Smoky Mountain Homeplace, Winter 2025

Welcome to the Winter 2025 Edition of Smoky Mountain Homeplace

This special bi-annual publication has been a feature of the Newport Plain Talk since 2015. These editions have all spotlighted the people, places and occurrences, some in the past and others more current, that have made Cocke County’s history and developed its culture. Over the past 240+ years, a multitude of people have played roles in this process. As is true in history, a majority of the people have been forgotten as time moves forward and the few whose names are recorded were those whose roles were more notable or stories more dramatic.

This edition will be based primarily on news items in newspapers from the first-half-century of post-1900, however, with the recent catastrophic flooding in 2024, we have included it also in this edition. The recent flooding will undoubtedly long be considered an historic and catastrophic weather event.

Newspapers have been a very important part of the American scene for many years. However, in earlier times, even with reporting about happenings, they were political platforms which allowed the spokespersons of the various parties to voice their opinions on the issues of the day, such as the tariff, slavery, secession, financial systems, suffrage, prohibition, the control of business and industry, international involvement, the power of government, internal improvements and the military.

There was no radio, television or internet, so each political faction had to have a newspaper through which to put its views before the people, or more precisely, the people who could read. Then, it was the responsibility of those folks to share these views with those who could not read. In that day as well as now, the political party with all the answers to solve the issues and problems besetting society is the party

which is out of power.

In Knoxville, The Knoxville News Sentinel was an afternoon paper and favored the Democrat platform, whereas The Knoxville Journal came out in the morning and was Republican.

Cocke County’s newspaper history begins in 1875, and through the years, numerous papers, both Republican and Democrat, have been started. However, Democrat newspapers did not last long.

The Newport Plain Talk, published by Robert P. Sulte, and The Cocke County Tribune, published by George R. Shepherd, were both Republican papers, and when they merged in 1939 and became The Plain Talk and Tribune, the same political stance was maintained. However, when the paper was purchased by Mrs. E.O. Susong and Mr. and Mrs. John M. Jones in 1960, the editorial position favored the Democrats. The Cocke County Banner appeared as a competitor in 1970, and it was most definitely a Republican paper.

Not all have agreed that a newspaper is a good historical resource. Phil Graham, once editor of The Washington Post, gave a positive opinion, when he said, “Newspapers are the first rough draft of history.” Writer Norman Mailer expressed the opposite side, “Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever.”

The first objective of the newspaper should be reporting the news, giving, as Jack Webb, the TV detective, said: “Just the facts.” Just as it is often difficult for humans to tell a story without a personal slant on their words, it is also true for newspapers. When Judge George R. Shepherd named his son Jack the editor of The Plain Talk and Tribune, he warned him, “Keep your

news stories and editorials separate.” Easier said than done.

For example, a newspaper could have warned about a potential safety hazard within the community which remained uncorrected. Should a tragedy later occur, it would be difficult not to say “we told you so” when reporting on the actual event. That could be the topic for an editorial, not a part of the account of the incident.

As a historic resource, a newspaper article can provide just the facts - the who, what, when and where – of the incident, without providing the background information and possible future consequences. If further study is desired, this news item could provide in-roads as to where the historian might do more research. For example, it is sometimes necessary to place events in proper sequence, which is easy to do, as news items usually tell when the event occurred. In “Newspapers as Tools for Historians” by William Taft, it was noted that most historians agreed that newspapers were valuable in conjunction with other primary sources, although caution must be exercised in not totally accepting every fact without further research. Librarians Shannon Martin and Kathleen Hansen described newspapers as providers of “comprehensive reports of daily activities of local communities and the nation, authoritative records and official notices of government action and activity, organized chronicles of events” that can be archived and used for historical reference.

For a newspaper, reporting just on “what was done” does not usually create a problem. It is in writing “why it was done” that opens the door for bias, misconception and the redirection of attitudes. To be accurate, that has been just what some newspapers set out to

do, particularly in the earliest years.

To have a local newspaper with its previous editions completely existent is such a help in historical and genealogical research for a community. Knoxville, Greeneville, Morristown, Jonesborough, Johnson City and Asheville all have an excellent backlog of their old newspapers.

As has been mentioned, Cocke County has not fared so well. There are only a few existing copies of the newspapers before 1900. The earliest editions of The Newport Plain Talk were destroyed when the newspaper plant burned in 1911. There is a complete file from 1923 to 1938, but none until 1943. However, for those years, The Newport Times files can compensate for the lack of editions of Plain Talk. The is a complete file of The Cocke County Banner, 1970- 1978. All of the above files are now on microfilm, and many are online.

In this edition of Smoky Mountain Homeplace, the areas of the culture chosen to focus on are Business and Commerce, Sports, Natural Resources, Churches, Human Interest, Legal Issues of Alcohol, Mayhem, Weather, Moonshining and Agriculture. These will feature news items that told of people and happenings in Cocke County since 1900. Readers may recognize the names of the people and the places mentioned in these news items.

Here’s hoping that Smoky Mountain Homeplace will provide readers with enjoyment and further insight and greater understanding of Cocke County history.

The power and fury of Mother Nature …

Climate is what we expect; weather is what we get.

– Mark Twain

In today’s world, technology can forecast weather conditions days in advance, unlike our ancestors who made predictions based on such things as the direction of the winds, the color of the sky, the movement of smoke, thickness of corn shucks, the sounds of the insects and the behavior of the animals.

Our area received a strong reminder recently of the power of Mother Nature with massive flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Helene, marking one of the biggest weather disasters to hit the area and is included here as we look back.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, March 9, 1902: Newport is recovering rapidly from the damage done by the recent freshet but for the loss of two bridges across the French Broad and Pigeon rivers leading to this place, people could scarcely know there had been a freshet. More damage to property along the streams was done than in many years past. However, our county chairman has already let the contract for large ferry boats which are now being constructed and which will ply the rivers where the bridges were washed away. In one more week the travel to Newport will be unhindered by crossing of rivers.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nashville American, May 4, 1903: Newport had the hardest hailstorm in its history this morning about 11 o’clock. The cloud came from the southwest and covered about four miles of territory. The stones were very large and came down in torrents for seven minutes. Church congregations were badly frightened, especially the women and children. Almost every dwelling lost some of its window panes, and the large cotton mill and sanitarium lost hundreds. The wheat crop has undoubtedly suffered the worst ever known in that section, and the fruit crop

has been stripped from the trees.

Fort Worth [TX] Star Telegram, March 5, 1904: A dispatch from Knoxville says: A report from Sevierville, twenty-seven miles south, is that a distinct earthquake was felt at 7:30 last night. It lasted about eight seconds and was generally along the Appalachian mountain range. The earthquake travelled northeasterly and reports of it in a mild form are also reported from Ducktown to Newport. Nothing was felt in Knoxville.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, May 12, 1910: Practically all of Newport has been comet-gazing the last three nights, Halley’s Comet being very plainly seen here. The general opinion is that the press agent for this comet should be able to secure a good job with a circus as he has certainly pictured the comet in glowing terms of which it is undeserving. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Jan. 18, 1912: For the first time in several years the Pigeon River has been frozen over at this point to enable the young people to bring out their skates. There was some fine skating here both Tuesday and Wednesday. Several years ago, an ice harvest was had here, but the water of the Pigeon is so

black from the pulp thrown in above this point that it is worthless as an ice maker.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Oct. 22, 1917: According to report of gate receipts, over four thousand people attended the Cocke county school fair last Friday, notwithstanding the fact that the day was rainy and cold … On account of the rain which lasted most of the day, practically all of the athletic stunts were abandoned ...

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Sentinel, March 26, 1921: An earthquake of slight violence was felt in this vicinity Thursday night about seven o’clock. The tremor lasted about a half a minute and seemed to pass in the direction of the northwest. As there is no seismograph here, the intensity of the quake could not be determined.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Grainger County [TN] News, April 20, 1921: Three persons were slightly injured and damage estimated between $15,000 and $20,000 was done between 8 and 9 o’clock today when a tornado swept down on Newport wrecking many of the principal buildings and leaving ruin in its wake. None of the injured received more than scratches, resulted from being struck by flying debris …

Knoxville News Sentinel, March 3, 1927: Newport, Tenn. A snowstorm left the deepest snowfall of the entire winter. In the low lands the snow is twelve inches deep, and back in the mountain where the snow was heaviest, reports say it is more than two feet deep. The temperature has not been low, and it is thought the fruit crop has not suffered from the unusual weather conditions. All farm work and lumber operations have been discontinued until the snow disappears.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Greensboro [NC] Record, May 3, 1928: Newport, Tenn. Freezing to death in the “Sunny South” during the month of May is a strange occurrence. However, that is the verdict of a physician examining the body of Robert Jenkins, 22, who died here while on his way here on foot from Waynesville, NC … [Jenkins actually died on April 27.]

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nashville Tennessean, Aug. 18, 1928: As result of heavy rains yesterday, mountain rivers were sweeping through several counties … The Nolichucky River, a small mountain stream, was sweeping a swath through the narrow valley through which it flows and had cut off traffic on the KnoxvilleAsheville highway ten miles east of Morristown … The French Broad River swollen by flood waters emptied into by the Nolichucky and Pigeon Rivers threatened to inundate low sections of Newport, Dandridge and several other small towns.

Damage from March 1932 tornado in Parrottsville.

Snowed-covered Newport about 1919 from atop Grammar School Hill.

Knoxville Journal, Feb. 8, 1931: Farmers in Cocke County are complaining of the winter drought, many of them stating that in their entire experience have they ever noted a period of dry weather to compare with the present at this time of the year. The work of plowing uplands has been retarded, it being stated that the ground is so dry and to such depth that plowing is almost impossible. Bottom lands have not suffered so much from dryness, and many acres have already been plowed …

Knoxville Journal, March 23, 1932: A destructive rain and windstorm which visited this section last night uprooted buildings, blew down a score of houses and barns and one church steeple, besides doing an immense damage to property of various kinds. No loss of life has been reported. Wind which attained the velocity of a cyclone came out of the southwest accompanied by a deluge of rain. The Newport

Grammar School building was unroofed.

In the Parrottsville section the wind was especially fierce. More than a score of barns were demolished.

