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MOUNT AIRY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, DEC EM HER J.;, 100S
NO. J J
UJj. .UVi.V
REELFOOT LAKE
Story of How the Lake was Formed by Earthquake Cap
italists try to Take Land From the Fishermen
and Bring on a Little War
Li O
tale extant offers more in-
tarest to the amateur in sensa
tion than the story of the Night
Rider outrages in the Reelfoot
Lake district in the Northwest
ern corner of Tennessee. In the
past eight months at least seven
ty crimes, including tne whip
ping of individual: and the de
struction of -property, have been
pcrp't rated in the Reel foot Lake
district by an organized gang of
terrorists, and hundred.-? of law
abiding citizens lave been so
crowed and bullied that even
now, with the armed forces at
the state in control of the situa
tion, they scarcely dare tell all
they know. The murder of Cap
tain Quentin Rankin, an attor
ney f Trenton, in Gibson Coun
ty, called the sudden attention
of the whole country to condi
tions in the lake district, and a
roused the state and local auth
thoritie3 to action.
The physical history of Reel
foot Lake is not without a cer
tain interest of its own: and in
order to gain some insight into
the .series of Night Rider outra
ges that have been perpetuated
in the country round about it is
absolutely necessary to look at
plicated mass of litigation of
some points in trie amazingly
The lake came into existence as
the result of a series of earth
quakes which bega.i in Decem
ber ISil, and continued until
June, 1812, It is sixteen to
eighteen miles long, very irregu
lar in shape, and covers from
thirty-five thousand to forty
thousand-acres of land.
The majority of the fithcrs and
farmers who live near the lake
-claim that it is not suscessible
'f exclusive ownership; the West
Tennessee Land Company,' to
which Captain Rankin belonged
was formed in October, 1007 and
is the first claimant, individual
jt corporate to sole ownership
and control, whose title has ever
been confirmed by the courts.
Land w is not valuable- in the
!ays when Roelfoot came into
existence. The hunters and fish
ers who took up their abode on
the banks of the newly created
lake regarded it as public pro
perty, as one regards a river.
Win ther or not they knew the
land at the bottom of the lake
belonged by right to anyone else,
they never gave the questions of
its ownerships a seconds thought
As time went on and the settlers
and their children remained un
molested in their hunting and
fishing occupations, the idea
never occurred to them that any
one would ever claim exclusive
ownership of the lake itself.
Their descendants still take the
vk-w that the lake is as much pub
lic property as the Mississippi
river.
It was until comparatively re
cent titnes that any serious pre
tensions to exclusive ownership
and control of the lake itself
were put forward. Such claims
were made by Mr. W. M. Wil
son, a citizen of Obion County,
who had acquired the original
Tennessee grants. He sold these
grants to James C. Harris, a
wealthy citizen of TJptonville,
who already owned large tracts
bordering on both shores of Reel
foot Harris, now claiming ex
clusive ownership as Wilson had
-done, proposed to cut a canal
from the southern end of the
lake to the Mississippi river, and
drain the inundated district.
The fishermen and hunters, and
the farmers in the hills behind
who are occasional fishers and
hunters, resisted. The fisher
men saw their occupation gone,
if the lake was drained; the farm
ers farther inland, many of whom
held their land by right of occu
pation, saw that the validity of
the titles of the land upon which
they lived was more or less in
volved along with the titles of
the land at the bottom of the
lake: if Harris had such exclu
sive control of the lake that he
could do what he pleased with it
then it followed that ho must
also own the rest of the land,
not inundated, covered by the
same original grants. They made
common cause against Mr. Har
ris in the courts..
Mr, Harris then brought the
original Doherty claims granted
by the state of North Carolina in
1781. This time evidently, he
was quite certain of his rights
to exclusive control, for he a
gain brought suit to prevent tne
Reel foot fisherme:; and huters
from fishing and hunting in the
fake without his consent. In
10OP liofAvo thn Vticratinn vjhrh
ensued was settled, HardieifefA0 "far 0'? Vear
mnviib R!,Pf.-fwll tn ha fth.
er's interests. "Judge" is not
a title, but is one of the most
striking figures in the lake dis
trict, indeed he is, to my mind,
the most interesting person in
ali that country. His life has
been threatened not once but
dozens of times.
He lives atTiptonville, in Lake
County, in a house that has any
feudal baron's castle that ever
was, quite beaten as a defensive
stronghold, for the ground round
about it is planted with mines,
and, by merely touching a but
ton as he sits within, Judge Har
ris could hurl an army to des
truction. The Harris claims, acquired by
successive purchases, in 1U0.",
covered the bottom of the lake
and about f)0 per cent of the
land along its shores.
