USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 3
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"It will be impossible to exaggerate or over estimate the tremendous service rendered to the state or to the race by Judge B. F. Long of States- ville, North Carolina, who has just sentenced a white lyncher to fifteen years in the penitentiary. This brave and upright judge, and all who have cooperated with him, have rendered their fel- low citizens and the cause of self-government everywhere a service which is worthy of the best tradition of Carolinian chivalry and statesman- ship."
It is especially noteworthy that since this action there has not been a, lynching in North Carolina. It is the first instance in the United States of severe punishment for a white man for aiding a mob to lynch negroes, and by a judge in a southern state elected by democrats.
While this case attracted wider attention, as is always true of a matter involving the funda- mentals of social and individual justice, another case in which Judge Long presided involved the sovereign rights of a sovereign state. In February, 1907, the General Assembly of North Carolina passed a law fixing the passenger rates within the state at 21/2 cents per mile and making violation of that act a misdemeanor. The Southern Rail- way defied the law and secured from Judge Pritch- ard of the United States Circuit Court an injunc- tion prohibiting the enforcement of the law until the question of its constitutionality could be con- sidered. This order was made by Judge Pritchard on June 29, 1907, two days before the rate law went into effect. On the 8th of July, 1907, Wake Superior Court convened, Judge Long presiding. The situation was a grave one in so far as the rights of the state were concerned, and there were no precedents. Judge Long had, however, given the matter careful thought and in his ad- dress to the jury instructed them particularly to inquire whether the railroad violated the criminal law in selling tickets at a higher rate than that prescribed by the statutes. In consequence of this charge, Agent Green at Raleigh was indicted for selling a ticket at Raleigh at an unlawful rate and was arrested. There was much feeling throughout the state. Judge Pritchard announced that he would protect the agents and officers of the company acting under his orders. He came to Raleigh in person for the purpose, it was be- lieved, of issuing a writ of habeas corpus for the release of Green. Judge Long ordered the sheriff to deliver the body of the prisoner up to the court, and the judge took Green into his own posses- sion. Judge Long's position was a denial of the
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
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right of the United States Circuit Court to sus- pend a criminal law of the state. In was a de- nial that the Federal courts could enjoin or inter- fere with the Superior Court of the state in indictments or trials for crime committed in the state and only against the laws of the state, wherein the State Court alone had sole and ex- clusive jurisdiction of the subject matter and the accused. There were other points involved not necessary to enter into here. His rulings upon the main question, jurisdiction, were unanimously af- firmed by the Supreme Court. It is sufficient here to state that Judge Long's prompt action had such an influence upon Judge Pritchard that he returned to Asheville without taking further ac- tion, and the case was tried before the State Court in due form. Both the Southern Railway and the agent Green were held guilty of misdemeanor. On Green's promise to observe the law he was fined five dollars and given his freedom. The company declined to obey the law and was fined $30,000. In his ruling Judge Long held that the Federal Court could not suspend a criminal law of the state nor protect a citizen who had violated state laws. As a result of this trial the Southern Railway, eight days after the verdict and judg- ment, suggested that it would obey the law of the state and the matter was thus finally settled. The consequences of this trial were far reaching and have resulted in the establishment of satisfactory passenger rates throughout the South Atlantic states. Judge Long's reputation was greatly en- hanced by his action in this important decision.
Notwithstanding his arduous duties upon the bench and his devotion to the law as a profes- sion, Judge Long has found time for other in- terests connected with the social and civic life of his home community and state. From its . or- ganization in 1898 he has been a member of the State Bar Association and is also a member of the American Bar Association. In 1891 he was author of the bill which resulted in the estab- lishment of the graded schools of Statesville. About the same time in conjunction with two other public spirited men he organized the States- ville Cotton Mill, the first of its kind in the town, and now ranking high among the industrial or- ganizations of the state. For a long time he served as a trustee of the State University and has given his liberal support to various charitable institutions.
In 1893 a group of capitalists, led by Hon. Wal- ter H. Page of New York, now ambassador at St. James, purchased the Manufacturers Record of Baltimore and offered Mr. Long the position of manager in chief of the publication to direct its future destinies. It was a flattering and attrac- tive offer, as the main purpose of this great jour- nal is to help the development of the South, but as its acceptance required a change of his pro- fession he declined it.
