USA > Arkansas > Biographical and pictorial history of Arkansas. Vol I > Part 20
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Leave-taking with Van Buren and Harrison -The Rising and Setting Suns - Exciting Debate over Removal of Democratic Public Printers.
WASHINGTON, March 10, 1841.
MY DEAR MATILDA - I made all preparations to leave to- morrow, presuming the senate would adjourn. I regret that we will not be able to leave before Saturday. We have got into a very warm debate in the senate. The whigs are attempt- ing to remove Blair and Rives, who were regularly and law- fully elected printers to congress for two years from the 4th of March, and they have entered into contracts to do the print-
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ing. The whigs are resolved to dismiss them, and as it is one of the most high-handed measures ever attempted in this coun- try, it has roused the indignation of all democratic senators. Mr. Woodbury of New Hampshire made a most admirable speech to-day, and Sevier gave them two or three sharp shots, and so did Walker. Colonel King and Mr. Clay of Kentucky were very severe on each other yesterday, and I will be happy if something serious does not grow out of their quarrel. I hope the debate will close to-morrow. I will not take part in it, as it has already consumed much time, and called up so many of our leading men. It will do our cause more good than any debate this session. Blair has been cruelly assailed.
Colonel. Sevier and myself called on Mr. Van Buren last night at Mr. Gilpin's to take leave of him. We found a house- full of company. The little man and all his company appeared to be perfectly happy." We spent an agreeable hour there, and bade him farewell. He leaves for New York Saturday.
We called this morning for the first time on the new presi- dent (Harrison). We could hardly reach him for the hosts of office-seekers in attendance. We were introduced by Colonel Todd. I mentioned that we had called to take leave ; and find- ing we were senators and not office-hunters, he immediately addressed us, by way of rebuke, I thought to those around him. He said: "He was much pressed to make changes in the offices of the country, but that he had determined not to remove any one, except on mature deliberation. He was serious. He must have reasons before he would remove. He would not be urged on this subject by his political friends." We took our leave.
Colonel Sevier thinks this is all moonshine. I do not think he will remove anybody of consequence for some time to come. * *
With love to each and every one,
I am your devoted husband, WILLIAM S. FULTON.
27
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The following letter explains itself and the cause out of which the Borland-Borden duel originated :
LITTLE ROCK, January 5, 1844. Hon. WILLIAM S. FULTON, Washington City :
DEAR SIR - We have nothing new here that I recollect, ex- cept that the editors of the Banner and Gazette had a "set-to" on Wednesday last, which made some stir among the respective friends of the contestants. The attack was made by Doctor Borland on Mr. Borden, in consequence of his remarks in his paper of that day, in relation to the doctor. It was a fisticuff fight, and I am told that the doctor used Ben. pretty roughly -having beaten his face into a jelly, and bro't the claret with every blow.
Ben. has not made his appearance since ; indeed, I have seen neither since. Some seem to think that the affair is not over, but I think it is. They now know each other, and know that a contest is no child's play, and both, I think, will be willing to let the matter drop and treat each other courteously in future. The result of this fight has rather discouraged the whigs, who do not now think the doctor as " lamb-like," as they did previous to the affray. The result certainly astonished me, as I never suspected him for being pugnacious, but I am told he is a ready, expert fightist, and equally ready with the pistol or knife; but, with that, a very mild and gentlemanly man -as much so as any I know. I think he is quite an acquisition to the democratic cause, and, now that he has got his name up for a fightist, I think his blustering opponents will not attempt again to run over him.
I am of opinion that the democracy will insist on, and hold another convention, and I hope the nominees of the late con- vention will submit to its decision. Chapman will doubtless be renominated, but I doubt whether Conway will be. All like him as a man and a good officer.
But there has been so much said about the monopoly of all the offices by one family, that I think Conway's chance to be elected a very doubtful one; and I think no member of it ought to have consented to be nominated. Friends all well, times hard, and money source, but I think we have some ap-
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pearanecs of improving times. Please present my best wishes to Mrs. Fulton and Colonel Sevier, and Judge Cross and friends. In haste.
Yours truly, WM. E. WOODRUFF.
