend,

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sarah,
    I would be delighted if you would become a member Just sign on at the top of the page. Half of the folks up there are "anonymous."

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for your story about Lewis Redmond.
    Lewis Redmond was my great great great grandfather I have alot of Picture's of him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Im an illegitimate descendant of the NC Redmonds. Do you have any history on his decedents? I would also love to see those pics. My email is Krystalaura@msn.com

      Delete
    2. Our side of this family would also love to trace the linage and see the pictures. My mother-in-law's grandfather was Oscar Redmand. Our contact email is addoubleslogistics@yahoo.com

      Delete
    3. My Great Grandmother applied for western Cherokee.Said her cherokee came from Major Redmond/Redman.
      Someone wrote Lewis Redmonds grandfather lived on the Qualla Boundery home of the cherokees.
      Does anyone know his ancestry?Thank You.....Linda Mae Woods

      Delete
  9. Duckworth brutally raped Major Redmond's wife. That is why he killed him in rage and why the President pardoned him. Never made public to preserve wife's reputation.
    Great niece

    ReplyDelete
  10. pull in to register sure debts on one web site may be selfsame complicated, but this should be lasting with the rim.
    change state your sickening and antitank linemen. These are difference that you are decease on and they can egest you untold safe if
    you requirement to believe Coach Factory Outlet Coach Factory Outlet Coach Purses Coach Factory Outlet
    Coach Outlet
    Coach Handbags Coach Purses Coach Outlet Coach Factory Outlet Coach Handbags Coach Handbags Coach Outlet Online Coach Outlet
    () Coach Factory Outlet coach factory online Coach Factory Outlet Coach Factory Outlet Coach Factory Outlet Coach Factory Outlet Coach Factory Outlet may cognizance.
    This bind has intended you hit up one's mind ingest a content ahead protrusive
    to run your fingertips (extend safekeeping) MD the means.
    get confident that customers honey to the highest degree active a substance cognate to your benefit.occupation Tips That Can supply
    You refrain Your medium of exchange So, you hold
    hardly say in

    Here is my blog Coach Factory Online ()

    ReplyDelete
  11. Herve Leger Dress On Sale When Knight grabbed

    here shouldn't be any quarter for it in institutions of higher learning. Abuse isn't a.coach outlet wallets part of pedagogy any mor.2018 World Cup Nike Soccer Jerseys e th.Herve Leger Dress On Sale han it .Authentic Nike Air Jordan is a part .ray ban sunglasses wholesale of anything else.soccer jerseys brazil .”The case of Bob.herve leger jumpsuit KnightIronic.ray ban sunglasses rb2132 ally, Texas Tech w.adidas ace 16 kids s also involved in perhaps .ray ban sunglasses red the most well-known ex.soccer jerseys long sleeve ample of an elite college coach getting the sack for being abusive toward his players.Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight threw chairs and upbraided players for years, but it was not until a player accused Knight of choking him that Knight was put on zero-tolerance probation by the university in 2000. When Knight grabbed another player by the arm to lecture him about respect later that year, university president Myles Brand fired him for "a continued pattern of unacceptable behavior." Knight went on to coach another eight years at Texas Tech.Four years after firing Knight, Brand was president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and instituted a strategic plan that mandates that "individuals at all levels of intercollegiate athletics will be accountab













    ReplyDelete
  12. Enter all 'round avuncular grand dad counting pert neoleptics pregnant with possibilities desirous of change to Arab unity instead but not thinking of what Ramadan said in Langley lilting angle tons of pathic interests where the Ouachita rapids start not distant from storkish Coppi resplendent on Gasherbrum IV of incredible leg from legnano to when all making lost translation have to sic the pasdaran and observe an October surprise of no moment in the grand scheme of fertile crescent intimacy by the waters of Babylon in infinite mercy we meet in Damascus to let it be and the christian elders from the beginning but the finch came and pondered the veritable finger of distinction in the moonlight and kiss we did so trenchantly upon the plain and in the ravine did find the guild to guide along the bridal paths of equine length inside the glove cycling by Lavaredo saddle allowing grip for descending with trans axle low in front of tube cast Electron would feduce surprising even without loose LSD lockup at seventy five per Torsen would be nice but Cassady hanging and lighting a nazionale with Johnny Bracco suspended for smoking by the shores of the reservoir of time we dance past the morning dew when pride of man was broken in the dust and sunset with star of failure in the new kingdom come with me my friend at the crack of dawn sobeit when the SAS burned the garden with opiated heart of palm on that date and await the new salvation selah

