The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1922-11-24
Luke E. Wright.

In the death OIL sGeu6Tal LUKE Il
Wright, Tennessee loses man who's
greatness, through q life of constant
| ly accommodating honorc, never ha
overshadowed his humannoss. In al
the pride of place and achievement
which his great gifts brought him
it was his unaffected good fellowship
his simple and genial frscndliness
his liberality, and his zest for thu
ordinary, everyday pleasures tha
make for comradeship, for which hi;
home people held him in an affection
that was shared by that great par
of the outside world which came iI
contact with him.
General Wright was typical Of the
best traditions of the old South and
of the faith and energy and intellec'
tual determination of the new.
He was boy in his teens when he
enlisted as private in the Confed-
crate Army in '61 and was but lit
tie older when he won the rank OF
lieutenant in battery of artillery
as the war was drawing to its tragic
close. After the war he married
Kate Middleton, daughter of Admiral
Raphael Semmes, of the far-famed
Alabama, an alliance which brought
him in personal touch with one of
the worlds most picturesque and
daring stories of the sea.
Luke E. Wright was born in Giles
County, Tennessee, August 20, 1916,
the son of Archibald w. Wright, one
time Chief Justice of tho Supreme
Court of this State. He was edu-
Gated in private schools and the Uni
versity of Mississippi, finishing at
Hamilton College, New York, the in
stitution from which Elihu Root
graduated in 1864.
He was educated for the law and
began his practice i'm Memphis, where
he won his spurs on the political
battlefields, serving as district attor-
ney for Shelby County.
During the yellow fever ocourge of
1873 he was active in relief work in
Memphis and ever since his name
has been associated with all move
ments there of civic bettcrment or
charitable nature.
A lifelong Democrat, he broke
with his party-frst when he voted
with the five thousand State credit
Sky Blues for j. H. Russell in 1882
against the Democratic nominee,
Gen. VIM. B. Bate, for Governor, and
hen again in 1896 on the silver is
sue when he supported the Palmer
and Buckner ticket. Early in 1900
ne was selected by President Nc
Kinley as member of the Philip
pine Commission and he remained in
he islands for six years. In 1903
and 1904 he was president of the
commission and then he was appoint
I'd civil governor of the islands, which
vas but a step to governor-general,
/ post he occupied until appointed
extraordinary and pleni-
to Japan in 1906. He re-
signed in 1907.
The following year, on July /,
President Roosevelt appointed him
Secretary of War and he served in
the cabinet until the end of the
Roosevelt administration. ~
General Wright was put forward
~ his friends as candidate for the
United States Senate to succeed the |
ate Senator Robert Love Taylor, and |
Until the Shelby delegation wavorel |
n his support he was formidable
contender.
The memory of great task we'll
lone, of high positions worthily oc-
'upied survives him. And with
uch honorable legacy is coupled the
more intimate memory of a man of |
appearance, with
eyes and unruly hair, ap-
genial, liberal and gem
line-a man whom all men liked
md of whom countless pleasant tales
ire told. 1t is for his g-heartei
md human qualities, no less than for
he high service ne has rendered to
lis country and the prestige he lent
o his State, that he will be remem-
'ered with no less of affection than
II pride.-Nashvillo Tennessean.