NEWS ITEMS

The July Quarterly announced an additional gift of $5,000
to the University of Texas by Major George W. Littlefield for
the purchase of material on southern history. By rare good for-
tune the University was able during the summer to buy a file of
Charleston, South Carolina, newspapers, almost complete from
1799 to 1910. The Dallas News of September 16, 1916, pub-
lishes a letter from Professor Robert Adger Law which discusses
the importance of these papers. It is quoted below:

"The recent acquisition by the library of the University of
Texas of certain files of Charleston (S. C.) newspapers, running
from 1799 to 1910, is a significant event. These are the City
Gazette, the Charleston Times, the Courier, and the News and
Courier. Historically, they cover the whole period from the death
of Washington, through the War of 1812, Mexican War, the War
between the States, the abolition of slavery, reconstruction, the
Spanish-American War, almost down to the Wilson administra-
tion. The city of Charleston played an important part in many
of these periods. It was there that John C. Calhoun lived, and
there he is now buried. From Charleston came a number of
soldiers who distinguished themselves in the Mexican War. In
Charleston began the War of Secession with the attack on Fort
Sumter; in that city the evils of reconstruction were felt at their
worst, and Charleston is today one of the most unique cities, of
America. The whole background is fully reflected from year to
year in the files of these newspapers.

"The Courier, especially, from its very foundation, was an ex-
cellent newspaper of the conservative type. Its history began in
1803, and the files purchased by the University of Texas are in a
good state of preservation and are practically complete for more
than a century. To read the early numbers gives one a curious
impression of the present day combined with the past. For the
Napoleonic wars then stirred Europe and America, as well. Daily
war bulletins occupied a prominent place in the Courier's news
columns, while its editorial page showed strong sympathy with the
British cause. President Jefferson and his Cabinet were accused
of undue favoritism toward the French, and the Courier strongly
condemned the policies advocated by three Virginians--Jefferson,
Monroe, and Madison. Later on came the famous nullification
controversy, in which South Carolina was ready to defy President
Andrew Jackson, supposedly a native of that State. The entire
contest over slavery was most bitter in Charleston, and the con-
vention by which South Carolina seceded from the Union was
held in the same city. Not a few battles in the years that fol-
lowed took place in and around Charleston harbor, and there in
1899 was held one of the most notable Confederate reunions, in
which Generals John B. Gordon and Joe Wheeler were the most
prominent figures.

"These newspapers, which have been collected for over a hun-
dred years by the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, were sold at
auction this summer. Among the bidders were several of the most
important libraries of the country, and it is understood that the
University of Texas only slightly outbid others by paying almost
five thousand dollars for the collection. That she was able to do
so is directly due to the generosity of Major George W. Littlefield
of Austin, who not only established the Littlefield History Fund
for the purchase of such material, but made a large addition to it
for this particular object.

It is easy to foresee that this valuable collection of news-
papers—probably unique outside of Charleston—will attract num-
bers of special students to Texas. It is also easy to forecast that
the acquisition of them will come as one more step in the building
of the long-promised 'university of the first class.'"

Mrs. Lucy A. Kidd-Key, for nearly thirty years president of
the North Texas Female College, Sherman, died at Sherman,
September 13, 1916.

Judge Leroy G. Denman, associate justice of the Supreme Court
of Texas, 1894-1899, died at San Antonio, September 14, 1916.

Ralph J. Smith, author of Reminiscences of the Civil War and
other Sketches (see Quarterly, XV, 90), died at San Marcos,
April 17, 1913.

William D. Williams, member of the Railroad Commission of
Texas, died at Austin, October 1, 1916.

A monument in honor of General H. B. Granbury was unveiled
at Granbury, Texas, September 14, 1916. It was erected by the
Daughters of the Confederacy, and stands on the courthouse
square.

Mrs. A. J. Hamilton, widow of Ex-governor Hamilton, died at
her home in Austin, April 25, 1916. Mrs. Hamilton was born in
Georgia in 1828; was married September 3, 1843, in Alabama;
came to Texas in 1846, residing first at La Grange, and since the
spring of 1849 at Austin.

On August 10, 1916, Mrs. W. A. Callaway, for many years on
the staff of the Dallas News, died at Dallas. "Mrs. Callaway
has been active in social betterment work in this State for twenty-
five years. Her time, her pen and her brain have ever been ready
to further the efforts of those who have strived to make the world
a better place in which to live."

Davis Foute Eagleton, for many years a professor in Austin
College, Sherman, and compiler and editor of Writers and Writ -
ings of Texas, died June 9, 1916.

Jonathan Lane, a prominent lawyer of the Houston bar, died
May 27, 1916. A sketch of him appears in Who's Who in America,
191 4-1915:

William Williston Heartsill, author and printer of that odd
little volume, Fourteen Hundred and 91 Days in the Confederate

Army . . . Or Camp Life, Day by Day, of the W. P. Lane
Rangers, died at Waco, July 27, 1916.

George Douglas Neal, lieutenant-governor of Texas, 1903-1907,
died at his home in Navasota, July 13, 1916. A sketch of Lieu-
tenant-Governor Neal appears in Raines' Year Book for Texas, II,
188-89.

Cecil A. Lyon, for eighteen years member of the Republican
State executive committee, brigadier general of the Texas National
Guard, and receiver of the International & Great Northern Rail-
way, died at Sherman, April 4, 1916. A sketch of General Lyon
appears in Who's Who in America, 1914-1915.

Mrs. Catherine Allien-Hooker died at Houston, June 30, 1916.
She was the daughter of Imanuel Frederick Gibenrath, the Ger-
man drummer at Goliad (The Quarterly, XIV, 166-68).

John S. Patterson, Commissioner of Insurance and Banking,
was shot August 27, 1916, at Teague, Texas, and died two days
later at Waco.

How to cite:
"News Items", Volume 20, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v020/n2/group_DIVL3285.html
[Accessed Mon Nov 23 19:54:27 CST 2009]