1 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:09,119 Speaker 1: Of course darkfied tobacco. That was the cash crop. But 2 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 1: you had mostly subsistence farmers that raised what they ate, 3 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: raised a lot of to some extent what they wore 4 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: all this on the farm. But they needed cash, need 5 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,760 Speaker 1: cash paid for the farm. They cashed it by groceries. 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: They didn't raise. They he cashed, the clothed the children, 7 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: and they cashed by mama and new calico dress for Easter. 8 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: They needed cash by plow points and need cashed to 9 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: maintain their farming operation. How they're gonna make it, They're 10 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: gonna go tobacco. 11 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 2: On this episode, we're gonna hear the true story the 12 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 2: night Rider Tobacco War in Kentucky and Tennessee, when farmers 13 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 2: stood up against America's goliath tobacco monopoly in a five 14 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 2: year reign of strategic terror. But in the Ruckus divided states, communities, 15 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 2: and even families, and the most continuous violent unrest in 16 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 2: America between the Civil War and the race riots of 17 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 2: the nineteen sixties. But I think you might have a 18 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 2: hard time deciding between the bad guys and the good ones, 19 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 2: or at least history has. If you ask people what 20 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 2: they're afraid of, there would be a long and varied list, 21 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:20,959 Speaker 2: but what should be at the top of that list 22 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:26,039 Speaker 2: are the things that divide us, because divisive things make 23 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 2: people do some crazy stuff. We're gonna interview author and 24 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 2: former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Bill Cunningham, tobacco expert doctor 25 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 2: Lloyd Murdoch, and hear an archival interview from the nineteen 26 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 2: eighties from the. 27 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 3: Last Living Night Writer. 28 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 2: I really doubt that you're gonna want to miss this one. 29 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 2: My name is Clay Nukem, and this is the Bear 30 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 2: Grease pod Cast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, 31 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 2: search for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell 32 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 2: the story of Americans who live their lives close to 33 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 2: the land. Presented by FHF Gear, American made purpose built 34 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 2: hunting and fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged 35 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 2: as the place as we explore. 36 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: You know, it was an interesting thing about Kentucky. You 37 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: know what ourmanto is, you know, and we stand divided, 38 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: we fall. There's never been a more divided fracture state 39 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: in the Union than Kentucky. Civil War divided, politics, divided, 40 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: night Writer, movement divided, divided, divide Even today, this county 41 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: was divided. 42 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 2: The things that divide us are always really interesting to me. 43 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 2: Is an ancient point of psychological leverage that can turn 44 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 2: ordinary men into savages and weak men into powerful monsters. 45 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 2: Division is a core tenant inside of most clandestine organizations, 46 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 2: where people rally against an enemy. This sits across some 47 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 2: ideological divide, But ironically, what this does is create a 48 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:28,359 Speaker 2: deep sense of unity amongst the oppressors. And it seems 49 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 2: to be no secret that unity is the key to 50 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 2: accomplishing goals and moving mountains. You hear it in sports, politics, religion, 51 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 2: inside of families and businesses, and even inside of personal relationships. 52 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 2: But the undeniable thread that unites all humanity together is 53 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 2: that we're really good at using division as a weapon. 54 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 2: The voice she just heard was lawyer, author, and former 55 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 2: Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Bill Cunningham from Katahwakan. He'll start 56 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 2: the story by telling us about a man he met 57 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 2: back in the nineteen eighties. And remember, this is the 58 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 2: story about the things that divide us. 59 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: Joe's got like I said, when I went out there 60 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 1: to do his will, I knew Joe he'd been on 61 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: a grand jury. Good guy, I mean, no jovial guy. 62 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 1: He called me one day. He said, Bill, I want 63 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: you to do my will. I said, okay, Joe, when 64 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: you want to come in, I'm not coming in. You're 65 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: coming out here. And he's the guy guy, Yes, sir, 66 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: when can I come out there? I went out to 67 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: his house and his wife. He sat there the kitchen, 68 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: dangary and tell me I took all the information and 69 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: you wrote that book on that night Rider, didn't you. 70 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: I said, yeah, Joe, I did. If I can tell 71 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: you some things about night Riders and he started talking. 72 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: She kept hitting him like this. He was just dying 73 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,359 Speaker 1: to talk about it. I got up and left and 74 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: went back out to execute the will. Took my secretary 75 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: and another witness to witness. He started, you, I made 76 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: a few stories, boy, about that book by about the 77 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: night Writer, and he just started smiling it all out. 78 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 2: In the mid nineteen eighties, Bill Cunningham and a friend 79 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 2: went and interviewed the last known living night writer, Joe Scott, 80 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 2: in Lyon County, Kentucky. This interview aired on a local 81 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 2: television station in the nineteen eighties, but hasn't been seen since. 82 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 2: This is some stuff crammed deep in the cracks of history. 83 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 2: Joe Scott was born in eighteen eighty nine. But why 84 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 2: at the age of ninety seven years old? Yep, he 85 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 2: was ninety seven years old in this interview. Was he 86 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 2: finally ready to talk? It was because everyone else was dead. 87 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: Wrong. Were you a part of this organization? 88 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 3: How long were you a knight writer? 89 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:54,960 Speaker 4: Well? 90 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 5: I joined in nineteen before nineteen hundred and seventy. I 91 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 5: guess longer to live. How many raids did you go on? 92 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 3: And I guess, well. 93 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 5: I went to Hopkins and went to his raid, and 94 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 5: at the end of them, then I went to Bennett's raid. 95 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 5: I no befool raid threefold. 96 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:19,599 Speaker 1: And how many visits would you say you paid to. 97 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 4: Individual? You don't know. 98 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,719 Speaker 5: I don't know when they'd say come and go. Never 99 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 5: made two or three visits for whatever may down at all. 100 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 3: Raids and visits, he said. 101 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 2: Joe Scott joined the night Riders when he was eighteen 102 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 2: years old in nineteen oh seven. And if you didn't 103 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 2: get the gist of what the old man was saying, 104 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 2: ninety seven years old, he basically declared that he was 105 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 2: a night Rider for life. This organization built a strong 106 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 2: sense of loyalty, which is given when a group takes 107 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 2: meaningful action towards a cause, giving identity as a side benefit. 