The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-27
IN HIS YOUNGER DAYS WAS
 EAGER 10 60 ON STAGE
Studied Law Instead and Left His Im- press on the History Of His country-Pugh In the
 Secession.

| This man was part of the "Old South a product of it's polity and It's civilization. Born in 1920, he was in the prime of life when the system we call the "Old South was engulfed in revolution, war, devasta- ton, defeat, despotsm and chaos. He saw his people ruled by their former slaves, and he was a part of that counter revolution that reversed the policies of Stevens, Sumner, Morton, Wade, Butler, | Logan and all the other stupendous blum derers who imagined that they had per- manently subjected the Saxon to the Ethi- opian He was a dlsciple-one of it's most talented disciples-of the school of Jeffer- son, Randolph, Calhoun and Yancey, in SO far as 1t taught the doctrines of the | sovereignty of the state. though he was born whig, reared a whig and remained whg until the great parliamentary and political debates of 1850 made the whig party a politician out of q job. It was the patriarchal system, that old South" The head of every family was a ruler, and successful or defeated as his sense of justice was great or small There | is the secret, the only secret the whole | secret of government-justice. Without 1t | there is turmoil in the family and discon- | tent in the state. l do believe that in the | entire history of mankind there never | was anywhere, in any age. more of what We call sense of justice displayed and | practiced than in that "Old South.h There ] was faith in obligation and horror of in- justice There was devotion of political principle thatNwould not swerve for all the dominion of all tho Caesars. We can not imagine the 'Old South brazenly null lifying the constitution sof the United States-by indirection, such as the nomi- nation of candidates for United States senator by primary election. In Rome soon after Junius Brutus banshed the ty- rant Tarquin there was conspiracy to restore the despotism. A messenger vls- ited the banished Tarquin in his retreat, and sought counsel for the conspirators, and Tarquin took him to his garden and cut down the tallest peoples growing therein, which was interpreted as advice to get rid of the ablest and noblest men of Rome. The 'Old South never did that The New South" is planned on different lines. Only the other day Tennessee cut down the tallest and grandest man and installed in his stead conscious nferiority. It iS tlt OiiiS way SiNN IdI llll d SnlHllR mark During the past double decade there has been an abundant harvesting of tall poppies that the south would have better left standing. Who knows that the hour will not soon strike for Bailey of Texas and Williams of Mississippi, to join Carlisle of Kentucky, and Carmaek of Tennessee? Whatever the faults of the "Old South.'' she would die by her chosen leaders, and did go to battle, to defeat and to despair with them with all the ar dor with all the faith. with all the des- perate courage. with all the defiance of and all the delight in death itself that a clansman Callum Beg would have felt in dying for his chief
 But the "Old South is no more.
 Born In Georgia,
 James L. Pugh was born in Georgia in 1920. Four years later his mother died and his father moved to Alabama, where he also died when his son was but six years of age. About the time he entered his teens the lad rode the mail" and was so engaged when appointed clerk in a store at Eufaua, Ala. at the age of fifteen. Here he learned to speak the Indian tongue, many of the customers of the store being of the Creek tribe. It was a frontier country and daily access sions to the population came from the
 
 gia. Eufaula was a thriving community and there were gathered many choice spirits, daring and adventurous young fellows, who had gone west to grow up with the country.
 There was cultured society at Flu faula, and the young store clerk was cordially admitted to it for his good char acter, his good temper his good man ners his good sense. and, it may be- for his good looks There was a Thespian society that afforded great delight to both young and old, and Jim Pugh was one of the actors. They concluded to play "Pzarro," and Pugh was cast for a minor role a messenger who came to announce something or other. Some time before the premier the actor cast for Alonzo became sick, and Pugh was given the role. He was delighted, and studied hard and when the play was presented he got more applause than all the others together After that he was the leading man, and, according to the best judges of acting in Eufaula, he was another Garrick or Edmund Kean, and sure to be an ornament to the professional stage which he chose for vocation.
 Studied Law.
 A sister, much older than MT. Pugh, was the wife of pr. Cowan, and both husband and wife were rigid and devout
 
 as work instigated by the evil one. They were mortified when told Of the resolution their young ldnsman had made. and Dr. Cowan proposed that If Pugh would go to school for two years and then study law he would foot the bills. The young man accepted and was packed off to school at Lagrange. Ga, the famous nsti- tuition then presided over by Dr. Otis Smith. Upon his return to Eufaula young Pugh entered a law office and studied with all his might. He was admitted to the bar at the age of 21, and became the partner of Jefferson Buford. the then head of the Eufaula bar. The terms were most advantageous for the young man. and In little while he was a very sue cessful lawyer and subsequently, leader of the local bar. He got to be a very great jurst, profound in his knowledge of the principles and philosophies of that noble science for 1t is a science as practiced by the leaders of the professlon-the giants who can give you reasons for the rule other than the precedents preserved in the decisions.
 Of course, young Pugh was a politician. Every lawyer at the south was In those days and Pugh was a politician before he was a lawyer. or a voter, and went over the country making speeches for William Henry Harrison in 1s40, He sup ported Clay in lS4i and was elector for Taylor in lS4s. In 1852 he voted for Pierce his first affiliation with the democratic party in national campaign. In 1850