The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-03-01
COL. ORR DIES
OF ERYSIpELAS.
I'LL Only a Short Time but
Critical from Start.
A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE
In Statue as in Intellect he Toward Above
Most Men of His Day. The Whole
State Is Afflicted by his Death.

otatS 10 hitilStSu ny uiS DGdth.
Col. James l.. Orr died at his home in
Greenville on Sunday night at 9:20
O'Clock. He had been illwith erysipelas
for only short time but his condition
while not hopeless was considered criti-
cal from the beginning.
HIS LIFE
Col. Orr was the son of the late Judge
James l.. Orr, of Anderson, who was
Speaker of the National House of Rep
resentatives before the war, Governor
of South Carolina Immediately after the
war and American minister to the Rus
sian Court. His mother was a member
of the distinguished Marshal family of
Abbeville, and he was born in Abbeville
at the home of DIR. Marshal, her father,
August 20, 1852. The gallant COL Fos-
ter Marshall, of the Mexican war, who
was afterwards killed while commanding
regiment of the Confederate army,
was his uncle.
Col. Orr's first public service was as
private secretary to his father at the
Court of the Cars in 1872 and 1873.
In 1876 he was elected by the Demo
Gratis member of the South Carolina
General Assembly from Anderson
County. He was then young lawyer.
He was an active, aggressive and daring
participant in the fight led by Gen.
Wade Hampton for the redemption of
the State. His splendid services in the
long, bitter contest after Gen. Hamp-
toms election for the possession of the
State House will never be forgotten.
1t was he who led the advance on the
Republican "Mackey House," when the
"Wallace House." which had been
meeting in the old Carolina Hail. deter
mined to enter the hall of the House of
Representatives, where E. w. Nj. Mack
ey and his motley crew were in session.
His six feet five or six inches, tower
ing above his fellows crowding at his
elbow ~ the entrance to the hall, as big
a man in body as in brain, Lawrence
Orr threw his great strength against
the locked door, brushed aside the SER
geant-a-arms, and the "Wallace House"
following in his wake took possession.
Col. Orr became popular idol. In
1873 he was elected solicitor of the 9th
circuit to succeed Col. w. HI. Perry.
AS aprosecuting officer he was marked
success. He was not an orator in the
ordinary acceptance. He was man of
common sense. His mind went straight
to the meat of every subject He could
speak good English if he chose, but he
frequently murdered the Kings Eng
lish," and spoke regardless of gramma-
tical and rhetorical rules. But he never
uttered meaningless word. He was
always clear. His homely vigorous,
Glowing phrase was understood by the
yeomanry of the Piedmont and they
"swore by Lawrence Orr" AS an
effective speakerit is doubtful if he had
any equal in South Carolina except SEN
ator Tillman.
Retiring voluntarily flom the solicitor
ship, Col. Orr settled down to the prac-
tice of law in Greenville in the early
eighties. The firm was at first Wells
u Orr, the late Capt. G. G.. Welles being
the senior member. Afterwards Mr.
Nj. F. Ansel and Judge j. S. Cothran
entered the firm and it became Wells,
Orr, Ansel e Cothran.
In 1871 Col HenryP. Hammett, presi-
dent of the great Piedmont Manufac-
turing Company, whose daughter Col
Orr had married, died. The textile
business IN this State was young then.
Col. Hamnettwas one Of the most sue
cessful Of The pioneers. Who should
cl1pnnal him n
but the directors chose wisely in select
ing his son-in-iaw, though his expert
ence had been limited to the law and
the general business life of the public
spirited man.
Col. Orr proved greater success as
mill president even than as lawyer.
Under his administration the Piedmont
mills have been more pronounced sue
cess than under Col. Hammett. The
plant has been doubled, and to-dry the
stock commands higher price perhaps
than that of any other South Carolina
mill. He has been leader of the in
dustry in the South, and along with his
neghbor, Capt. Smythe, of Pelzer, has
been chosen frequently as the spokes-
man for Southern mills generally when
their interests needed to be publicly pre-
sented. About four years ago he built
the Orr Mills in the suburbs of Ander-
son, large plant, and this, too, is sue
cessful. He is interested in the mill at
Honea Path, of which his brother-in-
law, Mr.. Hammett, is president.
Col. Orr's last political appearance
was in 1892, when he reluctantly ac-
cepted the place on the ticket with Ex-
Governor Sheppard for Lieutenant Gov
ernor. This was at great sacrifice.
Scores of the leading opponents of Gov
ernor Tillman entreated him to run for
Governor, but the responsibilities of
Piedmont Mills had just been placed in
his hands and he refused. A few years
before he had been in sympathy with
some of the views of Capt Tilman,
but not with that gentleman as leader.
He favored a change, Stirring up'
of State politics on certain lines, but
the methods of Capt. Tillman and the
charges he made against the old leaders