Tuomey, the man, but the censorship of brevity must in this connection be
respected. His dignity, his modesty, as an adjunct to his superior
culture, his width of information, his charming power of conversation, his
gift of instruction, illumined by the brilliancy of his native wit, his
courtesy toward the humblest--all these and more he had to a degree the
most fascinating. The life and labor of a giant like this would be worthy
of the worthiest pen, and in a sketch such as this is, one gleans but an
inkling of the man that Professor Michael Tuomey was. It was an honor to
Alabama to have his name numbered in the chronicles of her worthiest sons.
The contribution made by him to the state is inestimable. Professor Tuomey
died on March 30, 1857.
In the ripeness of full-orbed manhood and at a time when men usually reach
the point of greatest usefulness, at the age of fifty-two, Professor
Tuomey was struck down by the hand of death.
"No man is lord of anything,
Though in and of him there is much consisting,
Till he communicate his part to others;
Nor doth he of himself know them for aught,
Till he behold them formed in the applause
Where they're extended, which like an arch, reverberates
The voice again; or, like a gate of steel,
Fronting the sun, receives and renders back
His figure and his heat."
To have rescued from comparative forgetfulness the career of one so
great--a career obscured by the smoke of war which interposed to check
the results of labors so valuably and eminently rendered, is a task for
the privilege of which any might feel profoundly grateful.
CHARLES C. LANGDON
Coming from New England to Alabama in the bud of manhood, Mr. Langdon
gradually rose from a clerkship in a country store to a rank of
distinction in his adopted state. The conditions of his early life forbade
the acquisition of a thorough education, as on his father's Connecticut
farm he had to perform the duties of a common laborer, and avail himself
of what advantages were afforded in a winter school in his native New
England. These conditions did not prevent, however, an early ambition to
attain to something in life worth while, and though twice defeated for the
legislature in Alabama, he was undaunted, but the rather encouraged,
because in each instance he was defeated by a scratch. In his first defeat
he lost the object of his aspiration by just eleven votes, and in the
second race he was defeated by fourteen.
Mr. Langdon's early life was characterized by a series of misfortunes, but
the grit with which he would each time face afresh the future, indicated
the texture of his character. By means of rigid economy he succeeded in
the accumulation of some capital, with which he entered into the cotton
commission business in Mobile, in connection with the Honorable Martin A.
Lee, of Perry County, but his business was engulfed in the financial
disaster of 1836-7.
In the first whig convention ever held in Alabama he became the nominee of
that party for the legislature, and while again sustaining defeat he had
conducted the campaign with ability so signal that his party purchased The
Mobile Advertiser as its organ, and placed in control of it Mr. Langdon.
His facile pen won him fresh distinction, and in two successive terms he
was chosen for the legislature from Mobile County, first in 1839 and again
in 1846.
For a period of eight years he devoted himself to editorial work, and in
1848 was elected mayor of Mobile, to which position he was annually
elected for a period of seven years, save one. Meanwhile he continued the
chief exponent of the whig party for the state, and for the success
attained by that party indebtedness was due Mr. Langdon.
He was the pioneer of scientific horticulture and agriculture in the
state. Defeated for Congress in 1851, Mr. Langdon soon afterward sold his
journal and retired to a farm in the western part of Mobile County to
demonstrate his method of scientific farming, which, at that time, was a
subject of ridicule. He was called from his seclusion by the stirring
political scenes of 1860, and appeared on the hustings as an ardent
advocate of Bell and Everett. Though a stout opponent of secession, when
it came and brought with it its consequences he was just as ardent in his
espousal of the cause of the South as was any. Both by pen and by word of
mouth he supported the cause throughout, and came to be one of the most
popular citizens of Mobile and one of the most conspicuous public men in
the state.
He was chosen to represent the county of Mobile in the legislature in
1861, and in a trying period rendered most valuable service. In 1865 he
was chosen to represent the Mobile district in Congress, but he was
denied his seat by the party in power, and was shortly afterward
disfranchised. Under these conditions he retired to his country seat near
Citronelle, where he continued to demonstrate in a scientific way the
results of horticulture and agriculture. In a period of rehabilitation in
the South Mr. Langdon made frequent exhibition of the results of his
efforts, and with patriotic zeal inspired the public with confidence in
the capabilities and productiveness of the soils in a climate so bland,
and insisted that if properly tilled, the fields of the South would make
her more independent than she had ever been. In 1877 Colonel Langdon
became a candidate for the governorship against Honorable Rufus W. Cobb,
the latter of whom was chosen. It was remarkable the difference between
the appearances of the two candidates before the state convention of
nomination. Mr. Cobb wore a cheap colored suit of clothes, in illustration
of his ardent democracy, while Colonel Langdon was arrayed in a beautiful
suit of black cloth, with a Prince Albert coat, all fresh and costly from
the tailor's hands. The one immediately following the other in speeches
before the body, presented a contrast of appearance at once striking and
remarkable. The scene thus presented became a subject of general comment
among the members of the convention.
