putes and not have them worsened in a court of law.

putes and not have them worsened in a court of law. He was criticized for this — for delaying,” Keyser said. “But nine times out of ten, they’d reach an agreement if he gave them a little time. Then they'd come and ask him to forget the warrant.”

The sheriff would serve warrants for domestic squabbles involving violence. One involved a man he knew well, Boots Burke, who worked for him on his place. Burke’s wife came to the sheriff and said that the man had beaten her. She looked all right, but the sheriff went to see Burke, to arrest him. “Old Boots was all scratched up and bloody,” Keyser said. “He could barely walk.” So the sheriff encouraged the couple to try to make a peaceful settlement.

There was one time when the unarmed sheriff thought he might be pushing his luck. He had been asked to keep order at an “association” at Sandy Hook, now Huntly. Two or three rowdy church-goers threatened him and advanced upon him. Keyser was saved when some of their fellow church members booted them out of the association meeting.

“He was a man with common

sense. He never carried a gun and

he was never overpowered.

There was a lot of talk about the mountain people, the moonshiners. Some of the town folks thought of the people who lived back in the mountains as being rough and lawless. Those that knew them knew better, Keyser said. “You’d go up to Beech Springs - they played poker there. You could leave word w ith anyone at Beech Spring that you needed workers and return at dawn the next day and there would be ten men ready to work. And they’d work right along beside you from dawn to dark. “Others who went there placed orders for moonshine and returned at night to find it ready.”

The moonshine and employment mountain communication network helped law enforcement officials. Local lawmen did not have a lot of interest in cleaning up the moonshine businss. It was accepted by Rappahannock people as part of the free enterprise system, although federal agents thought otherwise.

Mountain people wanted on other charges were not difficult to find. “I went up to Beech Spring,” said Keyser. “I had ten warrants to serve - I thought it might take days of thrashing through the hollows. I talked to the men playing poker - Virgil Atkins was their spokesman. He asked me when the trial was and said he’d get the men. Sure enough, he had them all there at 2 the next day. From then on, I just left word on who was wanted for court and they’d always be there. They knew they’d get a fair share and they had no dispute with any laws but the whiskey tax. They were not a lawless, rough people.

“I remember one case 1 had something lodo with that involved the mountain people. It was a murder case during prohibition days. They were John and Ezra Jenkins - they were some kin, not brothers. Well, Ezra thought that John had told revenuers about his still and he went with his rifle to John’s home to shoot him. Ezra was shot from the house. — and I always thought that John’s mother did it, but John was charged, and Ma was a witness.

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