Omaha daily bee., 1908-07-26
TOOK PART IN GREAT EVENTS
"reminiscences Of Editor, Soldier and
Lawyer at Four-Score.
ROGER PRYOR RECALLS OLD DAYS
Experienced of y Confederate BriEA-
dier Reconstructed In the North
Lesson In How 20 Grow
old Gracefully.

Olu Gracefully
Roger Atkinson Pryor. one Of the few re-
naming brigadier generals Of the confed-
eracy and former Justice OF the supreme
court OF New York state, was 50 years old
July 10. He did not celebrate the event, re-
fusing to look upon an S0-year-old man as
any sort Of a person out Of the ordinary,
but instead he INDUCED in "reminiscences Of
his long and varied life in chatting with a
reported for the New York Times.
Justice Pryor's home Is on West Sixty
ninth street. New York City. His library
window juts out a good deal beyond the
frontage Of most of the houses along the
street. 1t Is shady in the afternoon, and
Justice and Mrs. Pryor sit a good deal
there, among the judges books, with a
canary bird near by chirping gently, grow
ing gracefully old together. Mrs. Pryor,
too. is a Virginian. She was is and he 20
when they were married at Charlottesville,
Va, on November s, ls4S. This November
they will nave been married sixty years.
They are and have been, say their friends,
always inseparable, and that Is the greatest
thing in Justice Pryor's life.
First Worked on = Newspaper.
Justice Pryor was born on July 10, 1928, in
Dinwiddie county. Virginia, the son Of Rev.
Theodorick Bland Pryor, a stout Calvinistio
minister, who believed in the Bible from
cover to cover, word by word, and literally.
His frame was as stout as his faith and
from him Justice Pryor got his excellent
physique. Young Pryor was graduated
from the University OF Virginia and mar
ried in the same year, 1S4S. And then he
went into newspaper work.
"Ah that is fascinating, and I know
that / should still be in 1t and happy If 1t
hadn't been for what was accidental" he
went on. He was a Richmond editor and
he went in for politics. He was a delegate
to the Baltimore convention that nominated
franklin Pierce TO the presidency and was
appointed special minister to Greece by
him. And then he went to congress, serving
from 1858 until the civil war.
And after the war 1 wanted to get right
back in the newspaper business in Rich
mand,' he said, but on account OF the
part l had taken in the war 1t was not
wise for me to engage in editorial work
down there
50. Justice Pryor came to New York with
his family, his wife pawning her jewelry
to pay the travelling expenses. Benjamin
Wood, publisher Of The News, gave him
an editorial place after a time, but that
was done secretly, for 1t was not good
business policy to have a former confeder-
ate general as editor even in the most
broadminded city in the country. Conse-
quently the young man studied law.
1t was the civil war that made wars
changes the change in his life, and it is
about those times that Justice Pryor's
memories are the most vivid. Coming out
of the United States congress-, he became
a member of the provisional and the regu-
lar confederate congresses. He was for
fighting, and he was the man who occas-
stoned the wal as much as any single man
could precipitate a catastrophe that had
been approaching for two decades.
jefferson Davis did not want to attack
Fort Sumter. On April 10, 1861, Mr.. Pryor
made a speech in Charlestowr, s. c., which
forced President Davis to order the Fort
Sumter attack. And when the Stars and
Stripes came down from that fort the war
was on.
Davis didn't want to fight" said JUS
tice Pryor. sThere were a number of rea'
sons why that was natural. He had been
educated at West Point, and 1t was hard
to take up aIIns against the United States
army. He had many friends In the north.
He had been secretary OF war also. He
stood a chance for the presidency OF the
entire country, and besides all that he had
too much sense not to know that the odds
were overwhelmingly against the SOUTH
Interpreting the surprise on the Inter-
viewers face, the old confederate general
and lawmaker went on, smiling a little:
"Oh, It was a good thing, after all, that
the union was saved. 1t was a good thing
for republican government-good for the
north, good for the south. At this date /
am glad that the result was what 1t was.
But the states had every right under
the sun at that time to secede II they so
desired, according to the organic law OF
the land. Since the war that has been uni
versally admitted. There Is not a law
professor in any institution, north or south,
who does not admit hat without hesitation.
1t wasn't a question Of law; 1t was a dues-
tiou OF self-preservation with the north,
and they fought for that preservation"
A Tribute to sam Houston.
Then Justice Pryor began to talk about
Sam Houston of Texas, who was in con-
gress at the same time he was.
"A southerner himself. the child OF
southerners. he still opposed secession
and the war that was sure to come"
went on Justice Pryor. The Texas
people subjected him to the bitterest criti-
cism for his stand on that question, and
he the man who had done so much TO
save Texas from Mexico. 10 make 1t
into a republic and then into a part OF
the United States. He bore himself with
splendid dignity throughout it all, and
the sons Of many who bitterly criticised
this Texas hero now acknowledge that
he saw clearly even then what was best
for his people"
Justice Pryor went into the confederate
army himself in the year 1861 as a
colonel. He was promoted to be a briga-
der general the following gear. In 1854
and 1866 he was a prisoner Of war. At
the end Of the war he had a ragged
uniform, a sword. and a wife. His first
H.. In New York were indeed