USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 74
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"The general effect of a beautiful woman in Kentucky might be likened to the effect pro- duced by a beautiful woman of England. There is the same gracefulness and ease and sense of regalness. She has not the obvious- ness and nervous endeavoring to appear ef- fective before men that too often spoils other types of American beauty."
. CHAPTER LXII.
BURLEY AND DARK TOBACCO DISTRICTS-TOBACCO TRUSTS AND GROWERS-THE FARMERS COM- BINE-SUITS AGAINST THE BURLEY TOBACCO SOCIETY-OUTRAGES OF "NIGHT RIDERS."
Kentucky has long held the prestige of being the greatest producer of high-grade to- bacco in the world, while Louisville has been the natural market for its sale, there being a greater number of hogsheads sold annually there than in perhaps all the other markets in the Union. Buyers representing many foreign governments constantly watch the tobacco auction sales with the result that many thou- sands of hogsheads are annually shipped abroad. Kentucky produces the finest white Burley tobacco grown. Its place of growth is chiefly known as the Blue Grass land where formerly hemp was the chief crop on the lands now, and for a quarter of a century past, devoted to the raising of tobacco. If hemp was not grown, the land was largely devoted to pasturage and there has been many a pro- test made against the growing of tobacco in that favored region, one of the charms of which was its green pastures surpassed in beauty nowhere on earth unless it be in Eng- land where, for hundreds of years, the farm- ers have kept intact their grazing land.
In the Western part of the state, Burley to- bacco, owing to a difference in soil and the underlying geological formation, cannot be successfully grown, nor is it longer attempted. There a darker and heavier leaf is grown which gives to that section the name of the "Dark Tobacco District," the tobacco grown there being as popular in its class as is the Burley product in its especial field, the two appealing to a different class of buyers, not being in conflict in the markets.
For years the tobacco grower was at the mercy of the American Tobacco Company, a vast corporation which so depreciated the prices paid for the products of the grower that the latter often found himself at the end of a year of strenuous labor, poorer than when he began the growing of his crop. It has been charged that there was a concert of action be- tween the buyers for the American Tobacco Company and those buyers who independent of that company, bought for themselves or for independent tobacco manufacturers. Whether this charge is true, is not entirely susceptible of proof and is quoted here as illustrating the conditions which drove the tobacco growers into combinations in self-defense. Some one has said that the tobacco grower's year con- sists of thirteen months, every one of which is crowded full of hard labor. None can blame the farmer when he protested against the operations of a trust which gave him an inadequate return for this labor. The trust not only frequented the open markets, through its agents, but its buyers covered the tobacco growing field and, taking advantage of the growers' necessities, bought their tobacco at ruinously low prices. If the price offered by the first buyer was rejected, he would be fol- lowed by a second buyer in the same employ who, being informed by his associate buyer as to the price first offered, would tender a still lower price. The farmer would either be forced to accept this offer, or send his tobacco to market where the trust buyers, still hold- ing the unfortunate producer at their mercy,
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would probably secure his crop at a lower rate per pound than he had been offered for it while it hung in his barn at home. The neces- sities of the tobacco grower were the oppor- tunity of the trust buyers.
Much of the tobacco grown in Kentucky is the product of a system of tenantry and this is especially true of the Burley district. The farmers there knew nothing about the details of tobacco growing when they took up the Burley culture. The result was that men from other tobacco-growing sections of the state, poured onto the Blue Grass region and made contracts with the owners of the land to raise so many acres of tobacco "on shares," as these contracts read; that is, the tenant was to re- ceive a certain percentage of the money for which the crop was sold. These tenants were poor men and the land owners were forced by their contracts to furnish to them and their families, certain needed supplies during the growing of the crop. This was a condition which forced an early sale of the crop at what- ever price was obtainable. The tenant being a poor man could not long wait for a return upon the hard labor himself and family had put into the growing of the crop and its prep- aration for market. The land owner himself, perhaps, was in need of money, and this com- bination of circumstances put the grower and his tenants at the mercy of the trust. This intolerable condition led to a combination of the farmers of the Dark district known as the American Society of Equity; in the Burley district the associated growers were known as the Burley Tobacco Society.