Before his judicial services began, in every general election campaign since his majority, he has worked and canvassed in behalf of the demo- cratic ticket, believing that the safety of the South as demonstrated by the horrors of Recon- struction, was dependent upon democratic control. Time and again he has declined offers of political promotion. More than once he could have had the democratic nomination. for Congress, and in 1907 was urged by powerful influences to become a candidate for governor. Since his accession to the bench he has scrupulously avoided public poli-
tical discussions. His career on the bench has been free from partisanship; as a judge he en- joys the confidence of all parties.
Judge Long has the thoroughness, the persis- tence, and the courage of his German and Scotch ancestors. Many instances are told illustrating his lack of fear in taking the unpopular side when he feels he is in the right. When Chief Justice Furches and one of his associates of the Supreme Court were impeached in 1901, Judge Long and his associates, employed for the defense, handled the case with such masterful ability that, notwith- standing the fact that part of the alleged mis- conduct consisted of an unlawful and unconstitu- tional attitude toward the General Assembly, he, in conjunction with his associate counsel, secured an acquittal at the hands of the Senate largely composed of their political opponents.
In 1914 Judge Long was honored by Davidson College and Elon College with the degree Doctor of Laws. He holds membership in the Presby- terian Church, the Masonic fraternity, the Royal Arcanum, the Order of Elks, and the Alpha Tau Omega college fraternity, of which at one time he was the second ranking officer in the United States. In August, 1914, he was recommended by the United States senators of North Carolina, and House members then in Washington, for appoint- ment on Supreme Bench to vacancy occasioned by the death of Justice Lunton.
Judge Long was exceedingly fortunate in his choice of a wife. He married Miss Mary Alice Robbins, in the flush of young manhood and al- most at the outset of his professional career, and Mrs. Long as wife, mother and home maker has shared in the achievements which have bestowed so much honor and dignity upon his name.
Mrs. Long's father, the late William McKen- dree Robbins, was a distinguished lawyer, a mem- ber of Congress, a linguist, a scientist, erudite scholar, and a statesman and orator of national fame. He was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, in 1828, and graduated with highest honors at Randolph-Macon College, Virginia. His father Ahi Robbins of Randolph County was one of the most brilliant men of his day. William M. Robbins studied law and just before the breaking out of the war went to Alabama and began prac- tice. He volunteered in the Confederate Army, and served throughout the entire war in the Fourth Alabama Infantry, of which he was major, and as major and acting colonel commanded the regi- ment at the Battle of Gettysburg. In 1893 he was appointed by President Cleveland a member of the Gettysburg National Park Commission and was active in the duties of this office until his death thirteen years later. During these years he wrote the reports of the commission to the War Depart- ment, and much of the writing and inscriptions appearing upon the tablets and monuments at Gettysburg were composed by him. After the war Major Robbins removed to Salisbury, North Caro- lina, taking up the practice of law there. He was in the State Senate for two or three terms from the districts composed of Rowan and Davie coun- ties. In 1872 he was elected to Congress and was reelected in 1874 and in 1876. In Congress he became distinguished for his oratory and states- manship and when he closed his career in the national legislature he was regarded as an orator and debator who took rank with Garfield, Blaine, Randolph Tucker and Ben Hill. When he retired from Congress he was acting chairman of the
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Ways and Means Committee. He then resumed the practice of law in Statesville, to which place he and his family had, hitherto, removed. For many years he distinguished himself at the bar as one of the leading lawyers and foremost advo- cates in North Carolina. In Congress and as a lawyer he delivered many notable addresses. A few of these stand out as being truly great ora- tions-the speech he delivered at the Twentieth of May Celebration at Charlotte in 1889; his speech in Congress on the sugar tariff; his reply to Ben Butler on the Civil Rights bill; and his address to one of the graduating classes at Ran- dolph-Macon College.
