"Walter Murphy: Solon of Salisbury" by Robert C. Lawrence, from Here In Carolina, published in 1939
Few people have ever heard of Walter Murphy, but all Carolina--from the fishermen on the coast, the field hands on the farm, the section gang on the railroad, the thousands in the factories, the Cherokees on their reservation in the high mountains of Swain--is intimately acquainted with the gentleman affectionately known as Pete Murphy. In reality the two names designate the same individual--Walter being only the alias which he uses on occasion when he wishes to travel incognito.
He hails from our county of Rowan, so prolific in its politicians, so satisfying in the quality of its statesmen. Among her illustrious solons may be noted Congressmen Nathaniel Boyden, Archibald Henderson, Charles Fisher, Burton Craige, John S. Henderson and United States Senator Lee S. Overman. From her soil sprang John W. Ellis, governor when the roar of the Confederate batteries at Charleston ushered in the Civil War, and who wires President Lincoln: "You can get no troops from North Carolina." His nomination so embittered editor William W. Holden that he left the Democratic Party and became in time the Republican Governor of our State in the days which followed that war.
And Rowan has been productive of great lawyers. Judge Spruce McCay had as a student one Andrew Jackson, but dismissed him as a rowdy, cock-fighting profligate; whereupon his legal education was completed under Judge John Stokes, the first Federal judge for North Carolina, whose sister was the great grandmother of our Pete, and whose brother was Montford Stokes, Governor and later United States Senator. Many other illustrious lawyers passed all or substantial parts of their careers in Salisbury, such as William R. Davie, father of the University; Richard M. Pearson, chief justice, 42 years on the Supreme Court bench; Burton Craige Sr., who moved adoption of the Ordinance of Secession in 1861; Hamilton C. Jones, court reporter, father of H.C. Jones of Charlotte; Kerr Craige; Charles Price, and many others.
"Thar's gold in them thar hills," too, for at Gold Hill in southern Rowan are mines that produced the yellow metal long prior to its discovery in California. But when Rowan wishes to exhibit her largest nugget, she sends our Pete down to Raleigh, and she does so with recurrent regularity. And when the seventh grade from Pink Hill visits the house and is accorded the courtesies of the floor (as is usual), the first inquiry the children make is: which one is Pete Murphy?
At the University he majored in football, minored in law, got a degree in 1894, and it was not an accident that his first vote was cast for Cleveland, for I would define him as a Cleveland Democrat, with all the rugged strength and devotion to duty which characterized that premier of American presidents. Since 1894 he has enjoyed an extensive practice at the Bar--for he really does practice in his spare time--but he really feels at home only in Raleigh, and unless he is within her gates Raleigh feels there is something lacking. He took time out to stay in Washington during Wilson's administration, where he was assistant to Col. W.H. Osborn, Commissioner of Internal Revenue; and during the present administration he helped install the Federal Deposit Insurance system in Southern banks. But his best service has been legislative.
Two men top legislative veterans in Carolina: Governor Rufus A. Doughton and Mr. Murphy. Rowan has sent him to the House 15 terms, and he is young yet for his legislative career only began in 1897. his outstanding ability, his popularity with his fellow solons, his vast store of legislative knowledge, twice placed him in the Speaker's chair. Here again he was only following political traditions in Rowan, which also furnished Speakers in David F. Caldwell, Nathan Fleming and Lee S. Overman; and gave two Speakers to the Senate in John Steele and Charles Fisher.
As Governor Doughton has retired from the legislative field, Mr. Murphy reigns supreme as the acknowledged authority on all things pertaining to legislation. They tell me that Henry M. London is quite a capable Legislative Reference Librarian, but at time he does have to refer to his books, whereas our Pete can supply the information right out of his head. He can tell right off the bat who introduced the Revenue Act in 1925, what its eighth section contained, who introduced the 6 per cent interest bill in 1885, who fathered the Railroad Commission, who was member from Tyrrell in 1893--and he can quote the words with which Aycock opened his great inaugural.
The thing which has singularized his political career is his absolute independence of thought and action. He never straddles, sidesteps or hairsplits. He is on one side of the fence or the other; he never sits on top waiting to see which way the cat will jump. If, mayhap, he does not like Ma Perkins, or does not believe in the principles of the C.I.O., he comes right out and says so. And he believes that even a young Republican member should be allowed to represent the county that sent him to Raleigh And lots of people admire him for just this high quality of courage, for they know just where to place him and that once placed he will stand without hitching.
In his very first term in 1897, he led the fight in behalf of ratification of the lease to the Southern of the North Carolina Railroad. He can lead a minority cause with gallantry as he did the contest for repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment; or a more popular cause such as increased appropriations for the University. And he can write orations equal to those of Cicero or Henry W. Grady, and when I knew him back in the old days he could speak them too--with all the fire and fervor of that greatest of Southern orators.
The institution nearest his heart, the real core of his being, is the University of North Carolina, and he comes by this trait through inheritance, for his forebear, Alexander Long, graduated there as early as 1811. He has rendered his alma mater a wide variety of service, having been Secretary of its Alumni Association, founder of its Alumni Review, a member of its Board of Trustees since 1901, and its executive committee cannot hold a meeting unless he is present. Judge Francis D. Winston, sage of Bertie, is his only rival in the affections of the University; and when President Graham hears that Murphy is coming back to Raleigh, he breathes a sign of relief, for he knows there is one man on whom he can count for support for an enlarged program of expansion.
His avocation is North Carolina history of which he knows more than any other man now living. Did you inquire the name of the attractive lady across the street? He tells you instantly that she is the granddaughter of the third cousin--once removed--of Governor Abner Nash. He can tell you why the Confederacy located a Navy Yard in Charlotte, and I have heard that he can repeat the text of Colonel Kirkpatrick's introduction of President Wilson. He can give you the real name of the "railroad feller" who was Judge Walter Clark's friend up in Yancey; and who is in training as the next Governor from Cleveland. He is the only person, now alive, who knows whether Andrew Jackson was born in North Carolina.
He is a man of great personal charm and magnetism and numbers his friends by the thousands from the mountains to the sea. In fact were I asked who is the most popular of our citizens, I would hesitate long before putting another name ahead of his. But I shall not allow him to have history all to himself. Do you know why he selected Salisbury as his habitation? It is because that word is of Anglo-Saxon derivation and means--dry town!
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