
Person Info
James Mayo #28968 Violette: Birth: 11 FEB 1907 in Logan, Kentucky, USA. Death: 2 SEP 1989 in Todd, Kentucky, USA
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Source: Details: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=d Link: d |
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Source: Details: http://www.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/ifa_image.cgi?SEC=Kentucky&I Link: http://www.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/ifa_image.cgi?SEC=Kentucky&I |
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Source: Details: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=de Link: de |
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Note: Tobacco war started with wild rumors, theories By CHRIS SMITH • The Leaf-Chronicle • March 30, 2008 When a group of saboteurs blew up a major Elkton, Ky., tobacco factory in 1905, The Leaf-Chronicle was quick to do two things: First, redirect blame for the bombing away from the one group that might benefit from it - the organization of farmers trying to set their own prices - and, second, stamp down false reports of a 150-strong army of masked men terrorizing the countryside. The beginnings of what came to be called the Night Riders episode are complicated, but it boils down to this: Big corporate tobacco buyers had organized a trust that worked to keep prices low at the expense of local farmers. In response, tobacco farmers organized an association that would allow them to warehouse their tobacco and set a stronger collective price. As the Planters Protective Association was forming, some buyers and sellers were refusing to play ball, and soon found their operations under violent siege. Only a few days before the big explosion in Elkton, the Dec. 9 edition of the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle had reported two tobacco factory arsons in Trenton, Ky., that morning, first of the S.D. Chestnut & Brothers factory, then of Jos. Russell's factory about 50 yards away. The explosion in Elkton was bigger. So big, in fact, it was heard all over that city. Reported in the Dec. 12 edition, it happened the night before at about 11 p.m. The terrorists had planted dynamite under the three-story tobacco factory operated by American Tobacco Co., which had bought a small amount of tobacco in week prior. Immediately upon hearing word of the explosion, Felix G. Ewing, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Planters Protective Association, sent to the Leaf-Chronicle and other newspapers this telegram: "Say for me: 'I condemn absolutely the excitement in the dark tobacco district and the demonstrations against buyers for large corporations which savor in the least of lawlessness. I shall hurry home, and it shall be my earnest endeavor to allay it before it results in lawlessness." Ewing had been out of town recuperating from an illness. Conspiracy theory Editors piggybacked on Ewing's concerns, admonishing readers that Ewing, of all people, would never condone this sort of violence. In fact, the paper leaped to an interesting conspiracy theory that the saboteurs were actually working to destroy the association through setting it up for blame in the acts. "The Leaf-Chronicle does not pretend to know or say who is responsible for this lawlessness, or what the motive of the men were who committed it; but it does say that an attempt has been made to strike the Farmer's Association an infamous blow below the belt. Does any sane, thinking man believe that any friend of the organization has done these things upon the heels of its recent triumphant victory? Certainly not. It is quite conceivable, however, that enemies of this organization might have done them with a mistaken view of the moral effect it might produce, hoping they might lead to the destruction of the Organization." An interesting theory, but one discounted by Ewing in a letter to members published on the front page Dec. 14, in which he puts the blame on misguided "reckless friends" of the farmers and demands that they promote the association only through lawful means. Masked army On the same night as the bombings, a group of men, rumored to be masked, hijacked a train going from Guthrie, Ky., to Elkton. It's unclear whether this happened before or after the bombing, but it elicited what the Leaf-Chronicle claimed was a bogus dispatch. The paper ran the dispatch, with the following disclaimer on its accuracy: "The following highly sensational dispatch was sent out to-day from Elkton. A careful investigation shows that it is highly overdrawn. The statement that 150 heavily armed and masked men held up a train and declared that they were looking for tobacco buyers is untrue. Ten men or thereabouts boarded a train and stated that they were peaceably inclined and wanted to wait upon certain tobacco buyers, who they had heard were aboard the train. We could not confirm after careful inquiry, the statement that these men were masked and heavily armed." In years to come, such rumors would seem