The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1906-10-12
FARMERS GREAT REUNION.
Tobacco Growers Of Virginia, kentucky
and Tennessee.

Nl tNN hliN tNtl udus
We take the following account d
the great gathering from the Cadi
b Ky. Record.
Notwithstanding the heavy cloud
b. which threatened a dOWnpOur mo,
81 any minute, the crowd began 10 gathe
, al an early hour i'm the morning, com
. ing both ON trains and i'm vehicles o
every description. There were eight
regular trains coming into Guthrii
that morning from every direction, anC
all of them were carrying extra cOache,
and were crowded 10 their utmost
capacity. Bisides these eight regular
trains, there were twelve extra trains
run that day from every direction "a
accommodate the immense crowd.
that had prepared TO attend this great
meeting. These extra trains carried
from six TO twelve coaches each, and
every one Of them were crowded 10
the last stepOn the platform, and many
A.. passengers were upon the tender, on
/ top of the coaches and upon every
available pace. And they were there
/ for miles and miles i'm every direction
/ IN buggies, wagons, carriages, and
every conceivable means Of convey
ance.
The crowd was variously estimated
from 5000 TO 10000 people. but the
average estimate was about 5000 and
if the morning had been bright and
sunshiny il would have increased to al
least five thousand more.
About 1890 the parade was formed
ON main street near the J.. d y. depot
and marched through the principal
streets of the town and then 10 the fair
grounds. Col John b. \ lien. of Ten
nes,ee, one of the wheel-horses Of the
association, was the chief marshal of
the day, and headed the parade on
horseback, accompanied by Mrs. Ew-
ing, wife of General Manager +. g.. |
Ewing, whose physical condition /
would not admit OF his taking part i'm |
the proceedings although he was there |
and was able To come from his room /
into the lobby Of the hotel once ortwice /
during the day. They were followed
by President &. ii. Forte and Mrs.
Polk Prince: Treasurer George Snadon
and Mrs. y. T.. Greene, the tireless
Secretary Of the Associations. and
Vice president T.. T. Bondurant and
Miss Martha Townsend. Then fol-
lowed the long line Of carriages, traps,
ladies and gentlemen on horseback.
by many thousand farmers
from an parts Of the "Black Patch
walking. The parade was nearly an
hour long and was divided into some
light or nine sections, each section be-
ng headed by brass band.
Bringing up the rear Of the parade {
vas the colored membership of the
association from different parts Of the
Dark Tobacco District, headed by Z
IegrO bras, band and a banner bearing
he following inscriptions; down q
yid de trust, or we niggers bust.r n
here were thousand or more negroes
b thi, parade.
Upon reaching the fair grounds the q
Ulcers of the association were elected fl
lr the ensuing year and few other II
mailer matters disposed Of. after =,
hitch dinner was announced, which
inner was composed Of the following OF
mounts of eaiables: 5l7 barbecue
trcasses, five thousand pounds Of n
read, nine barrels of pickles besides
AIMIlNNNA Wl nAilANlNA MAAlNINrs mere
ere twenty thousand of these little p'
OGDEN trays all filed with meats. th
ckles, bread, etc, and these were 81.
lnded out by large force of walters
hind the wires, and i'm a very few III
mute, the entire crowd Of probably gu
er twenty thousand people who had IL,
lowed the procession TO the fair ma
ounds were enjoying one Of the best "
rbecued dinners ever spread. re-
After dinner the crowd was highly ca
tertained by the following speakers cb
)m the several speakers stands that .o
NJ been arranged: Gov. RObt. l.. Tay-
r, Of Tennessee; Congressman ollie re-
James, Of this district; Congress so
ln a. o. Stanley, Of the Second Ken ne
cky District; eX-COngressman John
Rheo, Of Russellville Hon. Joel b.
rte, Of Tennessee; President &. II. Is
rte, of Tennessee; Nice-President f. mi
20ndurant, of Virginia; II. & Rice, I'M
rgiEia; Hon. Ruby LailOOn, of Madi- ID
lyille, and probably Others.
Congressman Stanley presented the sci
.Oclati0n with a large green and Ia.
rite silk flag with white background 4.
d a large plant Of tobacco worked 81
the center, which had been made by c''
r.. Ewing orc
There were from 100 10 $50 members de
,,ent from Trigg county, majority An
whom were i'm the parade headed
our chairman, Mr.. +. f.. Wash, on
-seback as
Newere invited, along with Mr.. NJ. IN,
Thompson, Of this place, TO parti- de
ate i'm the parade and were given a =.
& i'm the conveyance occupied by "o
2 six of the delegates from the Viz mi
ma branch Of the association, Mr. COZ
ndurant. the sixth member and ne,
e president Of the assOci alton, hav- n.
been invited To ride horseback with '"'
SIS Townsend, Of Adairville. We wa
'cr met a more pleasant, refined and pOl
olligent crowd of gentlemen than Sta
Sc, and our hours ride with them ~
he parade was most pleasant one '"0
ay had come over seven hundred tax
Is To- attend this reunion, this be- /
their first. as the Virginia branch o.b
ne association was only taken i'm 49,.
spring, and the immensely Of this ''oi
herring and the great success and ma
husiasm of the association was the
rec of much surprise as well as
lyment and pleasure 10 them. They
e also very much impressed with II
interest the negroes were taking i'm ed {
association, and made inquiries as aro
low they had been interested i'm wv
great fight against the trust. Be. ana
IS Mr.. BOnduraut, whose home is ings
Rice, Va. the names of the other the
yinia delegates were as follows: II. CON
Rice, president Of the Virginia Bor
lch, Clarkton; Colin Stokes and II. and
Richardson, Famville; :. G.. moo
iel. Charlotte Courthouse, and J. Ass
rby, Blackstone. an,
ne remarkable thing about this Go.
lense crowd was that everything bin
ed of perfectly quiet. and the I'M a
of humor prevailed throughout.
ne banner, which attracted great
of attention aud was the source
uch amusement, was the picture
man reaching through the crack
he fence and milking a COW on the
o. side. above which was the fol- u
ug: chill Billy milking his neigh -