FOLLOWING ARE TWO STORIES ABOUT "KING DAVID" RYMER, WE ARE NOT SURE OF THE SOURCE

The first article could be a copy of a news article in a newspaper and the second a reply in the "Letters ot the Editor" section. Some think they were articles in the Polk County News. However, some of the terms indicate they were written for readers in areas such as Chattanooga or Knoxville who were not familiar with Polk County.

They have been transcribed from a page written on a poor typewriter that was copied and is in poor condition.

The first is titled: "King David" evicted from his mountain farm

In the backwoods of Polk county near the headwaters of Greasy creek, there lived in 1860 a snowy haired and patriarchal man in extreme old age who everybody calls "King David Rymer", or "King David".

The King owned quite a large tract of mountain land, which he divided up among his children, but as his deeds were rather vague in descriptions and his descendents continued to increase at the ratio of 16 to 1, the Rymer tribe began many years ago to occupy the Wetners-Stpejenson tracts belonging to non-residents, who live in the East.

These non-residents tried repeatedly to make the King and his tribe, either leave the property or pay rent for it, all of which the King refused, and he gave their agents to understand that if they attempted to force the issue, they would have their hands full of bullets, "and coffee for two". Recently, however, the W. & S. agents brought suits to dispossess the King and his layout, and the Judge issued the necessary papers to show which was their lands, and which was Rymer's. Deputy Marshals well armed with Colt's revolvers and Winchesters repaired to their mountain fastness. They came upon the King and quite a number of his progeny quite to their surprise, and showed, read and explained the documents, with a display of arms accompanying, and the King finally acknowledged that he was on the wrong tract, and leased it there and then, as the land suited him.

The second is titled: "Reply to the King David tale"

"King David' Rymer did until recently own a small tract of land in the mountain fastness of Polk county, but some agencies of Eastern millionaires several ago got the old man to sign a paper leasing his own land from them. A few years later, they entered suit against King David to dispossess him from his own land. Their lease was one of the well know land stealing instruments by which the lessee, " releases all rights, claims and title to the land and acknowledged the ownership to be vented in the lesser." By taking advantage of the old man's ignorance, it is supposed that the lease was obtained. But now comes the great slick duck agent's crowning piece of rascality by putting into the pleadings, and writing into the decree title to many thousands of acres of mountain land belonging to other people. Such fraudulent decrees are supposedly given by Judges relying on the honesty of attorneys.

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