NIGHT RIDERS

NIGHT RIDERS

Tobacco has been a major cash crop in Kentucky since the mid 1800s.  In 1890 Kentucky was the leading tobacco producing state in the USA with prices in the range of 8 – 12 cents per pound for both light and dark tobacco.

Western Kentucky and Northwest Tennessee became famous for producing “dark tobacco” and this area was called the Black Patch; it was made up of Robertson and Montgomery Counties, TN; Cobb, Trigg, Caldwell, Logan, Christian, Lyon and about 14 other counties in Kentucky, including Ohio County.

Here is a map from 1910:

and here is a cut-out from the above map of the SW Kentucky area:

When the tobacco was cut it was hung upside down in the barn - this was called "housing" the tobacco.  Then it was smoked until it cured.  Here is a glimpse of the process from a book titled "Working the Black Patch" by Suzanne M. Hall:

A company based in Durham, NC, owned by the Duke family, purchased tobacco and manufactured chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, snuff, cigars and cigarettes.  Duke began to buy their competitors and by 1900 they had consolidated all of these businesses into a Trust called the American Tobacco Company which dominated the market.  The “Duke Trust” had become an international giant.

In 1904 the tobacco buyers employed by the Duke Trust began cutting prices, with the per pound price dropping as low as 3 cents, which was below the break-even price for farmers (in 1904 the tobacco yield was about 700 pounds per acre, so break-even was about 6 cents per pound).  Farmers began to have trouble paying their mortgage and other debts and some lost their farms. Retail businesses where the farmers traded began to suffer.  The Duke Trust was ruining all of them.

To fight the Duke Trust the Dark Tobacco Planters’ Protection Association came into being in the summer of 1904.  It took about a year to convince about 70% of the area tobacco farmers to join the new Association.  But the problem was with the 30% of non-joiners as the Trust awarded them by paying 8 to 12 cents per pound to those that had not joined.  Thus, neighbors that had been friends for years became enemies.  This led to the Association members threatening the non-joiners and eventually forming groups of men that went beyond threats – thus, the “Night Riders” were born, eventually growing into an estimated 10,000 men.  Membership in the Association grew to about 25,000, which included merchants and other non-farmers. By the spring of 1906 the Night Riders were destroying tobacco beds of of non-joiners and burning barns.  In November 1906 about 250 Night Riders burned two tobacco warehouses in Princeton, Kentucky that stored 400,000 pounds of tobacco already purchased by the Duke Trust.  Men (and a few women) were tied to trees and whipped; shots were fired; and people feared for their life. Some sold their farms and moved away.  Reports of trouble from the Night Riders spread as far as Jefferson County and Shelbyville. Eventually the Kentucky Governor called in the National Guard (then called the State Militia).  The largest raid by the Night Riders was Hopkinsville in December 1907 when they burned the People’s Tobacco Warehouse.  In 1908 Russellville, Kentucky was raided.  In Tennessee men were shot and hung.  In 1908 an article in the Harford Herald reported three Kentuckians had been killed, four wounded, and more than forty “whipped or beaten,” but none of those listed lived in Ohio County. Indictments were handed out and civil suits were filed against the Night Riders. Finally, in the summer of 1910, the troubles came to an end as tobacco prices had climbed back to a profitable level.

Here is map of the area where the Night Rider activity took place.

In Ohio County the Night Rider activity was reported in the newspaper and usually on the first page of the Hartford Herald. It was big news from 1906 thru 1910.  The earliest report of Night Rider activities I could find in the Herald was 22 November 1905.  There were also reports of local men that served in the National Guard (State Militia) that were assigned to serve in other counties during the height of the problems.

The Hartford City Council pass an ordinance in Sept 1907 establishing an 8 P.M. curfew for boys under age 16.

While the Hartford Herald always maintained that no one from Ohio participated as a Night Rider it was reported in June 1907 that two farmers in the Clear Run community of Ohio County, J. L. Hoover and Louis Trogden, had their tobacco beds destroyed or badly damaged. Here is the report from the Hartford Republican about the same event:

In the 26 Feb 1908 edition of the Herald there is this news item:

The Hartford Republican newspaper had an article dated 20 Dec 1907 about Night Rider activity in Fordsville, Ohio County, quoting a man who said he was threatened by Night Riders.

In the 21 Feb 1908 the Hartford Republican had the following article:

This was a major event in SW Kentucky and NW Tennessee and was reported in the national news. It was discussed during the Presidential campaign and was a thorn to the Governors of Kentucky and Tennessee.  It resulted in many criminal prosecutions and many civil lawsuits.  

There are several books about this subject.  The one that I read is called “On Bended Knees” by Bill Cunningham.