USA > West Virginia > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of West Virginia. Including reference articles on the industrial resources of the state, etc., etc. > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
78
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
E. W. WILSON.
HON. EMANUEL WILLIS WILSON, Gov- ernor of West Virginia for the term of March 4, 1885, to March 3, 1888, extended to February 6, 1890, and widely known as a legislator and pub- lic man, is a native of Harper's Ferry, Jefferson County, Va. (now West Virginia). The fol- lowing sketch of ex-Governor Wilson is copied from "Prominent Men of West Virginia:" "In 1810 there came to the United States from England an eleven-year-old boy, named James Fitzgerald Wilson, who settled and grew to manhood in Jefferson County, Va., where he met and married Maria Spangler, of Scotch de- scent, of Revolutionary ancestry, whose grand- father served in the colonial army. Emanuel Willis Wilson was the third son in a family of six children. He was born at Harper's Ferry, Va., August 11, 1844. He was educated in the common schools, finishing with a course of a year and a half at Burnham's American Busi- ness College. In 1866 he energetically entered upon the study of law, without an instructor, at home, and in 1869 was admitted to practice in his native county. In connection with his legal studies he pursued a course of thorough general reading and study, which he has ever continued. A Washington city journal says of him: 'He is to-day, in general, scientific, historical, and polit- ical information, as well as in literary acquire- ments, one of the most thoroughly equipped men in his State.' Rapidly achieving a leading position at the bar and before the people, in 1870 Mr. Wilson was elected to represent Jeffer- son County in the Legislature. In 1872 he rep- resented his district in the Senate. In that body he became conspicuous by his able and success- ful opposition to a bill for the transfer of the Kanawha River to a corporation. The bill had passed the House and was on its third reading in the Senate, on the last day of the session. Mr. Wilson obtained the floor and spoke the session out, thus saving the Kanawha River from corporate control and opening the way for the magnificent improvement of that stream by the general Government, which has done as much toward developing and making this won- derful young State as any other factor, if not more. He moved to Kanawha County in Sep- tember, 1874, having, April 27 of the same
year, married an estimable lady of that county -Miss Henrietta S. Cotton, daughter of Dr. John T. Cotton, the oldest practising physician in the city of Charleston. Three living children are fruits of the union: Sallie Ashton, born April 1, 1880; Willis, born May 6, 1888 ; and an in- fant daughter Nannie Maria Cotton, June 8, 1890. In 1876 he was elected to represent Kanawha County in the State Legislature, and re-elected in 1880. Among other beneficent measures which he originated and was a zealous advocate of were those for the protection of miners and laborers from the evils of the merchandise check system ; to exempt the tools of mechanics from forced sale or execution; to secure the inspec- tion and ventilation of mines; to prohibit unjust discrimination in railroad freight charges; and for the protection of the people against fraud, force, and bribery at elections. It would appear from this record that he was among the first of our thoughtful statesmen whose ideas on rail- road rate discrimination culminated in the Con- gressional enactment of the Interstate Com- merce law. His early and continuous advocacy of measures to prevent election frauds in the State has borne at least the partial fruit of fix- ing the attention of our people upon the neces- sity of extirpating this growing evil on the body politic. In passing, let it be recorded that while Governor he has in every message to the State Legislature urged the necessity of an immediate remedy for the wrong. In the Legislature of 1880 he was elected Speaker, and his official record corroborates the statements of members of that body that he displayed a thorough knowledge of parliamentary rules and practice, and filled the position with firm impartiality and universal satisfaction. As regards his gubernatorial canvass, we quote from a letter written by an old wheel-horse of West Virginia Democracy : 'For several years previous to the gubernatorial canvass of 1884, the people of his portion of the State had expressed strong disapprobation of the methods of ring politi- cians, and in that Convention-the largest ever held in the State-they determined to give the self-asserted managers of the Democratic party a rebuke they would not soon forget nor recover from. Personal ambitions and monopolistic greed received a severe blow by the triumphant nomination of E. Willis Wilson in the Conven-
Owwilson
79
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
