Tallichet, Jules Henri (1877–1937)

Jules Henri Tallichet, railroad lawyer, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 20, 1877, the son of Henri René Lucien and Virginia (McAlester) Tallichet. In 1884 he moved with his family to Austin. His father was a professor of languages at the University of Texas, where Tallichet received his LL.B. in 1900 and his LL.M. in 1901. In 1900 he joined the law office of Sam R. Fisher in Austin, where he served as trial attorney for the Southern Pacific in Austin and in West Texas. Contrary to friends' expectations, he showed a natural affinity for trial work and developed a reputation as an aggressive trial lawyer. In 1909 Tallichet moved to Houston and joined the law firm of Baker and Botts, where he continued to represent the Southern Pacific lines; he became general attorney for the railroad in 1912 and general counsel in 1927. Tallichet was a founder and president of the General Attorneys Association of Texas, an organization of railroad lawyers. He served as a director of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson, the Texas and New Orleans, the Houston and Texas Central, and the Houston East and West Texas railroads. He also served as president of the Public National Bank and Trust Company of Houston from January 1926 to July 1929. Tallichet's pastimes included ornithology, hunting, yachting, early Texas history, and firearms. As a student at the University of Texas he was reported to have roamed the campus late at night with a large six-shooter, which he would pull and fire in imaginary gun battles. He regularly attended the national yacht races off Rhode Island. He was a member of the Houston Club, the Houston Country Club, and the Houston Yacht Club, of which he was chosen commodore in 1935. Tallichet was a Mason, a Democrat, and a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He married Agnes Estelle Montelin of Austin on September 22, 1904. They had three daughters and a son. Tallichet died of a stroke at his home in Houston on November 24, 1937, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin. At the time of his death he was a partner in the firm of Baker, Botts, Andrews and Wharton and was called the "dean of Texas railroad lawyers."