The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-01-17

for the privileges of the lakes. These
permits were evidence that the users
admitted Harris ownership of the lake.
The same scheme, with variations, IS
now used in many states. Moreover, a
hunting club was formed-the Louis
vile Outing Club of Louisville, KY. In
due course this club purchased many
rights and titles, which were turne1 over
to Harris, strengthening his position.
Fishermen were served with inJunc-
tions, hunters were driven from their
blinds, and it was evident that Harris
was making Roadway. It was even
claimed market hunters did not have to
have hunting licenses if they sold to
Harris agent. He even found the orig
inal landholder s heirs, and thus came
in possession of Colonel Daugheritie S
Revolutionary soldier war claims, which
antedated the New Madrid earthquakes.
In order to get the profit on the fish
and birds killed he decided to put
| fish and game merchant on the lake. j.
c. Burdick had led the opposition 10
/ the Harris claims. He now became
Harris game and fish buyer-and won
| the enmity of his one-time friends. The
| Obion Fish Company was formed IN
opposition by John Shaw, Frank Sparks,
| Albert Wallace and Walter Pleasant to
purchase the fish and game of Reelfoot
lake. These four men have led the OPP
position to closing the lake to the pub
| lic Instantly there were injunctions,
counter injunctions, bonds and lltlga-
ton for the right to buy and sell Reel
foot's wild booty. The prize sought
would amount, 1t was claimed, to about
! $4,000 a year. The litigation was in
line with Old Man Harris plan of
"lawing opposition to death, and in
this work he was ably assisted by per-
sistent attorneys. But Harris was get
ting old, and in 1903 he died in st.
Louis.
Judge Harris (his given name is
Judge) continued the fight for the lake
and the lands around the lake. Batfied
| in the attempt to drain the lake, 1T was
now determined to redeem the lands
in some other way. The levee system
offered an opportunity. Judge Harris
saw that if the Mississippi could be
prevented from flowing down into Reel
foot lake every spring, he would be
able to clear from 10000 to $4,000 acres
of the swamp timber brake land which
he owned in the Reelfoot basin. He
became head of the local levee com
mission. He made applications to the
United States Mississippi river commits
sion, and today 1875 miles of the twenty
miles of levee necessary to save the
low shores of Reelfoot from inundation
have been built But the local board,
| which began work with much enthu'
siasm, did no work last year, and the
| Mississippi commission placed $500
cubic yards of dirt without local assist
ance The landowners of Lake county
did not take kindly to the high levee
tax, whose avowed purpose was to re-
deem many thousand acres of land for
the Harris estate, though it would add,
it was claimed, 100000 acres Of cotton
land to the Reelfoot cultivatable area.
Heretofore, the troubles have been
matters of courts and politics. Inde-
pendent observers could not become en-.
thusiastic in favor Of the fishermen ana
hunters who were fighting every at
tempt to preserve the fish and game, nor
for the people who desired to get all the
profit possible from the lake. So far as
one could see, it was simply matter
of greed opposed to avarice. But Judge
Harris has been very plainly a more pro-
gressive man than his opponents, and
when he talked with me about trying
to carry out his father IS plans he show
ed himself more than willing to put his
shoulder to the wheel for the progress
of Lake county.
"The trouble is right here, he told
me. sAlmost all the land in Lake ccun-
ty is owned by FIVE or six persons, and
if we are not progressive it keeps every
body down. The land ought to be cut
up into small farms.' Wearied by the
fight, Harris sold out to the West Ten
nessee Land Company, whose head was
Rankin
Lynching is no new thing to Lake
county. The citizens of Lake county
Were at one time greatly addicted to
the habit of lynching negroes, and a
cypress tree at fence corner Just
| north of the town was pointed out to
me as the niger tree.
"Seven niggers have been hanged on
that tree,' it was explained. On one
occasion, negro was hanged by an i'm
patient mob on the main street of the
town, but this made some feeling. The
tree was cut down, and the incident for
gotten as far as possible. The people
off Lake county tell about the trial of
a negro in the Tiptonville, Lake county.
court. The court was crowded, and
the men were particularly wrought up
by the woman s story. The jury re-
cefved the case, and then there was a
! delay. They could not agree.
| cts hung jury" somebody an
nouneed
"Well, wen have hung niger,
| tool'' somebody shouted, and the mob
surged forward The negro was
hanged, forthwith. Later it was learned
that one of the white men on the jury,
and the son of another of the jurors,
had been accused of the crime They
escaped, but were driven from the coun-
try.
[ was told that many more negroes
would have been lynched in Lake
county if it had not been for one diff
ficulty which the residents met at last.
The negroes began to move away, and
the wandering cotton pickers ceased TO
visit Lake county, so that increasing
difficulty was experienced in getting
the cotton picked. Nowhere in the
delta is higher price paid for cotton
picking than in Lake county Still,
with Lake county's reputation for