Mountain legend dead

These tragic deaths tend to come in threes:

PARROTTSVILLE, Tenn. — The wife of famed Appalachian moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton says he took his own life at his Tennessee home because he couldn't stand the thought of going to prison.

Pam Sutton told The Asheville Citizen Times in North Carolina that her husband was depressed about an 18-month federal sentence he was due to start serving Friday. A telephone listing for Sutton could not immediately be found by The Associated Press.

Tennessee authorities have said they suspected suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning after Marvin Sutton was found Monday dead in his car in Parrottsville. An autopsy has been ordered.

The author of the book "Me and My Likker" pleaded guilty in April to illegally producing distilled spirits and being a felon in possession of a handgun.

Popcorn Sutton was the last of the great Hillbilly moonshiners. Here he is in action:



Popcorn knew that given his age and poor health he would not survive a prison sentence and so chose to die on his own terms as a free man.

It is to be hoped that someone will bring out a new edition of his book.

To honor Mr. Sutton on his passing I hereby declare him the Dean of the Hillbilly Ecosystem.