USA > Texas > A history of Texas and Texans > Part 73
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Fresh from college, and with the ink on his legal diploma hardly dry, Mr. Putnam went to Oklahoma City, where he arrived July 4, 1901. He had practically no capital, and it was his most sanguine anticipation to reach success through the avenue of legal practice. The eight or ten succeeding years were a time of remarkable development and growth in Oklahoma City, and it was only natural that some of the citizens should keep pace with or lead in the general progress, and thus reach unusual individual success in business affairs. Mr. Put- nam was the example of a young man whose rapid rise to business distinction at Oklahoma City was noteworthy even among a multitude of similar successes. With proper appreciation of the coming greatness of Okla- homa City, he invested the first fee from his cases in town lots, and by rapid reinvestment and sale had in a few years become one of the leading individual real estate operators in Oklahoma and Texas. The plan on which his operations were conducted in Oklahoma City consisted of the buying of acreage property, subdividing it into lots, and promoting the sale by making the entire subdivision a distinctive and unusually attractive resi- dence section. That plan was followed out in repeated cases, and some of the finest residence districts of Okla- homa City were the fruit of Mr. Putnam's enterprise. Some of these residence additions are Putnam Heights, Military Park, Epworth View, part of University Addi- tion and other sections, mostly in the nortwest part of Oklahoma City, now consisting of a well-built-up resi- dence section over two miles long, all on property subdivided and developed by him.
A matter of special interest in connection with Mr. Putnam's career was his prominent connection with the famous capitol-locating proposition in Oklahoma. It will be recalled that during the long campaign involv- ing the matter of removing the state capitol from Guthrie, Mr. Putnam and his associates made a propo- sition to the state to build and present to Oklahoma a capitol building costing a million and a half of dollars, to be located in the northwest section of Oklahoma City. They frankly proposed that the money for the building and grounds would come from the sale of lots and land controlled by Mr. Putnam and associates sur- rounding the proposed capitol seat, and agreed to deed to the state for this purpose 2,000 acres adjoining the capitol as a guarantee of their good faith, to be held and the proceeds kept by the state till the state had received one and one-half million dollars net to build
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the free capitol. This proposition was presented to the voters of the state of Oklahoma, and the removal of the capitol and the acceptance of the bonus were car- ried by an overwhelming majority. Later, however, other interests in Oklahoma City organized a similar move- ment to have the capitol located in another part of the city, and, as they claimed, nearer the business center. By working on the fears and prejudices of business men who feared that Mr. Putnam's proposition would bring about a change in the location of the business center, these interests succeeded in bringing before the State Legislature and having passed by that body a new capitol location plan, which repudiated and aban- doned Mr. Putnam's plan. It is unnecessary to review the details of the story, but the end was that the entire plan fell through, the promoters of the second project were unable to fulfill their promises, and to their big failure and the loss of confidence resulting from it is attributed generally the greater share of the slump in realty values that began in Oklahoma City in 1911, and which swept away the accumulations of a vast number of the people of that city and section. In conclusion it may be stated that Oklahoma still has no free capitol building as a result, and is now confronted with the enormous expense of the construction of a capitol at the state's expense.
In Mr. Putnam's real estate operations it has always been his policy to buy land years in advance of its development if necessary, and to await the proper time for placing it on the market, after making all im- provements and giving his purchasers property that is valuable and which can always be sold for more than they paid for it. This was invariably the rule of his operations in Oklahoma City, and the same can be said of his activities in Southwest Texas. For his success in business Mr. Putnam owes his accomplishment to his individual initiative and business enterprise. He appears to be a natural leader in business affairs. Along with his success he has been generous and has made large land and cash donations to worthy causes. He acquired extensive interests in farm lands, developed much of his land both for the profit that would come from them and also as an example to others and a demonstration of the possibilities of agriculture. He also took a prominent part in the good roads movement and was closely identi- fied with the various civic and public organizations. In September, 1907, Mr. Putnam was elected on the Demo- cratie ticket as a representative to the first state legis- Jature of Oklahoma, and was re-elected to the second legislature, being a most energetic worker in the body of lawmakers upon whom devolved the initial work of legislation in that state. He retired from the legis- lature as soon as the governor and state capitol com- mission ratified the vote of the people of the state and officially located the state capitol on the lands he con- trolled, and was not in the legislature which met in December, 1910, and changed the location from his property to the second location.