[NOTE BY THE AUTHOR .- In the latter part of January, 1844, a duel was fought in the Indian territory opposite Fort Smith, between Doctor Solon Borland, democratic editor of the Gazette, and Benjamin Borden, whig editor of the Banner. Ex-Gover- nor Henry M. Rector was Doctor Borland's second, and J . B. Cates was Mr. Borden's second. At the command fire, Borden's pistol was accidentally discharged in the ground. Doctor Borland took deliberate aim, and the ball from his pistol struck his adversary in the region of the heart, but was warded off by striking a rib. The Hon. Jesse Turner of Van Buren was present, from whom the author derives the facts.]
Lewis Randolph and his Wife- Pretty Betty Martin, of the White House.
Elizabeth A. Martin, niece of President Jackson's wife, spent several years at the White House during the administration of her celebrated uncle, under the care of her aunt, Mrs. Donald- son, then mistress of the White House. She was a celebrated beauty, then known throughout the United States as " Pretty Betty Martin of the White House," celebrated no less for beauty than for her gentle and amiable character.
No young lady ever had more admirers and suitors. From the multitude who sued for the relation of husband, she re- warded the handsome and the amiable Lewis Randolph, who was the grandson of President Jefferson. The nuptials were celebrated in the White House in presence of foreign ministers, cabinet officers, and a brilliant assemblage of American digni- taries. The president gave the bride away. Randolph was . poor, deserving and energetic, and had the entire confidence of the president.
General Jackson always had an eye to business ; he had owned a large mercantile establishment in the Yazoo country when Mississippi was a territory. In connection with Judge John Overton, John C. McLemore and General James Win- chester of Tennessee, he had bought the John Rice grant of five thousand acres on which Memphis is located, and an additional five thousand acres adjoining. These four surveyed and laid off the town of Memphis in 1826, and realized fine
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profits. General Jackson then had his trusted friend, William S. Fulton, secretary to the territory of Arkansas, at Little Rock. He wanted to do something for Randolph, to enable him to take advantage of the tide then setting to Arkansas, and appointed him secretary to the territory, about the time he appointed Fulton governor of the territory. Parties in Tennessee fur- nished the money to Randolph, with which he entered a large body of land in Arkansas, on joint account with the capitalists. Randolph came with his young bride to Arkansas, and opened up a plantation in the dense forests of Clark county, then remote from any settlement. Here the little heroic beauty of the White House, for the love she bore her liege lord, became a hermit in the wilderness.
Judge John T. Jones in a recent letter to the author says : "Lewis Randolph was a grandson of President Jefferson. He died in Clark county in 1838, on a place he had then recently settled, in an unbroken forest, remote from any other settlement. His fatal illness was incident to exposure on a trip down the Terre Noir, Little Missouri and Washita rivers to Ecore Fabre, now Camden, to obtain supplies. His vessel was dug out of a huge forest tree, and afforded no protection from above during his two weeks' exposure on the trip. He left a charming young widow, who had shared his trials bravely, and a bright boy, who died before Mrs. Randolph's second marriage to Major Andrew J. Donaldson.
"My wife was brought up in Nashville, Tennessee, and was the intimate friend of 'Pretty Betty Martin,' and the Donald- son family. Randolph's remains still rest in a neglected spot on the plantation he settled, perhaps only known to Doc- tor Smith, now the oldest citizen of Clark county. After her marriage with Major Donaldson, she accompanied him on his foreign mission, and his landed estate in Arkansas was swallowed up by taxes and tax-titles. One of her daughters married Mr. Wilcox of Texas, who afterward represented his district in congress."
This amiable lady, once of national renown, could and did with equal grace, adorn a cabin in the wilderness and the pal- aces of foreign courts. The following letters from Mrs. Ran- dolph and General Jackson explain themselves.
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CLIFTON, TENN., October 26, 1838. Mrs. MATILDA FULTON, care of the Hon. W. S. Fulton, Wash- ington City, D. C. :
MY DEAR MRS. FULTON - I have long wished to write to you and have delayed it, hoping you would not forget your friend and write first ; but I suppose your time is fully occu- pied with the gay world by which you have been surrounded, and the care of your family ; so you have only written to your friends at Little Rock, who will admit no excuse. And now, dear friend, that I have commenced a correspondence, I hope you will not let it drop. I will always feel interested in the welfare of your family.
