USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 40
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"In 1899 he was unanimously elected president of the North Carolina Bar Association, being the second president of that organization. Mr. War- ren's administration of this high office was emi- nently satisfactory and aided in strengthening the influence of the association for more progressive methods and higher ideals. To his interests, zeal and admirable address as president in 1900 should be attributed the request made by the Bar Asso- ciation to the Supreme Court for a restoration of the requirement that a two years course of study be a condition upon applicants for license to prac- tice law in the state, and that Sharswood's Legal Ethics be added to the course of study. It is gratifying to recall that both requests were promptly granted by the Supreme Court. Your speaker recalls that previously he had prepared and procured the adoption by the local bar of Beaufort County of a condensed Code of Ethics applicable to the members of that bar.
" His address as president of the North Caro- lina Bar Association in 1900 was on the subject ' The Standard of Admission and Legal Ethics,' and those who heard or have read it agreed that no stronger appeal was ever made in a worthy cause. To those who knew Charles F. Warren it is manifest that he wrote and spoke as he prac- ticed, that he was expressing in precept the faith that he expressed in daily work and living.
"For several years preceding his death he suffered, intensely at times, from an incurable malady which ultimately proved fatal; but with a courage and devotion that no Roman centurion ever surpassed and with the fortitude of an ideal martyr he sat at his desk day after day and far
James D. Biling
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into the night guarding the interests of his clients and ceased from labor only when the stricken and weary body could no longer respond to the strong and ever ready will. In the great battles of war when a soldier falls another takes his place and the gap is closed. When Warren fell, among all the worthy ones left there was none to take his place; and it is no disparagement of my brethren to say the vacancy created when Charles F. War- ren was called remains today unfilled.
"Charles F. Warren was a great lawyer. All size is relative. The true measure of a man and lawyer is taken by comparison with his associates and contemporaries. Warren, in the activities of professional life, stood by the side of or before Judge W. B. Rodman, Colonel David Miller Carter, Hon. James E. Shepherd, who later became chief justice of North Carolina, Hon. George H. Brown, now a member of this court. He met in combat and in conference Major Lewis Latham, Gover- nor Jarvis, Thomas G. Skinner, James Edwin Moore and W. D. Pruden. And measured by these men of great height he was known among them and in comparison with them as a great lawyer and a strong man.
"He was cautious and safe in counsel, giving no opinion not fortified by authority searched for and found. Earnest, forceful and convincing as a jury advocate; always frank and respectful to the court; but unyielding and fearless in demanding due consideration for himself and his cause by the court; bold in presenting and plaus- ible in maintaining his side of a debated and debatable question; quick at court house repartee, and a past master in the art of directing cross examination, he was without a superior within my observation in the nisi prius court.
"Yet nothing contributed more to his success in the trial of causes, with all his skill and ability, than his fixed habit of thoroughness in prepara- tion. He left nothing to the element of chance or luck. He hunted for the weak points of his own case with pitiless thoroughness and prepared the case of his adversary as though it were his own. To investigate and master the two sides of a controversy thus and to remain the partisan advocate, with keenness and zeal and courage un- abated, requires a mental fibre and a moral temper precisely as rare as real greatness. In the appel- late court this habit of thoroughness was apparent again. He never concluded and completed the prep- aration of his case till further preparation could no longer avail.
"His energy and zeal in a cause depended in not the slightest degree upon the personality or position of his client. The humblest negro became the biggest man in the land to Warren when that negro's case was in his care. The strongest storms of public clamor against his client swayed him not the slightest nor caused him to abate one jot or one tittle in the defense of his cause.
"He was absolutely honest with himself, his neighbor and his God, and no man ever had a higher sense of honor. It never occurred to any- one who knew him to question his word or his complete fidelity to every trust.