tion of 1884 at Wheeling. The importance of the State's political status in the coming Novem- ber election was too great to permit such un- worthy personal considerations to govern the action of that convention, and this strengthened their determination. That was a remarkable canvass, and it was well the Democracy had a remarkable man to conduct it. Mr. Wilson had not only the formidable organization of his political opponents to meet, but he was met by, at least, lethargy on the part of an openly dis- affected portion of the leaders of the Demo- cratic party. All that wealth, prestige, family, and party influence could do having failed to defeat him in the Convention, it is no wonder that disaffection existed in the canvass. On the hustings, as in the Convention, he exempli- fied what was said of him by a speaker in that body : " All his life he had encountered opposi- tion, and all his life he had triumphed over it." Mr. Wilson fought his battle with an energy that never faltered and courage that never quailed. He visited nearly every county in the State, speaking, when required, as often as thrice a day, and inspiring the Democratic masses with such enthusiasm as they had never felt before.' The result of that hotly contested canvass is known. As Governor of West Vir- ginia, his friends have no cause to regret their choice. Fortunate in having for his State offi- cers men selected from the very best, intel- lectually and practically, that could be found, he has-as is acknowledged by men of all par- ties-improved every department of the execu- tive; remedied many defects and weaknesses in the co-ordinate branches, or greatly neutralized evils arising outside of his immediate jurisdic- tion. His bitterest enemies have not yet seri- ously denied that his term has been character- ized by untiring energy, marked ability, and personal and official integrity. Being human, he has, doubtless, not been perfect. But the imprint of his independent administration is already seen throughout the State, and will be recognized in its prosperity long after he shall have passed away. As an evidence of the ne- cessity of what his messages plead for, and his
legislative efforts worked for a remedy for elec- tion frauds-a history of the close of his admin- istration and of the difficulty of ascertaining his legal successor should find place in these
pages for the benefit of coming law-makers. The Governor held his office after the four years for which he was elected expired. His term ex- pired on the 3d day of March, 1889. At the November election in 1888, General Nathan Goff was the Republican candidate for Governor and Judge A. B. Fleming was the Democratic can- didate for the same office. The Legislature was Democratic on joint ballot by one majority, there being in the Legislature 46 Democrats and 45 Republicans. The vote for Governor was very close. Judge Fleming conceded that on the face of the returns from the various coun- ties General Goff had a plurality of 110 votes. He therefore gave notice to General Goff, in pursuance of law, that he would contest his elec- tion to the office of Governor on the ground that there were more than 1,000 illegal votes cast for Goff, and that he, Fleming, was elected by the legal voters of the State. As soon as the Leg- islature assembled in joint session, Judge Flem- ing filed before them his notice of contest. The Legislature, by a majority of one, refused to open and publish the vote for Governor, and declined to declare any one elected Governor, pending the contest; taking the position that under the Constitution no one could take the office of Governor with a doubtful title and then at the end of a contest be ousted from the office ; and, without reading the returns for Governor, by resolution sent all said returns, together with the notice of the contest, to the Joint Com- mitte on Contest, elected by the Legislature. The Legislature expired by limitation before the 4th day of March. On that day General Goff, claiming to have been duly elected Gov- ernor, took the oath of office in the Governor's chamber and demanded possession of the office from Governor Wilson, which demand the Gov- ernor politely but firmly refused. On the same day, Hon. R. S. Carr, President of the Senate, also took the oath of office and demanded of Governor Wilson that he turn over the office to him, which demand was also refused. Gen- eral Goff claimed that he had been duly elected Governor, and that the Legislature, failing to so declare it, violated its constitutional duty, and that he could not by such failure be de- prived of the office to which he had been elected by the people. President Carr based his claim on the ground that Governor Wilson's term had
80
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
expired, and there was a vacancy in the office. General Goff at once filed before the Supreme Court of Appeals a petition for a mandamus to compel Governor Wilson to yield the office of Governor to him. The Governor at once ap- peared to the petition, and in an earnest speech contended that General Goff was not entitled to the office, because under the Constitution of the State no one was entitled to assume the duties of the office of Governor until by the Legisla- ture of the State, assembled in joint session, he was declared duly elected to that position, and this declaration the Legislature in joint assem- bly refused to make pending the contest for the office ; and that the Constitution having devolved the duty of publishing the vote and declaring who was elected on the Joint Assembly, the Supreme Court, a co-ordinate branch of the State Government, had no jurisdiction to inter- fere. The Court so decided and denied the mandamus prayed for. In this case the Court did not decide Governor Wilson's right to hold over pending the contest, because that point, as they held, was not involved, inasmuch as General Goff did not have a legal title to the office. Hon. R. S. Carr, President of the Senate, then filed