Knoxville News Sentinel, March 22, 1932: The storm dipped down into the Chestnut Hill community in Jefferson County, cutting a path over toward Sevier County. The Chestnut Hill Methodist Church was in splinters and many houses were in ruins. Big trees were bowled over like ten pins. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, Dec. 26, 1935: Frozen Mark Smith, 27, early today was found lying in the snow near his home in the Jaybird section just west of Newport. He was unconscious and lived just a few minutes after being found. He was an employee of Sisk Auto Parts, Newport, and was last seen on his way home. He was discovered at 6:30 AM today. At 6:00 AM today the thermometer was down to 9 above zero … HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Chattanooga Daily News, June 30, 1936: Newport, Tenn. This sun-scorched city was only two degrees under the place they call the nation’s hot spot today. With mercury hitting 106 degrees in Newport. Yuma, Ariz. reported a top reading of 108 degrees.

Elizabethton [TN] Star, Aug. 30, 1940: Newport, Tenn. A flash flood rolled down the French Broad and Pigeon Rivers today out of the western North Carolina hills, disrupting highway and railroad traffic and causing heavy crop damage in low land areas. The Pigeon River here was up to 16 ½ feet at 7 AM and then the waters began to subside. A small house was washed away and other homes in the lowland sections abandoned. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Greenville [SC] News, Dec.

The Newport Plain Talk, Sept. 28, 2024: The remnants of Hurricane Helene brought a lot of rain and wind to East Tennessee and Cocke County was hit heavily … a state of emergency for Cocke County was declared … On Friday morning, emergency responders were being dispatched around the county to rescue those trapped by the rising waters of the French Broad and Pigeon rivers. Calls included people trapped in 10 trailers in the Denton community. An estimated 30 or 40 people were in need of help because they couldn’t get out because of the rising waters. … The Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) — per scanner traffic — was evacuating all of the lower lying areas of Hartford Road where the river was reported to be “rising fast.” … The swiftwater rescue teams were staying busy, and individuals volunteered to use dump trucks and a military truck to help with rescues.

7, 1937: Charlie Gregory, 30, was killed and Ernest Gorman, 45, was seriously hurt today when a frozen pipe burst at Rhyne Lumber Company.

Tornado damage to McNabb’s and Stokely-Shults in February 1976.

The railroad trestle near the Eastport bridge collapsed Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024 due to flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Helene.

Photo Courtesy of Brian Allard

This aerial view shows flooding from the Pigeon River in downtown Newport from the remnants of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27, 2024.

This photo of Resurrection Boxing Club on East Broadway shows extensive damage to the building received during flooding on Sept. 28, 2024, in downtown Newport.

POWER | 3

‘One of the prettiest places for a moonshine still in the country’

Whiskey making is an act of cooperation between the blessing of nature and the wisdom of man.

– Masataka Taketsuru

The history of Eastern Tennessee and the legacy of moonshine are inextricably linked as part of the colorful history of Cocke County. While moonshine has developed considerably since its earliest stages, so-called “moonshiners” continue to fascinate the public, as evidenced by the ongoing popular TV show “Mooshiners.” The early days of moonshine, and into post-1900, were fraught with legal battles, arrests and colorful characters on both sides of the law. The problems of individuals making liquor for resale are rooted in the issue of taxation and led to many dramatic “cat-n-mouse” encounters between the makers and “the law,” as well as situations of tragedy, referendums and humor. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Oct. 27, 1900: Deputy Marshal Justice of Del Rio, Cocke County, went on a moonshine hunt, on the night of the 25th, and bagged two violators. They were Crockett Stephens and Alexander Crumbley. The still over which they provided was located just east of White Pine, Jefferson County. The officer reached the still about 11 o’clock at night and found the men at work. After the arrest of the men, the following equipage was destroyed: two still, two tubs of beer, two empty tubs and traps. The men were taken before US Commissioner W.O. Mims in Newport and bound to court.

Knoxville Weekly Sentinel, Feb. 25, 1903: Beginning April 1, Newport will have no saloons. The recent election specified that they should be closed by April 1, and there is no disposition on the part of the saloon keepers to contest the will of the people expressed at the ballot box.

Knoxville Sentinel, Feb. 20, 1907: Attorney J.W. Scott of Chattanooga is representing William Spence, a resident of Cocke County, … in which he charges that Judge Henderson incarcerated Spence in the jail after Spence had served his time and paid his fine. It is alleged that Spence operates a government distillery at Newport, and because it is alleged that he sold liquor in Cocke County which is “dry,” he was found guilty on two counts. It is charged that a conspiracy has been formed to drive Spence out of the county … HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Sentinel, Jan. 7, 1908: … It is said by a paper published in Cocke County that within the last 18 months there have been 18 murders in that county … The Cocke County paper says that a large number of the murders were caused by the illegal sale of whiskey … The records prove the necessity of prohibiting the sale of whiskey, and also that a county pays in blood if it permits the illegal sale of whiskey within its boundaries.

Knoxville Sentinel, May 12, 1916: Capt. W.M. LeFever, Deputy Revenue Collector, has returned from Cocke County where he captured a distillery about twelve miles north of Newport. Five hundred gallons of beer and sixty-seven gallons of whiskey were

found at the distillery. The outfit was destroyed. Four men were arrested and brought before Commissioner Mims at Newport – Grant Lovell, James Lovell, John Ramsey and John Dawson. The alleged operators were bound over to the next term of court.

Asheville Citizen Times, Jan. 3, 1917: A famous still was found near Newport, Tenn … The

location of the still was on lands owned by Dr. Stanberry and Walter Cureton and is one of the prettiest places for a moonshine still in the country. A mile and a half up Hall’s Top Mountain surrounded by laurel, big rocks and shrubbery, an excavation had been made in the mountain, floored, walled and covered. The laurel was growing over the room just the same as before the excavation had been made and passers-by could not tell there had been a change in the ground. At this spot a

Eric ‘Digger’ Manes (left) and Mark Ramsey, stars on the Discovery Channel show Moonshiners, watch the season premiere of the show in 2019 at The Grease Rack in Newport.

Governor Ben W. Hooper, lifelong enemy of liquor.

small creek sinks into the ground and the water from the creek was used in making the whiskey … The place is known as “the Lick Log” and has been a popular liquoring place since the older men were boys …

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Jan. 10, 1917: Newport, Tenn. The sale of about a dozen half pints of liquor at a public sale by Sheriff Flint Ray last Saturday is likely to lead to ouster proceedings against A.J. Gunter, member of the board of education of Cocke County from the fifth district. Gunter was arrested for drunkenness … and was tried and fined in the recorder’s court. A friend of Gunter’s said he had drunk some of the whiskey which the sheriff had sold at auction. The whiskey had been seized for a debt and sold for the same …

Bristol Herald Courier, Nov. 30, 1919: A dispatch from Newport, Cocke County, says one of the most notable moonshine raids to occur in this section for some time was the seizure the other day of a large still on the edge with Sevier County. The moonshiners were

caught unawares, and the result was the capture of the complete outfit, including an excellent copper still of seventy-five gallons capacity, the destruction of 500 gallons of beer ready to stew and the arrest of the two operating the plant, which was located in an open field within sight of the public road. The capture of the two men is interesting. It is seldom the moonshiners are bagged in a raid.

Nashville Banner, June 20, 1923: Prohibition Officer O.L. Hicks made one of the biggest raids of the season this past week … he entered the Cosby section and succeeded in capturing three large stills, two of 100 gallons capacity and one of 150. Over 1000 gallons of beer was destroyed, thirty fermenters, a large quantity of sugar and three cases of whiskey. The posse were in the section known as the Cinda Hollow … the officers heard three shots fired which they took as a signal to the operators, and they also detected a half-grown girl racing along the path yelling, “Run Pap! Run!” The officers increased their speed, and within a short distance of the stills saw a man mounted on a white horse who also sounded an alarm and then disappeared up the mountain…

Johnson City [TN] Chronicle, Oct. 24, 1925: Sweeping down through the valleys and creeks of the Cosby section of Cocke County, a party of federal prohibition officers … destroyed 26 complete stills … this is the biggest raid ever made in Cocke County said Carroll Cate, federal prohibition officer. The record before was 19 stills destroyed. All the shiners escaped warned in advance by the explosion of dynamite … Boys eight or nine years old, on watch carry dynamite in their pockets to warn of officers coming … The moonshining industry in that section is well organized and the men seem to expect a raid now and then … As soon as we leave, I have no doubt that they start to work putting up stills

and East Tennessee Republicans have been strong “drys.” Thus in view of the Republican complexion of the county, coupled with the influence of former Gov. Hooper, the defeat of the “wets” was, in fact, their victory as the majority was so slim …

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, July 21, 1941: Newport and Cocke County prepared today to go into the legalized liquor business as still operators of famed Cosby wondered what is going to happen next. The Cocke County Election Board estimated that legal liquor carried by 75 votes in Saturday’s referendum. Del Rio is the

again. It is their principal business …

Hinton [WV] Daily News, March 22, 1933: Newport, Tenn. While the rest of the country awaited its restoration by legal processes, beer came by gravity to Newport Tuesday as astonished housewives turned on faucets and out flowed a beverage of somewhat greater potency than water. Investigation revealed that officers raided improvised breweries in the neighboring mountains and poured out 100 barrels of beer near a large spring that constitutes the town’s water system. The beer had seeped into the spring, and the entire system had to be drained and cleaned before Newport returned to a 100% water basis.

Chattanooga Daily Times, May 14, 1939: Results of the local referenda of the 1939 local option law … Traditionally a “wet” county in practice, but “dry” when it comes to voting, Cocke County is the home of former Gov. Ben W. Hooper, who campaigned for the “bone-dry” law when he was a young man in Tennessee politics. Cocke County has a fairly strong Republican majority,

only precinct out, but its 75 to 11 vote for legalized liquor was counted in the board’s estimate. Cosby section … voted 98 against legal liquor to 6 votes for it. Mayor L.S. Nease of Newport has received six applications for licenses to open package liquor stores.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, March 5, 1942: “Strolling” by Bert Vincent: While in Newport the other day, I asked the operators of one of the legal liquor stores about how his business was doing. “It’s off some,” he said, “That drive against bootleggers in Knoxville, you know.” I replied, “You mean retailers in “dry” Knoxville get their stock from regular retailers in Newport? No wonder their prices are so high.”