108 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 2: The Night Riders were known for their masked nighttime horseback 109 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 2: terror raids as the clandestine strong arm of the Tobacco 110 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 2: Farmers Association, known for threatening, whipping, and beating people into membership, 111 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 2: and at times even murder. In the late eighteen hundreds, 112 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:22,119 Speaker 2: tobacco farmers made good money growing tobacco as a cash crop, 113 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 2: but the turn of the twentieth century in America brought 114 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 2: market domination from the loosely regulated tobacco giants who drove 115 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,119 Speaker 2: down the price of tobacco, and in nineteen oh four, 116 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 2: the Dark Tobacco District Planners Protection Association Yep, it's a mouthful, 117 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 2: decided to boycott selling to American Tobacco, which was owned 118 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 2: by the Duke Trust. So remember that name, Duke out 119 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 2: of North Carolina. Yeah, like Christian Latner's Duke. And the 120 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 2: farmers who wouldn't join the association and sold to the 121 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 2: Duke Trust through American Tobacco go were punished and terrorized. 122 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 2: Between nineteen oh four and nineteen oh nine. The Night 123 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 2: Writers would not only terrorize individuals, but they'd be responsible 124 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 2: for taking over entire cities and burning the Duke Trust 125 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 2: tobacco barns to the ground, making their actions the most 126 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 2: continuous violent unrest in America in the century after the 127 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 2: Civil War. But the real thing you'll have to sort 128 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 2: through is this. Were they the bad guys or were 129 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 2: they a needed revolt from the people to smash a 130 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:38,599 Speaker 2: monstrous corporate monopoly. That's what we're here to decide. But 131 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 2: to understand the Night Riders, we first have to understand 132 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 2: tobacco in the region of the country that is to 133 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 2: this day called the Black Patch of Kentucky and Tennessee, 134 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 2: which grows the finest dark fired tobacco in the world. 135 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: It's like wine making in Germany and France. It takes 136 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: generations to learn it and to refine it. You can 137 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: go out on the front porch sometimes this time of 138 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: year and smell it drifting in. But basically one of 139 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: the reasons this is the best place in the world 140 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: real guard fire to bake and to cure it is 141 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: we have all this hickory in West Tennessee and West 142 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 1: Kentucky is cured, but hickory wood strip the hickory wood 143 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:26,439 Speaker 1: to cut it, slats of it have the barns that 144 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 1: are vented, and you go in and you basically dig trenches. 145 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: This is the way that he used to do it. Now, 146 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: my dad, my grand my dad, my grandfather. He dig 147 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: trenches in the barn floor. You fill it up with 148 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: the hickory wood, you set afire, and you smother as saudust, 149 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,360 Speaker 1: and then it comes up to the tobacco, which is 150 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:52,839 Speaker 1: house goes out and it prevents this special cure to it, 151 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,199 Speaker 1: and it comes in order. You'll hear that term coming 152 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: in order. And coming in order means that you wait 153 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: until it's cured out long enough and there's been enough 154 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: rain and there's moistre in there. It's malleable. Otherwise, if 155 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 1: you take it down too earlier, just crumble up the dusk. Here. 156 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 1: You take it down when it comes in order and amountable, 157 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,320 Speaker 1: so you can strip it off the stalk and pack 158 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 1: it without it breaking the piece. 159 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 2: Coming into order, that's an interesting descriptor for a plant 160 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 2: known for cheap fleeting pleasure that would cause more chaos 161 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 2: and death than potentially any plant in history. What they 162 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:35,440 Speaker 2: call dark fired tobacco starts with growing dark tobacco, which 163 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 2: is a cultivated variety of the tobacco plant cured under 164 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 2: hickory smoke to give it a unique flavor. The Black 165 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 2: Patch region of southwest Kentucky and northwest Tennessee covers thirty 166 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 2: counties and is the best place in the world to 167 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 2: grow it. Dark fired tobacco is typically used in chewing tobacco, 168 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,320 Speaker 2: but they also use the dark leaves to wrap cigars 169 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,199 Speaker 2: and to make some pipe tobacco and burley tobacco. A 170 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,920 Speaker 2: different cults of art is used for cigarettes. Did you 171 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 2: know that tobacco is a completely American thing. It's native 172 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 2: to North and South America and used by indigenous people 173 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:18,480 Speaker 2: here since time immemorial. The plant belongs to the genus Nicotinia, 174 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 2: so all the ancient pipes found in other parts of 175 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 2: the world, those guys were smoking something else. But apparently 176 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:30,000 Speaker 2: it was one of the first things that Europeans picked 177 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 2: up from the native people, because by the mid fifteen hundreds, 178 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 2: really not that long after the first Europeans got here, 179 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 2: there was enough dark leaf tobacco being exported that it 180 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:46,600 Speaker 2: became a global craze. In sixteen oh four, King James, 181 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 2: the first not Lebron of the Lakers, but shout out 182 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:56,559 Speaker 2: to Arkansas's Austin Reeves. King James declared, quote, tobacco was 183 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 2: a nasty weed right from hell they bought the sea. 184 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,559 Speaker 2: It fouls the mouth and soils the clothes and makes 185 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:08,240 Speaker 2: a chimney of the nose. Apparently, like emin m, he 186 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,200 Speaker 2: liked to rhyme the truth. But by sixteen sixty four, 187 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:16,079 Speaker 2: the colonies were exporting twenty four million pounds of tobacco 188 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 2: per year. And this brings up a timely point. Boys, 189 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 2: I hope you don't think that any of the various 190 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:27,720 Speaker 2: ways someone might soak tobacco's voodoo into their bloodstream gets 191 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 2: the Juju newcom or Beargary stamp of approval, because it doesn't. 192 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 2: But in full disclosure, as a young fool, I dip 193 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 2: some snuff behind Juju's back. But when I was nineteen, 194 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 2: I believe that I heard the voice of God himself 195 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 2: tell me to quit. I'm not joking, and so I did. Sorry, Juju, 196 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 2: but tobacco is an interesting part of our history and 197 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 2: of society today. But back to the hard hitting history. 198 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,680 Speaker 2: Here's why it became so important to these poor a 199 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:05,439 Speaker 2: Mayamerican farmers. This is doctor Lloyd Murdoch of Princeton Kentucky. 