Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-12-29
ROYS CHRISTMAS LETTER.
Chrisimas-Ueavy RninnrI-A Din.
Guilty,
PowELIs STATION, D.. " 1875.


PowELL's STATION, D.. ~ 1878.
To the Editors ofthe Giro a.s.
Christmas is over, and ", nave had
lots of fun. We had four weddings,
and almost one mote Tue fifth one
was prevented by az -Jdu- amount of
measles
We had the heav. rain aud wind
storm on Friday rn' 1iat has visited
us in long time TIE land was
washed terribly had q, good deal OF
fencing was carried away. Beaver
Creek was higher ,nan at any time
since the pain flood.
There is a man in our district
named Hall Cox, who is 76 years old,
and has not had enough sickness in
thirty years to lay him on the bed. He
can do as much work as the average
young men Of the country. Last year
he cleared more than two acres of tim
Dered land, cutting down every tree
on it and making good part of the
rails to fence it, which he laid up him
self. He is now engaged in clearing
up land for potato patch. Mr.. Cox
works constantly six days, when the
the weather permits, and reads his
Bible on Sunday, being a strong
Methodist. He is stranger to the
taste of medicine, but knows how it
feels To wade a snow~drift barefooted,
or crawl over the frosty ground to get
in range of deer, these being COM
mon practices for him in his young
days.
On Friday, while the public road
hands were engaged in putting n foot
log across Bull Run, in the 9Th lis
trict, difficulty occurred which came
near resulting fatally to Mr.. Swatzell.
Mr.. S. had found it his duty, as a MEM
bel of the Grand Jury, to return the
overseer of the road, Mr.. Lige Clark,
for failing to keep foot-log across the
creek Gu bis section of the road. Mr..
Clark made some hard threats against
Mr.. Swatzell on this account, and on
Friday, while Clark was standing on
the log experimenting the work, Mr..
Swatzell came along on his way home
from mill, carrying a bushel and a
half of meal on his shoulder. When
he got partly across the log Clark
without giving him any notice at all ,
deliberately struck him on the head
with a handspille, knocking him OIL
the log. Mr.. :. fell on wagon,
twelve or fifteen feet below, the sack
of meal falling oR him, whereupon
Clark pitched the handspike and
stuck the end of 1T into SwatZell's
side, making IA dangerous wound. Mr..
| SwatZell was taken to his home un-
| conscious, and the doctors pronounced
that the chances for life were against
him. The attack was pronounced q
cowardly affair, az Mr.. Swatzell was
an old man, and Clark young man,
in the prime of life. This disgraceful
affair all comes of our bungling road
| law. No law founded on Injustice can
produce anything but disgraceful state
of affairs, and L can demonstrate in
! twenty lines that our present law is
! founded on the most palpable iDjus.
| tice. a moneyed man may own
| twenty thousand dollars worth OF
| land in the Sth district and have if
cultivated by ten poor men. Our law
cOmpels the ten poor men to keep up
! the roads on which the rich man hauls
| his grain to market, while he goes free
| Is that justice? 1t is the justice Of
slaves, and not of a sensitive, brave
and patriotic people. Such a law may
meet the ends desired among serfs, but
not among Tennesseeans. ! say, tax
| the twenty thousand dollars worth OF
land to help the ten poor men keep VI
] the roads. We need not expect any.
thing but mutiny among the public
road hands and an open defiance 81
law by the overseers, under existing
circumstances. Neither naed we ex,
pect respectable public roads.
/ return thanks to "Phiion for the
comfort he offers me on the dog
fund" question, and would offer thi;
suggestion as to the best method Of
getting rid of the erap-eared, two
legged ours that prowi about our coun'
try throwing confusion into every
thing. Teach the young men of oul
country to discountenance loafers in
private circles, and shoot politica
demagogues with paper wads at the
ballot box. r. Roy.