History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 16

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756

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The town was founded in 1870, on land donated by W. C. Hammond, and was incor- porated February 5, 1872. It has a city hall; concrete jall; fire department, partly volun- teer, partly paid; a water system equipped with standpipe on the mountain-side, develop- ing by gravity a pressure of 60 pounds or more in the mains; 7 miles of sanitary sewerage; gas and electric light plants; cherted streets; 5 miles of paved sidewalks; and electric street railway connecting it with Alabama City and Gadsden.

Attalla has Methodist Episcopal, South, Baptist, Presbyterian, Cumberland Presby- terian, Christian, and Seventh Day Adventist churches. The site for the first church was given for that purpose by Judge Henry Per- kins in 1870. The Etowah County High

School is located there, and it also has good public schools, as well as public playgrounds and parks in the heart of the city.

The town occupies the site of an Indian village which was of considerable importance during the Creek War. It was the home of Capt. John. Brown, a famous Indian, whose daughters, Catherine and Anna, established the Creek-Path Town Mission School in 1820, with the assistance of Mr. and Mrs. Potter and D. S. Butterick of the Tennessee Mission. The first white settler among the Indians was John Radcliff, 1800. The settlement was first known as "Atale," meaning "the farming Indians." It was here that David Brown, an Indian, assisted Rev. D. S. Butterick in the preparation of the "Cherokee Spelling Book." In 1859, John S. Moragne bought mineral lands at Attalla and sunk what was probably the first mine shaft in northeast Alabama. In 1871, he shipped the first ore out of the State to Wheeling, W. Va. Other early settlers were W. C. Hammond, Henry Per- kins, Dr. Thomas Edwards, Rev. James Scales, John Latham, E. J. Holcomb, and A. Gray, the first postmaster.

The first post office was established 1 mile from the present site, and was known as Ben- nettsville. In addition to its industrial interests, Attalla is noted as a cotton market, not only for Etowah County, but for the con- tiguous counties. More than 75,000 bales were warehoused and shipped in 1915.

The Indian relics of the vicinity are "Kusa- nunchi," or Creek-Path; and "Tsu-sanya- sah," Ruins-of-a-Great-City; and the site of the home of Capt. John Brown.

REFERENCES .- Acts, 1871, pp. 261-264; Brewer, Alabama (1872) ; Armes, Story of coal and iron in Alabama (1910) ; Northern Alabama (1888), pp. 350, 354, 500; Polk's Alabama gazetteer, 1888-9; and Age-Herald, Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 10, 1915.

ATTALLA HOSIERY MILLS. See Cotton Manufacturing.

ATTORNEY GENERAL. One of the con- stitutional officers of the executive depart- ment of the State government. The supreme court can recognize no other representative, in proceedings before that tribunal in the name of the State. The attorney general is elected by the people for a term of four years; no person not 25 years of age, a citi- zen of the United States 7 years, and of the State 5 years next preceding his election is eligible to the office; he is prohibited from receiving any fees, costs or perquisites other than his prescribed salary; he may be re- moved only by impeachment before the State senate, for wilful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency, intemperance, or an offense involving moral turpitude while in office, on charges preferred by the house of representatives; he is ineligible to succeed himself; and he must keep his office at the State capitol.

His duties are to advise the executive offi- cers "in writing, or otherwise on any question of law connected with the interests of the

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

State, or with the duties of any of the de- partments;" to "give his opinion to the chair- man of the judiciary committee of either house, when required, upon any matter under the consideration of the committee;" to pre- pare "all contracts and writings in relation to any matter in which the State is interested;" to represent the State in civil and criminal cases in the supreme court, and also in all causes "other than criminal" in the courts of Montgomery County, and "when required to do so by the governor, in writing, shall ap- pear in the courts of other states, or of the United States, in any cause in which the State may be interested in the result;" to superin- tend the collection of notes for school lands; to make a biennial report to the governor in every even-numbered year; to preserve copies of his opinions and correspondence; to keep dockets of civil suits and claims in his hands; to have charge of proceedings for the im- peachment of officers under section 174 of the constitution; and to represent the public service commission in proceedings instituted by or against it. The authority of the at- torney general, in the name of the State, to enjoin an unlawful rate affecting the public generally, was upheld by the supreme court in the case of State ex rel. Martin, Attorney General v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., finally decided June 30, 1916.

