USA > Tennessee > Notable men of Tennessee. Personal and genealogical, with portraits, Volume II > Part 3
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L. W. DUTRO, postmaster at Memphis, Tenn., was born at Taylors- ville, O., Oct. 23, 1857. He received his primary education there, supple- menting it at Bryant & Stratton's college, Zanesville, O., where he grad- uated in 1878. Soon thereafter he went West, securing a position in Wyanet. Ill., in a dry-goods store, where he remained about fifteen months, going from there to Fargo, N. D., where he secured a respon- sible position as bookkeeper for a large grocery house. His next move was to Des Moines, Ia., securing a position as traveling salesman, where he remained four years, then moved to Kansas City. Mo., accepting a position there as salesman on the road, where he remained until October, 1890. His road experience gave him a splendid opportunity to look over most of the Middle, Western and Southwestern, as well as the Southern states, and when the time came for him to select a location, he picked Memphis as the ideal spot. Here he located, and soon started into the dental and surgical supply business,
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also druggists' sundries, forming the firm of Dutro & Hewitt. Their business has grown until it is now recognized as one of the largest in its line in all the South. They employ a num- ber of traveling salesmen, and their trade extends over a half- dozen states. This firm controls the manufacture of high-grade dental gold and dental instruments, which are sold extensively all over the United States and in numerous foreign countries. Mr. Dutro is one of the most active men in the commercial and official life of Memphis. He is president of the Lenox Land Company; president of the Memphis Mining Company, engaged in mining lead and zinc at Joplin, Mo .; president of the Memphis Tropical Fruit and Rubber Company, engaged in raising and shipping tropical fruits, at Bluefields, in Central America, home office, Memphis, Tenn. He was appointed post- master by President Mckinley in March, 1899, President Roosevelt reappointing him in February, 1904. Under both McKinley and Roosevelt he has been the referee in all post- office appointments in the tenth congressional district, Tennes- see. As postmaster of Memphis, Mr. Dutro has demonstrated executive ability of the highest type and has wrought great and lasting improvements in the postal service, and Memphis now stands among the first cities of America in the thorough- ness of its postal service. Mr. Dutro, though a stanch Repub- lican in politics, enjoys the utmost confidence and good-will of Republicans and Democrats alike. His administration of affairs of the post-office has been characterized by the most business- like methods, and has won for him the admiration of all classes of citizens. To his persistent efforts more than to any other source are the people of Memphis indebted for the $250,000 addition to the custom-house and post-office, which is now being completed and which gives to Memphis one of the finest public buildings in the country. Mr. Dutro has been a delegate to every state Repulican convention held in Tennessee since 1894, and in 1900 was a district delegate to the national Republican convention at Philadelphia, Pa. In 1904 he was elected as delegate at large from Tennessee to the national Republican convention at Chicago, Il1.
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SAMUEL T. CARNES, vice-presi- dent of the Consolidated Gas and Electric Company, of Memphis, Tenn., was born in Hardeman county, of that state, May 22, 1850. He was reared in Memphis, receiving but a limited education, consisting of one year's schooling before and one after the war. At the age of sixteen years he entered the employ of the Sav- ings Bank of Memphis, as "runner," rising to collection clerk and later to individual bookkeeper. Leaving the bank in 1868, he became bookkeeper for Copperthwaite, Chapman & Co., dealers in books, stationery, etc. A year or two later he entered the employ of the cotton firm of Gage & Fisher. He was next employed by G. Falls & Co., cotton buyers, but returned to Gage & Fisher at the end of one year with an increase in salary. In 1873 he left the firm to go into the book and stationery busi- ness for himself, buying out a firm. Unfortunately, the busi- ness became badly involved, and within two years he was com- pelled to give it up at a loss of some $6,000. He then ac- cepted the position of bookkeeper for Hill, Fontaine & Co., grocers and cotton factors, in Memphis, at an annual salary of $2,500, which was raised in the fall of 1876 to $300 a month. In July, 1877, he entered the employ of Clark, Johnson & Co., cotton factors, as bookkeeper. In the fall of 1878 he secured the right from the Bell Telephone Company for an exchange in Memphis, and the following year began its construction. In 1882 he organized the Memphis Telephone Company, with a capital stock of $50,000, sold $25,000 of the stock, and was made president and general manager of the company. In 1883 Mr. Carnes organized an electric light company, under the Brush patent, incorporated as the Brush Electric Light and Power Company, of Memphis, and was elected president and general manager of this company. In 1884 the telephone exchange was sold for $100.000, and in 1890 the Brush Light Company was consolidated with the Memphis Thompson-
