USA > Georgia > Dodge County > History of Dodge County > Part 9
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BENCH AND BAR OF DODGE COUNTY
in a criminal case, and he was often called upon to preside on the Court of Appeals when the Appellate Judges were disqualified. He was noted for his willingness to have cases settled out of court, thus renewing the friendships between parties which otherwise would have been broken. He retired from politics at the end of his second term.
JUDGE ESCHOL W. GRAHAM.
Judge Eschol Graham, also of McRae, succeeded Judge E. D. Gra- ham in 1921, and is now serving his third term on the bench, a period of twelve years, and has recently been re-elected for another term of four years. He is a fearless Judge and is considered one of the most brilliant lawyers in the State. He has often presided on the Court of Appeals for disqualified Judges. He is noted for his force- ful charges to both grand and traverse juries, and has seldom been reversed by the higher courts on his decisions. He is a man of strong convictions and has no hesitancy in expressing himself on matters pertaining to the interests of the people whom he serves. He conducts his court strictly on legal grounds, and excuses no jurors except those who have legal excuses, believing that it is to the best interest of the courts to have all jurors serve as drawn.
Bar of Eastman.
B. R. CALHOUN.
In the decade from 1880 to 1890 the Eastman bar was looked upon as the most brilliant in south Georgia. It was composed of men of brains and brilliancy, men who made a wide reputation for themselves and the county in which they lived. Among them was B. R. Calhoun. He was a man of retiring nature but true to his friends. He was a close student of law and as its interpreter had few equals. His friends declared that a brilliant judge was spoiled by his determination to stick to his practice.
J. H. ROZAR.
Among the remarkable men of the past who came in touch with the bar of Eastman was J. H. Rozar, who for twenty-nine years was Judge of the Court of Ordinary and Justice of the Peace in Dodge County. He was a man without education, coming out of the coun- try, but he had a legal mind that readily grasped the intricate prob-
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lems of law. He was widely known because not one of his decisions was ever set aside by the higher courts.
JOHN F. DELACEY.
During this period John F. DeLacey flourished and made a bril- liant record as a lawyer. He was a native of New York and began practice of law in Appling County, Ga. After coming to Eastman he took much interest in the educational work of the city and county. He was a gentleman to the manor born and his good breeding showed itself in his whole life. He was given to hospitality, a fine pleader before a jury, and he was specially gifted as an after-dinner speaker. He was also Solicitor-General of the circuit.
H. W. J. HAM.
H. W. J. Ham, who was afterwards known as "Snollygoster Ham" from a famous lecture he delivered, was another one of the lights of this period. He edited the Eastman Times and practiced law. He was very popular on account of his ability as a raconteur. He was a man of much ability but his success at the bar was not what it should have been. He left Eastman and went to Gainesville where he edited a paper and became one of America's most popular hu- morous lecturers.
THOMAS H. DAWSON.
Thomas H. Dawson, an old man when he came to Eastman to practice law, was honored by the bar and the citizens in being elected to make the speech accepting the court house presented by Mr. Dodge.
J. E. Wooten, who was regarded as one of the best students at the bar, came to Eastman in the seventies, and he never failed to make a deep impression on both judge and jury by the logical and forceful arguments and appeals he made.
E. A. Smith was noted among his brethren at the bar as a most tireless worker. He prepared his cases very carefully and brought to bear upon them all the Supreme Court decisions in kindred cases. He foiled many of his opponents by having his cases more carefully prepared.
James Bishop, Jr., was another tireless worker. He enjoyed the reputation of being the best office lawyer in Eastman. He was a man of social nature and was highly regarded by all classes.
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E. B. Milner, while with the Times Journal, took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar. He was noted for his energy in looking after the interests of his clients.
Elias Herrman, a Jew, was regarded as the Demosthenes of the Eastman bar. He was looked upon as one of the best criminal lawyers in the State, a man of social instinct 'who numbered his friends by the hundreds.
W. W. Humphries, a very popular man and a successful lawyer, practiced for a number of years at the Eastman bar.
Hon. J. P. Highsmith, of Baxley, for several years Judge of the Superior Court of his circuit, practiced his profession for some years in Eastman, and here he received much of his training that fitted him for the position that he has held with satisfaction to his people.