200 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 2: He has a PhD in agronomy soils and happens to 201 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:15,120 Speaker 2: be tobacco expert. Well. 202 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 4: Kentucky is probably the second largest tobacco state in the 203 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 4: United States, and it's very traditional and it's very very 204 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 4: important to Kentucky and has been. It was the best 205 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:29,480 Speaker 4: crop that one could have as far as when you 206 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 4: were subsistence farming. You had your your hog that you 207 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 4: killed every year, and you had your milk, and you 208 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,200 Speaker 4: had the beef but in your chickens, and so you 209 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 4: could subsist, you know, and you didn't make much money. 210 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,560 Speaker 4: You'd settle hay or something like that, and maybe you 211 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,440 Speaker 4: would sell milk, you know, in town or to somebody 212 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 4: and get the cream off, but you didn't make much money. 213 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 4: And tobacco you could sell it and you could make 214 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 4: some money. So it was the thing that's that sustained 215 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,080 Speaker 4: you as far as having something subsistence, and that was 216 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 4: extremely important to tell a person in different people at 217 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 4: that time. And if they didn't have that, you know, 218 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 4: you have trouble by the car, you know, they have 219 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:12,560 Speaker 4: trouble any any of the things that would take you 220 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,440 Speaker 4: up one step in society. You know. It wasn't there. 221 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: Of course, dark fired tobacco, that was the cash crop. 222 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:27,320 Speaker 1: But you had mostly subsistence farmers that raised what they ate, 223 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: raised a lot of something extent what they wore, all 224 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: this on the farm. But they needed cash, need cash 225 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: pay for the farm, need cashing buy groceries. They didn't raise. 226 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: They had any cash to clothe the children, and need 227 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: cash to buy mama new calico dress for Easter. They 228 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: need cash by plow points. They need cash to maintain 229 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 1: their farming operation. How they're gonna make it, They're gonna 230 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 1: go tobacco. 231 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 2: Here's Bill Cunningham getting an answer of how important tobacco 232 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 2: was in the early nineteen hundreds, straight from the horse's mouth, 233 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 2: mister Joe Scott. Sometimes the recording is a little hard 234 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 2: to understand, but just bear with him. 235 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: The back, of course was your only cash crop. 236 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 5: Was five o'bacca cross was a name call on the 237 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 5: clock might as shall I say? 238 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: And if you didn't make any money on every. 239 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 5: Body couldn't have a hole, you know that trumpers couldn't 240 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 5: have And the sure covers said it was a little 241 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:40,720 Speaker 5: hell holes on the place in art. 242 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 2: So you didn't make it. 243 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: The back you almost literally starved that if you. 244 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 5: Couldn't, you couldn't. 245 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: You couldn't you could get a job an it wore. 246 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 5: If you didn't, if you didn't have a crop with 247 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 5: what did you did? Work for three to five cents 248 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:56,800 Speaker 5: on days maybe something like that. Now you didn't get 249 00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 5: nothing to to work. 250 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:02,120 Speaker 2: He said the going rate for manual labor was twenty 251 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 2: five cents a day, and a crop of tobacco would 252 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 2: yield a lot more than that. 253 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 3: We'll learn exactly how much. 254 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:13,680 Speaker 2: Doctor Murdoch said something interesting too, that tobacco allowed people 255 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 2: to live quote above subsistence. And this is an important idea. 256 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 2: It seems to be an inalienable human right to subsist, 257 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 2: to just make it, but to get more than you 258 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,520 Speaker 2: need to simply survive. That's a plan filled that makes 259 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 2: humans get crazy, greedy, ambitious, create divisions and start wars. 260 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 2: Having more than just enough isn't just an American dream. 261 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 2: It's the global dream. It's the ancient dream that pushed 262 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 2: men across continents, mountain ranges, and oceans in search of riches. 263 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 2: It's what makes people strategize and work hard, and some 264 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 2: to steal and kill, like winemakers that have vineyard in Sicily. 265 00:16:56,320 --> 00:17:00,640 Speaker 2: This region of Kentucky and Tennessee built a culture around tobacco, 266 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 2: and in the black patch, the way for the common 267 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 2: man to get ahead was by growing that dark fire tobacco. 268 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 2: So how do you grow it? 269 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: The Baca farmers started in February. He would take his 270 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: tobacco seed and he'd find a nice place on the 271 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:22,960 Speaker 1: hill that gets a lot of sun. And they go 272 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: out there and they clear the bacca bitch. I've heard 273 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 1: my dad say many times. You know, in February we 274 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,200 Speaker 1: always get a big warm spell, perfect time to make 275 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 1: our tobacco bitch. 276 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:38,679 Speaker 4: So what they would do would they would kind of 277 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 4: work the ground a little bit and smooth it out 278 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 4: in the oh late winter, put a lot of wood 279 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:47,880 Speaker 4: on top of that, set of the fire. And when 280 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:51,480 Speaker 4: you set it a fire, then you raise the temperature 281 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,880 Speaker 4: in the top several inches, say let's just say maybe 282 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 4: three to four inches enough that you would all the 283 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 4: seeds that were a live would perish. 284 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:04,119 Speaker 1: And they go out and clear the baca bed to 285 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,119 Speaker 1: make it real fine, and then they get the bacco 286 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: seed and the planet the bca seeds very very small. 287 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:13,399 Speaker 1: In fact, you can get it. You'd buy it you 288 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,720 Speaker 1: could buy in pouches, you know, and almostly whole cup 289 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: would be in a little pouch. It's so fine, and 290 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 1: you throw it out and then you cover it with 291 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:24,879 Speaker 1: a canvas protect you from the cold. Weather's gonna go. 292 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 1: And it grows and it grows tobacco plants. And when 293 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,320 Speaker 1: the weather warms up and the plants come into being 294 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: about this high, you go out and draw your plants, 295 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:39,640 Speaker 1: transform the field and shut them out, and then hope, hope, 296 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:41,879 Speaker 1: for the best. And then it grows and you cultivate 297 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:42,960 Speaker 1: it and you hold it out. 298 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,560 Speaker 2: So tobacco plants have to be started in a protected 299 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:50,120 Speaker 2: seed bed, and once they grow to four to six inches, 300 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,480 Speaker 2: they're dug up by hand and replanted in the main 301 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 2: tobacco field. 