The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-12-13
"NIGHT RIDERS"
ON WILD RAID
Use Guns aud Torch ReckesSly at
HopkinSvilIe, Kentucky.
TOWN WAS TERRORIZED
Property Valued at Over $500, 900 Destroy
cd by Flames and Other Buildings
Riddled With Bullets.

Five hundred might Riders" mask
ed and heavily armed, marched into
Hotkinsville, Ky, early Saturday
morning and destroyed property val
ued at over 100000, while citizens,
in terror of their lives, feared even
to open their windows. The police,
fire department, telephone and tele-
graph Offices and even the railroad
station were in possession OF a wild
mob, shooting right and left, flames
from burning buildings meanwhile
lighting up the city and the surround
ing country until it seemed that the
whole town was ablaze.
Windows in the front of the bust
ness houses and banks on the Main
street of the city were shot out, and
the entire front of one newspaper
which had been especially severe in
it's condemnation of the raids of the
Night Riders, and which was owned
by the mayor OF the city, was de-
molished.
Only two men were injured, one Of
them being Lindsay Mitchell, a to-
bacco buyer, who was severely beaten
with switches and clubs, and the other,
a brakeman, who was shot in the back
while trying to move his train from
the path of the flames
The raid of the Night Riders caught
the city unawares, as for some time
the depredations resulting from the
tobacco war had been of minor ma
ture, and it was generally thought
that In the Dark District at least the
worst was over
The property destroyed was as fol
lows:
w. H. Tandy, independent tobacco
warehouse building, owned by J. H.
Latham.
Tandy & Fairleigh, buyers ware
house.
In addition the entire glass front
of the Hopkinsville Kentuckian, Mayor
Meacham's paper, was destroyed, while
windows in the front of the Com
mercial Banking and Savings company,
the First National, the Planters Trust
company and the Bank of Hopkinsville
were punctured with bullet holes.
A number of other business houses
ard residences bear the marks Of bull
lets, and 1t is considered remarkable
that no one was killed. The insurance
is believed to be about $4,000
AS soon as the Night Riders left
town, a posse Of about fifteen headed
By Major Bassett of the local militia
and Deputy Sheriff Cravens, entered
buggies and followed the trail. AS
soon az the posse could get near
enough they opened FIRE on the fleeing
mob, and the pursued returned the
shots.
The members Of the posse escaped
injury. They were soon outdlsCanoed
by the mounted men, and after chasing
the marauders several miles the ON
GERS returned home.
Governor Beckham, at the request
Of Mayor Meacham and County Judge
Breathitt, ordered the local company
5T Kentucky guards to report to the
sheriff for indefinite duty during the
Night Riders trouble, under command
OF Major E. B. Bassett. The local Of
fciaIs believe that they will be able
by an offer Of protection to secure
witnesses Who can positively identify
members of the mob.
Important clews are said to haVo
been discovered that may lead to the
arrest of members Of the mob. I'm
verified reports came Sunday that two
men were killed in Trigg county by
the citizens who pursued the Night
Rsders.