When you write tell me what each of the children are doing, what they are learning and how much they have grown. I would like so much to see little "Ri" as we used to call her. I expect Lewis has outgrown her, for he is very large for his age, and mischievous and wild as a deer. He is going con- stantly from sunrise to sunset. His health has improved since we left Arkansas. You have heard of the sad scenes through which I passed before leaving your State, and I am sure felt for me. But I will try not to think of these in writing to you ; the remembrance makes my heart sick. Let me recall the happy days we spent in your hospitable home - they are among the happiest of my life ; how can I thank you for your motherly kindness ; it can never be forgotten by me.
I met Mrs. McKinley and Mrs. Catron at the Hermitage a few days since. Mrs. Catron told me she had seen you fre- quently last winter, and would see you again. She said you were very gay, and seemed to enjoy the dance very much. Has Elizabeth turned out ? How is she pleased with Washing- ton ? I believe your husband has not had an opportunity to send me the likeness of President Jefferson, purchased by Lewis. Please request him to send it to George H. Martin (firm of Harper & Martin), Philadelphia. He will have it sent to me by one of the Nashville merchants. Governor Fulton will write a note to cousin George, saying it belongs to me, and he will pay expenses. I hope to see you in Tennessee before many years pass away. I never expect to see Little Rock again, unless business compels me to go. My interest is in Arkansas en-
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tirely. I have not heard from the plantation since June, but it cannot be remedied now. A woman can do nothing but bear with fortitude the ills that lay before her. My dream of happiness is past and gone forever.
But I have still a comforter in my sweet child, a good home and many kind friends, and should be thankful that these are spared me, but my heart will rebel - I never can be recon- ciled to the loss of Lewis. You knew him, dear friend ; still but, one-half of his amiable, benevolent, noble character was known to you. When the sad reality passes before me I wonder that my brain is not seared. Oh, may you never know the suffering of a widowed heart, my eyes are blind with tears, and I am almost choked. Remember me affec- tionately to your husband, Elizabeth, Hickory, Sophia, and "Ri." They are all dear to me. Do write to me, and believe me your sincere friend.
ELIZABETH A. RANDOLPH.
HERMITAGE, January 29, 1838.
The Hon. WILLIAM S. FULTON, Senator in Congress, City of Washington, D. C .:
DEAR SIR - I inclose you a letter from Elizabeth Randolph, who wishes your advice - how she can proceed to have titles made, to those to whom Mr. Randolph stood bound for land entered by him on special agreement. Mr. Randolph died without will. It, therefore, depends upon statutory provisions, how far an administrator is empowered to convey, or make par- tition. You, being acquainted with the statutory laws of Ar- kansas, she prays your advice. Can I ask you to call on the commissioner of the general land office, and ask him whether the returns are complete in his office, so patents can issue on the lands entered by Mr. Lewis Randolph ; and if not, what is wanted, and advise Mrs. Randolph of the situation. Mrs. Ran- dolph is anxious to have the deeds made, and for this purpose the grants issued, and the gentlemen interested are anxious to have partition and titles made.
Give my respects to Mr. Whitcomb, and say to him it is a widow who makes the inquiries for the benefit of an orphan child, and I am sure he will impart with pleasure the desired
ELECTROLIGHT ENG. CONY
GEN. ALBERT PIKE.
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information. If there is not some statutory provision author- izing administrators to make partition, she will have to apply to a court of chancery, which is tedious, expensive and vexa- tious. There is nothing but harmony among all concerned, and, if there is legal power, all will be done amicably. I would be pleased to hear from you on all matters, and particu- larly on the subject of the divorce bill, and whether it will pass .*
I am still confined to the house, I might say to my room, and whether I may weather the month of March Providence only knows. If spared to summer I will endeavor to travel. Live or die my friendship will remain yours.
Very respectfully,
ANDREW JACKSON.
GENERAL ALBERT PIKE.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
WASHINGTON, August 15, 1886.
JOHN HALLUM, Esqr .:
DEAR SIR - I have often refused to write an autobiograph- ical sketch for publication, not through delicacy or modesty, but because I could truly say, with the "ready knife-guider,"
"Stay, God bless you ! I have none to tell, sir."
none I know that would be worth any one's reading. I am perfectly conscious that I have no aptitude for that kind of authorship; and that if I were to undertake it, the result would be stale, flat and unprofitable. But it requires no gift of au- thorship to give you the simple dates you ask for, and I do it with pleasure.