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, Oct. 8, 1950: Cocke County voted for legal liquor nine years ago and Newport had liquor stores for two years then Cocke County voted them out. Cocke County today voted against legal liquor 1,336 for and 2,165 against. Cocke County stays dry.

Deputy Sheriff Bill Barnes after a raid.

Sheriff C.M. Boatright after a raid.

Sheriff O.L. Hicks after a raid.

From MOONSHINE | 5

You don’t have to be famous to make the news

Peoples’ behavior makes sense if you think of it in terms of their goals, needs and motives.

– Thomas Mann

From the uplifting, to the curious and even sometimes macabre, people are captivating creatures. What humans have said and done has been of interest to others. Were it not, gossip would never have flourished. Stories about what has happened to folks, the rich and famous as well as ordinary citizens, have been a large part of the news industry.

Whether it has been humorous or tragic, informative or praiseworthy, folks like hearing about other folks, known or unknown and Cocke County has provided its share of such stories that made the news.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Sept. 30, 1900: Newport, Tenn. Vassar Brown, aged thirteen, son of C.W. Brown, a contractor and builder of this place, was instantly killed about 2:30 this afternoon by a freight train passing over his body after he had fallen from his position between two box cars where he was riding to a baseball game in progress about a mile out of town. The fellow boarded the train while it was proceeding slowly a short distance from the station … The horribly mutilated body was found directly after the accident occurred. [The cross on the cliff was erected in memory of Vassar.]

10, 1901: L.C. Cash of Bybee, Tenn. made a curious find in the heart of a mammoth oak tree, which he had cut down and was splitting to make boards. He discovered in a little stone box in the tree a coil of auburn hair. From its appearance it is believed that the hair once belonged to a woman and was black when it was placed in the tree. An artificial cavity had been made in the tree, judging from the depth of the bark, at least 300 years ago … According to its own chronology, as shown by the concentric circles on the tree, it must have been from 300 to 350 years old. Everyone is of the opinion that the hair was that of an Indian maiden. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Wilmington [NC] SemiWeekly Messenger, Dec. 23, 1904: Washington, DC: Washington has been very much agitated this week by the discovery of the abandonment of a pretty baby which was placed in a

foundling institution by a beautiful and stylish dressed woman who claims North Carolina as her home. The woman, who bore evidence of refinement and culture, reached the city with the young babe Thanksgiving evening. She took a cab to the children’s hospital, where she exhibited a big bunch of money and the infant. The child, she said, was suffering from indigestion and her desire was to leave it at the institution one week for treatment. She said her home was Waterville, NC and after announcing that she would return in the morning, she rode back to Union Station where she purchased a ticket via Southern Railway for a point in Western North Carolina. Her stay in Washington was less than four hours … The woman is described as beautiful. She is but twenty-one years old and has dark hair and eyes and olive complexion …

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nashville Banner, March 23, 1906: Mrs. William Hux, living at Del Rio, ten miles from Newport, presented her husband with triplets a few days ago. Three boys, weighing 6 ¼ pounds each, all healthy and strong and have good lungs. Their names are Edward Carmack Hux, Robert Taylor Hux and John Isaac Cox Hux. They are attracting a good deal of attention and people are coming all the time to see them.

Cincinnati Post, March 31, 1909: If relatives do not claim the body by Wednesday night, Albert Mantooth, who died in the City Hospital Sunday, will be buried in a potter’s field. The dead man came to the institution Nov. 20, giving his name as Albert Taylor. When death drew near, he revealed his true identity and requested that a brother, John Mantooth, Newport, Tenn., whom he had not seen in 20 years, be notified. The brother came to Cincinnati and kept a vigil at the dying man’s bed. After the sufferer died, the brother left, saying he would provide for the burial, but no further word has been received by hospital officials.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Dec. 30, 1909: Miss May Stokely, a member of one of Cocke County’s most prominent families, left today for Knoxville where she takes up work as the general secretary of the Young Women’s Christian Association of that city. She is well qualified for the work she is taking up …

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, March 31, 1910: Alleging that they sustained injuries in a fall on the pavements of Newport, two

Jackson [MI] Citizen, May

Photo by Eric Freeman

Cross of the Cliff erected in memory of Vassar Brown, 13, of Newport, who was killed in 1900 by a freight train passing over his body after he had fallen from his position between two box cars where he was riding to a baseball game in progress.

Mrs. Eliza Gray was a War of 1812 widow.

women Mrs. D.A. West and Mrs. S.C. Rainwater have filed suits of $500 each for damages.

Nashville Banner, July 6,

1911: Newport, Tenn. Claiming that their ignorance had been taking advantage of, that they had been robbed and otherwise abused, Grejor Leskrie and wife, Hungarians, brought to this section from New York to do work at Crestmont, have occasioned the arrest of two Bridgeport, Tenn. boys, and the boys are under bond in the sum of $500 awaiting action of the Grand Jury … it is revealed that Saturday June 24 was a night of carousal at the Bridgeport depot. During the carousal this foreign couple who had walked across the mountains and were bound for New York … were forced to perform for a crowd of drunken boys, three of whom at least had revolvers … Homer and Troy Brooks of Bridgeport were arrested …

Nashville Banner, July 13,

1911: Alfred Mims, youngest son of D.A. Mims … is back from London, Paris and other European points, after an eventful trip over the ocean abroad a cattle ship. Young Mims left on the 18th of May without acquainting his friends of his intentions. He made for Baltimore and secured a position with the cattle ship “Ulstermore.” He participated in the general work about the cattle the first day out, but spent the remainder

ebony cane bearing the inscription “Presented to H.L.W. Taylor by his friends of the National Council, June 1913 …

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Richmond [VA] Times Dispatch, September 26, 1919: Sheriff John Holt of Cocke County today destroyed in front of the courthouse at Newport seven illicit stills captured in the last month. They also decanted into the gutter thirty gallons of “real good moonshine corn liquor.” Not far away the gutter was dammed up with mud by a thirsty crowd which was having a merry time until the sheriff appeared and arrested the revelers.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Commercial Appeal [Memphis, TN], Sept. 3, 1922: “Widows of Veterans of Jackson Still Live” You ask if there are any Tennesseans who are among the fortynine surviving widows of the War of 1812. One of these widows is Mrs. Eliza J. Gray of Newport. She is now in her 90th year. Her soldier husband, Willis Gray, was a private in the Virginia militia.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

of the trip of thirteen days as a night watchman … He came back to New York aboard the line “Sultic,” the homecoming trip being one of pleasure instead of work.

Nashville Banner, July 10, 1913: Newport, Tenn. H.L.W. Taylor has returned from Fabyon, NH where he attended the annual session of the National Council of Junior Order United American Mechanics. He finished six years’ service in the office of the National Council … Before leaving Fabyon, Mr. Taylor was presented with a beautiful

Knoxville News Sentinel, Oct. 12, 1927: For two weeks the people of East Main Street in Newport have been annoyed by a man peeping into windows about the time the family is making preparations for bed. He always escaped before officers could be called. His identity has just become known and police are expecting to nab him on his next attempt. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Plain Dealer [Cleveland, OH], April 27, 1928: Carrying a loaf of bread and pound of butter, Cecil Collins, 13, has started out for Tennessee and his father Mitchell Collins, 1814 View Road SW is worried about it. Cecil’s father believes the boy is headed for Newport, Tenn, where the Collins family lived two years ago and where the boy’s grandfather now lives. Cecil left home Wednesday without so much as a goodbye, according to his father, and was highly disgusted with Cleveland’s lack of spring weather. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal, Oct. 31, 1930: Posing as a truant officer and collecting money from parents, whose children were not in school, a man sought by officers has been reported doing a good business in Cocke County. It is stated he collected $17.50 from a Newport mother, promising in return not to prosecute for absence of her children from school. It is believed the man has left the county. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal, June 17, 1933: Have you ever seen a blindfolded chicken? Yesterday I went to look at my husband’s chickens and I noticed one of the hens was wearing a blindfold. I asked my husband the reason for the blindfold, and he told me the hens had some chicks for which she would not scratch and which she would not help. He blindfolded her so she could not tell these chicks from the rest of her brood. She seemed to be satisfied and was scratching industrially for the entire brood. Mrs. Claude Laws, Hartford, TN.

The Hux triplets from Del Rio drew plenty of attention.

May Stokely was an early career woman.

John Mantooth found his long-lost brother.

Photo by Eric Freeman

The marker for Cross of the Cliff that was erected in memory of Vassar Brown, 13, of Newport, killed in 1900 by a freight train.

From FAMOUS | 7

– Mike Singletary

Sports has been a mainstay and the focus of intense competition in Cocke County and the region from the earliest days and particularly the turn of the century as documented in many news accounts from the era which give a glimpse into the early stages of the passion that comes with sports. The competition galvanized communities and was often fierce, spirited and even wagered upon. Rivalries were established and some remain to this day.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Feb. 15, 1910: The Newport basketball team ended its season by defeating the Parrottsville AC by a score 154 to 2, probably establishing a world record for a high score. The Parrottsville boys are new at the game and filled a date that had been left open for the “Tigers” of Knoxville. The Newport team was M. Hixon (forward), Susong (forward), Taylor (center), Stokely (guard) and J. Hixon (guard). The Parrottsville team was Myers (forward), C. Ottinger (forward), Campbell (center) …

Knoxville Sentinel, April 15, 1910: The Parrottsville High School baseball team will play the Newport team at the fairgrounds today. [Fairgrounds are now Newport City Park.] HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Sentinel, March 22, 1912: In one of the liveliest basketball games of the season, the Park City girls’ team met and defeated the Newport High School girls’ team in basketball here. The first half was hard fought and closed with a score of 7 to 6 in Newport’s favor; the second half was Park City’s, the score being 12 to 3. The Newport team: Lucy Boyer (forward), Alma Ailey (forward), Edna Sparks (center), Edith Balch (guard), Arlie Burke (guard).

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Feb. 14, 1914: Orlie Weaver, the big league pitcher, who has been spending the winter at his home in Newport, also reached town yesterday. He was on his way to New Orleans to report to Manager John Hobbs of the Pelicans of the Southern League. Weaver declared that he is in better shape now than he has been in some time. [Among the clubs with which Weaver played were Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and the Atlanta Crackers.]

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, May 30, 1915: The Cosby baseball team defeated the “Newport Giants” by a score of thirteen to six on the Cosby diamond this afternoon. The hard-hitting Cosby team was responsible for the victory.