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Houston Company, as the Memphis Light and Power Com- pany, of which Mr. Carnes was the president and general manager. This company, in turn, sold out in 1901 to a New York syndicate and was later consolidated with the Equitable Gas Company, of Memphis, which had been purchased by the same syndicate, the two being merged into what is now the Consolidated Gas and Electric Company, of Memphis. General Carnes is interested in numerous enterprises, one of them being the asphalt industry in Texas. He is no politician, in the sense of aspiring to office, but finds his enjoyment in developing and promoting new industries and in the military service of his state. In 1874 he became connected wth the Chickasaw Guards, and from 1878 to 1891 was captain of this, the most noted com- pany in the United States. When the National Guard law was passed he was made colonel of the Second regiment. In 1892 he was made brigadier-general, and was placed in com- mand of the state troops, but resigned in 1896. General Carnes is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Episcopal church. Gen. A. R. Taylor, who succeeded Gen. Carnes as brigadier-general of the state troops, said of General Carnes : "He is a natural commander of men. I have known him intimately for years. and never knew him to be guilty of an unjust act or of doing a mean thing. He has been the architect of his own fortunes. When the war closed his father died, leaving almost nothing. and young Carnes had to leave school and go to work. From nothing he has accumulated a large fortune, every dollar of which was honestly acquired. As a military man he has a splendid record, rising in five years by sheer force of merit to the rank of brigadier-general, com- manding all the state troops. He was in command for a year (1891-92) in the famous Coal Creek riots, going there without instructions and acting on his own judgment, the results show- ing his qualities. He is a man of great personal and moral courage, afraid of nothing but of doing wrong. He is an enterprising, progressive business man, and put in the first tele- phone exchange in Memphis, one of the first in the country, in the face of repeated assurances from other people that it would never be of any practical value. He also introduced the
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first electric lights in Memphis, and the first automobile. With all his business cares, he is an admirer of and practices the manly field sports, and has always been an active mover for and a liberal contributor to every public movement." When the Spanish war came on, General Carnes, assisted by Co !. (later Brig .- Gen.) Arthur L. Taylor, was the first to organize a regi- ment, the officers of which were all drawn from the state militia, the captains, lieutenants and majors selected having all served in these capacities in the militia, but a chain of circumstances prevented the regiment from being mustered into the Federal service.
JAMES LEE, president of the Lee Line steamers and vice-president of the First National bank, of Memphis, Tenn., is one of the men who have made of Memphis the strong com- mercial city she is today. He was born at Dover, near Fort Donelson, Stewart county, Tenn., March 8. 1832. He attended the schools of that place until eighteen years of age, when he entered the University at Nashville, and later went to Prince- ton, where he graduated with honor in 1853. His class em- braced a number who afterward became prominent, among them Col. W. A. Percy, of Mississippi. He entered the law department of the same university, and at the completion of the course commenced the practice of that profession in his native place in partnership with Hon. H. S. Kimball, the first secre- tary of the Republic of Texas, under Houston. On the removal of Judge Kimball to Clarksville. Mr. Lee formed a partnership with Hon. James E. Rice, the late judge of the circuit court of the Dover district. In 1860 he removed to Memphis, be- coming a member of the law firm of Vollentine & Lee. The suspension of the courts during the war broke up their prac- tice, but he continued to make that city his home. and when peace came he formed a partnership with Gen. James R.
