USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. 2 > Part 58
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Mrs. Penina Browning led a spotless life, well worthy of emulation. She was for many years a devout and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, upon which she left the impress of her many charitable deeds.
A noble woman --- she quietly passed to the life beyond the tomb, November 13, 1882.
She had but two children, both daughters, who survive her, viz. : Mrs. Glaseock, before mentioned, and Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth, widow of the late Rev. J. M. Whipple, both of Austin.
It is fitting that in these memoirs some mention be made of Capt. McLusky, the venerable step- father of Mrs. Penina Browning. He was a native of Tennessee, and performed the part of a gallant and efficient officer throughout the Creek War under Gen. Jackson. After coming to Texas his advanced age did not prevent him from incurring the dangers and hardships of aggressive Indian warfare in de- fense of Austin and surrounding settlements, when the removal of the seat of government and other
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causes left them daily exposed to assaults. In fact, the best energies of his life were ever given to the service of his country. He lived to be sixty-nine years of age, and died the death of a hero and patriot at Austin.
To those who knew him best, and notably his two surviving granddaughters, Mrs. Glascock and Mrs. Whipple, he is held in loving remembrance as a true friend and faithful protector.
Mrs. Whipple was born in Lowndes County, Ala., in 1832, and recalls with feelings of both pleasure and regret the many scenes of her girlhood, inci- dent to the early settlement of her (now beautiful) "city of the hills."
June 17, 1847, she wedded Mr. Francis Dietrich, who for many years was one of the leading mer- chants of Austin. He was a native of Germany, and was born at Cassel, February 2, 1815. He was sent to America in 1831 to be educated in New York City. He became so interested in the strug- gle for Texas Independence that he abandoned the dea of schooling and joined the revolutionary forces in 1835, and bore a valiant part in the sanguinary struggle. He participated in the battle of Refugio, in March, 1836, and later was captured with Fan- nin and his men, but escaped massacre because of his foreign birth. He engaged in business and acquired property at Victoria, but lost it by fire at the hands of Mexican invaders. He was one of the first to engage in merchandising
at Austin, but left there on account of hostile In- dians and sold goods at Washington on the Brazos until the seat of government was located at Austin, when he returned and was there actively engaged in business until his death, May 31st, 1860.
Francis Dietrich was a good man and stood high in business, political and social circles. He never lost sight of the guiding star of right and justice. He was an influential member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and at times held the office of steward. He was successful in business, erected substantial business blocks and left a handsome estate. He was three times married. By his first union to (Miss Bessie Reed) he had one son, James Dietrich, living in Travis County. His second wife, Miss Martha Brown, lived only about one year and died without issue. June 17, 1847, he married Miss Sarah E. Browning, of whom mention has above been made, and she has one son, Thomas Dietrich, of Austin.
January 1st, 1863, Mrs. Dietrich married Rev. Dr. J. W. Whipple, an esteemed and able member of the Methodist clergy, well remembered for the life-long and faithful service that he rendered to the cause he espoused.
Dr. Whipple died May 10, 1895. Mrs. Whipple lives in retirement on her handsome estate near and overlooking the city of Austin. She is a lady of refined and artistic tastes and gracious manner, and, as such, is widely known.
ELIJAH B. THOMAS,
ALVIN.
Elijah B. Thomas is a native of Louisiana, born on Johnson Bayou, in Clarke's Parish, November 2nd, 1842. His father, Elisha . Thomas, was a stock-raiser and farmer, who came to Texas in early times, where he followed the stock business. Serv- ing as a boy in the transportation department, he enrolled as one of the Texian soldiers of 1836. He died in Victoria County. A twin brother of Mr. Elisha Thomas, also named Elisha, located near San Antonio, pursued stock-raising, and there died. The mother of the subject of this notice dying, his father was twice married thercafter, by the first of which later unions were born seven sons and three daughters ; by the other six children, two of whom are living in Texas. Elijah B. Thomas, the sub- ject of this sketch, was, like his father, a twin, and
his twin brother, named Elisha, with whom he en- listed in the Confederate army at Houston, Septem- ber 10th, 1861, as soldiers in Company B. (commanded by Capt. John A. Wharton), Terry's Eighth Texas rangers.