One long connected with this latter society, has written: "The effort of the Burley To- bacco Society is to maintain a fair and com- paratively even price for tobacco; to avoid deceiving, misleading and unwholesome fluctu- ations and to put the farmer into a position to know the conditions with reference to supply and demand. Hitherto, the farmer had no dependable information as to the amount of
tobacco available. Even the department of agriculture, at Washington, ostensibly main- tained for the farmers' advantage, had more often been used to his disadvantage. It gives the manufacturers' definite statement of the condition of the farmers' business, but makes no disclosures concerning the manufacturers' business-no more does the internal revenue division. The farmer's business is an open page which he who runs may read. The trust agent knows how much land he owns; how much of it will produce tobacco; how many barns he has; the capacity of each barn, and the condition of the crops from seed-time to selling-time. In other words, the buyer plays the game with a full knowledge of the farm- er's hand, while the farmer is in the dark as to the real needs of the manufacturers. The farmer is scared into taking any kind of a price by cries of 'surplus' and 'over-production'; then about seeding time, he is encouraged by spasmodic jumps in prices to overplant, though these jumps in prices usually come after the tobacco of the previous crop has left the farmer's hands."
This is a fair statement of the conditions which brought about the formation of the two associations of tobacco growers before re- ferred to. The members of these associ- ations, learning from experience what a com- bination of buyers and manufacturers could do, concluded that a farmers' trust would probably operate to their advantage, as it did. They pooled the crops, deposited their to- bacco in warehouses and calmly sat down to see what the other bigger trust was going to do. The banks of the tobacco-growing dis- tricts came to the assistance of "the embattled farmers," cheerfully loaning them money upon their warehouse receipts, and the situation rapidly grew interesting to the tobacco trust as its supplies were becoming exhausted and there was not enough tobacco upon the market to meet their needs.
Suits were brought against the Burley To-
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bacco Society as a monopoly and therefore a combination in restraint of trade. This charge, if admitted to be true, showed only that "fighting the devil with his own fire" was the intent of the people who, for years, had been at the mercy of the Tobacco Trust. The same conditions existed in the Dark Tobacco district. A writer in the interest of the Bur- ley Growers said in a published statement : "When it is charged that the Burley Tobacco Society held a monopoly of Burley tobacco
been able to supply himself at the price indi- cated. Since this price is less than the cost of production, no greater justification could be advanced for the existence of the Burley Tobacco Society. The manufacturer's pur- pose with reference to the growers is clearly set forth in the plaintiff's petition. Since one farmer alone would be utterly powerless to prosecute a successful suit for damages against the manufacturers' combination, and since a suit for dissolution could have been
A TOBACCO FARM
in November, 1908, it should be remembered that the growers in the pool had been holding their tobacco since October, 1906. If this be called a monopoly then any man who is the last to sell in any given year, has a monopoly. It was the last tobacco bought, but not there- fore a monopoly. The plaintiff in one of the suits against the Burley Society alleged that for some years prior to the organization of the society, he had been able to supply him- self with what tobacco he needed at about forty per cent of what he was obliged to pay the Burley Tobacco Society and that if the society had not existed in 1908, he would have
brought only by the federal government, what possible method of relief or redress was open to the farmers save some such plan as was embodied in the Burley Tobacco Society?"
