ALABAMA’S HILL COUNTRY JUDGE: WILLIAM SWEARINGEN MUDD, 1816-1884

A L A B A M A B E N C H A N D B A R H I S T O R I C A L S O C I E T Y

November/December 2010

Preserving the History of Alabama

THE ABBHS NEWSLETTER

William S. Mudd, born in Kentucky in 1816, emigrated with his parents to the hill country of Jefferson County, Alabama, when he was fifteen years old. His fa-ther ran a stage coach inn on the Huntsville to Tuscaloosa road. Young Mudd was educated at the local boys’ academy and at St. Joseph’s Catholic College in Bard-stown, Kentucky, and then he read law in Elyton, the seat of Jefferson County, under Walter Keith Baylor and Judge Elisha W. Peck. Mudd began practicing law in Elyton when he was twenty-three years old. In one of the most remarkable political careers in Alabama history, Mudd was elected to the state legislature in 1844 and 1847 as a Whig, from an area where voters were MOSTLY Jacksonian Democrats. In 1855, Mudd was elected a judge of the Third Circuit, and he remained on the bench for twenty-eight years. When the Whig Party fell apart over the issue of slavery, Mudd ran on the Constitutional Union ticket and was reelected to the court. Although a slaveholder, Mudd opposed secession. His age kept him from being conscripted into the Confederate army. After the war, during the military occu-pation of Alabama, Mudd was a delegate to the Republican Constitutional Convention of 1865 to undo the secessionist constitution. He was the Republican nominee for circuit judge in 1868. He was the quintessential “scalawag.” With the “redemption” of the state by Democrats after their gubernatorial victory in November 1874, Mudd announced his allegiance to the Democratic Party. The Birmingham Iron Age was filled with letters questioning, supporting, or opposing Judge Mudd’s conversion to the Democratic Party. Despite these party switches, Mudd was elected to the bench as a Democrat, and the next year the Jefferson Coun-ty voters sent him to the 1875 Constitutional Convention, called to reverse the radi-cal Republican constitution. On July 1, 1875, the Birmingham Iron Age noted that Judge Mudd opened the convention with “one of his most effective speeches, argu-mentative, sensible, and to the point.” Judge Mudd was one of the stockholders of the Elyton Land Company, which speculated on building a town where two railroads would cross in Jones Valley. He supported the rebuilding of the Oxmoor furnace, which had been destroyed by the invading Union army in 1865, and invested in experiments to see if coke could be used for making iron instead of charcoal. Mudd constructed a fine Birmingham hotel, the Florence, which opened the year he died. The antebellum home he built in the 1840s, where Union General James H. Wilson visited in March 1865 on his way to destroy the Confederate iron works at Selma, is today a house museum known as Arlington and is located in the western part of Birmingham on Cotton Avenue.

William S. Mudd

Executive Secretary’s Message p. 2

ABBHS Scholarship p. 3

Necrology p. 5

Judge Charles Conley p. 6

Legal Milestones p. 7

Death of Rube Burrow p. 8

Capitol Fire of 1849 p. 11

JeffCo Loose Records Project P. 4

Inside This Issue:

By Dr. Leah Rawls Aktins

When I was working at Baldwin Arts & Academics school in Mont-gomery, I had the “pleasure” of serving on our school’s SAC’s committee that was in charge of writing the school’s mission statement. Trying to get 5 adults to write and agree on one comprehensible sentence that con-veyed our school’s goals and purpose was like trying to get a jury of your peers to agree on the amount of damages in a civil suit. Why was one sen-tence so important? These five educators knew that the mission statement would be the school’s guiding force in all our policy and financial decision making. Were we doing what we were supposed to be doing and support-ing it with our budget? Thankfully, in comparison with ABBHS, board member, Leah Rawls Atkins so deft with words and a pen coined the ABBHS mission statement. And, thankfully, the ABBHS does not have to do a five year SACS review. However, it is good practice to read over an organization’s mission statement and ask—are we doing what we are supposed to be doing and supporting it with our budget? Our Mission Statement: “The Alabama Bench and Bar is devoted to preserving the history of the state’s legal system and making the citizens of the state more knowledge-able about the state’s courts and their place in Alabama and United States history.” Our accomplishments toward our goal include: • ABBHS, in partnership with the Alabama State Bar, has financed the

