USA > Texas > Governors who have been, and other public men of Texas > Part 5
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Pendleton Murrah, who was elected governor, was a gentleman of culture and ability, an able lawyer, and was a man of modest, gentle demeanor, and of rather frail physique. If I am not mis- taken, he was tuberculous and died very shortly after he left the office of governor, which he did before his term expired owing to the collapse of the Confederacy. He left the State to avoid the fate which befell Governor Letcher of Virginia, Governor Moore of Alabama, and other Southern Governors, who were incarcer- ated in Fortress Monroe.
There was related to me at one time a very amusing incident connected with his journey to Mexico. He went in company with General J. Bankhead McGruder, who had won distinction in Virginia early in the war, but had been transferred to the com- mand of the Department of Texas.
His headquarters were in Houston. He was a West Point graduate and a soldier through and through. He was educated, cultivated, gallant and fond of society and was sometimes called "Prince John."
While he had many friends, he was not enamoured of Texas or its people, and there was a considerable measure of reciproc- ity of dislike between him and them.
While the party was in camp one night out somewhere where San Angelo now stands, two horsemen rode up to the camp, who had evidently ridden a long distance at a rapid speed.
One of the horsemen asked if Governor Murrah was there. The Governor arose, and in his modest, courteous way said, "I am Governor Murrah." The party who made the inquiry said, "Gov- ernor, I have a brother in the penitentiary, and I have a numer- ously endorsed petition for his pardon, and I wish you would grant it if you can. I came by Austin to see you, but you had left. Your private secretary kindly filled out a pardon and put the seal on it, and I have it here." The Governor said, "My dear sir, I am touched by your fraternal devotion, but I am no longer Governor, at least I have abandoned the office and I am no longer performing my official functions. I do not see how I can help
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you." The rest of the party became at once interested and some- one, speaking for the rest, said that such devotion on the part of a brother deserved to be rewarded, and urged the Governor to grant the pardon. The Governor said, "I will sign and date it, my friend, but I am afraid that before you can get to Huntsville, some six hundred miles or more, the Federal Government will be in charge, and if that is so a pardon signed by me will not be recognized." The anxious brother said, "I will take that chance. It is at least worth the effort." General McGruder produced a pen and ink and the Governor made ready by the light of a campfire, with a saddle or a camp stool for a writing desk, to sign and date the pardon. Just at that moment General McGruder, who had come up, spoke out in a precise, distinct tone, "Governor, before you affix your signature, will you allow me to suggest the insertion of an amendment to the pardon after it is prepared?" Governor Murrah with characteristic courtesy replied, "Certainly, General, I will be glad to receive any suggestion you have to make. What is the character of the amendment that you sug- gest ?" General McGruder replied, "It is that you include in the pardon all the prisoners in the penitentiary of Texas. Turn them all out at once, and thereby improve the morals and society of the d-d state."
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CHAPTER VIII.
Between the time of the collapse of the Confederacy, and 1866, when the people elected a Governor, the duties of Governor were performed by persons appointed either by the President or by military commanders, and their tenure of office was very uncer- tain.
President Johnson, I think it was, in 1865, appointed Andrew J. Hamilton to the position of Provisional Governor. Considering the prevailing conditions the appointment was about as good a one as could have been made. Governor Hamilton was a southern man by birth, and had lived in Texas many years before the war, and served in both branches of the legislature, and in 1859 was elected to Congress as an independent candidate, defeating General T. N. Waul, who was, as I have heard, the Democratic nominee.
The Congressmen of this day and time, who complain that it is a hardship to have to canvass their comparatively small dis- tricts, would do well to recall what a race for Congress meant in 1859.
Governor Hamilton lived in Austin and General Waul in Gon- zales, and I once heard General Waul say that one of their joint debates took place in Weatherford, Parker County. How much father north or west they had to go I do not know. They were both men of the first order of ability, strong speakers, and able lawyers.