The powers and duties of the office were greatly enlarged in 1915. An act of Sep- tember 22 confers authority upon him in per- son or by an assistant to appear before any grand jury in the State, and to present . any matter or charge to them for investigation, and to prepare and present indictments to the grand jury for any violation of the laws of the State; and to superintend and direct, either in person or by assistant, either before or after indictment, the prosecution of any criminal cause in any of the courts of the State. He is required to give circuit solicitors any opinion, instruction or advice necessary or proper to aid them in the discharge of their duties, either by circular or personal letter; and may direct any solicitor to assist in the investigation or prosecution of any cause in which the State is interested. He is authorized, whenever in his opinion the public interest requires it, to retain and employ, with the approval of the governor, such attorneys and counselors at law as he thinks necessary to the proper conduct of the public business; to incur such expenses as may be necessary In the investigation of viola- tions of the criminal law, in the prosecution of crime, and in the conduct, investigation and prosecution of any civil cause in which the State is interested or its revenues in- volved, and for the traveling expenses of himself, his assistants, and solicitors when traveling in obedience to the direction of the attorney general, in the performance of their duties, and such other incidental expenses of the office as may be necessary. Section 4 of this act is modeled on the Federal statute, under the terms of which the Attorney Gen- eral of the United States makes similar em- ployments.

Ex Officio Duties .- In addition to his regu- lar duties, the attorney general is required to perform many ex officio services. In 1879, the governor, attorney general, and auditor, were constituted a board of compromise, which was authorized "to adjust, compromise and settle," claims of the State against any person or public officer, or his sureties, etc. In 1881, it became his duty to be present, with the governor and secretary of state, when the returns of all elections required by law to be sent to the latter were counted. Until the creation of the State board of equalization in 1915, supplanting the old State board of assessment of railroad prop- erty, he was required to attend every meet- ing of the latter, and assist with his advice, and, in cases where the board was equally divided on any question, to cast the deciding vote.

In 1893, the legislature required his pres- ence, with the treasurer and the secretary of state, at the destruction of all fertilizer tags remaining on hand in the office of the com- missioner of agriculture at the end of the year, and it is his duty to proceed against the commissioner and his bondsmen for the value of such tags as are not accounted for within 60 days after the expiration of the year. Under the constitution of 1901 he is required to serve as a member of the State board of pardons; in 1903, he was appointed a member of the capitol building commission (q. v.) and in 1911, he received a similar appointment; in 1907, the governor, the superintendent of education, and the attor- ney general were named as a board for the compromise of State school lands; in 1911 he was made a member of the board of manag- ers of the State training school for girls; in 1915, he was placed on the board of Confed- erate pension commissioners (q. v.), and a law reform commission (q. v.) to consider sundry subjects of legislation to be submitted to the next session of the legislature; and in 1915, he was further required to examine the titles of sixteenth section lands, certified by the State superintendent of education and auditor as claimed adversely for more than 20 years prior to May 1, 1908, and to advise the State whether or not a patent should issue.

Early History .- The office dates from 1807, when the territorial legislature provided for the appointment of an attorney general for certain specified portions of Mississippi Ter- ritory, one of which included the country now embraced within the State of Alabama. In 1818, an act was passed, laying off Alabama Territory into three districts, and providing an attorney general in each, the compensa- tion of each to be $450 a year. The office was carried into the constitution of the State in 1819, the attorney general to be elected by joint vote of the legislature, and to hold office four years. Since 1876 he has been elected by the people. The constitution of 1868 made the attorney general one of the executive officers of the State, the office prior to that date being classed with the judiciary. Soon after the formation of the State, the

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

attorney general, in addition to other duties, was required to perform the duties of solici- tor in the judicial circuit which embraced the seat of the State government. The code of 1852 required him to give bond in the sum of $10,000, or more when in the opinion of the governor the public interest demanded it. In 1866 the office was reorganized, and the powers and duties enlarged.