Elisha served during the entire conflict with the rangers, and survived the war only to lose his life by accident on the railroad, near Galveston. Elijah B. Thomas served about one year. In 1865 he married Miss Mary Jane Garrett, daugh- ter of Wilboan Garrett, a stock-raiser, and an early Texian. The marriage took place in Houston. The same year (1865) he located in Brazoria County on Clear creek, and one year later on Choc- olate bayou. He now lives on Mustang slough. where his father located on the R. L. Ware head-
C. C. CULBERSON.
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right in 1848. His maternal grandfather, Hayes, was one of the earliest settlers at St. Louis, Mo., and onee owned and lived upon the ground now covered by the famous St Louis stock-yards.
Mr. Thomas has six children living, and is a well and favorably known citizen. He has for years acted as Deputy Sheriff and Hide and Animal In- spector of Brazoria County.
CHARLES A. CULBERSON,
DALLAS.
Charles A. Culberson, Governor of Texas, was boru at Dadeville, Tallapoosa County, Ala., and is about thirty-eight years of age. He is a son of Hon. D. B. Culberson, ex-Congressman from the Fourth Texas District, and has inherited the intel- lectual strength and forensic genius of his distin- guished father. His mother is a lady of rare intelligence and is a daughter of Dr. Allen Kimbal, of Alabama. His parents removed from Alabama to Gilmer, Texas, in 1858, and from that place, in 1861, to Jefferson, where they have since resided. The subject of this sketeh attended the common schools in Jefferson, the high school of Prof. Morgan H. Looney, at Gilmer, and in 1870 entered the Virginia Military Institute, at. Lexington, Va., from which he graduated in the class of 1874. Until 1876 he studied law in his father's office and then entered the law department of the University of Virginia, where he remained a year. He was chosen Judge of the moot court, the highest honor of the law class, and in 1877 was selected as the final orator of the Jefferson Literary Society. In 1878 he was admitted to the bar and soon partici- pated in the trial of a number of important cases, acquitting himself in a manner that gave him a high character at the bar. In 1832 he defended Le Grand ( charged with murder and indicted under the ku-klux law ) in the Federal District Court at Jefferson. Le Grand was convieted and the case was appealed to the Circuit Court. Culberson attacked the constitutionality of the ku-klux law ; . contended that the Federal courts had no jurisdic- tion to try Le Grand, and supported his views with such learning and logic that Justice Woods, who presided over the Circuit Court, agreed with him, reversed the verdiet and sentence rendered below, ordered that the defendant be discharged from custody and declared the ku-klux law unconstitu- tional.
The United States Supreme Court afterward, in other cases, passed upon the ku-klux law and
followed the decision of Justice Woods, fully coneurring with him. This was quite a victory for the young attorney, and he pushed on with redoubled żeal toward a place in the front ranks of his profession.
While not disregardful of social duties, he never abandoned the habit of study that he had acquired at college, continued to burn the midnight lamp, and dug deeper into the rich mine of the law, gathering into the well ordered storehouse of his disciplined mind its priceless treasures. He was elected County Attorney of Marion County in 1880, but his professional engagements multiplied so rapidly that he resigned the office after discharging its duties for a short time. He was nominated for the Legislature by the Democracy of that county in 1882, but declined to accept the honor and eon- tinued to build up a lucrative practice. Four years since he removed to Dallas, where he is a member of the well-known law firm of Bookhout & Culbertson. At the Democratic State Convention held in San Antonia in 1890 he was nominated for Attorney-General by acclamation, a fitting reeogni- tion of his services to the party and his great abilities. His wife is a daughter of Col. W. W. Harrison, of Fort Worth. He has the easy port and bearing of a polished gentleman, and in social intercourse is affable and engaging. It is a need- less assurance to say that he made one of the ablest Attorney-Generals who has ever guarded the inter- ests of Texas.
Mr. Culberson was nominated for Governor by the Democratic State Convention at Dallas in August, 1804. He was elected by a handsome majority. Two years later, at Fort Worth, he was renominated for the same office, and again elected by over 60,000 majority in face of a most pow- erfully organized fusion movement, which grew out of the free-silver sound money contest, that formed the leading issue in the Presidential cam- paign of 1896.
