USA > Georgia > The bench and bar of Georgia: memoirs and sketches. With an appendix, containing a court roll from 1790-1857, etc., volume II > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
There was, at that particular juncture, a severe contest raging between the aristocracy and the people,-between the Money-Power and the Democracy,-each contending for the mastery, each resolved to do or die. Fierce and angry discussion, stormy and turbulent debates, arose ; and it was then the master-spirit of ROBERT RAYMOND REID displayed its power. With an eloquence peculiarly his own, he enforced his arguments with thoughts that breathe and words that burn, and the excited passions of men sunk resistless before his fervid eloquence. He, with his col- Icagues, kept the convention together, which was often threatened with a dissolution ; and the result was, instead of a disgraceful act, that splendid production of human genius and combined wisdom, THE CONSTITUTION OF FLORIDA,-an imperishable monument, on which is engraved, as in letters of brass, all that the world has ever done for liberty.
Though a Democrat of the Jefferson school, he was no partisan. He had his political creed, but always stood aloof from the heat and excite- ment of the political canvass. His position among his fellow-men forbade it. In his own beautiful language, he " remembered that he was a judge among his fellow-men;" and although "he delighted to serve his friends, and desired to serve his country," he took no undue measures to accom- plish either.
He has gone to the grave, but the deeds of a well-spent life will live in the memory of posterity. He died a Christian. Light be the turf upon his bosom! Farewell, happy spirit.
"Thou art Freedom's now, and Fame's, One of the few, the immortal names That were not born to die !".
His public life was checkered with incident, and his latter years were saddened by domestic calamity. The loss of a promising son (the com- mander of the Sea-Gull) off Cape Horn, and the death of his eldest daughter, filled the cup of affliction, and brought him in sorrow to the grave.
Faults he had,-who has them not ?- but they "Icaned to virtue's side," and are buried with him. He died as he lived, an honest man,- God's noblest work.
237
WILLIAM S. C. REID.
We were permitted to call him friend, and to his memory we give a friend's offering,-a tear.
To the few remaining members of his family we tender the kindest sympathies of our nature. May He who "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb" be the " husband of the widow and the father of the fatherless," and give them strength and resignation in this their day of trouble !
XXVI.
WILLIAM S. C. REID.
FOR the benefit of the younger members of the profession espe- cially, the endowments of WILLIAM S. C. REID, and a few passages in his short career, are here set forth in the twofold light of encouragement and warning. From what the author has been able to gather from those who were acquainted with his gifts, his traits of character, the elevation of soul he possessed, and the rich oratory which rolled from his lips, it has fallen to the lot of very few persons to excel Mr. Reid in these respects. He rose with sudden light, maintained his brilliancy, and then closed his earthly prospects by sad indiscretions, which will be noticed from no motive to reproach the dead, but as a salutary admonition to the living.
WILLIAM S. C. REID, son of John Reid, was born in Hancock county, Georgia, on the 20th day of October, 1802, and received his principal education at Mount Zion, under the care of Nathan S. S. Beman and his brother, Carlisle Beman, two of the most noted and successful instructors of youth in the Southern country. He completed his course at Mount Zion in the spring of 1824, and proceeded immediately to the North with letters of high recom- mendation from his teachers. He pursued his legal studies at New Haven under the direction of Mr. Stapler, a lawyer of established reputation. In the fall of 1825, he returned to Georgia, and was admitted to the bar at Augusta. He located for practice at Clinton the ensuing year, and continued to reside in that village until his removal to Macon, six or eight years afterward. In the mean time he had given evidence of great abilities, and had become a source of joy to his relatives, especially to his widowed mother and his affectionate sisters, all of whom looked up to him as their greatest earthly comfort.
The author heard Mr. Reid speak only on one occasion at the bar, and that briefly to the court, in 1827, at Clinton. He dis- tinctly remembers the tall, erect, and graceful figure of Mr. Reid,
238
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
his strong, mellow voice, with great harmony of inflection, and the chaste language which delighted all hearers. His future was then auspicious in the highest degree. No advocate had greater natural advantages ; none better could scarcely be desired. Whatever contributed to render public speaking successful was at his com- mand. True, it was not claimed for him, young as he was, that his legal attainments were very profound,-that he was master of Coke upon Littleton, or could lay open Shelly's case so as to be intelligible. No such capacity did he pretend to possess ; nor was he bold enough to insinuate that Fearne on Remainders was as agreeable to him as the most popular romance, and as easily understood,-a taste which has been sometimes avowed by mem- bers of the profession who, from an excess of intellect or of vanity, seemed anxious to appear thus captivated. But in the province of an advocate, where the passions could be influenced, where the hearts of men might be reached, even to the controlling of their judgments,-in this relation Mr. Reid was most effective.
