CHAPTER XXVIII

THE FOUR MILE LAW-THE INDEPENDENT MOVEMENT-GOVERNOR HOOPER

In 1887, the legislature passed the "Four Mile Law." This prohibited the sale of intoxicating liquors within four miles of an incorporated institution of learning, unless such sale should take place in an incorporated town. This was the first law passed by the Tennessee legislature after the Civil War to restrict the sale of liquors in the state. The prime movers in having this law passed were those in charge of the University of the South at Sewanee. Their purpose was to have the sale of liquors prohibited within four miles of Sewanee.

In 1887, an amendment to the constitution, prohibiting the sale of liquors in the state, was voted on by the people of Tennessee. The result was as follows:

For Prohibition
Against Prohibition.

117,504 ..145,197

It is thus seen that even at this early date in the national movement there was a strong sentiment for prohibition in Tennessee.

The legislature of 1899 passed an act which allowed all incorporated towns in the state with a population of two thousand or less, to surrender their charters, and receive new charters which pro

hibited the sale of liquors within their borders. In 1903, this law was amended so that it was made to apply to towns of 5,000 population or less; and in 1907, the law was extended to all the cities and towns of the state. This act is known as the Pendleton Law, taking its name from Senator I. L. Pendleton, who introduced the

measure in the senate

and led the fight for its passage. Acting under this law, all the towns in the state, with the exception of four which had not surrendered their charters under previous laws, gave up their charters and reincorporated as "dry" towns. The four places in which the sale of liquors continued were Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Lafollette.

GOVERNOR M. R. PATTERSON

Governor Patterson opposed very vigorously the Pendleton Act, but he was not able to prevent its passage.

Governor Patterson was a candidate for reëlection in 1908. A state Democratic primary was arranged for nominating a candidate for governor. Governor Patterson and ex-Senator Carmack were

candidates before this primary for the Democratic nomination for governor. The leading issue in the primary campaign was the question of state-wide prohibition, Senator Carmack standing for statewide prohibition and Governor Patterson against it. Governor Patterson received the nomination.

SENATOR E. W. CARMACK

Soon after this primary, Senator Carmack became the editor of the Nashville Tennessean. He with many others asserted that the people had a right to take any position they desired on the liquor question, when they came together in their state convention to adopt a platform for the Democratic Party; that the primary did not settle anything except the question of the nominee of the Democratic Party state convention assem

for governor. When the bled to adopt a platform, the state committee acting in the interest of Governor Patterson, unseated one hundred and fifty-one delegates sent to the convention by the people, and appointed others in their places. This was done to prevent the convention from adopting state-wide prohibition as a plank in

its platform. The Patterson followers declared that when Governor Patterson was nominated in the primary, that action committed the Democratic Party against state-wide prohibition because Governor Patterson was against state-wide prohibition.

Senator Carmack, as editor of the Tennessean, said that this committee had no right to unseat the people's delegates and substitute its own appointees in their places, and he refused to be bound by the platform of such a convention which he asserted did not represent the views of the majority of the people. He supported the nominee of the party, but repudiated the platform, and urged the people to elect a legislature that would pass a state-wide prohibition law.

When the returns came in after the November election, it seemed that in both the senate and the lower house a majority who were in accord with Senator Carmack's views had been elected. Within one week after this election, Senator Carmack was killed on the streets of Nashville by Duncan B. Cooper and his son, Robin Cooper. Colonel Duncan B. Cooper had been a strong supporter of Governor Patterson, and perhaps his chief adviser in the campaign.

In a few days after this election, a messenger came from Colonel Cooper to Senator Carmack, stating that Colonel Cooper had said that if his (Cooper's) name occurred again in Senator Carmack's paper, he would kill Carmack. The Tennessean on the next morning, contained Colonel Cooper's name in

a short editorial written by Senator Carmack. On the afternoon of the same day, November 9, 1908, Senator Carmack was killed.

The legislature met in the following January and passed the state-wide prohibition law. This law was fought in every possible way by Governor Patterson, but it was passed by a large majority in both houses over the governor's veto.

Duncan B. Cooper and his son were denied bail, and were kept in jail until their trial. They were convicted by the jury and were given a sentence of twenty years in the penitentiary. The case was appealed to the supreme court. The supreme court affirmed the sentence of Duncan B. Cooper, but granted a new trial to Robin Cooper. Governor Patterson granted a full pardon to Duncan B. Cooper, within a few minutes after the supreme court had affirmed the sentence of the lower court.

A new judge and a new attorney-general had now come into office in Davidson County, the judge by appointment of Governor Patterson, and the attorney-general by election. These officials had the case against Robin Cooper dismissed without allowing it to come to trial a second time.

THE INDEPENDENT MOVEMENT

The independent movement in Tennessee politics had its beginning in 1908, when Senator Carmack as editor of the Nashville Tennessean led the fight against the liquor plank in the Democratic platform.

In 1910, three of the five judges of the supreme