The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-04


He that would further augment fed
eral power is one of three things-a
Republican, or a PopUlist, or a Social
island it makes no sort of difference
as to the station he now occupies i'm
| the Democratic party-leader or fol-
| lower
Edward Winston Pettus was born in
Alabama July 6, 1921. He came of a
soldier race on both parental and ma
ternal lines, and was to approve him
self as brave a man as ever faced
death on bloody field. His love Cor
the noble woman who for more than
sixty. years was his wife filled him with
healthy emulation and determined
him to be worthy of her, to which end
he studied at school with all the ener-
gies of a superior mind. He ceme to
the bar the year he attained his ira
jority and two years later he mar
ried the girl he loved in Doyhood.
Then he was a volunteer and a com
missiOned officer in the Mexican war,
and upon the discovery of gold in Cali
fOrnia he crossed the plains in search
Of fortune
He was a big man in every way
big boned. heavy muscled. big Drained
stout hearted, robust in health. gigan-
tic in strength. The one thing light
about him was his cOnscience-that he
ever kept void of offen3e toward his
brother. He never sought preferment
His character and attachments COM
manded it. He was solicitor of his
credit and judge on the bench. as well
as lawyer at the bar and never was
there a whisper against his unblem-
ished honor. There was a LONELINESS
about him that was delightful A
sound mind in sound body, his heart
was always healthy, and II and malice
were ever strangers. Big as it was,
duty so filled it that there was no room
for hate. His speech was simple and
direct. though he was master of the
classics and deeply read in general lit
erature.
When the inevitable came Pettus
went with his state and his section.
and was brave soldier in the big
war. At VicksbuTg he performed a
feat that reads like D'Artagnan. The
enemy had erected a redoubt that
meant almost immediate surrender 10
the garrison unless it was taken. AS
sault after assault was made upon it,
only to fail. Then there was a call for
volunteers to make one last ATTEMPT.
and Pettus offered himself. A Texas
command composed the rank and file
and Pettus was the ranking officer. He
directed the attack, one of the blood
lest of the war, numbers considered.
and after prOdigies of valor, performed
on both sides. the redoubt was taken.
The surviving Texans then assembled
and gravely promoted Pettus to the
rank of Texan" and Texan he was
the rest of the war. In Cousin Bet
tee" Balzac relates how old Hulot,
under the eye of Napoleon, uerfOrmed
the most desperate deed of daring even
Napoleon ever witnessed, and all the
tens of thousands who loved old Pet
tus are fond Of believing that Hulot
at the bridge was not more inUrepid or
serene than Pettus at the redoubt He
rose to the rank of brigadier general.
and helped to dispute the country inch
by inch from Dalton to Atlanta. where
he faced death with sedate courage
daily.
When the war closed he vas hank,
rupt in all but honor and valor, and set
about to aid in restoring to Alabama
civil liberty. He might have had any
office in the gift of the state after the
jackals were driven from Alabama. He
preferred the practice of his profession.
which he followed for more than thir-
ty years. In 1897 he was chosen a SEN
atOr in congress, i'm which position he
shed additional luster on the state of
King and Lewis, of Yancey and Hous-
ton. But the presence of Pettus and
Morgan there in the body now became
latitudinarian always recalled to nv
mind that at least two senator's on that
floor cOntrasted unfavorably the tenn
pie builded upon the permit of Cyrus
with the house Solomon erected to the
God Of Israel That was manifest in
their votes against the rate blu which
was only another and an additional
augmentation of federal power North
Carolina has INDICATED them and set
the example to all the other states.
the supreme bench may adj
judicate, the fact remains that the
power to regulate abides in the states.
and the states are only restrained, as
they should be, by constitutional guar
antee of the rights of property.
Some years ago | attempted to de-
scribe scene in a senate gallery of
which Senator Pettus was the central
figure. 1t clings to my memory, for IT
recalled that ante-bellum period when
the patriarchal system of our slave