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Show BBISTOjJA.-TEIIL r TOWN THAT 13 LITERALLY Dl-VIDEO Dl-VIDEO AGAINST ITSELF. But Still Perfect Harmony Seems to Exist One May Do on One Side of Street What Is Prohibited on the Other. Knoxvlllo, Tenn. That, contrary to .Hlbllcal Rtntomcnt, a "city divided against Itudlf" can stand Is shown most strangely In tho peculiar enso of Bristol, Va.-Tonn. Tho town Is literally liter-ally divided In half by tho state lino that separates Virginia nnd Tonnossoo. Ono sldo or tho main street Is In the Old Dominion and tho other in tho iVolunteor state. Tho state lino runs In tho center of tho strcot car track on Stato street for moro than a mile. A novel plan of evading tho Tenncssco Jim Crow laws as affecting street cars was devised whon the legislature passed a statuto requiring negroes to bo Boated In tho roar of tho enrs and apart from tho whites. On Stato street hnlf or n car Is in Virginia and one-halt In Tuu-nesseo. Tuu-nesseo. To evade this law It is only neccssnry to havo tho colorod passengers passen-gers rldo on tho sldo that is running In tho Old Dominion, and by so doing thoy may rldo with a passenger who Is In Tennessee, but who Is powerless to rompol tho conductor to enforce tho Jim Crow law, Thero Is also n difference ,ln tho marrlago laws. In Bristol, Tonn., tho only prerequisites to thu Issuanco of a marrlago llconso aro that tho prospective prospec-tive brldo bo 16 and tho groom 18, while In the city Just ncross tho stnto line It is necessary for all applicants for such license, whoro elthor party Is undor 21 years old, to havo tho written consent or tholr parents or guardians. Tho result Is thnt Bristol, Tonn., Is a sort or Orctna Oreen for eloping cou-plos cou-plos from neighboring Btntes whoso rigid laws withhold matrimony from infnnts that nro ollglblo in Tennessee. Howovor, thoro Is n slight difference In the price, as tho Ucenso In Bristol, Va., only costs $1, whllo In Tonncssce, Just across tho streot, tho samo document docu-ment soils for 14.50. Tho fact that the principal thor-oughfaro thor-oughfaro la directly nn tho stato lino permits men In business 'to chooso tho stato in which tho laws aro moro favorable to their business In which to locato, and yet not sacrlflco advantages advan-tages of bolng on tho principal street, For Instanco, If tho state llconso tax In Tennessee is $200 n year and It Is $100 n year In Virginia, a man entering enter-ing this business can bo In Bristol, Vn to tho samo advantage, nnd savo $100 a year on license. Tho result is thnt some lines of business nro rop-rcsonted rop-rcsonted nlniost exclusively In ono city, on nccount of cheaper license (nx or some other consideration of that character. ' Tho Tcnnosseo lnw which prohibits tho salo or rovolvors and other small firearms within tho state Is robbed of Its effect In Bristol, for tho reason Hint Virginia has no such law, and hardware stores and sporting emporiums empori-ums In thnt part ot the city which Is In tho Old Dominion carry thoni regularly reg-ularly In stock. It was on thu spot whoro llrlstol now stands that Oon. Evan Shelby, tho famous Indian wnrrlor, tho father or Gen. Isanc Shelby, tho lattor first governor nud "father of Kentucky," settled and built tho first whlto mnn's cabin west of tho Alloghcnlus. Tho lit-tlo lit-tlo log hut, which was preserved until a row years ngo, stood utmost dlroctly on tho stnto lino, and in It (Ion. iBnao Shelby, who wpn fnmo at King's mountain, moun-tain, was born. Tho body ot Oon. Kvan Shelby now sleeps on tho stuto lino botweon tho two great common-woalths, common-woalths, in Bristol. Daniel Boono, tho tnmous plonocr sottlcr, also settled near Bristol and tho stato lino, and the inscription ho curved upon a beech tree not far from Bristol Is qulto plainly visible It Is ns follows: "Daniel Boono clllod a bar." By reason of tho stnto lino It Is often dlfllcult to detormlno quostlons of Jurisdiction In criminal and cIVtl cases, A tow months ago a young girl wax found In East Hill cemotory In a dying condition, with a mortal bullot i wound In her brenst. Her sweetheart was charged with having murdered ,hor. Sho was within ten feet of tho stnto lino, which dlvldos tho comotery, and It was nccossary for surveyors to rerun tho stato lino beforo It was determined de-termined that Tennessee had Jurisdiction Jurisdic-tion In tho caso. Until a fow montliB ago, when a plan for doing such work In common was adopted, It was a frequent thing to soo, ono sldo or Stato streot well swept and sprinkled, whllo the pavement on tho other side, bolng In tho other city, remained dirty and dusty. How. over, many or these handicaps havo been ovcrcomo and thoro Is unity in action on almost matters. At times feeling between tho police forces has been bltto." nnd a row years ago resulted re-sulted In (ho killing of n member or (ho Brlslol (Tenn.) dopurttnent by a Bristol (Va.) bluecoat. but thoso objectionable ob-jectionable features Incident to tho peculiar geographical situation ot the city aro bolng rapidly minimized. |