before the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State a petition claiming that Governor Wilson's term had expired, and he had no right under the Constitution to hold over, and praying a mandamus to compel Governor Wilson to turn over the office to him until the vacancy be filled; claiming the right to the office under that clause of the Constitution which declares, 'in case of the death, resignation, failure to qualify, or other disability of the Governor, the Presi- dent of the Senate shall discharge the duties of Governor until such vacancy be filled or such disability be removed.' Governor Wilson at once appeared and resisted the application for a mandamus, and in an elaborate argument en- deavored to show that Mr. Carr had no right to the office because, under the Constitution, be- fore he could have such right there must first be a Governor, declared by the Legislature duly elected, who as Governor might die, resign, fail to qualify, or be under other disability. He fur- ther showed that by another provision of the same Constitution it was his duty 'to continue to discharge the duties of his office until his successor was duly elected and qualified.' That
he was but obeying the mandate of the Consti- tution by holding over, as no one had yet ap- peared to claim the office who had been by the Joint Assembly, the only body having power so to do, declared elected, and, therefore, in a posi- tion to qualify and relieve him. That when that one should come so clothed with the right to succeed him he would gladly yield the office. The Court decided that Mr. Carr had no right to the office, and it was Governor Wilson's duty to remain in the office until his successor was declared by the Legislature duly elected, and had after such declaration qualified. These two decisions will be found in the Thirty-second West Virginia Reports, which show why Gov- ernor Wilson was continued Governor after his term had expired." In addition to the foregoing sketch of Mr. Wilson's gubernatorial experi- ence, may be added in detail some of the public events in which, as a legislator, he was the principal actor. His advocacy of a railroad leg- islation of a restrictive and controlling character is shown in one of his speeches in the House of Delegates during the session of 1881. This bill, which he drew and introduced, was entitled, " A bill to establish reasonable maximum rates of charges, to provide for the correction of abuses, to prevent unjust discriminations and extortions in the rates to be charged by all railroad com- panies and corporations heretofore or hereafter organized, and owning and operating any rail- road wholly within or partly within and partly without this State, for the transportation of freights, to protect the just rights of the public concerning the same, and to enforce the same by adequate penalties." This was a just and proper measure upon the face of it, and that its earnest advocacy earned for Mr. Wilson the name of "Railroad Fighter " redounds highly to his credit. The bill passed the House, and in its favor Mr. Wilson made a speech that was as appropriate for an appellate court as for a leg- islative body. It practically outlined the pres- ent Interstate Commerce Law, and the severest construction put upon it would amount to no more than a demand that the railroad companies perform their duties as common carriers and adhere to just and honest principles in dealing with the public. After quoting the law and such authorities as Chief-Justice Marshall, and citing many cases to establish the right of leg-
81
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
islatures to prescribe such rules and limits-a sovereign parliamentary right-Mr. Wilson goes on to say, and very properly, in rebuke of the companies' efforts to thwart these and like measures: " The purpose is too obvious to need comment. The fact that such means are adopted to compel men to do the bidding of these com- panies, that men are weighed down with such galling chains of oppression, is an outrage that should promptly receive the indignant and mer- ited rebuke of this assembly. It is an evil of itself that should be extirpated at any hazard. Free men to be driven like sheep in the sham- bles under the insolent threats of these monop- olies! And shall we sit idly here and pass it over in submissive silence? The spirit of the people will not tolerate it, and Justice cries aloud for the protecting hand of the law. It is by such nefarious causes and others of like kindred that the people of this country are groaning under the oppression of corporate monopolies. But the time has come when it must cease. From every quarter of this country comes up the cheering intelligence that public sentiment is rising in revolt to reassert the rights of the people; and the chains and mana- cles will be broken asunder, and railroad cor- porations will be taught to know that they are neither above nor larger than the law, and that the public good has higher claims upon the Government than the insatiate greed for individ- ual gain." Following with an interesting de- scriptive reference to the resources of the State, and again affirming the power of the legislature "to end the monumental abuses that paralyze our progress," he said in closing: "Unite in this measure of relief, and the great Keystone State will yield the palm to the queen of the forest and black diamond." Another instance of Mr. Wilson's unflinching and persistent antagonism of class legislation was afforded in 1872, when the James River and Kanawha Canal Company sought to obtain charter privileges for naviga- tion of the Kanawha River. This stream from the falls to the Ohio is a most important water- course. There can be no doubt that some of the men, at least, who advocated the bill meant well and had been all their lives seeking better transportation facilities. The bill had passed the House and was to be brought up in the Senate for the third reading and final passage