publication of From Power to Service: The Story of Lawyers in Ala-bama by Pat Boyd Rumore. The Alabama State Bar reports about an average of 72 books a month have been sold since April making a total of about 527 sold so far.

• ABBHS has contributed $500.00 to the Birmingham Genealogical

Society for their project to index the county’s court records. ABBHS wants this project to serve as a template for other counties. And, Ed Bridges, director of the Alabama History & Archives stated how im-portant these records are in telling Alabama’s history,

• ABBHS is currently planning for the 2011 Annual meeting to be held in

Birmingham in the spring. The next keynote speaker promises to be a person who is either writing about Alabama’s history or living it like former Governor Albert Brewer or Alabama natives Jan Crawford Greenberg or Sheryll Cashin.

In reviewing the ABBHS mission statement; I think we are on track. As a member, you can keep us there by sending in your membership renewal. And, have you purchased your copy of Power to Service yet? The holiday season is coming up, and the book is a perfect gift for a legal histo-ry buff.

E x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r ’ s

C o l u m n

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tim Lewis President

Rebecca Jane Garrett Executive Director

Leah Rawls Atkins

Jonathan Bass

Hon. Quentin Brown

Fred D. Gray

Hon. Sonny Hornsby

Lynne B. Kitchens

Sandra Holston Lewis

William Dudley Melton

Jim Noles

Edward Pattillo

Sam Rumore

Fred Simpson

William E. Smith, Jr.

November/ December 2010

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ABBHS Scholarship A special group of students from Stanford University, pictured here with Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb and Governor

Albert Brewer at the ABBHS April 2010 Annual meeting held in Montgomery Alabama, were all applicants for the first

ABBHS Scholarship. The group traveled from Birmingham with Board member Jonathan Bass to hear Governor Albert

Brewer speak about his experiences as a lawyer in north Alabama. It was during the January 20, 2010 Board meeting

held in Birmingham that Board member Jonathan Bass along with Leah Rawls Atkins proposed the establishment of

an Alabama Bench and Bar Historical Society Scholarship in the Department of History at Samford University. The pro-

posal was immediately approved with the understanding that it will eventually be offered at other schools with the

Samford scholarship serving as a template. Beginning in 2010-2011, the organization will offer a $1000 ABBHS Scholar-

ship to a qualified student in History. The Board members approved the following criteria for the awarding of the

scholarship:

The Alabama Bench and Bar Historical Society Scholarship is intended to support a student in the Depart-ment of History at Samford University who has demonstrated a high level of academic achievement and who plans on attending law school after graduation. To qualify for the scholarship, students must: (a) plan to attend a law school accredited by the American Bar Association; and, (b) have at least a 3.6 GPA. Through research, service, and learning, a student holding this fellowship will further the goals of Alabama Bench and Bar Historical Society which is devoted to preserving the history of the state’s judicial and legal system and making the citizens of the state more knowledgeable about the state’s courts and their place in Alabama and United States history. In addition to the above criteria, the Department of History will select the fellowship recipient by considering other criteria including: class performance, inclusion on the Dean's list, evidence of high ethical standing, membership in honorary societies, leadership in campus organizations, and contributions to community ser-vice.

