TENNESSEE. 



727 



prosecuting crime under our law with the exi 



if the Union i fact that 



Tennessee is the only State in the Union th. 

 pemls a large proportion of her revenues for that 

 purj, ,\i\n in lsi'4 |>a. :i account 



of criminal prosecutions, ami Georgia, for the same 

 . paid alioii' - 6 paid for I^.i4 



$265,084. 



Chief-Justice D. L. Snodgrass was indicted in 

 January on the charge of assault with a pistol, with 

 intent to commit murder in the first degree. The 

 bill also charged pistol carrying. This action was 

 the result of the shooting of Col. John R. Beasley 

 by the Chief Justice on Dec. 16. The case was tried 

 in" May. The defendant said on the stand that 

 Beasley was the author of an article printed in the 

 " Morning Times " reflecting on his integrity a- a 

 judge: that he had decided to go to the "Times" 

 office to ask for a correction, and. as a number of 

 men were connected with the paper and he did not 

 know but they might "pitch him out a window." 

 he had armed' himself ; that he called at Spurlock's 

 office (the " Ti: rney) to confer with him : 



that in Spurlock's office he accidentally met Beas- 

 ley : that he denounced him as a liar and a slan- 

 derer: and that Beasley made demonstration as 

 though to draw his pistol, and he shot him. The 

 jury returned a verdict of " Not guilty." 



Several ca>es of lynching occurred during the 

 year. Jan. 8 two negroes, charged with criminal 

 assault, were taken to Lexington for trial: they 

 were met at the train by a mob of 400 men. hanged 

 to a railroad trestle, and shot by several hundred 

 of the mob. One confessed guilt, the other main- 

 tained his innocence. 



At Huntsville. March 22. a man awaiting trial for 

 a murder committed at Pioneer was taken from the 

 jail and hanged by a mob of about 25 armed men. 

 A meeting was held to give expression to the indig- 

 nation felt in Scott County, strong resolutions were 

 adopted, and commi: formed bound to use 



every effort to effect the capture and conviction of 

 the lynchers. 



In' April a man of bad character who was sus- 

 pected of firing a barn belonging to his brother was 

 found hanging to a tree on Lone mountain. 



Two men who were awaiting their third trial on 

 a charge of murdering an old man for the purpose 

 of robbery were taken from jail at McMinnville in 

 April and hanged. Their first trial resulted in a 

 hung jury, the second in conviction and a sentence 

 of death. The Supreme Court reversed the decision 

 on a technicality, and remanded the case. 



Loan Associations. The Treasurer's report 

 says : " The business of building and loan associa- 

 tions shows a decline in volume during the year. 

 There is a feeling that the premium and interest 

 charged for borrowed money is excessive. The as- 

 sociations are. as a whole, in fairly good condition." 



Militia. The National Guard numbers 1.850 en- 

 listed men. They are still armed with the old reg- 

 ulation 45-70 caliber Springfield rifles, but in other 

 respects are on an even footing with the regular 

 army. The equipments are furnished by the 

 eminent. The last General Assembly appropriated 

 $8,000 a year to the militia. The number of men 

 in the State subject to military duty is estimated at 

 180.000. 



Industries and Products. The report of the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture gives the number of 

 families coming into the State to make their homes 

 as 3.962, and the number of individuals 17.880. The 

 amount of capital invested is estimated at $3.257.- 

 200. of which about *5lK).000 was for mineral, tim- 

 ber, and oil lands. A large number have bought 

 and paid for farms, while many have rented land. 

 Those making homes in eastern Tennessee are 



mainly from Virginia. North Can-i'ir:... 

 tucky. wit 



ig in middle and v. 



jorit\ -liana, Illr :,'an, 



Iowa', and the far North.' 



The Commissioner 

 phosphate indu>try. T! 

 was 42.il 11 tons, compared with 15,078 in ' 

 decline is due principally to ti.- 

 of operations from the Him- K'>< -k i Mick- 



man County, to the Mount Plea-.-uit region, in Maury 

 County. The discovery of rich deposits in the Mount 

 Pleasant district last summer started the de\- 

 meut in a rush. cau>ing for the time a demoraliza- 

 tion and desertion from the Blue Rock region. The 

 rush was due to the richness of the rock and the 

 low cost of production at Mount Pleasant. There 

 has been a reaction in the former field, in which two 

 large companies are operating. 



Much of the six months in which ope rat ions were 

 conducted in the Mount Pleasant district was spent in 

 erecting equipments for larger, more permanent, and 

 economical operations, though much rock was mined 

 and handled by improvised and expensive methods. 



The wheat yield of the State is given a' 

 bushels; the crop of tobacco in 1895 was 43.220,000 

 pounds; that of cotton. 1 72.500 bales. 



The report of the Commissioner of Labor shows 

 that 200.635 cubic feet of marble were quarried 

 in 1896. This is the largest production in the 

 history of the industry, with the exception of that 

 of 1894. when 241,956 cubic feet were produced. 

 Formerly the entire product came from Hawkins 

 County and was of the dark variegated variety. Now 

 the rival centers of the industry are Blount and 

 Knox Counties. The stone is almost entirely of the 

 lighter tints. 



The Centennial. The stockholders of the Ten- 

 nessee Centennial Exposition Company met in Feb- 

 ruary and by unanimous vote agreed to celebrate 

 the Centennial June 1. 1896. hold the inaugural ex- 

 ercises of the Exposition, and then adjourn to May 

 1, 1897, when the Exposition will be opened. 



The exercises at Nashville, June 1, were marred 

 by inclement weather. The procession ended at the 

 auditorium, where George Washington's proclama- 

 tion admitting Tennessee into the Union was read. 

 The orator of the day was John Dickinson. Assist- 

 ant Attorney-General of the United States, who 

 read an elaborate historical address. A prize cen- 

 tennial ode by Mrs. Virginia Frazier Boyle, of Mem- 

 phis, was read. 



The construction of the main buildings of the 

 Exposition began in January. 1896. Those that 

 were under roof and finished in December were the 

 Parthenon, for the fine arts : the Commerce Build- 

 ing. 56(i x 315 feet ; the Minerals and Forestry Build- 

 insr. 400 x 125 feet : the Transportation Building, 

 400 x 120 feet : the Agricultural Building. 525 x 175 

 feet: the Auditorium, seating capacity 6.000: the 

 Woman's Building. 160x85 feet, and the Adminis- 

 tration Building, where are the executive offices. 

 All these buildings are white, the exterior finish be- 

 ing staff, and the construction heavy frame, except 

 in the case of the Parthenon, the walls of which are 

 brick, and the roof of glass and steel. 



Court Decisions. 1;. ease involving the gen- 

 eral assignment law of l s !5. which was before the 

 Supreme Court in November, that law was declared 

 unconstitutional, partly on account of its defective 

 title, which was found to lie not broad enough to 

 cover its purposes : moreover, because the act em- 

 braces more than one subject, contrary to the con- 

 stitutional provision. 



The Supreme Court, in March, passed upon the 

 poll-tax requirement of the election laws of the 

 State, and held that the law requiring voters to pre- 