HON. JAMES DUBOSE WALTHALL. As one of the most brilliant members of the bar of Texas, James DuBose Walthall, of San Antonio, bears a name which is known and honored throughout the state and the South. His services were especially appreciated and made for him his state-wide reputation in the office of attorney gen- eral.
Of a distinguished Southern family, Mr. Walthall by his own ability and achievements has added to the luster of an honored name. James DuBose Walthall was born at Marion, Alabama, in 1876, a son of Thomas J. and Alice (DuBose) Walthall. His father, who died at San Antonio in 1912, after a residence of several years in that city, was a native of Alabama and a son of Col. L. N. Walthall, a gallant officer in the Confed- erate army from that state. A cousin of Thomas J. Walthall was the late Gen. E. C. Walthall, of Missis- sippi, who reached the rank of major general in the
Confederate army, and after the war was sent by Mis- sissippi to the United States Senate. Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, once paid General Walthall the tribute that he was the most efficient and best equipped senator in the Senate of the United States. Mrs. Thomas J. Walthall, who is still living in San Antonio, and who was born in Alabama, is descended from French Hugue- not stock which settled in South Carolina a number of generations ago. Her distinguished lineage includes many illustrious characters of the South. Among her cousins were the late Gen. Jobn B. Gordon, of Georgia, the late Dudley DuBose, United States senator from Georgia; George Dargan and J. L. S. Irby, both of whom represented South Carolina in the United States Senate; a second cousin was the late Robert Toombs, one of the most brilliant of Georgia's public men; while a great-uncle of Mrs. Walthall was senator Thomas H. Benton, who represented Missouri for thirty con- secutive years in the United States senate, and ranked along with his'great contemporaries including such men as Daniel Webster and Henry Clay.
James DuBose Walthall attended school in the Marion Academy at Marion, a town that for several generations has been an educational center in Alabama. Coming to Texas when a youth, practically his entire career has been spent in this state, with bis home at San Antonio. Though of an old and influential family, Mr. Walthall has shown the independent spirit of achieve- ment, and paid his own way through the University of Texas, of which he was a student for three years until graduating from the law department in 1903 with the highest honors and with the degree LL. B. On his return to San Antonio Mr. Walthall became associated with the distinguished law firm of Denman, Franklin & MeGown, and his ability soon gained him distinction in his profession. After four years, in October, 1907, Mr. Walthall was appointed fifth assistant attorney general of the state under Attorney General Davidson. Subsequently he was promoted to third assistant attorney general, and still later first assistant, a position he held for two years. During a considerable portion of that two years he was acting as attorney general in the absence of the chief in the office. In the latter part of July, 1912, Governor Colquitt appointed Mr. Walthall attorney general to fill out the unexpired term of Jewel P. Lightfoot, and he filled the office until the expiration of the regular term, on January 1, 1914. In January, 1913, Mr. Walthall returned to San Antonio, and has since been actively engaged in the practice of law as a member of the firm of Terrell, Walthall & Terrell, whose position in the state bar is one of enviable leadership and prestige. In that association Mr. Wal- thall is engaged in a large general practice and repre- sents a number of the largest corporations, commercial houses and banks in Sau Antonio and Southwest Texas.