Board Grants $500.00 To Jefferson County Loose Records Project In September, the ABBHS Board voted unanimously to grant $500.00 to the Jefferson County Loose Record project. The Loose Records Project is a national, county by county, volunteer program to make older public court records more available to historians, genealogists and the general public. At the state level, it is coordinated through the Alabama Department of Archives and History with the approval of the Jefferson County Probate and Circuit Courts. Gary Ger-lach, a Birmingham Genealogical Society board member, coordinates the Jefferson County project. Tim Lewis, ABBHS President, visited the Jefferson County Operations Center Archives where Gary and his all-volunteer team are currently working and found not only an efficient and well-run operation, but one with an atmosphere of fun and purposeful activity. To support this effort financially, mail your donation to the Birmingham Genealogical Society, PO Box 2432, Birming-ham, AL, 35201. Please specify that it is for the Loose Records Project.

“Its been my rule, since I’ve been a judge, that you have five days in which to “cuss” the court. After the expiration of five days, if I hear you “cussing” me, I am going to put you in jail for contempt.” Judge Frank B. Embry 30th Judicial Circuit 1954-59

Quote of Note

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HELP! The photograph on the left (from the collection of the Department of Archives and History) was taken in the courtroom of the Supreme Court of Alabama probably in the early 1900’s when the Court was quartered in the Capitol. The people in the photograph are unidenti-fied but do not appear to be the Justices or officers of the Court. Both the Department of Archives and Histo-ry and the Supreme Court would like to identify these individuals, but need assistance. If you can help identify anyone in this photograph, please e-mail Rickie.Brunner@archives.alabama.gov or Tim Lewis at tlewis@alabamabenchandbar.org .

Mystery Photograph

Judge Embry

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DECEASED ATTORNEYS AND JUDGES 2009-10 TERM

Adams, Samuel Lamar Dothan Allen, Troy Eugene Prattville Austill, Jere Jr. Birmingham Bashinsky, Thomas Major Birmingham Batson, Wanda Jo Sylacauga Bingham, John (Jack) Birmingham Bishop, Elizabeth Champlin Birmingham Bivens, John Alan Birmingham Bland, Julian Cullman Blinn, George Anderson Santa Fe, NM Bowron, Harold Alfred III Birmingham Braswell, Walter Eugene Tuscaloosa Brooks, Richard Seals Montgomery Brunson, Joseph Talmadge Mobile Bryan, Howard Flournoy III Valley Byrd, Rickey Darryl Birmingham Clary, John Carter Albuquerque, NM Cleary, James Roy Ashville Cobb, Herman Warren Dothan Cole, John Lewis Birmingham Colvin, Gerald DeWitt Irondale Conley, Charles Swinger, Hon. Montgomery Corretti, Douglas Philip Birmingham Crowder, Charles Rogers Birmingham Danley, Joel Franklin Mobile Dillon, Robert Chester Anniston Dumas, Lawrence III Birmingham Eyster, John Charles Decatur Farley, Joseph McConnell Birmingham Gasery, John J. Jr. Slidell, LA Glenn, John Smith T. Opelika Godbold, John Cooper Hon. Montgomery Hodgkins, Robert Walker Birmingham Hopper, Edward Lee Huntsville Huffaker, Robert A. Montgomery Jazwinski, Michael Stephen Roanoke Ketcham, Carleton Putnam Jr . Birmingham Lacy, Alexander Shelton Birmingham Lamar, Robert Standring, Jr. Montgomery Laurie, Sammy Joe Chatom Law, Charles Michael Montgomery