Major Robbins married Mary Montgomery, daughter of Rev. Dr. A. D. Montgomery and of distinguished ancestry. Her mother, Elizabeth Lewis of Virginia, was a descendant of John Lewis, who was a brother of Fielding Lewis, a brother-in-law of George Washington. The Lewis family has been identified conspicuously with the history of Virginia from the earliest period. Elizabeth Lewis was also a cousin of President Zachary Taylor.
Five children have been born to Judge and Mrs. Long. William Robbins Long, the oldest, died in infancy. Benjamin F. Long, Jr., whose youth promised a splendid career, graduated at Colonel Horner's School at Oxford, North Caro- lina, with highest honors in 1899, being captain of his company which won the colors at commence- ment in competitive drill, and had entered the university as a student for the year 1899-1900 when on November 16, 1899, in his nineteenth year, he was killed in a railroad accident. The third child, Lois, is a talented musician, has been trained under the best teachers in the country, has diplomas from three colleges, and in June, 1914, received a diploma from the Masters School of Music at Brooklyn, New York. She made her debut in Aeolian Hall, New York, November, 1917. She married Franklin Riker of New York who is a musician and composer of note of that city and a nephew of Admiral Mayo. The other daughter, Mary, married October, 1914, Maj. Edward M. Land a leading lawyer of Goldsboro, North Caro- lina. She is a woman of varied accomplishments and has a wide circle of friends. The youngest is McKendree Robbins Long, the artist, concern- ing whom a separate sketch appears in this work.
This brief story of Judge Long's life illustrates in the strongest manner the fact that greatness can be shown in the discharge of the ordinary duties of life. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of our people that true greatness always consists of the faithful discharge of duty. The man who has served his generation with pa- tience and with fidelity has contributed more to the welfare of his country than the man who wins notoriety, however great that notoriety may be, which is based not upon solid achievement.
MCKENDREE ROBBINS LONG. North Carolina has reason to be proud of the achievements of her sons and daughters who have followed the gentler muses of the arts, some of whom have deserved to rank alongside her soldiers and statesmen. While his career as a portrait and landscape artist may be said to have only begun, it is possible to rank McKendree Robbins Long of Statesville among those men and women whose merits and achievements have made an American art worthy of the name.
A son of Judge Benjamin F. Long, he was born at Statesville in July, 1888. His early train- ing was received in the schools of his home town, and later in the Webb School at Bellbuckle, Ten- nessee, the Horner Military School at Oxford, North Carolina, and while there he ended his career as captain of one of the military companies and won the colors for the best drilled company.
Pursuing his studies he entered Davidson Col- lege and from there became a student of the Art Students' League of New York City where he re- mained for two years. In the meantime he took a summer course in the School of Art of the Uni- versity of Virginia. Two noted artists of New York connected with the Art Students' League awarded him a scholarship entitling him to two years' study abroad.
Going to Europe he spent a short period study- ing art in the City of London. He also studied at Amsterdam and Volendam, Holland, and at Paris and Madrid. His chief instructor in Eu- rope was Lazlo, the great Hungarian portrait artist, whose studio is in London. Lazlo is re- garded in Europe as one of the great portrait artists of the time, and ranking with another, perhaps better known in this country because of his American origin, John Singer Sargent.
At the end of his two years abroad Mr. Long returned to the United States in the summer of 1913. Since then he has given his time to paint- ing portraits and landscapes, his work showing a special genius for portraiture. In December, 1916, he was tendered and accepted the position of di- rector of the School of Art and Design in Los Angeles. At the end of the session there of 1916-17, though his place was a delightful one and gave a fine field for his ambitions, he resigned and returned home in order to respond to the call to the colors.
In June, 1917, he entered the Officers' Training Camp at Fort Oglethrope, Georgia. Some time later he was taken very seriously ill. There fol- lowed a dangerous operation, and his health was so shattered that he was unable to continue his training at Fort Oglethorpe. He then returned to Statesville and while recuperating and awaiting the return of his former splendid physical condi- tion, has resumed his artistic employment.
In the Long home at Statesville there are two splendid examples of his portrait work, one a portrait of his father, Judge B. F. Long, the other a portrait of his wife's mother, Mrs. Mary Bell Hill. They are remarkable paintings and show the work of a great artist. Mr. Long is of the highly intellectual type, of especially independent thought and action, and follows no set rote or rule, and is bold, original and vigorous in his treat- ment of every subject. If some hazard of war does not intervene, an unusually promising career awaits this young man.
