The Washington bee., 1909-07-31

Panies.
LeuIsviIIe, Hy-TheTe has not
sssn. It is said, = crime Of mob vio-
tence committed IN this State, in
Tennessee, or. IN fact, in any OF the
Southern States or in any Of the
Middle Western States IN the past
several years. with the exception OF
tie occasional lynching Of a negro
~ q mob, that has not been should
cred on the Night Riders.
The Might Riders were an organ
szed BODY back In 1900, when the
STATE Legislature passed a law do
Tag away with private ownership OF
Bs1ts reads. For months the turn
Hfks corporations refused to obey
Ehs state laws They appealed TO
The State Supreme Court. then to
ne Court Of Appeals, and lastly to
the United states Supreme Court.
and On each appeal they would get
. stay. which made It possible for
them TO continue running their toll
gates and charging two cents a nile
fe< svsry horse or vehicle that passed
0vSF their property.
Because Of the laws delay the
Ooadit4on OF the roads became inn
paszSb4s. The owners Of the turn
pEkss woald Het szpend enc cent
for improvements - lehg Gs there
waS questton Of their losing their
property by 8 hnaI court decision.
but they did not cease to mulct trav-
silsrS- All thia while they refused
to accept the fair price offered By
the State for the4r reads.
Il was then that the Night Riders
WerS organised. The organization
spread from 6heiby County to every
part Of the State, and enc night In
ne late fall men rode from their
Aonss and Aesaa burning toll gates
There Is no record Of q toll gate
kssRsE being injured uAless he sheW-
Cd resistance. Then he was taken
from the house, and IL he continued
% ks defiant he was Aogged. In
nInsty-AIns cases cut OF hundred
tie tOls gate keeper was glad to give
up his fsb and let the gate burn.
Night Riders undoubtedly brought
the turnpike corporations TO terms.
There was not q toll gate left stand
inK ia the State Of Kentucky By the
following spring. Had the tsxPay-
srs and farmers been eontented to
AIlow the law to take its never end
lng course the chances are that toll
gates would still be holding up ira
Vellers on the State roads to-day.
and that the roads would have been
worse now than they were when the
Night Riders became organized.
The Kentucky roads now are
among the best in the United States.
There are not millions of dollars Of
watered stock on which to pay int
crest, and the State tax has improv-
cd them and even made 1t possible
for almost all OF them to be sprin-
klsd with oil during the summer
season, thus laying the dust.
The success of the Night Riders
In the war against toll gates led to
an organization of a similar char
Hctsr when the fight was waged
against the American Tobacco Com
Pany. But out of this last organiza-
tion there grew a body Of violent
men, who live on excitement and
thrive on IawIessness. Then spFang
up, toe, IawIess bodies OF men in
many Of the Southern and Middle
Western States, who chose TO call
themselves Night Riders, though the
probabilities are that SO per cent. OF
the men didn't own so much ss q
horse to ride.
II list Of the original body Of
Night Riders could be had the
chances are that the names OF many
men who figured in the operations
Of the old Ku-Klux gang would be
found, and II this list were sifted
down II would show that many prop
srty-owners and men Of prominence
had resorted to violence because OF
their belief that action was their
snly safeguard against ruin. and
that a defiance OF law had TO be met
by a like defiance.