The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-07
JUDGE REAGAN DEAD
SOLE SURVIVING MEMBER OF CON-
 FEDERATE GARNET NO MORE.
Grim Reaper Comes to Historic Figure at His Home in Palestine, Tex,
 Pneumonia Being the Cause.

Houston, Tex, March 6.--Judge John H. Reagan, sole surviving member of | the Confederate cabinet, died at PaIes- tine, Tex. this morning, aged S6 years. | of pneumonia.
 Because of his advanced age the death of Judge Reagan was not unex- pected. He was in this city on Thurs day transacting business. When he returned home the family physician was called in, Judge Reagan complain ing of trouble in his lungs. On Sunday It was known that pneumonia had set In and Judge Reagan grew rapidly worse.
 his wife and daughters and w. Green wood, his son-in-law.
 Hundreds of telegrams of coincidence | are being received here from all parts of the United States.
 The funeral will take place at Pales- tine Wednesday afternoon.
 Judge John Henninger Reagan was born in Sevier County. Tennessee, Oc- tober 8, 1918. From an early age he was engaged in various occupations which included blowing, cnopping wood, keeping books, running a flat boat on the Tennessee river. and man. aging a mill, and through his diligent labor earned sufficient money to pro- cure a good education.
 | beIoTe ne was Sl years Olu ne went to Natchez, and in 1859 removed to ITexas. He soon enlisted in the force to expel the Cherokees from Texas. and was selected by General Albert Sidney Johnston as one of a picked es- Icort for dangerous service, but de- iclined the offer of lieutenancy. and became a surveyor.
 He penetrated into the Indian coun- ltry about the Three Forks of Trinity. | cd i'm zion about three years. His was the first party that escaped massacre by the Indians.
 In 1S44 he began the study of law. and in 1S4S he received his license to practice. In 1S46 he was elected Col onel of militia and Probate Judge of , Henderson County, and in 1S47 he was chosen to the Legislature. where he was chairman of the Committee on Public Lands. In 1S49 he was a de- feated candidate for the Senate, but in 1852 he was elected District Judge.
 In the enforcement of the laws he was brought into collision with the gamblers and desperadoes that then held the frontier towns in awe, but his physical courage and moral force won him a triumph for law and order. Judge Reagan was first elected to Congress in 1856 as a Democrat, after a severe contest. He remained in Con- gress until 1861, when he returned home, and was elected to the State Convention, in which he voted for se- cession. He was chosen by the Con- vention as a member of the provision al Confederate Congress- On March G. 1861. he was appointed Postmaster Gen. eral under the provisional government. and the next year he was reappointed to the same ofi1ce under the permanent government. He was also acting Sec retary of the Treasury for short time near the close of the war He was the only one of the cabinet who was captured with Jefferson Da- wis, and was confined for many months in Fort Warren. He had conferences with President Johnson, William H. Seward, Henry Wilson, James Speed and others on reconstruction, and wrote an open letter to the people of Texas. advocating laws for the protec- tion of negroes, which should grant them civil rights and limited political rights with an educational qualification. His letter subjected him to miscon- struction, and he was retired from pol itics for nine years. But he was elect ed to Congress by 4.000 majority in 1874. in 1876 by 5000. and after 1878 with little or no opposition.
 For nearly ten years he held con tinuously the post of Chairman of the Committee on Commerce. with the ex- ception of one term, and was noted for his decided views and efforts to rcgu- late interstate commerce. He was one of the authors of the Cullom- Reagan interstate commerce bill, which be- came a law in 1887 In 1887 he took his seat in the United States Senate, having been chosen for the term that ended in 1893. but resigned four years after his election to become President of the Texas Railroad Commission. which body he placed upon a sound basis.
 Judge Reagan had a farm near Pal estine. Tex. where he spent the clos ing years of his life.
 At the time of his death he was en- gagged in writing an autobiography of himself.
 Al