Makers and Romance of Alabama History Part 11

This was done in the most imperturbable manner and then he proceeded with the case in hand. The incident produced a sudden burst of laughter, which was hardly suppressed when, with stern dignity, he commanded: "The sheriff will preserve order in court!"

After he became a Republican he was frequently joked by those who had known him in the days of his most ardent Democracy, but he was never without a jolly parry to every thrust made, and always in the most felicitous way. Talking to one who had long known him, he was asked at one time what his political principles then were. With playful banter he said: "I am a Republican with Democratic variations." His reason for becoming a Republican was a.s.signed by himself as a belief that a state should have two parties, and he was willing to show his magnanimity by joining the Republicans. However, he had but little to do with politics till he was nominated in opposition to Colonel Herbert. They canva.s.sed the district together, and in strict truth Colonel Herbert was favored by larger crowds because he was accompanied by Judge Rice. Staid and serious, Colonel Herbert possessed none of the striking elements of a popular speaker. On the other hand, Rice had them all and he found delight in giving to them full expression, often at the expense of his practical opponent.

Intellectually, Judge Rice was a prince among men. He was justly ranked among the ablest lawyers of the state, and as a converser he was rarely excelled. In his lighter moods his conversation was almost boyish in its vivacity. Nor did anything seem to quench its freshness and piquancy. He seemed to know something about everything and everything about some things. However men differed from him, he was so luminous and cheery that he became the center of a group of ready listeners in any circle in which he appeared.

In debate he was one of the greatest of strategists. With quick and incisive discrimination he could detect the weak points of his opponent and would marshal his forces on these so as to lead one to forget other points of strength. If interrupted, his repartee was usually so crus.h.i.+ng that he stayed in dumbness any disposition to interfere, no matter how unfair his opponent might have at the time thought him to be. This repartee was rarely ever offensive, but, on the other hand, was so couched in ironical politeness and a.s.sumed suavity as to make it tenfold stronger.

While his career was not devoid of much of the zigzag, yet his life was one of long usefulness to the commonwealth.

GEORGE W. STONE

For many years Judge George W. Stone was a familiar figure in the public circles of Alabama. He was among the distinguished self-made men of the state. His early scholastic advantages were limited, extending not beyond the confines of a village school, yet he came to take high rank as a jurist, being regarded in the height of his power as one of the really great lawyers of the state. He was favored in being able to prosecute his studies privately, and the judgment exercised by him in his self-selected course of reading, gave evidence of that solidity of character and acuteness of discrimination which distinguished him throughout his professional and public career.

Before removing from his native state, Tennessee, to Alabama, he was admitted to the bar. He settled first in Coosa County, and later removed to Syllacauga, and later still to the town of Talladega, where he entered into co-partners.h.i.+p with the Honorable W. P. Chilton. It was in the office of this firm that Senator John T. Morgan was fitted for the bar. The picture of this eminent jurist riding a scrawny pony, with his huge saddle-bags of leather well filled with books of law, along rough roads to attend rural courts, in the early stages of his practice, is still the occasion of laudable pride of allusion among the older citizens of central and eastern Alabama counties. The first official position held by Mr.

Stone was that of circuit judge, to which position he was appointed by Governor Fitzpatrick in the place of Judge Shortridge on the occasion of the death of the latter. The service of Judge Stone on the bench was so satisfactory that he was subsequently elected over formidable candidates for the same position for a period of six years. He declined to offer for re-election after the expiration of his term, and removed to Hayneville, Lowndes County, where he engaged in the practice of the law for a period of years. In 1849 his name was prominently mentioned in connection with the governors.h.i.+p of the state. In 1856 Judge Stone was again summoned from his private practice by being elected to the supreme bench of the state, which position he continued to hold throughout the period of the Civil War. In 1865 the legislature engaged his services jointly with those of John W. Sheppard, Esq., to prepare a revised penal code of Alabama, one adapted to the conditions occasioned by the war.

The habits of study acquired by Judge Stone in his boyhood days in meeting the demands occasioned by the deficiency of his education were never abandoned. He was doggedly persistent in mastering every detail of a subject, and seems to have acquired a pa.s.sion for routine fractional work.

