El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-08-23
Heard In Hotel LObbieS
P | A N O S
Call and See Us.

| Hon. ]. w. Herndon, who WAS in Ell
Paso several days ago, from Kentucky,
told some interesting stories OF the
Blue grass state, and threw good side
light on the social conditions among
the mountaineers of the Dark and
| Bloody Ground.
Although q Kentuckian, Mr.. Heru-
don, IL able TO see the faults OF his peo-
pie clearly and without prejudice, and
he pointed ous the peculiar features OF
the people who iuhabit the mountain
regions of the state Of fair women and
magnIicant blooded horses.
The most Interesting part of my
state" remarked Mr.. Herndon, 'fs
thar portion where Kentucky, Virginia,
and Tennessee meet, where she people
Of the three sister states scarcely know
to which states laws they are subject,
and where, In fact, law of any kind is
an unknown quantity, the very name OF
which 10 incomprehensible to those
hardy makers of good whiskey and
bloody feuds.
down there In the mountain region
are the most primitive conditions In the
United States. The tide OF civilizs-
ton seems to have swept around abe
Inhabitants and Left them where their
Rrandfathers and great Rrandfathers
wore, In an eddy of semi-civilized exis-
tence, into which she light OF the pro-
gress which has opened up new states
and conquered unknown dihcultles,
has nos entered. When il IL remem-
bered that these people are the des-
cendants of the pioneers OF American
history, 10 must be looked upon &c
remarkable study in sociology
There are men there In the noun
tAins OF the three states who have
never seen q wagon Wheel. That may
sound strange, but 1t Is true nevertae.
less. They have never seen a railroad
in their lives. None of them have
ever ridden 10 one. Through their
mountains, and the mountains may be
said to belong to them, there are no
roads. Consequently wagons are use
less.
There are no laws In those noun
tain solitudes. The people are laws
unto themselves. They pay no rent.
nor do they pay taxes. They are the
most independent people today on the
coRnize the authority of the federal
government, while the laws OF Ken
lucky reach them no better. IL lie true
that there are sessions of the courts
held there, but their authority Is nil
"They believe in the natural rights
OF man with a fervor that would delight
and at the came time pass the under
StanQlpR Oh the most dQNduCS0 eOSAAiASb
or anarchist Of Europe.
There is q law of course against the
manufacture Of whiskey without paying
the government tax, but they laugh it
to scorn. and pay no more attention TO
il than If Is did not exist. In fact they
sometimes convert that very law, when
IL reaches out It's arm for their punish
ment, into . source of revenue. and the
manner in which 1t is done would do
credit to the finely educated instincts
of Q corporation lawyer.
"When business 10 dull. and little
coin of the realm would be acceptable.
one lsnk mountaineer will say to
another.
."Dink, let's me aud you get sholt Of
some money, and this Ia the way they
do IL. 'Dink' will 60 10 the authorities
and say that his friend Bill is making
whiskey. Then he will give she names
to find them. Bill OF course will be
arrested. Twelve OF his friends will get
90 much Q day on the jury. The rest OF
them will get Witnesses fees, and Bill
will be found guilty and sentenced to
three or six months In jsil, and given
Q fine of maybe fifty or Q hundred or
two hundred dollars. He'll serve his
time, and then under the psuper act
he will get OF without paying the fne.
dred dollars, and when the money IL
spent they will 60 through the same
with another moonshiner
as the prisoner.
81 served on jury in q court sitting
on some cases in the bsck~oods OF
Kentucky, and 1 never want TO do IL
again A woman will be brought into
court charged with the illicis manuf.
acture of whiskey. Her friends will
thing, regardless of the truth, and be-
sides, a jury isn't going 10 send a
woman to jail when the amount Of
money involved Is only about two or
three dollars.
There was one woman I remember
who came into court with q baby In her
arms. There was no doubt that she
was guilty, bus there isn't q jury In the
world that would have found her guilty
Lots OF tha women make q practice
OF bringing babies into court. for the
purpose of working on the sympathies
Of she twelve men In the jury box, and
when they haven't . baby of their own
they borrow one from some Of their
friends.
Eyes, the mountains of Kentucky
and Virginia, where they grasp hands
with Tennessee across one OF the most
magnificent works OF nature In the
world, are blighted In az dark an
ignorance rs ever placed China in the
position in which she is today.
progress In that garden spot will
never come, l am afraid. The dwell
ers in the mountains resent the presen
ce of q stranger, and the man who
would invest money there would lose
not only his fortune, but his life as we'll.
II a stranger makes visit to those
mountains, the superstition AT once is
he t. int NEr