As a proof of his qualification, it may be remarked that he was associated with Col. Robert V. Hardeman and the Hon. Walter T. Colquitt in the prosecution of Elijah Barber, alias Jesse L. Bunkley, who was indicted in Jones Superior Court, at April Term, 1837, for cheating and swindling. This was a singular case, and occu- pied much time in the investigation. More than one hundred and thirty witnesses were examined, ninety-eight of whom were on the side of the prosecution. The testimony was conflicting,-many wit- nesses believing the defendant to be the genuine Jesse L. Bunkley, who was entitled to an estate of twenty thousand dollars; and per- haps a still greater number of witnesses and disinterested persons considered him an artful impostor, who had perhaps learned the story from the rightful heir before his death. The particulars of this trial have been published in pamphlet form. They are mys- terious, to say the least. Barber was convicted and served out his term in the penitentiary. Some persons honestly believe to this day that the accused was the veritable Jesse L. Bunkley, who suf- fered wrongfully. But the greatest number believe-what is no doubt the truth-that Barber and others had conspired to obtain this large property by the course that was attempted.
Among the witnesses introduced by the prosecution were Robert Dougherty, now a judge of the Circuit Court of Alabama ; Hugh A. Haralson, late a Representative in Congress, since deceased; Henry G. Lamar, formerly a Representative in Congress ; and the Hon. Charles J. McDonald, since Governor of Georgia, and at present
239
WILLIAM S. C. REID.
a judge of the Supreme Court. The testimony of these gentlemen is here copied in the order in which it was delivered :-
Eighty-sixth witness, ROBERT DOUGHERTY .- I knew Jesse L. Bunkley at school at Athens. I entered college and left him in the grammar- school. I do not know how long he remained there. At that time, to enter college, a young man must have known arithmetic to the rule-of- three, English graminar, have read Cornelius Nepos, Cæsar, and the Bucolics and first book of the Æneid of Virgil, and the four orations of Cicero, and have read in the Greek Testament the book of John. From my recollection of Jesse L. Bunkley I cannot speak distinctly of him. I do not think Bunkley had as dark hair. I had a conversation with pri- soner, and should say from that conversation he is not Jesse L. Bunkley. I asked him several questions which he did not answer satisfactorily. I think Bunkley could have recollected and detailed some of the circum- stances I inquired of.
Cross-examined .- The circumstances that prisoner recollected were sug- gested by myself. He brought to my recollection the breaking of some globes at Shaw's book-store. I recollected a difficulty at Shaw's, but not breaking the globes. I don't recollect that the college-rules were ever waived except as to the qualification of age. Jesse L. Bunkley came to the grammar-school just before I left it. He entered college before I left, which was in 1826. I don't recollect why and when he left there, nor how long he was in college. It was a short time. Bunkley left college before I did.
87th witness, HUGH A. HARALSON .- I was at college from 1821 to 1825, when Bunkley was there in the grammar-school. I think he entered one of the lower classes in college. I knew him at that time. The requisites for admission were pretty much such as stated by Mr. Dougherty. I think Cicero's Orations were also required. My recol- lection of Bunkley is not very distinct. His hair was very light,-lighter than Mr. Hardeman's. My brother-in-law, Mr. Lewis, was taken for Bunkley from the lightness of his hair. Unless time changes men more than I am aware of, I should not take prisoner to be Bunkley. I saw prisoner in November, 1836. Among the company at Mr. Gibson's I could not distinguish prisoner as Bunkley. I asked him a number of questions. He answered me two or three correctly, which he might have answered without being Bunkley. I asked him several other questions, which he could not answer. He told me where old Zack Sims lived, where Mr. Thomas lived, and the situation of the spring. He could not tell me the number of bridges across the Oconee at Athens. There were two bridges; and he said there was one. He could not tell where the boys washed. It was a noted place. He tried to press upon my recollection the breaking of the globes, which I do not recollect. He said he had been gone so long and seen so many parts of the world that these things were erased from his memory. . He said he had been to England, to Lon- don. He said he did not go ashore at London. He said he had made a proposition to Jesse L. Bunkley's guardian. He must have had a very treacherous memory to have forgotten these circumstances. He said, "Now, if I had been an impostor, do you suppose I should have made such propositions to my guardian ?" Prisoner showed an unwillingness to con- verse in company or to converse aloud, in which I humored him. The whole interview resulted in my conviction that it was not Jesse L. Bunkley. I thought it strange that he should be so fond of a spree and not go ashore
240
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
at London. He described Jesse L. Bunkley's personal marks, and said they were on himself. I merely had this conversation for my own satisfaction.