on the morning of adjournment. On the morn- ing of adjournment day Mr. Wilson concluded that all was not right, and rising to a privilege of discussing the bill he held the floor until after the time of adjournment-some nine hours and more; and it is said that the official clock, even, was in favor of the bill and managed to hold back a full half-hour in hopes that the "great objector" in this case would desist-but he kept on and the bill was lost, while Mr. Wilson earned the sobriquet that is often coupled with his name to this day, and is very suggestive of blustering weather. The happy result of it all has been that the Government afterward appropriated vast sums for improving the Kanawha, and with its present lock systems heavy coal tows pass the channel at all seasons of the year and free of toll. Had the company seeking the charter been successful, they would have possessed the title to the river, which the United States Gov- ernment neither would have recognized nor paid for, and in all likelihood a merely superficial waterway and heavy tolls would have been the permanent result instead of the present admira- ble and certainly bettering conditions of lockage and channel that is free to all and costs the tax- payers of the State not a copper, but which Uncle Sam himself pays for cheerfully and lib- erally in annual appropriations for river and harbor improvements. During ex-Governor Wilson's candidacy for Congress in 1890, "A Friend of Kanawha" wrote of him and published in the Charleston Daily Gazette the following summary of his public career:
"I. In 1871, when the attempt was made to remove the capital from Charleston, as a Dele- gate in the Legislature he spoke and voted against the bill. 2. When the capital was re- moved to Wheeling, in 1875, associated with the late Hon. Wm. A. Quarrier and Hon. J. A. Fer- guson, he represented the interests of Kanawha in the injunction suit before the Circuit Court and Court of Appeals. 3. Associated with the same gentlemen as a Delegate to the Legisla- ture from Kanawha in 1877, their united efforts were successfully directed to the passage of a bill submitting the capital location to a vote of the people. When the question came before the people, we had the active, energetic work of Mr. Wilson for more than three months, reaching over three-fourths of the entire State, speaking and advocating the location at Charles- ton. Neither as attorney nor canvasser did he ever ask or receive compensation. In 1866 the
82
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
franchises of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company were forfeited. In 1872 a bill was introduced in the Legislature having for its object the revival of the old company and turning it over to the hands of a few private in- dividuals. The bill had passed the House and was on its third reading in the Senate with a majority in its favor. There was but one way to defeat it, and that was done by Wilson get- ting the floor and preventing a vote by speaking the session out. But for this, there would have been no locks and dams upon the Kanawha, and it would have been in the hands of private par- ties, collecting tolls from every boat upon its
waters. During his administration as Gov- ernor, the valuation of railroad property was raised to a reasonable figure-from 30 to 40 per cent more than formerly-the continual vexa- tious delays of railroad tax-paying settled; $193,- 000 turned into the State of back taxes due by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway ($38,000 of which went into the treasury of Kanawha County) and the prompt payment of railroad taxes secured for the future. During his administration, by the prompt collection of the public revenues and the application thereof to the proper funds, the distributable school fund was doubled, without an increase of the tax rate, so that with the State fund only the schools were opened four months instead of two; in the mean time about $500,000 State indebtedness paid off, and every institution of the State admittedly in better condition than when he entered upon the duties of office. He has continually advocated, and time and again recommended, the passage of laws for the purification of politics and to secure to every citizen the right to cast his ballot freely and without interference by any one. The Democratic party holds the reins of State gov- ernment to-day, and a Democratic Governor oc- cupies the executive chair. Governor Wilson was not found wanting when the time came to assert the rights of Democracy against an ag- gressive and clamorous opposition; and but for his courageous and unyielding stand, the State would be in the hands of the Republicans to-day, and there would have been no Congressional seats to contest. It can be truly said that his public career has been one continual fight for the people; that the State has never had a more faithful servant, the Democratic party a more earnest worker, nor Kanawha a better friend."