Leaf, Ronald Melvin Birmingham Levin, Anne MacDonald Montgomery Lockett, John Abner Jr. Selma Macon, Joe A. Wetumpka Markstein, Daniel Henry Jr. Birmingham Mattox, Virginia Leigh Birmingham Maxwell, Palmer S. Birmingham McEniry, Thomas Robinson Bessemer McGregor, Robert Polk Hoover McRae, Claude Bennett Jr. Hoover Perkins, Robert Hoke Pensacola, FL Pitts, William Newton Sheffield Pope, Max Cleveland Birmingham Proctor, Grady Burns Birmingham Reid, Thomas Dwight Mobile Riggs, Frank Willard III Montgomery Rountree, John Asa III Birmingham Sawyer, John Scott Mobile Seale, Turner Chapman, Jr. Montgomery Sikes, Gordon Griffin Andalusia Slate, Ralph Edward Decatur Slepian, David Philip Mobile Small, Ryan Scott Mobile Smith, Jason Randolph Dothan Speir, Charles Allen Homewood Spurrier, Donald Nelson Huntsville Stokes, William Roy Brewton Strickland, William Bethel III Bessemer Thrower, John Snow Jr. Opelika Todd, Judith Finkel (Abrams) Birmingham Torbert, Jack Whitfield Gadsden Turner, Louise Ingram Tuscaloosa Tutt, James Wallace III Nanafalia Wampold, Charles Henry Jr. Montgomery Weatherford, Atwell Dean Dothan Weeks, Harold Morgan Scottsboro Westbrook, Mary Anne Birmingham White, Nancy Brooks Greenville, SC Williams, Jesse McKenney III Montgomery Williamson, Warren Jackson Greenville, AL Williford, Doris Hubbard Birmingham

By tradition long hallowed, every first Monday in October, at the Opening of Court Ceremony in Montgomery, the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Alabama reads the Necrology, the list of Alabama’s lawyers and judges who passed away during the previous year. This is a solemn occasion when the Bench and Bar acknowledge the life of service of our brothers and sisters at the bench and bar. The families of the deceased are gathered and are recognized and the entire assembly shares a moment of grief. After the reading of the names, the Clerk of the Court concludes with the words:

“ALL HONOR TO THEIR NAMES”

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Remembering Charles S. Conley Former Judge Charles S. Conley passed away Thursday, September 9, 2010 after a distinguished career as a lawyer, professor, educator and businessman. Judge Con-ley was born in Montgomery County in 1921. After attending private school, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Alabama State College, his master’s in history from University of Michigan and his law degree from New York University Law School. After graduation, Conley returned to Montgomery to practice , serving as attorney for, among others, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Montgomery Improvement Associa-tion, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the American Civil Liberties Un-ion and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Many of his cases involved Civil Rights issues including litigation that attacked segre-gated public facilities such as the library in Montgomery. His most famous case, however, was New York Times, Inc, v. L.B. Sullivan in which Conley was one of the attorneys representing Reverends Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, J. E. Low-ery, S. S. Seay, Sr. and Fred Shuttlesworth who along with the New York Times were sued for defamation by Montgomery Police Commissioner L.B. Sullivan. The New York Times had run a fund-raising appeal called, "Heed Their Rising Voices," which was placed by the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Freedom in the South. The appeal alleged that "truckloads of Montgomery police armed with shotguns and tear-gas" had ringed Alabama State College campus, padlocked the college’s dining hall and prohibited students, faculty and staff from leaving the college. Although, the ad was run without the knowledge of the ministers and it did not mention him by name, Sullivan, won a $500,000.00 judgment in the Montgomery Circuit Court which was upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court of Alabama. On writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court, led by Justice Hugo Black of Alabama, reversed the Supreme Court of Alabama. In 1972, Conley was elected as judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Macon County, making him the first black judge elected in Alabama since Roderick Thomas in Dallas County in 1874. In 1976, when the Court of Common Pleas was changed to the District Court, he was re-elected as judge. After retirement from the Bench, Judge Conley resumed the practice of law. Several years ago, he was savagely beaten during a robbery and spent weeks in a hospital. At times, doctors were not sure if he would recover, but he bounced back and continued to work. Described as “brilliant” by those who knew him, Conley was not only highly educated, but also physically tough. The records of his legal practice, including New York Times v. Sullivan are archived at H. Councill Trenholm State Tech-nical College where they are accessible to the public.

