First, I will write what my Father told me about "Judge" Randolph, who was the foremost Lawyer of his time. I do not know his given name nor his initials, but he was known as "Judge Randolph" because he served as Judge in some court for many years.
The one particular case which my father talked to me so much about was the State of Tennessee vs. Seth Bible, for murder. This killing came about by a quarrel between Seth Bible, who was fathers nephew, and John Davis who married Francis Bible who was a first cousin to Seth, and also a niece of my father. I do not know what the quarrel was about, but the quarrel became so bitter that each man feared for his life at the hands
One evening the two men met on a narrow mountain trail and Davis had a gun on his shoulder and Bible got the idea into his head that Davis intended to shoot him in the back after they had passed each other, so he got his knife ready and just as they passed, Bible whirled and stabbed Davis in the back, the blade reaching his heart and killed him. Judge Randolph was employed to defend Bible and instead of using his law books he brought his Holy Bible to court and by reading a few verses from the old Testament, and much pleading convinced the Jury that it was a plain case of self defense and cleared Bible of the murder charge.
The judge raised a family of children. I do not know how many, but he had one son, Ralph Randolph whom I expect some people living today will remember. His father tried to give him a good education and send him to Law School, but Ralph had other ideas. At that time the town was full of saloons and Ralph spent a great deal of his time hanging around them. I do not know whether he ever drank much or not, but I never heard of him being drunk.
When he came to be a man he took up auctioneering and developed into about as good an auctioneer as his Father was a lawyer. He had a voice like a foghorn and it didn't take him but just a few minutes to assemble a good crowd for his auctions. He had a table and gavel stored away downtown and on big days when there were lots of people in town, the merchants would consign him goods (mostly goods hard to sell) and Ralph would get out. on the street and begin to call out HEAR YE? HEAR YE? AUCTION AUCTION RALPH RANDOLPH AUCTION and it would not be but just a few minutes until he would be surrounded by a crowd and he would be yapping as much foolishness as any tobacco auctioneer you ever listened to. When his consignment of goods was sold he would thank the crowd for their attendance and liberality, and then a long drawn out OOOHH LIVERALITY. (sic)
I remember one day when there was a big crowd in town with numerous lemonade stands along main street that one of the owners of a stand asked Ralph if he would please take charge of his stand while he went out to the bank a few minutes. Ralph promised he would and as soon as the owner was out of earshot, Ralph began to harang (sic)the crowd. "Step up gents and ladies, two glasses for five cents bring a friend with you and have two glasses a piece. This is the best lemonade that was ever made in Newport. I made it myself. I made it with a few lemons, brown sugar and RIVER WATER." You may believe it or not, but Ralph sold out the whole batch before the owner got back. Every body knew that Ralph was lying but still they wanted to taste the lemonade made from brown sugar and river water.
Another odd character that I remember was an old negro who picked a banjo on the street. I cannot remember this full name, but I think his sir(sic) name was Swagerty. He had lots of tunes that he would play but his favorites were "A nigger and a white, a playin sebem up. De nigger won de money and was afraid to pick it up", and "A nigger and a white man, a playin sebem up De nigger won de money, and he picked de money up.', This old fellow would play for pennies, nickels and dimes and for pieces of chewing tobacco, or for most anything the crowd had to offer. He claimed to be extremely religious and told about an Angel visited him and told him that he would be back on a certain night at eleven o'clock to take his soul with him to Heaven, and for him to be ready to go promptly at eleven o'clock. He put the word that he would depart this life at eleven o'clock on a certain night and the neighbors were all gathered at his home to bid him farewell and all stayed until after midnight but by that time the death Angel had not showed up and they all went home leaving the old fellow in bed sound asleep.
The next day some one asked him if the Death Angel came through last night. "Yasser, he come thru but I wasn't quite ready to go. He said he would pass me by dis time, but he would be back later an I better be ready de nex time". I expect that there are some people still living in Newport today that remembers the old darkey and possibly some that can remember Ralph Randolph's acutioneering (sic). My dear reader, my stock of old time customs to write about is about exhausted. If any of my readers can think of a subject on old times that I have not already written about, please let me know and if I know enough about the subject to compose a column, I will be glad to do the best I can.
(Estil has 51 more articles, so I guess he thought of something more to talk about! LOL tls)
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These articles were written between 1972-1975 by Estil Barb Bible for a local newspaper (the "Greeneville Times" in Tennessee). He wrote these articles after he was past ninety years of age, and they appear just as he typed them.