The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-02

leading men of the Territory, men who afterwards shaped the affairs of the in- fant State.
 The Senate of the first Territorial Legis- Iature was unique. Perhaps there was
 never another Senate just like 1t. 1t was
 composed of one member, the hoporaoie James Titus of Madison, It is told that he held solemn sessions of the upper law
 making house in which he passed upon
 the work of the lower house.
 The Business of the Senate.
 After calling himself to order he would
 take up the regular routine business dls-
 pcnsing with the assistance of a clerk. It Is recorded that the sessions or the Senate were remarkably harmonious. So
 far as it known there was no notable debate in the Senate and no serious divis-
 on which threatened the peace ana mar
 mony of that body. The Senate is said to have borne himself with dignity and to have discharged his duties with fidelity and ability The records, howeved, do not show that the Senate passed reso- lution thanking tine Honorable James
 Titus for the able and impartial manner in which he had discharged tho duties of
 the presiding officer of this body" The Speaker of the House was the Hon. Gabriel Moore, one of the most talented sons of the new territory. He was later
 most highly honored4 by his peple, being elected Governor of Alabama and one of
 the members of the United States Senate In those days the members of the Legisla- ture, as they do now received A day for their service and the President of the Senate q a day. The acts and resolu- tions of the two sessions of the Leglsla-
 ture of ISIS are preserved in the State Department of Archives and History. In the keeping of Director Thomas M. 1f thh pripinnl paDPrS Of Hon. William Wyatt Bibb the first Ter ! ritorial and the first State Governor of Alabama Governor Bibb came to St. Stephens in ISIS and made his home there for several months. He built his home at Coosada near Montgomery in the latter part of the same year. From his Coosada home he issued many of his proclamations including the one which named Cahaha the capital of Alabama. Governor Blob lived but a few months in St. Stephens. He was d distinguished Georgian who had represented that State in the United States Senate. which office he resigned removing to the Alabama Territory Of
 which he was appointed Governor. Upon the admission of Alabama to the Union
 he was elected by the people Its first Gov ernor and died while in office He is
 buried at his old home near Coosada sta
 ton on the Louisville and nashville Rail-
 road, Its Prosperity a Memory. The memory of the prosperous days of St. Stephens live only in written history. There are none who lived there Tn it's prime who survive as living witnesses 10 its former greatness. A very few aged
 men and women who lived there in It's declining days remain to tell of the grad ual decay and death of the old town. Miss Mary Welch, an aged resident or MfgGfEeinni lived there E a child in the latter thirties and early fOrties. She re- member the gradual desertion of the | town and the destruction of many of its | old buildings. In paper written in lSyJ she says that most of the wooden build ings were burned by drunken roysterers.
 Time and again, she says, these royster-
 CTS would set fire to some old deserted house for a few minutes excitement. Court was held in St. Stephens by Judge Bragg as late as lS4S.
 Only two sessions of the Alabama Leg isiature were held at St. Stephens. one
 in the winter and one in the fall of ISIS. A resolution passed by the Legislature February 13. ISIS. authorized the creation
 of a commission to examine into and se- | lect permanent seat of government for | Alabama This commission was compos- ed of c. c. Clay. Samuel Dale, James
 Titus, William L. Adams and Samuel
 Taylor.
 | The commission, after due investigat tion, | decided that the seat of government
 should be located at a point near the cen ter of the State. situated at the conflu-
 ence of he Alabama and Cahaba River.
 The new Capital, the report declared. 7as
 to be called Cahaba.
 The report of the Commission was pre-
 scented and adopted by the Legislature al St. Stephens. November 21, ISIS. A sal,
 of public lands at that point was or dered. with the direction that 5000 o
 the sum realized should be set apart fol
 the construction of the public buildings
 At the same session Huntsville was Sc iected as the temporary seat of govern