Judge Charles Swinger Conley

"The offices themselves, if property at all, are the property of the people of the State. They are merely occupied by persons who are in the employment of the State as its official. They may, not improperly, be considered as organs of the body politic, to which belong important functions in the political system; without the regular and proper performance of which functions there cannot be in the body politic - the State - that vigorous life and health which are necessary to constitute a prosperous and honored commonwealth. We have therefore, more than once during this term, repelled the idea that the offices of the State are property in the sense in which it has become common so to regard them.” Justice Amos R. Manning Beebe v. Robinson, 52 Ala. 66 (1875) Amos R. Manning

Associate Justice Supreme Court of Alabama

1874 - 1880

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LEGAL MILESTONES

Page 7

November 3, 1874: Roderick B. Thomas became the first African American to be elected as a judge in Alabama when he was elected to serve as judge of the Criminal Court of Dallas County. Thomas, who had previously served as clerk of the Criminal Court lost his judgeship when the Legislature abolished that Court in 1875. On December 14, 1876, Thomas was admitted to the Alabama Bar by the Supreme Court of Alabama.

November 14, 1872: Miss N.C. Stewart, of Gadsden Alabama, cast a ballot for herself in the Congressional race for the 5th District, becoming not only the first woman to run for Con-gress in Alabama, but the first woman to actually vote in the State. According to a column in the Gadsden Times , “Miss N.C. Stewart, Equal Rights candidate for Congress of the 5th District registered & voted here last week. This is the first woman that has voted in the State, we presume.....” (The Gadsden Times, 1872-1875, p. 145). Although Miss Stewart did not win, she made an impression on the people of Gadsden. (Look for more on the elu-sive and mysterious Miss Stewart in the Spring issue of the ABBHS Newsletter.)

December 20, 1851: The General Assembly increased the Supreme Court from three to five justices. It also abolished the office of reporter of decisions and required the jus-tices to report their own cases. (1851 Ala. Acts No. 12.). Within in year, the General Assembly reversed their decision and reduced the number of justices back to three and granted the Court the power to appoint a reporter.

November, 1871: Moses Wenslydale Moore, the first African American attorney in Ala-bama, was admitted to the Mobile Bar before Circuit Judge John Elliott. Judge Elliott asked retired Alabama Supreme Court Justice Lyman Gibbons to examine Moore. According to a reporter for the Mobile Daily Register, “....examination was conducted in open court. A great deal of interest was manifested on the part of the bar... He passed a very satisfactory examination and an order was made by the Court admitting him to the bar.” On January 4, 1872, Moore was admitted before the Supreme Court of Alabama in Montgomery.

December 6, 1847: The Alabama legislature began its first session in the new Capital of Montgom-ery. The capitol building cost $75,000 to build and was paid for by the citizens of Montgomery. It was destroyed by fire two years later. Both the Supreme Court chambers and the Supreme Court Library were located in the capitol. Most of the books of the law library were lost, and many that survived still show signs of fire. damage. Construction of the new capitol was completed in 1851.

December 22, 1971: The Alabama Legislature increased the number of judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals from three judges to five judges. (1971 Ala. Acts No. 75.) In January 1972, Governor George Wallace appointed Hon. John C. Tyson III and Hon. John 0. Harris to those newly-created positions.

November 5,1974: Janie Ledlow Shores was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court, becoming the first woman justice to sit on the Ala-bama Supreme Court and only the second female appellate judge in Alabama history. During her 25 years on the Court, Justice Shores authored over 1,300 opinions. She was reelected 3 times to the Court, retiring in 1999.

