The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-11-26
Tennasaee,s Roving Convicts.

despatch rom Knoxville says that
from reports received here it Is known
that many CT the eonYiets released by
the miners on Friday and Sunday nights
are already across the Kentucky line and
are exciting much fear in the minds of
the villagers and farmers of far Southern
4 Kentucky. This shows that the con-
victs are travelling rapidly. So far the
attempt to recapture them or to arrest
their flight has been so light that it may
be said that they have been unmolested
These 450 half-clad moneyless convicts
are now well clear of Anderson county,
where the mines are situated, and are
scattered through Claiborne, Campbell,
and Scott counties, which lie against the
north line of the State. Conductors of
south~bound trains running to Knox
vile say that there have been several
/ groups of convicts or half-naked men
| who look like cOnvicts, trudging along
the line OF railroads in 3 northerly direc-
| ton.
Several persons have also come into
knoxville from towns forty, and fifty
miles 10 tht. north. They have seen a
few conviets, but only a few From
this it would appear at first that the $50
| are travelling in small groups. The
largest number reported seen together
was fifteen, but there is good reason to
believe that at least one body number
: ing fifty men is camping in the noun
talns not far from the county seat of ];
Warren county, and it is said that these
men are making no attempt to get
further on. Several of them are armed.
The people up that way are in state
OF great alarm. One mountaineer, who
lives in the wilderness fifteen miles from
Coal Greek, and far from the line of the
railroad, told the correspondent that
eighteen conyicts from Briceville stopped
at his house Monday night and demand
ed food He said that they acted in
very ugly way This made him only
the more DESTROYS to please them.
When his wife finally got together
food enough they fell upon it and de-
voured it as though they had not eaten
for long time. They ate up all that
there was in the house and then went
away. He said they made no conceal .
ment OF where they had come from, and
that the leader Of them told him that
they would stay with him longer if they
were not afraid of pursuit.
The country through which most of
these convicts are travelling is wild and
rugged, with only occasional houses and
a small food supply. Most of the con-
victs are keeping away from the main r
roads and from the lines of the railroads -
They are received by the mountaineers.
in a friendly way, and are allowed to go
as soon as they get ready
No mountaineer ever thinks of arrest :
ing them partly through sympathy for
the cause OF the miners of Wald9n's
Ridge, but more through fear of what
ten or fifteen desperate men might do.
1t is certain that 450 persons cannot
long depend upon charity for their sup
port Knoxville people feel sure that in
a few days stories of crimes from mere
theft to arson and violence will begin to
come in. Arson and certain forms of
violence are the ce,nfnonest- crimes z
among these .convicts. Their natural =.
combination of ignorance
Of law OF decency and the most brutal
passions-will soon assert ITSELF. Indeed,
news travels SO slowly through this sec
ton that many crimes may have already
been committed
While the fear OF the East Tennessee =
ans is tempered by sympathy, the fear
of the Kentuckians, upon whom this
foul stream of criminal humanity will g.
soon be discharged, is not in any way
lnitigated. They know that by the time
the convicts strike Kentucky, food will
be wanted and the sense of freedom will -
be strong in the minds of the convicts.
The authorities of the Kentucky towns
from Middlesboro to 100 miles west are
fer their unwelcome visitors,
and propose to make it exceedingly
warm for them. This is proper enough
v.
retaliation. The conviets safely guard
ed were a grave enough problem, but
the convicts at large are still more Sc
rious.
Yesterday the Tennessee officials made
their first attempt toward the recapture
OF their escaped convicts. A considera-
ole force of guards under the direction =
Of the Wardens of the three stockades
started for Warren county to get a body
Of fifty conviets caniped in the noun
bains. There We're about twenty men in
the expedition, and it is expected that
the Wardens Will get ten or fifteen re-
Fruits at Wartberg, the county seat of
Morgan county A few conyicts have
been brought to Knoxville and few are
reported arrested in several villages to
to the north. But all told, there are not
more than twenty or thirty.
One man who brought in two whom
he found in the woods near Oliver
Springs, willing to eonie,- demanded his
his reward. Straightway there was a =
controversy. Governor Buchanan, in
his proclamation, said by authority of
law he offered $25 for each convict, the
reward to be paid by the lessee. Now
the lesseess say that this reward should
be paid by the State, because the con>
victs did not escape, but were released
through no fault of the lessees. They
therefore refused to pay Thus the
matter stands, and it is doubtful if the
Governor will pay anything for recap
tured convicts. The impression lis
abroad that his offer is void, so no one
will be stimulated to risk his life in
chasing convicts, and the proclamation
might just as well have never been
written.