It is only appropriate that some attentiou should be paid to Mr. Walthall's record while serving the people of Texas in the Attorney General's office. While assist- ant attorney general Mr. Walthall was vigorous in the enforcement of the law and represented the state in much important litigation. It was his forceful presen- tation and skillful defense which won for the state the first case to go before the supreme court involving the constitutionality of Baskin-McGregor liquor bill. He also appeared and won a number of victories in suits of the railroad commission against the railroads and represented the railroad commission in the case against the fourteen principal Texas lines before the Interstate Commerce Commission, in what was generally known as the Southwestern Rate Case, involving interstate rates into and out of Texas. Some of his most important work in behalf of the state was accomplished in the handling of the intangible tax cases, about fifteen in number, in which the validity of the intangible tax statute was sustained. Even more noteworthy was the Southwestern oil case, as it was popularly known, or
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better described as the Gross Receipts tax case, involv- ing the entire gross receipts tax system of the state. The statute was fully sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States, though the oil company was rep- resented by several of the ablest corporation lawyers of the state. Mr. Walthall represented Texas in the case of Gaar-Scott & Co. vs. Secretary of State, in the Supreme Court of the United States, and success- fully defended the entire franchise tax system of the state as applied to foreign corporations. Another federal suit in which he was the leading counsel was that with the state of Louisiana involving a boundary question between the two states. Among other causes in which Mr. Walthall appeared before the United States Supreme Court the case of Marcellus Thomas vs. The State of Texas brought him some particularly flattering distinction. This was a case involving the matter of race discrimination and the right of negroes charged with crime to have members of their own race on the grand and petit juries indicting and trying them. Chief Justice Fuller himself rendered the opin- ion in the court of final resort, and that opinion has been characterized by writers and lawyers in reviewing the life of that jurist as one of his greatest decisions. A high compliment was paid to Mr. Walthall's brief in that case, since Judge Fuller's opinion included a large portion of the brief in the exact words in which Mr. Walthall had presented it to the court.
Besides this splendid record before the courts, Mr. Walthall was many times called upon to give counsel to the governor and heads of departments on difficult and important questions. Again and again the legis- lature acted upon advice coming from the office of the attorney general and prepared by Mr. Walthall. He drew many bills for members of the legislature, and not one has ever been declared invalid by the courts. As Mr. Walthall is still young in years, it is not un- reasonable to anticipate that he will long have a posi- tion among the most distinguished lawyers of Texas.
WILLIAM SCHERTZ. Those individuals who have given of their energy, skill and enthusiasm in the building up of a community are benefactors of humanity, and their names cannot be held in too high esteem. In every undertaking there must be a logical beginning, and the man who lays the foundation of what afterwards may become a flourishing city must deserve more honor than those who follow after him and reap the benefits of his progressive enterprise. In Guadalupe county, the flourishing town of Schertz stands a memorial to the enterprise of the Schertz family, and William Schertz above named was chiefly responsible for its growth and development. Mr. William Schertz, whose home is in San Antonio, is one of the most extensive land owners and farmers in that part of the state, and represents one of the splendid pioneer families of Southwestern Texas.
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William Schertz was born on his father's farm on the Cibolo at what is now the town of Schertz in Guadalupe county in 1870, a son of Sebastian and Elizabeth (Rittiman) Schertz. Both sides of the family have an interesting history. Sehastian Schertz was born in Alsace-Lorraine, came to Texas in 1843, two years later joined the Castro and Solms-Braunfels colonies which arrived in the Republic that year as the advance guard of the great German colonization movement in Texas. Mr. Schertz spent his first two years in San Antonio, lived for a time at New Braunfels, and then on a farm on the Cibolo River in the southern part of Comal county. Another move was made to a farm on the Guad- alupe river, also in Comal county, about twenty-five miles from New Braunfels. After a trip by wagon in 1866 to Missouri, he returned with his family and settled in the southwestern corner of Guadalupe county, where it joins Bexar and Comal, and engaged in farming on an extensive scale and was soon recognized as the
leading man of enterprise in that section. With the building of the Southern Pacific railroad in 1876 the Schertz cotton gin became the nucleus for a little settle- ment, and both a railroad station and a postoffice were established. Sebastian Schertz lived there until his death in 1889.
