The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-24

Since the stormy days of the early sixties Judge John Purifoy, recently nominated for the important position of secretary of state of Alabama, has been on the firing line by choice and by di- rection of his people. Few men in this state, or any other state, have had so remarkable a records for practically continuous service in public life
 Judge Purifoy left school to enter the service of the confederacy, where he made splendid record; he aban- doned his private life to lead his peo- pie out of the domination. and terror of negro and carpetbag rule; he was the man chosen to put into effect one of the most far reaching laws of the state; that of carefully checking public officials
 That his work was well done results abundantly testify. Here are his re- wards: Probate judge of his county of Wilcox, state auditor first by appoint ment and then by election, chief exam iner of public accounts under two gov retary of state. his vote for this office being 60,166 out of a total of 131, ,991, just 5SS0 less than a majority over his
 
 three opponents, all of whim are well known and popular men.
 A Soldier and Citizen After advantages afforded by coun- try log school houses, sandwiched in between farm work and general chores, Judge John Purifoy, who had been born March 21, 1S42. and later moved with his family from Dallas to Wilcox county, entered the University of Ten tennessee at Knoxville. It was then the fall of 1S60 and he had an ambition to secure a finished education But the active events of the early spring fol- | lowing saw him back at his home, seek ing place in the armies of his country men, and he was never able to resume his college course.
 He cast his lot with the famous Jeff Davis artillery, made up of Dallas and wilcox county boys, and was sent to the army of Northern Virginia. For 1 the four years following he was in | every engagement of his command and practically all of his division He was himself wounded three times and saw hundreds of his neighbors and l friends sacrificed to the god of battle
 And, as a fitting climax, he and his associates were of the heroic band of 2,500 who. on that fateful morning of April g. 1865, made up the forlorn hope l led by the gallant John B. Gordon in
 his fruitless effort to break down the cordon which Grant had woven around
 the devoted and starving remnant of | Lees destitute army
 Back to DesOluate Home
 | The judge. with thousands of others. found himself far from home and pos
 sessed of ten dollar confederate l promise to pay as his only fortune
 But he walked his way back, fed and
 assisted by the loyal people along the route until the end of his journey
 found him in his own section again And here began what looked to be a losing fight to retrieve fortune and re- store order. Negroes. deceived and led by as unconsciable a herd of pirates
 and renegades as ever hung like parma
 cles on any ship of state. were making
 a reign of terror. Men trembled for their families, and women lived in
 a nightmare of horror and fear
 But the spirit that had made a
 Southland was only temporarily crush Il ed The men who had followed Lee N came again to their own in resource fitness and leadership, and by the early eighties had rescued the country and restored harmony. Judge Purifoy, one | of the foremost of this class, was | chosen to reorganlze and right the af- | fairs of his county in the position of
 
 events of the campaign were at times tragic and always dangerous andN ex- citing.
 Went to the Legislature After four years of private life. fol- | flowing the expiration of his term as probate judge in 1886. the judge re- | ceived the nomination to the legislature by exclamation. and took his place as q | member of the session of 1890-91 His | nomination for auditor of state came lin June. 1892. after six ballots in the state convention. A vacancy in the DO. sition existed at the time of the nomi- nation which he WAS appointed by l Coy. Thomas c. Jones to fill and he was given second full term, as had been d. mocratic usage, and which kept him in the position four years and five months.
 Judge Purifoy made from his early manhood a study of revnue matters and was for this reason appointed clerk of the ways and means committee oi lthe house in 1S96-7. He wrote the re- | nue bill that was submitted by that committed. Shortly after he was made deputy tax commissioner and in 1897 was appointed chief examiner of public accounts by Gov. Joseph r. Johnston He was again selected for this high of fee by Gov. B. B. Conner. holding | until he became state treasurer. tt which he had been elected in the fal of 1910.
 In Fight for People Always It will thus be seen that the judg' has been in the thick of the fights O. his people from youth. Ass soldier | from Bull Run to Appomatox: as a cit
 zen leading in the onslaught that res cued his county and his state from nc gro and radical rule as A civil officer fp<