302 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:57,879 Speaker 4: I read an article one time. It would take like 303 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 4: nine hundred hours or one acre. So you had fairly 304 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 4: good sized families. The kids started working in tobacco when 305 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,119 Speaker 4: they were fairly young. You didn't have herbicides, you didn't 306 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:14,479 Speaker 4: have insecticides, you didn't have anything like that that was 307 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,399 Speaker 4: later on used. Didn't make tobacco farming much easier. So 308 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:21,160 Speaker 4: you had to walk the fields and look to see 309 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:22,720 Speaker 4: if there are any insects there. And if they were 310 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,360 Speaker 4: insects there, you had a little can that you threw 311 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:27,679 Speaker 4: it into and it had some little poison stuff in it. 312 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 4: It would kill those insects. And so consequently you would 313 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 4: take and you would go down the road, she'd pull 314 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:35,399 Speaker 4: the weeds out. 315 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,600 Speaker 1: Used to be you would you sucker it. I think 316 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 1: they got defoliates now that sucker. The sucker comes like 317 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: if you grow a garden with tomatoes, you sucker your domatoes. Yeah, 318 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,680 Speaker 1: same thing with the bat and then topping it when 319 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 1: it goes late in the summer. He has a big bloom. 320 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: Blooms on any plant. Make know your trees whatever. It 321 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: sucks the energy out of the plant. Same way to 322 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 1: bloom on off with dibico plant. He's really beautiful. I 323 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: grow tobacca here sometime and so then you top it. 324 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 1: And it's very very labor intenship. That's why my grandfather, 325 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 1: my dad would want to grow four or five acres 326 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,440 Speaker 1: and you had to depend on family to grow it. 327 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:25,159 Speaker 4: So it was just continuous. It was the thing that 328 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 4: they needed to take him up Annchal society. But it 329 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:33,480 Speaker 4: demanded a lot and it was a sacrifice to grow it. 330 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:35,479 Speaker 2: It's clear to see that this was more than a 331 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:39,000 Speaker 2: meaningful crop to these poor dirt farmers, but it was 332 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 2: also important to some other people, especially the Duke family 333 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:47,679 Speaker 2: of North Carolina, and specifically James Buck Duke, who was 334 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 2: a major player in this story. 335 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:52,880 Speaker 3: Though he never was physically involved. 336 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: With James B. Duke, he grew up there three Bole 337 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:00,480 Speaker 1: with James, Rody and Ben. They grew up poor much 338 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: in Durham area of North Carolina. James was born like 339 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven, he was old enough to remember, so 340 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:12,400 Speaker 1: he grew up pretty poor. But then after the Civil 341 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:16,680 Speaker 1: War tobacco. Up to that time tobacco was pretty much 342 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 1: his hand roll, the invention of the cigarette maker and 343 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: all this. And after the Civil War tobacco ust started 344 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,600 Speaker 1: moving north because during the Civil War there's a lot 345 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,679 Speaker 1: of economic intercourse between the two. They have a truce 346 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: and a trade coffee for tobacco and cigarette smoking. Cigarette 347 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: only came about. You won't see you don't see Civil 348 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: War movies or Civil War general therap smoking a cigarette 349 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,520 Speaker 1: like you do. In World War Two, it didn't have it, 350 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: but cigarette's consumption started to go up. 351 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:55,640 Speaker 2: According to Bill Cunningham's book on Bended knees about this night, writer, 352 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 2: Tobacco War, which is where I learned all of this stuff. 353 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,680 Speaker 2: Civil War expanded tobacco use in America when Yankee soldiers 354 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,919 Speaker 2: started using Southern tobacco. But by eighteen sixty nine there 355 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 2: were less than two million cigarettes being manufactured and sold 356 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 2: in America. Two million, But by eighteen ninety there were 357 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 2: two point one billion, with the b cigarettes made in America, 358 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 2: and this became the heyday of American tobacco. Imagine the 359 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,840 Speaker 2: draw to smoking or chewing if there was almost no 360 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,639 Speaker 2: knowledge of the health risks, and combine that with the 361 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,639 Speaker 2: radically addictive nicotine, and as we're about to see, the 362 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 2: strong arm of a new philosophy of capitalism and marketing, 363 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 2: America blew up into a tobacco nation. In eighteen ninety, 364 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:47,440 Speaker 2: the state of Kentucky alone produced two hundred and twenty 365 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:51,440 Speaker 2: one million pounds, making it the leading tobacco producer in 366 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:55,359 Speaker 2: the country. Today, the leading state is North Carolina. But 367 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:59,560 Speaker 2: just after the Civil War, the Duke Trust Company started 368 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:03,639 Speaker 2: by the father Washington Duke, who when he started was 369 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,479 Speaker 2: a single mule tobacco farmer, but his new company was 370 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,399 Speaker 2: rapidly growing in the global tobacco trade. But in eighteen 371 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:15,119 Speaker 2: eighty nine, the middle son, James Buck Duke, started the 372 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 2: American Tobacco Company, which was the beginning of an empire, 373 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,120 Speaker 2: but still part of this Duke. 374 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:29,479 Speaker 1: Trust, and the business took off and Washington. Duke and 375 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 1: the three boys were devout Methodists, but James B. Duke 376 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 1: wasn't as devout, and he was more of a capitalist. 377 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 1: He saw the money making and he just took it 378 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: from there, and the cigarette making machine really opened it up. 379 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:47,640 Speaker 1: James Buck Duke became the tycoon in Washington. Before he died, 380 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:51,399 Speaker 1: he was already feeling pain. So maybe we made it 381 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 1: too big. Maybe some of the baco farmers were suffering. 382 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: So he was kind of a conscience when he died. 383 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:00,480 Speaker 1: You know, he was kind of unbridled James B. 384 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:01,120 Speaker 6: That just. 385 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:08,159 Speaker 1: It's inborn. I'm convinced a successful entrepreneur's a lot of 386 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: us DNA. Well, he's still got his money floating around today. 387 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: I don't think James Duke was ever of the corrupt 388 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:22,680 Speaker 1: tycoon you see in movies. I don't think he ever 389 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,639 Speaker 1: potentially really, I think I never see any He was 390 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: Ruth's and standpoint that he would buy out and didn't 391 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 1: think too much about the impact. 392 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,879 Speaker 2: James Buck Duke may not have been overtly corrupt, but 393 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:41,280 Speaker 2: showed an insatiable desire for money, power, and success in 394 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,840 Speaker 2: a time in America when this was becoming something attainable. 395 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 2: He was in his early twenties when he started working 396 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,200 Speaker 2: for the business, and at age thirty two he started 397 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:51,880 Speaker 2: this American tobacco company. 