Harlow Burch, who left the place of Court Stenographer to take up the practice of law, was one of the most popular men who ever mingled with the legal fraternity of this county.
Thomas E. Taylor, of Hawkinsville, practiced law here for a short time, returning to Hawkinsville.
Luther A. Hall, who came to Dodge County in 1871, became in- volved in the famous Dodge land cases. He was tried and con- victed as being accessory to the murder of John C. Forsyth, an agent of the Dodges, and was sent to the Federal prison for life. There he died a few years ago. Until the finger of suspicion was pointed toward him in the above named case, he enjoyed a lucrative practice and was considered one of the very best lawyers in this section.
The late B. R. Calhoun, who was dean of the Eastman bar, had at one time associated with him in the practice of law his son, Roy E. Calhoun, a graduate of Columbia University, and who was at that time the youngest member of the Eastman bar. He is now employed as legal advisor to the President of the New York Central Railroad in New York City.
Among the more recent lawyers here is W. A. Wooten, who served for one term of four years as Solicitor-General of the circuit. Mr. Wooten is a polished gentleman and enjoys a large practice.
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HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY
The late J. A. Neese was for a number of years Judge of the City Court. He was a man of a most brilliant mind, and enjoyed the esteem of a large number of people.
The late J. H. (Hal) Roberts was for many years Solicitor of the City Court, and was considered one of the very best lawyers in this section. He fought his cases with a bulldog's tenacity, and enjoyed a large practice. Like his father, the late Judge D. M. Roberts, he was possessed of a quaint humor and ready wit that made him popular with all classes. In pleading his cases before a jury he would rise to heights of eloquence. It is recalled that on one occasion while pleading very earnestly and eloquently for his client he shouted, "Gentlemen of the jury, the GOOD BOOK says he who steals my purse steals trash, but he who steals my good name," at this juncture he noticed that the jury as well as all who were in the court room were convulsed with laughter, and realizing that he had misquoted the GOOD BOOK, continued, "he who steals my good name GETS MY GOAT."
Walter M. Clements, who also served at one time as Judge of the City Court, was a lawyer who built up for himself a large clientele in this county. He was possessed of a keen intellect, and numbered his friends by the score.
In mentioning two of our young lawyers, D. D. Smith and J. Herr- man Milner, sons respectively of two former members of the East- man bar, we are reminded of a verse in a poem by Knox:
"For we are the same things our fathers have been; We see the same sights our fathers have seen; We drink the same stream, we feel the same sun, And run the same course our fathers have run."
D. D. Smith, like his father, the late E. A. Smith, is noted among his brethren at the bar as a most tireless worker. He has been Solicitor of the City Court many years, and is always on the alert in preparation of his cases. He also has a large practice in the other courts.
J. Herrman Milner, like his father, the late E. B. Milner, is noted for his energy in looking after the interests of his clients. He is possessed of a most brilliant mind and stands second to none in the legal profession.
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O. J. Franklin, the present Judge of the City Court, which office he has held for a number of years, is another lawyer of keen in- tellect and brilliancy of mind. He also enjoys a large practice in the other courts.
Chas. W. Griffin, late of the Eastman bar, was considered one of the brainiest lawyers who ever practiced here. He served a term as Judge of the City Court, and in addition practiced extensively in the other courts.
C. W. Atwill, who has practiced here for a number of years, is noted for his tireless energy in looking after the interests of his clients. He has a large practice and enjoys the confidence of the people at large.
W. M. Morrison at one time was considered one of the best lawyers of the Eastman bar and had a large practice, but left Eastman several years ago.
James C. Persons and J. F. Broach also practiced law here for a short while several years ago, but both left for other fields.
M. J. Carswell was another lawyer who sojourned here for a short time and practiced the legal profession. He was a brother of the Hon. George H. Carswell, recently Secretary of State, and was popular with a large number of people of the county.
Ernest E. Persons is a member of the Eastman bar. He devotes the most of his interests to office practice and civil business. He is also engaged in the real estate and loan business. He came to Dodge County about thirty years ago, and has conducted himself in a manner as to win the highest esteem and confidence of every one with whom he comes in contact. He has been for many years City Recorder.