The frequent contributions of Colonel Langdon to the press relative to
horticultural and agricultural processes and results had much to do, after
the close of the war, with the reawakening of the spirit which has
eventuated in the abandonment of old and worn methods of cultivation, and
in the adoption of new ones, which have brought untold wealth to the
state.
The wreck of our industrial system and the necessity of economy by
contracting the old time plantation into a modern farm under intensive
processes, led Colonel Langdon among the first to recognize the situation
toward which we were tending, and he advocated a shift of accommodation to
meet the inevitable. Though laughed at at first as a mere dreamer, the
states of the South have gradually come to the methods advocated by him,
and have emphasized them by the establishment of schools of agriculture to
do just that which was once a matter of ridicule.
During a period of agricultural transition from the old methods to those
of the new, Colonel Langdon was a popular contributor to the columns of
the Mobile Register, and in a period when men were groping for a more
substantial footing in things agricultural, Colonel Langdon was among the
foremost to inspire confidence and hopefulness for the future. With the
incisive penetration of a seer he forecast the return of a great
prosperity, when there should come a readjustment to prevailing
conditions. His was the vision of the genuine optimist, and the service
then rendered, though not on the whole demonstrative, was conducive to the
welfare of the state.
The quiet courage of Colonel Langdon in facing difficulties was never
impaired by temporary defeat, nor was his ardor diminished by momentary
failure. He supported his convictions with manly pluck, and invariably
preserved a calmness of demeanor and an unchanged attitude of respect for
his opponents. His career throughout was one of sobriety and usefulness.
Men might differ with Colonel Langdon, but he compelled respect by his
sincerity of purpose and uprightness of life, private and public, even on
the part of his most vehement opponents. He was a practical patriot, a
fact which was demonstrated by a long life of usefulness.
CHARLES T. POLLARD
One of the first to be touched by the new industrial energy of railroads
in Alabama was Colonel Charles T. Pollard. He came to Alabama about 1840,
and located at Montgomery, where he exhibited high qualities as a
commercial genius and by his uniform courtesy came to impress the people
of the capital city not only, but leading men elsewhere in the great world
of business. He established a wide compass of business relations and the
integrity of his character was such that he commanded financial confidence
in the highest circles. Railroading was a new feature and the management
of enterprises necessarily colossal, both with respect to executive
ability and financial provision, and it therefore required the highest
qualities of skill and sagacity. Few men of that type were to be found in
those early days, and enterprises so vast, had by their very nature, to
develop them. Men frequently expand under demanding conditions, and when
qualified with latent endowments rise with the constant pressure of demand
to the utmost limit of capability.
There can be little doubt that the decline in the statesmanship of the
South is largely due to the drain which has been made on men of great
capability to occupy positions in the expanding world of commerce.
Broad-brained, wide-visioned and many-sided men used to find their way
into politics and command the heights of statesmanship, but in demand to
existing conditions they are now found in the offices of presidents and
managers of immense interests. As the industrial world has widened,
inventive genius has found fuller play and stupendous enterprises have
come to demand extraordinary headship. These men had to be developed by
conditions, as enterprises grew and vast plans ripened.
For reasons already partly assigned, railroads were in their initial
stages bunglingly managed as compared with the gigantic grasp with which
they are now manipulated. Only occasionally was one found in those early
days who was capable of responding to the demands of stupendous
enterprises. Colonel Pollard was one of the few. A manager of large
interests and a successful conductor of enterprises through financial
storms, while others went down under a terrible strain, he was logically
called into requisition in the infant days of railroad enterprise. He had
faced financial hurricanes when merchants and business men generally,
bankers and managers of great interests, as they were then accounted, had
been drawn into the maelstrom of ruin, and Colonel Pollard had safely
piloted his affairs through.
Naturally enough, when the West Point and Montgomery railway was
threatened with disaster, he was summoned from his private affairs to the
rescue. It was he who revived this important public utility, infused into
it new life, and placed it first on a basis safe, sound and solid. The
excellent skill here displayed resulting in his being called into
connection with Alabama's chief artery of commerce, the Louisville and
Nashville railroad, and by means of his ability to command American and
European capital, he was enabled to plant it on a permanent basis.
To know this giant king of finance was to confide in him. His judgment was
as clear as amber, his power of adjustment in the management of vast
concerns phenomenal, his skill in execution rare, his bearing that of one
conscious of power; his courtesy toward his peers and subordinates always
respectful, and his integrity unquestioned.
Facing a great undertaking he measured up to it. Thus rarely equipped he
was a public benefactor at a time when such men were scarcely to be found.