Cross-examined .- Men are often deceived in regard to identity. I may possibly be deceived now. My mind is made up from the circun- stances detailed in the conversations with prisoner. The tendency of light hair is to become darker, but not black, according to my observation. I did not go to his room, and have had no more conversation with him. His anxiety to go to his own room was one of the circumstances that induced me to think he was not Bunkley. My opinion is formed more from circumstances. I asked prisoner to mention the names of some of his classmates. He mentioned but three in college. He could recollect no more. Pryor Green, a Mr. Shelman, and Ned Hill were the three he mentioned. He recollected but one of the professors.
89th witness, HENRY G. LAMAR .- I was intimately acquainted with Jesse L. Bunkley from 1817 or '18 till 1825, when he left here. He was almost daily at my office when in town, and I noticed him a good deal. I think I should recognise his features if I were to see him; and I do not see the first feature of prisoner that revives my recollection of Jesse L. Bunkley. I do not recollect very well names and dates, but do well recollect countenances. I saw this year, in Alabama, a gentleman I had not seen for twenty years; and I knew him. My recollection is best of the general expression of countenance. The complexion of hair, color of the eyes, and form of the face, of prisoner, differ entirely from Bunkley's. Bunkley's eyes were darker and the expression different. His eyes were fuller than prisoner's.
Jesse L. Bunkley, from hearing me deliver an oration, could repeat several sentences in it. He borrowed it and kept it a week. He was at Milledgeville while I represented this county, and had to borrow money from me to pay his tavern-bill. The first time he met me afterward he apologized for not paying it. When I entered prisoner's room he called Judge McDonald Peter Williams, and said he was very sick. He said he had no recollection of me. I asked him if he did not recollect of a lawyer in Clinton, Jones county, of my name,-Henry G. Lamar. I asked him a number of circumstances respecting myself and family, none of which did he recollect. He said he recollected a little, dark-skin, chunky man named Isaac Harvey, that married old Tom Napier's daughter, that loaned him a ten-dollar United States bill. He did not recollect my own brothers, but recollected John T., Mirabeau, and Bazil Lamar.
This closed the first interview. John T. Lamar, Bazil, and Mirabeau, previous to my conversation with prisoner, had been to Texas, and Isaac Harvey had been to Alabama. Jesse L. Bunkley differed in politics from his family, and took the Troup side in my favor, and would tell me the objections urged against my election.
Cross-examined .- Prisoner did not tell me how he knew Mirabeau Lamar and others. He said nothing about what he knew of them. I have seen men change. I think Jesse L. Bunkley's face was rounder than prisoner's. Jesse L. Bunkley's beard was light, but had not assumed a fixed character. Hair light at eighteen or nineteen changes darker by thirty years of age. It was my first and is my last impression that prisoner is not Jesse L. Bunkley. I cannot recollect that prisoner stated that John T., Mirabeau, and Bazil Lamar lived in Jones county. Isaac Harvey did marry Napier's daughter. I think she died during the war, or at least before 1817, and that Harvey had in 1817 married his second wife.
241
WILLIAM S. C. REID.
96th witness, CHARLES J. MCDONALD .- I knew Jesse L. Bunkley shortly after June, 1818, saw him frequently, and, from that time till he left, knew him intimately. I do not think prisoner to be Jesse L. Bunk- ley. Col. Lamar and myself called to see him and requested that he should not be told who we were. He called me Peter Williams. He was asked if he knew either myself or Col. Lamar as attorneys at Clinton, and if he remembered Lamar's lending him ten dollars in Milledgeville. He did not recollect these, but he recollected a little stumpy fellow, named Isaac Harvey, that loaned him a ten-dollar United States bill there, and that he married Major Napier's daughter. He did not know either myself or Lamar. He said he thought he had some indistinct recollection of Jim Lamar's going to the Legislature from Jones. He said he knew some of the Lamars that lived in Jones county,-John T., Bazil, and Mira- beau. Prisoner complained of being sick, and said perhaps he could give us more satisfaction in regard to these matters at a future day. I never knew of John T., Mirabeau, or Bazil Lamar living in Jones. I don't know much about Jesse L. Bunkley's education. He had been at school enough, if he had attended to his studies, to be a pretty good scholar.