A. Russell Ross, next to the youngest member of the Eastman bar at present, is a rising young lawyer that has bright prospects for the future. He devotes his best efforts to the interests of his clients, and is noted for his tenacity in holding on till every means is ex- hausted for his clients. He is rapidly building up for himself a large practice. He is County Attorney, which position he has held for several years.
Will Ed Smith, the youngest member of the bar, is another for whom the prospects loom bright as a legal star. He graduated from
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HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY
the law school at Mercer University, since which time he has risen rapidly in his chosen profession.
THE EASTMAN RIOT-1882.
IN THE EARLY HISTORY of Eastman, when the town was only a small village, occurred what is known as the "Eastman Riot." The fol- lowing account of the riot was told by Mr. W. B. Daniel, an eye witness to it, to his daughter, Mrs. Birdie Daniel O'Callaghan, who penned it as her father told it to her.
It was on Sunday, August 6th, 1882, that a big negro camp meet- ing began, attended by several thousand negroes from the surround- ing country. A few white people availed themselves of the excursion rates, and among them was Jim Harvard, a boy about eighteen years of age, from Cochran, who came to visit relatives.
At that time there were nine drug stores in Eastman, most of which were open for the sale of whiskey, there being a law that whiskey could be sold only in drug stores. These places were visited by the negroes, who soon became intoxicated. In a gambling game one negro won another negro's watch. The negro who had been more successful in the game wanted his watch returned, and when this was refused he reported the other negro to Marshal J. B. A. Buchan, who arrested him. On the way to the jail Mr. Buchan was thrown into a ditch by the negro, who then ran. Buchan and A. P. Harrell, deputy marshal, began to shoot at the fleeing negro, who was killed by a shot which was afterwards said or proved to have been fired by the negro who caused the arrest. The negroes, in a drunken condition, became infuriated over the killing and forming a wild mob began to pursue the officers. Buchan escaped without injury, while Pete Harrell was caught and cut by the negroes, but succeeded in getting away. During the shooting Harvard, who had just alighted from the train, ran behind a house to escape a stray bullet. The negroes, thinking he was one of the officers, ran in hot pursuit. He ran down Third Avenue and up to the residence of Mr. Wright Harrell and hid under the house. Mr. A. H. (Boy) McRae, Mrs. Wright Harrell and grandson, Mr. W. B. Daniel, who was just recovering from typhoid fever, were the only people in the house at the time. Mr. McRae and Mr. Daniel were upstairs, and hearing the shooting, the latter came down to ascertain the cause of the
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THE EASTMAN RIOT
disturbance. The increasing mob had surrounded the house, shoot- ing, howling, throwing bricks, etc., and were held at bay by Mr. Daniel, whose only weapon was a pocket knife, until Mr. Wright Harrell came from his place of business. Both talked with the mob, assuring them their man was not there, but could do nothing with them. Dr. Latimer and son, Fleming Latimer, Jordan Brown, and the Methodist minister, Thompson, came to give them their assist- ance. The negroes had sent for oil to burn the house, so seeing that nothing else could be done, and not knowing that young Harvard had in the meantime concealed himself in the house in one of the bedrooms under a bed, Mr. Daniel proposed that they select three sober men from their number to search the house. This the mob refused to do, fearing their men would be killed, but finally agreed on five or six to enter and make a search. Others, seeing their selected number going in, tore down the fence at the corner, and with that the entire mob stormed the house. At the point of weapons Mrs. Harrell was forced to unlock all doors. When Harvard was dragged from his hiding place he was recognized by Jordan, an old negro man, who told the mob that he had nursed this boy from infancy and that they had the wrong man. Wild with excitement and blood-thirsty, they attempted to beat Harvard over his head with fence pickets, when Jordan shielded the young man by throwing his arms over the boy's head. They dragged Harvard into the hall and halted just inside the front door, when pistols were pointed at his head and some one of them fired and killed him. Jordan, support- ing him in his arms, carried him to the front gate and laid him on the walk.
Ella Moore, a negro woman, drunken and screaming "You killed my sister's child," and pulling his head back by his hair, made several desperate efforts to cut his throat with a razor. Jordan shoved her back, saying he was dead. She then accused Jordan of siding with the white people, and in order to protect himself from the negroes who were about to turn on him, he had to pretend to take sides with them. The negroes by this time were yelling and shouting, "Kill any white man except Yankee, don't kill Yankee." The news quickly spread and soon numbers of men and officers ap- peared and began arresting the offenders, which filled the jail to capacity. Many escaped. The court trial lasted thirty days; six men and one woman were sentenced to hang and eighteen were sentenced
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HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY
to the coal mines, which was at that time a horrible punishment compared with the chaingangs of today.