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JAMES S. HOGG,
AUSTIN.
John Hogg, the great-grandfather of Governor James S. Hogg, when a mere boy was left an orphan in Virginia, his parents having died soon after their emigration from Ireland. After arriving at man- hood he removed to South Carolina and settled in Newberry District, where he married and raised a family of seven children, the oldest of whom was Thomas Hogg, the grandfather of Governor Hogg.
From Georgia, in 1818, the family moved to Tusca- loosa County, Ala., where Joseph Lewis Hogg was reared. In that county in 1833 he married Lucanda McMath, daughter of Elisha McMath, a well-to-do planter in Roupes Valley. Moving to Texas in 1840, he settled first at Nacogdoches, and finally at Rusk, in Cherokee County, where he raised a family. He represented his district (including Nacogdoches
JAMES S. HOGG,
The old family in South Carolina took part against England in the war that secured American independ- ence. One of the brothers, James, was killed; another. Lewis, was wounded, and Thomas escaped unhurt.
Thomas Hogg, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, married Martha Chandler, daughter of John Chandler, of Newberry District, after the Revolu- tion and moved to Georgia, where Joseph Lewis Ilogg, the father of Governor Hogg, was born.
County) in the Congress of the Republic: was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1845 : was in the first State Senate; resigned his position in the latter body and entered the United States army and fought through the war with Mexico and returned home after the war was over, and was re- elected to the State Senate, where he served the people for many years. He was a lawyer by pro- fession, but relied mostly on his plantation for sup- port. He was elected and served as a member of
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the secession convention. In 1861 he received a commission from President Davis as Brigadier- General and entered the Confederate army, where he died at Corinth at the head of his brigade in May, 1862. His father and mother lived with him at Rusk, where they died and were buried in 1848-9.
He had a sister and two brothers (Thomas and Stephen), all of whom raised families and died in Mississippi, and left surviving him his wife, who died in 1863, and two daughters ( Mrs. Fannie Davis and Mrs. Julia MeDougal), and five sons - Thomas, John, James S., Lewis and Richard. The latter two died while boys; Thomas served through the war, married, raised a family and died at Denton, Texas, in 1880; John lives with his family in Wise County, and is a worthy and prosperous farmer, of fine education and intelligence.
Ex-Gov. James S. Hogg was born on the " Moun- tain Home " near Rusk, in Cherokee County, March 24, 1851. He was left an orphan at twelve years of age.
The property of the family was swept away by the war, and the boy was compelled to, unaided, take his part in that struggle for existence in which "if the race is not always to the swift, the battle is assuredly with the strong." He disdaincd no honest employment and did any work his hands could find to do. To secure a practical education he entered a newspaper office as printer's devil, and worked his way until he owned and edited a paper, the Longview News, which was subsequently rc- moved to Quitman, Wood County, Texas, and the name changed to Quitman News. He read law four years while residing at the towns of Tyler, Long- view and Quitman ; was admitted to the bar in 1875 ; after three years successful practice was elected County Attorney of Wood County, and after filling that office for two years, was elected District At- torney for the Seventh Judicial District, a position that he held for four years. On the close of his official term as District. Attorney, he settled at Ty- ler, where he secured a fine paying practice.
April 22, 1874 (before he was admitted to the bar), he was united in marriage to Miss Sallie Stin- son, daughter of Col. James A. Stinson, an intelli- gent and highly respected farmer, in Wood County. They have four children - William C., sixteen ; Ima, eight; Mike, five, and Tom, three years old.
Governor Hogg was nominated by the State con- vention of 1886, over three opponents, for Attorney- General, and was elected in November of that year, and in 1888 he was renominated without opposition and re-elected. In accepting his second nomina-
tion to the office of Attorney-General he spoke as follows :-
"MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVEN- TION : - For this, the second expression of confi- dence in me by the Democracy of Texas, I am weighed down with renewed gratitude. To dis- charge the welcome obligation by a continued faith- ful adherence to duty certainly now is my highest ambition. In the past the talisman of my life has been that palladium of a Republic's safety, the con- stitution. Its majesty has ever commanded my most devout reverence, and within its shadow I shall, if your action is confirmed at the polls, con- tinue two years longer to stand at the post of official trust.
