The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-07-21
NO MANS LANDS.
Strips of Country That Have No Of-
fetal Government

T.
Jones county, Miss, a community
that is now being terrorized by law
less band, has a history. Until within
the past ten years it was remote from
railroads and sparsely settled The ma
tives were of an ignorant character.
They were likewise very poor. They
did not own slaves previous to the war,
and the farming interests were of but
little consequence The county is sit
uated in the heart of the long leaf pine
belt, and lies midway between Meridian,
Miss, and New Orleans During the
war its population did not exceed 5000.
When Mr.. Davis made his call for troops
there wasn't single man in that coun-
ty that responded Officers of the con-
federate army were sent there TO drive
the recalcitrants into the ranks, but
they were impeded in such work by the
immense and almost impenetrable
swamps and forests that abounded in
that country. The natives took to the
woods whenever they saw a gray coat
They hid in the bushes and among the
cane brakes. Finally they became tired
of lodging the eonscript law About
300 OF the most prominent of her citi-
zens met at Ellisville one day and adopt
ed resolution offered by man named
Jones declaring the county's independ-
ence of the confederaey. separate
and distinct government was formed
A constitution was framed and SUBJ
mitted to a viva voce vote, which was
agreed upon.
The county was TO be called the re-
public of Jones and was to be free and
independent. The article declaring in
dependence was framed much after that
famous document inspired by Thomas
jefferson. An election was ordered. but
before it took place Gen. Robert Lowry,
since that time twice governor of Mis-
sissippi, took 1000 confederate troops
down there, broke up the new republic
and drove all of the able-bodied men that
bloodhounds could locate among the
trees in the forests and forced them to
the front. Many of the men were shot
out of trees, where they were hiding as
a wildcat would do. They were quite
rebellious all during their service, and
many of them were court-martialed and
shot. Whenever the opportunity was
afforded they deserted. Dozens of these
were captured at their homes and exc
cuted. But it is said that while they
were in battle they fought with the
ferocity of a wounded and enraged
beast.
The county is now one of the most
prosperous and civilized in the south
Its chief commercial interest is in the
lumber trade. and the finest Of pine
timber is shipped TO all parts of the
world from its hundreds of sawmills-
Ellisville is the county site, is town Of
10000 people and is a thriving place
Sehoharie county, n. Y, is another
county that gave much trouble TO the
country during the war. 1t lies adj
jacent to Albany and was thickly set
tied then, as it is now. Its inhabitants
are. however, mostly composed of Hol-
landers. But few of the farmers of the
county are property holders. renting
from PATRONS" now just as they did
200 years ago. In 1850 they became
tired of the landowners and rebelled SO
seriously as to precipitate civil war
among themselves Father was arrayed
against son and SO on until finally both
factions armed themselves and went out
shooting. 1t required half dozen reg
iments of militia to subdue them And
ever since that time the county has gone
democratic. 1t is the only one in the
state that has not al some time or other
gone republican. No amount OF re-
publican campaigning seems TO do any
good. They still rent land and fight
among themselves. Another curious
feature about Schoharie is that nearly
one-tenth of its population are bunch
backs. This deformity is supposed 10
be caused by the fact that the Dutch
have quite a penchant for marrying
among themselves-of their own flesh
and blood. The same character of men
may be seen around Grand Haven, Mich,
where the Dutch" are to be found by
the hundreds. They are of the low
order of mankind, and il is not an I'M
common thing for man there TO marry
his niece or nephew to wed his aunt
The Texas legislature has had under
consideration the admission into the
sisterhood of counties several of the
unorganized ones now lying in the ex-
treme northwestern part of that i'm
mense state. Take the counties of Hale,
Cochran, Terry and several others lying
adjacent to them. near the New Mexico
border, the citizens do not have to con-
tribute anything toward the support of
the government. Of course there are
but few of them. however. In one of
tbaSe-Terry | rhi0E-fhere Is n ranch
man herding something like 5000 head
of cattle on the wild lands There are
no assessors or sheriffs TO assess or coll
lect taxes. nor officers TO make arrests
when some of the boys fall out and
shoot each other. 1t was not many
years ago when Tom Green. the largest
county of any in the United States, had
no representative at Austin when the