I do not recall ever having seen Governor Hamilton but once, upon which occasion he made a brief but fierce assault on the administration of Edmund J. Davis, by whom he was defeated by a very narrow margin for Governor in 1869. He made no refer- ence to that fact, however, but felt outraged as did all decent citizens, over the rank abuses and violations of the rights of citizens, which were so disgraceful a feature of the Davis regime, for which, however, I believe the subordinate officials, rather than Governor Davis, were directly responsible.
I lived in Galveston at one time and practiced law there for six years, and knew General Waul, who was an elegant gentleman of the "old school." He was an able lawyer, and a man of courtly manners, and a gallant soldier in the war of 1861-1865. I heard him relate a very amusing incident connected with the campaign in which he and Governor Hamilton were opposing candidates.
As was customary, the candidates alternated in opening the debate. The day they spoke at Weatherford was General Waul's day to speak first. Governor Hamilton, like most candidates, had a bundle, or collection of jokes and anecdotes, with which he illustrated his most striking points, and amused his audiences.
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General Waul had learned every one of his opponent's anec- dotes so that he could relate them even better than could his oppo- nent, and in the course of his opening speech told every one of them. He thereby took from Governor Hamilton much of his effective oratorical ammunition. When the debate was over Governor Hamilton, who had a deep, sonorous voice and spoke with dignity and deliberation, said, "Waul, you played me a mean trick. You stole all my anecdotes. I'll swear I had as soon steal a man's children as his anecdotes." Their personal friendship was never broken by the strenuous struggle and fierce debates.
The conception of duty on the part of the two men when seces- sion became a fact and war followed, was radically different; yet, I do not believe any man doubted the fidelity to honest con- viction on the part of either.
General Hamilton left Texas and went to Washington and offered his services to the Federal Government, and received appointment as Brigadier General.
General Waul raised a command for the Confederate Army, known as Waul's Legion, and though he must have been past middle age, he led it gallantly into battle, and, if I am not mis- taken, was wounded in the very fore-front of the fighting.
When by reason of advanced age he retired from the practice of the law in Galveston, he went to his farm, situated, I believe, in Hunt County, and died there at between ninety and ninety- five years of age.
It has rarely been the case that two men, both of whom were intel- lectually so well equipped for high office, were opposing candi- dates for Congress in Texas, or anywhere else.
General Hamilton was appointed by the military authorities a judge of the Supreme Court, after Chief Justice Moore, and Jus- tices Coke, Willie, Donley and Smith had been removed as "impediments to reconstruction" which being properly inter- preted is to say, because they were clean, honest, decent men, and able judges.
The appointment was made by one General Griffin, who at that time was military commander of the Department of Texas, and who was the same satrap who refused to permit the people of Galveston to do honor to the memory of Albert Sidney Johnston when his remains were enroute to Austin for final interment.
He issued but few other orders, as the yellow fever epidemic broke out in Galveston and he was among the first of its victims. If any tears were shed upon his bier, no record of the fact was preserved.
It is very surprising that so capable a man as was General Hamilton should have been appointed. While he was in the habit of indulging to excess in strong drink, I never heard his integrity
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called in question, and the high order of his ability was recog- nized by all men.
All those who served with him on that "reconstruction" court have gone to join him "on the other side" and respect for the ancient and charitable adage, "De mortuis nil nisi bonum," de- mands that no unkindly criticism be indulged in, but if any reader of this will take the time to examine the fly-leaf of the 30th Volume of Texas Reports he will see that General Hamilton was the only really "big" lawyer on the Supreme Bench of Texas at that time.
The opinion by him in that volume in the case of Luther vs. Hunter, not only demonstrates that he was a lawyer of ability, but that had his conception of the questions involved been adopted, and the Southern States had been dealt with in harmony with his views, reconstruction would not have been marked by so much of the oppression and iniquity which characterized it. None of the colleagues of Judge Hamilton on the Supreme Bench could have any more discussed logically or intelligently the questions with which he dealt in Luter vs. Hunter than they could have translated the hieroglyphic inscription on the Rosetta stone dug out of the sand of the Egyptian desert.
