1 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:11,960 Speaker 1: So they started getting the attention of national newspapers, Chart Observer, 2 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: New York Times and all by these raids on the town, 3 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: taking independent farmers out, flag and of course he had 4 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: lynchings going on throughout South. But when they started raiding 5 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 1: his towns, like what the headlines says, Kentucky town raided 6 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: and burned by night riders. This is post Civil War 7 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: and the Norse still kind of looked upon the South 8 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 1: as being violent. Anyway, around that time, we had had 9 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: Fields McCoy's and Kentucky especially, It's always had a reputation 10 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: dark and bloody land. It's always be had of bloody history. 11 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,519 Speaker 2: On this finale episode, the tobacco wars of Kentucky and 12 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 2: Tennessee are in full swing and the stage is set 13 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 2: for a showdown between the Tobacco Planners Association for the 14 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 2: poor farmers and the corporate giant known as the Duke Trust. 15 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 2: And they're American Tobacco Company. The players are as old 16 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 2: as time. It's the rich versus the poor, but the 17 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 2: difference between the good guys and the bad guys remains blurred. 18 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 2: The region known as the Black Patch grows the finest 19 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 2: dark fired tobacco in the world. 20 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 3: But the struggle is much bigger. 21 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 2: Than tobacco, and the tools of terror are arson, beatings 22 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 2: and sabotage meant to impact the national economy, but did 23 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:35,199 Speaker 2: it even really work. I really doubt that you're gonna 24 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 2: want to miss this one. 25 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: It reminded me we were going to one of these 26 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: speeches somewhere years ago, and on the way there, Paul said, 27 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,559 Speaker 1: you're not gonna You're not gonna give them the whole 28 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: ball of works, are you. I said, what do you 29 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: mean I'm gonna give? I mean tell the whole You're 30 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: not gonna tell the whole story again? And I said, 31 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: well you don't. It's a little hard to just tell 32 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: in sound bites. 33 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 2: My name is Klay nukemb and this is the Bear 34 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 2: Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 35 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 2: for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 36 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 2: story of Americans who lived their. 37 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 3: Lives close to the land. 38 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 2: Presented by FHF Gear, American made purpose built hunting and 39 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 2: fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as the 40 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 2: place as we explore. 41 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,679 Speaker 1: I spoke the Other Knight to a group in Princeton 42 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: and Princeton Kentucky going up there talking to that group 43 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: about the night Riders, or it's like going to the 44 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: Vatican and talking about Catholicism. I mean they have the 45 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: Black Patch Parade. Had David Amos lived there, his home 46 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: was there. They have Tobica les engraved on the side 47 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,399 Speaker 1: of the courthouse, in the structure of it. I mean 48 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: some of them, they can stand there and tell you 49 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: about how their uncles was so and so. 50 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 2: That was Bill Cunningham, a former Kentucky Supreme Court justice 51 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 2: and the author of the book On Bended Knees about 52 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 2: the night Rider Tobacco Wars between nineteen oh four and 53 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 2: nineteen oh nine. He painted a clear picture of the 54 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 2: significance of tobacco and how it's long been etched into 55 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 2: the culture of Kentucky. And when things are that important, 56 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 2: they become culturally heightened because of the potential gain or 57 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 2: ruin in their wake. But the high stakes also make 58 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 2: them a potential tinder box of chaos, unrest, and even violence. 59 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 2: But a gauge of something's cultural importance often is found 60 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 2: in music, and tobacco often shows up in the music 61 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 2: about Kentucky. I can't vouch for the character of outlaw 62 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 2: country musicians David allen Coe, not even a little bit. 63 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 2: But I've respected him as a songwriter since I was 64 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 2: a teenager, and I want to listen to one of 65 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:14,360 Speaker 2: his songs. And if why Harlan County is in Kentucky. 66 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: If folks in Harlan County. 67 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 4: Lord, they knew we were born Still It's called my Daddy, 68 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 4: Preacher Dan, But Daddy weren't no preacher. 69 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 5: The sweet I. 70 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 4: Don't recollect ever, Heir of Popaul talk of nothing but 71 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 4: the land, and Daddy was here. 72 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 5: Was read Lord. 73 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,359 Speaker 2: That song is called Daddy was a god fearing man. 74 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:51,359 Speaker 2: The pastoral imagery of an uneducated but godfear and farmer 75 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 2: is strong in the lore of rural America, and it 76 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 2: paints the picture of poverty, purity, naivity, and the righteous 77 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,600 Speaker 2: work ethic of some one whose hands are calloused by 78 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 2: rocks and dirt. What's not overtly said, but is implied, 79 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 2: is that this song is being listened to with the 80 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 2: contextual backdrop of a rapidly urbanizing and industrialized America, and 81 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,680 Speaker 2: by leaning into this romantic idea of the farmer, tapping 82 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 2: into its nostalgia, which Americans love to do. In a way, 83 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 2: it's pitting the agrarian way of life against the urban 84 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 2: industrial America, which clearly dominates the national hegemon. But listen 85 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 2: to the next verse and listen for the mention of 86 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 2: America's old smoky friend. 87 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 4: Saint really always screw tobag of the old heat and 88 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 4: not smoke yourself, and the bag drum around, and he 89 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,280 Speaker 4: never touched to drop the flicker that I can't recall 90 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 4: combam is living on the ground. 91 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 3: Yes, tobacco, you heard it. 92 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 2: And I've got to admit that this is one of 93 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 2: my favorite songs of all time. And it wouldn't be 94 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 2: until I understood the significance of tobacco farming in this 95 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 2: region that I really got it. 96 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 4: It was Lord Heaven. 