He married Miss Mary Belle Hill, daughter of the late Dr. M. W. Hill of Statesville. They have a beautiful little daughter, Caroline Clements Long.
COL. CLINTON A. CILLEY, whose last years were spent at Hickory, North Carolina, where he died, is generally recognized as having been one of North Carolina's ablest lawyers and finest citizens. He was not only distinguished in his profession but a man of remarkable versatility and of forceful power and character at every point of contact with affairs and with the interests of his home community.
1
SE. Alexander.
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
He was of New England birth and ancestry, and was born in the State of New Hampshire. He was reared according to New England ideals and his college career was in Harvard University. He graduated from the literary department of that university and was studying law in Harvard Law School when the war broke out between the states. He soon enlisted in the Union army, and gained rank as an officer by brilliant service on the field. He became colonel of his regiment and served with that rank under General Thomas of Chicka- mauga.
Following the war Colonel Cilley was commis- sioned by the Freedmen's Bureau to take care of its interests in North Carolina. In that official capacity he was located at Salisbury. While in that city he met and became a friend of the late Colonel Folk, one of North Carolina's most dis- tinguished lawyers and a southerner of the most uncompromising type. Notwithstanding the nat- ural political differences that separated them, a mutual affection and esteem sprang up, and after a while Colonel Cilley relinquished his position with the Freedmen's Bureau and went with Colonel Folk to the latter's home at Lenoir in Caldwell County. He finished his law studies under Colonel Folk and was admitted to the bar at Lenoir. Colonel Cilley had his home at Lenoir from 1866 to 1900, when he removed to Hickory in Catawba County, where he spent his last years.
Colonel Cilley was successful as a lawyer from the start, and in time was elected a judge of the Superior Court of North Carolina and served with credit and distinction on the bench for a number of years. On resuming his law work he continued general practice and had a clientage such as any lawyer might be proud to own. A prominent mem- ber of the Catawba County bar has said that Colonel Cilley was the most remarkable man he ever knew. He possessed not only the technique of the well trained lawyer but also the vastly more important foundation of erudition and thor- ough learning. His speeches and writings had a literary flavor in addition to the concise and logi- cal phrases of legal diction.
Colonel Cilley was married at Lenoir to Miss Emma Harper, daughter of Col. J. C. and Mrs. (McDowell) Harper of Lenoir. Both the McDow- ells and Harpers were old and distinguished fam- ilies of Western North Carolina. Mrs. Cilley, who is still living at Hickory, was born at the old Harner home in Happy Valley, Caldwell County, 61/2 miles from Lenoir. Her home is one of the most historic spots in all North Carolina. It was the home of the revolutionary McDowells as well as the Harpers, and two of the old homes that were there during the Revolutionary war are still standing in Happy Valley.
Colonel and Mrs. Cilley had three sons who are still living. John Harper Plummer Cilley, Gordon Harper Cilley and James Lenoir Cilley. James Lenoir Cilley is now assistant cashier of the First National Bank in Hickory. Gordon Harper Cilley has long been active and successful both in news- paper work and in advertising. He was formerly with the Charlotte Observer, later with the Phila- delphia Record, and he went from that paper to become assistant to the advertising manager of John Wanamaker. Subsequently he was pro- moted to his present position as advertising man- ager for John Wanamaker at a salary of $12,000 per pear. He is of course among the great ad- vertising experts of America.
The oldest son, John Harper Plummer Cilley,
is now proprietor of the Piedmont Foundry in Hickory, and a leading business man of that city. He married Miss Anna S. Abernethy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Abernethy of Hickory. To their marriage have been born seven children: Joseph Everett, J. H. P. Jr., Clinton A., Emma Louise, Alice Shuford, Donald Adolphus and Dorothy Winter.
MAJ. JOSEPH ELI ALEXANDER, prominent lawyer and citizen of Winston-Salem, has put his native talents and opportunities to excellent use in his individual advancement to success in his profes- sion and for a useful service to his community and state.