He took nothing for granted, never a.s.suming that it was true, till he had satisfied himself from the authorities. This gave a critical cast to his mind which, in turn, resolved itself into the utmost exactness with respect to each minute particular on any subject which would absorb his attention. With painstaking exactness he would con over a minute point for hours, in order to bring it into exact adjustment. His arguments were perfectly mortised, no matter how much time was necessary to effect this end. His labors in his office were a.s.siduous, and a case entrusted to his care never suffered the slightest negligence or inattention. Others might find time for the chase or on the stream, but Judge Stone was usually found in his office, at his desk, hammering out his cases. His studies were varied, as he would now and then unbend from his law books to delve into choice literature, of which he was quite fond. His literary taste was the highest, and occasionally he would give rein to his Pegasus and dash off a bit of fugitive poetry. This was done by way of diversion, as he never sought publication for such productions. His concentration was remarkable, and he could husband his resources with great readiness, ease, and skill.

The devotion of Judge Stone to his library prevented his attention to social intercourse, and, like most students, he was somewhat austere in his bearing. The glitter and clatter of the social circle had no charms for the man whose thoughts moved on serious and solid lines. His companions.h.i.+p was largely his books, of which he had a choice selection.

In life, he was prized as an attorney for his rigid attention to cases entrusted to his care; as a judge, for the accuracy and minuteness of his opinions, as well as for his unquestioned fairness, and as a private citizen, for his solid and substantial worth. No condition could swerve him from a course of conscientious judgment, and no temptation was sufficient to betray him into a course the least doubtful. Behind all this was a manly courage and conviction to sustain the serenity of his judgment.

Thus lived and died this distinguished Alabamian, as much admired for his private virtues as for his official service. In most respects a model man and citizen, he was a typical official of the other days when men loved honor more than gain, and prized integrity above the price of rubies.

To all this was added Judge Stone's devotion to the cause of religion. He was a devout Presbyterian of the old school, and never suffered his religious convictions to be trenched on by the plausible pretexts of worldly maxim. In this he was as firm and stern as he was in all other relations in life. No juggling of politics for temporary advantage, no suggestion from the high plane of right could deflect him from a course of rigid scruple. His standard was honor, not applause; integrity, not gain; uprightness in all things, not momentary success.

This was the life lived by this eminent jurist, and this the bequest given as an example to those who should come after him. The pa.s.sing of a man like this was the occasion of profound sorrow throughout the state that he had so long served with distinction.

JOEL EARLY MATTHEWS

To present the merited claims of a typical southern planter of the olden days is the purpose of this sketch. Than these princely planters of the old South in the golden age of cotton, no more honorable, cultured, dignified, or hospitable cla.s.s ever existed. None is more worthy to represent the great planting cla.s.s of the South, and especially of Alabama, than Joel Early Matthews, who died at Selma, May 11, 1874.

Mr. Matthews sprang from Revolutionary sires. His grandfather, General George Matthews, was a distinguished soldier in Was.h.i.+ngton's army. After the close of the Revolution, General Matthews removed from Virginia to Georgia, and became one of the three representatives sent by the state of Georgia to congress. In addition to this honor, he was made governor of Georgia for two terms. The father of the subject of the present sketch was Colonel C. L. Matthews, who found great pride in the education of his son in the leading colleges of the South, he having taken a course at the University of Georgia, supplemented by another at the University of Virginia. His first ambition was the bar, but he eventually abandoned that and adopted planting. In those early days planting and the bar were regarded the two most eminent vocations in the South.

Purchasing a plantation in the heart of the black belt, near Cahaba, on the Alabama River, Mr. Matthews spent his life there. His broad acres of fabulous fertility were his constant pride and care, and his palatial home was one of the most splendid in the South. Nothing like the sumptuous hospitality of the old-time southern planter was ever before equaled, and the conditions which entered into these superb abodes of elegance, ease and courtliness will never be again. Immensely wealthy, the elegant mansion of Mr. Matthews rivaled in all its appointments the palace of an English lord. There was nothing lacking to contribute to ease, comfort, pleasure, and culture.

Like others of his great cla.s.s in the South, Mr. Matthews did not content himself with the mere enjoyment of that afforded by the wealth of his vast estate.

