The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1908. NIGHT-RIDING.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 19 December 1908, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1908. NIGHT-RIDING.

The night-riders now being tried in Tennessso are probably those concerned in the murderous attack. on two lawyers, members of an American sporting club, who were fishing in the Reelfoot -Lake- district a few weeks ago. As" a contemporary points out, there was a feud between". a, lecal-'.land.com-pany and the squatters bf^ the district .coiicerriiEg the mvnership of Tlid> lake, and this particular outrage was intended to terroris3 tho members of the club which had purchased the fishing- rights from the company. • But the Tennesses affair .was oirlyone- example of;:a #kind of lawlessness "that has' become,? ramp-

ant in Indiana,. Kentucky.and Terineseee and the neighbouring States • dming recont-years. "Nightrriding''' has; "contiriued almost-unchecked since the be- , ginning of 195(5, ■ Iri^ lha't .yea,T "'ifie'Ken% tucky planters .d©oi^ejL[,.thatj; ( ißii9y.^ rero,', suffering financially by the'fwt.tbat/the, American Tobacco' Cpmpany^ hdd ''a practical monopoly' of "the ftbbacc?o''b,usi- ; .ness in. the. State, and'.t^at^"in. the; ab,-. . senco of -competit;pnj:-itk«y compelled to accept^iwjiate^e^ th|j«mn,pany cheso to "pay tlieirji'. f^r^the ;plx)duct oT their farms. The (story;,is : .:-aiive-x&ra--.. ordinary 6nc. The first step, of the dissatisfied' pla^ter's;-was rto''fprni'.an association of 75,000 members, Controlling. 70 ■ par cent ; of the.^ output of K6ntncky.., The .organisation of "iiiglit--1 riders" was designedi to terrorise al] ; the planters who remaiited independent; -and in a few months there were half a ; dozen companies,, from 2CO to 500 ';strong,..operating in this.State. Tlie irTiderSy were .well-; mounted and armed, , they moved only\by night, a,nd they wore masks. Their first outrage was to *burn se,v.erg,l--Jtrucks pf tobacco belong-, /ing to the company and to independent growers at Princeton. This wav in ..March, 1906. Outrages continued at intervals until the close of the year, . when Hopkinsville was invaded and a pitched battle was fought in the centre .oi the ■.-'•town between the. night-riders and*the citkenW. Many warehouses wei'o burned and several lives were lost 'in the conflict. , A_conference between the-compn,ny and tlie "rebels" produced ■„ no .result, except ..that a band, .of "Peaceful iliders by Day" supplemented by methods of moral suasion, the efforts of the night-riders. The third great raid- of the night-riders caused i thY destruction of £20,000 worth of property at Russellville. Trains wero held up, the telephone bureaux were I seized, and factories and .-warehouses' were burned. Three peaceful citizens of an inquisitivo turn of mind were shot in the streets. The lawlessness spread all over Kentucky and into Indiana and "'Tennessee. Many arrest v were made, but it was. impossible to obtain convictions because the- juries were- ccnsistantly packed in favour of the prisoners. Jt is estimated1 that up, to tho close of last year property to tho value of £50,003,000 had been destroyed in Kentucky alone. The . troubles havo continued intermittently this year, and comparatively little tobacco has been grown in the Stato. A few weeks ago tho American Tobacco Company announced that it would in future buy r.o supplies from Kentucky, and! would establish its main markets in Ohio. Meanwhile tho habit of lawlessness has spread and night-riding, with its accompaniment of conflagrations and murders, has been reported from the cotton belt as well as from tho tobacco countv.es. Troops have been employed in tho endeavour to check the movement, but ib is extremely difficult to deal with small bands of desperate men who plan their i*aids carefully, whr> work only ly night and who, in j. tho day-time, are apparently law-abid- '

ing citizens. , Evidently the prosecutions at Union City are comprehensive, for there are over a hundred indictments for, capital offences. Union Citjr is closo to the border of Kentucky and within striking distance of the centra of tho worst offences of the tobacco war, and it has been suggested that the Kentucky night-riders were largely recruited in Tennessee. The night-riding movement is one of the difficult problems of American civilisation. For somo reason tha habit of lawle:sncs3 takes hold of American communities with extraordinary frequency," and ordinary police measures ale powerless. Tho trouble, too, is accentuated at times by the manifest sympathy of legislators, judges and State officers gen-, erally ipr the law-breakers.