Newspapers / The Sylva Herald and … / Nov. 10, 1943, edition 1 / Page 6
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Judge Felix E, All A Mu?ing Mountain By R. C. LAWRENCE (Written fc?i* Tin S'<> U> Magazine, Raleigh. N' C.) HAYWOOD is an ancient Bar ony and, as was Mount Zion, it is "beautiful for situation;" and from her high hills have come many men who have risen to eminence on the field of State and Church. Even within the period of my own recollection (and I am in my young ^ and tender years) on this soil have lived Garland S. Ferguson, Sr., gal lant officer in the army of North ern Virginia,, desperately wounded at the seige of Petersburg, lan guished lawyer, solicits _nd vete ran superior court j^.ist at a time when the Jud^vs rode the entire State. His son Garland S. Jr., at tained such eminence as a lawyer ? that he was named by President Wilson as a member of the Federal Trade Commission, one of the Na tion's most important administra tive agencies, of which body he is yet a member, and he has served as its chairman more frequently than any other member. There was the outstanding law yer, legislator and Congressman William T. Crawford; Homer L. Ferguson, president of the largest shipbuilding company on the Atlan tic Seaboard; William T. Lee, Chairman and veteran member of the old Corporation Commission, now known as the Public Utilities Commission. Consider Harlee B. Ferguson, General of Engineers, United States Army, who directed the operations which raised the bat tleship Maine after it had been sunken Havana Harbor, an act which . brought #n the Spanish F"~A'merican War; William L, Nor wood, gallant soldier of the South, last of the Judges of the Republi- t can political faith to serve on the bench of our mountain district; the grreat physician J. Howell Way, so distinguished for his service in the Public Health work of his native State; John Ferguson, Rear Ad miral. United States Navy, and others who have risen from the ranks. Then lastly, but by no means least, consider FELIX E. ALLEY? MUSING MOUNTAIN EER. If I state not "the year of his birth, it is not to hide his years but ?to conceal his youth. He is a native of Jackson county, named for Pre sident "Old Hickory", concerning whose birthplace there has been so much argument "about it and about," but that of Judge Alley was safely in our own State, for it was eight miles from both the South .Carolina and the Georgia lines! He comes of a family of fighting meS7 and he is himself a fierce fighter as you will see, for he not only conquered his outside handicaps ibut his own infirmities, and is there fore "greater than he that taketh a city." . His/ ancestors served at King's Mountain, turning point of the Revolution; and his father, John H. Alley, in his capacity as Colonel of Rutherford county militia, as sisted the military forces sent out , by General Scott to remove the ! Cherokee tribe from Western Caro- j lina to their future home in the | Indian territory. He volunteered! for service in the Mexican war, and after the battle of Chapaultepec (in which Stonewall Jackson first rose to military fame) he was com missioned as a Colonel in the regu lar United States army. When the I &ivil War drew on and our State I seceded, ^me of the Alleys served in the Union- army, but Colonel Alley^ remained staunch in his al legiance to the South and imme-. diately volunteered for service in the Confederate army. After a year of such service he was forc ed to retire on account of lameness contracted during the Mexican war, ? whereupon he was commissioned Take Our Car To Reed TODAY! Write it down Play Safe-Do It NOW! Lubrication Front Wheel Car Washing Packing Car Waxing R. G. REED GULF PRODUCTS Junction Main and Mills Streets Phone 0706 ?y his friend Governor Vance as PTolontl in the home guard, a ser vice even more dangerous than that PI the regular army, for the moun tain fastness was the retreat and Judeout of deserters, bushwhack ers and outlaws of both armies, and Tthe Home Guard was charged with (the duty of seeking them out and ! carrying: them to Fort Sumter. jTnree of his Uncles were killed in ,Thev Confederate army, while a | fourth was foully murdered by the , alien troops under the notorious i Col. G*. orge W. Kirke, whose law less acts a-nd infamous brutalities | finally resulted -Art the impeachment i of Governor Holden. ; The great Dr. Samuel Johnson, (father of English literature, truly [said: slow rises worth, by poverty | oppressed." The boyhood of my subject was passed on only during j^e? poverty __of the post war per I iod and the worse wreckage of Re- j construction, but he was born with asthma in its severest form, and the I first sixteen years of his life were i spent in a struggle for breath. He survived only because he possessed , the qualities described by Words worth as strong jn will To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield." He passed his boyhood on the farm and was almost grown be fore hp owned a suit of store boughtf clothes. President Lincoln attained immortality without the benefit! of formal education; and Carolina's President Andrew John son, \v?s the head of a family be- I fore hfe could read or write. When young Alley came along, it was be- I io;'e the days of Aycock with his program of "a - school for everv c . d and every child in a school.'', In Jackson county the average1 term was but six weeks, sometimes ! extended for a short period by the ; subscription method." But he was < able ta get one full session at Cul lowhee