Knoxville Sentinel, Sept. 16, 1916: Newport. Special emphasis [of the Appalachian Fair] has been laid upon the racing program this year, with several good purses offered, a lively mix-up of good horses is expected on the track … Elevated sides are being added to the track to accommodate the motorcycle and auto races. Good purses are offered to these racers with the motordome effectiveness of the track …

Morristown Gazette, July 19, 1917: For the second time this month the Morristown baseball team played a tie game with the Newport nine … The game which was played at Sherwood Park was interesting in the extreme, the final count being 9-9. The high total was due solely to the condition of the grounds as a result of the heavy rains preceding the game.

Knoxville Sentinel, Feb. 20, 1920: The Newport basketball team has cancelled its trip to Knoxville on which two games were to be played here Friday and Saturday. They gave the seriousness of the influenza season as the reason for the cancellation.

Knoxville Sentinel, Nov. 9, 1922: Newport. J.T. Ward, Akron, Ohio, one of the founders of the Great Smoky Mountains Club, was in Newport in the interest of the organization. Mr. Ward addressed the Newport Kiwanis Club giving the members full details of the plans for a sportsman’s paradise centered at the deserted lumber village of Crestmont, NC, located twenty miles from this place … The woods at Crestmont already teem with bear and many different species of small game, and they are to be stocked with deer, pheasants, turkeys and other game. The

streams are already full of speckled trout, but it is planned to establish a hatchery at Crestmont and replenish the trout supply … [This plan never materialized.]

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nashville Banner, Jan. 17, 1923: When S.A. Lynch of Asheville made a homerun hit in the business world recently, his East Tennessee friends were reminded of the old days when he burned the midnight oil at Maryville College and was later the catcher of the Newport baseball team … In the old days he was known as “Diamond Lynch.” Tom Campbell, Hugh Mims, Beech Burnett, Cooter Robinson, Charlie Morell, Fred Fisher, Barnett Howe, Alf Jones, Pete Early … were on the team with him.

Newport Plain Talk, July 23, 1926: Newport now has a fully organized golf club … Robert Parrott was selected as president and Walter Willis was made secretary … the executive committee is W.H. Masters, L.S. Moore, C.E. McNabb, John Ruble, Clyde Driskill, J.E. Burton … The course secured lies just east of the city on the McSween place and contains 50 acres. A 9-hole course has been laid off. [This club fell victim to the Depression. The tract

Newport girls basketball team (left to right): Alma Ailey, Arlie Burke, Edna Sparks, Lucy Boyer, Edith Balch

Newport basketball team (left to right): Bill Weaver, Alf Taylor, Orlie Weaver, Lawson Franklin, Jim Franklin, Murray Stokely

was behind Dr. Steve Smith’s home.]

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal, May 1, 1927: J.A. Holloway of Tulsa, Okla. is to come to Newport to superintend the work on a golf course located between Knoxville and Newport located between the Dixie Highway and the Carson Springs Road. Mr. Holloway was formerly with the Cherokee Country Club.

Knoxville News Sentinel, Dec. 20, 1931: The coming charity football game between the Knoxville Fire Department and the Newport All-Stars to be played at Caswell Park on New Year’s Day is taking on the aspect of a

“big time” gridiron battle with many great football stars rallying around anxious to play. Dr. Hobart Ford, coach and manager of the Newport team, announced a squad of players Saturday night that would be able to give any college eleven a fight. The Newport team will present a galaxy of backfield stars: Lea Calloway, Dr. Doak, Herbert Murray, Hugh Rich, Charles Seehorn, Cubie Stokely, Trent Sexton, Earl Gray, Johnny Jones, Earl Rhodes, Ken Vinson, Dick Driskill, Hugh Neas, Mont and Auburn Weaver, Hobart Ford, John Hannah, Tom and Jim Masters, Kenneth Driskill, Dorsey Fox, Carl Rhodes, I.W. Peters, John Farmer, Lester Mantooth, C. Debord and D. Dillon …

Nashville Banner, Sept. 29, 1934: Pennington Gap, VA. Joe Gill [James] Susong, manager of the Newport, Tenn. high school football

team was dead today and a dozen players were suffering injuries as a result of a truck turning over on them. The truck carrying the entire squad of 29 players and coach C.M. Johnson plunged off a steep curve on Powell Mountain … Jakie Holt is in an unconscious condition … physicians say he may not recover. Among the less seriously injured were Burl Lewis, Howard Reed, Lonnie Gregory, Joe Porter, B.H. Teague, Walter Jones, J.T. Busler and Coach Johnson… The truck turned over six times down the mountainside.

Greeneville Sun, April 13, 1937: Burton Ruble, Newport marksman … was high scoring shooter in the weekly Skeet Shoot held by the Greeneville Skeet and Gun Club, breaking 50 straight targets to lead the field of 23 shooters …

Knoxville News Sentinel, July 9, 1937: Newport. Angered

baseball fans swarmed the playing field here today when Umpire [John] Carnsella and Tom Henry, manager of the Newport Canners, engaged in a fist fight. After a short argument between the two, they started swinging fists. It was reported by several fans that Carnsella swung at Henry with his mask, and that Henry then hit the umpire with a pop bottle. Carnsella had to have medical attention before he could continue umpiring. Fans swarmed the field and it looked like a near riot before order was restored. Immediately after regaining his feet, the umpire forfeited the game to the Johnson City Soldiers.

Nashville Tennessean, July 31, 1940: Johnson City. Newport’s baseball franchise in the Appalachian League tonight was officially transferred to Maryville at a called meeting of legion directors, who voted unanimously to make the shift. [It was later re-instated to Newport.]

ardiology

• Diagnostic Imaging ( -rays, Scans, MRI Scans, 3D Mammography, Ultrasound)

• Emergenc y are

• Gastroenterology

General Surger y

• Inpatient Rehabilitation Ser vices/Physical herapy

• Neurology

• Obstetrics Gynecology

• Ophthalmology

• Or thopedic Ser vices

• Pulmonology

• Respirator y are

• Surgical Ser vices

Parrottsville baseball team (First row: Joe Easterly, Ernest Jones, Hugh Stokely, Lacy Myers. Second row: Lloyd Nease, unidentified, Dunk Balch, Claude Balch. Third row: Stuart Kelly, Lawrence Scott, Zellie Eisenhower, Clarence Scott.

Dr. Hobart Ford, Sr., active sports enthusiast

Mayhem, murder and tragedy

– Thomas Lynch

Watch the daily news. One of the facts of life is that there will be sadness and sorrow. People, either consciously or unconsciously, will behave in such a way to violate the laws of nature or arouse the emotions of others. Reactions can manifest themselves in ways that are violent or deadly. Unintentional accidents happen. Sometimes all it takes is being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

These things have been occurring forever and will continue as long as there are human beings. When one person is harmed, many others suffer also. Cocke County has experienced its share of such personal trauma.

Abbeville [SC] Press and Banner, Sept. 26, 1900: Tom Mitchell, Superintendent of the Poor Farm, near Newport, Tenn., became suddenly insane and killed Josie Coleman, a deaf and dumb inmate, with a corn knife.

The Red Cloud Chief [Webster, NE], March 29, 1901: Hugh Noe, a telephone lineman, of Newport, Tenn. was killed by a member of a party which attacked the house in which he boarded. The attackers rocked the house and Noe went to the door and was met by an unknown man who cut his throat.

Nashville American, July 3, 1901: Because the brother of the girl he had ruined forced him to marry her, Wilse McMahan, a lumberman from a Northern state, shot and killed the brother Israel Carver, on Cosby Creek in Cocke County. After her betrayal, Miss Carver told her brother of the affair, and he induced McMahan to make the girl his wife last Saturday. Sunday morning Carver and McMahan started to church on horseback. When they had been gone but a few moments, shots were heard and the Carver family, going to see what had occurred, found the young man dead in the road. McMahan made his escape and has not been located.

Allen County RepublicanGazette [Lima, OH], Jan. 26, 1904: Lives Threatened: Charlotte, NC. Judge Simonton of the US Circuit Court here instructed the deputy marshal of this district to appoint immediately several other deputy marshals and let them proceed at once to Newport, Tenn. to protect the lives of Messrs. [P.T.] Bauman and [W.B.] Robinson, receivers of the Cataloochee Lumber Company and the property of the concern. The company recently failed, and threats were made by the mountaineers against the officials and the property

Public Ledger [Maysville, KY], Feb. 24, 1904: Southern Railway passenger train, No. 35, westbound, was wrecked by a landslide at Bridgeport, Tenn. early yesterday morning. The engine turned over and two passenger cars rolled into the river. A sleeper remained on the rails. Engineer George Clarke had both legs crushed and several passengers were bruised.

Birmingham [AL] News, Oct. 13, 1906: A special from Newport, Tenn. Chalbern [Chamberlain] Mantooth, age 50 and one of the most prominent farmers in Cocke County, this morning murdered his wife and four children, fatally wounding two other children and then committed suicide by cutting his throat from ear to ear. The terrible tragedy was enacted at the Mantooth home about 8 o’clock. It is believed he suddenly became insane, for no other reason can be conceived why he wantonly destroyed his entire household. [One daughter escaped and the wife, who was pregnant, safely

Marshfield [MO] Chronicle, Sept. 27, 1906: Rev. John Roberts, a minister and school teacher, is alleged to have shot and killed Gip Cate, his rival, near Newport, Tenn. Rev. Roberts surrendered and was jailed. They met in the woods, it is said, and Cate, who was hunting, told Roberts to run, which he did, but stopped when he secured a rifle and killed Cate.

In 1901, Israel Carver was murdered on Cosby Creek in Cocke County allegedly by Wilse McMahan, a lumberman from a Northern state. McMahan was never caught.

Chalbern [Chamberlain] Mantooth, age 50, one of the most prominent farmers in Cocke County, murdered his wife (Leota Mantooth - pictured above) and four children, fatally wounding two other children and then committed suicide by cutting his throat from ear to ear in 1906 according to a news report.

delivered her child and then died.]

