Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1921-10-21
POCAAONTAS IN
THEOLDEN DAYS
Much Excitement Caused When
Tom Fests was Arrested
Blind Tigers Flourished in
the Town When Mines
Were First Started.

In the closing paragraph Of my
last article I referred to scene ir
the police court at Pocahontas during
the hearing of President Logan II
Bullitt, under arrest for tearing ur
the railroad tracks leading to the
Browning. Mines. / referred to GER
tain stage of the proceedings when
display of pistols frightened the
crowd which had assembled, with
one exception many of whom had
scattered out of the building The
professional man whose courage wal
referred to was DR.. John P. Haller,
and the cause of the excitement wui
the arrest of Tom Felts, head of the
Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, at
Bluefield. When Mike Rupert enter
ed police court during the hearing
bringing Tom Felts under arrest.
Grant Froe, colored policeman,
stepped up and offered his services t.
Rupert. The immediate display of
loaded pistols indicated to Froe that
he was persona non grata. but most
OF the crowd acting on the idea OF
safety first" ran out of the room.
Pocahontas was u dry town in the
beginning, and any one who was sick
and needed little whiskey for II
snake bite, tickling in the throat or
other ailments could get same from
the coal company on prescription of
licensed physician. The whiskeJ
was kept i'll little room at the mine
office. Joseph l.. Deaton tells of the
time when he was in Abbs Valley
The doctor had prescribed whlskeJ ,
for Mrs. Mary Taylor and Joe Dea-
ton went down on horseback after it.
accompanied by one of the men of
the valley. Mr.. Cooking was mine
boss mt the time and in charge of
the fluid. Deaton asked if he had any
whiskey. He said eyes, some as good
peach whiskey as you ever tasted"
Cooking was not as good a Judge,
perhaps, as Deaton (?), as he did
not seem to know the difference in
whiskey and brandy. 1t seemed, how
ever, that he had no whiskey, so
Deaton bought the peach brandy, put
1t in his inside coat pocket and he
and his neighbor started home. They
had not proceeded far until Dcaton's
horse gave lurch, causing Deatoi
to hit the bottle with his arm, break
ing the bottle and causing the BRAN
dy to flow down through his coat. His
taking in the situation,
jumped from his horse, held his
mouth to the dripping coat and "sav-
ed" all he could of the brandy which
was enough, perhaps, to afford one
good drink. Doubtless it tasted t.
him as good as the precious oint
ment that ran down upon Aaron's
beard.
There were other places in town
called blind tigers where wet gooos
were sold, either at this or some lat
er period. John Rudisill sold it in n
room of his hotel it is said, al. /
among others who handled the goods
are mentioned Chas. Massie, Wn,.
Aitkin, VIM. Berry, Arthur Tresise
and man named dad" Fletcher,
crippled man, and perhaps a numbe,
of others. The legislature Of 1S84-o
granted liquor licenses, some of thu
first men obtaining license being J.K.
Rudisill, Robert Miller, VIM. Miller,
and Arthur Tresise, followed later By
Joe Burger, Adolph Goodman, VIM.
Tresise and NJ. Kwass, as successor
to Berry and Tresise, l.. Lazarus u
Co., and others. The provisions of
the law stipulated that the man OBJ
tanning license must be man of
good character and that the place
where the business was to be co,I-
Quoted was suitable. Whether these
provisions were called for when Ii
cense was first granted or not i am
not sure, but it was the case after
the town charter of 1896, The appli-
cation for liquor license had to lie
submitted to the council of the town
of Pocahontas. If approved by them
the town issued an order or certifi-
Gates to tho County Court, certify
ing that the applicant was a man of
good character, and the place of busl.
ness was q suitable one. So that
liquor dealers were the only class OF
business men in town who had to
obtain q certificate of good chara>
ter before obtaining license to oo
business. AS to the place of business
being a suitable one that meant tina,
there was to be no dark corners, buI
that the business was to be con-
Quoted in q location convenient 70,
police inspection, and in later yeas
screen doors were abolished by State
law. The Annheuser-Busch Brewing
Association were soon on the grount
with q branch house, followed late
by Pobst Brewing Co. and Virginis
Brewing Company. The same pro
cedure had to be observed by tn,
brewing houses for obtaining licens.
These liquor licenses were usual,
granted during the month Of April
or earlier if the county court con
vened earlier, as the license year be
gan as now, on May LIST of each year
The town council had the right t,
say who should be granted or re
fused license, and their action wa
usually approved by the county O
circuit court. The liquor men invari
ably employed an attorney to max
their request before tthe council TO
license andspresent same before tn
court at Tazewell. ]. M. N.