Elizabeth (Rittiman) Schertz was also horn in Alsace- Lorraine, but came to this country with the Castro colony. Her brother, John Rittiman, who died at his home in Schertz, in the spring of 1913, was born in Alsace, came to Texas in 1845 with the Castro colony, and first located at D'Hanis in Medina county. He experienced all the dangers and hardships of pioneer and frontier life, coming often in contact with the Indians as well as with the hard usage of primitive pioneering. His family subsequently moved to the Cibolo river in Guadalupe county, and in 1861 John Rittiman enlisted with the Third regiment of Texas Infantry and spent about four years in the Confederate army, his service being chiefly in this state. After the war he lived for a great many years in Comal county, but in 1903 established his home at Schertz. Mrs. Elizabeth Schertz, who is still living, became the mother of five sons and one daughter, William, Adolph, Martin, Henry, Ferdinand and Augusta. All these are still liv- ing at Schertz except Henry, whose home is in Cali- fornia, and William, whose home is now in San Antonio.
William Schertz, starting in as a young man in the mercantile business on his home place, did more than anything else to establish the commercial center of Schertz, and his store was the first business activity there except the cotton gin, which his father had estah- lished in 1870. From 1892, when he opened his stock of goods for the trade, William Schertz continued prosperously in the mercantile business until November 1, 1907, a period of fifteen years. He then sold out to a company composed of his clerks, who are still continuing the business under the name of the Schertz Mercantile Company. After keeping his residence at Schertz until July, 1909, Mr. Schertz moved his home to San Antonio. In the spring of 1913 he disposed of all his remaining interests at the old town, and is now devoting his time to his extensive land and farm interests and is one of the largest owners of farm land in Southwest Texas. During his residence at Schertz Mr. Schertz also held the office of postmaster. His landed possessions are situated in Bexar, Runnells, Frio, Atascosa, Caldwell, Dimmitt, Gonzales and other coun- ties, including a farm at Mission in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Mr. Schertz was reared on a farm, was a farmer until taking up mercantile activities, and since selling his store has gone back to his old occupation and is one of the best managers of the resources of the soil in this section of the state. His farming opera- tions are conducted largely through tenants and from his headquarters in San Antonio he is able to keep in close touch with his properties by frequent visits in almost every direction from that city. While William Schertz has withdrawn from the business activities of the town where he was reared, other members of the family still keep up the prestige of the name as leading business men. For a number of years the cotton gin established by the father was carried on by Adolph and Martin Schertz, but Martin has since retired from the firm, and Adolph is sole proprietor of the gin and also occupies the old homestead farm in the vicinity.
Mr. William Schertz, whose home is at 329 W. Craig Place in San Antonio, married Miss Bertha Willenbrock, who was born in Bexar county just across the line from the Schertz place in Guadalupe county. They have a young son, Edgar Sehertz, born in 1901.
EDWARD P. MANGUM. The native sons of the Lone Star state have ably carried forward the progressive, civic and industrial activities to which original impetus
Edward, Marqum
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was given by prior generations, and have well upheld the prestige of the commonwealth through their sterling services. Such an one is he whose name initiates this paragraph, for he is one of the representative young agriculturists and stock-growers of Hunt county and is a citizen who commands secure vantage-ground in popu- lar confidence and esteem, as is vouchsafed by the fact that he is now serving his second term as representative of Hunt county in the state legislature, in which his record has been marked by discrimination, loyalty and efficiency.
Mr. Mangum was born in Delta county, Texas, on the 5th of October, 1879, and is a son of William E. and Delina James (Murray) Mangum, the former of whom was born in the state of Mississippi and the latter in Illinois, though she was reared in Texas, to which state her parents removed when she was a child. William E. Mangum served as a valiant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, as a member of a Mississippi regiment, and participated in important engagements marking the progress of the great conflict between the North and the South. About the time of the close of the war he came to Texas and obtained a tract of land in Delta county, and soon after moved to Hunt county, where he has developed a large and valuable farm and where he has been specially successful in his operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower. He has contributed in generous measure to the civic and industrial progress of the county and has been a citizen of prominence and in- fluence in connection with public affairs of a local order, the while his sterling character has gained and re- tained to him the confidence and high regard of all who know him. He is a stalwart in the camp of the Demo- cratic party; both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he mani- fests his continued interest in his old comrades in arms by retaining affiliation with the United Confederate Veterans' Association. He has now virtually retired from the more onerous duties which long engrossed his attention, and he and his wife now reside in an attrac- tive home in the little city of Commerce, Hunt county, about three miles distant from the old homestead farm, in Delta county.
