Mahala Mullins created quite a stir during Prohibition. She was a moonshiner, but because she was so heavy, the police could not force her down the mountain to face jail and a trial.
Death of Mahala Mullins
Knoxville, Tenn., Sept. 19. — News has reached here of the death of Mahala Mullins, the famous fat woman and moonshiner of Hancock county. Mrs. Mullins weighed 560 pounds and lived on the top of a mountain, where she conducted a “still” in defiance of law. The officers were unable to apprehend her on account of her size, there being no way to get her down the mountain. Mrs. Mullins was one of the tribe of “Melungeons” whose origin has been a mystery to ethnological students for many years.
Source: The Eddy Current. Newspaper. September 24, 1898.