Cross-examined .- I did not call on prisoner again. I think he said something about one of the Lamars' father living above Milledgeville. I am not distinct in this. I don't think I asked him a question. I sug- gested questions to Col. Lamar. Mirabeau Lamar's father did live above Milledgeville, on Little River, I think Jesse L. Bunkley's face rather rounder and fuller than prisoner's,-his eyes yellow, his hair not as dark as prisoner's. Time may have had some influence on it. His nose not so prominent as prisoner's; his complexion rather sallow, though not very dark.
Mrs. Lowther, the mother of Jesse L. Bunkley, testified that she had several conversations with the accused, and called over many incidents-some very peculiar-which her son must have recollected, but the prisoner had no knowledge of them. She was fully con- vinced, from his appearance and other circumstances, that he was not her son. She produced in court a letter which the prisoner said he had written her from New Orleans. As a curiosity from the pen of a professed collegian, an extract is here given, with the spelling, punctuation, and other beauties preserved as they appear in the original :-
NEW ORLEANS PRISON, December 20th, 1833.
DEAR MOTHER :- I' take the pleasure of writing A few Lines to you to convince you of my being your own child tho it A pears that its your wish to dis own me for it the Reson why I cannot tell if it aint for my past folly things thats past and gone I' know that, I' have not treated you as A child aught to A mother and the Reson why I' have not answered the questions you put to me is be cause I was afreade of things thats past you always feal near to me as a mother you know my mis forchans in that cuntry which Lyes frech on my mind but that subject I' will quit and turn to other things your maden name was Elizabeth Latmon and your mother a fluallen and after the deth of my father you marred James Billingslea and myself never could agree which was one grate cause of my mis forchans and as for whare I' went to school was to Clinton, Eadanton, Athans there was discharged for playing cards then my mis for chans VOL. II .- 16
242
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
commence you well Remember the promisses I made to you and Brother Wm, D, them promses was then shortly after I' got to this cuntry I' got in difficulty with A spanard and was forst to Leave it I' then went to mishigan canaday and the spanish cuntry
* *
In the course of her testimony, Mrs. Lowther said :
My maiden name was Slatter. I was acquainted with my son's hand- writing. I was satisfied that this letter was not in my son's handwriting.
Cross-examined .- I do not consider that this letter was from my son. I never received a letter after 1825 but this one. I heard the report of my son's death (I think) in 1827. I did not hear the report shortly after this time of my son's being in life. I heard a person, and persons, speak of my son's death, detailing different circumstances.
My son left me because he wished to travel. He was a young man of fortune, and did not wish to be confined. I did not know that my son was threatened with a prosecution before he left here. I do not know that my brother threatened him with a prosecution. I understood that he was confined for some offence in Augusta. I heard this from authority I confided in. He went away shortly after his return from Augusta. I do not recollect the precise time.
He left but one school (and that was at Athens) on account of mis- conduct. I do not know that he was under any offence when he left here. Capt. Parrish bought the horse, paid for him, and he rode him off. This was after a difficulty about the horse with his uncle. My son came back with his uncle, Shade Slatter, with the horse. I never heard Slatter threaten to prosecute my son. He stayed his time out at Eatonton school.
I did not answer the letter I received from New Orleans. I did not answer my son's letter, because he told me not to write till I heard from him again.
There was a mark on my son's leg immediately below the knee-pan. Prisoner shows a mark some distance below the knee. The scar on my son's knee was made by a drawing-knife. Prisoner knew nothing about how it took place. The prisoner's mark is considerably below the knee- pan. When I heard that the prisoner had such a mark, I stated that my son had a similar mark on his leg; but this on prisoner did not corre- spond when I saw it. I had several conversations with prisoner. At the first, Major Smith was present. In this conversation I admitted there was a mark on my son's neck, which, on examination, was not on the prisoner's. The scar on my son's neck was occasioned by his riding on an old tree : he fell, and a limb struck him under the jaw and made a large scar. The scar was about as long as the first joint of my first finger.