Although an aggressive man in a public sense, it may seem paradoxical to state the fact that Mr. Wilson as a lawyer never prosecuted in a criminal case. Always for the defence in such cases, he has refused thousands of dollars in retainers to appear for the prosecution. The new Election Law of 1891 of West Virginia
was drawn by ex-Governor Wilson, and slightly amended in the House Judiciary Committee by ex-Judge Ferguson, and it is a safe statement to make that no State in the Union has a more consummate protection against illegal ballots on what is known as the Australian system.
ARCHIBALD WOODS.
COLONEL ARCHIBALD WOODS, a dis- tinguished pioneer citizen of Wheeling, member of the General Assembly and of the Federal Constitutional Convention, and the second Pres- ident of the North Western Bank of Virginia, was one of the most interesting representative men of Ohio County and in the fullest sense a popular citizen. Of Revolutionary experiences, he had about him the halo of glory that was always associated with even the most humble patriot of the army; and as he had been an officer in command under the most noble and illustrious of Washington's generals, that fact gave a charm to his personality that was ever potent and attractive. His management of the great North Western Bank with its four branches for two decades and over, until death took him from his high trust, is illustrative of the most unabating success and personal integrity ever known in the history of American banking. Most fortunately the following obituary of Colo- nel Woods was discovered in the Wheeling Times and Advertiser at the Public Library, when Hon. Joseph J. Woods, a grandson, hap- pily availed himself of the opportunity for hav- ing it republished in this volume as accessible history and reference. Mr. Woods also provid- ed the excellent steel engraving made from an oil-painting now in his possession that shows " Colonel Archie," as he was affectionately called, at his very best; and it is the same painting that for years adorned the President's room of the North Western Bank. The obituary is copied literally just as it was printed, and seems to have been as literally copied from the manuscript by the compositor, who did not change the original nor interfere with the punc- tuation. It is the tribute of a sincere friend, and he has given to history a serious, thought- ful, and interesting biography of one whose
ARCHIBALD WOODS.
83
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF WEST VIRGINIA.
name and the example of whose lifelong career adds lustre to the annals of Ohio County. The notice of death is copied from the Wheeling Times and Advertiser of October 27, 1846:
"Died .- On Monday, the 26th inst., on his farm two miles East of this city, Col. Archibald Woods, aged eighty-two years. His funeral will proceed from his late residence, on this day (Tuesday) at I o'clock P.M., to the stone meet- ing house on Wheeling Creek. An obituary notice of the deceased will appear on the mor- row."
In the same paper of the 28th of October is this sketch of the deceased banker: "Col. Ar- chibald Woods, whose demise has been recently announced, is entitled, from his character and standing in the community, amidst which he has so long resided, to a more extended notice, as a tribute to his memory. He has passed from among us, in the maturity of an old age, having suffered but little from the ordinary frailties and infirmities of years, until within three months preceding his death. He lived to connect in his own memory the history and times of the last century with those of the present, and to witness the rise and growth of our nation and its institutions, from their earli- est infancy, to the present time; he was him- self an humble actor in scenes and transactions, long gone by, which will never cease to be ob- jects of patriotic interest to present and future generations. Colonel Woods was born on the 14th day of November in the year 1764, in Albe- marle County, State of Virginia, and early re- moved with his parents to Botetourt County in the same State: he was residing in that county when, in the beginning of the year 1781, when but seventeen years of age, he entered the ser- vice of the United States, as a Sergeant in a volunteer company of Virginia riflemen, com- manded by Capt. John Cartmill, and marched with that company direct to North Carolina, where they joined the army, and served in the regiment of Col. Otho H. Williams, General Green being at the time commander-in-chief in that section of the country; he participated in the energetic and efficient services rendered by Colonel Williams and others under his command on the waters of the Haw and the Almanee, during the important and arduous campaign of 1781; services rendered by meeting in detach-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.