The Washington bee., 1909-07-17

Louisville. Ky.-There has not
been, 1t is said. a crime Of mob vio-
lsncs committed in this State. in
Tennessee, or, in fact. in any Of the
gouthern States or in any of the
Middle Western States In the past
several years, with the exception Of
the occasional lynching OF a negro
ky 9 mob, that has not been should
sTsd on the Night Riders.
The Night Riders were an organ
Ned body back In 1900, when the
State Legislature passed law do
ing away with private ownership OF
neata roads. For months the turn
pfks corporations refused 10 obey
The State laws. They appealed TO
the State Supreme Court, then to
the Court Of Appeals, and lastly to
the United States Supreme Court,
and on each appeal they would get
q stay. which made it possible for
them 10 continue running their toll
gates and charging two cents a mile
FER every horse or vehicle that passed
ever their property.
Because Of the laws delay the
sondition Of the roads became i'm.
pssstbls. The owners Of the turn
Dfkes would HOt expend enc cent
fer improvements as long ss there
VS. question Of their losing their
property By = AnaI court decision,
bat they ala not cease to mulct trAy-
silsrx. All thss while. they refused
t. accept the fair price offered By
the State for their roads.
II vas then that the Night Riders
Rsrs organised. The organization
spread from Shelby County to every
part Of the State, and one Aight IA
the late fall men rode from their
homss and began burning toll gates.
TAsFs Is no record Of . toll gate
Keeper being injured uAiess he show
ed resistance. Then he Was taken
from the house, and II he continued
ts be denant he was hogged. In
Einety-Hine cases out Of q hundred
the tele gate keeper was glad TO give
up his Job and let the gate burn.
Night Riders undoubtedly brought
the turnpike corporations TO terms.
There was not q toll gate left stand
ing IN the State OF Kentucky by the
following spring Had the taxpay-
eTs and farmers been contented to
allow the law to take It's never end-
fng course the chances are that coll
gates would still be holding up tra-
VelIers on the State roads to-day,
and that the roads would have been
worse now than they we're 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-
kled 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 q similar char
Seter when the fight was waged
against the American Tobacco Com
HAny. But out of this last organiZa-
ton there grew a body Of violent
men, who live on excitement and
thrive on lawlessness. Then spTang
up, too, lawless 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 as &
horse TO ride.
II a list Of the original body Of
Might 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 1t would show that many prop
srty-owners and men of prominence
had resorted to violence because OF
their belief that action was their
enly safeguard against ruin, and
that a defiance OF law had to be met
by q like defiance.