The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1899-02-16
A STRICTLY PERSONAL VIEW
of a Law That Has Given Occasion to a Great
Many Murders in Tennessee.

or a Law That Has Given occasion To- GIeat
Many Murders in Tennessee.
When our sturdy old grandfathers
crossed the Blue Ridge 14O years ago,
and began the settlement of what is now
Tennessee, they found it an unbroken
forest. In fact, the territory lying be-
tween Kentucky, North Carolina as
now bounded, Georgia, Alabama and
Mississippi was q magnificent natural
park of surprising beauty. For cen
turtles it had been regarded as neutral
ground by the warlike Indian tribes
north and south, and the Red man
very rarely encroached upon this vast
solitude from either direction. The
result was not only the finest growth
of forest trees on the American CONT
nent, but thousands of acres of a m
and the native grapes aourished in such
l|uxuriance that vast herds of the do
nestle animals could obtain subsistence
without care of the owner. When
North Carolina surrendered the right
of sovereignty over this immense pas
ture ground, and our fathers under
took to frame laws for the government
of the inhabitants, one among the early
~enactments was q law levying a heavy
fine on all owners Of land for the bene-
fit of those who were not able to own
real estate. 1t is true, this law not
called a tax on land owners for the use
and benefit of those who did not own
land, but it had that effect when en-
forced. 1t was a statute requiring all
owners of land in Tennessee to erect a
fo"rtifcation around his grain fields so
he might successfully defend his crops
against the assaults and trespasses of
all enemies and all other outside bar
barians if he desired to cultivate his
land. The statute was enacted under
the somewhat unique title of a Claw
full Fence, " and provided that it should
be five feet high. Under the very lib
eral land laws of North Carolina any
one could purchase land for two shil-
lings an acre which was equal to twenty
five cents of our present money. From
this it will be seen that any citizen
could obtain a section of $40 acres fol
$3.50. To inclose the whole tract would
require six miles of fence. This would
cost him one hundred dollars per mile,
SO you see if one invested a capital Of
$3.50 in land, and inclosed it as the
statute provided, the fertilization woulc
cost him 5000. That was a strange
way our wise old lawmakers Of a hun
dred years ago had to encourage thu
settlement Of the state, and that law il
still in force, except as modified by al
act q few years since reducing the
height of the fence to four feet six
inches. To put up this breast worl
for defensive purposes entirely rounC
ones land involved a great deal o
heavy lifting and hard labor besides
the cost in money. But the most seri
Gus feature of this unjust, absurd anC
unreasonable law lay in the fact tina
it ~putNevery landholder in the state OF
the defensive behind his breastwcrk 0
rails, or else left him at the mercy o
the wicked and vicious elements of so
ciety. He had no protection from tn,
lawless class, for the law said he shoulC
protect himself by fortifying with rails
If any one should go in the nighttim,
and pull down a part of his fortress hi
had no remedy, and the effect of thi
law upon society has been deplorable
Three generations haue grown NJ
under this pernicious law which wa
originally enacted as unjust class leg
i~slation taxing one class of people TO.
the benefit of another, and still it re
mains on the statute book to reminC
us of the ignorance OR dishonesty Of
the lawmakers of Tennessee in he
early days. Who were benefited by
this absurd and unjust law which has
sacrificed so many millions worth O.
{ valuable timber in the last hundred
!, years by forcing the owner of land b,
law to erect a fertilization round it il
order to use it2 Nobody but that small
class of lazy non-producers who wan
to live without labor, and who sough
a precarious subsistence by fishing
trapping and hunting, raising up thei
families in idleness and stolid ignor
ance.
Since [ commenced reading news
I papers early in the f%orties, I have seel
reported more than a hundred cases o
5 murder resulting from disputes be
tween neighbors over the stock OF on
neighbor trespassing Oh the premise
of another. One mans hogs or cattl
JAZZ WOMEN