names of the parties concerned. I mention the circumstance as a proof of his ready turn and useful bravery to preserve both himself and his friend. It was during your practising law together when, at the commencement of a session of the Legislature, Seaborn Jones, for some cause, was induced to challenge Gen. John Scott. Robert* may have borne the challenge. Scott answered, pretty promptly, that he would give him satisfaction with broad-swords! Jones, a small man, complained to Robert, that Scott, a tall and strong man, had chosen swords; that it was not fair. Jones said, moreover, that he had been shoulder-stiffed, &c. Robert said to him, "Í will relieve you." He found Scott in the lobby, and, taking him aside, said to him, "Gen. Scott, you must fight Jones with pistols or adopt me as the swordsman." Scott flounced, and declared he had no quarrel with him, (Rutherford,) and he should only fight Jones; that he had given him the weapons, &c. Rutherford left him by saying he would only give him one short hour to make his election which he would fight; and it is a fact, in that same short hour, that Scott procured a "court of honor," (Col. Edward F. Tatnall, then with his arm in a sling from just fighting a duel, was one of them,-all, I think, of the Legislature,) who got the parties together, or heard them, and settled the difficulty without the broad-sword fight so alarming to Jones. My bright recollection of my brother's virtues and estimable character has induced me to say so much; and your own knowledge of the man will decide whether I have written with any bias,—all of which I submit to be used as your judgment may direct. From a gentleman well known to the people of Georgia, who has served them in Congress and is now a successful cultivator of the soil, (Major Joel Crawford, of Early county,) the author received, in January, 1851, a communication furnishing particulars about Mr. Rutherford and closing as follows: : In the fall of 1822, whilst attending the courts of Pulaski and Twiggs, he was unavoidably exposed to the malaria of that insalubrious region, and, before reaching home, experienced symptoms of remittent fever. The malady baffled the best medical skill of the neighborhood, and within a few days his highly active and useful life was brought to an untimely end. The death of few men could have occasioned deeper or more widely-spread grief. No man ever had sincerer friends; no man better deserved to have them. Wholly destitute of ostentation, he combined in both the moral and physical man almost every quality which an honorable friend could admire and love. Punctiliously fair in all his business-transactions, scorning those contemptible shifts and prevarications on which folly and weakness are so prone to rely, he sought wealth and fame by no other means than honest industry, of which his brief life was one continued and brilliant example. Mr. Rutherford's kindness of heart and high-toned probity were acknowledged by all who knew him; his generosity and courage were never questioned. Robert Rutherford was an American republican of the Jeffersonian school. He had implicit faith in the capacity of his own countrymen for self-government, and enjoyed among them a popular favor which an ambitious man would have prized most highly. But he never sought office, nor would he * He was brother-in-law to Col. Jones, they having married sisters. permit his name to go out as a candidate, though no citizen took a more decided part in pending elections, or rejoiced more at the success of a favorite ticket. The memory of Robert Rutherford is still fondly cherished,his high qualities and professional zeal recounted by the old citizens as an example to young men who thirst for distinction in the same path. It was truly a public misfortune that he died so early, in his thirty-seventh year,—an age which seems to be fatal to men of rare gifts. Burns, Byron, and our own Lamar sunk thus prematurely into their graves. XXVIII. ELI S. SHORTER. AMONG the proud intellects of Georgia at any period of her history, none was more commanding, none more transparent, none more vigorous and subtle in analysis, than that of the Hon. ELI S. SHORTER. He was indeed a man of a century. With blemishes and attractions of extreme degree, his character was a sort of "armed neutrality," that conquered rather by the exhibition of strength than by actual conflict requiring all his powers. He lived and died without a knowledge of his gifts. True, on many occasions he rose to an antagonism absolutely overwhelming on legal subjects where pure reasoning was to prevail. The author has witnessed efforts of this description, and remembers distinctly a trial of strength with the late Judge LAMAR, in Twiggs Superior Court, where the essentials of a deed to fulfil a condition precedent as to lawful title were drawn in issue on a bond. The two advocates were both at the very head of the