Death of Rube Burrow Reuben Houston Burrow known to the public as “Rube Burrows” was a famous outlaw in the South and Southwest. He specialized in train robbery, he and his gang robbing trains in Alabama, Arkan-sas, Louisiana, Texas and the Indian Territory, all the while being pursued by hundreds of lawmen including agents from the Pinkerton Detective Agency. On October 9, 1891, Rube Burrow met his end in Linden, Alabama about 100 miles from his birthplace, Lamar County, Alabama. An account of Burrow’s death was written by Linden attorney, John C. Anderson, who was present at Burrow’s death and wrote an unpublished account. Anderson later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama. Here is an excerpt from Chief Justice Anderson’s account:

“. . . I was sitting in my office when McDuffie*, whom I know, came in and said, “Well I have caught Rube Burrows.” I said, “the devil you have, where is he?” He said, “In front of the Court House. “ I then went with him and saw several horsemen and a crowd gathering around and Rube was mounted with his feet tied with a rope under the horse’s belly. McDuffie then said he was unaccustomed to the use of the telephone, which was far from common in those days, and asked me to talk for him with Mr. Agee at Demopolis who was Superintendent of the Express Company at Memphis, but who was then in Demopolis with several detectives and blood hounds . . . Mr. Agee was, of course, wild with excitement and insisted that the prisoner be con-fined in a cell and that I employ a special guard as they had been trying for five years to capture and did not wish to take any chances. This, however, McDuffie declined, saying he would rather sit up and guard him as he wanted to talk with him. I really think McDuffie, as did all of us, had some doubt as to whether he were the genuine Rube.

. . . Rube was then taken to the Sheriff’s Office and placed in a chair and McDuffie got a trace chain and bought two locks and locked the prisoner’s feet to the legs of the chair permitting him to lean his chair against the bed, he , McDuffie, sitting at a long desk several feet away with his pistol lying on the desk near at hand. At least this was the posi-tion occupied by them when I left about twelve o’clock that night. The two negroes, Jesse and Frank, had made a pallet on the floor and gone to sleep. . . The crowd had dispersed and Carter had gone to bed. . . It seems that Burrows had . . . a couple of Colt’s pistols. . .he put one of the Colt’s pistols in an old sack that he had together with a few other things and had the other two pistols upon his person when he was captured. Just before day, Rube complained of being hungry and asked McDuffie if he would not send over to one of the stores and get them some food. McDuffie said, “you had a big supper, let’s wait until daylight and get a good breakfast.” Finally, he [Rube] woke one of the negroes and asked him what he did with his sack and the negro said it was left at the Court House. He [Rube] said that it contained some ginger snaps and chestnuts and he asked McDuffie to let the negro go get it for him. The negro brought the sack and handed it to Rube, whose hands had not been tied, and Rube held the sack in his lap and got out ginger snaps and chestnuts and offered McDuffie some who declined. He finally pulled a paper out of the sack . . . He then said, “Mac, here is a paper these damn detectives would like to get hold of” and handed it to McDuffie, who laid his pistol on the desk while looking at the paper and, when he looked up, Rube had gotten the pistol out of the sack and had him covered. Rube then remarked, “Well, Mac, I have got you, I don’t want to kill you, but I am going out of here.” McDuffie told me he looked at his own pistol and saw that Rube could kill him before he could get it, so he leaned back in his chair and said, “Yes, Rube, the cake is yours, cut it.” Rube then made McDuffie lie down on the floor and one of the negroes, Frank, lie down with him. He then made Jesse catch McDuffie’s pistol by the barrel and hand it to him and then get the key and unlock him and lock McDuffie and Frank together. After this was done, he took McDuffie’s shotgun and took out the cartridges, put one of the pistols back in the sack and made Jesse take the empty gun, sack and a lamp or lantern and left the Jail, admonishing McDuffie and the negro that he was going to get his rifle, eat breakfast and paint the town red; and, if either one of them attempted to leave the Jail, he would kill them. Carter had taken with him the rifle and Rube wanted it as he knew the detectives were near at hand with blood hounds and that he would be recaptured unless he had his rifle and was able to kill at long range. Rube and the negro Jesse, then began a search for Carter, going to the Hotel and then a boarding house when informed that Carter was sleeping with John Dunn, a clerk in Glass’s store. They then went down to the store and Rube got behind a tree on the side walk and made the negro knock and arouse Carter and tell him that some of the detectives had ar-rived and they wanted him over at the Jail, which was just across the street. Carter got up and dressed hurriedly and