With a penetrative sagacity he could see clearly at once the merits and
demerits of a given proposal or undertaking, and to its utmost limit he
could measure it and speak with accuracy of the possibility of its success
or failure. Laden with weighty responsibility which grew commensurately
with the expansion of the railway interests with which he was connected,
it is extraordinary that he was able to preserve so remarkable a poise. A
man of less ability would have chafed and worn under conditions like
these, but with his head raised above the clouds of fret and commotion, he
was invariably serene. It is with pleasure that his former subordinates
today refer to his kindly courtesy and ever polite bearing, even to the
humblest man. Under the heaviest depression no cloud was on his brow, no
tang of tartness in his speech. Of untiring energy and an activity which
would have overwhelmed most men, Colonel Pollard moved along the even
tenor of his way, commanding the respect of all alike from the highest to
the humblest.
Without precedents to guide, for railroads were new, Colonel Pollard had
to rely on his own inherent qualifications in the manipulation of mighty
interests. The most substantial qualities were needed to master conditions
of vastness, and a creative genius was necessary to find methods of
accomplishment. In Colonel Pollard these were inherent and needed only the
occasion for their evolution.
Few are able to appreciate the pressure of the burden borne by one under
conditions like these. With agencies moving in divers and remote
directions, and yet moving toward a common end and purpose, one in Colonel
Pollard's position had to dispatch business with electrical facility. A
sudden juncture reached had to be promptly met. The busy brain of one in
such circumstances had to be ubiquitous, directing, managing, suggesting,
dictating, hour after hour, over a vast area of diversified interests. To
lose one's poise under such conditions meant jar and jostle to the
enterprises fostered, but to be able to grapple with problems which came
trooping in every day, meant generalship of the highest order. These
forces were happily combined in Colonel Pollard. He could turn from one
interest to another with ease and facility, and his constructive genius
would readily grapple with a grave situation, attended by a flash of
suggestiveness that was phenomenal. To him official labors came easy, for
he was built for a station like this.
For many years Colonel Pollard lived in Montgomery an honored citizen, and
most fortunate for the young employes who came within the circle of his
influence, he proved how one laden with grave matters could still be
polite and courteous, and thus preserve universal respect, however
unfavorable the environment.
SAMUEL F. RICE
Worthily in the muster roll of the prominent men who have contributed to
the greatness of Alabama, must appear the name of Judge Samuel Farrow
Rice. For many years he was conspicuous in the public affairs of the state
and was in some respects a remarkable man. A native of South Carolina, Mr.
Rice was trained for the bar in the law office of the distinguished
William C. Preston. He came to Alabama in 1838, and from that time till
his death, was identified with the history of the state. His first service
was that of an editor of a paper in Talladega, from which county he was
twice sent to the lower house of the legislature. After this, for a
period, he abandoned politics and was devoted to the practice of law,
being at one time a partner to John T. Morgan.
Mr. Rice was not without congressional aspiration, which he sought to
gratify several times, but was always defeated. Four different times did
he sustain defeat in congressional races. General McConnell defeated him
in 1845, Mr. Bowdon in '47, Alexander White in '51 and Hilary A. Herbert
in '78. But he was never soured by defeat, and always accepted it in a
jocular way. No one enjoyed a joke more at his own expense than Judge
Rice. This was illustrated by the good nature with which he learned that
an old rustic in the cow country of southeast Alabama declined to support
him at one time because, as he said, "Rice ain't got no stubbility."
Removing to Montgomery in 1852, Mr. Rice became a partner in the law firm
of Belser & Rice, but two years later he was elected one of the justices
of the supreme court of the state. He was on the bench in that exalted
tribunal for four years, during the last three of which he was chief
justice. In the early part of 1859 he resigned from the supreme bench and
was chosen to represent Montgomery County in the legislature. During the
following four years he served as senator from Montgomery and Autauga
counties. After the close of the war Judge Rice never held office, though,
as has been said, he ran against Mr. Herbert for Congress.
Possessed of an unusually brilliant intellect and of a wit as keen as a
rapier, as well as a diction of remarkable smoothness, and a port of
serene dignity, he was a formidable contestant on the stump and in the
rough and tumble of the court room. Tall, and as straight as a flag staff,
with a face of classic mold, over which there was ever an expression of
playful humor, he was always listened to with delight, especially since
there were frequent flashes of merriment from his gifted tongue. A
Democrat till the last years of his life, he became a Republican.
