A Liberal Dose
April 21,
2022
Troy D.
Smith
“A
History of Upper Cumberland Violence”
I’m currently working on a project that includes, among
other sub-topics, violent crime in Appalachia. I am reminded of my topic, as if
I could escape it, as I drive around the county and see all the campaign signs
for the coming local elections, which include that of county sheriff.
Candidates for office -and not only for the office of sheriff -regularly pledge
they will be the one who curbs crime in the area. And crime is, and always has
been, a problem in our county and our region. For generations, illicit stills
in the Upper Cumberland woods were among the most productive in the nation (my
grandfather operated one, and went to prison twice -once for making it and once
for running it). For decades after that, this region produced a
disproportionately large amount of marijuana. Twenty years ago, it was meth and
oxycontin, now it is opioids, especially heroin and fentanyl.
And there has been violence. White County has had four law
enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, three of them in the same year
(1924) and the fourth just a few years later (1931). If you know your history,
you will recognize that those dates fall within the range of Prohibition
(1920-1933), when it was against the law to make or sell alcohol (so of course
there was a huge demand for it). I’ve written here before about Chief Sergeant
Hugh Lowery, of the Bon Air Police Department -there is a historical marker
about him on Hwy 70 as you get to the top of the mountain. He was gunned down
after stopping a car whose passengers included a man who had just been
drunkenly discharging firearms in the mining town, no doubt obtained from a
moonshiner. That was April 23, 1924. Three months earlier, Deputy Sheriff
William Welch was shot and killed while part of a raid on a moonshiner’s house
(also on the mountain). That November, Deputy Sheriff Edward I. Gore was killed
on Gumspring Mountain while pursuing a fugitive moonshiner. Finally, in 1931,
Deputy Sheriff Harkless Grundy Kirby was shot and killed from ambush while
destroying a still.
Surrounding counties all have their similar stories, most
taking place either during the Moonshine Wars (1870s to 1890s, when the newly
established Internal Revenue Service first started efforts to suppress untaxed
liquor -those infernal Revenuers!) or Prohibition. Casualties included one of
my own ancestors, who was a Gainseboro constable in the 1860s. While these are
the sort of tales that get romanticized in movies, they were not that romantic
for those involved -much less the drug-related crimes in the decades since.
But why is it that, for 150 years, illicit drug and alcohol
manufacture and distribution have been so prevalent here? Is it because, as
author J.D. Vance has made a fortune claiming, there is something intrinsically
wrong with our culture? Is it because people of the Upper Cumberland and
Appalachia in general are naturally less moral than people in other parts of
the country?
No.
It is because the Upper Cumberland and Appalachia in general
are traditionally economic depressed regions, among the most depressed in the nation.
While there is no excuse or justification for crime, there is an explanation
for it -poverty, and lack of opportunities to advance in life, lead some people
to desperate acts… and lead other people to look for a temporary way to escape
the bleak reality around them, creating a loop. Treating the symptoms while
ignoring the disease is never going to work in the long run.
What actually is the cause for that economic depression, and
how can it be treated? I’ll address that next time. For today I want to close
by saying that the ultimate problem is beyond the scope of any sheriff to fix.
But a sheriff can sure as heck make it worse. I’m glad we finally have one who
doesn’t.
--Troy D.
Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at
Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
No comments:
Post a Comment