In October. 1907, the West
Tennessee Land, and Improve
ment Company was formed. Be
sides Judge Harris, those inter
ested were J. R. Deason, Cap
tain Quentin Rankin, Robert Z.
Taylor, all lawyers living at Tren
ton, in Gibson County; Seid Wad
dell, a lawyer of Union City,
Walter Pleasant, of Union City;
a fisherman, and John Shaw, of
Samburg, a fisherman.
All the lawyers in this corpora
tion had at one time or another
represented the fishermen in the
courts in their fights against the
Harrises, father and son. They
discovered that there were cer
tain tracts of land along the lake
which lay in the shape of small
wedges between the various
tracts owned by Harris; they ac
quired these tracts and formed
a partnership with Harris; the
organization being known as the
West Tennessee Land and Im
provement'Company. This deal is variously repre
sented in the lake country. Ran
kin, Taylor, Deason, Waddell,
Pleasant, Shaw and Burdick
(who was never a member of the
West Tennesses Land Company)
claimed that it was a comprom
ise for the purpose of settling
. the difficulties between Harris
and tjf fishermen. s
Soffit' of the fishermen but not
all of them.; claim that it was a
desertion of their interests on
the part of the lawyers concern
ed. Of these lawyers, Captain
Rankin is murdered; Colonel
Taylor's murder was attempted
Waddell and Deason have both
been the recipients of numerous
threatening letters and warnings
from Night Riders.
The right to fish for profit in
the lake is leased from the land
company by two principal con
cerns. One of these is the Reel
foot Fish Company, consisting
of Uurdick, Shaw and Pleasant,
operating at Samburg. The oth
er is P. C. Ward, who runs the
hotel at Walnut Log, from which
Rankin was taken to his death.
Uurdick wa3 never a member of
the West Tennespre Land Com
pany; Shaw and Pleasant somi
disposed of their interests, and
withdrew from it.
Ward, and the ReelfoJt Fish
Company, the chief parties au
thorized by the West Tennessee
Land Company to fish for profit in
the lake, but the fish brought to
them by the working fishermen,
reselling them in a general way;
the fishermen are allowed to take
all they choose for their own use,
as is anyone else, but may not
sell their catch to anyone except
the Uurdick or Ward, for this
privilege they pav the West Ten
nessee Jutid Company one-half
cent per pound royalty on all
fish handl ?d by them. The gross
business done on the lake a-
W certain coterie oc me risnc:
men. Ar.d his life has been
threatened bv Night Riders.
Let me repeat The fishermen
are rot all Night Riders; the
Night Riders are not all fisher
men; the point of the lake's con
trol is not the sole inspiration of
all the night-riding.
The first Night Ridrr .ytivitv
manifested itself eanfTa April,
about three weeks after the re
fusal of Judge Cooper to dissolve
the injunction restraining the
fishermen who desired to com
pete with Ward and Uurdick.
They took the f jrm anonymous
letters threatening the lives of
Colonel Taylor, Captain Rankin,
Dr. Deason, Mr. Waddell, Mr.
W.dtt r Pleasant,
John Sliaw
Judge Cooper, Mr
Uurdick and
Mr. Judge Harris.
Immediately after the death
of Captain Rankin five companies
of Tennessee Slate troops under
the command oi. Colonel W. C.
Tatom, of Nashille, were hurried
into the Reelfoot district; the
sheriifs of Obion, Lake and Dyer
Counties formed strong posses
and assisted them; and Judge
Joseph E Jones, of the fourteenth
Tennessee circuit convened the
grand jury in special session.
Governor Malcolm R. Patterson
at the time engaged in a cam
paign for re-election, conceited
all his speaking engagements
and went to take personal charge
of the situation. He offered a
reward of $10,000-the largest
the law allowed for the capture
of the murdersrs. Mirtiallaw
was not declared, but it was put
into effect, and in a wek a hun
dred prisoners were in cam? es
tablished at Samburg.
The trials will be watched
with unusual interest, and there
will 1 e a great deal of disap
pointment if some legal hang
ings do not follow. Don Mar
.quis, in Uncle Remus's The
Home Magazine for December.
liruises, ncratches, sores and burns
that other things have failed to cure
will heal quickly and completely when
you use DeWitt's Carholizea Witch
Hazel alve. It is especially good for
pilf. Sold by J. H. Gwyn.