398 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 3: It was said that he. 399 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,080 Speaker 2: Believed sleep and leisure were the enemies of man. He 400 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 2: was charismatic, cunning, and a business wizard. According to Bill Cunningham, 401 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 2: this company would be the first to give free samples, 402 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:10,399 Speaker 2: use billboard advertising, and use personal endorsements of celebrities and 403 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 2: athletes to promote their product. In many ways, America learned 404 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:20,200 Speaker 2: full throttle capitalism from tobacco companies, but with the rise 405 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:24,360 Speaker 2: of the Duke Trust, tobacco Empire, and even monopoly, tobacco 406 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 2: farmers got less and less for their crops. Here's Josh 407 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 2: Spilmaker asking doctor Murdoch a question. 408 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:33,760 Speaker 3: Get ready for some math. 409 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,040 Speaker 6: What would be a typical yield for an acre of tobacco? 410 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,480 Speaker 4: Probably about four thousand pounds somewhere along four. 411 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:47,439 Speaker 6: Thousand pounds, So quick, math, do you have any idea 412 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,880 Speaker 6: of what the going rate would have been kind of 413 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,639 Speaker 6: before the Duke Trust kind of started pushing prices down. 414 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 4: Probably before they started pushing prices down, it was probably 415 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:00,240 Speaker 4: seven eight nine cents a pound. 416 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 6: Okay, so you have three hundred and fifty to four hundred 417 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 6: dollars per acre, which would have been pretty substantial. 418 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:08,360 Speaker 4: That's a lot of money. Then you know, I got 419 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 4: to work all day for a dollar. 420 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,119 Speaker 6: Right, but the I think the cost to produce was 421 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 6: about six cents is what that's probably right. Yeah, So 422 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 6: you know they're making anywhere from two to four cents 423 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,439 Speaker 6: per pound per acre, which was significant. 424 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,720 Speaker 2: To summarize that, in the late eighteen hundreds, a farmer 425 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:33,199 Speaker 2: was making one hundred and twenty dollars profit per acre 426 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:37,479 Speaker 2: on tobacco, and the average farmer was only growing about 427 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,320 Speaker 2: two acres. But that's two hundred and forty dollars a year, 428 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 2: So nine hundred man hours per acre works out to 429 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 2: an hourly rate of thirteen cents per hour. Another way 430 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 2: to look at this is if a family as a 431 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,399 Speaker 2: whole could raise two acres and the father could work 432 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,760 Speaker 2: making a dollar a day, elsewhere, a family could almost 433 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:03,159 Speaker 2: double their yearly income of raising two acres of tobacco. 434 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:08,240 Speaker 2: But that was before the Duke's American Tobacco Empire showed up, 435 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:12,199 Speaker 2: because after that the prices would plummet, even down to 436 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:16,920 Speaker 2: farmers producing tobacco at a deficit, sometime only making two 437 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:18,560 Speaker 2: to three cents per pound. 438 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 3: This destroyed the farmer's way of life. 439 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,200 Speaker 2: And I bet you see that this is building into 440 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 2: a story that got some people really upset. 441 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 1: But so it was a cash crop and if anything 442 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: happened with their cash crop, they really put a oral hurt. 443 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: So what happened when you monopolize the buyer then come 444 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: and take, give you a take or leave it price? 445 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 1: And it was costing the tobacco farmers six cents a 446 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 1: pound to row tobacco, and they were being off three 447 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:57,399 Speaker 1: cents a pound. So they began to struggle and getting angry. 448 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,720 Speaker 1: And this being a cash crop, and that itself to 449 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 1: this antamossi of anger between farmers because if the farmer 450 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,920 Speaker 1: who didn't go along with the association sold his tobacco 451 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: to the trust because they had up the price with him, 452 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: but there wasn't the others, then they they Mama got 453 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: the calico dressed, their kids had the good shoes for school, 454 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,360 Speaker 1: and it's caused a lot of resentment. This is when 455 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: I got so violent tobacco. Felix show and out of 456 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:30,320 Speaker 1: Robertson County, Tennessee. He was a big plantation on it. 457 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:34,120 Speaker 1: There grew a lot of tobacco. He organized them and said, 458 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: list former association. He was the brains, the Moses of 459 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: the black patch, that's what he's called. He was the brains. 460 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 1: So they held a meeting over in Guthrie, Kentucky, in 461 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,880 Speaker 1: September nineteen oh fourth. See what can we do? And 462 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: he said, we can form association. If they monopolized the buying, 463 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: wood monopolize the selling, we'll establish warehouses and sell or 464 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 1: to buy the tobacco up to the prices go up. 465 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 2: They were going to monopolize the selling to cause tobacco 466 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 2: prices to go up. But what I haven't told you 467 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,959 Speaker 2: is that the Duke Trust started paying more money to 468 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 2: buyers who weren't members of the Tobacco Association. Did you 469 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 2: hear that they penalized the association members And this became 470 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:23,400 Speaker 2: a massive point of division. 471 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 1: It was a good concept, but when the American Buyer 472 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,240 Speaker 1: Company kind of countered by raising it would go out 473 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: and try to lure the farmers not into buying it 474 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 1: and giving them a little bit more. So a lot 475 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,600 Speaker 1: of indefendant farmers didn't buy into it and the resentment, 476 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: and so a year later in nineteen o five when 477 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 1: they met, the numbers went up from five thousand farmers 478 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,920 Speaker 1: gathered to ten thousand, and they were getting angry. 479 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 2: So the original Dark Tobacco Planners Protection Association meeting, led 480 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 2: by Felix Ewing this Moses of the Black Patch, had 481 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 2: five thousand farmers show up in support to join that 482 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 2: first year, but a year later ten thousand showed. 483 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 3: Up and joined. 484 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 2: The movement against the tobacco Giant was gaining momentum. 485 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 1: So about two weeks after that meeting, they had a 486 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:18,800 Speaker 1: little meeting at a little Stainback schoolhouse and a group 487 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: of about thirty farmers got together there and started talking 488 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,080 Speaker 1: about what we're going to do about these independent farmers, 489 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:29,520 Speaker 1: and they came out with the Stainback resolution was basically, 490 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: so we're gonna go visit these people at night because 491 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: they worked during the day, and we're gonna go visit 492 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 1: with them and see if we can't talk them into joining. 