The sympathies of the general public were with the tobacco growers until unfortunate events operated to lessen that feeling. Into the pools formed in the two districts all the tobacco growers did not go. Those remain- ing apart from the pools, for one reason or another, claimed the right to sell their to- bacco when and where and at what price they pleased-a right which no reasonable person would deny them. These men were known
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as Independents and early incurred the dis- pleasure of many of those who had entered into pooling arrangements, and from this dis- pleasure there grew a dark chapter in the his- tory of the state. Secret organizations known as "Night Riders" were formed and, under the cover of darkness and disguises, these men wreaked a terrible vengeance upon such persons as had exercised their right to dispose of the fruits of their labor as to them seemed best. Men were taken from their homes at night by these "Night Riders" and whipped and otherwise maltreated; some, fearing for their lives, joined the organi- zation ; others, refusing to do so, left the state, finding homes elsewhere. In December, 1907, a band of disguised men, swept down upon the little city of Hopkinsville, burning prop- erty valued at many thousands of dollars, fir- ing into business houses and residences of those whose manhood had prompted them to oppose their former unlawful proceeding. The marauders at Hopkinsville. were followed from that town by a body of the outraged citizens who fired upon them and, as has been claimed, killed one of their number-a claim which every right minded citizen must hope was justified by the facts. At Pembroke, in Christian county, like outrages were perpe- trated; as was the case also at Cerulean Springs, in Trigg, where a railroad depot was burned in revenge for the acceptance by the railroad company of tobacco shipped to market by independent farmers. In Nicholas county in the Burley district, Joel Hedges, a poor man with a large family, and an inde- pendent, was called from his home in the night time and ruthlessly murdered in the presence of his family. The perpetrators of this murder have never been found and pun- ished, nor have those who raided Hopkins- ville, Pembroke, Cerulean Springs and other places in western Kentucky, though the governor promptly offered rewards for their arrest and conviction.
The situation became so acute and life, in the Dark district especially, so unsafe, that Governor Willson called out the armed force of the state and kept a military guard on duty for many months, such call being justi- fied by the fact that after the coming into the- field of the militia, the outrages which had humiliated good citizens, became infrequent and finally ceased altogether. The Governor has been censured in certain quarters for call- ing the armed forces of the state to the sup- port of the civil authorities, but the end, in this instance, justified the means, since it brought safety and peace to a section where anarchy and outlawing had. for a time, existed. Partisanship had something to do with the criticism of the Governor ; sympathy with the outlaws was also the cause of de- nunciation of his action, but he had sworn to execute the laws of his state and, if no other action of his administration were commend- able, he can look back with pleasant reflec- tions upon the suppression of outlawry. This is a chapter in the history of the state, the writing of which brings no pleasure, but justice demanded that it be written and those who may object to the story here told, are left to reflect upon whether they have stood for peace and quiet, or have sympathized with lawless men whose actions were characteristic of the wildest savage rather than of en- lightened men. Whatever may have been the burdens placed upon the tobacco grower by the trust, and they were many and grievous, they did not justify an appeal to passion and force, to savage use of the whip and the torch. The "Night Riders" are today a thing of the past, peace rules in the tobaccogrow- ing sections, but it is too much to believe that in the hearts of those who led their fellow- men into savagery, such a thing as peace is known. Conscience doth make cowards of us all, and its scorpion whips must make miser- able the lives of these men. They have seared their own souls and violated the laws of God
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and man. To the punishment that comes after, they are left with the reflection that while they have escaped punishment by the
state, there is a Higher Power from whose decrees there is no escape.
CHAPTER LXIII.
FIRST DEMOCRATIC DEFEAT SINCE THE WAR-GOEBEL TO THE FRONT-HIS GUBERNATORIAL OPPONENTS- THE UNSAVORY "MUSIC HALL CONVENTION"-TAYLOR OFFICALLY DE- CLARED ELECTED GOEBEL CONTESTS THE ELECTION-INTIMIDATION ( ?) OF VOTERS- GOEBEL ASSASSINATED-ASSEMBLY DECLARES HIM ELECTED-DEATH OF MR. GOEBEL- THE MURDER'S AFTERMATH-ELECTION ONLY PARTIALLY VOID.