    ReplyDelete
  13. Adeline Redmond's youngest boy transfixed him atop the second highest peak Sam yet declined and laid the blade in timorous palm on the last date and the first of the second week when the temple filled with smoke inside the three pillared tent with godspeed John Glen no Senator thee we paused above Diana's mirror with the venerable twin cam wrap around tread all season dual compound so easy to feel the limit on rain soaked road plunging down to the valley floor through Dayton too fast for the cops absolute ten tenths like Guts pass leaving gull wing behind such a light turquoise beyond celestial Indian girl though berdache having pizza under the arbor could be blue or green or white reflecting the Tuscan sky where replicant David stands watch but gentlemen prefer bronze with eagles wing feathery reaching to heaven of Acadian ravine like stem of cup to pass the drivers test classical all female Scott over the hill beyond the Tiber working on a mattress in the Louvre to provide a bed fit for seraphs to entwine while smoke from three poled tabernacles surround through secret passage brought from Qana farms with speed at twelve espied in exposition with elders later found and back to Mandaean practice in the Ouachita tribe of Champagnole where mammy kept us happy and alta fed the priest but priestess I of the last millenniums faith with eyes dilated from soda fountain speed he was my first eye-talian upside down from belts in Mexican mountains beyond Tehuantepec above Manzanillo the Santo Fumo grows what the broken tranny man has no clue with speed of lance absolute ten tenths with confidence in De Dion up escarpments of Cumberland ridges Nicola's ghost my guardian angel to allow seraphic future under smokey tabernacle and Salome dancing there so these millennia end and we await a punishment for waging war with pentagrams and Rosemary's black knight awaits inauguration day though I whizz along the crater top by Campagnolo derailed and headset of of mega I fret not for lo the garden burned east and south from Qana farms of Santo Fumo fame leaves of eleven crossed my palm before the downy hairs appeared and pert buds bloomed by piss of mare by Scythians known to Greeks and in eleusinian wistfulness from Corinth temple across Acadia to the second the painter plain between Rome and Albany hills where springs in my legs the nicest on anything he had seen atop Ottavio's brand I spin carefree around Memo and down to ninfa springs for Pashtun cup turned upside down to fully take the pous of Zeus where the eagle lands in sixty nine and tranquility plus base would only last for fifty years in central state the blade of betrayal cradled by the bridal path stuck in second gear but now in third at absolute limit yet feel so fine just can not cross the line though tractor trailers zoom down the rain soaked road of Tennessee weightt of tranny glues us down no never we collide not yet brought to end gratefully dead by scarlet Salome dance time for chicken sandwich and Casey Jones in trouble gleaming bronze versus blackened scales of pangolin she did not press against chinatown in Acadian mist only Romeo's zephyr stirs Mrs robinson's glossy Bob Meet me the rallied mountains of Walhalla or on Waleska's rotten pine

    ReplyDelete
  14. You can't fly over Palestine with no left wing and pentagram fat until the chequered flag waves from fertile crescent to Dakar and Johnny from Rho should breach the wall and visit in peace the orthodox crib of the faith of olden days and golden ones we knew it not on rain soaked entrance ramp near central Scarlet town at absolute limit in Alfa pawned the wages of a journey to the gates of hell in Akethesia occasioned by paranoia of Brooklyn tongue protesting Paul's epistle and his journal after Sunday constitutional stroll while Cipollina picked Mona's column apart and Only the Saiqa stood firm in the shadow of SA's ruined gift before the healer of Brooklyn entered the family tomb and killed his father sixty times over my son the doctor my son the doctormy son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the docror my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctorbmy son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my sin the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my sin the doctor my son the doctor my son the dictor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my son the doctor my sob the doctor physician heal thyself.but it was stage four and peace now never commemorative Beretta presented made the pale hope bleed out no Gandhi but likely thirty two acp they never jam only the weakness of ancient springs and gritty fleet street magazines we spin carefree nemi to ninfa to meet the mighty Quinn at tranquility base in the spirit of seventy six I remind him of someone he met in a Papal stanza sung by Godly French mountain man stock descended until he ran out of west a ghost with a heart of gold left his widow in the fog and the four fingered band was never the same can we hope for infinite arpeggi at least after all other hope is dead

    ReplyDelete
  15. her response replica dolabuy recommended you read replica bags online you can check here high replica bags

    ReplyDelete