"In 1901, in his admirable address as president of the North Carolina Bar Association, Hon. Charles M. Stedman, describing the ‘model lawyer,' said: 'The simplicity of his character commands confidence. He loves the companion- ship of friends. He delights in the society of
books. A pure and irreproachable private life places him above the shaft of petty gossip. He is free from any taint of malice, envy or false- hood. He is brave and chivalrous, always respect- ful to but never obsequious to the judge. His clients confide to him their troubles with the con- fidence that he will not reveal them. He is fear- less when combating for his client amid the whole weight of an irresistible clamor. He is cool, though tried by all means which could overcome the finest patience. He is cautious when prudence counsels reserve. He is aggressive when the moment for action has arrived. The love of gain does not tempt him. He is learned in the law; not only in its technicalities but in the broad and deep principles. He manifests and feels a strong interest in all that affects the welfare of the community. In advancing his client's interest he spares no labor but is governed by a supreme sense of duty. He has an absolute scorn for every artifice or trick by which an undue advantage might be gained. He fights his battles in the open field.' It is said that later a number of prom- inent lawyers of wide acquaintance among the members of the bar of this state were discussing this address and the question arose as to what lawyer then living the description would most accurately fit. I have heard that it was agreed that none came nearer to the realization of this ideal than Charles F. Warren. From an inti- mate knowledge and close observation of him it is my deliberate judgment that every sentence in that description fits Charles F. Warren, the lawyer, without exaggeration."
LINDSAY CARTER WARREN, grandson of Judge Edward J. Warren and son of the late Charles Frederic Warren, was born at Washington, North Carolina, December 16, 1889. He was educated in the public schools, in the Bingham School at Asheville, in the University of North Carolina and was admitted to the bar in February, 1912. During the five years he has practiced at Wash- ington his ability and talents have justified the expectations of his friends as a lawyer who individually will contribute something to the lustre which the name Warren has long enjoyed in the legal profession of North Carolina.
Mr. Warren has held the office of county attor- ney of Beaufort County since 1912. He was elected and is a member of the State Senate for 1917-18 and has been chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of his home county since 1912. In 1917 he was appointed a member of the North Carolina Code Commission. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, the Alpha Tau Omega College fraternity and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His church is St. Peter's Episcopal at Washington.
January 29, 1916, Mr. Warren married Miss Emily Harris, daughter of James H. and Annie Harris. Her father is the sheriff of Beaufort County.
JAMES D. HEILIG. A man of pronounced abil- ity and great enterprise, James D. Heilig, of Salisbury, is endowed with at least two substan- tial virtues, perseverance in purpose and excellent business judgment, and is making good use of his talents, as secretary and treasurer of the Taylor Mattress Manufacturing Company, being identified with one of the prominent industries of the city.
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He was boru in Gold Hill Township, which was the birthplace of his father, Paul Nathaniel Heilig, and of his grandfather, George Heilig.
He comes of pioneer stock, his great-grandfa- ther, Michael Heilig, who was of German ancestry, having come with two of his cousins from Penn- sylvania to Rowan County at an early day. Se- curing a tract of land in Gold Hill Township, he cleared and improved a homestead, and was there engaged in farming the remainder of his life. He was a Lutheran in religion, and a member of the Organ Church, which was so called because it was the first church in the vicinity in which an organ was placed.
George Heilig and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Furr, were life-long residents of Gold Hill Township, living and dying on their farm. Both belonged to the Organ Church, and con- tributed of their means towards its support.
Paul Nathaniel Heilig was reared to agricultural pursuits, and was prominent not only as a farmer, but in the public affairs of the county. In early manhood he was elected justice of the peace, which at that time was a judicial office, and he often presided at important trials. During the progress of the Civil war, he served as colonel in the State Militia, and as tithing man conscription officer. After the war, he came with his family to Salis- bury, where he was engaged in the hardware busi- ness until his retirement from active pursuits, con- tinuing his residence in the city, however, until his death, at the age of sixty-five years. He was an active and useful member of the Organ Church, and prominent in the management of its affairs. The maiden name of his wife was Amelia Miller. She was of German ancestry, and, like her parents, Daniel and Mary (Sossaman) Miller, was a native of Cabarrus County, North Carolina. She sur- vived her husband, dying in the eighty-fifth year of her age. She reared three sons, namely : John G., James D., and A. Sidney, now deceased.