493 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 1: And a lot of implications there and take whatever, do 494 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,000 Speaker 1: whatever it takes to get them to join. So when 495 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 1: that happened, it just throw fuel on the fire. They 496 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: go at night. Farmers are independent cousts anyway. You know, 497 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,040 Speaker 1: you don't tell me what to do. And so you 498 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:59,400 Speaker 1: had that clag You had this navally feeling where we 499 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,080 Speaker 1: want to get to get and help each other. And 500 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:04,120 Speaker 1: then you had the other independent feeling, You're not gonna 501 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:06,800 Speaker 1: tell me what I'm gonna do. So founce broke out, 502 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: you spread like wildfire. 503 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:16,640 Speaker 2: This Steinbeck resolution branded the Duke Trust as a criminal organization. 504 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 2: So the Tobacco Association's mission was fighting this corporate criminal. 505 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:27,440 Speaker 2: This was a righteous mission. It's interesting but this original 506 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,400 Speaker 2: group of men in nineteen oh five sent to convince 507 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 2: the Independence to join the Association weren't supposed to be violent, 508 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:39,440 Speaker 2: and they were actually called possum hunters. You should remember 509 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 2: that because that's likely gonna be on a bear grease 510 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 2: render quiz. But these possum hunters, who did all their 511 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 2: work at night, turned into the night writers, which was 512 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,920 Speaker 2: a name that would stick. And this produced a real 513 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 2: conundrum inside this region, a real division, and that's what 514 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,440 Speaker 2: this story's about. The majority of tobacco farmers and the 515 00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:05,520 Speaker 2: black patch, as much as seventy percent became members of 516 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:10,560 Speaker 2: the association, and interestingly included a very high number of 517 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 2: African American tobacco farmers, many of which were sharecroppers. 518 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:15,800 Speaker 3: Yep. 519 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 2: But thirty percent of tobacco farmers, for whatever reason, rejected 520 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:25,480 Speaker 2: the selling boycott and were rewarded by American tobacco. The 521 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 2: people who sold to them were seen as traders and 522 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 2: sellouts and ironically were labeled as hillbillies. 523 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:34,480 Speaker 3: That's right. 524 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,480 Speaker 2: The people who sold to the trust were known in 525 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 2: Kentucky and Tennessee as hillbillies. Even old Joe Scott still 526 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 2: called them hillbillies in the nineteen eighties. This is a 527 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 2: good place to slow down for a minute and think 528 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 2: about what you would do. 529 00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 3: Here's doctor Murdoch. 530 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:01,840 Speaker 4: We talked about how impoor I was and so so 531 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 4: we're just talking about ourselves being putting ourselves in that time. 532 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 4: You know, my neighbor, we all have to get together 533 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:12,600 Speaker 4: and get this price up. You know, we've got to 534 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 4: do something. And so we decide. Most of the people 535 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:20,240 Speaker 4: come together and they volunteer and they say, let's let's 536 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:22,120 Speaker 4: do it. And so we've got a big majority, and 537 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 4: we feel like we have almost everybody, and so if 538 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,120 Speaker 4: we don't do this, we can't we can't do it. 539 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,160 Speaker 4: You know, we're going to be down to nothing as 540 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 4: far as living and you know close for kids too, 541 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:38,560 Speaker 4: that's important. And so but these people aren't cooperating, you know, 542 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:43,000 Speaker 4: so you plead with them to do this, and if 543 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,800 Speaker 4: just a few do it and cooperate with the with 544 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:50,440 Speaker 4: the trust, you're okay. But you've have almost everybody and 545 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,120 Speaker 4: they refuse to do it, and so you talk to 546 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:56,600 Speaker 4: them and well, maybe they just need to be moreminded, 547 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:00,240 Speaker 4: and so you take that next step if all what 548 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,719 Speaker 4: I'm trying to say, And then that requires another step 549 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:08,280 Speaker 4: because they become defiant also against your in your your position, 550 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:11,960 Speaker 4: and so all of a sudden, it's kind of like 551 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,319 Speaker 4: a war. You know, you find yourself in something that 552 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 4: you didn't ever expect to be when you stuck it 553 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:21,200 Speaker 4: to them here and how far do you go? And 554 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,640 Speaker 4: what do you do? And so who was it faulled? 555 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,719 Speaker 4: What was the injustice? You know, in which ones had it? 556 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:32,360 Speaker 4: And it becomes very concuism. 557 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 3: It became very confusing. 558 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:40,120 Speaker 2: If you joined the association, you're basically hurting your family's 559 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,520 Speaker 2: immediate financial future for a hope that the plan would 560 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 2: work and the monopolized selling would drive the prices back up. 561 00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:50,840 Speaker 2: But on the hillbilly side, those who sold to the trust, 562 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:53,479 Speaker 2: maybe they thought it wasn't going to work at all. 563 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,560 Speaker 2: Maybe it was futile to stand up against a giant, 564 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,520 Speaker 2: and you could sell your crop at a higher price today. 565 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,480 Speaker 2: Take care of your family, which was your primary obligation. 566 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 2: Are you more committed to your family or are you 567 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:08,879 Speaker 2: more committed to your community? 568 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 3: What would you do? Who were the bad guys? 569 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,319 Speaker 4: But I can see I can understand one of the 570 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:20,320 Speaker 4: person that had ten kids and was just making barely 571 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,920 Speaker 4: a living, just subsistence and didn't want to send their 572 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:27,920 Speaker 4: kids to school with no shoes or clothes with holes 573 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,319 Speaker 4: in them or something like that. I can understand why 574 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:32,960 Speaker 4: that would be really important to them and why they 575 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 4: might take that next step, you know, and go a 576 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:39,560 Speaker 4: little bit further than they probably should have. But then 577 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:42,880 Speaker 4: the other people, you know, he's on the other side, 578 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,080 Speaker 4: They were down there with what these people were talking 579 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,040 Speaker 4: about that took this stand. But now they had an 580 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 4: opportunity to sell because the trust was trying to break 581 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 4: the Tobacco Association. So I think I'll do that because 582 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,600 Speaker 4: you know they need shoes, they need you can understand 583 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:04,080 Speaker 4: why they might want to do it, and so it's 584 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:08,960 Speaker 4: a difficult, difficult thing. I think that there was a 585 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 4: lot of consternation. I think there was a lot of 586 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 4: people that didn't sleep at night because they were wondering 587 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:15,799 Speaker 4: if they were right or wrong, or if they took 588 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 4: the wrong step, and that they felt because you're you're 589 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 4: harming your neighbor, the guy that next door that you 590 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:26,719 Speaker 4: know you've barred the tractor from, or you know he 591 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,280 Speaker 4: came over and he got your wagon for a while, 592 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:30,960 Speaker 4: and that's hard. 593 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,960 Speaker 3: That is hard. Would you have joined the association? 