profession,-both deeply learned in the law, astute, ambitious,-with pride of character to stimulate their energies to the utmost. They met with mature briefs. After a couple of hours in argumentation, earnest, logical, and apparently of equal force, Judge Lamar courteously admitted that his opposing brother was not to be vanquished,-that there was a mysterious faculty of recuperation in him which defied all attacks to the right, left, or centre; that, when beset with difficulties most appalling to another, he would appear in new shapes, with sword in hand, severing the cords with which his adversary had bound him. It was a pleasant scene: both gathered laurels; but which was victor is not now remembered after a lapse of more than twenty years. This method of presenting his subjects full grown in the first paragraph is not the usual course of the author. The gentleman whose abilities and career are now to be enlarged upon has been made an exception, because the first idea impressed by his name expands into homage for a mind which never reached the summit of its capability, because it was diverted from the congenial path of forensic glory and made the drudge of a mistaken though generous spirit of accumulation in its latest efforts. For this fault-no less a misfortune to the public than to himself—a very natural excuse may be urged. He set out in life poor and friendless, as will be seen in this memoir; and no doubt his manly sensibilities often bled at the indifference with which portionless young men are received by the world. He then resolved, in the spirit of a hero, to work his way up and stand on a level with the haughty superiors who had slighted his claims to respect and patronage because of his poverty. Having said thus much, the early life of Judge Shorter, his struggles and prosperity, as they occurred, will be shown in a letter which the author received from the late Gen. REUBEN C. SHORTER, his only brother. The grave invests such communications with a sanctity which in the present case forbids abridgment, though it was not intended for publication, and part of it was no doubt confidential, especially where the general speaks of his own. situation and the aid he afforded his brother ELI at the beginning. It is a good letter, and will repay an attentive perusal:— EUFAULA, ALA., 5th September, 1851. DEAR SIR-Your kind favor of the 23d ult. has been received, and I proceed to answer your inquiries relative to my lamented brother, Eli Sims Shorter, as well as I can. When (in December, 1836) he died, I was on the road with my family moving from Monticello, in Georgia, to this place. The numerous letters which I had received from time to time were left, behind when I moved, and fear that they have been destroyed or mislaid. I will inquire for them, and, if I procure any which I think may be of use to you, will forward them with pleasure. I expect to go to the Agricultural Fair at Macon in October, and shall go via Oglethorpe; and, should I be able to collect any information. of importance more than I now communicate, I will take it with me and forward it to you, should I not have the pleasure of seeing you in Macon. My only brother, Eli Sims Shorter, was born in the State of Georgia, and, I think, in 1792, which made him about forty-four or forty-five at the time of his death. I have sent your letter to his son, R. C. Shorter, of Columbus, and requested him and his mother to give you the date of his birth if they can. My brother and myself were left orphans, losing both our parents when he was about five and I about eleven years of age; and neither of us inherited one cent of property. I, being the oldest, got a limited education, by hard work and close study; and, in 1809, I commenced the practice of medicine, having attended lectures in the Medical University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, in the winter of 1808-09, after having read medicine about two years in Washington, Georgia. Being successful in my profession, I was able, and sent my brother to school in 1809, 1810, and part of 1811. The last school to which he went was the Meson Academy in Lexington, Oglethorpe county, where he acquired a good English education and read the common Latin books, but knew nothing of the Greek language. In 1811, he quit school and commenced reading law in my medical office in Monticello. I purchased him the necessary books to read, and he was directed in his studies by William Cook, Esq., an attorney of that place. Being fully sensible of the necessity of close and persevering study, he lost no time in idleness; and, possessing uncommon powers of mind, he progressed so rapidly in his studies that in February, 1812,-about seven months after he commenced reading law,—he was admitted to practise law by the court held at that time in Monticello. In the latter part of the same month he removed to Dublin, Laurens county. By his energy and