738 



TENNESSEE. 



industries, products, and resources of the State, 

 but other exhibits will be admitted on the ap- 

 proval of the Executive Committee and Director 

 of Works. The building for the department of 

 fine arts is to be centrally located in the city 

 and to be permanent. The work of this depart- 

 ment will include a series of historical lectures 

 on Tennessee. There are to be also agricul- 

 tural, mechanical, geological, manufacturing, 

 live-stock, sanitary, and forestry departments, 

 and the women of the State will also have charge 

 of a special department. 



Delinquent Privilege Taxes. A surprising 

 revelation of neglect on the part of officials 

 charged with the assessment and collection of 

 license taxes was made at Memphis in August. 

 The grand jury discovered that hundreds of 

 dealers subject to such taxes had been delin- 

 quent for several years. After investigation the 

 jury made a report, from which it appeared that 

 the county assessor had made a partially suc- 

 cessful effort to list all persons liable under the 

 law. No chairman of the county court, whose 

 duty it is to make a copy of the assessor's list of 

 persons liable for privilege tax, has ever per- 

 formed this duty. While it was found that the 

 failure to pay was confined to no special busi- 

 ness, yet it was quite apparent that those dealing 

 in liquors were the principal delinquents. While 

 the United States Government collected from 

 584 persons selling liqiiors in the county, the 

 assessor's list showed but 435, and the county 

 court clerk had collected from only 102. 



More than 600 licenses were taken out within 

 the twenty days following the exposure. 



Further investigation showed that the frauds 

 had extended over a period of ten years, and it 

 was estimated that the loss would reach a total 

 of about $4,000,000. 



Lawlessness. A most atrocious case of lynch- 

 ing took place on the night of Aug. 31 at Kerr- 

 ville, 30 miles north of Memphis. Six negroes, 

 arrested on a charge of arson, are said to have 

 belonged to an organized band of barn burners 

 that in five years destroyed 32 barns, as well as 

 many residences and other property. Warrants 

 were issued for them, and they were manacled 

 as fast as arrested. There was no guardhouse 

 where they could be kept, and when the last 

 arrest had been made the train for Memphis, it 

 was alleged, had gone, and the detective in 

 charge of them decided to take them by wagon. 

 When they reached a dense swamp a few miles 

 from Millington they were surrounded by an 

 armed mob of 50 men and commanded to halt, 

 the detective and the driver, according to their 

 statement, were overpowered, and volley after 

 volley was poured into the bodies of the shackled 

 prisoners till all were dead. An investigation 

 showed that Detective Richardson knew that an 

 attempt would be made to lynch the prisoners, 

 and deliberately led them into the hands of the 

 mob. Several citizens had warned the officer 

 against going to Memphis in a wagon, and 

 urged him to place a heavy guard around the 

 negroes until the arrival of the train. A num- 

 ber of citizens volunteered to act as guards, but 

 Richardson declined their offer. The detective, 

 the man who swore out the warrant, and the one 

 who drove the wagon were arrested, but were 

 released on $5,000 bail. The Governor offered 



a reward of $5,000 for the apprehension of the 

 murderers. Evidence having been given before 

 the grand jury, the 3 men who were released on 

 bail were rearrested on a charge of murder in the 

 first degree, and other arrests were made till 13 

 men were under indictment. The details of the 

 plot were revealed by the son of the sheriff of 

 the county, who had been taken into the confi- 

 dence of the lynchers before the commission of 

 the crime and urged to join them, which he did 

 not do. A public meeting was held in Memphis 

 to denounce the crime and start a fund for 

 prosecuting the cases and assisting the families 

 of the victims. Another fund was begun for 

 the defense of the men accused, and grew faster 

 than the first one. Much difficulty was encoun- 

 tered in getting a jury. After 600 talesmen had 

 been examined, the Attorney-General presented 

 to the court an affidavit to the effect that nearly 

 all the 600 persons summoned for jury service 

 had been selected from among the known friends 

 of the accused, and one juryman had asserted 

 that he would not convict a white man for kill- 

 ing a negro. 



The sheriff was relieved from duty during the 

 progress of the trial, it having been learned that 

 he had taken the prisoners surreptitiously to the 

 scene of the murder on more than one occasion. 

 Butch McCarver, the son of the sheriff, who re- 

 vealed the plot and was a prosecuting witness in 

 the case, had constantly been in communication 

 with the accused, who, while in jail, were allowed 

 extraordinary liberties. A further difficulty was 

 thrown in the way of the prosecution by the 

 declaration of this witness, when brought to the 

 stand, that he had no belief in a God or a here- 

 after, thereby rendering himself incompetent as 

 a witness under the laws of the State. The sole 

 reliance of the prosecution lay in circumstantial 

 evidence, and this was the most important wit- 

 ness, since he had been invited to make one of 

 the party. His evidence having been discredited 

 in the eye of the law, one of the counsel for the 

 prosecution was allowed to testify, his evidence 

 going to show that the detective knew before- 

 hand that the lynching was to take place. The 

 trial was concluded about the middle of Decem- 

 ber with a verdict of acquittal. 



Political. Judges of the Supreme Court 

 were elected Aug. 2, at the same time with 

 county officers, and the election for Governor, 

 Legislature, and members of Congress took place 

 Nov. 6. 



The Democratic Convention, April 18, nomi- 

 nated Judges W. K. McAlester, D. L. Snodgrass, 

 W. C. Caldwell, J. S. Wilkes, and W. D. Beard. 

 A resolution censuring the President for his 

 course on the silver question, and for hi* ap- 

 pointments of Gresham and MacVeagh, was 

 offered, and caused some excitement : under the 

 rules it went to the Committee on Resolutions 

 without debate. While it was under considera- 

 tion the nominations were finished, and the con- 

 vention adjourned without day. 



The Populists, in convention April ll.-nomi- 

 nated A. E. Garrett for Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, but named no candidates for the other 4 

 vacancies, the plan having been adopted of unit- 

 ing with the Republicans, who were to name 

 the other candidates and accept Garrett. A. L. 

 Mims was nominated for Governor. The plat- 