(Continued on page 12)

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Rube Burrow

John C. Anderson

BE A PART OF ALABAMA LEGAL HISTORY! JOIN THE ABBHS! Your Annual or Special membership contribution enables the Society to fulfill its mission of preserving Alabama’s legal history, promot-ing better understanding of the legal system and judiciary, and recovering historical legal artifacts. Your participation provides for publi-cations, programs, projects, and grants.

ABBHS is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax deductible, within legal limits, and will be acknowledged by ABBHS. Operations are financed by memberships in the Society and by contributions from the public. All society board members and officers serve without compensation. Annual Membership

Levels Donation Description Student $15 per year Student members shall be entitled to all the benefits of members except they shall not be entitled to a vote. Individual $35 per year May be held only by an individual person. Corporate /Foundations $500 per year Corporations and foundations paying dues of $1,000 or more per year, may name a member of the Society for each $100 multiple, not to exceed ten members. Law Firms $1,000 per year Law Firm Membership includes all attorneys of the member firm in one geographic location. Life Members

Sponsor Contribution of $5,000 or more but less than $10,000 shall entitle the donor to be a Sponsor of the Society. Benefactor Contribution of $10,000 or more shall entitle the donor to be a Benefactor of the Society. (As a Lifetime Member the foregoing amounts may be paid over a period not to exceed ten (10) years, provided, however, that until such minimum amounts are paid, the member shall be classified under the appropriate category for Annual Membership as listed above.) Gift Membership: Present the perfect gift to a history enthusiast or a fellow attorney—a gift membership to the Alabama Bench and Bar Historical Society. Please select the membership category that would be most appropriate, and email

rjgarrett@alabamabenchandbar.org that you would like to bestow a gift membership. Please mail membership form with payment to: Alabama Bench and Bar Historical Society P.O. Box 722 Montgomery, Alabama 36104

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On Dec. 14,1849, just two years after it was completed, and only 30 years after Alabama became a State, the Capi-tol Building in Montgomery was destroyed by fire, started by a spark from a chimney which ignited a timber inserted into a hole in the chimney. The fire was discovered about 1:15 in the afternoon when both Houses were in session. The Senate adjourned “hastily,” but the House of Representatives was so panicked that they broke up without bothering to adjourn. The fire, starting in the upper floors of the Building quickly spread so fast and was so fierce that the State Library and the Library of the Society of the Bench and Bar of the Supreme Court (later the Supreme Court Library) located on the third floor, “could not be entered without peril.” Nevertheless, William Garrett, Secretary of State, after saving the records of his office. led a party into the Library to save what could be saved. After throwing some of the contents out of the windows, the heat be-came so great that the party had to withdraw, leaving the remainder of the books and records to their fate. Within 3 hours, the Capitol Building was no more. Much had been saved, due to the heroic efforts of the members of the Legislature, the Court, the Governor’s Office, plus Department heads and many citizens of Montgomery. Records saved including those of the Governor, the Legislature, the Secretary of State, the Treasurer, the Comptroller, and the Su-preme Court. Most of these materials were on the 1st and 2nd floors of the Capitol. On the other hand, much was lost, “including the large collection of public documents, law-books, manuscript Journals of the General Assembly, historical works, maps of the several States, and valuable papers, with a variety of publications presented to the State in exchange for similar courtesies, and other volumes constituting a fine collection for public use.” Where did the Supreme Court met after the destruction of the Capitol? The Supreme Court held its sessions in the dining room of the Madison House, a hotel that was located at the corner of Perry Street and Market Street (present day Dexter Avenue, where the RSA parking deck is located). The proprietor of the Madison House, “...made no charge, and only asked that the room be returned in the same condition as when turned over.” The Clerk’s office was in the Thorington Build-ing which was adjacent to the Madison House. As for the Law Library, no provision had to be made for its quarters as it had virtually ceased to exist. Like a phoenix, however, the State Library, including the law library, would arise from the ashes and within 40 years would become the largest and most comprehensive Library in the State.