talents he very soon succeeded in getting a lucrative practice; and, when he removed to Eatonton, his qualifications and his success in his profession secured him a good practice throughout his circuit. I am not certain when he moved to Eatonton; but that information you can procure from Dr. Joel Branham and William Turner, Esq., of that place, to whom I recommend you to forward your circular, and they will, I hope, give you valuable information; and they can inform you when he was first elected to the Legislature. He married Miss Sophia H. Watkins, of Elbert county, (a sister of Mrs. Stephen W. Harris,) in June, 1817. After he had been living in Eatonton a few years, there was a great pressure in monetary matters, and numerous suits were commenced for the collection of money; and I recollect receiving a letter from my brother at the close of return-day to the court, in which he stated that within the last month he had brought about four hundred and twenty cases to the next court in Putnam county, in which his fees would be worth more than seven thousand dollars,-tax-fees not included; and at that time the attorney's tax-fee was four dollars in each case. He closed that letter by saying, "May I have a long life of such months!" Should I find that letter, I will forward it to you. I would advise you to write to Rev. L. Pierce, Dr. Thos. Hoxey, and H. S. Smith, Esq., of Columbus, and send them your printed notice, and I hope they will give you valuable information, &c. Should I see you on my visit to Macon the last of next month, it will give me great pleasure to have a free and private conversation with you, in which I could give you some important information relative to the benevolence and goodness of heart which my dear brother possessed, (which I have not time to write,) from which you would collect particulars to further your object. I am now in my sixty-seventh year of age; and I am sensible that in writing I am, like most other old men, too prolix to be interesting,—which error you will please excuse and attribute it to the proper cause. I am not only gratified but rejoiced that you have undertaken to give to the public such a history of distinguished jurists of Georgia as your plan contemplates. My brother was always a warm friend of deserving young men just entering upon the duties and labors of life, in aiding them by his counsels, and money too, if needed. Many distinguished men now in Georgia remember my brother with gratitude. If you have not written Judge Warner, please do so; he will be able to give you much relative to my brother. Wishing you happiness and prosperity in all your efforts, I am, very sincerely, your obedient servant, REUBEN C. SHORTER, Sr. The fortunes of Judge Shorter are now upward,—more than eight thousand dollars in fees at one term of the court, as will appear by the foregoing letter, adding the amount of tax-fees, and perhaps half that sum for many years together at his own door, besides his circuit-practice. Such prosperity was enhanced by his success in political life about the same period, as a Representative in the Legislature from Putnam county,-a post he continued to occupy just so long as it suited him. In 1822, he was elected Judge of the Superior Courts of the Flint circuit, and presided at the first term ever held in the city of Macon, in March, 1823.* In 1825, he was succeeded by Judge McDonald. Judge Shorter resumed the practice of the law with his former success, and visited new courts, even as far south as Pulaski county. His partner was the late Charles P. Gordon, with whom he continued probably until his removal to Columbus, where the judge found ample scope for his financial abilities as the first President of the Farmers' Bank of Chattahoochee. About this time the Indian reserves of land in East Alabama excited speculation, and several companies were formed by men of capital to buy up those rights extensively. Judge Shorter was in the movement, and acted a leading part. Some of his letters on the subject, urging his agents to activity, were afterward published by his enemies, who became such, probably, from his having occupied the field to their exclusion or in some way interfered with their plans. Or it may be more just to say that the letters were laid before the public by connivance of agents who had been directed by the United States Government to protect the Indians from imposition and fraud. At all events, some incautious and, it must be confessed, some very imprudent expressions were used, which were turned against Judge Shorter and made him appear as boldly unscrupulous in his efforts to obtain land from the Indians.† He bought largely,-probably invested fifty thousand dollars, more or less: the precise sum is not ma * White's Historical Collections, p. 272. This matter was referred to by Gen. Cass in the U. S. Senate, May 19, 1852. See Appendix to Congressional Globe, vol. xxv. p. 596. |