Having completed the course of study in the public schools, James D. Heilig was a student at Roanoke College, in Salem, Virginia. Later he entered the University of North Carolina, but hav- ing become nearly blind, was forced to leave that institution, much to his disappointment. On re- covering his eyesight, Mr. Heilig was employed as a clerk until 1906, working first in his father's establishment, and later in a gentlemen's clothing and furuishing store. In that year, with others, Mr. Heilig organized the Taylor Mattress Com- pany, and embarked in the manufacture of the celebrated Taylor Mattresses, which he says, with- out fear of contradiction, are superior to any other manufactured in North Carolina. He is secretary and treasurer of the company, and for the past twelve years has devoted his time and attention to the business.
In 1896 Mr. Heilig was united in marriage with Mary Elizabeth Thompson, who was born in Tyro Township, a daughter of Hon. C. M. and Mary Adelaide Thompson. Three children have been boru of their uuion, namely: Mary Elizabeth, Charles Sydney, and James D., Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Heilig are members of the Saint Johu Lutheran Church, and since 1896 Mr. Heilig has been treas- urer of the North Carolina Lutheran Synod. Po- litically Mr. Heilig is a democrat, and though not active in party ranks always does his duty at the polls. Fraternally he is a member of Fulton Lodge, No. 99, Ancient Free and Accepted Or-
der of Masons; of Salisbury Chapter, No. 20, Royal Arch Masons; of Salisbury Commandery, No. 13, Knights Templar; and of Oasis Temple, at Charlotte.
JOHN HUGH KING. Moderu business requires practical and thorough traiuing in the same de- gree as the professions and sciences. In North Carolina there are no institutions which afford a better curriculum of practical business educa- tiou than the King's business colleges at Raleigh and Charlotte, both of which were founded and are still conducted by Johu Hugh King. These schools since they were established in 1901 have trained and graduated many hundreds of young men and women, and given them a thorough prepa- ration to serve as a passport into actual business life. Professor King stands high among the fore- most commercial educators in the country, and his school is one of the strong units in the educational life of North Carolina, and consequently has its appropriate place in a history of the state.
Of southern birth and ancestry, John Hugh King was born at Atlanta, Georgia, March 12, 1865, a son of John Henry and Emma E. (Den- ton) King. His father was a merchant and farmer. Educated in public schools, Mr. King at- tended the normal school at Madisonville, Ken- tucky, and was both a student and teacher for three years in Grayson College at Whitewright, Texas. For a number of years he was identified with educational affairs in Texas, teaching for three years at Greenville, and in 1891 establish- ing King's Business College at Dallas. After selling out the school at Dallas, Mr. King was manager of a business college at Jacksonville, Florida, from 1897 to 1901.
He established King's Business College at Ra- leigh in 1901 and in the following year estab- lished a similar school at Charlotte. It is the proud record of Professor King that fully 12,000 students have been under his instruction, and most of them were qualified for and held positions in the business world. For several years the enrollment in his schools at Raleigh and Char- lotte has aggregated 800 students. While the King Business College is an incorporated institu- tion, all the common stock is owned by Mr. and Mrs. King.
In the years since its establishment Kiug's Busi- ness College has accumulated all the facilities and has been so thoroughly organized and systematized that it affords every opportunity to the young man or young woman seeking a practical training for business life. Both Mr. and Mrs. King are active in the departments of instruction, Mrs. King being connected with the school acting as a counselor and adviser to the young women students. The departments maintained are bookkeeping, banking, peumanship, English, Pitman and Gregg systems of shorthand, and touch typewriting. A feature of the school which deserves special men- tion is that Mr. King has never boasted of the rapidity with which his students are passed through his school. His pride consists in the fact that his students, when they have com- pleted their course, are able to command excellent positions and hold them, and there are hundreds of business men and women throughout the South who constitute by their careers the best advertisement for this institution.
