Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-11-26
GRUNDY COUNTY.
The Controversy ..Ebent the Removal
of the County Seat-RePiy Of MIR.
Sanders to Col. COlyar.


of the County Seat-RePiy Of MIR.
Sanders to Col. COIyar.
To the Union and American:
ALTAMoNT, Nov. II, 1871 have
to ask space In your valuable paper to
answer the article with regard to J. NJ
Bouldin, Esq, and myself, which APP
peared in the weekly Banner of the sd
October, and also an article in the
UNION AND AMERICAN of the 18th
October, purportiEg to be in answer to
an article in the McMinnvtlle Neso Era.
| would fain have remained silent, and
treated the communication in the Ban
Taer with silent contempt, but for the
very lengthy reply of Mr.. Colyar in the
UNION AND AMERICAN, which deals In
such wholesale misrepresentation of
myself In particular, that longer for
bearance ceases to be a virtue And in
the few structures / now write, my pur-
pose is to keep within the record, and
not to follow Mr.. Colyar through all
his misrepresentation, but only to no.
tice the most glaring and prominent,
as supplementary to the article con-
tanned In the Neio Era of the 23d Octo-
Der, which is substantially Endorsed by
the most respectable citizens of Grun-
dy county, who witnessed the proceed
ings of the County Court.
1t is not my object to detail the his
tory of the removal of the county seat,
except in so far as it may be incident
ally connected with my reply. When
Mr.. Colyar requested the County Court
to submit the proposition of removal to
the vote of the people, he tried to over
awe and intimidate the Justices of the
Peace with his power, by telling them
if they refused to submit the question
he would mandamus the Court and
compel them to do so. And IN the can-
vass Of. the county before the people,
when the insolvency of the Tennessee
Coal and Railroad Company was held
up to the public gaze, and the mortgage
upon the Tracy City property of $780,,
600, drawing interest at the rate of
some $4,000 per a1lnnIn, and their ut
ter inability to make title to the land
upon which Mr.. Colyar proposed TO To-
cate the county seat-Mr. ColyarwOuld
then become very much excited and
furious; would HEX out of the harness
of legitimate debate, and want to fight.
But, with all his bitter acrimony and
vituperation, he was defeated
before the people. They placed
the seal of condemnation upon
him. He then became desperate, and
so exasperated that he next resorted to
the County Court, believing it easier to
thwart Justice before the court than
before the people, and by fraudulent
and corrupt means, the vote was made
to read 448 fOrremoval and ODD against,
when in point of fact there was 226
against and l vote for Altamont. A
part of the 448 votes were citizens of
Marion county, and portion were ille-
gal votes at Tracy City, which we are
amply prepared to establish when ne
eessary. He then had an order made,
adjourning the County Court to Tracy
City, and Commissioners appointed to
make arrangements for holding the
Courts at that place Inthe meantime,
Mr. Bouldin and myself sued out wrlts
Of certiorari and supersedeas, and the
same were placed in the hands Of the
Sheriff ON the 18th October, the first
day Of Chancery Court at Altamont,
but Notwithstanding all this, Mr.. Col
var, not being much of a Governor and
having bad advice, ordered out his
militia to arrest the Chancery Clerk
and seize his records and papers, and
carry them to Tracy City, the pre-
tended county seat, ordering his
cavalry to break down doors,
search houses, and take the Chancery
Clerk dead OF alive, and bring him to
Tracy City. Such reckless and law
less conduct, on the part of Mr.. Colyar,
has no parallel in the history of Ten
nessee, emanating as it is does from a
a man who, but short time since, de-
sired to meet, what he was pleased TO
call, the Radical party, ''as our fore
fathers met the savages, with torch IN
one hand and a sword IN the other"
Gov. Brownlow and his militia were re-
spectacle compared with Gov. Colyar's. |
But Mr.. Colyar seeks to escape his |
lawless conduct by saying that when l |
was ordered to Tracy City with my |
books, had men with weapons about |
me, threatening anybody who took the
books and papers. Now, this Is allpOs-
itively untrue, and Mr.. Colyar cannot |
escape in that direction. 1t is true that
Gen. Hill, the Special Chancellor, told
the Sheriff and his armed band if they |
with the books and papers
or the business of the court, he would |
put them all IN Jail, and they immedi-
ately withdrew from the office. Mr..
Colyar is left without any ex-
cuse for his lawless and reek-
less conduct for calling out his
militia in time of profound peace, and
no impending danger, making it Oblig-
atory ON the part of Gov. Colyar to call
out his troops.
But his overweening greed and dis
position for place and power having
failed of success, whenever and where
ever attempted, he now seeks the graft
fcation of his avarice through another
channel, to Cypress a weakly county
that is financially embarrassed beyond
it's ability almost to pay its debts, by
holding out fraudulent and pretended
to the people, that if they
will but move their county seat to Ira
cy City, he will take them out of debt,
when in point of fact he cannot take
himself out of debt. Mr.. COlyar states
that Mr.. BOuldin and myself were ar
rested and tried before a Committing
Court and bound over to the Circuit
Court, but he forgot to tell your read
ers that he was the prosecutor, who is
in his power to break down the
present Clerk and Master, that he
and his may rise upon his ruins.
But my sureties, he says, are being
sued by various parties for the viola
ton of my official bond, which is posi-
lively untrue, as Mr. Colyar must have
known when he madet the statement. Yet
he processes to have written nothing
but what he knew to be facts. How
much credit is to be given to what he
has published to the world? Is it an
alteration of the brain, hallucinatiOn
of the mind, originating in the feverish |
excitement of dreams of the removal of |
the county seat? But he states that |
the matter is producing considerable |
excitement among the suitors. Why |
is this, when the Court was open, and |
the Hon. B. J. Hill presiding as Spec
ial Chancellor, ready to administer
Justice to all or to any of the parties |