97 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 5: Far grown out. 98 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,039 Speaker 2: Being the best tobacco farmer around was a thing of 99 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 2: rural prestige, where families passed on generational knowledge about this 100 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 2: crop that became a source of pride. But not far 101 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 2: from the surface, its foundation was in the financial uplift 102 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 2: it brought to families. Like most things in society, it 103 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 2: all went back to money. But I think there's some 104 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 2: potential inherent philosophical flaws in this song. It's idealistic to 105 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 2: believe that simply by being a farmer that you have 106 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 2: some inherent righteousness or pure lifestyle. And don't get me wrong, 107 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 2: I'm prone to buy into the nostalgic stereotype myself. I 108 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 2: love farmers. But why this story of these tobacco farming 109 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,160 Speaker 2: night writers is so interesting? Because these good hearted farmers 110 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 2: did some pretty dark stuff when empowered under the cover 111 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 2: of darkness, black masks, and a righteous mission against a 112 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 2: corporate criminal. I'm here to decide if they were justified, 113 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 2: and even think about where I would have stood if 114 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 2: I lived during that time. To rehash the high points 115 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 2: of this story, The Dark Fired Tobacco Planters Protection Association 116 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 2: was formed in nineteen oh four to protect the interest 117 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 2: of the tobacco farmers as prices plummeted because of the 118 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 2: monopoly of the Duke True American Tobacco. The trust monopolized 119 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 2: the buying of tobacco, forcing farmers to sell at a deficit, 120 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 2: wrecking the economies of the regions built around tobacco. So 121 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 2: the Tobacco Association formed to monopolize the selling. In nineteen 122 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 2: oh four, they had five thousand members, but by nineteen 123 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 2: oh six they had twenty five thousand. The Night Riders 124 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 2: formed as the unofficial clandestine strong arm of the Association, 125 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:32,200 Speaker 2: whose first mission was to get all the tobacco farmers 126 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,559 Speaker 2: of the region to join the association, but the mission 127 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:42,320 Speaker 2: gradually shifted to beatings, sabotaging non association members crops, and 128 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 2: large scale arson. 129 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: But there were violence that broke out, and other places 130 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 1: could took it to sea. Maybe I'd say all the 131 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 1: states that grew Tovaica, but they were just kind of sporadic. 132 00:08:55,360 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: You had this well all well structured military type organization 133 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: only here in West Kentucky. That's one of the things 134 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: that makes it fascinate. 135 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 2: In the last episode, Bill told us how this was 136 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 2: the time period when America was sorting out the issues 137 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 2: between labor and capital. 138 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,480 Speaker 3: The workers versus corporate interests. 139 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,200 Speaker 2: The struggle was happening everywhere and in things outside of 140 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 2: tobacco farming. But according to Bill's book, this was the 141 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 2: most sustained violence and unrest in America between the Civil 142 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 2: War and the race rights of the nineteen sixties. But 143 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:39,839 Speaker 2: the tobacco War wasn't just instigated by farmers, but by 144 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,000 Speaker 2: other people that didn't even grow tobacco. 145 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: So I've kind of come around to think well economically 146 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,559 Speaker 1: was one of the problems was then being the only 147 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: in carriage crop. Your banker depended on it, the grocery 148 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: store guy who you bought money on credit. So the 149 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:01,720 Speaker 1: business is small. Business had an economy dependency on the 150 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: success of darkfire tobacco, and when it wasn't successful, they 151 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: didn't get paid, So they had an economic interest in 152 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: But I think that probably maybe half the people approved 153 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:18,480 Speaker 1: of what they were trying to get done and but 154 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: disagree with the method. 155 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 2: Where tobacco grew. It was a cash crop that people 156 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 2: used to live above subsistence, which is important. And as 157 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 2: they say, a rising tide lifts all boats. You probably 158 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:36,440 Speaker 2: remember clips from the historic interview from the mid nineteen 159 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:41,319 Speaker 2: eighties where our guy right here, Bill Cunningham interviewed the then 160 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 2: ninety seven year old Joe Scott. So in the nineteen eighties, 161 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 2: this guy was ninety seven years old who at the 162 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 2: time was the last living night writer. Here's Joe Scott 163 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:57,559 Speaker 2: responding to a pivotal question of why tobacco prices fell, 164 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,200 Speaker 2: This was the reason for the war. The audio isn't 165 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,840 Speaker 2: perfect with old Joe, but it's worth it. So hanging there. 166 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 5: Firel prices down. 167 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:08,320 Speaker 6: What happened? 168 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 3: What caused the prices to go down? 169 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 6: Well, but the way I look at it, these tobacco 170 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,480 Speaker 6: companies they would get about four times as much. Say 171 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 6: we got it, we got three and a half four dollars, 172 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:23,600 Speaker 6: and they get about twenty twenty twenty five trus They 173 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,200 Speaker 6: didn't make it about four and five times as much 174 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,560 Speaker 6: as what you get it. They get all the four 175 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 6: dollars there. We wouldn't getting nothing. They would getting it 176 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 6: all though. She wasn't no way, wasn't no way of 177 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 6: changing them, and they had in their head they wasn't 178 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 6: going to change. You see, the government wouldn't do a 179 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 6: thing about it. Don't see these lawyers wouldn't do nothing. Bucks, 180 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:43,720 Speaker 6: they wouldn't do nothing. 181 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 2: Buts the tobacco companies were making four and five times 182 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,319 Speaker 2: as much as the farmer. Does that sound familiar today? 183 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,679 Speaker 2: He said, the government wasn't helping and there was no 184 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 2: way of changing them. You can hear the frustration in 185 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 2: his voice even eighty years later. The Tobacco Association felt 186 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 2: justified at whatever means they needed, so their unofficial strong arm, 187 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 2: called the night Riders, took charge. But who were these guys. 188 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,720 Speaker 2: They were masked, they were clandestine. This is Bill referencing 189 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 2: why Joe Scott was talking late in his life. 190 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: Well, he says, the only reason he's talking now because 191 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: they're all dead. Nobody put him in his grave. And 192 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: I think, you know, you get old, I get like, 193 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:33,959 Speaker 1: I'm like this kind of now. You hear him talking 194 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,319 Speaker 1: about all this story, wasting your time, Joe Scott. If 195 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,959 Speaker 1: you watched this interview with him, you see what kind 196 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: of man he was at one hundred. I can imagine 197 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:47,680 Speaker 1: what he was like at eighteen and what you would 198 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:49,719 Speaker 1: have been at eighteen nine. And I think a lot 199 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,280 Speaker 1: of them just teenage boys. This is as good as it gets. 200 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 2: Sometimes you look back in history and wonder why people 201 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 2: did what they did. I think Bill's assessment of these 202 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 2: were young boys saying and thinking this is as good 203 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 2: as it gets is a good assessment because that can 204 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 2: be a license to be reckless, and people still do 205 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:15,679 Speaker 2: that today. The first couple of years, the Night Rid's 206 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 2: primary job was to convince tobacco farmers to join the 207 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,680 Speaker 2: association and not sell to the Duke Trust. It was 208 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:26,679 Speaker 2: simple because some joined and other tobacco farmers just wouldn't 209 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:29,440 Speaker 2: and when they went on these outings, they called it 210 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 2: going on a visit, which varied from a cordial conversation 211 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:38,680 Speaker 2: if a person was cooperative to a nighttime front yard beaten. 