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Mr. King was first made a Master Mason in Wm. G. Hill Lodge No. 218, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, August 13, 1906, at Raleigh, North Carolina, and on January 25, 1907, became a member of Raleigh Chapter No. 10, Royal Arch Masons. He is past high priest of this chapter, having served as high priest one term. On Janu- ary 25, 1907, he became a member of Enoch Council No. 5, Royal and Select Masters, and be- came a member of Raleigh Commandery No. 4, Knights Templar, on November 29, 1911. He is past eminent commander of this commandery and when his term of office expired he was pre- sented with a past commander's jewel. On De- cember 8, 1911, he became a member of Oasis Tem- ple at Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a thirty- second degree Mason, being a member of Wil- mington Consistory No. 4 at Wilmington, North Carolina. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias. Mr. King is a member of the National Association of Commercial Educators and of the Rotary Club of Raleigh.
On December 24, 1891, he married Miss Mary Colvin, of Campbellsville, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. King have two children: Olive Colvin, now Mrs. Wade S. Marr of Columbia, South Carolina; and Liell Colvin.
MITCHELL LEE SHIPMAN. From a career as a successful newspaper publisher at Hendersonville and an influential factor in the democratic party in the western part of the state, Mitchell Lee Ship- man was called to one of the executive commissions in the state service in 1905, when he became as- sistant commissioner of labor and printing. In 1908 he was elected to full command of that of- fice, was re-elected in 1912, and in 1916 became a candidate for re-election.
It was largely due to his efficiency in bringing this department to a high standard of service to the state at large that the Legislature in 1915 placed the office on the same plane with other state offices as regards salary. Concerning his accom- plishments as commissioner of labor and printing the State Journal recently summarized as follows : "The Department of Labor and Printing under the present commissioner has been made of real value to the state. Its annual report is now recog- nized as a most excellent exposition of North Caro- lina's industrial growth. The circulation of this report is practically world wide, and is the prin- cipal medium through which the state's economic progress is given the world. The last legislature enacted into law certain measures endorsed by Mr. Shipman seeking to limit the public printing and to give the department more adequate control of that printing. This alone will save the state be- tween ten and twelve thousand dollars annually. In so many ways and by so many different methods has Mr. Shipman increased the efficiency of his department that to enumerate them all would be quite unnecessary. Suffice it to repeat them that the General Assembly has properly recognized this efficiency and the vastly increased importance of the department to the state, and that this efficiency has been attained during the two terms Mr. Shipman has served the people.''
Mitchell Lee Shipman was born at Bowman's Bluff in Henderson County, North Carolina, De- cember 31, 1866, a son of F. M. and Martha A. (Dawson) Shipman. He grew up in the western part of the state, attending the public schools,
and early conceived a horizon of opportunity far beyond his commonplace surroundings and environ- ment.
In 1891 he moved to Brevard in Transylvania County, became a teacher in that locality, studying industriously for his own advancement at the same time, and also contributed to the local weekly news- paper. It is said that when he arrived at Brevard his cash capital consisted of only $16. When the newspaper to which he was a contributor sus- pended for lack of funds, he was induced to revive it and thus originated The Hustler, which is now the French Broad Hustler of Hendersonville, one of the most successful and influential newspapers in Western North Carolina, and with Mr. Shipman still president of the publishing company. At the beginning Mr. Shipman had a hand in practically every detail of the newspaper work, setting type, writing news items and editorials, soliciting ad- vertisements, running the hand press, and collect- ing the money.
Having succeeded in building up a good news- paper, be moved it in 1896 to Hendersonville, and made it the official democratic organ of Henderson and Transylvania counties, the name then being changed to the French Broad Hustler. That sec- tion of North Carolina has long been a republican stronghold, and it was around the French Broad Hustler that a permanent democratic organization grew up, which more than once during the last twenty years has polled a majority vote for its candidates. The French Broad Hustler is now published from a modern plant, including a power press, a linotype machine, and a number of em- ployes are now banded together under the direction of Mr. Shipman in getting out this paper. Mr. Shipman is a member of the National Editorial Association, and has long been active in the North Carolina Press Association, which he served twice as first vice president, twice as historian, and once as president.