594 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:39,800 Speaker 2: And if you're tempted to jump into quickly into whichever 595 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,680 Speaker 2: side you think was righteous, it might help to hear 596 00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 2: a story from someone who was there. Let's listen to 597 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,879 Speaker 2: what The Last Living Night writer Joe Scott said when 598 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:51,640 Speaker 2: he was asked why he joined. 599 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:54,040 Speaker 3: This might put it into perspective. 600 00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:57,360 Speaker 4: Then I didn't. 601 00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:00,880 Speaker 5: I didn't go into it about my obtainion. Nineteen seven. 602 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 7: Let's that's that's year. That's year I might have this 603 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:05,560 Speaker 7: nineteen seven. 604 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,600 Speaker 1: Why did you join? Why did I joy. 605 00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:11,239 Speaker 5: I stuck a gun my face and asked, God, when 606 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:11,600 Speaker 5: you go? 607 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:14,799 Speaker 4: Huh? I didn't want to. 608 00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:17,000 Speaker 6: I didn't want to where long will? 609 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,520 Speaker 5: The old man said this, you better be there when 610 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:22,600 Speaker 5: they came and told you that. 611 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:25,319 Speaker 4: You made a man. 612 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:27,919 Speaker 5: Why you lad another man come here daytime and looked 613 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,480 Speaker 5: at and told you that he told the night we'd 614 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 5: have a mask on. 615 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:32,840 Speaker 6: And he said, you don't know who. 616 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:33,160 Speaker 3: You told him? 617 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:38,239 Speaker 5: What there is from Trade County, Lyon County. Hurry from them. 618 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:42,400 Speaker 3: So so they threatened you, and that's why you enjoyed. 619 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:44,279 Speaker 7: A lot of them had the certain lot of them 620 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:44,920 Speaker 7: didn't have to. 621 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:47,480 Speaker 5: But I told her, I said, I said. 622 00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:49,239 Speaker 4: I'm a young fella. I ain't got nothing. I don't 623 00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:49,600 Speaker 4: need to go. 624 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:52,799 Speaker 5: Yeh if you could go when we need we need 625 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:54,000 Speaker 5: to know, we need more men. 626 00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:59,520 Speaker 2: He said, they came at night with masks on and 627 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:02,960 Speaker 2: threatened him, forcing him to join. He was just eighteen 628 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:05,920 Speaker 2: years old, and he did what most men in the 629 00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:10,000 Speaker 2: black patch did. You See, it wasn't just tobacco farmers 630 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:12,800 Speaker 2: that joined, but people from all walks of the community. 631 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:18,400 Speaker 2: Because a cash crop affects everybody, store owners, doctors, cities 632 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 2: collecting taxes. This wasn't just about farmers. It's about farming communities. 633 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:29,719 Speaker 2: And this is where it makes sense to introduce an unsuspecting, charismatic, 634 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:35,080 Speaker 2: militant leader and potential villain, the medical doctor David Amos. 635 00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:38,200 Speaker 2: He would become a key player in this story that 636 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,040 Speaker 2: delivered a deep sense of mission to the night Writers 637 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:46,880 Speaker 2: and would become the arch nemesis of James buck Duke. 638 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:52,280 Speaker 1: And then David AMers, a little country doctor or gob 639 00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:56,000 Speaker 1: service these people. He knew their misery, he knew their area, 640 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,240 Speaker 1: and he have I don't know what we're having to it. 641 00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:01,120 Speaker 1: I was able to go through doctor Amos's account book 642 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:04,480 Speaker 1: and a lot of fields weren't not paid, and a 643 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:09,399 Speaker 1: lot of them paid with cams chickens. This that he 644 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,600 Speaker 1: was kind of a frustrated army general. He grew up. 645 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:15,680 Speaker 1: He think he was born in nine fifty seven. He 646 00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:18,120 Speaker 1: grew up here. This is something were going to take 647 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:21,920 Speaker 1: this on. Joined the association, and I'm convinced. Although I 648 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:25,680 Speaker 1: never failed any hard conference that was in direct conference 649 00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:29,279 Speaker 1: with Felix Hue and photixs Hoan always kept the nut 650 00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:33,040 Speaker 1: writers you know, like this. But I think the night 651 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:37,960 Speaker 1: Rider activity, David Amis activity was probably at least got 652 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:42,080 Speaker 1: tested approval from the association, and AA became the militant 653 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:47,200 Speaker 1: arm and organized started doing their visits on farmers and 654 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:52,200 Speaker 1: reading Princeton and warehouses and trying to make a difference. 655 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:57,000 Speaker 2: So the Night Writer's connection to the Dark Tobacco Planners 656 00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:02,040 Speaker 2: Protection Association wasn't official. Wasn't official, but there was little 657 00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 2: doubt who these night Riders worked for. These guys were 658 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:07,879 Speaker 2: always masked and no one really knew who they were. 659 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:11,520 Speaker 2: But doctor Amos was an unlikely villain, and to most 660 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 2: people in Kentucky even today, he's not a villain at all. 661 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:19,080 Speaker 2: He was born in eighteen fifty seven in Cobb, Kentucky. 662 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:23,160 Speaker 2: His father was a compassionate, well respected doctor known for 663 00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:28,880 Speaker 2: treating the recently emancipated black patients without charge. David Amos 664 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:32,000 Speaker 2: attended a military high school, but in eighteen eighty, at 665 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,960 Speaker 2: the age of twenty three, he became a doctor. 666 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:36,920 Speaker 3: Following the footsteps of his father. 667 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:41,440 Speaker 2: Long before being a doctor was financially lucrative, the profession 668 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:45,600 Speaker 2: was primarily connected to service. His piercing blue eyes and 669 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:49,440 Speaker 2: a trendy handlebar mustache gave him some charm, and he 670 00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:53,920 Speaker 2: had charisma to boot. He lived horses, pistol, shooting, the military, 671 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:57,959 Speaker 2: and service to his country community in Cobb. He didn't 672 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,200 Speaker 2: even grow tobacco, but he cared for There are a 673 00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 2: lot of people who did so. Around nineteen oh five, 674 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:08,920 Speaker 2: doctor David Amos became the unofficial, under the radar, militant 675 00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:13,520 Speaker 2: minded leader commanding a branch of the Tobacco Association that 676 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:16,600 Speaker 2: would become known as the Night Writers. He was a 677 00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:21,000 Speaker 2: night writer by night and country doctor by day. This 678 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:24,040 Speaker 2: is the same group that old Joe Scott eighty years 679 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:28,440 Speaker 2: later still pledged his allegiance to, and the night Writer's 680 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:32,080 Speaker 2: sole job was to convince people to join the association 681 00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:36,400 Speaker 2: and punish those who didn't. I wonder if Joe Scott 682 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:42,240 Speaker 2: ever met doctor Amosamus. What kind of fell about doctor Amos. 683 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:44,920 Speaker 5: I don't know much about dog famers. I met him 684 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:50,040 Speaker 5: with one time, but no, dawg famous was a now 685 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:52,680 Speaker 5: he is a smart man. Now he hadn't a had 686 00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:56,520 Speaker 5: a lot of since he did. He had Hawkins just 687 00:41:56,600 --> 00:42:01,040 Speaker 5: asking me to take this thing here. He's arche checkerboard and. 688 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:05,120 Speaker 7: Every man that he had a He had his men, ever. 689 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,920 Speaker 5: Fella squads, ever fella had a captain. 