212 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:43,079 Speaker 2: Here's Joe Scott on why he went on these visits 213 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,760 Speaker 2: and later on these raids. It's a little hard to understand, 214 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 2: but it's such an incredible interview it's worth it. Yeah, 215 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 2: they kind of left it ap to you on whether 216 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 2: or not to go, though they didn't order you too well. 217 00:13:57,679 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 6: I said it when you look right down in borland 218 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 6: him short of not say nothing, said he go make 219 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:05,240 Speaker 6: you have a different feelings, you know it. That's where 220 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,320 Speaker 6: you now said I might be a token too much. 221 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,200 Speaker 6: I looked down and go and thorough take a little 222 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 6: not to tell this thing that I've told it now. 223 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 6: So Joe getting in troubled. 224 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 5: Left nobody there, nobody left. 225 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:22,320 Speaker 6: You're the last well, I know, but there some some 226 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:24,520 Speaker 6: gun might be just a little smaller than you are. 227 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 5: He might pick up something longer. 228 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 6: Huh, yeah, we take care of you that I might 229 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 6: pick up something more. Are there any are you probably 230 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 6: the last one left? 231 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 5: Word don't know it? 232 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 6: No, no, no, he moves, I said, I not that 233 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 6: I know of. 234 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: Thank you the last one. 235 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:48,520 Speaker 2: It's interesting to hear the old man still hesitant to 236 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:53,960 Speaker 2: talk about the night Riders. But he was the last one. Remember, 237 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,680 Speaker 2: Joe didn't view anything he did personally as criminal. He 238 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 2: was fighting a criminal, the Duke Trust. Do you think 239 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 2: any of the people that that you might have been 240 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 2: in on taking out to whip do you think any 241 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:09,600 Speaker 2: of them are still around? 242 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 6: No? No them around either. 243 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 2: When you when you did take somebody out, tell me about, 244 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 2: tell me about what would happen? Well, you you'd ride 245 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 2: toward them, and how would all that happen? 246 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 6: Well, and most of them, most of them come out 247 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:26,480 Speaker 6: telling you they wouldn't go to do so, And so 248 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 6: they tell them what you've been talking to us. 249 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 2: He said, you. 250 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:32,680 Speaker 6: Wouldn't go to visit there's none of our business. You 251 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 6: wouldn't go to the Barker. I'm still going to stay 252 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 6: with with a company, you know, and so on, and 253 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 6: we we think you were it, and give you all 254 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 6: the invitation in the worlds quick enough by the buck, 255 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 6: and you're going ahead, blue Hiddings and we're going to work. 256 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 6: I'm not afraid, not any of this that time. They 257 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 6: just so they didn't take much word about. 258 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 5: They just take your whip. 259 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 6: They go to WHOOPI wasn't I'm about full five for 260 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 6: we get older two and old each home. You know 261 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,680 Speaker 6: what it is trailed around us and some of the 262 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,440 Speaker 6: observer three two thousand for fuels. 263 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 3: Son, he said, they'd take you out and whip you over. Son. 264 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:12,640 Speaker 2: That's if you were bullheaded and kept selling to the 265 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 2: Duke Trust. In American tobacco, the night Riders had three 266 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 2: intimidation tools in their belt and a personal visit and 267 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 2: whooping was option one. Option two was sabotaging or scraping 268 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 2: a non association. 269 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 3: Member's tobacco beds. 270 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 2: And this meant while your entire year's crop was just 271 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 2: starting to come up, they'd go out at night and 272 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 2: destroy it and it would be too late to start over. 273 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 2: They called the people that did this hoe totors as 274 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 2: they were doing this work with a whole at night. Thirdly, 275 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 2: and what would be the most destructive task of the 276 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 2: Night Writers were these military style raids into cities where 277 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 2: they'd take over a whole city and burn down the 278 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 2: tobacco barns of the Duke Trust, causing enormous physical and 279 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:07,720 Speaker 2: financial damage because the private beatings just weren't working. 280 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:26,399 Speaker 1: Nineteen oh five and October nineteen oh five, then you 281 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:30,919 Speaker 1: move it now. That's when I think these individuals flags 282 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:35,400 Speaker 1: and everything happened fairday click because by the summer nineteen 283 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 1: oh six, David Amos, probably in the conference with Youing 284 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:42,159 Speaker 1: was saying, look, these boys are having a lot of 285 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:46,359 Speaker 1: fun with this, but we're not changing the prices. Nothing's happening. 286 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:49,280 Speaker 1: We've got to attack the Duke Trust where it hurts, 287 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 1: and that's in the pocket Book. That's when they kind 288 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 1: of shifted away from the infliction of punishment upon the 289 00:17:55,840 --> 00:18:01,919 Speaker 1: Independence to destroying the Tobaica owned by the American Tobacco Company, 290 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: and that was their raids on Princeton, Russellville, Hopkinsville, Eddieville. 291 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:10,440 Speaker 1: You know this book. I wrote this book at the 292 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:13,400 Speaker 1: perfect time because up the time I wrote, nobody talked 293 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: about it. So I had an opportunity. Don't only talked 294 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 1: to Joe Scott, also had opportunity to talk to another sententarium, 295 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:21,760 Speaker 1: one hundred year old S. M. Martin, who was a 296 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: former marshall. He was the marshall of Eddyville the night 297 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:28,400 Speaker 1: that the Night Writers rated Eddyville. And if you read 298 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: the book, you know, I quote some in there from 299 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:40,159 Speaker 1: sem Martin. On December first, nineteen o six, they rated 300 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:45,400 Speaker 1: Princeton Nightriares three hundred strong, burned the warehouses and made 301 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: their way out highly successful, about three hundred of them. 302 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: They came into town past midnight. They took the fire 303 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: brigade hostage. They took the police department hostage. They took 304 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 1: the telephone ladies at the switchboard and held them based 305 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:02,879 Speaker 1: so they couldn't call out for help. They came in 306 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 1: and burned two warehouses, caused a lot of damage, and 307 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:10,639 Speaker 1: then the congregated in the court Ell Square and they 308 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,159 Speaker 1: rode out of town together singing to the tune of 309 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: Old Kentucky Home. The burn the fires burned bright from 310 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: my old Kentucky home. Highly succession, The fires burn bright 311 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: right on my. 312 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:28,719 Speaker 5: Old Kentucky home. 313 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 1: It's some and everyone's gay. 314 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 5: The corn tops rap and. 315 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 3: The medals are emblem while the burns. 