high school (now Western! Carolina Teachers College) and j from its 'scholarly President Robert . Madison he received much of the inspiration of his life. *eens the property of his father was sold for "security debts" and the son had to fend for himself, and he considered no labor beneath his dignity. Then came the great opportunity of his life, for he yearned and longed for a col lege education and friends finally procured for him the opportunity to work his way through Erskine College. But it was given to him d the testation, as he t that it was his imperative duty to go to work to aid his aged fath er and saintly mother in their help less old age. Surely here was an act of which the Recording Angel took due notice; and certainly on that day Felix Alley, as did Abou . Ben Adhem, wrote his name in im perishable letters, "As one who loves his fellow man." He contrived to borrow $300 00 and went to the University just long enough to study part of Black stone, but his mother became des perately ill and the doors of in struction closed upon him forever. On the advice of his father that the office of Clerk of the Superior Court would offer an opportunity for practical legal education, he sought the nomination and so popu lar was he, and so familiat were the people with the heroic efforts he had made to "find a way or make one," that he received the nomina tion by acclamation. What is even more, although Jackson was a Re publican County, young Alley was elected with fifty-seven votes to spare! Such, my Masters, are just a few of the many struggles through which this man of the mountains passed to come to a ?op *oV T START SWINGING THE AX! ? You say you are a patriotic American! Here's your chance to prove it? to help your country win this war. Here's a job you can do. Cut pulpwood. Pulpwood is as essential to war as ships or tanks or pldnes. Right how there is an acute shortage. More pulpwood is needed desperately. So if you can cut it, don't wait any longer. Get buty nowl Don't let our boys down. VICTORY PULPWOOD CAMPAIGN Newspaper Pulpwood Committee ? Electrifier SMIUNO Jayne Walton, vocalist with a well-known orchestra, has Just received a unique accolade from the National Electrical Con tractor's Association. She was cho ?en "the girl they would most like | to be shocked by." ( International ) bench to which Thomas Ruffin '? brought international fame; which Ms been adorned by Richard M I Fear?,>n; graced by Walte'r Clftrk- ' and on which Walter P. Stacv shed 1 lustre before elevation to the Chief' Justiceship. I Young Alley opened his law offi- j c: with an imposing library of just I five volumes, among which was the ' ' Lawyer s Bible Simms Manual of I Law and Forms. Concerning' Simms, when he came to the Bar the examinations were oral and Chief. Justice Clark, who conduct ed the examination, did not ask the aspiring young barrister a single question. Maybe that will explain how Judge Alley got his license! hpfn'ra C0u.rt aPPearance was before that prince of the bench, \Villiam A. Hoke, who, when told .that unless a prisoner was tried at milt J capital felony com* mitteed the day prior to the con vening of the court that there would be a lynching, continued the trial saying that the prisoner had not had sufficient time to prepare his defense, and that if there was to be any /Violence it was better for thePr'H to be lynched by the mob than mobbed by the court. | bod bless his gallant soul! ! I Judge Hoke was noted for his gracious kindness to struggling young lawyers, and young Alley was employed in thirteen misde meanor cases of which, with the kindly protection and kindness of the judge, he was able to win elev li"- thenceforth he commanded all jthe practice he could handle, and i hJs legal reputation widened until | it attracted the attention Of all the | western country, and there was ilZle r of imP?rtance in .which he did not appear. Nor has his practice been confined to nisi pnus for. he is a member of the bar of the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals of that of the Supreme j Court 0f the United States, and Of vfrU^n-merrC?UrtS ?f the States lily i J?' Tennessee> South Caro lina and Georgia, and he has tried cases of importance in eight States. While he is best known as a trial : lawyer, his arguments before the eHPPbv hi? t,rib.u"al8.have been mark! %luc,ld his briefs are models of clear, cogent and con |V^ncmg reasoning; and the percen atte6st th? effW?tn by him on appeaI attest the effectiveness of his ef forts . | Of course such a man was soon | called into the political life of the I Mate and he was elected to the ' leTat W w? yearS 3fter set :.lt k t Lr; an<l here he met John Christopher Blucher Ehrinc haus, and the man of the moun vhnn T 'mpr?sed Ehringhaus that he.rose *? Power? but of that ? T T . oS,early as 1910 A"ey was elected Solicitor and won for him self a reputation as a bold and fear ess prosecutor, yet a man who felt H*MlL T!uhlS duty t0 Protect the ngn.s of the prisoner as well as .those of the State. He did not have had for the asking. He re i moved to Waynesville in 1913 where he has since resided and .where he was active in the legal civic and political life of the sec tion until 1933 when he was named iby Governor Ehringhaus as Judee ,of the 20th District to fill the va ; WaSuraFSeMby the de?th ?f Judgre ?Hmi t ^OQ^-ar"] since that 'i,v ft, ? been continued in office by the suffrage of the people. Such t,a-S . bee" h,a record that many think when there is another va cancy on the bench of