The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-07-16
IN "A REMINISCENT MOOD M
Henry M witse Writes of People Once Leaders IN
rooes-F. A. Hood and His Bryan Banner.
MrIts o. ku KIux kIan;

wTlte or MI hlbk bfe's
l one Of the biggest and most lusciuas
s,yrrises that ever came my way. was
~ Course Of. a conversation with MAJ.
| WcCrafh. / had been Writing up soliiu
rerformances OF years before, py NJ
| klux' or bands claiming 20 pc OF tiia.
order. and among tne ms ihsta ~ Rr,baker.
= carper,ter who lived over the river;
| aa was charged with having deserteu
his wife and otherwise conducted MIN
self in such way as TO dessrvs pun
| ishment. and It was adminissereu u ~
| form OF good flogging, licking lam
he sting whipping, or some such mode.
Cant. McCrath laughed about that ku
KliIx s'outrage" and wanted 10 know
| II / did not understand the actual factss
Having confessed practical ignoranve'
he expressed surprise. and said ne sup
nosed I knew ali about IT.: but the
facts were that Brubaker was compm-
mented by attentions from 9 goodly
number Of men who were not ku klux
at all and never expected 70 De; WIZ
simply acting in the capacity Of Wnat
might be called a spontaneous. tenn
porary. vigilance committee.
He said knew every one OF them,
mighty well, and about half OF them
were former soldiers OF the federal
army. He was one himself and for
aught that ] know 50 was n, MI, .h pav tna
raiders wore on that occasion were
& McCrath store, and kept there until
the yigilantes were ready to use them.
He told me who some OF the boys
prised as II he had proved that I was
one of the .all here" gang myself. A
Clergyman met a. citizen who was far
from being much Of a churchgoing man
and assured him that he was delighted
Sunday night previously. "Oh! That's
where I was, them" exclaimed the citi-
gen, mad he looked as II a burden had
been lifted from his mind. / could al
post have believed Mccrath Il ne had
tlvities. and made some similar obser-
walton. e-ac ,z
Raise Bryan banner
In notices of the late y. 4. Hood no
mention has been made, ! think. of
an interesting fact in connection with
his friendship for w. J. Bryan; AZ the
Chicago convention of 1895, Mr.. Hood
ner ~ which caused a stampede Bryan
ward. and in thirty minutes from the
time he raised 1t. 'the boy orator Of
the Platte" was nominee. Another fact
has interested me since coming to my
Frones ane honor na n IF hs anee
Francis A. Chapman. 1t is known to
students of local history that the Atlas
was the. FIRST steamboat seen here; In
deed, the first to ply Tennessee river
waters. She came In 1890 or 1891, from
Cincinnati, and Capt. Francis A. (Berry)
Chapman was her commander. He was
pioneer of river navigation, widely
known in his day. When Mr.. Hoods
father and mother were married.. tho
father was pilot OF the steamboat
Lucy Walker. belonging to Joe. Van. a
wealthy Indian chief or subchief, When
Van went west by the river route, Mr..
and Mrs. Hood started to go with the
party. but at Muscle Shoals they found
the water SO low boats could not 60
through. and after waiting for a while
they decided to abandon the trip. BY
so doing they saved their lives. for
after entering the Red river the boilers
burst and the boat was blown up and
nearly everybody on board was killed.
The late w. L. Digger was a cabin boy
on the. same boat. He and enc other
swan ashore. being the only survivors.
For rs cents You can earn $1,000 a
,nanth Rant vOiIr rnorn with n 25