316 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:45,920 Speaker 5: They make music all day. 317 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 3: In Princeton, Kentucky. 318 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,320 Speaker 2: Under the instruction of the country doctor and the leader 319 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:53,480 Speaker 2: of the night Riders, this medical doctor David Amos, He 320 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,200 Speaker 2: led three hundred masked armed men on horseback and the 321 00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,399 Speaker 2: military formation into town. 322 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 3: Took the whole place. 323 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:05,200 Speaker 2: Hostage men soaked the two Duke Trust in American tobacco 324 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,919 Speaker 2: barns with kerosene and dynamite and lit them on fire, 325 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 2: and within minutes there was a giant explosion and raging 326 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:17,120 Speaker 2: inferno as four hundred thousand pounds of Trust tobacco went 327 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,680 Speaker 2: up in flames and the barns of the Tobacco Planners 328 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:24,920 Speaker 2: Association were untouched. You can start to see the logic. 329 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,119 Speaker 2: If the association is the only one with tobacco to sell, 330 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 2: the Trust will have to subject themselves to the prices 331 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 2: demanded by the association. It seems like a fell proof plan. 332 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 2: Insurance companies started to drop the policies on Duke Trust 333 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 2: barns all across the region. People lived in terror, and 334 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,399 Speaker 2: many people even moved out of the Black Patch to 335 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,680 Speaker 2: get away from the chaos. People could only guess where 336 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,399 Speaker 2: it would happen next, because there were tobacco barns all 337 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 2: across the South and this was going on in other 338 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:57,959 Speaker 2: parts of the South. Just the Black Patch was the 339 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 2: main place, and it was partly because there was only 340 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 2: one country. Doctor slash military mastermind slash defender of the 341 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:11,160 Speaker 2: poor farmers, Doctor David Amos. You'll get to decide if 342 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,440 Speaker 2: he was a villain or if he was a hero. 343 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 2: But his operations were the apex of the tobacco. 344 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: Wars, so buddy, and then they had raids here on Eddyville, 345 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,200 Speaker 1: basically a similar thing. He is raded on Eddyville that 346 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: there were some pretty severe beatings and they destroyed some warehouses. 347 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:38,680 Speaker 1: That was later on in nacke O seventh they raided Russellville, 348 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: Kentucky did the same thing. But then in December, December 349 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: the seventh, they planned the big raid on Hopkinsville. 350 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 2: Hopkinsville would be the big raid. That was the straw 351 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 2: that broke the mules back. Here's Joe Scott. I wonder 352 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 2: which raids he went to. 353 00:21:58,200 --> 00:21:59,880 Speaker 6: How many raids did you go? 354 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: Walk? 355 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:04,440 Speaker 6: And I guess well, I went to hopkins Ville red 356 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,480 Speaker 6: and he went to his raids and took the view. 357 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 6: Then I went to Bennett's raid. Then I went around. 358 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:13,400 Speaker 6: We went to free HUDs that's night because they didn't 359 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 6: do nothing. 360 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: We just at the locators. I was about for full raids, 361 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:18,320 Speaker 1: three fool rates. 362 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:23,639 Speaker 2: Joe said he went to Eddieville, Hopkinsville and Bennett's raids. 363 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 2: This is an interesting section where Joe talks more about 364 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:31,399 Speaker 2: doctor David Amos and something that happened at Hopkinsville. 365 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 6: The first one was he described him to us oh 366 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:43,159 Speaker 6: Amas Tall. I always called him psychoge the old eggs. 367 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,400 Speaker 5: You know it was a pretty good speaker. 368 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, he didn't talk very loud, but he he 369 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,199 Speaker 6: he made business on his words. He know, you know, 370 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 6: he placed them all where he wanted him to go. 371 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 5: You know, you well. 372 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 6: Like I said, he had the sound goal, lead off 373 00:22:58,600 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 6: and more. 374 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:00,880 Speaker 5: I guess, I guess. 375 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 6: I guess he had every man the name ever talked 376 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 6: to him. He didn't, he didn't. He didn't talk too much. 377 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 6: He didn't talk, he didn't talk too much, but he 378 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,919 Speaker 6: said he meant it though he was that away. He 379 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 6: said he read he was at hopkins Jim says, I 380 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 6: know Hawkins will was just like i'd the way he 381 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 6: sees and I guess he did. He knew where the 382 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:26,920 Speaker 6: police over man and another room man got shot apparent 383 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 6: of that night. I don't know. I don't remember who 384 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:29,119 Speaker 6: he was. 385 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 2: I find it interesting that this leader Amos wasn't a 386 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 2: flashy speaker. He just meant what he said. That's probably 387 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 2: good leadership advice. Joe mentioned that only one guy got 388 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,840 Speaker 2: shot that night. Well, I'll let you take a guess 389 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:45,720 Speaker 2: who that was. 390 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 1: And David Amos wrote, riding in a bug and he 391 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 1: was leading. They gathered from all different areas and about 392 00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: three hundred went into Pompkinsville and they took over the streets, 393 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 1: took over the fire department brigade and put them their custody, 394 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,400 Speaker 1: and they destroyed two or three of the Tobico warehouses 395 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 1: there and as they were leaving. Before they were leaving, 396 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 1: David Amlos was wounded by one of his own proofs accident. 397 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 2: The Hopkinsville raid took place on November seventh, nineteen oh seven, 398 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 2: and over four hundred mass riders taken over the town 399 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,399 Speaker 2: and just like in Princeton, it took over the police station, 400 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 2: the fire station, cut the phone lines, and took over 401 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,400 Speaker 2: the state Militia armory, and then they lit the Duke 402 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:39,840 Speaker 2: Trust tobacco barns on fire. However, in Hopkinsville there was 403 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 2: a backfire. The Association barns were close to the Duke 404 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 2: Trust barns and they all ended up burning, creating massive 405 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 2: chaos and even destruction to the Association members. It was 406 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,640 Speaker 2: reported that over three hundred thousand dollars in damages were 407 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 2: done that night, which would be equivalent to millions to day. 408 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 2: When the fires stopped, it was reported that the Methodist 409 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,440 Speaker 2: church had thirty two bullet holes, the local judge's house 410 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 2: had eight bullet holes, and they shot one hundred and 411 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,639 Speaker 2: seventy five rounds into the office of the city judge. 