He was an exceedingly busy man, not only in the successful direction of his own interests and in dispensing rare hospitality, but he directed his energies as well to the promotion of the well-being of society, and the enhancement and development of the resources of the state. To him the advancement of education and religion were matters of as serious concern as were his own private affairs. His plethoric purse was always available to the demands of needs, and nothing was of light esteem to this generous patriot and planter.

The leisure afforded by his wealth was devoted to reading and study. His library was stocked with the choicest standard works of ancient and modern learning, and his library table was always laden with the leading periodicals of the time. In these rural mansions of the old South were often met some of the most profound and thoughtful of men, of whom Mr.

Matthews was a type. He had a pa.s.sion for the study of the science of government, but his studies were not confined to that particular branch of thought. His fund of information was comprehensive, and his learning versatile. He found peculiar delight in the study of Shakespeare, the histories of Gibbon and Hume, the works of Bacon, Addison, Macaulay, and others. With the study of these came a pa.s.sion for the study of the Scriptures, and the science of government as expounded by Jefferson and Calhoun, the interpretations of the limitations and powers of the federal const.i.tution of whom he accepted.

Mr. Matthews had crossed the boundary of a half century of his life when hostilities between the North and the South began. Though deeply interested in the principle of secession and thrilled by the patriotism which swayed the country during the exciting days of the early sixties, he felt that he was too old to share in the actual fray, but pledged his fealty and fortune to Alabama in the pending crisis. In token of this he sent his check for fifteen thousand dollars in gold to Governor Moore, to be used by him at his discretion for the defense of the state, which was acknowledged in the following letter:

"Executive Department, "Montgomery, Ala., "January 28, 1861.

"Mr. Joel E. Matthews, Cahaba, Ala.

"Dear Sir:--Your munificence for the protection of the state is accepted and the evidence of it placed upon record in this office. The praise of one man, although he speaks as one having authority, is but a small part of the reward which your patriotism deserves and will receive. When the present time shall have become historic, this donation will be an heirloom to your posterity and the example which you have set will be a source of power to your state compared to both of which the liberal sum of money which you have given will be as nothing. As chief executive of the state, and acting under a deep sense of responsibility, I have been compelled to do all in my power to strengthen the sense of resistance in the southern mind and to deepen the current flowing toward the independence of the state in defense of her const.i.tutional rights. What I have been compelled to do by conviction of duty, you have done voluntarily, and to that extent deserve more freely of the grat.i.tude of your fellow citizens. Trusting that an approving conscience and the grat.i.tude of your state may be your ample reward, and commending you and the state to the protecting goodness of Providence, I remain, very respectfully your obedient servant,

"A. B. MOORE, "Governor of Alabama."

The patriotic sentiments of Mr. Matthews did not cease with this donation, for he uniformed and equipped several military companies at his own expense and was generous in the relief of the widows and orphans of those killed in battle. Sharing in the gloom occasioned by the result of the war, he was tempted to remove to Brazil in order to produce cotton in that empire. On visiting the country he was cordially greeted by the emperor and urged to become a subject, but he gave up the idea. When Emperor Dom Pedro visited America in 1876 he made diligent inquiry of Mr. Matthews, with whom he was greatly impressed.

The life and career of Joel Early Matthews was a distinct contribution to the weal of Alabama. Though wealthy, he was modest and devoid of arrogance; though unusually well informed, he had respect unto the lowliest. He was an ornament to the citizens.h.i.+p of the state, and when he pa.s.sed away his loss was universally mourned.

E. S. DARGAN

No one of more marked individuality ever appeared among the public men of Alabama than Judge Edmund S. Dargan. He had peculiar characteristics which, so far from concealing, he seemed to cherish them. These peculiarities were quite out of the ordinary, and not infrequently excited much merriment. Still Judge Dargan was a man of distinguished ability.

Springing from an Irish ancestry in North Carolina, where Judge Dargan was born in 1805, he was gifted with those sinewy physical qualities which had been borne by his forbears across the seas from the bogs and fens of the Emerald Isle. Left an orphan boy by the death of his father, who was a Baptist minister, when the son was but a boy, he showed genuine pluck by joining in the rough encounters of the world in an effort to procure an education. In his younger years no ambition above that of a plodding country farmer seems to have possessed him, for he was a common laborer till he was twenty-three years old, though his mental activity led him to a diligent study of the cla.s.sics, to which he devoted every spare hour.