less far-fetched, as bands of Night Riders stormed the countryside, sometimes taking over entire towns such as Princeton, Hopkinsville and Russellville, Ky., in what was called the Black Patch War, according to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. The violence peaked in 1907-09, then diminished in the next few years. Chris Smith is managing editor for local news and can be reached at 245-0282 or by e-mail at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>. Jo and Gary Violette visited Irene Shemwell at JSMC then attended the re-enactmant in Hopkinsville described below: Saturday, September 24, 2005 Movie, music and mayhem part of Night Riders' return By Emily Burton [email protected] Nearly 100 years after terrorizing the townsfolk, Hopkinsville's infamous Night Riders will once again roam the streets, holding policemen, firemen, and two ill-fated telephone operators hostage. Tonight the Pennyroyal Area Museum is hosting its annual historic hayride, which traces the Night Riders' route through Hopkinsville. The Night Riders swarmed the town in an effort to raise weak tobacco prices, by threatening farmers and limiting the market through the destruction of crops in local warehouses. The riders were farmers who grew dark tobacco who saw their crops sell for about four cents less than the production cost, according to the museum's education program coordinator, Janet Bravard. In the darkness before dawn on Dec. 7, 1907, several hundred men held the Sheriff's Department and firemen at the old station on Ninth Street hostage. The Night Riders wore black masks and white sashes, and they brought guns. There were two women working at the telephone company that night, who the masked men also restrained. Tonight, this story and several more will be reenacted in costume, said Bravard. Christian County Historian William T. Turner will regale the crowd with the tale of the ill-at-ease farmers, who burned down three tobacco warehouses before being chased out of town by a posse. The tour is tonight at 6:30 and 8:30. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for members and children. The museum recommends tickets be purchased ahead of time, as they often sell out. A free showing of the 90-minute movie, "On Bended Knees," an account of the Night Riders, will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the museum. After the movie, Judge Bill Cunningham, author of the book "On Bended Knees," will be on hand for a book signing. This is the first year for the movie and signing to be offered, said Bravard. Before the first tour begins, the Wexford Way String Ensemble will hold a concert at 5:30 p.m. Bravard said the event would provide families with an entertaining and educational evening. "We'll give the audience a good sampling of how it was back in 1907 when the town was held hostage by the Night Riders," Bravard said. 2011 05 21 Jo Gary Mallory & Matt saw "Smoke" in Adams, TN http://amplifier.ky.net/cgi-bin/article.pl?section=poi&article=a308&Year=1997&Month=April LOOK AT LOGAN: YES, VIRGINIA, THERE WERE NIGHT RIDERS IN LOGAN COUNTY By Mark Griffin Ask some historians and they will tell you there were never any Night Riders in Logan County. But they are wrong. There were Night Riders in Logan; in fact, one of their major raids happened in Russellville. Many people think the Night Riders were the Ku Klux Klan, but that is far from the truth. These people were more concerned with tobacco. You see, in the 1900s tobacco prices were so low that tobacco farmers were not making enough to live on. Something needed to be done to improve the situation. Remember, the United States was an agrarian society back then. Majority of the population still depended on farming in order to make a living. In Kentucky and Tennessee, tobacco (especially dark-fired tobacco) was the crop that brought the most wealth. So, when the tobacco farmers started suffering from poor prices on their crops, the entire state suffered with them. The reasons for these poor prices had to do with several factors, but the main reasons were a sin tax on placed on the crop, and the American Tobacco Company (or simply known as the Trust). The Trust had a monopoly in the tobacco market. Farmers had no choice but to sell their cash crop to the Trust if it wanted to make any money. The controller of the Trust was James Buchanan Duke (the man Duke University is named after). Something had to be done to fight the Trust. So, on Sept. 24, 1904, five thousand tobacco growers met in Guthrie to form Planters Protective Association of Kentucky and Tennessee (Virginia would join later) or just known as the Association. It was hoped the Association would become a viable competition for the Trust, and create better prices for tobacco. Association tobacco floors popped up all over the Black Patch area. (The Black Patch was the area in Kentucky was dark-fired tobacco, used mainly for snuff, was grown. It got its name because the tobacco is an olive-green color and looked black in the fields.) Of course, the