412 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,680 Speaker 2: It was massive economic run and it spread terror throughout 413 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:18,920 Speaker 2: the black Patch. And after it was all over, doctor 414 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,040 Speaker 2: David Amos would survive the gunshot wound. Here's more from Bill. 415 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: There was one humorous story that came out of that. 416 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: Charles Meacham was a newspaper editor and mayor Hopfield and 417 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:35,120 Speaker 1: he ran the newspaper The Kentucky. He was adam an 418 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,680 Speaker 1: anti night rider. See you getting back. There were people 419 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: in places of influence that were ran against the night 420 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,400 Speaker 1: rartor here heard the mayor of Hopkinsville also the newspaper editor. 421 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,239 Speaker 1: So the night riters wanted to get him and give 422 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: him a good beating mother or there, and they started 423 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: looking for him, and Meecham went downtown because he's the 424 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 1: mayor of the town's on fire. They see him, they 425 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,120 Speaker 1: start chasing him down through the streets. He runs down 426 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 1: this alleyway that dead end out there next to the 427 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 1: Baptist church. He thinks he's been had, but he looks 428 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:06,879 Speaker 1: over toward the basement of the Baptist church and here 429 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:08,879 Speaker 1: was one of these coal shoots going down in it, 430 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: if you remember the coal shoots, and before they put 431 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: the coal in it for the first he's just barely 432 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: able to get in that coal shoot and slides down 433 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,399 Speaker 1: into the basement of the Babtist church and it escapes 434 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: the night Riders because these are all God fearing man 435 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: people who don't think we can go into church and 436 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,719 Speaker 1: do this. So he escaped, but the night Riders had 437 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:31,640 Speaker 1: a lot of fun out of him because they said 438 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: that Charles means the only sprinkled Methodist saint saving a 439 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 1: water dunk in Baptist church. 440 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 3: That's a good one. 441 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 2: Years after Bill wrote his book, he would find some 442 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,240 Speaker 2: evidence that brought the facts of that cute little story 443 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,439 Speaker 2: into question. But a good story is a good story, 444 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 2: especially when it's making fun of Methodists. 445 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:53,840 Speaker 3: Just kidding, well, sort of. 446 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,080 Speaker 2: But here's an update on how things were going on 447 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:02,200 Speaker 2: the macro scale of the Association's By nineteen oh seven, 448 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:06,880 Speaker 2: the Tobacco Association was selling ninety percent, that's ninety percent 449 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 2: of all tobacco grown in the black patch, and prices 450 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 2: had gone back up to seven cents per pound from 451 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:19,320 Speaker 2: three to four cents. It seemed to be working. However, 452 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:24,119 Speaker 2: history will later reveal whether the price increase was caused 453 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:26,959 Speaker 2: by the Night Riders or other factors in the market 454 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:30,040 Speaker 2: that had nothing to do with them. Nineteen oh seven 455 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,399 Speaker 2: to nineteen oh eight were the most active years of 456 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 2: the Night Riders, and it's when these military style terror 457 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:38,520 Speaker 2: raids started making national headlines. 458 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: So they started getting the attention of national newspapers, Chart Observer, 459 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 1: New York Times and all by these raids on the 460 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,480 Speaker 1: town that, you know, taking independent farmers out flag. Of 461 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:54,919 Speaker 1: course he had Lynching's going on through it. So but 462 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: when they started raiding his towns like what the headlines says, 463 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 1: could think it was a Charlotte Observer maybe in the 464 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:05,120 Speaker 1: New York town said Kentucky town raided and burned by 465 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: night Riders and all that went down, of course, and 466 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:12,320 Speaker 1: got all that was a high watermark was the hopkins 467 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:15,960 Speaker 1: Field raids. This is post Civil War, and the Knower 468 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,479 Speaker 1: still kind of looked upon the South as being violent anyway. 469 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,880 Speaker 1: So so what I think around that time, we had 470 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: had fields McCoy's and Kentucky especially, It's always had a 471 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: reputation dark and bloody land, and it's always been a 472 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:34,880 Speaker 1: head of bloody history. 473 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 2: The Hopkinsville raid in nineteen oh seven was at the 474 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 2: pinnacle of the night riders dirty deeds in the black Patch. 475 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 2: But what we haven't figured out yet is whether this 476 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,800 Speaker 2: was working to bring the prices of tobacco back up. Remember, 477 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 2: this whole thing is about the poor farmers fighting a 478 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:55,160 Speaker 2: corporate criminal monopoly. We've just discussed two of five major 479 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 2: raids where hundreds of thousands of dollars of trust tobacco 480 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 2: were destroyed and Association tobacco, So it seems like it 481 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 2: would have to be significant, But maybe it wasn't because 482 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 2: the black patch is relatively small compared to where tobacco 483 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 2: has grown. But what was wild is that they could 484 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 2: never catch these night writers and prosecute them. This was 485 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:22,880 Speaker 2: before massive video surveillance, fingerprinting, DNA collection at crime scenes, 486 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 2: and they just couldn't catch these guys. But more than anything, 487 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 2: most people were afraid to talk because they'd be snitching 488 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 2: on family or friends. In these tight knit communities. But 489 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,680 Speaker 2: the beginning of the end for the night Writers involved 490 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 2: a woman named Mary Lou Holloway from Princeton, Kentucky. 491 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,280 Speaker 1: Very Lou Hollowood was running a boarding house there. She 492 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 1: was good looking, which made her unpopular with the women, 493 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 1: and she was opinionated, which made her unpopular with the men. 494 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:56,600 Speaker 1: And she'd go about blashing the night rider at Burbally. 495 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,120 Speaker 1: It kind of tolerated because John On Hallowell, her brother 496 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:04,480 Speaker 1: in law, was ahead of the night rudders and Harwell came. 497 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:09,240 Speaker 1: But then she said, in April nineteen o seven, she said, 498 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: I'm going to go to the Grand jury and get 499 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 1: a lot of people indicted who were involved in this 500 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: raid on Princeton. I heard conversations in my boarding house 501 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,680 Speaker 1: dining room named I know who is involved. I heard 502 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: admissions being made. I'm going to get it in dank. 503 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: So she went over to the courthouse and the Grand 504 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 1: juris in session, went up there and knocked on the door. 505 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:33,040 Speaker 1: They let her testify and she started telling them all 506 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:44,560 Speaker 1: this stuff. Well ploy half of the grand jury or 507 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,160 Speaker 1: night Riders, so they weren't going to die anybody. But 508 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 1: then they told the night riders. John hollywell, look we 509 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: got to do something to get out of control, said okay, 510 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: we'll teach her a little lesson. So they sent them 511 00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 1: night writers out to scrape her plant beds. I'm matre 512 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: to tell you about the plant bed. You scraped the 513 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 1: plant beds, they may not be able to get out 514 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,920 Speaker 1: of crop. Plant ate scraped to the plant beds that night. Well, 515 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: Mary Lou blew a gasket and said, I know who 516 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: did this. Your brother in law, John Holliwa did this. 517 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:17,600 Speaker 1: And well, we're not going to tole Reve. And then 518 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: about a week later, John Hollowell's plant bed gets scraped, 519 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,320 Speaker 1: So that call for the sheriff to come out to 520 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,240 Speaker 1: investigate because the night rider of plant bed got scraped. 