Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-11-13
THE NEW DEMOCRAT LEADER
Hon. John Sharp Williams Is Man
of Recognized Ability.

| John Sharp Williams, who has been
chosen as leader of the minority In the
house of representatives, Is now serv-
ing his sixth term as a member Of the
lower branch Of congress, his service
dating from March 8, 1898, when the
Fifty-third congress nominally came
into existence. 1t Is thus at the end OF
ten years of the national Legislature
that Mr.. Williams has been honored
with the highest compliment that can
come from his colleagues on the floor
of the house. That he Is deserving OF
the compliment and that he will make
an efficient and capable party leader
his friends and adherents confidently
assert. In his terms in congress, Mr..
Williams has been a power on the
Democratic side and the Republicans
have always had his cool and logical
arguments to reckon with when the
lines of party battle were tightly
drawn. The gentleman from Missis-
sippi has proved his ability many times
to cope with the most learned Of his
brothers Of the opposite political faith.
He is parliamentarian Of recognized
attainments.
| The career of the new Democratic
leader on the house side Of congress
Is fraught with much interest. A law
yer by profession, but extensively en-
gagged in cotton planting he first came
into the political situation Of his home
state at the time Of the Chicago con-
vention which nominated Cleveland
and Stevenson when he was a men,
ber of the Mississippi delegation. His
first public Office was that Of represen-
tative in congress and since his first
election as such he has been chosen
as his own successor ever since, most
Of the time without opposition either
within or without his own party. AT
the congressional election last fall Mr.
Williams received every vote cast in
his district, the eighth Mississippi. He
has served in the Fifty-third, Fifty
fourth, Fifty fifth, Fifty-slxth and Fiji
ty-seventh congresses, and will now
lead his party in the Fifty-eighth.
Mr.. Williams resides at Yazoo, in
Yazoo county, the homestead of his
mothers family. He is native of
Tennessee, however, having been born
at Memphis, July 30, 1854, and being
at the present time in his flftieth year.
His mother having died and his father,
who was a colonel Of the Twenty
seventh Tennessee volunteers, Confed-
crate States army, being killed at Shi-
loh his relatives moved with him to
Yazoo, where his mothers family was
located. At this time Memphis was
threatened with capture by the Federal
troops and was deserted by all who
could we'll afford to leave the city.
Mr.. Williams received a fair educa-
ton at private schools and afterward
was a student at the University Of the
South, Sewanee, Tenn, the Kentucky
Military Institute. Frankfort, KY; the
University Of Virginia and Heidelberg,
Germany. After pursuing this acade-
mic course the young man studied law
with Profs. Minor and Southall at the
University of Virginia and in the Of
flee Of Harris, McKisick & Turley, in
Memphis. In 1877 he was granted a
license to practice in the courts Of law
and chancery in Shelby county, Tenn.
In December, 1878, Mr.. Williams went
back to Yazoo, where he has since re-
sided, practicing his profession and
being engaged in the varied pursuits
| of the cotton planter