Official Reports .- Until the code of 1867, section 108, subdivision 5, there was no re- quirement that the attorney general should make reports. The law referred to provided that he must in November annually make to the governor a report, in which among other things he should make such suggestions, tend- ing to the suppression of crime as he may deem proper. The present statutory require- ment is that he shall accompany his report "with such suggestions tending to the sup- pression of crime and the improvement of the criminal administration as he may deem proper." In 1884, the first printed report was issued, covering the period from October, 1882, to October, 1884. These have appeared every two years regularly from that date through 1916. However, there was no pro- vision for printing the report until the adop- tion of an act of February 21, 1893, amend- ing the subdivision referred to, which also materially enlarged the scope of the contents of the report. This also prescribed that the report "also contain such opinions of the attorney general as may be deemed of public interest." The biennial report for 1894-1896 was the first to contain copies of such opin- ions. These have appeared regularly, with one or two exceptions, in subsequent reports and constitute an interesting body of litera- ture, particularly in the field of official ad- ministration, State and county. The reports include statements of the number of criminal cases disposed of in the entire year, as shown by reports of solicitors, the number of convic- tions, the number of acquittals, number of nolle prosequies, number of cases appealed or otherwise disposed of, number of sentences to death, number of sentences to the peniten- tiary, number of other sentences, including fines, with totals.

Salaries, Terms and Assistants .- The sal- ary of the first attorney general of Mississippi Territory was $450 a year; in 1819 he was allowed $625 a year, with fees for prosecu- tions in circuit courts and in the supreme court which were allowed solicitors for like services; in 1833 the salary was again re- duced to $425, with fees; in 1866, it was in- creased to $2,000; in 1876, it was again reduced to $1,500; in 1890, it was increased to $2,500, with no fees or commissions; and in 1907, it was increased to $3,000, which he now receives.

The term of office from the first was four years, but the constitution of 1868 reduced this to two years. It was fixed at four years in 1901, and has not since been changed.

He was allowed no clerical assistance until 1896, when the code authorized the employ- ment of a clerk at a salary of $600. In 1903, the clerk's salary was increased to $1,000 a

year; in 1907 an assistant attorney general, at $1,500 a year, was authorized; also the employment of a stenographer, at $750, which in 1909 was increased to $900. In 1911 an additional assistant attorney general was authorized at a salary of $1,800 per annum. In 1915, authority was given to employ such clerical assistance in his office as he consid- ered necessary and to fix their compensation, with the approval of the governor. In 1915 the assistants were required to execute a bond in a surety company for $3,000 each.

In the same year appropriations were made for salaries of himself, his assistants and clerical force, as follows: attorney general, $3,000; first assistant, $1,800; second assist- ant, $1,500; stenographer, $900.

Attorneys General .- Henry Hitchcock, 1819-1823; Thomas White, 1823-1825; Con- stantine Perkins, 1825-1832; Peter Martin, 1832-1836; Alexander B. Meek, 1836; John D. Phelan, 1836-1838; Lincoln Clark, 1838- 1839; Matthew W. Lindsay, 1839-1843; Thomas D. Clarke, 1843-1847; William H. Martin, 1847; Marion A. Baldwin, 1847-1865; John W. A. Sanford, 1865-1868; Joshua Morse, 1868-1870; John W. A. Sanford, 1870-1872; Benjamin Gardner, 1872-1874; John W. A. Sanford, 1874-1878; Henry C. Tompkins, 1878-1884; Thomas N. Mcclellan, 1884-1889; William L. Martin, 1889-1894; William C. Fitts, 1894-1898; Charles G. Brown, 1898-1903; Massey Wilson, 1903- 1907; Alexander M. Garber, 1907-1911; Rob- ert C. Brickell, 1911-1915; William L. Mar- tin, 1915-

PUBLICATIONS .- Biennial Reports, 1882-1916, 16 vols .; Wm. C. Fitts, Attorney General, Title to real estate of Alabama Girls' Industrial School (1895); and numerous Briefs in cases In the Court of Appeals and in the Supreme Court of Alabama, and in the United States Supreme Court.

REFERENCES .- Constitution, 1901, secs. 124, 174; Toulmin, Digest, 1823, pp. 24, 25, 681; Aikin, Digest, 1833, p. 368; Codes. 1852, sec. 71; 1867, secs. 108, 109; 1876, secs. 110, 243; 1886, secs. 70, 500, 501; 1896, sec. 2031; 1907, secs. 422, 634-640, 1593, 5723, 7125; General Acts, 1915, pp. 719-721; Ex parte State, 113 Ala. p. 85. See Supreme Court Reports for various impeachment cases, passim. In the three cases of the State ex rel. Daly, State er rel. Turner, and State ex rel. Martin v. Henderson. 74 Southern Reporter, p. 344, the supreme court passed upon the act of September 22, 1915, and defined the respective powers of the governor and attorney general. The briefs in these cases are important contributions to the history of the office, and of the many interesting and important points raised. The authority of the attorney general to enjoin rates is reported in the case of the State ex rel. Martin, Attorney General, v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., 72 Southern Reporter, p. 496; and for a review of the case involving the authority of the at- torney general see Briefs for Appellant. The daily newspapers for 1916 carry full pro- ceedings incident to the Girard liquor raids and the Madison County prosecutions, conducted

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

under the direction of Attorney General W. L. Martin.