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Chalmers, which lasted until the latter's removal . to Mis- sissippi, when Mr. Lee went into partnership with Maj. H. C. Warinner. He continued to practice until 1877, when he gave up the law to engage in the river transportation business, and became in time proprietor of the Lee Line steamers-the larg- est steamboat line on the Western waters-to which he gave personal supervision, gaining the title of captain, by which he is known at the present time. He is one of those able, col- lected, self-possessed men to whom his fellow-citizens naturally turn in an emergency for advice and assistance. In conse- quence, he has frequently been called upon to serve the city in various capacities, and has discharged every duty in a fear- less and conscientious manner. In January, 1882, while the city was a taxing district, he was elected without his solicita- tion a member of the board of public works; in February, 1883, the governor appointed him a member of the board of fire and police commissioners; in January, 1884, he was elected vice-president of the board, and he served eight years as vice- president of the district. He is one of the largest stockholders and vice-president of the Commercial-Appeal, the largest news- paper in the South, and he also controls one of the largest ice plants in the South. He is a member of the Cumberland Pres- byterian church. A friend says of him : "Captain Lee has won position and fortune by the force of his sterling character and intrinsic merit. If such had been the bent of his ambition, his native powers and educational training furnished him with all the elements necessary to have rendered him an eminently successful man in a public career, but his inclinations have led him to give expression to these qualifications in the more re- tired walks of private and domestic life. He is a forcible, persuasive, fluent and logical speaker, pointing his argument with apt illustration, and enforcing it with pithy remarks and sound common-sense. His intellect is keen, well-poised and penetrating; his judgment prompt, discriminating and reliable, and his conclusions correct and just. He can be trusted in any relation of life, and he knows himself truly who can call him friend."
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W. B. MALLORY, head of the house of W. B. Mallory & Sons Co., wholesale grocers of Memphis, Tenn., is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Greater Memphis," and is honored as his standing and record merit. He was born in Hanover county, Va., Aug. 11, 1835. His earlier years were spent there, and such education as the country schools furnished was his, but it was limited , as compared with the present date. Whatever he lacked in that line, however, was amply made up in experience and acquired knowledge of the world. Remov- ing to Charlottesville, Va., in 1856, he became captain of the Monticello Guards of that place, was with his company at Harper's Ferry in the John Brown raid, and afterward at the execution of Brown in Charlestown. On April 16, 1861, he entered the Confederate service with his company of guards. which became Company A, Nineteenth Virginia infantry, and served as captain of the company for one year in the field. He was then detached by Secretary of War Randolph as command- ant of the post at Charlottesville, where he remained until the conflict closed. In October, 1866, he went to Memphis, and in 1872 he, with the late Albert Harris, established the firm of Harris, Mallory & Co., which succeeded the firm of Harris, Cochran & Co. Upon the death of Mr. Harris, in 1879, the company reorganized. W. J. Crawford became a partner, the new firm being known as Mallory, Crawford & Co., which did a successful business during its existence. In May, 1899, Mr. Crawford retired and the present corporation was formed. W. B. Mallory was made president; B. L. Mallory, vice-president ; H. W. Bailey, secretary and treasurer; C. B. Frazer, manager of the credit department; and W. W. Mallory, manager of the storage and shipping department. The company carries an enormous stock and enjoys a business commensurate there- with, which is constantly increasing. Their salesmen cover the entire field known as Memphis territory. Captain Mallory is
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a live, active business man, and is recognized as one of those on whom the people rely when an emergency arises that calls for action on the part of the best minds of the place. As indicative of his capacity, it is recalled that in 1898, when the question of extending the corporate limits of Memphis (at the time confined to an area of a little over four square miles) was before the people, it seemed as if the movement would fail. The Democratic county committee had refused its en- dorsement and an undercurrent had set in, threatening to sweep away the entire scheme, as the politicians exercised an influ- ence that was almost impossible to overcome, notwithstanding the people who paid the taxes were in favor of it, and in spite of the fact that it was deemed an almost imperative neces- sity for the well-being of the city, not only as an industrial, but as a sanitary and social