It has not been the purpose of this recital of events in Kentucky to take up each quad- rennial election, showing who were candi- dates on the tickets of the respective parties for governor and the subordinate offices. The Democratic party for many years following the close of the war and the rehabilitation of the former Confederate soldier as a voter held undisputed sway in the State, and its candidates were regularly elected. Colonel McCreary succeeded Hon. Preston H. Leslie as governor in 1875, and was himself stic- ceeded by Dr. Luke P. Blackburn, who was swept into office by a sympathetic wave, on account of his professional services to victims of yellow fever, he having bravely gone into the towns in the western part of the state where that dread disease raged most fiercely and given his best services to the sufferers, regardless of himself or the danger which he faced. He was succeeded by Hon. J. Proctor Knott, but recently deceased as these words are written. He, in turn, was succeeded by Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, who, during his term as governor, was honored by his native county of Hart by being elected a delegate to the constitutional convention, in which he served as a quiet, dignified member. rendering far better service to the state than those delegates who were constantly on their feet and eternally speaking. While a dele- gate he also kept abreast with his official
duties as governor and, at the end of his term, retired with the respect and esteem of men of all parties. He was succeeded as gov- ernor by Hon. John Young Brown, who had served in congress and established a reputa- tion for oratory in keeping with his Kentucky birth and training.
When the time approached to choose a successor to Governor Brown, the leading Democratic candidate was Hon. P. W. Hardin, who had been the contending candi- date against Governor Brown. Mr. Hardin had served for twelve years as attorney general, was a successful political orator in much demand during the campaigns of his party, and had a wide acquaintance in the state. He easily secured the Democratic nomination over Cassius M. Clay, Jr., who had been president of the constitutional conven- tion. The free silver idea was just coming into prominence in 1895, and Mr. Hardin was one of its forceful advocates. Strangely enough, the convention which nominated Mr. Hardin, a strong free silver-man, for gov- ernor, gave him as a platform on which to make the contest, a pronounced sound money, or "Gold Bug" plank. Mr. Hardin accepted the nomination and presumably the platform, but, in the opening address of his campaign, he left no one in doubt as to his opinions-he was in favor of "the free coinage of silver at a ratio of sixteen to one" and did not care
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who knew it. There was consternation in the his candidacy for governor, the principle Democratic ranks, and a defeat of the ticket plank in his personal platform being intense opposition to corporations, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad being one of the chief objects of his denunciation. was confidently predicted by all in whose views the virus of free silver had not found lodgement.
The Republicans nominated Hon. William O. Bradley, who was easily the most promi- nent man in the party in the state. He had several times led the forlorn hope of his party as a candidate for congress or for governor, and had been defeated for the latter office by General Buckner. Like Mr. Hardin, he had a wide acquaintance and was also an expe- rienced and eloquent campaign orator. After a spirited contest. Mr. Bradley and the entire Republican state ticket were elected, the Democrats thus experiencing their first defeat in a state campaign since the close of the war.
During the Bradley administration there came strongly to the front in Kentucky a young man of German parentage, a native of Pennsylvania, but reared principally in Kentucky-William Goebel of Covington. Mr. Goebel began his political career as a member of the general assembly, serving first in the house and afterwards in the senate and as a delegate in the constitutional conven- tion. He was a cold. phlegmatic, forceful man whom it seemed, no condition or circum- stances could excite. When .such men are ambitious, as was Mr. Goebel, they become dangerous political antagonists, especially when they are skilled in the arts of the politi- cian. Serving in the senate while Mr. Brad- ley was governor, Mr. Goebel secured the passage by the general assembly of an elec- tion bill which met the disapproval of the governor, but was passed over his veto. This bill was objectionable to many Democrats, the Courier Journal daily thundering against it. characterizing it as a measure which removed every element of doubt as to the result of future elections. As the Bradley administra- tion drew to a close. Mr. Goebel announced
Opposing Mr. Goebel, were Hon. P. Nat Hardin, who, for the third time, was seeking the nomination, and Hon. W. J. Stone, a one- legged Confederate veteran who had accept- ably served several terms in congress. Tliese three came to the Louisville convention with Hardin in the lead in instructed votes, Stone second and Goebel third. The convention which ensued lasted for several days and has passed into unpleasant history as the "Music Hall Convention" of most unsavory memory.