Texas elected a Governor and a full complement of State offi- cers in 1866, but when Thad Stevens and Ben Wade and other fanatics of that ilk succeeded in getting the "Reconstruction Act" enacted and put in operation, all the State officials, including the Supreme Judges and District Judges, were removed from office, though Texas never had before, and has never since, had a corps of more capable officials.
The Governor elected in 1886 was James W. Throckmorton of Collin County. Who was elected Lieutenant Governor, I am not sure, but think it was Hon. G. W. Jones of Bastrop. Governor Throckmorton was a southern man by birth, and though he was opposed to secession, his people elected him to the secession con- vention. When he, as one of the seven who voted against secession, east his vote, the people in the gallery hissed. It is said that when he heard that most offensive indication of disapproval, he turned to the galleries and said, "When the rabble hiss, well may patriots tremble." Unlike Andrew J. Hamilton and Edward J. Davis, he did not forsake his State or turn against her, but cast his fortunes with her, and was a faithful, gallant soldier in the Army of the Confederacy. "Texas, right or wrong," was his patriotic motto, and he lived up to it like the true man that he was.
Even Sam Houston, whose devotion to the Union was so intense that he surrendered the Governorship rather than even appear to recognize the right of the State to secede, must have felt to some extent, as did Governor Throckmorton, at least so far as related to the duty of his son, as I conclude from an incident related to me a few years ago by a cultured, intelligent lady, a native of Houston,
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who died recently. She was a visitor at the Mansion as a young lady. One day the Governor came home to "lunch," or at night, and Mrs. Houston was in great distress.
She said: "Oh, General, Sam (her eldest son) is going to join the Confederate Army." The old man turned to her with that stately deference and respect with which he always treated her, noble woman that she was, and in tremulous tones, said: "Mar- garet, my dear-what else can he do? It is his country, and he must stand by her, right or wrong."
His first born went to battle and bore himself in a way to prove that he was worthy of his ancestry. He was wounded and taken prisoner in the first battle in which he took part. It was said at the time, with what measure of truth I do not know, that as soon as the Federal prison officials discovered that he was Sam Hous- ton, Jr., they released him.
I recall that when I was a lad, elections were usually held in August, and I think Governor Throckmorton was inaugurated shortly after the election, but was removed about September, 1867.
He and my father had served in the House together, and he ap- pointed my father one of the administrators (now called regents) of the University. My father was Chairman of the Legislative Committee on Education in 1857-8 and was an ardent advocate of the University. In recognition of that fact I have in the recent past presented to the Medical Department at Galveston a portrait of him handsomely framed.
So far as I recall, Governor Throckmorton did not offer for public office again until 1872, when the State Democratic Con- vention met at Corsicana. There were two candidates for Con- gressman-at-Large to be nominated, and the contest, while free from bitterness or personalities, was very vigorous. There were a number of candidates, but the leading ones were Asa H. Willie, Roger Q. Mills, and J. W. Throckmorton. Judge Willie, who was on the Supreme Court in 1866, was nominated first. The vote be- tween Colonel Mills and Governor Throckmorton was evidently very close, as the roll call before the footings were made revealed.
I recollect that the convention adjourned, either for dinner, or perhaps for the night-I believe it was until morning-to give the clerks time to verify the roll call and the count. There were many divided delegations and in consequence many fractional votes. The convention had every confidence in the integrity of the clerical officials, but the result was anxiously awaited.
When it was announced, Colonel Mills had secured a two-thirds vote by the unprecedentally narrow margin of three-fourths of a vote, so a political career which gave Colonel Mills national reputa- tion, and revealed him as one of the ablest leaders of the Demo- cratic party of his day and time, began by a victory won by less than one vote.
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I think it was only two years later that Governor Throckmorton was elected from the district in which he lived and was re-elected. He was justly intrenched in the confidence of the people, for he was honest, brave, able and patriotic.
