The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1881-03-24


fessor of commercial and criminal law
and the law OF evidence in the New Or.
leans Law School. He was q ready and
able writer, was valued adviser to Gems
Butler and Banks in Louisiana, was an
Old Wing before the war and moderate
Democrat for several subsequent years
but ultimately joined the Republican
party and was elected Attorney General
in 1876 on the Packard ticket. in 1877
he settled at Washington as a lawyer
In 1878 he was urged for the post Of
Collector of New Orleans, but was given
instead instead Jpdgship in the Court of
Claims: He was recently recon-
mended by the Bar of Louisiana, with.
cut distinction of party, for a seat on
the Supreme Bench il place of Justice
Strong, but the prize was awarded TO
Judge Woods. His decisions in the
Court of Claims for the past two years
show him to be dilligent, learned and
upright magistrate.
the Livingston family of Louisiana,
originally from New York, and has sum.
mer residence in this State on the banks
of the Hudson. He will have no diff
Guilty in ruling all that there is of Uncle
opportunity
to distinguish himself by supplying a
"long felt want" in that direction.
THOMAS L. JAMES, POSTMASTER GEN
ERAL.
a universal chorus Of applause salutes
the elevation to the Postmaster General.
ship of Thomas l.. James, tie most pop-
ular and efficient Postmaster New York
city has ever possessed. Mr.. James is n
native of Utica, Oneida county, n. Y,
city not wholly unknown in connec-
ton with the distribution of political
honors-in short, the Ohio of the En-
pire State. He was born in 1881, and
when fifteen years old was apprenticed
to learn the printing business in office
OF the Liberty Press at Utica, under the
veteran abolitionist, Wesley Bailey.
Five years later he, in partnership with
Francis b. Fisher, purchased and edited
the Madison County Journal at Hamil-
ton, n. Y, and he continued to publish
that periodical for nearly ten years, first
as Whig and afterward as Republi-
can organ. Hamilton was a Democratic
stronghold, but Mr.. James was largely
instrumental in 1856 in carrying the
Republican county ticket against the
powerful Know Nothing combination
He became general favorite in Hamil-
ton society, took an active. part in pro-
noting all local interests, was influential
in the management of political CAM
paigns in the county, and filled for sew
eral years the local Office of Collector Of
Canal Tolls. He was we'll known as n
lifelong advocate of the temperance and
abolition causes, and enjoyed the warm
friendship Of his neighbor, the venerable
Gerritt Smith. In 1861,
through the influence, as is believed, of
Mr.. Thurlow Weed, he exchanged the
quietude Of country town for the post
of an inspector Of customs in this city,
under the collectorship Of Hiram Bar.
ney. In 1864 he was promoted without
solicitation to the position Of weigher,
and in 1860 to that Of Deputy Collector
in charge of the third division (ware-
housing department,) the most RESPONSE
bic post in the collectorial office. Three
years later, in 1872, he was strongly
urged for the Suryeyorship of this port,
then vacated by Alonzo b. Cornell, but
to his own surprise and that of his
friends President Grant sent in his name
as postmaster, upon the resignation of
Gen. Z. II. Jones. Several of the most
eminent citizens Of New York, including
Thurlow Weed, f. D. Morgan, A. B.
Cornell, Thomas Murphy and Abram
Wakeman, volunteered 10 become his
sureties in the large sum Of 81, POO, 600
required as a qualification for that re-
sponsib!e office. Of his administration
of his great trust it is enough to say that
he has been an ideal postmaster, and
that every citizen of New York, while
raioicinor in hiu uo1l
will regret the necessity of his severance
from the office ne has filled so we'll.
WAYNE MACvEAGH, ATTORNEY GEN
ERAL.
The new Attorney General, Wayne
MacVeagh, of Pennsylvania, has long
enjoyed reputation III lawyer, orator,
scholar. diplomatist and civil service re-
former, which could only be family sur
missed from the record of the few public
Offices he has filed. Born in Phgnix-
Vile, Chester county, Pa, April 10,
1888, he prepared for college at Freclaad
Seminary, Montgomery county, Pa, and
was one of the prominent members of
the famous class of 1853 at Yale COLLEGE,
where he greatly distinguished himself
as an orator in the Linonian Society.
Admitted to the bar of West Chester,
Pa, in April, 1856, after studying in the
Office of Mr.. Joseph l.. Lewis, of that
town, whose daughter he married, he
was elected District Attorney year or
two later, entered the Union army in
September, 1862, as Captain of cavalry
company, in the emergency Of the
threatened invasion of the State, and in
1863 was for short time Major on the
staff of Gen. Darius n. Couch. He
early distinguished himself in the arid
field of Pennsylvania politics, becoming
in 1868 Chairman Of the Republican
Central Committee, married in 1867 as