State

The State Bar Association The present orgniiizsifion was started in 1899. after a previous attempt liad proved a failure. Many distinguished men have presideil over its destinies as president. Til К barristers were the last of the major professions to perfect an organization, as it was not until as late ns 1885 that an effort was made in this behalf. In February of that year a meeting was held at Ra¬ leigh attended by fifty-six practition¬ ers ( most of whom were members of the local bar) and an Association was then organized, whose memltcrship was later increased to around one hun¬ dred and twenty-five. But the feeble light of the infant Association soon flickered and failed entirely, and the organization passed into the condition so aptly described by President Cleveland ns that of “innocuous desse- tude.” Today but two members of the original association still survive: the veteran Ernest Haywood of the Ra¬ leigh Bar, who recently flew around the world notwithstanding his years; and Judge Robert W. Winston, who, after a distinguished career at the bar and on the bench, re-entered the Uni¬ versity and became a freshman again at sixty, since which he has become an eminent figure in the field of letters, being the author of several books which have brought to him national recognition in that, field. Meeting Called in 1899 In 1873 Captain William Riggs, ed¬ itor of t lie Tnrboro Southerner , took the initial steps to organize a State Press Association, and his son. J. Crawford Riggs, rendered a similar service in the organization of the State Bar Association. In 1899 Judge Biggs, then a professor of law nt the Uni¬ versity, circulated the call for a meet¬ ing to consider the organization of such an association, which was organ¬ ized on February 10, 1899, with a charter membership of one hundred and fifty-seven. The eminent Charlotte lawyer, Platt I). Walker, who later became a justice of the Supreme Court, was chosen as its first President, Judge Riggs being elected as Secretary- Treasurer; and to his energetic guid¬ ance in its early years much of the success of the Association must be at¬ tributed. He was followed as Secre¬ tary-Treasurer by Thomas W. Davis, Alexander B. Andrews, Henry M. Bfi R. C. LAWRENCE London and Allston Stubbs, the pres¬ ent incumbent. The first annual meet¬ ing of the new Association, held at Morehcad City in July. 1899. found it with an enrollment of two hundred and fifty-one. Limitations of space preclude the mention of all the distinguished law¬ yers who have filled the presidential chair, but some of its incumbents will call to mind many men whose names have become famous in the legal an¬ nals of our State. The second President was the emi¬ nent private practitioner Charles F. Warren, son of the great jurist of Reconstruction, E. J. Warren, and father of Congressman and Comp¬ troller General Lindsay Warren. Then came the courtly Charles Manly Sted- man, Lieutenant Governor and Ma¬ jor in the Confederate service, whose people kept him in Congress so long that he became the last officer of either the Federal or Confederate army to serve in the halls of Congress. Charles M. Ru slice of Raleigh not only headed the State Bar, hut he be¬ came the national head of the Inde¬ pendent Order of Odd Fellows. Other Leaders Then came Charles Price of Salis¬ bury, counsel for the Southern Rail¬ way; followed by the eminent eastern lawyer, William Dorsey Pruden. father of the present-day legal leader of the same name. In his day he usually appeared on one side of every case argued in the Supreme Court from the first district. Hamilton C. Jones was a Colonel in the Confed¬ erate service, an outstanding member of the Mecklenburg Bar, and both he and his son of the same name have occupied the presidential chair. Thomas S. Kenan was a member of the distinguished Duplin family of that name and a Colonel in the Con¬ federate service, in which he was badly wounded, por many years he served as Clerk of the Supreme Court, and the license of hundreds of lawyers now practicing at the Carolina bar. bear his signature as Supreme Court Clerk. Then came Colonel Clement Manly of Winston. State Counsel for the South¬ ern Railway, General Counsel for the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, noted for the courtesy of his manner. He was a son of United States Sena¬ tor Matthias K. Manly. Then followed George Rountree of Wilmington, ardent admirer of the decisions of the English courts. Ilis library contained more English Reports than any pri¬ vate law library in the state. He later served upon the bench of the Supe¬ rior Court. John W. Hinsdale of Raleigh, was one of the youngest Colonels in the Confederate army, having that rank in one of the three “Junior Reserve Regiments, ” composed of hoys in their 'teens, against the organization of which President Davis protested lie- cause it was “grinding up the seed corn.” He was followed by Charles W. Til let t of Charlotte, one of the most brilliant practitioners our state has produced, whose legal career is rather unique in that he never sought nor held public office, but confined him¬ self entirely to the practice of his pro¬ fession, in which he attained distinc¬ tion on the field of the .South. In later years his son of the same name was similarly honored. Francis D. Winston of Bertie then came to the chair, he having been the first student to matriculate at the University when it was re-opened after the Civil War. He served his state as United States District Attorney, Lieu¬ tenant Governor, Superior Court Judge, and acted as toastmaster at University banquets for more than fifty years! Then came Mr. Justice James S. Manning who saw service upon the bench of our Supreme Court ; and Thomas S. Rollins of Asheville, son-in-law of I'nited States Senator Jeter C. Pritchard. The organizer of the Association was now elevated to the presidency and James Crawford Biggs became the in¬ cumbent. He has passed a distin¬ guished career at the Carolina bar, having served not only as Professor of law at the University, as legislator, and as Judge of the Superior Court,