measure. At the critical moment Captain Mallory came forward, set petitions in circulation, began the work of organizing the people. the committee of the people being the result. This committee represented nearly every interest in the city, and it elected an executive committee of ten to which was entrusted the active work of the campaign. Funds were raised, and representatives sent to the legislature ; the work of the committee aroused such a sentiment that when the question came before the voters it was carried, and Greater Memphis became a fact. In recognition of his splendid services in that campaign a banquet was given, at which a mas- sive silver urn of pure Grecian shape, large and beautifully embossed, was given him. On one side of this is the mono- gram "W. B. M." and on the other side is this inscription : "Presented to W. B. Mallory by the Committee of the People. in commemoration of his services in the creation of Greater Memphis -- 1898-1899." In the presentation of this token, a number of addresses were made, and the following extract from that of A. S. Caldwell will show what his fellow-citizens thought of his part in the movement: "Out of all the great army which won that glorious victory. no one is entitled to quite as much credit as Captain Mallory. To my mind. he was the originator of the idea of Greater Memphis. Beaten in con- vention, his spirit did not falter, but, with the assistance of one
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other, our departed friend, John K. Speed, he started the peti- tions which ended in the organization of a phalanx over 4,000 strong, whose names, published to the world, . insured success. The pioneer who blazes the way through the untrodden forest is greater than any or all who clear the road for easy travel to those who come after. The one who models the shapeless clay is greater than he who copies with his chisel, out of marble, the statue created by the master ; and so this committee felt that to the one first sounded the battle-cry, who first inspired our sleep- ing citizens with the determination to make Memphis what she ought to be-to him should be given some slight testimonial of its appreciation of his work, and I am sure its action will be approved by all the citizens of our beloved city."
THOMAS J. LATHAM, of Mem- phis, Tenn., was born Nov. 22, 1831, in Washington, N. C., but his parents came to Tennessee in 1833, where his whole life has been passed. To bring out the place he holds, the publishers have drawn liberally on "Keating's History of Memphis." No one knew Judge Latham more intimately than Colonel Keating, or was more capable of presenting him as he knew him, and for that reason it has seemed well to refer to the words of his friend in making up a suit- able sketch of one of the best-known men of his city. The chief moving force in the development of any city must be its men of courage, energy and brains, and among this class of men, who in the more doubtful days of Memphis, con- tributed their full share toward building up the shattered for- tunes of the city, none are more entitled to a measure of credit than Judge Thomas Jefferson Latham. In any summary of the mental and moral forces which, since the war, have made the city what it is, and have aided not only in giving it a name for business enterprise but business integrity, his labors have formed no mean part. He came to Memphis before it
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had fairly begun to recover from the demoralization incident to the war, and his earnestness and tireless energy soon made him a marked figure in the busy life around him; thus in many ways his fortunes became linked inseparably with the life and growth of the city and its prosperity. With a thorough preparatory education, he entered Western Military institute, at Georgetown, Ky., in 1849, and graduated in 1852, one of his instructors being James G. Blaine. Returning home, he studied law at Dresden, was admitted to the bar in 1857 and commenced a successful practice at that place, which was continued until after the close of the war. Early in life he exhibited a fondness for politics, represented his county on the electoral ticket before he had reached his majority, and was on each subsequent one until the war. His first vote was cast as a Union Whig, the main principles of which party he en- dorsed. He earnestly opposed secession, and during the hos- tilities which followed, while unfaltering in his devotion to the Union, he had no sympathy with much of the war policy of the Federal government. At the conclusion of the war he separated from the body of the Union vote of his state on the question of disfranchisement, which he opposed with the energy characteristic of the man, and presided over the first congres- sional district Conservative convention in West Tennessee, at Trenton, after the war. Since universal suffrage triumphed in Tennessee he has taken no active part in politics, and has held to no strict party alignment since the death of the Whig party, remaining true to early convictions in favor of a dis- criminating protective policy, a national currency, liberal gov- ernmental aid to internal improvement and education; but in local politics he ignores party lines, being governed solely by the fitness of the candidates. In 1866 he removed to Mem- phis, and after two years' practice was appointed by Chief Justice Chase in January, 1868, register of the United States district court in bankruptcy, for that congressional district, a position of great responsibility at the time, requiring much legal acumen and a practical turn of mind possessed by few. The complicated provisions of the new law and the lack of precedents in rulings or decisions surrounded the office with
