State

Foo-f jyiwJc Pioneer Portia The Court was in a ditlier — but it admitted the first woman lawyer in the South. By J. (>. de Roulliac Hamilton It was January term of the Supreme Court of North Carolina in the year 1878, and the Court, to state a fact bluntly, was in a dither. For into the orderly routine of the Court came a disturbing influence, a problem that had to be solved, and at once. And the precedent-bound Court had no precedents by which to be guided. It would have to guide itself, and the way seemed far from clear. The crisis grew out of an applica¬ tion for admission to the bar by a woman, Miss Tabitha Anne Holton of Guilford County. The Court was na¬ turally startled, for who would have thought of such an application in North Carolina? Only five states — none of them in the South — had admitted wo¬ men to the bar, and this application presented not only the question of the wisdom— and the propriety as well— of such action, but also an additional one of the power of the Court to take it without legislative authority. Finally, after some discussion the Court post¬ poned action, and requested the ap¬ plicant to procure counsel to present the case to the Court. Miss Holton at once obtained the services of Judge Albion W. Tourgcc, who joyfully leaped to the task. He probably favored admission on its mer¬ its. and he certainly must have en¬ joyed the prospect of assisting in shock¬ ing the conservative old community where he had won much unpopularity, by assisting in another revolutionary change. Miss Holton, in the meantime, was very unhappy. She had regarded her application as a normal procedure, and was entirely unprepared for the intense interest of the public in the matter, and the consequent comment and commotion. She said she suffered the "horrors of a thousand deaths," not at any prospect of failure, but at being made conspicuous and being "talked about" and she seriously considered abandoning her purpose. She was the daughter of a Methodist THE STATE, SEPTEMBER 11. 1954 Protestant minister, was about twenty- five years old. was well-educated and well-read, but was largely self- taught in law, though she had obtained considerable aid by questioning law¬ yers of her acquaintance on difficult points. She had never thought of prac¬ ticing in North Carolina, but planned to join a brother, who was also apply¬ ing for license at this term, in going to Kansas where there were already a number of women lawyers. If she went there without a license she would have to reside there for two years be¬ fore being granted license, but. after being admitted in North Carolina, by reciprocity could be licensed there at once. "Besides," she said, "a license from the Supreme Court of North Carolina, I regard as a sure passport for me to any point, and invaluable as a certificate of merit." Judge Tourgee made a brief but able argument, on behalf of his client. Discussing the power of the Court, he called attention to the fact that the words of the statute, "such persons as may apply," covered this application. There was. he said, no intention to include women but none to exclude them. There was no thought of such a question’s being presented. He noted that under that clause Negroes had been granted license, when certainly there had been no intention at the time of its adoption to include them. He also called attention to the fact that the provision for admitting by reciprocity made absurd the idea of "denying to a daughter of the state what is allowed to women from Maine or Michigan." The Court conferred for ten min¬ utes, and then decided that Miss Hol¬ ton was eligible. She came into the court-room accompanied by her broth¬ er. Samuel Melancthon Holton, who had just been admitted, was examined, and was licensed. North Carolina thus became the sixth state in the Union and the first in the South to admit women to the bar. Tempered Knowledge "A wise man is strong; yea a man of knowledge increaseth strength." Pro¬ verbs 24:5 One of the best loved newspaper¬ men of North Carolina during this century was the late Tom Bost. His editorial work was known throughout the state. He was respected, even loved by hundreds who knew him, and thou¬ sands who never saw him. Tom Bost was no namby-pamby when it came to handling news or writing his pungent comments on it. He knew truth when he saw it. and hated deception and fraud with a vigor that was magnificent. He would not write an untruth, knowingly. He begged no favors and fearlessly reported what he saw and heard. He might have been a preacher. In fact, he started out to be a preacher. But he got side-tracked, and who will doubt that the sidetracking was an¬ other Providence. For with his gift he reached uncounted many more people than he could have ever touched from one or several pulpits. Men in public life who had something to hide, feared him, and well they might. Tom Bost least of all would like being labelled a paragon. But he gave North Carolina journalism a pattern that must not die. Any man who han¬ dles knowledge with strength, increases strength both in himself and others. There is exhilaration in such an exer¬ cise. What our confused and erratic age needs is more of this sense of strength that comes from knowledge well used, and diverted from error to truth: in the pulpit, on the public platform, and in the press. — Sylvester Green. Back Copies Now 30c All back copies of THE STATE Magazine, ordered after one week from publication, when available, may be obtained for SOc per copy. Whenever possible, please order extra copies in ad¬ vance, or immediately upon publication. 17