His is only one of the many useful and honorable careers that might appropriately be summarized in this article. The Alexanders are a virile and vigorous stock. They have been in North Carolina since earliest colonial times and the painstaking labors of students and genealogists have traced the family record back to the time of the Norman conquest of England.
Concerning the older branches of the family two quotations will suffice. The first is from the "Rec- ord of a Family of the House of Alexander" by Frances Alexander Butterworth (Chicago. 1909) : "One of the Scottish ancestors was Alexander McDonald, son of Donald, Lord of the Isles. He had two sons who assumed the Christian name of their father as a surname, and started one branch of the Alexander family on the way to fame and fortune. The Donalds trace back to Somerled, through a somewhat misty Highland genealogy.
"William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, from whom many of the Alexanders in America claim descent, was secretary of state for Scotland in 1626. He ruled for the king with a single eyed patriotism. His writings were famed in their day. His most important work was the assistance he rendered James I in the metrical version of the Psalms.
"James Alexander, the descendant of Lord Stir- ling, was obliged to leave Great Britain on account of active partisanship with the Pretender. He was colonial secretary of New York and among the staunchest of pre-revolutionary friends of civil liberty. His son William was the Lord Stirling of Revolutionary fame. The family flourished in Virginia."
The second citation is in the nature of a sum- mary taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition, Vol. 25, page 924.
"William Alexander (1567-1640), son of Alex- ander Alexander of Menstrie, was born near Stir- ling about 1567. The family was old and claimed to be descended from Somerled, Lord of the Isles, through John, Lord of the Isles, who married Margaret, daughter of Robert II. Robert II (1316-1390) was King of Scotland and founder of the Stuart dynasty, and was the tenth in direct male descent from a Norman baron, Robert de Bruis, who came to England in 1066 with William the Conqueror. In 1621 James I granted William Alexander enormous tracts of land in America embracing Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Gaspe Peninsula. This territory was afterwards in- creased on paper so as to include a great part of Canada. Was the king's secretary to Scotland until his death and was created Viscount Stirling and Lord Alexander of Tullibody. In 1633 was advanced to rank of earl with the addi- tional title of Viscount Canada, and in 1639 be-
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
came Earl of Dovan. Was succeeded by his grand- son William, who died a few months later, and then by his son Henry (died 1644), who became the third earl. When Henry's grandson, Henry, fifth earl (1664-1739), died the earldom became dor- mant, and in 1759 was claimed by William Alex- ander (1726-1783) of New York City, son of James Alexander (1690-1756), a noted colonial lawyer (referred to in the previous quotation). William Alexander served first as commissioner and then as aide de camp to Gov. William Shirley, and in 1756 accompanied Governor Shirley to Eng- land, where he was persuaded to claim the earldom of Stirling. In 1759 in Edinburg a jury declared him to be the nearest heir to the last Earl of Stir- ling, but the House of Lords held up the claim for further proof. Returned to Amer- ica, espoused the cause of the Revolution, became brigadier general and in 1777 major general; pre- sided over the court martial of Gen. Charles Lee regarding the battle of Monmouth, and enjoyed the confidence of Washington to an unusual de- gree. "'
It is said that in the latter part of the seven- teenth century several brothers of the name Alex- ander fled on account of religious persecution from Scotland to Ireland and thence to Manhattan, New York. Some of these remained in Manhattan and one of their descendants was the William Alexan- der above referred to. The others took up their abode for a time in New Jersey, and the descend- ants of these families went into Pennsylvania and into North Carolina. According to "Burke's Ar- more of England, Scotland and Ireland," there was a Samuel Alexander living in Cecil County, Maryland, 1700-1714, whose grandson, David, set- tled in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. From 1740 to 1760 many Alexander families left Mary- land, thirty of these families going to North Caro- lina and Virginia at the same time.
Attracted by the fertility of soil, its fruit, game and fishing industry and its mild climate tempered by the waters of Albemarle Sound, Isaac Alexander, who is the ancestor of the branch of the family now under consideration, settled in Tyrrell County, near the Town of Columbia, appar- ently about the time it became a County, shortly after 1729.
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