Trust disapproved of the Association, and offered better prices to the hillbillies (the term used on farmers who refused to join the Association). It was disheartening for the Association who were unable to get good prices. Farmers were reluctant to join the Association, and the organization needed just about every farmer to join so that it could have power over the Trust. Sometime in October of 1905, several men met at the Stainback Schoolhouse located between Adams, Tenn. and the community of Keysburg in Logan County to organize the Possum Hunters Organization. Using rites from Masons and the Klan, this secret society would intimidate hillbillies to join the Association. And thus the Black Patch War was started. They first called themselves the Possum Hunters, but because of a speech by U.S. Sen. A. O. Stanley at an Association meeting in Springfield (speaking against the night-riding), the group became forever known as the Night Riders. Logan County was one county in Kentucky that had an active Night Rider organization. In fact, the Night Riders raided Russellville and burned two warehouses (and other property) on Jan. 3, 1908 (not to mention, holding the sheriff at gun point and hijacking a train). Night Riders in Logan County burned warehouses in the communities of Olmstead and Dripping Spring (they almost burned one at Cave Spring); not to mention the barns owned by hillbillies. Hillbilles were also tarred and feathered for their defiance. But you wouldnt think the Night Riders were even in Logan County if you talked to some historians. Bill Cunningham barely mentions Logan County in his book, ON BENDED KNEE. But I dont really dont blame him for covering so very little about Logans involvement in the Black Patch War. He probably was unable to find anything. Finding information about the Logan chapter of the Night Riders is difficult. Old local newspapers recounting Night Rider activity are suspiciously missing, and very few people are willing to talk about that time (even though everyone involved with the Black Patch War is dead). However, I have been able to find some old publications and some people have told me stories that have been told to them. There is also the TOBACCO NIGHT RIDERS OF KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE by James O. Nall, the first book to cover the Black Patch War. It has a great deal of information on Logan County, and so does RIDERS IN THE NIGHT by Harry Harrison Kroll (a book I have read but dont have in my private library, and really want). Im sure there are other books but it is so hard finding them. Slowly but surely, Im collecting information about Logan Countys Night Riders and hopefully someday I will put it all into a book. But it will be a while before that day will happen I still have plenty of research to do and people to question. In fact, the Night Riders have become my obsession. I cant talk to anyone without bringing the Night Riders up. I even have pictures of important Night Rider scenes. I would tell yall how the Night Riders were finally defeated, but that is another fascinating story. The Todd County Times VOL. XVI Elkton, KY., Friday, June 5, 1908 Pg 1 Night Riders Do Work At Olmstead The night riders were in the saddle in Logan county early Sunday morn- ing and burned a large tobacco factory at Olmstead. The property which was destroyed belonged to John Scott, a prominent tobacco buyer for the Italian Regie trade. The advent of night riders was signalized by the firing of guns and pis- tols. Nobody offered any resistance, and the few who peeped out of windows say they could not tell hom many were in the gang or whether they were masked. One citizen counted seven in one squad. The riders applied the torch to the Scott building, and it was burned to the ground. The loss is about $5,000, with $2,000 insurance. Two years ago Scott was waited on in the day- time by organization farmers, who re- quested him not to buy tobacco. Two months later night riders call him from his home, and , it is reported, told him either to quit buying tobac- co, leave the county or suffer death at their hands. Scott sold his home and move to Russellville. He placed his factory on the market, but was not able to sell it. He rented the building to James Browder, an association prizer. Brow- der had finished his work for the sea- son and shipped out all the tobacco. There were several hogsheads of as- sociation tobacco in the building when it burned' some type samples and two carloads of fertilizer. Mr Scott has been one of the largest purchasers of association to- bacco at Russellville. Violet, James found in 1900 Census: Lived in: Adairville District, Logan County, Kentucky Series: T623 Microfilm: 539 Book: 2 Page: 84 Boarder in L.K. Walker household near Adairville in Logan Co KY. Parents born in KY. He could read and write. |
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Note: On the marriage bond, he made an "x" or mark instead of signing his name (GV). |
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