Pensacola [FL] Journal, Dec. 16, 1906: Six men met instant death this afternoon in a dynamite explosion about twenty-four miles from Newport, Tenn. and just across the state line in North Carolina. They were employed on railroad construction in building an extension to the Tennessee and North Carolina Railroad. A load of dynamite for a blast exploded while being tamped, tearing six men into shreds and seriously injuring another. The victims, all men with families living in the vicinity of Mt. Sterling, were: Hamilton Southerland, Alfred Sutton, William Sutton, Harrison Price, William Brown and Tipton Hall.

Madison County Record

[Marshall, NC], Jan. 18, 1907:

There was a terrible crime committed near Wolf Creek last Friday. Nat McFeatures shot Dude Norris in the breast with a shotgun. She held her baby in her arms and part of the child’s clothing was shot into her breast. She leaves two very small children. She lived until Saturday. McFeatures has skipped. He claims it was accidental, but she said he did it on purpose because she would not drink with him.

Morristown Gazette, Aug. 18, 1909: Edward Driskill, telegraph operator at Del Rio, was accidentally shot and killed on Tuesday night of last week. The young man was only 17 years of age. He was the son of Charles B. Driskill of White Pine where the funeral services were held. [Although his death certificate lists suicide as the cause, rumors named a Del Rio man as the shooter. Mary Rowe Ruble heard the shots.]

Times Dispatch [Richmond, VA], Aug. 31, 1909: A sequel to the sensational murder of A.J. Slagle, wealthy lumberman of Jonesboro,

whose body was found in the river at Bridgeport, Cocke County, Tenn. On Saturday, John Spencer, a former neighbor and relative by marriage of Slagle, was found today, dead, his body partially immersed in a rain barrel … He retired in the Slagle home last night … During the early morning Spencer disappeared from the Slagle home and at daybreak his body was found, as stated at the house of a neighbor of the Slagle family … One theory now is that Spencer committed suicide as a result of accusations made against him.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Nov. 27, 1909: Newport, Tenn. Yesterday the 13-yearold son of W.T. Wilson, a well-known groceryman, took a can of oil with the idea of starting a fire in the grate. He poured the oil from a can without a top and in the burst of flames which followed, 3-year-old Forrest, a boy born blind, but who for the past two weeks following an operation in Knoxville had been able to see, was burned about the forehead, while five-year-old Earl David was probably fatally burned, his entire body having come in contact with the flames. [None died.] HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, March 31, 1910: A striking illustration of the condition of affairs that exists in the Bybee section of Cocke County was shown here last Saturday when probably two hundred people from that section gathered here to hear the evidence submitted in the preliminary hearings in a half dozen cases that were tried that day. It was shown that two blood-thirsty clans exist in that community and that no respect whatever is being shown for the law and it is openly conceded that human life must be sacrificed before conditions become normal …

Wausau [WI] Daily Herald, Sept. 30, 1912: Newport, Tenn. Andrew J. Hixon, 70 years old and with snow white hair, heard the death sentence passed upon him here at the conclusion of the trial for the murder of Jesse B. Huff, who was shot in Cocke County last spring. Huff and David Allen had been in a long dispute over a land deal when Huff was killed. Hixon had no dealings with Huff. Soon after the killing, Allen committed suicide. The prosecution contended that Hixon committed the crime for monetary consideration. [Hixon reportedly died in the Knoxville jail before the sentence could be carried out.]

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, June 29, 1911: A Sunday School picnic and all-day meeting was held at Carson Springs Sunday and about eighty people attended. The meeting was broken up about 2 PM by a free-for-all scrap,

some 200 shots being fired after the consumption of a large quantity of bad liquor. No one was injured and only two arrests were made.

Chattanooga Daily Times, May 7, 1913: Newport, Tenn. Raving just before dying of consumption, William Fine, aged 50, is alleged to have claimed that he had the blood of four persons on his hands and that he could not expect forgiveness. Just before his death, after reciting his alleged misdeeds, he became quiet and claimed to see angels in the room. The incident created much interest throughout the country, where three of the deaths to which he referred are said to have occurred.

[An article in the Marion [OH] Star named the victims as Clara Haney, Mr. Bradshaw, Aunt Peggy Fine and a hobo. A report in the Newport Plain Talk, May 6, 1913, labels this story as just rumors.]

Atlanta Constitution, March 27, 1919: News has been received here from Newport, Tenn. that the body of Abraham Lincoln Ramsey, 3-year-old boy who became lost in the Smoky Mountains on March 11, had been found about three miles from his home. The lad attempted to follow his sisters to a country store and on being turned back took the wrong fork of the road and disappeared. A relentless search had been kept up by neighbors for many days and nights. It is supposed the boy wearied from his wanderings, and night coming on, crawled into the hollow log and either died from exhaustion or hunger.

Gerald Ledford collection

Construction of the T&NC Railroad .

Telephones, Plain Talk and more

Business and commerce link all mankind in one common brotherhood of mutual dependence and interest.

– James A. Garfield

Business is the organization of production, sale or purchase of goods and services. Commerce is the actual process through which those are accomplished. Both can be found in any community, town or city, ranging from a mom/pop store to an industrial complex. Services are provided, income is generated and profits are accrued.

Business is the product of innovators and investors, as well as entrepreneurs and enterprisers. Some saw a need or an opportunity and acted upon it. Any reader can recall examples where someone took a situation, even on a small scale, to provide a service or a product and made it into a successful venture.

Think about what developed from the idea the Stokely brothers had in 1898 to deal with surplus tomatoes.

Morristown Gazette, Jan. 17, 1900: Telephone service has been established between Sevierville and Newport.

Johnson City Comet, July 12, 1900: Ex-Congressman Anderson has started a newspaper at Newport and calls it “Plain Talk.” The first issue of this interesting journal is on our table. It flys the Brownlow flag but talks out in meeting against his state ticket and wants a new convention and compromise ticket. Col. Anderson got his hand in helping edit the Congressional Record and will no doubt make a paper equally interesting.

Virginia Pilot [Norfolk, VA], Oct. 14, 1900: Waynesville: A report is current that the Tennessee and North Carolina Railroad Company is about to begin work upon its line between Newport, Tennessee and Waynesville, along the Pigeon River.

Knoxville Weekly Sentinel, Dec. 18, 1900: The Unaka Power Company is short of power to operate their increased plant and are now investigating the feasibility of creating a water power to run its electrical motors at the tannery instead of putting in an additional furnace for burning coal and give additional steam power. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Chattanooga News, May 15, 1902: Col. George M. Poston of Toledo, Ohio was a visitor in Knoxville yesterday enroute to Del Rio, Cocke County, Tennessee. His visit to Del Rio is for the purpose of selecting a site for a wood-working plant that will be located near the property hosted by Col.

T.T. Adams, of Greeneville, Tenn. and including one hundred thousand acres of densely wooded land...

Knoxville Sentinel, July 7, 1902: The people of Newport are intensely interested in the ultimate outcome of the plans entertained by the backers and others who are making possible the Tennessee and North Carolina railroad … The first mile of the Waynesville or Tennessee & North Carolina road that runs out of Newport was originally built by the Unaka Tannery company, secured years ago for the purpose of affording its trackage with the Southern Railway … The new road does not come directly into Newport, its depot being a just the eastern extremity of the town…

Holston Valley Farmer and Weekly Bristol [TN] News, Dec. 17, 1908: Newport, Tenn. Mr. English Tipton of Jacksonville, Fla is registered at the Walker Hotel and will in early spring erect a plant for the manufacture of concrete blocks and will engage in the erection of bridge and structural steel. Mr. English will locate in Newport because of the fact the material used in his work is so plentiful here. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Winston-Salem [NC] Journal, Jan. 30, 1910: United States District Attorney A.E. Holton yesterday filed libel proceeding in district court in Charlotte against 1,712 sacks more of corn meal found in the possession of Adams Grain and Provision Company of Charlotte shipped from Newport Milling Company of Newport, Tenn. to have the meal forfeited to the United States for violation of the pure food and drug act. The violation consists in misbranding the sacks in that they were branded as 12, 24 and 18 pounds whereas the weight actually fell short from three tenths to one and a quarter pounds in each sack… HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Aug. 27, 1910: At a chancery sale here, the Newport Cotton Mill plant was sold under the hammer to the holders of the first mortgage for $12000. Included in this sale was a row of five houses which cost to build $7500. The mill started off with a great flourish here. After the first change of hands, the management never met with success and finally came into the possession of C.F. Boyer …

Atlanta Georgian and News, Oct. 30, 1911: … The Champion Lumber Company…some months ago acquired the Pigeon River Lumber Company of Crestmont, NC together with the small bandmill, railroad and timber property. The company is installing a modern eight foot bandmill…and is building a new line of railroad for the development of an area of nearly 100,000 acres of virgin hardwood timber land … The lumber will be shipped out by way of Newport, Tenn.

Charleston [SC] News and Courier, Dec. 6, 1914: J.W. Kyker, Newport, Tenn. will erect a building and install equipment to knit hosiery to include 18 knitting machines. [This was on Duncan Street; the area was once known as “Knitting Mill Hollow.”]

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, June 30, 1917: The million pound steel bridge of Southern Railway was pulled into place as the old wooden bridge was pulled out of place at noon Thursday, a great throng of people standing by to watch bridgemen’s plan carried into effect. The feat was something new for this section of the country and was entirely successful. The old bridge was moved out and the mammoth new one was pulled into place in a period of thirty five minutes by the use of engines pulling and pushing. No trains were delayed by the placing of the new giant structure.

Morristown Gazette Mail, Dec. 6, 1923: The citizens of Newport are elated over reports that at a recent meeting of the stockholders of the Southern Railway Co. at Richmond final plans were adopted providing a double track from Morristown to Asheville. There would be a cut-off leading from the Deep Ford bridge up thru the Fork Farm via French Broad River to Bridgeport.

It is claimed that this route is a better one than via Newport, and originally the road was laid out this way, but on account of the influence of the early settlers of Newport, the route was changed along the present line. At that time the pioneers made a special effort to build their homes along close to the tracks where they could see the trains pass by … at that time it was not foreseen that there would be as many as 50 trains daily … At one time steamboats came up the French Broad to what is now Oldtown …

Knoxville News Sentinel, Oct. 12, 1927: Newport, Tenn. Taylor Grocery Company, wholesale grocers, have begun erection of a large building on lower Church Street … The Gulf Refining Co. is establishing a distributing point here and building a large tank farm just outside the corporate limits of Newport. The counties of Cocke, Jefferson and Sevier will be served from this station.

