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Show 0OOOOOO0OOOQG0OOOeOQOOOeOOOOOSOOO0QO 9 a f An Old 0LD ffi,rTT5I ! Moonshiners mfY. oocooooeaoaoocoooocctoeocoooooooooooos) Ono of the most remarkable- chsr-tcters chsr-tcters of tho mountain region of Western West-ern Pennsylvania Is Hill l'rltts. who was convicted of moonshlnlng In ths Lnlted States district court at Pittsburg Pitts-burg last week lie has long bccnj resident of Ka)ette county and was notorious far and uldo ns one of tfc aioit daring men In his line of bul' noes Ills two sons, John S. and Henry Prltts, were also Included In tho In? formation, but they did not appeafy Tho case excited great attention on account of tho numerous efforts to rapture Prltts In his mountain horns and his numerous successful escapes from tho revenue officers. Ho was Anally captured at his homo last May. Against the l'rltts family tho follow. Ing charges are made, on all of which the United States grand Jury found true bills: William Prltts, John S. Prltts and Henry Prltts, as distillers who failed to give bond and as distillers carrying on business with Intent to defraud the United States; William Prltts, rotall liquor dealer, falling to pay spoclal tax. Ignored bills John S Prltts and Henry Prltts, retail liquor dealers, falling to pay special tax John and Ilenry Prltts wcro arrested ar-rested In October, 1899, but tho old man made his escape, being wounded BILL PIHT3, ' " T In tho heel during his flight by a bul-. let from tho revolver of United States Deputy Marshal Prank Campbell. Tho two boys stood trial at tho Mify term of court and the Jury disagreed. Their ball was not renewed, but n stay was granted until this term of court, when thoy wero told to be present. Whon called yesterday afternoon neither of them was present nnd tho father was tho only ono who responded. Attorney At-torney It. 11. Kennedy of Unlontown, their attorney, was unablo to explain their absence Tho court advised Mr. Kennedy to have his clients appear. Tho case, against Prltts was opened by Assistant United States District Attorney At-torney J. N Iangham Deputy Collector Col-lector of Un'tod States Internal Iteve-mio Iteve-mio W. J, Dickson was the first witness wit-ness called, He described how, whllo ho and two others were engaged in demolishing de-molishing a still on l'rltts' farm In October, 1899, father and sons were seen approaching along a path. Thoy stopped their work on tho still nnd watted their arrival, when tho thrco leaped out at the mm nnd covered them with their rovnlvers, "Hill" Prltts escaped, Deputy Collector Dickson said that tho still was then In operation. Hot embers were bins beneath tho affair nnd a mess of something some-thing was In tho still Six barrels of mash, ho said, wcro In the stlllhouso "Hill" Prltts, ho said, was captured the following May by himself and Deputy Marshal A Mclleth, Ho was found near n house, of ono of his neighbors. neigh-bors. Tho officer said that when he caught the defendant tho latter denied being "IUU" Prltts and said that nt any rate be had dono nothing wrong Prank Campbell, ex-Unltcd States deputy marshal, and Emanuel Custer, who followed Dickson on the witness stand, corroborated Dickson's testimony. testi-mony. A plan of the farm of "nill" Prltts, with the location of the house nnd tho still, was submitted In evidence when W. n Horton, a surveyor, was called "Dill" Prltts first came Into prominence promi-nence with the killing of Tony Hoch-stettler Hoch-stettler several years ago. Robert Miller, one of tho party Implicated, gav himself up and served four years In the penitentiary. The others were never apprehended. The history of his numerous encounters and escapes has several zJim been printed, and 'oaznce has placed famous old "Hill" "far tho top of tho list of the quser 'wactcrs developed In tho mountains "' tstcru Pennsylvania. Uko all 'a of his class, Prltts had many ,lath friends among his neighbors, J these assisted him frequently In r'4lsg the officers of the government Antus. the people of the mountain "Ilea It Is not regsrded as a crime ,0 tkfat 1'nclo Bun out of the tax on wMliy Men otherwise honest would Jiot' scruple to trsfflc In whisky thst ullMd no tribute to the government, jnl those who endeavor to collect It hare a rocky time of It. The moon-tlar moon-tlar Is seldum without notice of the prcitnce of rcunuo officers In the vl-cjnltf" vl-cjnltf" of his still, aud he has ample IJtj to ionceil all evidences of his IIHdt occupation. His patrons can nriit ,e Induced to testily sgalnst ihlra,snd tho nnicers, even though thfjjmay be morally certain of the Itullof n suspect, have a hard task to trocure the evidence necessary to convict inn PrUts was fortunats In hle the good will of his neighbors, snd ea that account he long enjoyed Immunity from arrest The officers now elslm to have proofs of his guilt snd are confident of being able to give him a lonx term In the penitentiary. During his trial Prltts manifested the greatest unconcern He admitted that he drank ill Hie whisky he could get and made tho admission as though It were a good Joke nnd It tickled htm, lie admitted, however, that ho had done so twenty years ago. Ho was as delighted as ft youngster whon United States marshals told of the trouble thoy had experienced In capturing cap-turing him, Llko many another man, Hill Prltts Is a mlxturo of simplicity and guile, hut tho proportions are hard to determine |