521 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,600 Speaker 1: He went out there and it was really a clumsy job. 522 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: They found the day book they belonged to there where 523 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: the scraping took place. Of Steve's shot and he worked 524 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: for Mary Lou. They found a trail in the do 525 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: leading up to Ned Pettitt's house. He'd also worked by work. 526 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:48,840 Speaker 1: So they get those boys and take them downtown to 527 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:51,320 Speaker 1: sweat a confession out of them. You have Marrily who 528 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: paid his five dollars to go out there and scrape 529 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 1: the plant bed Then they decided, since the scraping the 530 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: plant beds didn't have their to have to go and 531 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: do something more drastic. So they went out there on 532 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,960 Speaker 1: made first to her house. They circled it, they started 533 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,120 Speaker 1: shooting into it and threatened to burn the house down 534 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:14,719 Speaker 1: if it didn't come out. And they come out and 535 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:18,000 Speaker 1: they beat Robert tying around that big hacked their tree 536 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,160 Speaker 1: to beat him, and she was trying to protect him 537 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: to beat her too, and she got flying glass cut 538 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: her from the gunshots and all that, and they told 539 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: him that they didn't get out of county, they're gonna 540 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: be killed. 541 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 2: Mary lew and Robert would flee out of state, but 542 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 2: would go gather up some good lawyers and come back 543 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,480 Speaker 2: to Kentucky and press charges against the night Riders. 544 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 1: They came back, he filed a suit in federal district 545 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 1: court in Baduka. Federal court at that time they drew 546 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,000 Speaker 1: their jury from all the way up to Louisville. So 547 00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,680 Speaker 1: now they're gonna have geors and they're not gonna have sympathy. 548 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 1: First jury trial had a militia and Baduka had bodyguards 549 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:12,880 Speaker 1: for Robert Mary lou they came back hung jury. Second trial, 550 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,600 Speaker 1: I got thirty five thousand dollars verdict, which is like 551 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,720 Speaker 1: millions today. So that was the beginning of the end. 552 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 2: Mary lou Win in thirty five grand in federal court 553 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 2: against the Night Riders started the ball rolling towards the 554 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:32,200 Speaker 2: public sentiment turning on the terror and destruction of the group. 555 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 2: Other cases started to pop up and people started winning 556 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:40,719 Speaker 2: suits against the Night Riders. Additionally, the mission started to drift, 557 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,440 Speaker 2: and the Night Riders, empowered by masks and power, started 558 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 2: being more vigilante and personal and less mission focused, and 559 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,040 Speaker 2: they started doing a bunch of stuff not connected to 560 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:57,960 Speaker 2: this tobacco mission. And additionally, in nineteen oh seven, a 561 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 2: new governor was elected on a law and order ticket, 562 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 2: and during this campaign he guaranteed that he'd stop the 563 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 2: Night Writers. But at this point, the Night Writers were 564 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 2: winning the war, and the governor would call in the 565 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,840 Speaker 2: state militia to guard some cities and these tobacco warehouses 566 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:17,360 Speaker 2: that they thought might be targets. But here's another interesting 567 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 2: data point, because we're only looking at the Night Writers. 568 00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 2: You know, these guys that are defending the poor farmers, 569 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:27,160 Speaker 2: But what about the huge corporate monopoly of the Duke Trust. 570 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 2: In nineteen oh seven, the tobacco tycoon Buck Duke, James 571 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:36,760 Speaker 2: Buck Duke, his personal net worth was around two hundred 572 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:42,160 Speaker 2: million dollars. Two hundred million is an enormous amount of 573 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 2: wealth in nineteen oh seven. Could these raids destroying a 574 00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 2: couple hundred thousand dollars worth of tobacco really matter to 575 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:50,520 Speaker 2: the Duke Trust? 576 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:52,719 Speaker 3: Prices had gone back up? 577 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:56,200 Speaker 2: But was it because the Tobacco Association and the Night 578 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,759 Speaker 2: Writers was what they did effective? 579 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:00,359 Speaker 6: Think? 580 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 1: You know, the whole essence of it. Although all that 581 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:18,680 Speaker 1: is pretty much romantic, it wasn't really very effective. People 582 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:21,239 Speaker 1: asked me, you know, we'd like to think, well, we 583 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:23,759 Speaker 1: stood up to the Duke Trust and by God we 584 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,279 Speaker 1: made them give in, and all I don't even know 585 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,440 Speaker 1: the Duke giving to you about all this stuffer on. 586 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:32,880 Speaker 1: People asked me who won? Did the light Writers win? 587 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:37,160 Speaker 1: I said, no, Knight Writers don't win democracy one. But 588 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:41,560 Speaker 1: the beauty of what this story represents is, yes there's violence, 589 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:44,600 Speaker 1: and yes there's lawlesses, but in the end, law and 590 00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: order prevailed in the courts. The victims and all got 591 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,759 Speaker 1: they got the justice in the courts system, so that 592 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,680 Speaker 1: became a deterrent. That's what really killed the night Riders 593 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,760 Speaker 1: was here in this area were all the civil suits 594 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:03,440 Speaker 1: whenever they success was successful in the Baduka case, thirty 595 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: five thousand dollars verdict against guys that are out there 596 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:09,799 Speaker 1: because they're in the organization, because they don't have any 597 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:15,000 Speaker 1: money to start with, and then the whole energy just shifts. 598 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,560 Speaker 2: The whole energy of the movement really shifted when doctor 599 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,880 Speaker 2: David Amos, a night Rider's leader, was prosecuted for the 600 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 2: burning of Hopkinsville. As you listened to the section, let 601 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 2: me remind you that Bill Cunningham was a member of 602 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,880 Speaker 2: the Kentucky Supreme Court and a judge his whole career. 