Asheville Citizen Times, Jan. 3, 1929: The Newport Steam Laundry, owned and to be operated by A.G. Neas, is about completed and when

finished will be one of the best in this part of the country. Mr. Neas is a pioneer in the laundry business in Newport … Several fine apartments are fitted up in the second story of the building. These are for young businessmen and are strictly modern in every way.

Asheville Citizen Times, Oct. 31, 1929: The big project of the Phoenix Utility Company, at Waterville, NC just above Newport is nearing completion. Water has been turned into the mammoth dam, and it is estimated by officials of the company that it will require at least 30 days for the entire volume of Pigeon River the reservoir. The dam is 180 feet high, and it is estimated that when the reservoir is full, the water will be backed up for at least seven miles

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal, May 24, 1931: Newport, Tenn. Machinery for the new hosiery mills which are to be established here has arrived and is being placed in the Neas building on Church street. The company which will manufacture infants’ hosiery will be known as the Dixie Knitting Mill.

Knoxville Journal, June 19, 1935: Newport, Tenn. J. Winston Baird has announced plans for immediate construction of a 700-seat theatre here, costing $25000. It will be on Peck [Mims] Avenue … Manley and Young, architects, will draw plans for the building. Baird operated the Gay Theatre here.

Knoxville News Sentinel, Aug. 21, 1938: The Tennessee and North Carolina Railroad, which has served Cocke County for nearly 40 years, is being abandoned. Track has been torn up from Crestmont and the Chilhowie Extract plant in Newport.

RURITANISANORGANIZATIONDEDICATED TO IMPROVINGCOMMUNITIES AND BUILDING ABET TER AMERICA THROUGH FELLOWSHIP, GO ODWILL AND COMMUNIT YSERVICE.

Unaka Tannery

Churches serve as a foundation for communities

The church is the church only when it exists for others.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The church is a foundation stone in any community. It is a source of strength, solace, learning and association. The church represents the faith and the values of its people. The church has been present in Cocke County since the first church was established here in 1787. There have been numerous denominations and doctrines, all of which worshipped the same God. It is a high mark for the citizens that the churches have always existed here with a spirit of acceptance and cooperation toward fellow believers, though different in beliefs and practices.

Knoxville Sentinel, May 31, 1902: Newport. Sunday morning, June 1, the new Presbyterian church of this place will be dedicated. Rev. W.H. Smith of Morristown and Rev. J.L. Bachman of Sweetwater will assist in the services.

Knoxville Weekly Sentinel, Oct. 1, 1904: The Methodist Episcopal Church has had a floating

organization at Newport since before the Civil War and has a permanent organization since the year 1887 when it was put with Morristown as a semistation … In 1889 Rev. J.S. Jones was appointed pastor at Morristown and Newport. In the meantime subscriptions had been taken for a new church building … dedication took place October 22, 1892 …

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Weekly Sentinel, Oct. 4, 1904: The Baptists voted unanimously a few weeks ago to build a new church. They have been undecided as to the location. It is learned from

a reliable source that a lot has been decided on within a block of where the old church stands. The committee will offer this lot to the church people at their meeting next Sunday. A great many of the members do not desire the church moved away from the present location and will probably protest against it. The new building will be of brick and will cost about $10,000.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Evening Star [Washington, DC], Nov. 17, 1907: Mrs. Proctor read a letter from Mrs. Everett … now of the Ebenezer Home, Del Rio, Tenn. Mrs. Everett moved to Del Rio several months ago to engage in missionary work …

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Morristown Gazette, April 14, 1909: The Southern Methodist Church at Newport was destroyed by fire Sunday night. An Easter entertainment was in progress at the church when the fire was discovered in the roof, which is supposed to have been ignited by an electric wire. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Aug. 27, 1910: Newport, Tenn. The new house of worship of the Southern Methodist congregation will be dedicated Sunday morning … The new edifice occupies the site of the historic old M.E. Church, South, which was destroyed by fire … The church that time was thronged but all escaped without injury. The people of Newport have responded liberally, and the church is one of the handsomest in the denomination.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nashville Banner, March 30, 1911: Rev. W.B. Holt has been reelected pastor of the Clay Creek Church, one of the strongest churches of the county. The church plans to reorganize the Sunday School and a big time is planned for next Sunday.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, June 6, 1911: A fierce electrical storm broke over Newport at daylight … The Zion Church of a [black] congregation was upset and demolished …

[Nashville], March 26, 1914: When I arrived at the Pleasant Grove Church, I found a fine class of people greatly discouraged, but true to their early training and loyal to their noble pastor, Rev. William Weaver. In the face of grave difficulties, the bad weather playing a considerable part, we pressed the claims of the gospel for nearly two weeks. It was thought there were some 20 conversions, a number of whom were from Hardshell families. On Friday, the last day of the meeting, Brother Weaver baptized nine in the picturesque little river ...

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Madison County Record [Marshall, NC], Oct. 16, 1914: We attended the Nola Chuckey Association of Primitive Baptists which was held at Laurel Springs, Cocke County, Sept. 23-25. It was a meeting long to be remembered. There was a large crowd of well-behaved people, and we never saw more brotherly love and union among the delegates and brethren, and the people in that vicinity took care of all the ministers. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Sept. 6, 1917: Grassy Fork, Tenn. Rev. Lewis Cates began a series of meetings here two weeks ago and the probability is that the meeting will continue until next Sunday. He has been very ably assisted in the work by Rev. H.A. Freeman and Brother Rastus Caldwell … Quite a number have already been converted, and several additions have been made to the church.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, June 20, 1922: More than 2000 persons gathered to hear Billy Sunday at Cocke County High School at Newport … Not more than 1500 could get in the building and many were crowded about the doors … Mr. Sunday spoke for more than an hour on hope and the promises of the Bible … The crowd jammed the doors and windows and hung on every word with the greatest attention and interest …

Daily Herald [Biloxi, MS], Oct. 16, 1925: Newport, Tenn. An overwhelming vote was given today by the Holston Methodist Episcopal Annual Conference to approve the proposed plan of unification with the Methodist Episcopal, South. [Unification did not come until 1939 and the denomination

First Baptist Church erected in 1906.

Knoxville Journal, July 14, 1926: Newport pastors are exchanging pulpits during July. No congregation is informed of their speaker until the hour of the service … Last Sunday A.L. Crawley, pastor of the Baptist church, filled the pulpit at the Presbyterian church. Dr. D.C. Amick, of the latter church, preached at the ME Church. Rev. W.H. Harrison, pastor of ME Church, South, was at the First Baptist Church while Rev. J.W. Broyles preached at the ME Church, South. The services are being well attended.

Nashville Tennessean, May 21, 1928: Parrottsville: New Methodist Episcopal Church here was dedicated.

Asheville Citizen Times, Jan. 3, 1929: Newport, Tenn. Members of the congregation of the local Christian church will soon see completion of their place of worship and when completed will be one of the most beautiful in the city … The structure is being built under the supervision of the pastor, the Rev. Mr. Elliott, who before going into the ministry was a contractor … It is estimated that it will cost $25000.

Knoxville Journal, Dec. 22, 1929: The Rev. P.C. Ramsey of Nashville, Tenn. will conduct a revival meeting at the Reidtown Church of the Nazarene, beginning this morning. A Christmas service will be held at the Reidtown Church on Wednesday afternoon.

Greeneville Sun, Aug. 9, 1930: The Harned Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church on the Parrottsville charge will be dedicated Sunday, Aug. 10th. Dr. James M. McLear of Athens, Tenn, and District Supt. E.O. Woodyard of Johnson City will conduct the service. Dinner will be served at the church. All are welcome. J.F. Reed pastor. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal, Sept. 13, 1931: Newport, Tenn. A large Tabernacle is being erected in the western part of the city for the use of the Rev. A.A. Haggard for a revival meeting which is to begin Sunday evening. The evangelist is just closing a similar meeting at Hartford, in the eastern end of Cocke County, with scores of conversions and additions to the church.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Baptist and Reflector, May

11, 1933: … On out in the country we sped to Union Baptist meeting house … As we rounded a bend in the road, there arose before us … one of the most beautiful churches in all the land. Yellow rough stucco, green tile roof, graceful spire and belfry, white trimmings, concrete walks and steps … A splendid auditorium large enough to seat 300 people if packed in, rough creamy plaster and natural pine finish. New gasoline light fixtures, graceful pulpit and to the rear the unfinished space for several good classrooms … This is the third meeting house the church has built since 1844 … Brother Herman Matthews is the thirty-third pastor…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal, Nov. 27, 1938: A new Free Will Baptist Church is being organized in the Irish Cut

community. A new church building is being constructed and will be completed next week.

Knoxville News Sentinel, May 31, 1941: The Rev. Jesse J. Johnson of Spartanburg, SC, known as the railroad evangelist, is leading a tent revival at Newport, the tent being located near the Southern station. Mr. Johnson is assisted by the Rev. W.J. Ramsey. [Rev. Johnson was a native of Hartford.]

Greeneville Sun, Nov. 21, 1941: Harvest Home, a festival which goes back to ancient times, will be observed Sunday, November 23rd at Luther Memorial Church, Cocke County … On this day the best fruits, flowers, vegetables and grains of this year’s harvest will be brought to the church … As such they are to be given, along with an offering, to the Williams-Henson Boys Home near Knoxville.

Newport Presbyterian Church dedicated in 1902

The environment and progress

No longer can anyone remark on the beauty of the Pigeon.

– Asheville Times, 1909

Nashville American, Oct. 22, 1900: A

at Naillon writes to the Newport Plain Talk: We would like for the people to know if we live in the mountain gorges of Snow Bird Mountain, we are doing something. The tan bark and lumber business is the life of this part of the country. I have seen as many as forty wagons loaded with bark and lumber going down to Del Rio in exchange for groceries and goods. If you don’t believe this, come up to the lumber regions and we will prove it. We do very little farming, but we live just the same.

Johnson City Comet, May 23, 1901: A 150-barrels-per-day oil well is reported open on the farm of Mrs. Nancy Jones in Cocke County, Tenn.

