State

THE STATE Page Eleven November 4, 1933 LEGISLATIVE PERSONALITIES NO. 3 “UNCLE PETE” MURPHY By Wade II. Lucas ★ If Walter Murphy, (ho “Uncle Pete” of legislative fame, does not 1ич1еск him¬ self in his long swallow tail coat and striped pair of pants for probably the biggest event in his life next Tues¬ day, I, among thousands of others who know him, will be greatly surprised and disappointed. A twelve-term member of the North Carolina General Assembly. “Uncle Pete,” a lifelong opponent of prohibi¬ tion, is taking on his biggest foes next Tuesday when he grapples with the Dry forces on the Eighteenth Amendment question that seems to have so many people in a stew at the present time. As executive secretary of the United Council for Repeal, Mr. Murphy, who is a man who lots his chips full wherever they may, is carrying on in a fight against prohibition which, the old- timers say, he began at the turn of the century when he observed the late A. D. Watts and others laying the groundwork of a campaign to put old John Barley¬ corn on the blacklist in this state. But it is as a member of the Legis¬ lature that I shall write of “Undo Pete.” His is a personality that stands out in the halls of the State’s General Assembly and his oratorical darts have stung many solons as they exchanged words with Rowan County’s best known maker and killer of laws. Mr. Murphy, who invariably dresses himself in that long swallow tailed coat and striped pants on big occasions in his life, has been accused by many peo¬ ple of not being the most tactful man in the state and he, like former Senator Cameron Morrison, has seemed to say a number of things without attempting to foresee the damage they might do to him as he orated on the floor of the House of Representatives. To say the Rowan statesman is one of the ЬеЛ known men in North Caro¬ lina is not a misstatement of fact. Truth of the matter, “Uncle Pete” is frequent¬ ly stopped by people he says he never saw before. Yet they know him. And he makes them feel ho has known them since they wore knee breeches. Unlike most legislators, "Pete" Mur¬ phy does not carry his pockets full of sugar to “sweet talk" those he is at- HIS friends are expecting to see Uncle Pete wear the famous frock coat and striped pants next Tues¬ day, at which time the repeal elec¬ tion will be held. - ★ - tempting to win over to his way of thinking. His oratory carries an acid¬ like sting to it and as a consequence he failed to get the credit in the 1933 Gen¬ eral Assembly for being the “daddy" of the legislation that resulted in the legalizing of the sale of boor in the state. Some of the members seemed to resent the way he talked to them. The Rowan legislator minced no words in tolling the people of his county during the 1928 campaign that he was for Л1 Smith for President and when he told them that “if you can't vote for my chief, don’t vote for me,” they took him at his word. They just simply elected to the 1929 House an 81-year-old Republican in lieu of “Uncle Pete." That's the kind of personality "Pete” Murphy is. По does not sugar-coat the ★ words he shoots from his mouth with the speed of a machine gun. He campaigned the state for Cameron Morrison against the bounding Bob Reynolds last year, but since Mr. Mor¬ rison charged the other day that "Uncle Pete,” although he did not call him bv name, anti those in favor of repeal sought to “throw the state back, morally and politically, forty years,” it is doubt¬ ful whether Mr. Murphy will sup|tort him again. But that is not pertinent now. When Richard T. Fountain was cam¬ paigning last year for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, he took time out in a speech at Benson to throw an oratorical harpoon at Murphy and when the latter heard about it he blew up with a hang. He used rather strong language in talking about that state¬ ment while he sat in Morrison’s state headquarters in the Sir Walter hotel here and so shocked the mild-mannered Rev. Тош P. Jimison, of Charlotte, that about all he eould say was “Tut, tut, Uncle Pete.” There are many who contend even today that Murphy’s speech against the Poole anti-evolution bill in 1925 helped kill the celebrated “monkey measure.” The Rev. J. W. Gilliam, Jr., who represented Alamance County in the 1933 House, received countless numbers of verbal darts directed at him by Mur¬ phy, but the minister-legislator never flinched and there are many who con¬ tend that while the Rev. Mr. Gilliam did not know the law or the legislative ways as Mr. Murphy does he gave the Rowan lawmaker as good as he sent on more than one occasion. Their verbal exchanges were among the highlights of the 1933 House. When he gets mad on the floor of the House. Murphy is apt as not to say things that should not be printed in fireside journals. He has a gift for juggling adjectives of a descriptive na¬ ture and he never seems to bo at a loss to throw them together in a way that makes his victims turn quite red in the face if they hear them. And they frequently do. Younger hgislators have marvelled at his ability to got (Ooiilinuetl «и ]m<jc tui'nly-fmir)