603 00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:39,839 Speaker 1: He had a couple of informants that turned and gave 604 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: the state's evidence against Amos, and then no question that 605 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:47,560 Speaker 1: he was guilty, and he denied it. He brought some 606 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:49,920 Speaker 1: people in that kind of tried to establish it. He 607 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,279 Speaker 1: of a lot of lying going on. At ninety he 608 00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:56,000 Speaker 1: said he wasn't involved in it. He was an all 609 00:36:56,040 --> 00:37:01,640 Speaker 1: male jewelry, some farmers. They found him not guilty then 610 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:05,120 Speaker 1: though he was by that time running from lawsuits because 611 00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:07,640 Speaker 1: they all sued him as the other PRIs he was. 612 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:11,439 Speaker 1: He was hiding out for seven or eight months trying 613 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:15,239 Speaker 1: to avoid the service of the marshals on the summons, 614 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:18,920 Speaker 1: on the lawsuits. The verdict in the Hopkinsville in nineteen 615 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:23,080 Speaker 1: eleven is not so important as it was that they 616 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:27,120 Speaker 1: prosecuted him, because the attitude toward him has changed it 617 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 1: up where the politicians feel politically safe in prosecuting him 618 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,959 Speaker 1: and the quandarant all that has always been the herero 619 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:39,520 Speaker 1: Old David Amos lied under oath, but he was in 620 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:42,680 Speaker 1: a conflicting situation. He had two olds s. He had 621 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:46,719 Speaker 1: taken one to the Knight Writers to be loyal, not 622 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:50,160 Speaker 1: to divulge any enfany blah blah blah blah blah, and 623 00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 1: then he picked that oath to fallow and stood the 624 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:59,280 Speaker 1: one imposed by the law, you know, and testifying in trial. Well, naturally, 625 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: I can't approve of it. I can't approve of it, 626 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:08,799 Speaker 1: but I've sent a lot of people with the penitentiary 627 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 1: that I sympathize with. I've sent a lot of people 628 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,399 Speaker 1: that I know why these kids, like that I knew 629 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:17,920 Speaker 1: his daddy daddy abused him, or that I had a 630 00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:20,960 Speaker 1: lot of sympathy for him. So no, I don't approve it. 631 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 1: I can't approve it, sworn numerous times uphold the Constitution 632 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: in the law, but I have a great empathy and 633 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:34,640 Speaker 1: sympathy with them, just like moonshining. Moonshining in this area 634 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,880 Speaker 1: back during the Great Depression, my dad and his friendows 635 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:41,920 Speaker 1: that's the way they survived. Would I approve breaking the law, No, 636 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:44,280 Speaker 1: but I have greep sympathy. 637 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:49,479 Speaker 2: For It's interesting to me the sympathy the South has 638 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:52,759 Speaker 2: for moonshines. One of my good friends once asked me 639 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:56,800 Speaker 2: play will history one day look back and have sympathy 640 00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:00,839 Speaker 2: for today's meth dealers? And it's point, wise is that 641 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:05,680 Speaker 2: alcohol has destroyed more families and people than probably anything. 642 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:08,560 Speaker 3: But to get back to our story. 643 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:12,040 Speaker 2: In the end, doctor David Amos went free, was never 644 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:14,520 Speaker 2: convicted even though they knew he was guilty. 645 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:16,680 Speaker 3: So how does that work? 646 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:21,040 Speaker 2: I want to hear why the judicial system failed or 647 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:22,760 Speaker 2: did it? 648 00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:26,440 Speaker 1: It was? It was? It was what we call jury nullification. 649 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:30,640 Speaker 1: You ever heard that term. I've had many people when 650 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:33,480 Speaker 1: I was trial and come with attorney, were frustrating for 651 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:38,239 Speaker 1: become with attorney. This guy is guilty as hell, we 652 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,759 Speaker 1: we ain't see him as the penitentiary, and we're the 653 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,319 Speaker 1: ones that called the shot. You gave us the law 654 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,319 Speaker 1: beyond reading. Yeah, we believe he's guilty. We believe he's given. 655 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,600 Speaker 1: I think it was a jury nullification where they say, hey, 656 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:53,399 Speaker 1: it's not this is all over. It's been a good 657 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:56,960 Speaker 1: country doctor, had all these character witness he's given the poor. 658 00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,560 Speaker 1: He's done. He's sitting over with his wife, and you know, 659 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:05,200 Speaker 1: nineteen eleven, I think you just said we're not We're 660 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:06,200 Speaker 1: going to end it right here. 661 00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:11,239 Speaker 2: Jury notification. That's a new one to me, and I'm 662 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:14,080 Speaker 2: conflicted on it. In some cases, I could see how 663 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:16,840 Speaker 2: this judicial trick could be used for good when a 664 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:21,160 Speaker 2: guilty person just doesn't deserve what the law prescribes as punishment. 665 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,319 Speaker 2: But it also sounds like it could be misapplied in 666 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:28,240 Speaker 2: a good old boy system, letting some go, letting others 667 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:33,040 Speaker 2: go pay the price. But by nineteen oh nine, tables 668 00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:36,279 Speaker 2: fully turned and the night rider movement came to an end. 669 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:40,400 Speaker 2: But it came to an end because they weren't needed anymore. 670 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:44,120 Speaker 2: So when you hear why, you'll wonder if their plan 671 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:44,920 Speaker 2: really worked. 672 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,600 Speaker 1: The economics of the country change Ao stand they got 673 00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:56,520 Speaker 1: the Tobiquo attacks. Repeal consumption started going up about nineteen 674 00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:59,480 Speaker 1: oh seven nineteen oh eight. About that time and New 675 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 1: York Federal Corps Appeals ruled that the American Tobacco Company 676 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:07,759 Speaker 1: was in violation of the Sherman anti trust law and 677 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:09,600 Speaker 1: they were going to have to break up their monopoly. 678 00:41:10,120 --> 00:41:13,000 Speaker 1: By in nineteen eleven Man that was affirmed by the 679 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:17,840 Speaker 1: US Supreme Court. So Duke had to break his trust down. Well, 680 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:22,080 Speaker 1: he was just as wealthy afterwards, but it affected the 681 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:25,760 Speaker 1: monopoly out here. So the pricius went up, and then 682 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:27,280 Speaker 1: the mood really changed. 683 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,320 Speaker 2: On November seventh, nineteen oh eight, the Duke Trust's American 684 00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,640 Speaker 2: Tobacco Company was declared a monopoly. 685 00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:40,280 Speaker 3: This was huge. This is what Joe Scott was saying 686 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:40,920 Speaker 3: all along. 687 00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:44,239 Speaker 2: So at the end of this the Tobacco Association was 688 00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:46,960 Speaker 2: right and they were fighting a righteous war against the 689 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,920 Speaker 2: corporate criminal. The other efforts were isolated in a small 690 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,600 Speaker 2: area and tobacco was being grown in many other parts 691 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:56,400 Speaker 2: of the country. You can't help but think these five 692 00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:00,480 Speaker 2: years of disruption to the tobacco industry gained the attention 693 00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:04,480 Speaker 2: of the nation. This is a complex story. And if 694 00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:06,840 Speaker 2: you look at it trying to decide who the good 695 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,719 Speaker 2: and bad guys are, it can be confusing because the 696 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:13,440 Speaker 2: good guys, sure as heck weren't the Duke Trust, corporate 697 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:16,840 Speaker 2: tobacco criminals where they But you can't approve of the 698 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:21,160 Speaker 2: terror beating and the arts and the night writers. Where 699 00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:23,319 Speaker 2: do you think you would have stood if you would 700 00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:25,759 Speaker 2: have been alive during this time and lived in. 701 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:26,440 Speaker 3: The black Patch. 