As a young man, Osborne worked at the Iron Furnace in Big Stone Gap in Wise County, Virginia, where he had lived for the last 12 years. According to the Southwest Journal Newspaper, in November 1907, Osborne was involved in an argument with two brothers, Ike and Jim Belcher, who claimed Osborne was purposefully breaking off iron bars too fast for them to load. The heated exchange of words quickly escalated and the Belchers attacked Osborne. The fight was quickly broken up by other workmen. Hearing of the fight, Prentiss Belcher, Ike and Jim’s brother and Osborne’s uncle by marriage, ran to the scene holding an iron bar in his hand. Seeing that fight was over, Prentiss stuck the bar in the ground and stood by. At this time, Marshal Belcher, Osborne’s father-in-law and the older brother of the other Belchers, arrived at the scene. Marshall Belcher was the police officer at the Furnace. He ordered Ike and Jim and Osborne to appear at the Mayor’s office at 3 o’clock that afternoon to answer to the charge of fighting. Osborne requested that Prentiss Belcher also be charged for threatening him with the iron bar.

Prentiss Belcher shouted, “If I have to go, I’ll go for something!”

At this point, witnesses stated that Belcher advanced towards Osborne with his hand in his pocket. Though Marshal Belcher stood between the two men, Chap Osborne pulled a .41 caliber derringer from his pocket and shot Prentiss Belcher in the upper right breast, killing him almost instantly. A search of Prentiss Belcher’s body failed to find a weapon.

Osborne was arrested and taken to jail. The next day, he was given a preliminary trial by the Mayor and Squire A.M. Lee. He was bound over to the Grand Jury and taken to the county jail in Wise. Little is known of what followed, other than Osborne apparently was not charged by the Grand Jury and he returned to work at the Furnace where he lost an arm in an accident. By 1908, Osborne was working in law enforcement. In 1922, he joined the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office as the prohibition officer.

In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment and its enabling statute, the National Prohibition Act, was passed. Popularly known as the Volsted Act after Rep. Andrew Volsted, who introduced the legislation and shepherded its passage, it prohibited the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors in the United States. Volsted, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was not the author of the bill itself. It was conceived and written by Wayne Wheeler of the Anti-Saloon League.

1919 was a turbulent year in America. Fighting in World War I, “the War to End All Wars,” had just concluded the previous November. The formal end did not take place until June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. 2.8 million men had been drafted to serve in the war, though not that many saw actual conflict. Nevertheless, the doughboys returned home to a country torn by numerous race riots, labor unrest, widespread strikes, including the infamous Boston Police Strike, and a sex scandal that rocked the Navy and led to a rebuke of then Assistant Naval Secretary and future president Franklin Roosevelt by Congress.

Demobilization and the lifting of war time price controls led to inflation, high unemployment, and fierce competition for what few jobs existed. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia further inflamed the national hysteria with fears of a Red takeover in the States. Racial hostilities were such that by the middle of September, 47 black men had been lynched and six had been burned alive. For the first time ever, blacks banded together and started fighting back.

It was in this environment that groups like the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union were able to force the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment. They were able to persuade Congress that alcohol was the fuel that fed the flames of unrest.

By the mid-1920s, the criminal gangs that began during Prohibition were entrenching themselves in the major cities of the East and Midwest. Al Capone and Bugs Moran were duking it out for control of Chicago. In New York, Owney “The Killer” Madden used bootlegging profits to open the famous Cotton Club, a whites only establishment that featured black acts. Madden later managed the boxing careers of world champions Primo Carnera and Max Baer.

In Southwest Virginia and other parts of Appalachia, the moonshine industry fairly exploded. Since 1870, when President Rutherford B. Hayes attempted to impose a federal tax on whiskey, an ongoing war had existed between federal, state, and local law enforcement and the independent mountaineers who produced the illicit distillation. Gunfights between the two groups were fairly common.

Chap Osborne had a reputation as a tough lawman who was known to shoot first and ask questions later. On that Sunday evening in 1927, the one-armed deputy approached the vehicle he had just stopped with his gun drawn. Shots rang out from the suspects, and Osborne died from a single gunshot wound to the head. A suspect was later arrested, but ironically, just as Osborne had been 20 years earlier, he was found not guilty.

Tazewell County Prohibition Officer "Chap" Osborne

*******

On Saturday, May 13, 2006, in a candlelight vigil, the name ROBERT CHAPMAN OSBORNE was added to the Officer Down Memorial Wall at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC.

So Friday, we met Joe Lucas, the man who plans to lease the land (nice alliteration, huh?) at the farm to go over the deal. It’s been over a year since we’ve seen the place. It’s a little more run down, and a little more overgrown, but still beautiful.

After we roughed out a deal with Joe, Anne and I headed down to Floyd to meet our friends Amy and Doug Thompson. We hooked up with Doug at the Floyd Country Store and spent a pleasant afternoon catching up. I had a light lunch of a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of pinto beans, both of which were some of the best I’ve ever had. I also purchased a copy of Rodale’s Organic Gardening, the bible for many organic gardeners.

Friday was Amy’s birthday and the four of us met for an early dinner at Mickey G’s. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Michael Gucciardo is the best chef in Southwest Virginia. I had a whole Red Snapper with Livornese Sauce (tomatoes, onions, capers, and black olives) topped with fresh mussels and clams. It was to die for. Anyone within driving distance of Floyd who hasn’t eaten at Mickey G’s is really missing something.

After a leisurely drive home, we spent a quiet evening with cocktails on the deck. Saturday morning, I headed to the Wytheville Farmer’s Market while Anne slept in. If I don’t stop eating the outstanding baked goods at the Market, I’m going to gain back the 40lbs I worked so hard to lose. Some of this stuff is positively addictive. Thanks to the hard work of Market Director Suzie Richert, this year’s Market is not only a great place to purchase quality products, it has become a fun place to hangout.

Next week, yours truly will be turning and burning starting at 9am, so be sure to stop by and say hello. I’ll be giving away free samples using products purchased from local vendors.

I made it back home in time for the afternoon thunderstorm. The brief storms and showers we’ve had for the past week have not only helped the garden, they’ve cooled things down in the evening. We’ve made it this far into the summer without the air conditioner. I grilled a whole chicken using Dave Richert’s Green Grillin’ small batch applewood charcoal and accompanied it with a mess of turnip and collard greens, blackeyed peas with chopped raw onion, dirty rice and some excellent sourdough rolls I purchased at the Market.

Just another couple of days in paradise.