The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1917-19??, 1917-08-23
Whole Number 1929
Mccoy and PHIPPs FOUND GUILTY

In the United States Court at Big
Stone Gap. a chapter in drama was
written which will live in the history
of the present times when many of
the events that are today engaging
! the attention of the multitudes are
! forgotten. Treason and anarchy, open
defiance of the sovereignty of the Uni
I led States and adherence to its enemies
the whole making blacker chapter
than that which covered the memory
| 1f Aaron Burr with ignominy-were
among the charges on which the two
men were found guilty-William
| Vernon Mccoy and John Walter
Phipps. The plot which it is alleged
| was hatched in the fertile brain OF
| the two crude mountaineers, and TO
the execution of which nearly three
hundred fearless mountain clansmen
W erecommitted by the most solemn
oath, was astounding because of the
breadth of it's scope and the reck-
less defiance of all constituted au-
thority.
The gravity of the charge on which
the men were indicted is immeasur-
ably increased by the present grave
| international situation-the men charg
| ed in one of the six indictments with
collusion with the enemies of the
United States--and by the proml-
nence of the people who were to be
victims of the anarchist conspiracy
TO commit murder, seize the property
of rich landlords and divide it among
the participants in the rebellion
against the authority of the United
States.
Three hundred mountaineers, native
Americans of pure stock, bonded to-
gether with a solmn oath to resist
conscription under the selective draft
act and at a given signal of their
| leaders to rise above all constituted
authority, overpower the military
guards located in the vicinity to guard
the railroad and industrial property
seize their equipment. murder wealthy
people among themselves and set up
a law of their own.
The poverty of the mountain peo-
pie and their deep-seated sense OF
independence. which sometimes takes
the form of lawlessness, was shrewd-
ly played upon by Mccoy, who, Whlle
inn,ltnred. il man Of much native
/ ability and force of leadership
His 1S-year-old son, Calvin Mccoy,
typical mountain boy, simple-mlnded
and honest, who was tried in the FED
eral Court at Roanoke for completely
in the plot and acquitted, expressed
in his own simple way the manner
in which the plot appealed to the
mountain folks.
"The way understand the move
ment." he said sit was plan TO cut
down the high cost of living 1t was
a plan to equal things up and make
living easier for the people. Why'
tbere men in Wise and Dickerson
and Russell counties who own more
land than they know what to do Wlth'
while weuns haven't enough to eat
The gigantic plot, which involved
| ,,. o1o,,an+c of seriousness was
first discovered early in May by men,
hers of the Second Virginia Regiment
doing guard duty along the Norfolk
and Western Railroad, on the Cllnch
Valley line, over which tremendous
tonnage of coal is hauled.
Mccoy, who was cobbler at 81
Paul. about so miles from Johnson
CITY. laid his plans with marked IN
genuitv. Phipps, his lieutenant. was
foreman in a big wood extract plant
at St Paul, and it is said that he had
signed up practically every one Oh
the seventy-odd employees in the plant
for the army.
Mccoy, when suddenly confronted
by well-armed detective in his llt-
tie cobbler's shop at st. Paul, had
dangerous pistol within convenient
roach and a reserve supply of am
munition close at hand. Phipps was
taken without difficulty, and, to avold
! ,,,,.,,,.od danger of attempts to rescue
them by their mountain comrades
they were hastened to the Jail mere.
That the government feels that the
two men were the moving spirits OF
the entire conspiracy is indicated by
the fact that the many other indict-
ments are held in allegiance until after
the first trial of the two leaders.
Mccoy is member Of the family
: which participated in the famous
: Hatfield Mccoy feud of the early eigh
/ ties. 1t is said that on that occasion
he received summons to come TO
the aid of his relatives, but was IN
Missouri and lacked the funds to make
the trip. He boasts that he was an
3 intimate of the James boys, whose
. exploits in the Middle West are ms
i tory, and it WIN be noticed at once
: that the oath of Volunteers" is close
| Iy patterned after the black oath Oh
| Ouantrells Guerilas, well remembered
4 IL.