Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-12-20
kENTUcKYs TOBACCO WAR.
Damage Done BY Night Riders Put
at 100000.

Kentucky the terror OF the ku klux
days. Their last exploit was to seize
Hopkinsville. city Of 10000 inhabi-
tants, the largest in southern Ken
lucky.
Five hundred riders, wearing black
masks and with white badges pinned
to their shoulders, slipped into this
city at 2 a. m. They burned 100000
worth Of property, fired so many vol
leys through the town that the dam
age from shattered glass alone is es-
timated at $4,000, left two men seri-
ously wounded and departed without
encountering opposition to their work
of destruction. In an encounter with
a posse afterward one Of the raiders Is
said to have been killed.
The night riders are the most con-
spicuous feature of the war that is be-
ing waged by the tobacco growers Of
Kentucky against the American To-
bacco company. BY reducing the COM
petition In the buying Of tobacco to
pra ctically nothing the company forced
down the price Of leaf tobacco until
the growers say they cannot realize
enough to pay for raising 1t. The to-
bacco crop ls a mainstay In many parts
Of Kentucky. and thousands depend on
1t for their daily bread. The growers
determined to force the price up.
The plan proposed in the beginning,
and which is still being followed, was
to form a combination Of the growers
to oppose the combination Of the man
ufacturers and by withholding the to-
bacco make the tobacco trust come to
terms.
Many associations Of growers have
been formed in the different tobacco
raising regions Of Kentucky. But some
Of the growers did not come into the
association ranks and others grew
weary of waiting and sold their crops.
The more violent men in the associa-
tions have resorted to the measures
that gave rise to the night riders, and
by destroying the property of the to-
bacco company and the growers who
are not allied with them have sought
to carry through their plan by force
and terror.
The Hopkinsville raid was the sec
ond time in twelve months that the
night riders seized and terrorized a
city. On December /, 1906, they en-
tered Princeton, KY, a town Of several
thousand inhabitants about thirty
miles north Of Hopkinsville, took pos
session of the police and fire depart
ments, the water works, the telephone
and telegraph offices and with the town
shut of from the rest Of the world dy-
namited and set fire to the Steger &
Dollar and the John c. Orr tobacco
factories, which were allied with the
trust. The damage here was 100000.
The first appearance Of the night
riders was In November, 1906. when
they destroyed some tobacco barns and
small factories in Todd county. with q
loss of about $4,000. The first raid
came on the night Of November IL.
1906, when masked bands entered the
towns of Eddyville and Kuttawa, sit
uated close together in Lyon and Cald-
well counties, and destroyed the plants
Of the American Snuff company and
M. C. Rice, with $4,000 loss.
Besides these there have been many
smaller raids and visits to individual
growers. Tobacco barns have been
burned, growers who refused to pool
their tobacco have been taken from
their homes and whipped houses have
been fired into and the occupants
wounded.
The loss approaches million dol
lars. In part 1t is as follows:
Hopkinsville raid 100000
Princeton raid ................ lVO,OV0
Miscellaneous damage ........ 100000
Eddyville and Fredonia raids. 10000
With the same object as the night
riders, though following different
methods, are the day raiders, or peace
full army, as it is known. This is COM
posed of growers who go through the
tobacco district in the da-time trying
to persuade other growers to pool their
tobacco.
They do not use force, thinking that
the moral suasion of the call from 20
or 80 men will suffice for the aver
age planter. Owensboro, in Davies
county, northern Kentucky, city Of
25, 900 inhabitants, has been the gath
ering place Of the largest peaceful army
so far. Thousands Of growers from
the northern part Of the. state held
series of meetings there recently.
They called on the warehousemen
and the buyers in the city and urged
them to stop buying. Then they sent
SQUADS through the surrounding coun-
try on the same mission. The pres
ence Of q large number Of growers who
were not members Of the association
almost precipitated a fight In Owens
boro on the last rally day.
Paducah, city Of $4,000 In the
northern part of the state, received
warnings from the night raiders and
stationed heavy guards at all Its ap-
proaches. Even Lexington and Louis
Vile are threatened.
The greatest fear from the night rid
ers is that the fires they start with
the fire department held in check, may
spread until they consume an entire
town.
The tobacco war is not confined to
the Black Patch or the western part
of the state. The white hurley district,
which comprises fifty-two counties, or
the greater part of central Kentucky,
has the same fight on. So far this dis
trict has been comparatively peaceful,
though there have been many parn
burnings, plant bed scrapings and acts
of individual violence.