I do not recall ever hearing him make but one speech. He was not a fervid, flamboyant stump speaker who attempted flights of fancy or sought to embellish what he had to say with similes, metaphors, or rhetoric, but his eloquence was born of clearness and earnestness, and he influenced his hearers because they knew they were not listening to a political demagogue, but to a man whose convictions were unpurchasable, and whose courage or integrity no man questioned. In 1866 he was opposed for Gov- ernor by ex-Governor Pease, whom he defeated by a vote of four to one. The result was foregone. No man who had not stood by the South from 1861 to 1865 could any more have been elected Governor of Texas then than a sinner could enter heaven without pardon.
In 1869 Texas had a Constitutional Convention and a guberna- torial election, and on March 30, 1870, she was declared to be back as a State with all her pristine power, in a union from which oceans of blood and millions of treasure had been expended to prove that she could not withdraw. Edmund J. Davis and An- drew J. Hamilton were opposing candidates.
Both men were of Southern birth, and were not only Union men, as contradistinguished from secessionists, but carried their opposition to the action of the majority of their fellow citizens so far, as to not only leave the State, but to seek and accept posi- tions in the Federal Army of invasion.
In that regard, there was as between the two, so far as the overwhelming majority of the people of Texas were concerned, no choice. Both were equally "anathema," but Governor Hamil- ton was much the abler man of the two, and much the better lawyer. Then he had been, so far as I now recall, though I was but a youth at the time, very conciliatory and conservative as pro- visional governor, and the tenor of his decisions while he was on the Supreme Bench was such as to strongly commend him to the majority of the Democrats, which alignment men of all politi- cal faith, except Republicans, had been forced to accept as a means of common defense.
Judge Davis had been a district judge in the Corpus Christi section prior to the Civil War, but was a very intense partisan Republican and affiliated closely with the negro element of his party. He was very bitterly prejudiced against secession and secessionists, and secession and Democracy were, in his view, synonymous and convertible terms, and in his lexicography both were the equivalent of the sum total of all iniquity.
The election machinery was in the hands of the military, and
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the election was very close. The official returns gave Mr. Davis only 909 majority out of about 70,000 votes. The belief was widely prevalent that he was counted in, but however the facts may really have been, he got the certificate and the office, a fact which was to Texas "the direful spring of woes unnumbered."
There came in with him, I believe, the 12th Legislature, which, for extravagance, inefficiency, and corruption, as to the ma- jority was equal to the worst "reconstruction" legislature. From districts here and there widely scattered quite a number of excel- lent Democrats were elected, but they were able to only a slight extent to prevent the iniquitous legislation proposed by the majority.
Governor Davis made appointments to high places of men who were utterly unfit. In a few instances decent, capable men ac- cepted appointments at his hands, but the majority of his ap- pointees, at least a large number, were aliens and strangers.
I remember that it was said at the time that he claimed that he was compelled to appoint men he did not want to appoint, be- cause many Democrats to whom he tendered positions declined to accept them. It can truly be said to his credit, that he was per- sonally an honest man. I never heard it charged that he ever profited during his administration to the extent of a single dis- honest dollar. He was a man of distinguished appearance, tall, erect, and dignified, and was said to have been a man of the highest type of personal courage.
I have heard that when he left the State with the view of reach- ing the Federal lines, he and a companion named, I believe, Mont- gomery, were caught out somewhere towards the Rio Grande, and that the pursuing crowd hung Montgomery and seriously debated whether they should not do the same with Judge Davis. While they were deliberating, it is said he took out some tobacco and a piece of shuck and coolly rooled a cigarette and as coolly pro- ceeded to smoke it. It may be that this calmness and courage, in the face of what appeared to be imminent death, so challenged the admiration of his captors that they released him. At all events, he did join the Federal Army.
His administration was the most oppressive, tyrannical, and iniquitous ever visited upon a free people. A law was enacted creating a State police force, at the head of which was one James Davidson, a carpet bagger, a pigmy in physical stature, but in moral (or rather immoral) depravity, a giant. His police force roamed over Texas, arresting without warrant, robbing, plunder- ing and murdering. They invaded the home of a worthy citizen of Limestone County and robbed him of $3000. They shot down in cold blood two of the best citizens of Tyler, Smith County.