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perplexities. The results attending his administration of affairs gave convincing proof of his clearness of mind and fairness of views, and gained for him the confidence and esteem of the legal fraternity and of all who had business before him. In 1870 he was the choice of the conservative element for Congress, the press of Memphis and many of those in the district favoring his nomination. When his nomination and election seemed almost certain, his distaste for political en- tanglement led him to refuse the use of his name, and he con- gratulates himself upon what he terms his narrow escape. In 1872 he practically retired from law, his health being im- paired; and. the duties of his office no longer requiring all his time, he became largely interested in Memphis enterprises. When Memphis was stricken with the terrible sieges of fever which well-nigh depopulated her in 1878 and 1879, and became overwhelmed with debt, the appointment of a receiver became necessary. United States Circuit Court Judge John Baxter selected Judge Latham for that position. Here, as in every place or station which he had been called upon to fill. Judge Latham acquitted himself with marked credit and earned the good opinion of every citizen of that stricken city. His clear and searching report received compliments on all sides. and his labors did much to settle the many intricate questions in which the city was involved. Pertinent to that trying period the following clipping from the Memphis Appeal of August, 1879, is characteristic of the subject of this sketch :
"One of the most public-spirited of our absent citizens has been heard from in a very substantial manner. Judge T. J. Latham, after sending several contributions, has sent his check for a blank sum to Doctor Porter, to be filled for such amount as he may need in providing for the fever-stricken people of Memphis. This is not the first time Judge Latham has come to the rescue of the city. Some years ago, when a much-needed sum of many thousand dollars was required,, he advanced it, and the city did not settle it promptly, if at all. Few men. after such an experience, would have acted so nobly."
Allusion is made in the above paragraph to the following in- cident in Judge Latham's life, which aptly illustrates his un-
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bending integrity : In 1868, soon after making Memphis his home, a promissory note for $20.000 against the city was placed in his hands, as attorney, for collection, by a non-resident creditor. The desperate financial straits to which Memphis was reduced by the war, epidemics and the squandering of more than $1.000,000 on Nicholson pavements and otherwise is well remembered. Judge Latham, then a young attorney, lost no time in pressing his suit in the United States court to judgment, and execution issued, which he had levied on every fire engine, engine house and other accessible dollar of city property, plac- ing him just ahead of hundreds of thousands of other debts. The day of the sale arrived. finding the city absolutely power- less to prevent the sacrifice of a $100,000 worth of property. It was known that Mayor Leftwich and Judge R. J. Morgan, who was city attorney, were, in their extremity, importuning Attor- ney Latham to postpone the sale thirty days. Meantime, a syn- dicate of three or four had organized to buy the (to be) sacri- ficed property. A most exciting scene followed. The syn- dicate, knowing that the Mayor and Judge Morgan were then urging on Judge Latham postponement of sale, the hour of which was at hand, sent in an importunate request to see him immediately. Excusing himself to the city representatives. he met the syndicate outside. Every possible appeal for im- mediate sale was made to him. The enormous certain profit was pointed out. in which he was offered an equal share to allow the sale to proceed. He at once said "no," and, going to the United Sta is marshal, directed the sale deferred thirty days. Whene time expired the city's condition was more helpless t' . before, and the syndicate was happy. But the sale did not occur. To avoid it. Judge Latham gave his own check for the amount, taking the note of the city with such guarantees from the city officials as he thought made him secure. As indicated in the above paragrapli. Judge Latham was ten years collecting 75 per cent. of his money. The foregoing incident as to the proposed sale furnished the basis of a most humorous write-up in the Even- ing Ledger at the time, by the late Capt. J. Harvey Mathes, the editor of that paper. In 1880 Judge Latham, with four
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