" The department over which your partiality has placed and proposes to continue me for another term is one of no mean importance. Upon it is frequently imposed demands of the State of the most vital concern. Without action from there the avenues of justice would be stifled and the statutes in many material particulars might remain untested - their uscfulness unfelt and unknown. Not ob- structing, but opening the way, now and then with- out a precedent, I have attempted to serve the constitutional purpose of the office so that the laws should take the place of those evils which are a menance to Republican institutions. How far this course has been successful must be determined by those who shall do me the honor to investigate the records of the department and the courts. To them I refer and by them I stand, under the pardonable consciousness that the action which I took in their making was never inspired nor accelerated by motives of policy at the expense of duty or principle. With an eye single to the law and a heart set upon duty, I have done some work in hith- erto unexplored regions that were bewildered by ominous and apparently insuperable obstacles. Failure meant professional ruin ; success vouchsafed the establishment of public rights upon well defined but latent principle. Re- sults so far arc satisfactory, notwithstanding that the efforts have been declared by critics to have grown out of mistaken zeal and to have proved a wicked boomerang. Throughout the undertaking I have had the good-will, cordial encouragement and hearty support of my brethren at the bar all over the State. This alone is highly gratifying. To them I tender my special acknowledgments in these times of an unreasonable and relentless crusade against their profession. At no time in the history of this grand profession have its members failed to respond to their country's call nor to defend the liberties of the people. They can and will do so
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
in the face of blind malice that seeks to scythe them to the ground. The spirit of patriotism will ever enshrine them and form a magnetic ægis that will repel the malignant vituperation so commonly and indiscriminately hurled at them on account of their occupation. With but few exceptions and without political distinction the lawyers have stood with me in each round I have taken in support of the law. Concurring with them was the great conservative press and masses composing the bulk of the Demo- cratic party. This generous support has ever cheered me on in the belief that I was right and that justice would finally prevail. These grand people, without distinction as to class, occupation or financial standing, make up to-day our party of the government, that occupies a position between two powerful contending forces that threaten the demolition of all. On the one extreme stands an organized class whose purpose seems to be to remodel society by regulating prop- erty upon new theories, limiting modes of industry, prescribing the sources of livelihood, changing domestic relations and governing the social morals of mankind. On the other is to be seen a federa- tion of voracious individuals whose insatiate avarice leads them on to feast indiscriminately upon the vital substance of every class within their way, without respect to the comfort or welfare of society at.all.
" The first has for its chief weapon of success the terror of force, propelled by inflamed passion under the guidance of distempered reason. The second holds within its grasp the power of wealth as the means of its triumph, fostered by that vicious spirit which blinds the glutton to the wails of the hungry crowd around him. The former means destruction by blunt coercion ; the latter intends it by insidious absorption. The encroachments of the one are as dangerous as the stealth of the other. Subject to the incursions of both is that great con- servative class who compose a Republic's life. However, at the command of it, for use in defense or aggression, to protect the cherished institutions of our government from wreck and ruin by the col- lision of these two contending extremes, is the law ! [Prolonged applause. ] Let it impartially but stub- bornly prevail. Stand beneath the waves of its banner, planted upon judicial temples for the country's good. Both the cormorant and the com- mune fear it. To each let it be applied, and in due season the causes for their existence will cease and their practices and principles will forever disappear under the withering influence of patriots' frowus, showered upon them in the forums of justice. [Applause. ] The Democratic party has enacted
and sustained wholesome laws and has provided pure tribunals for their enforcement. To them all citizens should bow and welcome their supremacy. Efforts to enforce them should be upheld and de- fended. From Constable to the highest officer in the land attention to them should be impartially, zealously, fearlessly given without a question as to policy or probable results. When they are passed they should be given life by conscientious officials' action.