I was born in Boston, in Massachusetts, on the 29th of Decem- ber, 1809, and well remember the illumination on account of the conclusion of peace with Great Britain, in 1815. My father re- moved to Newburyport, in the same State, when I was about four years of age, and remained there until his death; and I was reared there. I was educated, part at the primary and grammar schools there, at a private school, and at an academy at Farmingham in
* By the divorce bill is meant that the fiscal affairs of the government must be conducted independent of national and State banks. - AUTHOR.
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the same State, in succession ; and in August, 1824, I passed an examination and entered the freshman class at Harvard. To earn money to pay for my board and tuition at college, it was necessary that I should teach, and at the same time pursue my studies. I did so for six months, that fall and winter, at Glouces- ter, and then returned home and studied there, fitting myself to enter the junior class. But when I went to Harvard, in the fall of 1825, to enter that class, and had passed the examination, I was informed that to enter the class, I must pay the tuition-fees for the two years, Freshman and Sophomore. I declined to do so, and afterward educated myself, going through the junior and senior classes, while teaching. I taught in the town of Fairham six months; then in the grammar school at Newbury- port, first as assistant, then as Principal; and afterward for two or three years taught a private school there, until March, 1831, when I went to the west, and from St. Louis with a trad- ing party to Santa Fe.
In September, 1832, I joined a trapping party at Taos, and went down the Pecos river, and into the staked plains, where five of us left the main party, and on the 10th of December, 1832, reached Fort Smith. During the time between my arrival there and October, 1833, I was in Fort Smith, the guest of good old Captain John Rogers for some weeks, and after- ward until spring of Captain Francis Aldridge, on the other side of the river, then taught school below Van Buren, and on Little Piney ; met Robert Crittenden there, and was afterward, at his instance, written to by Charles P. Bertrand to go to Little Rock and assist in editing the Advocate.
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The territorial legislature was in session, when I reached Little Rock in October, and I was a few days after elected Assistant Secretary of the Council, and served as such until the end of the session, making many acquaintances and some life-long friends ; at the same time working in the Advocate office, which I con- tinned to do, learning to set type and editing, and at intervals reading the first volume of Blackstone, until October, 1834. That winter, when I had read only the first volume, Thomas J. Lacy, of the territorial superior court, gave me a license to prac- tice law, saying it was not like giving a medical diploma, be- cause as a lawyer I could not take any one's life.
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On the 10th of October, 1834, I was married at the house of Colonel Terrence Farrelly, by James H. Lucas, probate judge. In the spring of 1835 I bought the Advocate of Bertrand for $2,500, and soon afterward William Cummins offered me a partnership in the law, which was formed then and continued for several years. The first court that I attended was a terri- torial court, held at Columbia, Chicot county, by Judge Thomas J. Lacy ; and the next was at Helena, also held by him. I owned the Advocate, and was editor and type-setter, and gen- erally useful in the office, for two years and three months; and then sold it for $1,500, and after trying for a year to collect the accounts due the office, I one day put the books into the stove, where they served for fuel, and I had no further trouble with the accounts.
I was my own teacher in the law ; soon began to get together a law library, and in 1839, began to purchase other books, and to read them, never sleeping more than five or six hours of the twenty-four, which was indeed my rule for forty years. In 1840 I was elected attorney of the Real Estate Bank, and in 1842 of its trustees, holding the two offices in succession dur- ing some twelve years, one year of which I was in the military service of the United States, commanding a squadron in the regiment of Archibald Yell. Two gentlemen who were prac- tising law in Arkansas before I was are still living-Jesse Turner of Van Buren, and Grandison D. Royston of Washing- ton. Judge Edward Cross of the superior court of the terri- tory, a man whom the people of Arkansas ought to delight to honor, is also living. When I came to the bar, in 1835, there were among other lawyers, William Cummins, Absalom Fowler, Daniel Ringo, Chester Ashley and Samuel S. Hall, at Little Rock. Robert Crittenden was practising in 1834, and I was on a jury in a case before Judge Benjamin Johnson in that year, in which he was of counsel. He died in December, 1834, at Vicksburgh. Ambrose H. Sevier I never saw at the bar. Par- rott and Odin had died before I went to Little Rock. Judge William Trimble (of Washington, I think) was then an old member of the bar, as was Colonel Horner of Helena. Thomas B. Hanly had lately came to ITelena from Louisiana. I do not remember whether Major Thomas Hubbard and George 28
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Conway were practicing at Washington as early as 1835, but I think they were. Judge Andrew Scott had been a judge of the territorial superior court. I was at his house at Scotia, in Pope county, in 1833, and he lived several years afterward, but never practiced. Frederick W. Trapnall and John W. Cocke came from Kentucky to Little Rock in 1836, as did William C. Scott from Maryland, and his partner Blanchard (from Ken- tucky, I think), who was killed by a steamboat explosion at Helena. I think that Samuel H. Hempstead and John J. Clendenin also came in 1836.