A COUNTY VVHURG i.mo FARM
LKS HAVH TELEPHONES.
How the 'Phones Were Secured
and How They Add to the Con.
vencieuce Safety and Prosperity
of Their Owner.
Messrs Editors: Union Coun
ty has, perhaps, the best rural
telephone service that can be
found in any county in the South.
We have thirty; telephone ex
changes in the county, twenty
six of which are in the rur;l dis
tricts. -There are approximately
two thousand telephones in the
homes of farmers of Union Coun
ty. The service is not confined
to land-owners. Many of our
renters own their 'phones and
enjoy this convenience alofg
with their more pro'pcriniis
neighbors.
I note with interest the article
in last week's Progressive Far
mer telling of the convenience of
telephone communication. While
you mentioned tho principle con
veniences, it is impossible for
even those who have the service
to enumerate the many ways the
'l hone is brought into use in a
rural community where a com
plete telephone .system has de
veloped. ONE FARMER'S PHONE SAVED
HIM $130.
In this county it would be a re
minder of "past ages" to see a
man "going after the doctor."
If the service of a doctor is need
ed by a negro family, or by one
who ha; no 'phono in the house,
he steps out to the nearest 'phone
and the doctor is called. When
fj-iwavc - Stray-is; orMh Utath "gen
out, the 'phone is used to locate
them. When prices are fluctu
ating the 'phone is brought into
use to keep in close touch with
the market. About two years a
gone farmer in this county sav
ed $150 on his cotton crop by
selling his cotton by 'phone,
when it reached the highest point.
When the farmer leaves for town
with his chickens and eggs and
country produce he knows what
he is going to get for them.
News of a sensational nature gets
out among ruiaL 'phone owiTers
before a daily paper can put it in
type. When McKinley was shot
farmers in Union County knew
it within an hour after it occur
red. And the social feature -a-
wne is worm many turn.':; Us
co.-;t. When tlvj faithful wife
grows weary with the monoton
ous work in the home, it is an
agreeable diversion to call up a
neighbor for a few minutes' so
cial conversation. It rests her
and makes her ta-k seem lighter.
The uses madj of the 'phone by
girls and boys of courting age
can be imagined better than de
scribed. Uut this is merely inci
dental. INDIVIDUAL EXCHANGES AND CO
OPERATIVE TINES.
You want to know him we or
ganized the rural system? Every
telephone exchange in this coun
ty, with possibly one exception,
is an independent exchange, on
ed by an individual, or iraividu
als, as an investrnent.v'We have
no co-operative exchanges, but
we have hundreds of rural lines
that were buiVt on the cooperative
plan. For instance, a farmer
living eight miles from town
buys a switchboard and puts it
in a room of
then runs a 1;
nects with t
(free, on pv;
then next .
neighbors i
50 or 75
will bui' '
residence. He
lii'i to "town andcon
hf town exchange
nge basis). He
eposes to give his
linone service at
; a month, if they
r own lines to his
ud buy their own
en several farmers
switch)
'phone
along
J
go to work and
build cu-vrative line. divid-rLt .
ing the expense equally. We de
scribe our system correctly, then
when we say that our exchanges
are established by individuals
for profit, while the rural lines
are built in a co-ouerating way
for the service of those who build
the::;. In this way there is no
company to organize, unless you
call the farmers who go in to
gether and build a party line a
company.
The system develops slowly.
Farmers are conservative and
they generally want plenty of
time for mature consideration
before going into anything new;
but if there is a switchboard pu t
down in a community, the tele
phone fever will spread all right
and the investment will be safe
if made in an intelligent, pro
gressive vicinity.
CITY CONVENIENCE AND COUNTRY
F RE DOM.
This modern system of quick
communication is so valuablo ,and
yet so cheap, that it is astonish
ing that farmers will do without
it. There is absolutely no reasan
why we should not avail oursel
ves of this opportunity to remove
the isolation of country life and
bring ourselves in touch with the
commercial world. With the de
velopment of rural' mail delivery
the rural telephone system and
the special tax for rural high
schools, farmers can have the
conveniences of city life, and at
the same time enjoy the freedom
of country life. J. Z. Green,
Union Co., N. C. in Progressive
Farmer.
PROGRAM PASTORS, LAY-LEAb,
INC.