Hon. Edward P. Mangum gained his early experience in connection with the work of the homestead farm just mentioned and his preliminary educational advantages were those afforded in the excellent public schools of Commerce, Hunt county, in which place he continued to reside until his removal to Greenville, the judicial center of the county, where he established his home in June, 1912. His educational training was most effec- tively supplemented by a course in the celebrated Van- derbilt University, in the City of Nashville, Tennessee, in which institution he was a student for part of two terms, 1901-03, and in which he specialized in philosophy and political economy - a line of study that has proved of marked value to him in his service as a member of the legislature of his native state. Prior to entering this university he was for a time a student in the East Texas Normal College, at Commerce.
Mr. Mangum took the following degrees at East Texas Normal College: B. S., B. A. and A. M. He taught philosophy and literature in the institution for three years and is very proud of the record he made there and of the school. He was one of the youngest teachers of the above branches in the state.
From his youth to the present time Mr. Mangum has taken a lively and intelligent interest in political and economic affairs and has been unwavering in his allegi- ance to the Democratic party, in whose cause he has given yeoman service. In 1910 he was elected a repre- sentative of Hunt county in the lower house of the state legislature, and he proved a valuable working member of that body during the Thirty-second general assembly, with the result that in November, 1912, he was re- elected by a most gratifying majority, the result at the
polls attesting not only his personal popularity, but also the public estimate placed upon his services in the legis- lature. In the Thirty-second assembly he was chair- man of the committee on commerce and manufactures, vice-chairman of the committee on state affairs, and a member of other important house committees. As a legislator he has been specially alert and enthusiastic in the furtherance of educational work and his interest in the same has been shown by his private advocacy of progressive policies in the maintenance of the public- schools and higher institutions of learning in the state.
Mr. Mangum is the owner of three valuable farms of 500 acres, situated some distance from the City of Com- merce, and devoted specially to the raising of fine horses. To this estate he gives a careful supervision and he. takes pride in being numbered among the progressive agriculturists and stock-growers of his native common- wealth. He and his wife are popular factors in the rep- resentative social activities of Greenville and both are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
On the 4th of June, 1912, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Mangum to Miss Clara E. Perkins, daugh- ter of Judge George S. and Mary (Ganes) Perkins, of Greenville, the father a leading lawyer and jurist of northern Texas.
DR. AMOS GRAVES, SR. For thirty-five years, or, until his death in 1912, Dr. Amos Graves, Sr., was regarded as a foremost member of his profession in San Antonio, and as a physician and surgeon not only had the large prac- tice which is the object of every doctor's ambition, but enjoyed some of the finer distinctions and honors. of the profession in general.
Dr. Amos Graves, Sr., was born in North Mississippi in 1842. As a young man he served with distinction as a Confederate soldier throughout the war under Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, having followed that dash- ing cavalryman in many of his brilliant campaigns. At the close of the war he entered the medical department of the University of Virginia, was a student there two years, and finished his preparation for medicine in the department of the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University) graduating M. D. in 1868. His first choice of location was at Lexington, Missouri, where he prac- tieed with growing success until 1876, when on account of failing health brought on by hard work as a general practioner, he removed to Texas, locating on a ranch in Frio county. Two years of open door life, employed in looking after his interests as a sheep raiser, with some incidental practice in medicine and surgery, fully restored him to health, and in 1878 he located per- manently in San Antonio. He soon rose to the highest rank in the local medical fraternity, and until almost the time of his death was constantly engaged in a busy practice. He had the generosity and the humanity of the true physician, and a large part of his work was performed without remuneration. For twenty years. Dr. Graves, Sr., was medical director for the San Antonio and Arkansas Pass railroad, and from 1888 to 1902 was medical director of G. H. & S. A. Railroad.
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