The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1899-10-06
LORD sAULLVs MISSOURI FARMS
owns over 1900 Acres, All Cultivated By
Teaanis...ls An American cllllsn.

Owns over i1o0o Asfes All Cultivated BY
Teaanis...ll An American cllllsu.
Lord scully OF London. England. has
Just completed the purchase Of vast
body Of land IN Batcs County. No. Ec
now owns outright over 10000 acres
OF the choicest land In the county, for
which he paid about Si,5O0.0OO. The .
purchase was simply IN Investment, so \
his agents declare. FOR bis son and his
widowed daughter-in-law. What ct |
feet this heavy purchase VIII have on /
the values IN the community, II Is GER |
tain that the merchants Of Butler are |
beginning to feel the effect Of the |
change in ownership. Whether Lord /
Scully Is proposing to carry out the
Ideas already fastened on England, l.
G., tho growth Of land estates under
one ruler, with tenantry to work the
farms, is left FOR the future TO decide.
1t Is certain that such a condition now
exists on his various farms In tho
| county.
The FIRST purchase Of land IN Butler
County was made by Lord Scully'a
agents in 1894 Since then they have
bought up, from time to time, the best
farms in the county. His agents, the
principal one Of whom was Il. w.
Kenohle Of Springfield, H., took over
land trips through the county. When
they came to a piece Of land that
struck their fancy It was bought with
out question as to the price. In this
way many Of the old settlers Of the
county sold out their homesteads and
were glad Of the opportunity. The
land brought from s25 to S95 per acre.
Most of It ranged at $50. It was
months after the Scully agents began
to buy farm land before any one sus-
pected that such big deals were On
foot. Then the farmers who had land
to sell besleged the agents with i'm
portunties to buy their farms. The
agents quit buying and disappeared
from Bates County, giving out that
they had all the land they wanted
For awhile the farmers who had land
for sale deslsted in their efforts and
Lord Scully was forgotten.
A year or so later they appeared
again in the county, and for months
they rode from one end to the other.
They would start out from Butler
every morning and return in the even
ing. The receipts from the recording
fees placed that Office at the top Of the
list as the best paying one Instru-
ments by the page are recorded there
and the fees are all paid by William
Scully. In one week over $4,000
changed hands through the Scully
transactions.
Then the people of the county be
gan to inquire into the matter. A bill
preventing an alien from owning more
than 10000 acres of land in any coun
ty in the State was introduced ant
passed in the Thirty-eighth Genera
Assembly. This was introduced by
the Representative Of this county anC
directed at Lord Scully. The lattel
: was too wise to be caught mapping
He slipped over from London, and be
fore the law went into effect tele
gram was sent out from Washingto,
: that Lord Sully had become a either
of this country, and had been natural
lied. Thus the law was evaded, AM
] his agents continued to purchase lant
in his name, which they kept up unit
. n few months ago. At the present tim
, his farms are scattered all over Bate
d County. These farms contain fror
10000 to $4,000 acres, and the value
placed at more than $1,200,000 at tn
minimum.
The one feature which the citizens @
the county are so bitterly opposed
is the fact that Improvements are a
lowed to wane and the farms, instea
of being the pride Of their tenants, ar
running to waste. At the present tim
they are oil placed under the tenar
system. The rents are not exorbitan
i Only So to $3.50 per acre Is charged
and so far, in case Of crop failur
" this has been refunded in many II
he stances. Three men who have heat
Ie quarters In Butler are constantly e.
gagged in looking after the Scully int
4 ests. They collect the rents and othe
3 wise look after the farms. Lord Scu
a ly pays about one-tenth Of the taxes
!. the county and the land he owns mea
tn ures nearly eight square miles If Il
farms were placed side by side. a
though there are more than 500
Es acres of land in the country, the Soul
n. lands make big lnroad on the valu
ed BILE portions.
ers
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