Morristown Republican, Sept. 23, 1905: For long years it has been seriously believed by many

that in the hills and mountains of old Cocke County are stored minerals of great value … but as far back as 1832 or longer, iron was made in Cocke County and near what is known as “Dark Hollow” on Cosby, and there may be a piece of iron in the barn belonging to Campbell McNabb, Esq. that was made long before the war … For some time iron ore of superior quality has been removed from land owned by Rile Hanna near Wilton Springs … Similar iron ore is to be found on adjoining lands owned by John Weaver, Wm. McMahan, Wm. Weaver and others.

Chattanooga Daily Times, Oct. 20, 1905: It is believed by many that Cocke County has more fine underdeveloped water power than any county in the state. We can make with our waterpower in this county enough electricity to move every streetcar and flour mill in Tennessee and at the same time furnish electric lights for Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis … As the price of wood and timber increases, the value of water power increases …

Morristown Republican, Aug. 9, 1907: Wanted men to work

on sawmill near Del Rio, Tennessee. Good wages. Houses at reasonable rent. Address Monger Lumber Company, Huckleberry, Tenn.

Knoxville Sentinel, Aug. 4, 1908: The most important sale of property that has been made here in sometime was the sale of the Morrell water power to the Newport Corporation and from them to the Unaka Tanning company … A year or more ago the town took an option on a small tract of land in the Morrell bottom including

In this 2018 photo, three Newport firefighters, from left, Eric Herndon, Josh Seay, and Jeremy Shelton, are shown exploring Newport’s Rattling Cave.

the right to build a dam across Pigeon river for the purpose of furnishing power for an electric light plant and water works for Newport … The option would have expired the last of this month. Mr. J.W. Fisher of the tannery company offered the town $1600 for the property and it was accepted and transferred last Monday. The tannery will build a concrete and steel dam across the river near the works and will operate the tannery with power from the dam, instead of steam as heretofore…

Bristol Herald Courier, March 15, 1908: For sale. White pine and other timbers stumpage adjoining Southern Railway. Over twelve million feet. For immediate purchase. $15000. John N. Adams, Del Rio, Tenn.

Asheville Times, Dec. 22, 1909: No longer can anyone remark on the beauty of the Pigeon. It is only

the blackness of it they speak of now. The water at Newport is inky black, and although the tannery empties its waste here, the character of the water is changed but little – it is black already. No fish can live in the chemical compounds that are emptied into the water at Canton, some 35 miles up the river. Even the wells of Newport have been polluted by the water from the river.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, May 15, 1910: The terminus of the present [railroad] line is Crestmont, NC, the site of the onemillion-dollar plant of the Pigeon River Lumber Company. Crestmont is a town of nearly one thousand people. Until recently it was known as Mt. Sterling … At this point the Pigeon River Lumber Company has constructed a … double band mill, and the cut that is being made will average about seventy-five thousand feet per day. In connection with the mill the company has installed a planing mill, machine shops and dry kilns ... Its own 55000 acres of timber land … this tract is covered with a variety of timber, the best portion of

which is poplar … It is estimated it will require this company twenty-five years to extract the lumber it owns.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nashville Banner, March 9, 1911: Manganese will be mined seven miles from Newport, where one of the most valuable deposits of this ore in the world is located. Col. John Adams of Del Rio, who in 1907, discovered a deposit of manganese at Yellow Springs … The mine here … is the only manganese mine in the world which can be operated by hydraulic works…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

French Broad Hustler [Hendersonville, NC], Oct. 31, 1918: At Del Rio, Tenn. the Pace Wood and Timber Company is working a chestnut wood boundary approximated at 100,000 cords, which is being moved to the railroad over a flume eleven miles long. The output is being used by the Champion Fibre Company at Canton.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, Nov. 13, 1927: Newport, Tenn. “Rattling Cave” has stalagmites resembling fish in shape, skulls and bones of various kinds and a human skull. So say Charles LaRue, Trent Sexton and Dick Edwards who ventured into the unexplored cave two miles from here. The young men got fifty feet of rope and lowered themselves into the cave. Two large rooms were found opening out at points along the way down. At the bottom another room was found. A wellpreserved skull was brought out which is being exhibited. Another skull embedded in the rock could not be removed. Experienced explorers had investigated all known caves in Cocke County but never tackled this one.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nashville Banner, Feb. 3, 1929: Newport is not only the northern gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but the nearest railroad point to the park … Only recently additional purposes of park land in Cocke County have been

made. While a state highway to the park boundary is almost completed, Cocke County has been building a road into the park. The road leads to the foot of Mount Guyot. This summit, 6636 feet high, and the second highest peak in the park, affords the most wonderful panoramas of mountain scenery in Eastern America

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, Feb. 7, 1929: Newport, Tenn. Representative Frank W. Parrott has introduced a bill in the legislature to stop pollution of Big Pigeon River. The bill is aimed at several industrial plants which, it is alleged, have been polluting the stream for many years.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, June 11, 1933: Half of Cocke County will be made into one of the richest wild game preserves in the state … resulting in the organization of an Izzak Walton League … The preserve will be stocked with bear, deer, probably some buffalo, wild turkey, pheasants, quail and other game.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, July 5, 1936: Del Rio is quite a shipping point for various woods, such as chestnut, hemlock, jack pine, dogwood and black gum. The region, too, abounds in herbs, roots and various plants such as butterfly root, rabbit’s ear, “sang” (ginseng), per coon root, iron weed and various other herbs. The rare gopher wood is also found here.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, March 23, 1938: Near Cosby on the Sevier-Cocke County line is the fallen trunk of a giant chestnut tree which measures 12 feet in diameter and thirty-five feet in circumference. Near this tree are two giant grape vines that show primeval growth, one five feet in circumference and the other two, and both bear an abundance of fruit yearly.

Mill dam on Pigeon River generated power for the mill and electricity for Newport.

Medical care has come a long way

from his seat and in a few minutes was dead. Dr. J.W. Ruble, a physician of Del Rio, happened to be a passenger on the train and rendered what assistance he could to the dying man …

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

– Thomas Fuller

It is true that too often humans take health for granted. Many things contribute to our health – genetics, our diet, our lifestyle, but even when all of them are in order, sickness is always a possibility and accidents do happen. A look through the news pages of the past shows the advances that have been made in care, the impact on our area and diseases that we thankfully have overcome. Disease can take the young, while others live to be aged.

Nashville Banner, March 21, 1901: Dr. Scott, a specialist from Knoxville, has just completed a diagnosis of six cases which some of the Newport physicians have disagreed on and pronounced them smallpox in a very mild form … Two cases have developed in the jail and four in the suburb of Newport known as the Jones and Randolph Addition …

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, March 12, 1902: J.C. Johnson, age 46, manager of the Swiss Bell Ringers … dropped dead on Southern train #11 between Hot Springs and Morristown Tuesday afternoon of heart disease. Mr. Johnson was talking quietly when he suddenly fell forward

Morristown Gazette, March 18, 1903: Mrs. J.C. Hodges and Mrs. W.C. Witt of Morristown returned home today from Dr. J.M. Master’s Sanitarium at Newport, Tenn. Both were successfully operated on for a cataract. Dr. Masters is one of the most skillful eye surgeons to be found. Grand View Sanitarium, established by Dr. Masters at Newport, is one of the most complete institutions in the United States…

Knoxville Sentinel, May 16, 1903: Speaking on the sanitary condition of Newport, we heard one of our foremost physicians a few days ago make the prediction that there would be more sickness in Newport this summer than for several years. He bases his opinion on the mildness of the past winter and the poor drainage of the town … Mayor and aldermen, don’t you think a ditch through the town is urgently needed? ...

Knoxville Sentinel, Jan. 23, 1905: About a fourth of the population of Newport is suffering from measles, mumps or grip. Thus far, no deaths have resulted, but several serious cases are reported.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Dec. 9, 1909: Leonard Harper of Wilsonville was brought into Newport today for medical treatment. Seven weeks ago while chopping wood, he severed an artery in his foot and the wound will not heal, continuing to bleed. As a result, the patient is in a serious condition.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Aug. 14, 1910: Newport, Tenn. Wholesale arrests of country merchants charged with violation of the laws of the state board of pharmacy in selling drugs without certificate of registration has followed the appearance of William Hume, Jr., an attorney for the state board … It is stated that only a rare instance will a rural merchant in this section be found who is not selling laudanum. At one place, Parrottsville, four different merchants were arrested… HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nashville Banner, July 20, 1911: The burial of A.C. Vinson, beside the grave of his daughter Ola, who died only a few weeks ago, marked the second victim claimed by that dread disease, pellagra … The death of Mr. Vinson marks the fifth known death from pellagra in Cocke County, two men and a woman having died before this date. The neighbors of the Vinson family were very much afraid to associate during the illness of father and daughter, and the funeral yesterday was attended by only a few of the friends … HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Sentinel, March 14, 1913: Dolph, son of Mr. and Mrs. S.H. Clark, on the poor farm has a disease that doctors have thus far failed to name. About three weeks ago a small pimple was noticed near his mouth which gradually developed into something like an aggravated blister … Dr, W.G. Snoddy gave as his opinion that the disease was contracted from cattle and is called ringworm. The young man’s face is in a serious condition. Several days ago he went to a Knoxville hospital and there received treatment but did not learn from what he was suffering … Within the past week two younger brothers have developed symptoms of the disease and it is feared they have contracted it either from the older brother or in the same manner he did.

Tampa [FL] Tribune, July 16, 1913: Lithia Inn. Epsom-lithia water from a well and mountain spring water. Cures stomach trouble, kidney, liver, rheumatism, malaria and is an excellent tonic and proves fine for complexion. Modern conveniences. 350 yards from Southern depot. Altitude 1500 feet. Tennis, croquet and various amusements. $6 to $7 per week. Special family rates. No consumptives taken. Miss Marietta Wood, Newport, Tenn.

Robinson, representing the state board of health who has been running free dispensaries in Cocke County, finds a heavy percentage of hookworm infection among the school children of the county. In some localities he has found as high as seventy-five percent of the children infected. In one day’s work he established a record of having found 130 cases of hookworm disease. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

New Orleans [LA] States, July 11, 1917: Knoxville, Tenn. In the physical examination of Company A of the Second Tennessee Volunteers at Newport, Tenn., a record of physical perfection that has never been surpassed was established. Only six men out of 110 were rejected.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Oct. 29, 1918: It appears that influenza has just started over Cocke County. The number of cases in Newport more than doubled during the past week and several deaths, mostly small children resulted … In the country districts it is said to have reached the epidemic stage … One of the carriers on the route from Bybee reported that he believed there were over 200 cases on his route. Local physicians are working overtime and rendering heroic service to the stricken people …

New Orleans [LA] States, Jan. 27, 1921: Newport, Tenn. The case of Lige Turner charged with involuntary manslaughter resulted in a mistrial, the jury disagreeing. The defendant, who belonged to a faith which disbelieved in medicine had a 14-year-old son suffering from a gunshot wound. A physician who called to dress the wound left medicine which it is alleged the father burned and declined to have further medical attention given. The boy died after a month’s illness.