It was a day of horrors for the people of Eastman, one which has remained fresh in the memories of the citizens to the present day. Several deaths occurred during the day from shock and fright.
THE DODGE LANDS AND LITIGATIONS.
WE ARE INDEBTED TO Judge J. N. Talley of the Federal Court in Macon for the story of the Dodge Lands and Litigations. Judge Talley was connected with the Federal Court and participated in the trials had before that body during all the years of litigation, he having been appointed by the court as commissioner to receive evi- dence in the different cases submitted.
Before going into the story of the long years of litigations we wish to state that the people against whom these cases were brought had purchased these lands in good faith, believing the transactions legal. Many of the people had purchased the lands, lived on them for years and reared families, only to find that they were really not in legal possession of same. This naturally caused them to feel bitterly against the Dodges, because they felt that they were being cheated out of their rightful claims to the property bought and paid for by them. But to understand the technicalities of the laws re- garding the titles to these lands we will have to read the court decisions through. We give in part a speech prepared and read by Judge Talley before the Forty-Second Annual Session of the Georgia Bar Association at Tybee Island, Georgia, June 4, 1925.
Judge Talley says :
"At a session of the United States Court held in Macon on May 28, 1923. Judge William H. Barrett signed an order disposing of the case of Norman W. Dodge vs. Lucius L. Williams and three hundred and eighty other defendants. This judicial act marked the end of the Dodge litigation which had been pend- ing in that court during forty years."
To discover its remote fountainhead and as well the more im- mediate causes of the great controversy, we must go back in time ninety-two years, in distance journey to the Pine-tree State, and trace for half a century the story of the Dodge lands.
In 1832 Stephen Chase, a distinguished lawyer, was living in Fryeburg, Maine. The substantial colonial house which he built
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DODGE LANDS AND LITIGATIONS
and occupied in that historic village is yet standing, and across the street from it is still pointed out the academy in which Daniel Web- ster first taught school.
Chase was also a Democratic politician, and among his friends were Augustin S. Clayton, a Congressman from Georgia, and Joseph M. White, a delegate in Congress from the territory of Florida. Through these Southern statesmen, the New Englander became con- vinced that the timber lands of south Georgia and Florida offered a splendid opportunity for investment and speculation.
The following year he came to the capital of Georgia, and there met Peter J. Williams, to whom had been granted by the State two hundred and seventy-five thousand acres of wild land in what was originally Wilkinson County. Chase was entertained by Williams at his residence, which is today one of the most notable of the many imposing homes in the city of Milledgeville that survive from ante- bellum times. Enthusiastic over the contemplated purchase, the visitor returned to Maine.
At Portland was soon formed an association, known as the Geor- gia Land Company, and it was agreed to invest not over forty thousand dollars in the purchase of pine lands in Georgia, at a price not to exceed ten cents an acre.
The promoters sent to Georgia as their agents Abram Colby, gen- tleman, of New Hampshire; Samuel E. Crocker, merchant, of Port- land; and Stephen Chase, Esquire. Three hundred thousand acres of land were purchased by them from Peter J. Williams, who, to complete the necessary quantity, had acquired an additional twenty- five thousand acres.
The fifteen hundred lots embraced in the purchase then lay in the counties of Laurens, Montgomery, Telfair and Pulaski, and were widely dispersed over that mighty primeval forest lying between the Oconee and the Ocmulgee and extending to the junction of those rivers to form the Altamaha.
At that time water afforded the principal means of heavy trans- portation, commercial fertilizers were unknown, and cultivated fields were usually confined to alluvial bottoms. So we find in this, as in other sections of the State, large plantations adjacent to the rivers.
It is perhaps not generally known that many of the planters living
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HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY
in the four counties named were among the outstanding men of that day.