Elkin, N. C. Dec. 20, SO, 1908
Tuesday 29th:
2. P. M. Opening and organi
zation. o i . ill. Vvliere and why we
succeed and where and why we
failed last year. Rev. W. M. Rag
by. 3:!i0 P. M. A forward move
ment for U09, E. H. Kochtitzky.
-1 P. M. The work of the Dis
trict Evangelist, Rev. Z. Paris.
4:30 P. M. District stewards
meeting.
7 P. M. Financial Systems,
Discussion opened by E. II.
Kochtitzky.
Wednesday 150:
0 Full collections and how Rev.
D. M. Li taker.
9:.'50 Soul winning Rev. Z. E.
Uamhardt and W. L. Dawson.
10 How to reach unoccupied
Territory, Discussion opened by
Rev. T. J. Houck.
11 The pastor and his work
Rev. D. V. Price.
11 0 Closing words from the
Presiding Elder.
- Please notify Rev. D. L. Lita
ker when you will arrive at El
kin. j
Good Couh Medicine for Claldren.
The Season fur coutfh un,l colda is
now at hand and tor;,h,u-h care- cannot
be used to protect the children. A child
ik much mor. ikely to contract diph
theria r-j. scarlet fever when he has a
old. The quicker you cure his cold the
ll the risk. Chamberlain's Cough
Kemedy is the sole reliance of many
mothers, and few of tho.se who have
tried it are willing to use anv other.
Mrs. V. V. Starcher, of Ila'!ey, VV.
Va., says: "I have never used anything
other than Chamberlain's Cou-fh Rem
edy for my children and it has always
given go'iti satisfaction. " This remedy
contains no opium or other narcotic and
may be piven as confidently to a child
a i to an adult, For sale by (Jwyn Drug
Co.
One hundred fine pigs on hand,
der before they are picked over.
TT TIC T A TATTtT"
Will South. Ce Elkin and All,
ghany.
Winston-Salem, N. C. Dec. 16.
'It is thought here that the new
railroad from Elkin to Sparta
will soon be in the hands of the
Southern Railway Company. At
least indications point this way.
Sixth Vice-President II. Ii.
Spencer and Chief Engineer
Mills, of the Southern, passed
through Winston-Salem yester
day en rQute to Elkin, and begin
ning yesterday are inspecting
the work already done and going
over and proposed line to Sparta
The visit of these officials has
led to the rumor that the South
ern may even complete the con
struction of the line, but there r
little or no probability of that
since the work of building the
line is progressing satisfactorily
and there is no likelihood of the
present company being embar
rassed for th j lack of funds: Be
sides the state- is taking a part
in building the road, furnishing
a force of about 100 convicts for
the work, receiving stock in the
company as remuneration for the
work.
The Elkin and Alleghany Rail
way Company was organized
nearly two years ago. Hugh G.
Chatham, of Elkin, more re ent
ly of this city, was the moving
spirit in the enterprise, as he has
been in many others for the in
dustrial upbuilding of this te
tion, and he was elected presi
dent. H. E. Erie and A. H.
Eller, of this city are among the
directors.
The,?- -"i ro-i, ru f-'vve
t'U, Vil cvu..., i .v., i Vi'itiu, lit
Surry county, to Sparta, in Alle
hany county, a distance of about
forty miles, directly across and
over the Ulue Ridge. The grad
ing, after about a year's work,
now extends to the foot of the
Ridge, and the rails will belaid
for this distance in a very short
.vhile and. the first span about
fifteen mile3 of the line, which
extends through some rich virgin
forests and timber lands, will be
placed in profitable operation.
When this is completed the
line will be extended southeast
wardly through Yadkin county
to this city, a distance of about
forty miles, making a total length
of eighty miles.
It has been estimated that the
line between Elkin and Sparta
will be completed during 1910,
opening up a fine country, rich
in natural resources, and giving
the first line in this section o,v
tne uiue Kiuge, witn tne t
that the trade of
tbatVs'V'ti-
! will be attracted td Masto;
em, instead of qntinuingvto go
to Virgil" f " .ns 'on the other
side of t!., j Uidge.'
. The leasing of the line by the
Southern, which i practically
assured, probably means that
! the first span will be put in op
eration in the very near fucure
and that the entire road will
probably be finished much earlier
than had been anticipated.
NOTICE.
This is to notify the public that the
firm of Simpson and Marion doing bus
iness in Surry county North Carolina
has been disolved by mutual concent
and that the business is now conducted
by It. L. Simpson. Nov. 14 1908
K. L. Simpson.
K. H. Marion
10 ' 1
Or-
Greens
i