The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1960-03-11
SEAWELL
Continued from Page One)


lawyers in Seawell's immediate
family-four brothers and their
father, the late A. A. F. Seawell.
Seawell's father served as At
torney General and was an Associ-
ate Justice of the State Supreme
Court when he died in 1850.
GAS long as l can remember, /
wanted to be a lawyer" said Sea-
well. He won his law degree at
the University of North Carolina
in 1885, and worked briefly for the
Institute of Government in Chapel
Hill.
After three years on the staff
of the State Parole Commission,
Seawell in 1888 established his law
office in Lunberton. Four years
later, he was elected Solicitor of
Lumberton's Recorders Court.
In 1912, he joined the staff of
the secretary of War in Washing
ton and returned to Lumberton
three years later. Seawell took his
first plunge into politics in 1947,
when he ran for the office of Mayor
of Lumberton.
Enthusiastically, Seawell out
lined his platform in plain Ian
guage. After he was elected and
served his term, the Lumberton
Robesonian editorialized:
"He kept his word"
Governor Cherry appointed Sea-
we'll Solicitor of the Ninth District
in 1913, and he was reelected with
out opposition in 1850. While he
was in this office, the Ku Klux
Klan began to operate in neighbor-
ing counties.
The spectacle of robed and
hooded men taking the law into
their own hands led Seawell to
take preventive action. He had all
known Klansmen rounded up in
Robson, and in IA Jail lecture de-
livered an ultimatum: Leave the
Klan or face prosecution.
Seawell's action dispersed the
Khan.
He became a Superior Court
Judge in 1855 and was on the Bench
when Governor Hodges named him
Attorney General in April, 1858.
Seawell's fidelity to the law re-
manned strong, even when it in
volved his office in controversy.
During his tenure as Attorney
General, state and federal courts
upheld North Cardinals legal ap-
proach to its school segregation
problems. Not a single school case
in which his office was involved
was lost.
He opposed gasoline price fixing
practices, and said so; these prac-
tees were halted. Seawell dis
covered that some small loan COM
panies were charging exorbitant
fees to people who could i'll afford
them, and he launched an investi-
cation which is still in progress.
When Negro students began pro-
testing segregated lunch counters,
Seawell continued to be guided by
the law. He advised store owners
that under State law owners of
private businesses are at liberty to
serve whom they please.
eve cannot accept those laws
which we like and disobey those
laws which we do not like"
Seawell was born in Jonesboro,
Lee County, on December 10, 1909.
His mother, Mrs. Bertha Smith
Seawell, lives in Chapel Hill now.
One of his brothers, UNC law
graduate Edward H. Seawell, was
killed at Guadalcanal on August
Z, 1912, while serving as an Ensign
in the Navy. Another brother, Don,
is New York attorney. A. A. F.,
Jr., is an attorney with the Army
Ordnance Center at Duke Universe
ty.
Seawell is married to the former
Frances B. Poole and they have
two children: Malcolm, Jr., who is
studying to be Presbyterian min
lister, and a daughter, Terrell, who
is in junior high school.
Seawell is Mason and served
the Presbyterian church in Lum-
berton as an elder and Sunday
School teacher. His church lessons
were broadcast over the local radio
sstation. He had long been active
and interested in the Boy Scout
movement.