General David Blackshear, in Laurens, held almost feudal sway upon his country estate, "Springfield," overlooking the Oconee. The memory of the planter is perpetuated by the capital of Pierce, while that of his estate is preserved in the county seat of Effingham. On the Oconee also lived Governor George M. Troup, and the name of his famous plantation in Laurens is now borne by the beautiful city of Valdosta. On the Ocmulgee, in Talfair, was the home of General Mark Willcox, and that of his father-in-law, General John Coffee, who, when a member of Congress in Washington, lived at the White House with his friend, Andrew Jackson.
The great expanse between the two rivers was sometimes called the "pine barrens." It was then very sparsely settled, except in a few localities in Telfair and Montgomery where the pasturage af- forded by the wiregrass of the upland and the cane in the creeks had early attracted from North Carolina a large company of High- landers, who emigrated from Scotland because of their continued loyalty to the House of Stuart. Of them the historian, George C. Smith, says:
"They were a thrifty people and were independent from the start. They had their kirk and their schools, and had services in their native Gaelic .. . There is no part of Georgia where there are so many Highlanders, and there was nowhere a more contented and well-to-do people than those who dwelt in these pine forests. A finer type of people than the Scotch who settled so largely Telfair, Tattnall and Montgomery counties was not to be found in America." ("The story of Georgia and the Georgia people." p. 224) .
The deed from Williams, dated February 28, 1834, was taken in the individual names of Colby, Chase and Crocker. By another pur- chase was acquired a tract of twenty thousand acres in Telfair County. This included the Robert Flournoy plantation on the Auchee Hatchee River and a mill near the mouth of that important stream, now more generally known as the Little Ocmulgee.
Upon the application of Chase and others, a charter was granted to the Georgia Lumber Company by the Legislature of this State on December 17, 1834, and in the following month all of the lands in question were conveyed to that corporation by Colby, Chase and Crocker, as its agents.
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DODGE LANDS AND LITIGATIONS
Superintendents and experienced lumbermen were sent down from Maine. The old Flournoy mill was put in operation and became, it is said, the largest sawmill in the South. Between two and three hundred people were employed. Lumber was drifted down the Altamaha. The old steamboat "Macon" was purchased in 1835. Cottages were erected about the mill and to the colony was given the name Lumber City. The present town of that name is not far from the original site. The capital stock of the company was increased to $200,000 and its shares were freely sold in Boston and New York. For several years there was the appearance of great prosperity.
Abram Colby, one of the promoters, visited the mills, but spent much of his time about Brunswick. He knew that the waterpower at Lumber City was insufficient and uncertain, and became interested in a movement to construct a canal from Darien to Brunswick. His plan was to raft logs down the Altamaha to Darien, and thence through the proposed canal to Brunswick, where it was designed to erect steam sawmills. In order to encourage and give publicity to this project, Colby joined with Messrs. Dexter, Rice, Davis and Thomas P. Carnes and established the first newspaper published in Brunswick. Upon his suggestion, Charles Davis, of Portland, Maine, was engaged as editor. In the language of the Georgia Gazetteer, "The Brunswick Advocate sent out its first rays of light in June, 1837."
The contemplated canal was not constructed. The Lumber Com- pany was heavily indebted to the Bank of Western New York at Rochester. It became increasingly difficult to finance the mills. The Flournoy plantation showed an enormous loss. Brooks, its man- ager, had been "highly recommended," but appears to have had no experience in farming, his previous occupation having been that of a leather dresser in Boston.
By an amendment to its charter in 1838, the Georgia Lumber Company was given many banking privileges, and the right to transfer its property as security for debt. This last power was quickly and fully utilized. All of its property was soon conveyed to the Fund Commissioner of the State of Indiana to cover obliga- tions that could not be met.
The end was at hand. By 1842, those in charge and most of the employees had returned to Maine. The cutting of timber ceased.
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HISTORY OF DODGE COUNTY
The lands were abandoned. Actual possession and the title parted. The Flournoy plantation grew up in bushes, the Auchee Hatchee River flowed through the broken dam, shy swamp birds sang in the ruins of the mill, and the pines in safety slumbered, while the vagrant title wandered long in distant states.
Title passed out of the lumber company, and during nine years Indiana owned, of the territory of Georgia, five hundred square miles. From the Governor of Indiana the title passed through several links to William Chauncey and others of New York. There, caught by the outbreak of the War Between the States, it remained for a time captive in the enemy country. Peace restored, it went to William Pitt Eastman, of New Hampshire, who became owner in 1868.
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