Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-03-18
CONFISCATION IN EAST TEN
NESSEE.
Ai"nder Suits LegaIIzed by the
Supreme CourI.

fiunder suits Legaiized by th'
supreme CourI.
Correspondence Of the Union and Dispatch
BRISTOL, March IA, ISGS.-The deci
sion made by the Supreme Court Of Ten
nessee few months since relative TO thu
responsibilities Of the officers and agents
OF the Confederate States, has had the ef
feet predicted in communication TO YOU
from this place. The work Of legal rob
berry and plumber has just begun in thi:
portion Of unfortunate Tennessee. The
first two acts occurred in the past two
weeks, one at Blouniville, Sullivan coun
/ ~, and the other at Elizabethlon, Carter
/ county.
50 Gle former riace, va old M scarce
( iy able 10 maintain ais large and helpless
family, was sued fer damages bv one of
Tennessee's "trooly loil," and verdict
rendered, not 10 the extent ofth damages
claimed by the thievish prosecutor, but
such as to render his victim a pauper the
remainder Of his years His home. the
hard earnings of more than three score
years, and the promised retreat TO his dear
partner and helpless children in the trou-
bles and Affections Of forty years, is now
To be wrested from them TO fill she Golfers
Of a so-called Onion manp'
But TO the second aet-the Infamous pro-
ceedings Of the court at Elizabethtop. du-
ring the past week. The harvest there was
rich and telling. One Pleasant Williams.
a loyal bushwhacker during the war, was
arrested while in that capacity by four
soldiers viz: Amany, Massingil, Wor-
than and KeltOn, and was afterwards sent
to Tuscaloosa by order of the Confederate
authorities, in company with number of
others. lie brought suit against these
gentlemen, laying his damages at fifty
thousand dollars A verdict for the sum
OF twenty-five thousand dollars was rem
dered! The same loyalist brought suit
against John and Sam. Lyons and John
Sonth for five thousand dollars damages.
and obtained it without the least trouble
These men, in the capacity Of soldiers, ar
rested the covetOus brute, held him a
prisoner for some ten hours, when they
released him. During the same time some
twenty-five dollars worth of clothing
was taken from his house, but no
proof made too the effect that the
soldiers in question knew anything of the
robbery But FIVE thousand dollars COW
cred the damages done in the case An
other "loyalist," one Samuel b. Patterson.
obtained verdict Of five thousand dollars
damage against John S. Thomas. Charge.
that Thomas sent soldiers belonging to The
Rebel" army TO his house for forage and
supplies
These are but the "out-oroppinps" ofthe
character Of the litigation that promises to
occupy the courts of East Tennessee for
much time to come. They (the loyalists)
have every license TO 90 forward in this
work OF raking up damage suits against a
class of people already crushed and robbed.
But these hungry wolves, urged on bv a act
Of starving Radical lawyers, and an occa-
sional so-called Southern LAWYER. will swell
the docket Of persecution until the perse-
cuted will be driven TO madness. II Is as
Infamous az robbery and confiseation. And
where breathes the man who would not
use some OF The mary means 30 Lessen the
population Of earth, should any of them
have the weakness to occupy his confseated
estate-contiscated because Of political diff
ference2
1t was urged in the case of Williams. in
the frsttwo cases cited, that he lost his
health at Tuscaloosa What of this f? How
many noble sons of Tennessee-how MANY
OF our leading citizens, not only lost their
health, but their lives, in the butcher-pens
OF Camp Chase and Alton? By whom ar
rested By midnight skulkers, called
loyal meRi Where died the lamented
Judge Reagan, of Sweetwater, Tenn? 10
Knoxville Jail. And by whom arrested
BY the military" at the instance of the
toydlists of his community. The Rev. Ru-
fus Stephens is another the remains of
whom sleep at Camp Chase. These are
not the hundredth part
The plea for damages is but screen be-
hind which TO skulk until the pleader can
hlch from his neighbours pockets his earn
ings. Too miserably worthless to labor in
order TO retrieve The losses sustained by the
war, they adopt this method "a the surest
to successful recuperaiion.
The decision in question will contribute
more 20 the moral depravity of the coun-
try, IN tempting the strong TO take advan-
tage of his weak neighbor, than all other
causes, as the result Of the revolution, COM
hlheu' OBSERVER.