I saw Adjutant General and Chief of Police (which was his offi- cial title) Davidson ride into the town of Huntsville about the
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middle of January, 1871, at the head of a squad of armed state police and post a proclamation declaring martial law, and levying a tax of twenty-five cents on the one hundred dollars' worth of property to pay the expenses of the unlawful occupation of the town. I know this to be true, because I paid part of the tax for my widowed mother.
He then proceeded to organize a military commission composed of State Militia officers and tried four young men who had been schoolmates of mine, and fined three of them one hundred dollars, and sentenced one to the penitentiary for five years, and actually put him into convict stripes. That was nearly a year after the Constitution of 1869 had been approved by Congress and the State fully restored to the Union.
The diminutive little coward and tyrant Davidson not long after, got into his hands about twenty thousand dollars of State funds and levanted, and so far as I know he has never been heard from since. The people of Texas in common with all the people of the South, had been for more than five years subjected to the domina- tion of the scallawag, the carpet-bagger, and the negro, and were to such large extent deprived of the right of suffrage, that they were somewhat cowed and broken in spirit.
In no other way can I account for the people of Huntsville sub- mitting to the outrage inflicted upon them. As I look back upon the day when I, but little more than a youth, went with a com- mittee of citizens to protest against the tax levy and martial law, and explain that they had done nothing to merit such treatment, I recall how contemtuously the petty tyrant Davidson treated the committee. I wonder that the people had not risen in a body and wiped him and his roving band of buccaneers off the earth. I have always regretted that they did not.
After General Davis ceased to be Governor he remained in Aus- tin, and I believe, practiced law. He died in January, 1883, while the (I believe) 18th Legislature was in session in the temporary capitol. I chanced to be in Austin at the time, and I remember hearing a conversation on the day his death was announced, which was very interesting to me.
Hon. Alexander W. Terrell was at that time a member of the Senate, and the Senator from the district of which Limestone County formed a part was Hon. L. J. Farrar, a most excellent man. He was, as I recall, elected District Attorney in 1866 of the Judicial District of which Hon. Robert S. Gould was elected judge, and in common with all other office holders elected at the same time, was removed as one of the "impediments to reconstruction."
He lived in Limestone County at the time the robbery by the State Police was perpetrated, to which reference was made on a previous page.
Judge Terrell with that proper perception of the proprieties
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which might have been expected of him, conceived the purpose to introduce in the Senate formal resolutions of respect regarding ex- Governor Davis, but he knew that it was very doubtful whether such resolutions would receive a majority in either Senate or House. I happened to be in conversation with Senator Farrar, who was a modest, soft-spoken, quiet gentleman, when Judge Ter- rell approached him with the manifest purpose of, so to speak, "sounding him out" on the matter. With characteristic suavity and courtesy he explained the purpose he had in view, and in an indirect way made it clear that he wanted to find out if Sen- ator Farrar would oppose the adoption of the resolution. Senator Farrar readily divined his purpose, and said: "Very well, go ahead, Senator, but draw whatever you propose to say d-d light, if you expect my vote."
I assume that the sentiment of the House was sounded out in the same way, since the resolutions in terms and tone formal and perfunctory were adopted. So far as I recall, there was not a single speech of any kind made by any member of either House on the resolutions. The time was too near to the tragic events at Groesbeck, Tyler and Huntsville, for it to be expected that a Texas Legislature would pay tribute to a man, who, being Gov- ernor, and vested with great power, was held responsible for the most oppressive administration that was ever visited upon any people.
I have said that Governor Davis was reputed to be a very coura- geous man. I had never seen him, so far as I recall, until a few days before his death, which, as I recollect, resulted from an embolism which produced apoplexy.
His body lay in state before the speaker's rostrum in the House, and I looked upon his features in death, and if I had never seen or heard of him I would have said he was a man of courage. His appearance was strikingly life-like, and his expression seemed to say as plainly as if the words had been written on his brow, "Death, I am not afraid of you."
As I have said, he was esteemed to be personally an honest man, and doubtless possessed other personal virtues, but his adminis- tration will never be forgotten, and most likely never be forgiven, at least not for many a day to come.
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