The Rise and Fall of Iley Tate
(Listen to the audio version here ) During the Great Depression, there lived in Fayette County a mountain man named Iley Tate who ruled the hill country between Haydentown to the West Virginia line like a feudal lord. Tate, a father of 20, had amassed considerable wealth as a livestock trader, and, because of his influence and steel-cold demeanor, he had a number of local lawmen and politicians in his hip pocket. Like many powerful men in similiar positions, Iley Tate came to think of himself as untouchable; but this was an illusion that came to a shattering end in the fall of 1932. From Backwoods Brute to Baron Born in West Virginia in 1864, Iley Sanford Tate was the son of a soldier and grew up in the remote hills of Doddridge County learning the ways and customs of backwoods Appalachia. When he was a boy, Iley, along with his five siblings and his father, Jonathan, and his mother, Selina, moved north, just across the state line, and settled near Fairchance. Iley Tate eventuall...