It is related of him that during the days of the reconstruction regime, he
was at one time arguing with great earnestness some proposition before one
of the incompetent judges of that period, for which judge he shared in the
contempt experienced by the able members of the bar, when he was suddenly
interrupted by the court and was told that the court had ruled on that
point only the day before. Pretending not to hear the court, he continued
until again interrupted in the same way by the court. Disdaining to notice
him, Rice continued. He was then ordered by the court to take his seat,
but still he proceeded as though he did not hear him. Addressing the
proper official, the court ordered a fine of fifty dollars to be affixed,
whereupon Judge Rice quietly sat down. The next day a case came before the
court the nature of which was such that the presiding judge was ineligible
to serve. Because of the prominence of Judge Rice, the court called on him
to preside during the trial of the case. With characteristic dignity Judge
Rice took the bench, looked quietly over the docket, and, straightening
up, called to the official who had complied with the order of the judge
the day before, and asked:
"Was there not a fine of fifty dollars affixed against one S. F. Rice here
on yesterday?" Being told there was, he simply remarked:
"Well, the court will remit that fine today."
This was done in the most imperturbable manner and then he proceeded with
the case in hand. The incident produced a sudden burst of laughter, which
was hardly suppressed when, with stern dignity, he commanded: "The sheriff
will preserve order in court!"
After he became a Republican he was frequently joked by those who had
known him in the days of his most ardent Democracy, but he was never
without a jolly parry to every thrust made, and always in the most
felicitous way. Talking to one who had long known him, he was asked at one
time what his political principles then were. With playful banter he
said: "I am a Republican with Democratic variations." His reason for
becoming a Republican was assigned by himself as a belief that a state
should have two parties, and he was willing to show his magnanimity by
joining the Republicans. However, he had but little to do with politics
till he was nominated in opposition to Colonel Herbert. They canvassed the
district together, and in strict truth Colonel Herbert was favored by
larger crowds because he was accompanied by Judge Rice. Staid and serious,
Colonel Herbert possessed none of the striking elements of a popular
speaker. On the other hand, Rice had them all and he found delight in
giving to them full expression, often at the expense of his practical
opponent.
Intellectually, Judge Rice was a prince among men. He was justly ranked
among the ablest lawyers of the state, and as a converser he was rarely
excelled. In his lighter moods his conversation was almost boyish in its
vivacity. Nor did anything seem to quench its freshness and piquancy. He
seemed to know something about everything and everything about some
things. However men differed from him, he was so luminous and cheery that
he became the center of a group of ready listeners in any circle in which
he appeared.
In debate he was one of the greatest of strategists. With quick and
incisive discrimination he could detect the weak points of his opponent
and would marshal his forces on these so as to lead one to forget other
points of strength. If interrupted, his repartee was usually so crushing
that he stayed in dumbness any disposition to interfere, no matter how
unfair his opponent might have at the time thought him to be. This
repartee was rarely ever offensive, but, on the other hand, was so couched
in ironical politeness and assumed suavity as to make it tenfold stronger.
While his career was not devoid of much of the zigzag, yet his life was
one of long usefulness to the commonwealth.
GEORGE W. STONE
For many years Judge George W. Stone was a familiar figure in the public
circles of Alabama. He was among the distinguished self-made men of the
state. His early scholastic advantages were limited, extending not beyond
the confines of a village school, yet he came to take high rank as a
jurist, being regarded in the height of his power as one of the really
great lawyers of the state. He was favored in being able to prosecute his
studies privately, and the judgment exercised by him in his self-selected
course of reading, gave evidence of that solidity of character and
acuteness of discrimination which distinguished him throughout his
professional and public career.
Before removing from his native state, Tennessee, to Alabama, he was
admitted to the bar. He settled first in Coosa County, and later removed
to Syllacauga, and later still to the town of Talladega, where he entered
into co-partnership with the Honorable W. P. Chilton. It was in the office
of this firm that Senator John T. Morgan was fitted for the bar. The
picture of this eminent jurist riding a scrawny pony, with his huge
saddle-bags of leather well filled with books of law, along rough roads to
attend rural courts, in the early stages of his practice, is still the
occasion of laudable pride of allusion among the older citizens of central
and eastern Alabama counties. The first official position held by Mr.
Stone was that of circuit judge, to which position he was appointed by
Governor Fitzpatrick in the place of Judge Shortridge on the occasion of
the death of the latter. The service of Judge Stone on the bench was so
satisfactory that he was subsequently elected over formidable candidates
for the same position for a period of six years. He declined to offer for
re-election after the expiration of his term, and removed to Hayneville,
Lowndes County, where he engaged in the practice of the law for a period
of years. In 1849 his name was prominently mentioned in connection with
the governorship of the state. In 1856 Judge Stone was again summoned from
his private practice by being elected to the supreme bench of the state,
which position he continued to hold throughout the period of the Civil
War. In 1865 the legislature engaged his services jointly with those of
John W. Sheppard, Esq., to prepare a revised penal code of Alabama, one
adapted to the conditions occasioned by the war.