Soon after moving to Brevard Mr. Shipman was appointed superintendent of public instruction of Transylvania County, an office he held from 1892 until 1895. A change in the system of appointing county superintendents, made by the Legislature of 1895, caused him to be removed from office dur- ing his second term. From 1898 to 1906 Mr. Ship- man was chairman of the Henderson County Demo- cratic Executive Committee. He first became chair- man during the year when the white supremacy campaign was being waged, and he accomplished the remarkable result of lacking only fifteen votes of carrying Henderson County for his party. From 1899 to 1905 Mr. Shipman served as calendar clerk of the State Senate. In 1904 he was chairman of the Tenth Congressional District Committee, and succeeded in electing a democratic congressman from the district. Mr. Shipman has served as vice president of the International Association of Labor Commissioners and chairman of its executive com- mittee.
Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, in which he is a past chancellor, the Royal Arcanum, and the Junior Order of United American Me- chanics. In May, 1913, he was elected grand master of the North Carolina Odd Fellowship and in May, 1915, was elected grand representative. During his administration there occurred a revival of Odd Fellowship in North Carolina, the total membership increasing to more than 16,000. He
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is an active member of the Baptist Church and in 1902 served as clerk of the North Carolina As- sociation.
A man who understands through his own early career the hardships of poverty, Mr. Shipman has always been charitably inclined and a supporter . of the philanthropic organizations of community and state. He is treasurer of the North Carolina Orphans' Association, an organization for the care of orphans who have not been admitted to the care of some institution.
On July 12, 1896, Mr. Shipman married Lula Osborne of Brevard. Their children are: Josephine M., William Franklin, Mitchell Lee, Jr., and Dor- othy Mae.
HON. LUCIUS VIRGINIUS BASSETT. For one of the leaders of the North Carolina state democracy one may need look no further than Hon. Lucius Virginius Bassett, than whom no more strong, forceful or capable figure has arisen in Edgecombe County in the past several decades. A lawyer by profession, he has attained a commanding position at the bar, where he has been the victor in many hard-fought legal battles, but his greatest service to the public has been rendered as the incumbent of a number of positions of official importance, where he labored faithfully and unceasingly in the interests of the people's welfare.
Senator Bassett was born at Tarboro, North Carolina, March 2, 1861, and is a son of the late William Amos and Chloe (Miller) Bassett. His father was a painting contractor at Tarboro, and at that place the youth attended the public schools and the Tarboro Male Academy, following which, in December, 1877, he came to Rocky Mount and became a student in the George M. Lindsey School. Following the completion of his education from that excellent institution he began working with his father, and in 1883 went to Bethel, North Carolina, where he followed painting contracting, and while there served as mayor for one term. In April, 1887, he was called back to Rocky Mount by the death of his brother, and shortly afterward accepted a contract with the Atlantic Coast Line Railway, painting along its line until January, 1896. During this time Mr. Bassett had become interested in the law, and in February, 1896, entered the University of North Carolina, one year later being admitted to the bar. Since that time he has been engaged in a constantly growing prac- tice, which has increased in importance in propor- tion to its increase in size and emoluments. His work is largely of a corporation and advisory character, and, possessing in all respects the ideal legal mind, and reinforcing this with tireless energy and his natural high sense of honor and pride in the profound principles and great tradi- tions of his profession, he has won a command- ing position among the most eminent members of the bar of Eastern North Carolina. At present Mr. Bassett is attorney for the Bank of Rocky Mount and a director of that institution, which is the oldest and most noted financial organization of the city; attorney for the Rocky Mount Mills, the largest manufacturing institution of the city; attorney for the Rocky Mount Homestead and Loan Association, the oldest concern of its class of the city and attorney for numerous other enter- prises, in addition to controlling a large practice of a purely private nature. In May, 1895, he was made one of the commissioners of Rocky Mount, but resigned this office. He was attorney for the
board of county commissioners of Edgecombe for six years, surrendering this position in 1908, when he was elected to the North Carolina Senate, and was a member of the board of elections for Edgecombe from its creation in 1899 until his first election to the Senate, and chairman of this board during eight of the ten years that he was a member.
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