Virginian Determined to Keep Home as Law Moves for Ouster
Deadline Tomorrow Set to Evict Park Dweller Who Declares State Statute Is Unconstitutional.
By William H. Shippen, Jr., Staff Correspondent of The Star.
Luray, Va., October 2.—“They’re all in an open boat in a rough sea!”
The words were too nautical for the mountains, but in Melanchthon Cliser’s mouth they had a certain grim humor which seemed appropriate.
The mountaineer, now “goin’ on 62,” was referring to puzzled county authorities who are seeking to oust him from the house which his father built on Lee Highway, just under Thorntons Gap, or Panorama, in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Sheriff Threatens Gas.
Seeking to evict Cliser from the Shenandoah National Park, Sheriff E. L. Lucas of Page County went to the mountaineer’s cottage yesterday. The sheriff threatened to use tear gas bombs, but Cliser retired to his house, locked all the doors and refused point-blank to emerge. Sheriff Lucas concluded to seek legal advice before resorting to violence.
Cliser’s father and grandfather before him had resided in the mountainlands surrounding the gap, through which the recently constructed Skyline Drive now runs. On the summit of the ridge just over the Cliser home is the family burial plot in which lie the graves of the mountaineer’s father and grandfather.
“This is the only home I ever knew and I aim to keep it,” Cliser said today. “I’m standing on my constitutional rights. My doors and my gates are locked and only a thief and a robber goes through a broken gate and an open window.”
When the sheriff, two deputies and Commonwealth’s Attorney S. L. Walton sought to evict Cliser yesterday, it was said that the mountaineer went to the telephone and demanded to speak to President Roosevelt.
The sheriff called in through the window:
“The President’s in California.”
“You attend to your business and I’ll attend to mine,” Cliser replied.
Cliser runs a filling station and lunch room about a mile west of the gap and about 8 miles east of Luray. He taught in the county schools for 10 years and for the last 12 has been deputy tax collector.
Deadline Is Set.
The eviction order was signed by Judge H. W. Bertram at Luray under a State law giving the Virginia Conservation Commission authority to condemn land for the Shenandoah National Park.
Cliser, who says he has been studying law at home for the last five years, declares the State act is unconstitutional since it grants the right to condemn without showing the necessity for the act.
Sheriff Lucas said every effort will be made to execute the eviction order without violence, but that the order has been extended several times in Cliser’s case. It was said at the court house that Cliser must be out of his home by midnight tomorrow.
The sheriff was awaiting instructions form Judge Bertram before proceeding again against the little mountain stronghold.