The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1912-07-31
trials Amusing
Idest Man in Dickinson
County Among Those
Found Guilty of vote
Selling:

.iudge II. A. w. Skeen, who
has gained notoriety by his eff
sfibrts to purify corrupt elections
I nd to put moonshine liquor
Fan of lis district, convened
5burt at Clintwood, Dickinson
eunty, Va, July 8, and dur
.hg the first days of court q
Vast crowd thronged the streets
Isl the beautiful little town of
|selintwood, the county seat of
/ Dickenson. Many persons be-
! siig either guilty of selling their
! Totes during the November
|Aecuon, or friends of the guilty
4 ZANE with their belief that the
buyer of votes could not be
Made to testify against the sci.
tler. But their fond hopes were
St!ighted and many soon return
std to their homes. This belief
due to the circulation of
be decisions of several lawyers
2sf Lee county, Va, who took
ssue with the Judge, and de.
clared that the buyer could not
she made to testify against the
ieller
But the judge was undaunted
1l9ssnd to make good his belief, n
lest case was made ut the last
4 perm of court in the above
banned county. a buyer refus-
III to testify against a seller.
sHe was fined $25 for this act,
.Sand appealed his case to the
.lupreme court of Virginia in
,ession at Wytheville, Va. The
court sustained Judge Skeen in
fhis decision. The decision of
4 This court was handed down
k9nly few weeks ago, and
ssmany of the citizens of Dicken.
son county had not heard of it.
\ Hence a goodly number believ-
sed that the 1862 persons indicted
81 the last session of court at
$flintwood for vote selling
fNould be futile. However, such
sEas not the case.
During the first days of court
% grand jury was empaneled
tnd sworn, whose first work
pas to reindlct the l62 sellouts.
hese indictments were found
70 be null and void, owing to n
failure o comply with some
law technicality, during the
PREVIOUS session of court.
After making these reindict.
Fhents the jury made fifty adj
.qltlonal indictments against
Efote sellers, making a total of
ssl2, At this term it has indict-
81 elghty-seven more, making
ihe total number indicted for
noonshining 29l. Grand total
'IJor vote selling and moonshin-
,lng SOB.
81 While these indictments are
sslpelng made the court is pro-
Feeding with the trials of the
Indicted persons. These trials
shfe both amusing and pathetic,
while at the same time they
hre horrifying to any listener
.%ho loyes good citizenship.
ihIrty-nine cases of vote sell
slng have already been tried,
end out of this number thirty
gave been convicted, nineteen
republicans and eleven Demo
sffats. Among these are the
spidest man of the county, aged
sii'hety-two; q former justice Of
sEae peace, a deacon of the
fhurch, four ministers of the
gospel, one or two worth be.
Tween ten and twelve thousand
One man after being convict.
3tu lodged the sheriff in the
courthouse and made his escape
70 The mountains of Kentucky.
One of the many peculiar
enings brought to light by the
court was the shy work of a
rlowd known now Ga the "jail
Flowd' or "blind tigars" dur
ing The November election. A
81 Iung man OF somewhat unusal
!C,n' spent election day in
siihtwood jail behind the iron
T. od ats with locked doors, having
u olg sum of money. He was
sSus.lucted that when he was
snahded through the iron bars q
5mece Of paper with Roman
snu numerals on it, he was to hand