690 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:09,120 Speaker 4: He had so many men you. 691 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:14,120 Speaker 7: Undertown, however one of them them them them places are numbered, 692 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:19,960 Speaker 7: you say, the post office, telephone office, has ever business 693 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:21,920 Speaker 7: place where it was telephone and telephone. 694 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,160 Speaker 5: And he had all that number though, and here he 695 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:27,640 Speaker 5: gave a man. Uh, he had he had, he had 696 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:30,480 Speaker 5: a captain, so many men, and he gave him a 697 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:31,520 Speaker 5: place one of these. 698 00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:35,279 Speaker 2: In the next episode we're going to get into the 699 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:39,040 Speaker 2: specifics of what the Night Writers actually did, the beatings 700 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:42,880 Speaker 2: and the organized city raids. But from Joe's description you 701 00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:46,120 Speaker 2: see that this organization was militant and at times would 702 00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:50,200 Speaker 2: take over entire cities with five hundred well organized men 703 00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:53,040 Speaker 2: on horseback at the command of the generous Country Doctor, 704 00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:56,920 Speaker 2: often with the horses hoofs wrapped with burlap sacks to 705 00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:01,279 Speaker 2: make their approach quiet. That's some gangsters, but there was 706 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:05,040 Speaker 2: something much bigger at work on a national scale, something 707 00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:09,239 Speaker 2: bigger than tobacco. Mister Cunning anim will now unveil a 708 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,040 Speaker 2: larger story happening in America. 709 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:18,080 Speaker 1: James Duke kind of he represented the capital interest of 710 00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:22,160 Speaker 1: this country, and whereas David am was humble, Country Doctor 711 00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:25,920 Speaker 1: represented the labor and this struggle of the Night Writers. 712 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,239 Speaker 1: It was labor versus capital, and this is going on 713 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:33,760 Speaker 1: all over the country. This was just a little microcosm 714 00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:37,800 Speaker 1: of the labor movement in the railroad industry, in mining, 715 00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:41,320 Speaker 1: in the factories. It was that time of our country 716 00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:44,680 Speaker 1: when these clash between the labor and capital was becoming violent, 717 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:48,240 Speaker 1: hitting head on, and you had to develop the origins 718 00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:52,480 Speaker 1: the Labor Union, the night Writers and the Association especially 719 00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:57,800 Speaker 1: were basically the Gurian Union members. So each one of 720 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:01,560 Speaker 1: them led this. But that's been the both of this country, right, 721 00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:05,319 Speaker 1: capitalism labor. But it's always been a tension between the two. 722 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:09,160 Speaker 1: And it could have very well, like during the Depression, 723 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:11,879 Speaker 1: it could have very well gone south like it did 724 00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:14,879 Speaker 1: in Russia, like it did in a lot of other 725 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,680 Speaker 1: countries where the Toutarian government took over. 726 00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:21,840 Speaker 2: It's easy to take for granted what has happened in history, 727 00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:26,080 Speaker 2: not really thinking much about what could have happened. Mister 728 00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:30,120 Speaker 2: Cunningham is saying that this same labor versus capital struggle 729 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,720 Speaker 2: happened in other countries and it turned out way different, 730 00:44:34,239 --> 00:44:38,640 Speaker 2: way worse. I want to close this first episode with 731 00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:43,560 Speaker 2: an interesting clip from Joe Scott when he was asked 732 00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:46,880 Speaker 2: if he thought what he did was meaningful. 733 00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:49,160 Speaker 1: Not writers did any good. 734 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:52,680 Speaker 5: Then this buncle wouldn't have been where it is today's. 735 00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:55,040 Speaker 1: So I asked that. 736 00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:57,239 Speaker 5: They said, well, would you do that again? This is 737 00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,279 Speaker 5: all help when I says close everything he was. 738 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:03,759 Speaker 4: So I've said on that in my country and the. 739 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:07,759 Speaker 5: Poor people that I heard I was doing all, I 740 00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:10,319 Speaker 5: do it again, and I do it how Wally I 741 00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:14,280 Speaker 5: feel about. I don't believe home on anybody. 742 00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:14,160 Speaker 1: In a way. 743 00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:17,000 Speaker 7: There's just they. 744 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:19,839 Speaker 5: Didn't They didn't need something. This trust company didn't need 745 00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:22,520 Speaker 5: all his money. And then starving the poor folks to death. 746 00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:26,359 Speaker 2: You know, he said that trust company didn't need all 747 00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:29,440 Speaker 2: that money and to starve them poor folks to death, 748 00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:30,479 Speaker 2: that's what he said. 749 00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:32,760 Speaker 3: And yes he would do it again. 750 00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:36,600 Speaker 2: In the next episode, we're going to look exactly at 751 00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:39,960 Speaker 2: what they did and its effect. And here's a question 752 00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:42,840 Speaker 2: I'd like you to answer right now, and it's this. 753 00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:44,520 Speaker 3: Do you think the. 754 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:50,080 Speaker 2: Tobacco Association's boycotted selling worked? Joe Scott sure thought it did. 755 00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:53,960 Speaker 2: The stories of the common man fighting against a corporate 756 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:57,920 Speaker 2: giant are intriguing because they're the stories that still dominate 757 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:02,120 Speaker 2: and divide the American consciousness even today. The world of 758 00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:04,879 Speaker 2: the hunter Gatherer didn't have to consider stuff like this. 759 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:08,719 Speaker 2: He was just too busy trying to subsist. This is 760 00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:12,800 Speaker 2: a product of extreme prosperity, which overall we'd have to 761 00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,680 Speaker 2: say is a really good thing, but it brings many 762 00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:20,239 Speaker 2: cancerous pitfalls. After you hear what the Association and the 763 00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:23,600 Speaker 2: night Writers did, you'll be able to decide who were 764 00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:27,399 Speaker 2: the good guys and bad guys. And actually we'll get 765 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,800 Speaker 2: a judicial decision that reflected the temperature of these people, 766 00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:34,279 Speaker 2: and it might surprise you the conclusion they came to. 767 00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:39,040 Speaker 2: There's one more hot episode about these dang night Riders 768 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:41,640 Speaker 2: coming up, and I can't thank you enough for listening 769 00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:46,200 Speaker 2: to Bear Grease and Brent's This Country Life podcast. Our 770 00:46:46,239 --> 00:46:49,279 Speaker 2: render schedule is slightly different right now because we did 771 00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:54,440 Speaker 2: a render with CrossFit Master Jedi and Hunter Rich Froning, 772 00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:56,799 Speaker 2: and that's going to come out next week, and then 773 00:46:56,840 --> 00:46:59,680 Speaker 2: the second night Rider episode will come out, and then 774 00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:03,000 Speaker 2: we're going to have a render where we discuss all 775 00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:07,520 Speaker 2: this night Rider stuff. So between now and then, the 776 00:47:07,600 --> 00:47:10,440 Speaker 2: wild Place is wild, and that's where the Bears live.