He seemed suddenly to have been inspired by a rare vision of life, for he abruptly left his farm work and entered on the study of the law in the neighboring village of Wadesboro, N. C. A year later, he removed to the young state of Alabama, which was in 1829, just ten years after the state had been admitted into the Union. Locating in Autauga County, he taught a private school for a period of three months.

On making application for admission to practice law it was found that Mr.

Dargan was duly qualified by past study, and he entered at once on the practice in the courts, after settling at Was.h.i.+ngton, in Autauga County.

His settlement in this rural village was a brief one, for he soon removed to Montgomery. His quiet and studious habits and his habituation to hard work served him well in his new environments, for naturally such a young man would excite attention and win confidence. His practice steadily grew and his reputation for close and rigid attention to business and ability to transact it, rapidly raised him above the man of plodding mediocrity and won for him a place of public esteem. Yielding to the solicitations of friends, he offered for the legislature from Montgomery County, but was defeated. A year later, however, when he was thirty-six years old, he was elected by the legislature to the circuit of the Montgomery district. He retained the office but one year, when he resigned and removed to Mobile and entered on the practice of the law.

In 1844 Judge Dargan was elected to the state senate from Mobile, which position he held just a year, when he resigned to enter into a congressional race against Honorable William D. Dunn, one of the most popular and polished men of the district. In their combats on the stump the difference between the two candidates was most novel. Dunn was neat and tidy of dress, polished in manner, and elegant of diction, while Dargan was indifferent alike to all these, and rather prided himself on their absence from his being. The advantage lay on the side of Dargan from the fact that in spite of his rough and uncouth exterior he was a forceful speaker, and commanded the attention and confidence of the most thoughtful, while his disregard for dress and apparent contempt for polish won the plaudits of the rustic population. In debate he was Dunn's equal, if not his superior, while the difference between them otherwise made him the successful compet.i.tor.

One session in the National Congress seemed to gratify his ambition, for at its expiration he declined a renomination. Soon after his retirement from congress he was elected by the legislature to the supreme bench of the state, and two years later, on the retirement of Judge Collier from the chief justices.h.i.+p, Judge Dargan was elected to succeed him. After serving three years in this function he resigned and resumed private practice of the law in Mobile.

Here Judge Dargan was profitably engaged in the practice of the law when the war began, and in 1861 he was chosen to represent Mobile in the const.i.tutional convention. No sphere could have been better suited to his taste and qualifications, and he was ranked one of the foremost members of that body.

Judge Dargan's career in the public service closed with his members.h.i.+p in the Confederate Congress, where he served for two years only, and declined further service in that capacity. It was while he was a member of the Congress of the Confederacy that Governor Foote of Tennessee, a member of the same body, took occasion to reflect seriously on Judge Dargan in the course of some remarks on the floor, when Dargan promptly sprang to his feet, seized Foote in the collar, with his right hand upraised, as though he would strike him. But before violence was demonstrated, the matter was adjusted and the incident closed. This led to an animadversion on the part of E. A. Pollard, in one of his works on the Civil War, on Judge Dargan, whom Pollard accused of raising a bowie knife with the view of stabbing Governor Foote. This reckless writer was descanting at length on the inferior type of manhood in the Confederate Congress, and made the statement just given in substantiation of his charge. The truth is that Judge Dargan was at his desk writing when Governor Foote a.s.sailed him in the speech, and when he arose he still held the pen in his fingers.

Numerous anecdotes are still related of Judge Dargan, especially with respect to his garb. His shoes were sometimes of the cheapest styles, and he preferred leather strings to any others. Members of the bar used to relate how careful he was sometimes to mar his appearance before appearing before a jury in an important case, how careful he was to untie his shoes before leaving his office, so that they might gape the wider, and how often his hair was unbrushed and his s.h.i.+rt collar was thrown open.

When unengaged, the position of Judge Dargan was that of drowsiness. Under this condition he wore an expression of indifference and unconcern. But when he would arise to speak he was suddenly transformed. His eyes would dilate and glitter, his nostrils grow thin under the intensity of animation, and the dullness of his face would give way to a radiance that would inspire. In the sweep and current of discussion he was a giant, and in the clearness and forcefulness of presentation he had but few superiors.

PETER BRYCE