I do not recollect that my son was ever set to ploughing after being brought home from school. I have several times made him plough for my own amusement.
I never heard of my son's being alive till Major Smith's receiving letters. The first report I heard of my son's being alive was when, in Mr. Atwood's store, I heard that Major Smith had received a letter from him.
I knew of no other mark on my son but those mentioned when he was a child. My son had no mole when he was a child. I have never said to any one that he had moles. Some of my children have dark spots ; but I do not call them moles.
I invited prisoner to stay at my house and convince me that he was my son. He could tell me nothing. He asked me if I recollected a
243
WILLIAM S. C. REID.
difficulty between him and Capt. Billingslea, and that I took the carving- knife to separate them. He said this was at supper-table. I told him I recollected a difficulty, but nothing about a carving-knife : that we had no use for a carving-knife at supper. I have never so stated to any person.
Having transcribed so much of the evidence given for the pro- secution, showing that the prisoner had falsely personated Jesse L. Bunkley, it is deemed proper to select a passage or two from the defence :-
28th witness, WILLIE PATTERSON .- I knew Jesse L. Bunkley while he lived in Clinton, and, till he left here, often saw him. I knew him as he passed as well as I knew other boys. I used to deal with William D. Bunkley, and he was very kind to me. I knew Jesse in his father's house and around his table. Knew him as a school-boy, and, after his father's death, at his mother's house. I knew him till he went away. I believe prisoner to be the same man. I have never asked prisoner a question, nor he me one. I understood he was coming out from Mr. Gibson's, and I stood about ten steps from the door. When he stepped into the piazza, he brought to my view old Wm. D. Bunkley from the upper part of his face, from his eyes up. I do not think his cheeks as full as they used to be. I think the color of his skin when he went away a little swarthy. I don't recollect the color of his eyes. I think he resembles his father as much as his brother, Wm. D. Bunkley. Before I saw him, I thought his hair of a lightish color. It is darker. When a boy, I used to be called a flax-headed boy. It has since turned nearly black. Jesse L. Bunkley was a wild, bad boy; in all bad company. I have seen him at my house more than once. Prisoner has a family-like- ness to the Slatters and James Bunkley.
31st witness. The person of prisoner exhibited before the jury .- He stands erect, walks, and exhibits his finger,-the forefinger of the left hand. A small scar on the neck under the right jaw. A scar on the side of the left leg, one inch and a half from the knee-pan. Shows his feet and his shin to look for the marks of the snake-bite. Some scars are found on his right leg, one on the side of the right knee, and one on the side of the calf of the leg, near the shin-bone.
Considerable testimony was offered in behalf of the prisoner, tending to show that he was a different man from Elijah Barber who was known in Upson county, and in the Florida War of 1835 and previously, as a wagoner who hauled lumber from Groce's mill, near Macon, in 1824 and '25. He could not write. Many wit- nesses concurred in the opinion, from what they knew of Jesse L. Bunkley from his childhood up to the time he left Jones county in his twentieth year, (May 17, 1825,) that the prisoner was the identical Jesse L. Bunkley.
During this long and complicated trial the Hon. JOHN G. POL- HILL, Judge of the Ocmulgee circuit, presided. Several ques- tions were raised on the evidence, which were well decided on rea- son and authority. Should the author succeed in procuring the
244
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
necessary data, a separate memoir of Judge Polhill will be pre- pared, in which this case and its further intricacies-especially on the legal points involved-will be noticed more in detail, for the interest they afford to the profession. At present, very little more will be said, except in relation to the part devolved on Mr. Reid as of counsel for the prosecution.
Col. Hardeman justly wielded great influence in his (Jones) county, and was a lawyer of acknowledged ability even in 1837. His reputation has been much increased since, and he now pre- sides in the same circuit as Judge of the Superior Court. Judge Colquitt had a proud fame more than twenty years ago. His effort on this trial was worthy of his genius and skill as an advo- cate. Mr. Reid, though somewhat his junior, was perhaps not less gifted. His argument was what might have been expected on the occasion of a stupendous fraud worked by the nicest machinery, which required analysis and energy to unfold. It was the last exhibition of Mr. Reid's oratory at the bar on a scale commen- surate with his powers. Only a few additional remarks will be indulged to close this memoir.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.