Granville’s Mad Genius
Itobcrl Poller Mils a brilliant man and a
political genius, bill bis brutal character
and vindictiveness led to a career of vio¬
lence u liich ended in a horrible death.
BUT for
и
turbulent and vindic¬
tive nature, Rolmrt Potter might
today Ih« recognized as one of the
greatest North Carolinians of all
times. As tilings stand, however,
school children reading histories of
the Old North State are not likely
to find any mention of this stormy
genius of a century ago.
liobert Potter was one of the most
brilliant figure.* ever to stride across
the political scene in North Carolina,
but his political genius was over¬
shadowed and largely nullified by
an unsur passing violence and vin¬
dictiveness that landed hint in jail
on one occasion, resulted in his ex¬
pulsion from the House of Commons
on another, and finally led to his as-
sassi initio».
Potter was born in Granville
County, in 1800. lie joined the
United States Navy when lie was 15
years old and served for six years,
little dreaming at the time that just
15 years later he would be Secretary
of the Navy for the Republic of
Texas.
Returning to North Carolina, he
began to study law in the office of
Thomas Burges, at Halifax. At that
time, party |»olitic* was dead in that
county, and the campaigning was
wholly personal, there being two fac¬
tions — the Burges faction and the
Bynum faction— with Thomas Burges
and Jesse Bynum, respectively, as
leaders.
Another Bitter Campaign
Potter lost out to Bynum in a
contest, for a sent in the House of
Commons in 1828, and again in 1824.
In the latter election, the young can¬
didate charged the Bynum faction
with fraudulent voting, but nothing
came of the charges. In 1825, Potter
again opposed Bynum in an election
marked with such bitterness and
violence that a man was killed at
the polls and the election was called
off, the borough going unrepresented
in the House of Commons that year.
Undaunted by bis previous defeats.
Potter opposed Dixie C. Fenner for
the House of Commons in 1S2G and
won, although Fenner claimed his
В»/ К
MTU SAUNDERS
defeat was caused by ii false report
circulated or caused t<> !>c circulated
by Potter to the effect that lie (Fen¬
ner» had withdrawn from the race.
Potter's brilliance then began to
assert itself in the House of Com¬
mons in 1820 and 1827, and he made
a name for himself as u forceful
thinker and an eloquent speaker.
But his star had dimmed mean¬
while in Halifax, where the many
enemies he had made in the cam¬
paigns against Bynum and Fenner
were working day and night against
him. So in 1827 he left Halifax to
return to his native Granville, where
he vented his spleen on bis political
enemies in Halifax by writing a bitter
and scurrilous pamphlet castigating
virtually the entire community.
Elected to Congress
Granville voters sent Potter to the
House of Commons that year, and
in 1828 he was elected to Congress,
where lie served for two terms, being
re-elected without opposition in 1830.
But once again the hick of self-
discipline which had manifested it¬
self so many times again entered the
picture, and on Sunday, August 28,
1831, Potter cruelly assaulted two
Methodist ministers. Indicted and
convicted in Granville Superior
Court, the turbulent young Congress¬
man was lined $1,000 and sentenced
to two years in prison.
Because of bis great popularity,
it was not considered safe to keep
Potter in the jail at Oxford, so be
was incarcerated at Hillsboro. While
in the Hillsboro jail, he wrote an 80-
page pamphlet defending himself and
attempting to justify his crime. He
also conducted a political campaign
while he was in jail, and when he
was released in 1834, after three years
in prison (he had to serve an ad¬
ditional year because of hi* inability
to pay the SI, 000 line), RoU-rt Potter
was elected to the House «f Commons
from Granville County. Following
a heated discussion on the floor, he
was allowed to take his
м
But Potter’s star had Imrdly In-gun
t<> ascend again when the lack of
principle which had hampered his
career for so long arose once more to
plague him.
Investigated by the Legislature
On Christinas night. 1834, Potter
engaged in a game of cards with
Carney Cotton, mem Ik- r of the House
of Commons from Chatham County,
and after suffering heavy losses he
seized all the money on the table and,
covering Cotton with a pistol, got
away with it.
This reprehensible conduct was re¬
ported to the House of Commons,
which appointed an investigating
committee, of which Edward B. Dud¬
ley, who was later to become
Governor, was a member, By a vote
of G2 to 42, I’otter was expelled from
the House on January 2, 1835.
Desiring to get away from North
Carolina and
такса
fresh start whore
he was not known, the stormy petiel
from Granville removed to Texas,
where he became a leading spirit in
the birth struggles of that great now
commonwealth.
Within fifteen month* after hi* ex¬
pulsion from the General
Л**ешЬ|у
of North Carolina, Potter wa- a
member of the Texas Congress from
the Nocogdochcs district and wa* one
of the signers of the Texas Declara¬
tion of Independence of March 2.
1S3G. Two weeks later, on March 17.
1836, he was one of the -igm-r. of
the Texas constitution, and on March
18 he was named Secretary of t In-
Navy for the Republic of Texas,
Shortly thereafter, when Bolter
proposed to make a trip from Gal¬
veston to New Orleans on a govern¬
ment vessel, a Mrs. Solomon Bage
requested and was granted passage
on the same boat. Sin- and Potter
fell in love while on the boat, and
upon their return he took her to hi*
plantation on Lake Caddo, where
they lived together without ever
bothering about getting married. He
always addressed her as "Mr*. Bage”
and left her some of hi* pro|ierty
under that name.
In 1840, Potter, who had a peculiar
(Continued on page I unity-six)