“The State Library on the third floor could not be entered without peril.”

The Capitol Fire of 1849

“I am not prepared to say how far Society can go in protecting itself. It doubtless retains all the rights of self-defense. But the forms of the law cannot be invoked in order to give immunity to the stronger portion of a divided community, who choose to assail the weaker portion. This would soon make brute force the law of the land. We must therefore look to the law. This alone can protect all, do justice to all; and thus we may be able to secure Life, Liberty and Happiness.” Justice Thomas M. Peters, Supreme Court of Alabama “Examining Court at Patona.” The Weekly Huntsville Advocate Octo-ber 28, 1870, p.2 col

P.O. Box 722 Montgomery, AL 36101-0722 Phone: 334.229.0565 E-mail: rjgarrett@alabamabenchandbar.org

The Alabama Bench and Bar Historical Society is devot-ed to preserving the history of the state's judicial and legal system and making the citizens of the state more knowledgeable about the state's courts and their place in Alabama and United States history. The Bench and Bar is interested in preserving documents, artifacts, and memorabilia of the courts, as well as of judges and members of the state bar, and wishes to encourage the publication of scholarly research on bench and bar top-ics. The Society especially wishes to preserve the bio-graphical information and stories of attorneys and judg-es who played prominent roles in the history of the state's legal system. To pursue its goals, the Alabama Bench and Bar Historical Society may sponsor publica-tions, exhibitions, displays, lectures, and public pro-grams.

A L A B A M A B E N C H A N D B A R H I S T O R I C A L S O C I E T Y

Preserving the History of Alabama

We’re on the Web! www.alabamabenchandbar.org

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About our Contributors

Dr. Leah Rawls Atkins Leah Rawls Atkins now lives in Hoover, though she was born in Birmingham and had a distin-guished career on the faculty of Auburn University, The University of Alabama at Birmingham and Samford University. She is respected as one of the South's leading historians. Her most recent work, John M. Harbert, III: Marching to the Tune of a Different Dummer, was an objective look at the real life of one of Tom Wolfe's composite characters in Man in Full. She was a ma-jor contributor to the accepted benchmark of our state's history books, Alabama: The History of a Deep South State. Dr. Atkins is the only major author inducted into The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame: she is a former world champion water skier.

reached on the mantle and got his little 32 pistol and put it in his pocket. The clerk got up and opened the front door for him, but shut it as Carter stepped out. Just as Carter stepped out, Rube jumped in front of him with this pistol drawn saying, “I am Rube Burrows, I want my rifle and I am killing you.” Carter, instead of wilting, came out with his pistol and they shot almost simultaneously, Carter receiving a wound in the left shoulder, just above the heart, while Rube was hit in the stomach, the bullet cutting the artery connecting the liver and heart. They continued to fire emptying their pistols, Rube backing and re-treating, and Carter in the middle of the street. When we, McDuffie, Old Mr. Glass and I got there, we found Carter in great agony, lying in a puddle of blood, and Rube gasping his last. Carter was removed to a nearby house and medical aid was procured a soon as possible, but the wound paralyzed his left arm and he was deprived of all use of same, though he lived for many years thereafter. This all happened just as the break of day and thus ended the career of this notorious outlaw who had for years baffled the officers of the law and was the terror of the railroads and express company.” *John McDuffie was a planter from Monroe County. McDuffie, J.D. Carter, Jesse Rogers and Frank Marshall captured Burrow near Myrtlewood about eight miles from Linden.

Death of Rube Burrow (Continued from page 8)