I practiced at Little Rock, in Chicot county, at Helena (when John B. Floyd, though a planter, also practiced there), at the courts in Conway, Johnson, Pope and Crawford counties, and beginning a few years later in Saline, Clark, Hempstead and Lafayette ; and still later in Dallas, Ouichita and Union, riding the circuit on horseback twice a year for some ten years, and afterward traveling in a buggy ; of course I also practiced in the supreme court of the State, and the district and circuit courts of the United States at Little Rock ; and in 1846 (I think) I was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of the United States, and afterward practiced there. Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin were admitted to the bar of that court at same time with myself.
There is no judge now on the supreme bench here, who was on it when I was admitted ; and several who were placed on it after my admission have since died. I ceased to practice there and everywhere else six or seven years ago, and have never been in a court-room. since, so that I have never even seen any one of those who have been appointed since Judge Harlan.
Judge David Walker of Arkansas was at the bar there, some years before I was. So was John Linton of Conway county ; and Judges Hoge and Sneed of Washington county. I don't know at what time John M. Wilson of Johnson county, and Alfred W. Wilson of Fayetteville commenced to practice.
When I went to my first court in Crawford county, at Craw- ford Old Court House, Archibald Yell came there as a lawyer, and came near being drowned in crossing the Arkansas on the ice. as Judge Johnson, Fowler and myself crossed. I remem- ber that nineteen lawyers, of whom I was one, half the others
الحر
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or more being from Fayetteville, slept in one room, and in the court-room, under it a faro bank was operated every night. Richard C. S. Brown, afterward judge, was also a lawyer in those days, whether of earlier date than myself I do not re- member; and my memory is at fault in the same way in regard to Bennett H. Martin of Pope county, and Philander Little of St. Francis county. Most of my old friends are dead now : Samuel W. Williams, and Judge Rose, with Jesse Turner and Grandison D. Royston can tell you what was said and thought of me as a lawyer.
I had forgotten to say that in 1851 or 1852 I determined to exchange the practice in Arkansas for that in Louisiana, and proceeded to purchase the Pandects and the civil law books, Latin and French, and to study them, my first neces- sity being to learn both languages over again, for in twenty years' disuse I had become unable to read either. I was then in partnership with Ebenezer Cummins, and this partner- ship ceased in 1853, when I transferred my office to New Orleans and formed a partnership with Logan Hunter. It was required then that an applicant for admission to the bar of the supreme court should be first examined by a committee, and then in open court. In the former, the examination in regard to the civil law consisted of the one question, put by the venerable old French jurist (I cannot recollect his name), who was the representative of that law on the committee: "What works have you read on the Roman law ?" I answered : "I have read the Pandects and made a translation into English in writing of the first book." He was perfectly satisfied with this, and it was true. I had also read the twenty-two volumes of Durantor, several volumes of Pothier, the five volumes of Marcade (the highest authority of all - higher than all the courts of France - and out of sight the most admirable of all writers on the law) and other works.
I may add here that I never have lost my fondness for the Roman law ; and that after I came to Washington, in 1868 to reside, I commenced, and with the labor of some years com- pleted, a work concerning all the maxims of the Roman and French law, with the comments upon them of the French courts and text writers, and of the Pandects. It would make
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three volumes of goodly size; but it remains, with other un- published works of mine, in the library of the supreme court, because it would not pay a book-seller to publish such a book ; and I have had since the war, no means wherewith to publish it for myself, as I should surely have done, if the government of the United States had paid the award of the senate in favor of the Choctaws, which I with others obtained in March, 1859 ; or if the supreme court of the United States had not, in vio- lation of all law and justice, deprived Henry M. Rector of the Hot Springs, to which he had as good a title as I have to the pen that I am writing with.
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