Knoxville Journal, Sept. 14, 1927: A Cocke County lad, Walter Ford, age 5, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Ford of Del Rio, will be the first patient to be received at the new Shrine Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina. The child is crippled in the legs and the hips and was taken to Greenville by John B. Ruble, Cocke County member of the Shrine crippled children committee … He will take the child to Greenville by motor and will be accompanied by Mr. Ford, the father, and probably by C.W. Perry and R.P. Sulte…

Chattanooga Daily Times, Dec. 8, 1928: The Cocke County Medical Association meeting in session at Newport, this week gave unanimous approval of a full-time public health unit for Cocke County and has enlisted the cooperation of the Newport Chamber of Commerce … according to Dr. W.K. Sharpe, Jr. in charge of the county organization for the state …

At CockeCounty Monument we know thatselecting amonument fora lovedone,orevenyourself can be quite atask. We areheretohelp you through the process of learning about various types of monuments and we willworkwith youtocraft apersonal monument thatreflects the

Thank youagain fortrustingOwner MatthewWoodyand

Cogg inswithyourmemorialneeds. Youwill always receivefriendly, helpful ser vice

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Aug. 14, 1913: Affidavit of Scott Holt, Greeneville, TN: I have been under the treatment of all the leading physicians that I knew and have bought all kinds of patent medicines… and have visited all the mineral springs near me and got no relief. I left home last Monday, August 4, 1913, for Cocke County and while in Newport I heard of Old Doctor Hutchinson, the Indian root and herb doctor … He diagnosed my case … After taking his treatment … I returned home of the 9th, feeling like a new man…

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Dec. 1, 1913: Dr.

Nashville Tennessean, Dec. 7, 1947: Whether it’s Grainger, Cocke, Hamblen or Jefferson, everybody knows Mrs. Robert Hickey, an ex-schoolteacher … who knows how to win the friendship of children in those four counties as she travels from school to school showing them how to fight tuberculosis. She takes movies and charts, pamphlets and posters…to show the children how tuberculosis germs are no obscure threats confined to research laboratories… For tuberculosis, the fourth largest cause of death in Tennessee, lays its heaviest hand on the deep valleys of upper East Tennessee … [Mrs. Hickey was long active in the American Lung Association.]

Matthew Woody Owner

Lisa Coggins Office Manager

Cocke County ripe in

farming and agriculture

the upland red calcareous clay, found generally through East Tennessee.

Agriculture

– Thomas Jefferson

The economy of this country at one time was primarily agricultural. That might not be the case now, but it is still vital. Our nation is fed by farmers.

Cocke Countians are fortunate, living in a semi-rural area, in that most are not too far removed from the farm; many of our parents and grandparents grew up on a farm. We are still somewhat tied to the land. Driving along our highways we can see the growth of the cash crops like corn, hay, apples, soybeans and tomatoes, as well as various breeds of cattle grazing in the fields. Many still have vegetable gardens, perhaps more of a hobby rather than a necessity. Despite the work, there is still the delight of watching the plants develop and enjoying their produce.

Cocke County over the years has been a consistent producer of livestock and farming, and has been frequently recognized in the media.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, May 10, 1900: Cocke County reports the best fruit crop since the Civil War.

Chattanooga Press, Sept. 7, 1900: Tea culture will be given another test in Cocke County.

Chattanooga Daily Times, July 23, 1905: Newport: The fine threshing machine belonging to Moore and Spurgeon was burned Tuesday at Rankins with 600 or 700 bushels of wheat belonging to J.J. Denton. Mr. Denton had a narrow escape trying to put out the flames.

Chattanooga News, Sept. 15, 1906: John M. Stokely manages all the [Stokely] farms and sees that the products are raised for the canning factories … They ship 100 cars of fruit each year. They raise livestock (mules, horses, hogs, sheep, cattle), wheat, corn, oats, hay … on their great farms … They use in their farm work sixty-five head of mules…They employ in all of their farms and factories over 1,000 people …

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Oct. 22, 1909: Dr. John Stanberry is back from Birmingham where his Duroc Jersey hogs captured all the prizes in sight. His herd took down 14 prizes, ten seconds and two championships. The herd is at Montgomery this week and next week will be seen at the Georgia State Fair. This same herd swept the Tennessee State Fair several weeks ago.

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, Nov. 27, 1909: Over 1,000 turkeys were shipped east from Newport to be served on the Thanksgiving tables.

Atlanta Georgia & News, Jan. 26, 1911: J.W. Fisher of Newport in East Tennessee writes that he is greatly pleased with results having averaged five tons of alfalfa per acre and finding a ready sale at $22 per ton, but he has found the hay so good that he prefers feeding it to his own stock to selling it. He has grown alfalfa on

Knoxville Sentinel, July 29, 1911: Cocke County: A steady downpour of rain on Monday last insures a good corn crop in this section … Hill farmers have suffered a good deal and the hay crop has been cut almost in half, but this is being offset by sowing peas and millet … The fruit crop is almost a failure, there being only a half a crop of apples and practically no peaches. The berry crop has been large … The 500 acres of tomatoes that are for canning will not yield a full crop, but recent rains have brought them out wonderfully …

Morristown Republican, July 3, 1914: A Cocke County fruit grower reports the crop from 500 twoyear-old peach trees sold last week for $1000.

Augusta [GA] Chronicle, March 25, 1917: It is of interest to know that Stokely Bros & Company of Newport, Tenn. are probably the largest sauerkraut canners in the country. They have been planting their own cabbage, as planted in the month of March and cut for sauerkraut in the month of July. They use large cypress tanks, just as much of the silo people use, for making the kraut.

Springfield [MA] Daily News, May 19, 1917: D.C. Waters, a Cocke County farmer, is a patriot of the first order. He is a prosperous farmer and last fall the stored many bushels of Irish potatoes. Recently a buyer from the East offered Water $2.50 a bushel for them. He declined the offer. Then he notified the neighborhood he had plenty of Irish potatoes for seed and if any of his neighbors did not have money to buy seed this spring, he would give them the potatoes to plant without making any charge. Now potato patches are found everywhere in the neighborhood.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal and Tribune, April 13, 1918: Newport, Tenn. Plans for silo filling are being made by the farmers of the county. One farmer is arranging to half fill his silo in June with sugar corn stalks in the green stage. Three months later he expects to finish the filling, but that time he will use field corn stalks that have matured with water added. This method has not been used to any extent but if whatever top silage has spoiled, say to the depth of a foot, is removed before the second filling commences, there ought to be no loss from spoilage according to county agent P.C. Hambaugh. The feeding of silage especially to cattle is producing satisfactory results in Cocke County.

Evening Star [Washington, DC], April 14, 1921: Announcement was made at the meeting of cattlemen gathered here for the annual shorthorn sale at the University of Tennessee that L.S. Allen of Newport, Tenn. has just purchased the famous shorthorn herd owned by George T. Stallings, Macon, GA. The herd, valued at $60,000, will be brought to East Tennessee. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Sentinel, Nov. 11, 1922: Newport ships an average of one car of chickens a week year round. Poultry, eggs and butter for one of the most important items of cash … C.E. Ottinger and Brother is the largest dealer of produce of this class … Mr. Ottinger and his brother recently succeeded in the business established and operated by their father … The firm is now giving some attention to the establishment of cheese and creamery enterprises …

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Chattanooga Daily Times, Feb. 23, 1925: The Newport Plain

Talk says: Reidtown Cheese Factory sends out an SOS for more milk. Farmers in the neighborhood should respond to the call. Beside supplying ready money a few dairy cows will do much to increase the fertility of the soil, The East Tennessee cheese used to be one of the most popular and profitable products of the region.

Knoxville News Sentinel, May 1, 1927: County Agent F.C. Walker has reported the presence in Cocke County of the dreaded harlequin cabbage bug which is so destructive to young cabbage plants. Hundreds of acres are devoted to the growing of cabbage and active measures are being taken to save the crop from destruction by the bug.

Knoxville News Sentinel, Feb. 18, 1928: Cocke County farmers are discovering that the hard freezes of the past winter have played havoc with the wheat crop. Many farmers are plowing up their wheat fields and it is estimated that fully fifty percent of fields seeded to wheat will have to be plowed up and planted in other crops.

Asheville Citizen Times, Feb. 20, 1928: At an enthusiastic meeting of the Cocke County farmers held Saturday [February 18], an organization was perfected for the purpose of co-operative marketing, called the Cocke County Farmers Cooperative Association and nearly a score of members was added at the initial meeting. J.J. Hampton, a well-todo farmer, is president … At the meeting many farmers promised to grow large amounts of specified crops, in order that shipments might be made to markets in the North.

Asheville Citizen Times, Feb. 20, 1928: Newport, Tenn. With a big milk dispensary at Greeneville … and its need for an enormous amount of milk, Newport is assured of a milk depot … it will require 20,000 pounds of milk daily … but interested people think with the cooperation of the farmers and dairymen still the amount will be easily procured … HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal, Nov. 12, 1928: Six farmers at Del Rio, Cocke County, have bought and distributed a car of finely ground lime for their farms, according to County Agent F.C. Walker. Cocke County farmers are great believers in lime.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville Journal, Feb. 20, 1932: The local protection of foxes and the later state law prohibiting the killing of the animals has caused them to multiply prodigiously, until within the past few years, they have almost wiped out the stock of quail and rabbits … Great destruction of poultry and young pigs is reported from many sections of the county … an effort will be made at the next section of the legislature to repeal the “fox law” in Cocke County … HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Knoxville News Sentinel, Dec. 20, 1936: The Cocke County Farm Bureau gave a get-together banquet Wednesday evening in the Memorial Building with more than 200 present. Local businessmen, farmers and friends met and discussed their problems … Dinner was served by the home economics class at Parrottsville High School.