Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-10-12
MADISON HOUSE,
T ANED IN DIXIE,
WRECKED
Montgomery Hotel, Pride of the
Old Days, Falls Before March
of Progress.

tinged with glamour during the
life of the Confederacy, is the old
Madison Hotel, which is being
wrecked to make way for a modern
four story brick building.
In the old days of the code duello
the Madison House was known far
and near to the knights of the green
cloth, to politicians of the old school
| and to other followers of fancy
Within its lobby illustrious men have
gathered, history has been made and
| duels have had their inception.
1t was from an upper window that
| Mrs. jefferson Davis, wife of the
| President Of the Confederacy, stood
with a party of Southern women and
witnessed the first review Of the Con-
| federate Army.
Once tho Pride of the Git.
But now the puffs of a stationary
! engine, the rafting of chains and the
noise of the falling of bricks chant
the requiem of the old landmark, THE
| Cradle Of the Confederacy." ~.
For 60 years it stood, and once was
| the pride of the city. The structure
was but rs years younger than the
State of Alabama.
bamans and South Carolinans as we'll
as citizens of other States south of
the Mason and Dixon line.
1t was the scene of great society
ey ents, where bellies and beaus Of ant2-
bellum days gathered. where states
| men assembled, where the great
American game was INDUCED and
| some participants lost their money,
then their slaves and last their plan
tatiOns.
Saloon in Rear.
In a brick structure on Perry
street in the rear of the hotel was a
harbor for those who sought solace
in the flowing bowl And in here
there sometimes occurred misunder-
standings, to put 1t mildly, which re-
suited in flrearm demonstrations. II
also was the scene of the origin OF
the code duello.
But few of the oldest inhabitants
| of Montgomery could tell when the
Madison House was built and by
whom. A visit to the office of the
City Engineer, where building per-
E,its are granted, was unproductiVe.
The clerks Of that office considered II
a joke for such a question to he
asked.
Facts were obtained from Colonel
Madison House was built in 1847.
His father conducted a drug store on
the site. This tore was burned. Then
the Mobiles, who owned the grounl,
erected the Madison House. 1t was a
five story edifCe, made OF old-time
brick and considered the finest in the
city.
Charles Abercrombie was the first
proprietor and was succeeded in 1850
by Washington THEY, OF Washington,
d. c., who conducted the hotel until
1852. when william Fl. Taylor, Sr.,
took the management and ran the no.
tel for six years.
Had Many Managers.
1t was then that the Madison House
became famous throughout the South.
Mr.. Taylor's father was one of the
early Governors of South Carolina,
the family emig-ating to Alabama
from Columbia. All South CAROLYN
ans made this hotel their headquar-
tiers.
When Mr.. Taylor gave up the hotel
to enter another line of business,
Cook & Contalou took charge and
we're followed by John lrby, connect
ed with the Gunters, famous fam
lily of this section.
Just before the war Joe Pizzallo a
Corsican, leased the hotel. He had
been a cook in a New York restau-
rant, and while preparing his viands
managed to inadvertently put some
thing in them which poisoned the
patrons of the place. including him
self So he hurriedly left Gotham.
Others who managed the place were
Captain Cliff Kennedy, Sib Kirkland,
NJ. Uhlfelder and then Frank Hervey.
bile. He left four sons whom he
taught the hotel business.
After Mr.. Hervey's lease expired,
the place began to lose its prestige,
and it was turned into a boarding
house, then office rooms finally, with
cheap clothing store on the corner
of the ground floor and a delicatessen
store next door.
Captain Taylor Gives Facts
When William H Taylor conducted
the hotel 1t was popular and profita-
BILE He had six sons and two daugh-
tiers. The oldest of the former. then
about IA years old, Captain Thomas
| Taylor, was clerk and bookkeeper un-
der his father, and remained in that
capacity when, the elder Taylor relin-
pushed the place 1t is from him
chat interesting facts were learned.
now. but is vigorous He is con-
nected with the office of the State
Treasurer
The two daughters of the Taylor
family were universally conceded to
he the most beautiful young girls OF
| the South in their day. Miss Mary
Taylor married Major Albert Elmore
a Confederate soldier, who, after the
war, was appointed by General Grant
to be collector of customs at the port
of Mobile
Miss Sallie Taylor married Colonel
John w A Sanford, ST., who COM
manded 4 regiment in the Confederate
army, and after the strife was a dis
tinguished lawyer of Alabama and At
torney General of the State.
Noted Persons as Guests.
Among the many distinguished men
who either made the Madison House
their home or stopped there during
their travels was Governor John An
thony Winston. He made the hotel
his homo during his term of office.
John 7 Morgan, then a member of
the Alabama Legislature, was a guest
there ana often related the pleasant
times he had in the Madison House
Henry Clay and Martin VanBuren
on trips through the South registered
at the Madison and were entertained.
General Wade Hampton. of South
Carolina, a personal friend of Mr..
TAYLOR, visited Montgomery and was
the gupSt pf the DrDprietnr