The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-14
From the Washington Star.

From the Washington Star
LANES l.. PUGH was born in
n)l Georgia in November, 1920 -Four
~ years later his mother died, and
his father moved to Alabama. Two
years later the death of his father oe-
Cured, when young Pugh was but years
of age. In his carly teens he rode
was appointed clerk in a store at Eu-
faula. He was but 10 years old then, but
he made a success in his new field of en-
deavor. He learned to speak the Indian
tongue there, as many of the stores GUS
toners were of the Creek tribe There
was a cultured society in the thriving
community, as many of the settlers had
gone west to grow up with the coun-
try.
An incident of his life there while
clerk had an important bearing upon his
future He Joined a Thespian society,
and when the club decided to play ''Pi-
zarro' young Pugh was cast for minor
role-a messenger who came on once to
announce something in a few words.
Shortly before the play was to be given
the man who was to play Alonzo was
taken sick and Pugh was given the role.
He studied hard, and when the play was
presented he won more applause than did
anyone else.
His success determined him to become
an actor. But his sister and her hus-
band. who had great influence over
him. were strict Presbyterians, and they
opposed nlay-actng. To get the idea out
of his head, DR.. Cowan. the sisters nus
band, offered to send James to school
for two years and support him while he
studied law. That started the young
man in the profession in which he after
ward stood so high.
When Alabama seeded from the union,
Representative Pugh resigned his seat and
became a private in the Confederate
army. While carrying musket he was
made member of the Confederate con-
gress. and served in that capacity until
the body was dissolved.
At the conclusion of hostilities Mr..
Pugh again took up the practice of law.
He rose in prominence in the south, and
in 1874 he was the presiding officer of
the state convention at which the white
residents of Alabama determined to take
the rule of the state into their own
hands Mr.. Pugh was in the thick OF
the fight, and did much toward estao-
fishing the supremacy of the white res
idents of the state at that time. In
1915 he aided. as a member of the con-
vention, to frame a new state constitu-
ton for Alabama.
In 1873 Mr.. Pugh ran for the onice Oh
United States senator from Alabama, but
was defeated by Governor Houston. Inc
latter died after serving one year, ana
to the vacant chair Mr.. Pugh was elected.
For seventeen successive years he held
his seat in the upper body OF the natlonai
Congress, and in all that period, from
1850 until 1897, he was regarded as one
of the solid men of the Senate.
Mr.. Pugh was recognized as one of the
ablest lawyers in the chamber, and be-
came chairman of the Senate judiciary
committee, a position hardly less impor-
tant than that of attorney general or
chief Justice of the supreme court His
service as the head of that committee
is described as having been most pains
taking and laborious. During the Cleve-
land administrations he was a staunch
supporter of democratic ideas and an
swered the strong arguments put forth
from the other side of the chamber.
One of the greatest state papers, it is
declared, in the last forty years. was
Pugh's report on the tenure-of-office act.
when the republicans were not sure they
xx-o,,1l o1lau- Crnvar (,levalapd tn hacopaa
President of the United States. In the
great debate on the force bill of the
Fifty-first Congress, which was defeated.
Senator Pugh presented many arguments
to show that the bill embodied a bad
policy for this country.
In 1897 Senator Pugh was defeated for
reelection by Senator Pettus. who re-