Though Goebel was in the minority, he secured the permanent chairmanship, placing in the chair Judge D. B. Redwine. The pro- ceedings were such as were never before, nor since, seen in a political convention in Ken- tucky. Delegations bearing indisputable cre- dentials from their county conventions were ruthlessly unseated; the rights of candidates for the minor positions on the ticket were utterly disregarded; in one instance a can- didate for secretary of state was robbed of the support of the delegation from his home county which had unanimously instructed its delegates to vote for him. Contests were ar- ranged on the spur of the moment, which had never been dreamed of before the meeting of the state convention. Scenes of the wildest disorder marked the proceedings and it be- came necessary to station in the hall, where the delegates were assembled, a large body of police to preserve at least a semblance of order. Mr. Goebel, the third man in the con- test, was the superior in political shrewdness of his two opponents combined. The chair- man was his subservient supporter; he had the committee on credentials under his guid- ance and swept aside, with a wave of his powerful hand. delegations which had been instructed for Hardin or Stone, supplying
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their places with men of his own choosing. Of course under these circumstances, Mr. Goebel was nominated, while Hardin and Stone went home to nurse their bruises and wonder how they had happened to get hurt in what they had reason, at first, to believe was the household of their friends. The Machiavellian strategy of Mr. Goebel, aided by a chairman who knew in whom he trusted, was too much for the self-willed obstinate Hardin and the gentler and trusting Stone, the latter of whom was utterly lost in the game of politics as it was played in the Music Hall convention.
The Republicans nominated for governor, W. S. Taylor, attorney general of the state, who had been elected to that position when Mr. Bradley was chosen as governor. When the thought came to Taylor that he might be nominated for and elected Governor of Ken- tucky, it is probable that he enjoyed a com- plete monopoly in that belief. But he had a certain degree of political shrewdness, which was later to utterly fail him in a time of stress and storm. He had been in office for nearly four years and had met at Frankfort during that time the leading men of his party from all section of the state, and before the real leaders of the party were fully aware of what was going on he had built up a political machine which ultimately led to his nomi- nation for governor, a most unfortunate selec- tion as after events proved. The contest was a close one, and in doubt until the official count was made; and the count showed that Taylor was elected and with him, the entire Republican ticket. The official certificate of Mr. Taylor's election is as follows :
"COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY. "FRANKFORT, December 9, 1899.
"The undersigned, a Board for examining and canvassing the returns of an election held on Tues- day, the 7th day of November, 1899, for Governor of the State of Kentucky, do certify that William S. Taylor received the highest number of the votes given for that office, as certified to the Secretary of
State, and is therefore duly elected for the term prescribed by the Constitution.
"Signed: WILLIAM S. PRYOR, Chairman.
"W. T. ELLIS, Member.
"State Board of Election Commissioners for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
"Attest: C. P. CHENAULT, Secretary State Board of Election Commissioners.
"[A copy]. BEN L. BRUNER, Secretary of State. By "W. S. BALL, Assistant Secretary of State.
"The official vote, as certified by the above Elec- tion Commissioners, was as follows: Goebel, 191,- 331, and Taylor, 193,714.
"Attest : W. S. BALL; Assistant Secretary of State."
Mr. Charles B. Poyntz, one of the election commissioners, refused to join with his asso- ciates in signing the certificate of Mr. Tay- lor's election, but this refusal in no wise affected the validity of that document. Hon. William S. Pryor, the chairman of the board. was then, as he is at this writing, one of the best beloved men in the state. For many years he had sat upon the bench of the court of appeals, and has always enjoyed the full- est confidence and affectionate regard of the many thousands who know him. Mr. Ellis. though less widely known, was a man of the same high character as Judge Pryor. A gal- lant soldier in the Confederate army and for years a conspicuous and able member of the national congress, he was and is a man not to be swayed from his duty by any partisan con- sideration.
Mr. Goebel recognized his defeat and an- nounced his intention to at once leave for a visit to his invalid brother in Arizona, where, in addition to this brotherly duty, he hoped to secure rest from the arduous canvass through which he had just passed.
Mr. Taylor was in due time inaugurated as governor, succeeding Governor Bradley. The people of Kentucky, without regard to party, were tired of political turmoil and with the peaceful inauguration of Governor Taylor, they settled themselves to that restfulness to which they felt entitled. But there was to be
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