The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-05-03

tant and potent member of that 1875
convention which gave to us tn,
present constitution of Tennessee
When the Democratic party under
went serious division upon thu
Estate debt question:" Col. Gibbl
was of the State credit contingent
and to that honored class of it which
acquired the title of Sky Blues.
s, For the low tax element, ant
those known as repudiationists, h,
wrote a kind of sub rosa platform
which caused no little quiet amuse
ment among his immediate politica
friends, and was nightly appreci
ated when it somehow got over into
the Republican camp. The gist oi
| it was, ut is against our principle
to pay interest, and against our in
terest to pay principal. We look
with disfavor upon all old debts, and
will allow all new ones to become
old rapidly as they will, so that we
may have plausible excuse for not
paying them"
81 was rolling stone that gather
ed no financial moss" Col. Gibbs
quite recently said to a friend
gathered no moss to embellish my
old-age dream playhouse. l have
| been of no service to Chattanooga
except by bringing here citizens in
the persons of my wife and children.
| One of the boys / brought has for
about thirty years helped to take
care of the peoples money, as a
banker, and to build up the town by
building some modest houses, but
such as help along. And the other,
| for forty years or so, has tried to
help the people keep well, so that
they could do their bit. But / have
done nothing for the city. 1 have
been quasi statesman, lumberman,
farmer; but chiefly a loafer for the
last ten years."
pose of polite but very emphatic
contradiction. The doughty colonel
could not be loafer for ten minutes
II he tried. In these years of loafing,
as he terms his period of respite from
the regular activities of life, he has
tried his turn at getting the best of
Smart Alecks in New York, and fail
ed, measurably; has looked after
various and sundry business inter
ests in various places, and has
''loafed" around the Reelfoot Lake
country, picking up facts and data
of vast Importance relative to land
titles, ETC., which will likely enough
one day be of much value to the
State and to many people of the
State. Time is not wasted which in
telligent and thoughtful men pass
with eyes and ears open, even If
they don't say much or stand much
in the fierce light of publicity.
Even in the days of Col. Gibbs
immediate ancestors, men were not
disposed to confide >all of their per-
sonal troubles to the policeman, and
those in rural environments were
little disposed to lean too heavily
upon the constabulary for the redress
of grievances. The colonel's father
had the temerity to engage in per-
sonal conflict with the redoubtable
Sam Houston, and gave sufficiently
creditable account of himself.
He also had fight with noted
duelist and gunfighter named Thorn
as K. Harris, by whom he was some
Whot A1OuoAy WOunuCu NY u.
So little were those hardy men and
women given to confiding such af-
fairs to their children that Charles
Nicholas never heard breath of these
disturbances until he was man
grown, and then they were confided
to him by friendly frater of a great
secret organization.
Then he began to feel keener in
terest in those affairs of days he
could not remember. He inaugu-
rated a campaign of inquiry, begin
ming, of course, with his mother. He
had always thought her pretty, and
now he came right out and told her
so. Mother" he said, you must
have been mighty handsome when
you were girl" She "came right
out" and confessed that they did
consider her something of beauty.
"You were mighty popular among
the gentlemen, / reckon" he pro-
ceeded, and she admitted that the
boys used to like her..
did you ever dance much?"
Eyes, l danced a good deal until
Joined the church. / was mighty
fond of dancing, Charles"
Didn't you ever dance after you
Joined the church,"
'Yes, once, and only once"
"How was that? Tell me about
it, please"
well, we women had big quilt
ing, and at night, after the quilt was
finished, we got up dance; or they
somebody did. A man came in
with his arm in sling and asked
me to dance with him, and / did. |
His name was Simpson. He killed
the man that shot your father, and
l would have danced with him if
they had turned me out of church. 4"
The Simpson, Harris fight was typ
ical of the time and conditions then
existing. They were enemies in good
standing and of long standing. They
met, both on horseback, in a wooded, |
lonely mountain road. Without
ceremony or comment, they drew
their long horsepistols and began
firing; they evidently acted in the |
spirit of Admiral Dewey's sugges-
tion to the German Admiral Won
Dietrich, at Manila harbor, 'if it is |
war you want, the way to make war
is to clear ship and go to fighting" "
Simpson wounded Harris, and he |
fell, evidently mortally hurt. Simp- |
son rode on until he reached a cabin, |
to the occupants of which he report |
ed what had occurred. Il think he's |