the hieh thatrttv,? ^led by a western man, AMey ' fa" Upon FeIix He was enthusiastic in his in TSnItnCo ?n ,the nomination of 'Charf t?ra'n Governor by the Charlotte Convention, but when that body nominated William Wal les ^Ilv ' d'd not> like Achil" effete imand that Craig receive the nomi nation, and such had been the ser vices of Alley that he was selected to lace the name of Craig before | the nominating Convention; and Vf you* do not, beheye that his was a great delivetancik. you should have heard it, for it^v^pt the Conven tion, bringing that body to its feet , several times in a storm of ap plause. Before he went upon the bench his powerful voice was heard in every campaign. v He often served as Presidential elector, and was a [delegate to the National Conven tion at Chicago when President Roosevelt was first nominated, and , in that campaign at his own ex- I pense he made more than thirty speeches, pleading the cause of Jef fersonian Democracy. It is no ^wonder that this man of high ideals, lofty patriotism and eminent public! service, should have been selected by Western Carolina Teachers College as its most distinguished! graduate. He possesses amaaing phy?ir?al and intellectual resources, and has amid all the carking cares of his judicial office, travelling from place to place, week after week, some how finds the time to deliver hun dreds of addresses, and" his ser vice has been as effective to the cause of religion as it has been in that of the State, and he has grac ed many a pulpit, for he possesses all the holy zeal of a Prophet and he pursues his ideal with all the ardor shown by Sir Launfal when he sought the Holy Grail. His mind is so well furnished and is such a storehouse of infor mation that he can speak with au thority on almost any subject with little or no preparation, and he seldom presides over any term of ! court but that he is called upon to address some Bar Association, to make some speech before some edu cational gathering, commutiity ral ly or to render some other public service aLan.jextra judicial nature. He has been a constant burner of the midnight oil, and has authored many articles, and there has been no cause of moral, civic or relig ious righteousness on the field of the State which has not received powerful impetus for the work of this Joshua among Judges. His mind is a storehouse of in formation concerning our State, and if you do not believe that he is a writer of compelling charm, read his MUSINGS OF A MOUN TAINEER, recently published, than which no book published by any son of Carolina has attracted wider or more favorable comment; and had I been upon the board of award he would have received the Mayflower Cup. When I get to be a University Trustee (which may happen any day now) he will be my first candidate for the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. His gifts as an author are as great as his gifts as an orator, and but recently there has come from jhis potent and prolific pen an arti cle descriptive of the glory and grandeur of Western Carolina. This was as fine a poem in prose as our poet laureate John Charles McNeill ever wrote in rhyme and rhythm. So majestic was it in its beauty that Carl Goerch, editor of the State, "the man whose business it is to know North Carolina," not only published it in his magazine, but read it over the radio and of fered $25.00 to anyone who could match it in describing the eastern , Seaboard and coastal plain. Thus | far the offer has gone unclaimed, and I believe Goerch could raise his ante by a considerable sum and still keep his money iiTtftlgnbank! Had this been a portrait done in oils, it would have been worthy the brush of a Gainsborough or a Sir Joshua Reynolds. Such, my Lords and Gentlemen, is a rough and ragged outline of Coffee Will Not Be Rationed "There is absolutely no chance that coffee will again be rationed," was a message The Mountaineer received from the district OPA FELIX E. ALLEY, a man who. has shed lustre upon the annals of our bench and bar; who has rendered his State eminent* service on the fitld of statecraft; who has wrought an imperishable monument in the literary life of our people; who. has served the cause of religion with the zeal of a priest and prophet; and I acclaim him as a Christian Statesman. "LET US LOOK UNTO THE HILLS WHENCE COMETH OUR STRENGTH." Office yesterday. * The question has arisen numer ous times since the ? ssuance of War Rationing Book to. 4, as some of the coupons i u the book aro- marked "Coffee". The books were printed before coffee became so plentiful, and it was too late to make the change, OPA announced. OPA pointed out that those who foolishly buy up coffee now had better plan to drink stale coffee later on, as roasted coffee keeps fresh only a few weeks at. best. Teacher: "Johnny, yotthave been to the zoo so you must know what an octopus is. Can you tell the class?" Johnny: "They didn't have an octopus at the zoo, but it must be a cat with eight sides." ? The Baptist Observer. PLEASE Remember t t H HSR H E 4JMi? E HANGER * and? T he Laundry Does \ It Better ? Send Us Your Washing. We Thank You SYLVA LAUNDRY & DRY CLEANING CO Across Track From Railway Station PHONE 25-J SmasU .... 2baiindiue. Stationery t a style and size for every purpose We have stationery made for those who like fine papers The Herald /> Li ? -
The Sylva Herald and Ruralite (Sylva, N.C.)
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Nov. 10, 1943, edition 1
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