ATTORNEYS AT LAW. £ See Courts; Lawyers.

AUBURN. Post office, educational center and incorporated town, in the central part of Lee County, on the Western Railway of Ala- bama, 7 miles west of Opelika, about 30 mlles southwest of West Point, 59 miles northeast of Montgomery, and 32 miles northwest of Columbus, Ga. Altitude: 698 feet. Popula- tion: 1870-1,018; 1880-1,000; 1890- 1,440; 1900-1,447; 1910-1,408. The lo- cality was settled at an early date. When the town was incorporated, it was a part of Macon County. It has electric lights, water- works, well drained streets, and sidewalks.

Among the early settlers were the Mitchel. Frazer, Moore, Nunn, Harris, Hurst, Hurt, Wright, Samford, Gay, Cobb, Cooper, Cullars, Holifield, McElhaney, Grout, Gachet, Lamp- kin, Drake, Bedell, Bostick, Reese, Rlley, Dil- lard and Glenn families, who came from 1835 to 1850. The Wimberly, Dowdell and Har- rison families came later.

In 1858, the Alabama Conference Methodist Episcopal, South, established a college at Auburn, called the East Alabama Male Col- lege (q. v.). It had a fine record, but had hardly entered upon its career, when the exigencies of war closed its doors. In 1872, the institution was presented to the State of Alabama as a nucleus for the Agricultural and Mechanical College, now Alabama Poly- technic Institute.

REFERENCES .- Brewer, Alabama (1872), p. 316; Northern Alabama (1888), pp. 143 et seq .; Polk's Alabama gazetteer. 1888-9; Alabama Offi- cial and Statistical Register, 1915.

AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION. A SO- ciety of former graduates and students of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.

The headquarters of the Association are at Auburn, with Leslie L. Gilbert, Executive Secretary. John V Denson, Opelika is Presi- dent, Moses F. Kahn, Montgomery, Vice Presi- dent, Jerry Gwin, Birmingham, Second Vice- President, are the officers, and W. H. Blake, Sheffield, Elery Edwards, New York, A. C. Crowder, Birmingham, Thomas Bragg, Birmingham, Haygood Paterson, Montgomery, J. Oliver Sims, Pensacola, John P. Illges, Co- lumbus, Ga., and Walker Reynolds, Anniston, form the Executive committee or Council.

Local Chapters of the Association are lo- cated at: Auburn, Birmingham, Montgom- ery, Dothan, Columbus, Ga., New York City, Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Association publishes the Auburn Alumnus, established in 1913. James R. Rut- land was editor-in-chief 1913-1920. L. L. Gilbert, Secretary of the Association, is now editor.

REFERENCES. The Auburn Alumnus, files In Alabama Department of Archives and History.

AUBURN BRANCH RAIL ROAD COM- PANY. See Mobile and Girard Railroad Company.

AUBURN SUMMER SCHOOL. See Poly- technic Institute, The Alabama.

AUCHEUCAULA. A Creek Indian town in Talladega County, on the north side of Ochuecola Creek, a short distance above its Influx into the Coosa River. A part of the town may have been in Coosa County. On modern maps the alternative name is Peck- erwood Creek.

REFERENCE .- Bureau of American Ethnology, Eighteenth Annual Report (1899), pt. 2, map 1; LaTourrette, Map of Alabama (1838).

AUDITOR, THE STATE. One of the con- stitutional offices of the executive department of the State government. He is elected by the people for a term of four years; no per- son not 25 years of age, a citizen of the United States 7 years, and of the State 5 years next preceding his election is eligible to the office; he is prohibited from receiving any fees, costs or perquisites other than his pre- scribed salary; he may be removed only by impeachment before the State senate, for wilful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency, intemperance, or an offense in- volving moral turpitude while in office, on charges preferred by the house of representa- tives; he is ineligible to succeed himself; and he must keep his office at the State capitol.