702 00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:31,160 Speaker 2: Here's Bill talking about writing this book and a mistake 703 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:33,280 Speaker 2: that he made. 704 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:35,480 Speaker 1: I wanted to be sure I was fair in a 705 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:40,120 Speaker 1: projective because I had family roots and my grandfather was 706 00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:43,960 Speaker 1: probably a night writer, and I've heard rumblings in my family, 707 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:45,600 Speaker 1: so I want to be sure I was fair in 708 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:48,959 Speaker 1: a projective. The Night Writer. There are a bunch of outlaws, really, 709 00:42:49,719 --> 00:42:51,759 Speaker 1: and we get right. When I was writing this book, 710 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:55,560 Speaker 1: I was district attorney, so I didn't want to come 711 00:42:55,560 --> 00:43:01,040 Speaker 1: out this year attorney making heroes. These guys so be balanced, 712 00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:05,640 Speaker 1: and it was never had anybody complained it was biased? 713 00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:09,160 Speaker 1: The mistake I made in the book. The book makes 714 00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:12,440 Speaker 1: it sound like that the opponents the Night Writer, I 715 00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:17,440 Speaker 1: use the term sometimes a thin minority. I'm convinced now 716 00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:20,440 Speaker 1: it was not a thin minority. It was probably the majority. 717 00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:23,799 Speaker 1: I think that the night writers were probably a minority, 718 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:26,400 Speaker 1: but the rest of them went along out of fear. 719 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:30,400 Speaker 1: What makes me say that is the governor of Kentucky 720 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:33,480 Speaker 1: got elected Willison. Governor Wilson got elected on a law 721 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:36,080 Speaker 1: and order plank that he was going to put down 722 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,880 Speaker 1: the night wriuter, and he took all kinds of measures, 723 00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:43,640 Speaker 1: sitting in the militia and all that to suppress these 724 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:47,600 Speaker 1: uprisings in East Town. We were occupied in Murrie, Kentucky 725 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,359 Speaker 1: was occupied by troops during the Civil War, Union troops 726 00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:54,080 Speaker 1: during the Civil War, and then also the state militia 727 00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:58,120 Speaker 1: less than forty years later. Well, people asked you who won? 728 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:04,120 Speaker 1: I said, democracy won. Good guy, bad guy. Well they're 729 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:05,720 Speaker 1: both right and they're both wrong. 730 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:11,000 Speaker 2: I like it when someone is able to objectively evaluate 731 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:11,520 Speaker 2: their work. 732 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,239 Speaker 1: I think that's the romance of it. I mean, it's 733 00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:19,279 Speaker 1: all American story. You watched Netflex when that take on 734 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:24,319 Speaker 1: the corporation, who who? Who poisoned our streams? The big 735 00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:28,400 Speaker 1: corporations are painted at being bad guys, And this was 736 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,200 Speaker 1: one where and that was the image I had really 737 00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:36,440 Speaker 1: growing up. But I like everything else they're not all good, 738 00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:37,319 Speaker 1: not all bad. 739 00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:40,880 Speaker 3: I want to ask Bill what he thinks we should 740 00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:41,800 Speaker 3: learn from all this. 741 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:51,200 Speaker 1: I think I think we learn what a great country 742 00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:54,600 Speaker 1: we have, that we can absorb these types of men, 743 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:59,120 Speaker 1: these things and survive. Just like, how did we survive 744 00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:01,960 Speaker 1: for two hundreds thirty years on a written document that 745 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,880 Speaker 1: they were doctors were bleeding people when it was written, 746 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:07,560 Speaker 1: it took you months to get across how we survived. 747 00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:12,600 Speaker 1: And I think it shows because of law, because of democracy. 748 00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:17,520 Speaker 1: Al Stanley responded by going to the legislature, then the 749 00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:20,160 Speaker 1: needs of the people and got the Tobiaco attacks. Responded 750 00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:24,040 Speaker 1: the court system, courageous judges, courageous jury. The court system 751 00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:26,400 Speaker 1: came down here and said, no, this is wrong, guys, 752 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:28,600 Speaker 1: you have all done these people damage. We're gonna give 753 00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:30,960 Speaker 1: you thirty five thousand dollars. It was the majesty of 754 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:34,959 Speaker 1: the law that's up. And so that's what we learned 755 00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:38,200 Speaker 1: from it. And this, this struggle, I mean, is overthrown 756 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,600 Speaker 1: governments all over this world, the struggle between the poor 757 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:46,279 Speaker 1: and the rich and usually ends up first anarchy and 758 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:49,719 Speaker 1: then the despot. But here we just law and order 759 00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:53,840 Speaker 1: got us through it. And they had a Christopher Craney jury. 760 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:56,880 Speaker 1: They didn't send David AMers the penitentiary, and because they 761 00:45:56,920 --> 00:45:59,880 Speaker 1: had some there were a certain amount of sympathy and compassion. 762 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,000 Speaker 1: So I think that's what we learned for it does work, 763 00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:07,080 Speaker 1: but he takes people. I've learned this being a public 764 00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:09,840 Speaker 1: servant for fifty years. You can hear the best system 765 00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,000 Speaker 1: in the world. You still in the end, who got 766 00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:15,640 Speaker 1: to help good people to stand up and do what's right? 767 00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:18,600 Speaker 1: And you got to have citizens like Mary loom Plie. 768 00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:19,799 Speaker 1: She wasn't the only one either. 769 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:27,600 Speaker 2: There's an odd irony at the end of this story. 770 00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:32,279 Speaker 2: After James Buck Duke dismantled his tobacco company, he was 771 00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:36,800 Speaker 2: still enormously wealthy and was interested in leaving a family legacy. 772 00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:39,960 Speaker 2: There was a little college down there in North Carolina 773 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:44,160 Speaker 2: called Trinity College in Raleigh. According to Bill's book, in 774 00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:47,560 Speaker 2: December of nineteen twenty four, less than a year before 775 00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:52,880 Speaker 2: Duke's death, he paid Trinity College six million dollars to 776 00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:59,399 Speaker 2: change its name to Duke University. Yeah, that's Christian Latner's Duke. 777 00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:03,360 Speaker 2: I'll leave you with a nice big chunk of irony 778 00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:07,839 Speaker 2: about the man who was the first professor at the 779 00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:10,960 Speaker 2: Duke University School of Medicine. 780 00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:18,120 Speaker 1: He was the first professor of medicine at Duke University 781 00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:21,200 Speaker 1: and his name was it was herold Amos and he 782 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:24,959 Speaker 1: was Ja David Amos's son. 783 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,560 Speaker 2: I can't thank you enough for listening to Bear Grease 784 00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:33,560 Speaker 2: and Brent's This Country Life podcast. Please leave us a 785 00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:37,040 Speaker 2: review on iTunes and share our podcasts. 786 00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:37,600 Speaker 3: With somebody this week. 787 00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:41,200 Speaker 2: We really thank you for all the support that you've shown, 788 00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:45,680 Speaker 2: Meat Eater and First Light, which all this allows us. 789 00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:48,280 Speaker 3: To bring you these stories every week. 790 00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,840 Speaker 2: And what keeps us all united is our love of 791 00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:52,919 Speaker 2: wild places. 792 00:47:53,239 --> 00:47:56,680 Speaker 3: So keep the wild places wild. That's where the bears live.