" In the future as in the past the Democratic party will make the laws for Texas, and will indorse her servants who with fidelity enforce them. [Ap- plause. ]
" Not wishing to claim your valuable time longer, I again beg to thank you for this high compliment you have just paid me, and here in the presence of this vast assemblage of the Democracy's repre- sentatives I pledge to the people of Texas a record two years from now that can be read in the light of law undimmed by the work of passion or prejudice, and unhurt by foul schemes or considerations of policy. [Applause. ] "
At the Democratic State Convention held in San Antonio, August, 1890, he was nominated for Gov- ernor on the first ballot, amid the wildest enthus- iasm, having swept all opposition from the field long before the assembling of that body. Ex- Lieutenant-Governor Wheeler was the only one of his five opponents who stayed in the race to the end, and he received only seventeen out of the nine hundred votes cast by the delegates.
Governor Hogg's record as Attorney-General was of such a character as to win the admiration of the profession and masses, and he was called to the gubernatorial office more nearly by the will of the whole people than perhaps any man ever elected to the Governorship in Texas. While Attorney-Gen- eral he forced the " Texas Traffic Association " to dissolve and compelled certain railway corporations to re-establish their general offices and headquar- ters in the State, as required by the constitution. Acting under the constitution, without precedent, in the face of formidable opposition, he enjoined and finally succeeded in dissolving and breaking up that association. Following its destruction was the organization of the International Traffic Associa- tion, with headquarters out of the State, having like purposes in view, and also the International Weigh- ers' Association, located in Texas, intending to op- crate in disguise to regulate the traffic of the country. Each of these he succeeded in dissolving by the power and effect of the decree entered in the first instance. Following up these precedents and the law that was passed subsequent to their establish-
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ment, he compelled the removal of the headquarters, general offices and shops of every railroad in this State, which were located in foreign cities and States, back upon the line of their respecitve roads. The roads were compelled to bring them back to San Antonio, to Houston, to Galveston, to Dallas, to Fort Worth, to El Paso, to Denison, to Texar- kana, to Tyler, and to other places where they belonged under the terms of the charters of the railways.
The very section of the constitution which creates the office of Attorney-General requires him to look after private corporations : It says :
" He shall especially inquire into the charter rights of all private corporations, and from time to time, in the name of the State, take such action in the courts as may be proper and necessary to pre- vent any private corporation from exercising any power * * not authorized by law."
Within forty days after he qualified he took action under this provision of the constitution, and continued to operate under it actively and effect- ively. His first work under it was against illegal fire and life insurance companies, generally called " wild-cat " concerns. Then there were about forty of them operating in Texas in violation of law. By the aid of an efficient and faithful commissioner of insurance, through the courts, he effected the ex- termination of every one of them within twelve months. It is said many good men were innocently in the service of those companies. Some of them may yet regret the loss of lucrative positions by the rigid enforcement of the law, but they all ought to be, and doubtless are, patriotic enough to rejoice at the general public good effected as the general result. By this work the commissioner says the people have been saved at least $250,000 per year.
The railroad from Sabine Pass to Beaumont had ceased to operate. For months no trains of any character were run between the two points, a dis- tance of thirty miles. It was the only road to the Pass and the company refused to operate it down there. Complaint was made to the Attorney-General and he brought action against it and forced it to reconstruct, equip and operate the road. Since that time it has been doing its duty to the public without complaint.
Without entering into further details of the services he performed as Attorney-General, it is enough to state that by suits and official action duly taken, he compelled most of the railroads in Texas, so far as the law would warrant, to decently repair, equip and operate their roads, to cease discrimina- tion in many instances between shippers, to con- struct and keep in proper order suitable depot
buildings, and to otherwise perform their duties to the public. In the same way he compelled the dissolution of many unlawful combinations within the State that had been for a long time operating in defiance of law. Included within these were the express association, insurance underwriters, coffin combine, tobacco trust and others. He also represented the State in numbers of cases in the Supreme and District Courts. against defaulting sheriffs and tax-collectors, delinquent land lessees and others, who were due the State or sought to recover from it sums of money. He stirred up, through the efficient district and county attorneys, delinquent taxpayers and many others who refused to perform their legal obligations to the govern- ment. By proceedings in the nature of quo war- ranto he procured a forfeiture of the charter of the East Line and Red River Railway on account of the failure of that corporation to comply with its stipulations. He instituted actions to recover lands illegally acquired by railroads and filed a large number of other important suits.
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