He is required by section 137 of the consti- tution to make a full and complete report to the governor, at a time fixed by the legisla- ture, showing "the receipts and disbursements of every character, all claims audited and paid out, by items, and all taxes and revenues col- lected and paid into the treasury, and the sources thereof." He has full supervision over all phases of the State's fiscal affairs; receipts and disbursements are made upon his certifi- cation or warrant, and in his office are kept detailed accounts of the financial operations of all the State departments together with all State revenues and taxes, and of school funds, trust funds, speclal funds, and funds arising from the sale of public lands; of the State bonds issued and redeemed and all interest payments. He is required to audit and ad- just the accounts of all public officers; keep a regular account with every person in each county who is by law authorized to collect and receive any part of the State revenue; to adjust all claims against the State; to prescribe the forms to be used by all public officers in collecting, keeping account of and making returns of all State revenues; to have printed immediately after each session of the legislature, all revenue laws passed at such sessions; to proceed against all defaulters as provided by law. In the report required by the constitution to be made to the governor, he must include a detailed statement of all payments made from the contingent fund, and must "perform such other duties in relation to the fiscal affairs of the state as are, or may be required of him by law." It is further provided that, "the enforcement of the reve- nue laws of the State shall be under the gen- eral supervision and direction of the state

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

auditor, who shall, by general rules, and, if need be, by special instructions, direct the tax assessors and tax collectors in the dis- charge of their duties."

To carry on the work and duties imposed clerical help is authorized, namely, a chief clerk, a warrant clerk, a general bookkeeper, a land clerk, a filing clerk, a pension clerk and a stenographer.

Comptroller of Public Accounts .- The office was created as the comptroller of public accounts by the first State constitution, elec- tions being made annually by joint vote of both houses of the legislature. It was a sur- . vival under the State organization of the Territorial auditor of public accounts, first provided for in the government of Mississippi Territory by an act of the legislative council and house of representatives, March 1, 1806, which authorized the governor to appoint, "for the time being," an auditor of public accounts. The office, under the same title and with the same duties and powers, was carried into the organization of the govern- ment of Alabama Territory by act of Con- gress, approved March 3, 1817.

The constitution of 1819 provided that "the comptroller of public accounts shall per- form the duties and be subject to the re- sponsibilities heretofore appertaining to the office of auditor of public accounts." The office under the same title was retained in the constitution of 1861, but provision was made for biennial elections by joint vote of both houses of the legislature. The constitution of 1865 made no change in the office nor in the mode of election, but that of 1868 changed the title to that of auditor, and pro- vided for his choosing by the electors of the State "at the time and places at which they shall vote for representatives." In the con- stitution of 1875 the title was changed to "State Auditor," and the term of office from four to two years, but the mode of election remained the same. That of 1901 changed only the term of office, again making it four instead of two years.

Duties as to Lands .- The auditor has from the beginning had control of the lands in the possession of the State from tax sales. On June 19, 1915, the legislature placed him in charge of all lands under State jurisdiction, and authorized the appointment of a land clerk in his office, who superseded the former state land agent (q. v.) appointed by the governor. Section 1 of the act provides. "that the State auditor shall have charge of all lands which have been sold to the State for taxes unpaid; all '16th section' lands; all school indemnity lands; the salt springs reservation; and all swamp and overflowed lands, and of all papers, documents and records relating thereto, except those which are required by law to be kept in the office of the secretary of State."

Confederate Pensions .- The beginning of the auditor's connection with Confederate pensions was the passage of the law of Feb- ruary 19, 1867, providing for furnishing, upon the comptroller's order, of artificial limbs to maimed soldiers, or in lieu thereof,

the payment of the sum of $100 to soldiers who were too badly maimed to be benelned by an artificial limb. By an act of March 4, 1901, all applications, records of decisions of county and State pension boards and other records pertaining to Alabama pensions, were required to be handled through the auditor's office, and warrants for pensions issued by him. He was also required to keep an alpha- betical register, according to counties, of the names of all pensioners and their post offices. To assist in handling this work, he was authorized to employ a combination stenog- rapher and pension clerk at a salary of $900 a year. In 1915 the legislature authorized the appointment of a pension clerk, at an annual salary of $1,500, who is also the sec- retary of the Alabama Pension Commission.

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 16

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 756

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756