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AT JUSTICE'S SHRINE
PLEADS THE LAWYER
Men Who Champion Ihe Laws and Statutes.
The Law Makers, Legal Lights and
Officials of Floyd County.
Who They Are and What They
Are Doing.
Men Whose Vim, Ability, Energy and
Integrity Have Made the City
Famous Throughout the State.
THE OLD AND YOUNG, ONE AND ALL
Factors In the City’s and County’s
Advancement—The Citizens
Who Fought for the Good
Os the Community.
The progress and advancement of a
state is by the character of its
bar. From its ranks more frequently
than from any other profession are
selected the men who fill the highest
stations in the service of the country.
The legal profession has existed in
same shape since government was
first established, and will endure as
long as laws are obeyed and justice
administered, Its members spring
from uo privileged ela 9 *, but from
Ji
JUNIUS F. HILL YER.
the people whose aims and aspira
tions they share. They have led in
almost every struggle for freedom and
the advancement of mankind, and to
the American lawyers the people are
largely indebted for the blessings of
liberty they now enjoy. It is a mis
take to suppose that life of a lawyer
is one of ease. True, the profession
of law f xacts no great physical labor,
but the law is a jealous master and
brooks no rivals. He who would win
its honors and emoluments must
epend his days and nights in un-
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JUDGE JOEL BRANFAM.
ceasing toil. The law is a progressive
science, and with the increase of
population and the advancement of
the industrial, commercial and me
chanical arts, and the amazing
growth of the corporations, a multi
plicity of new and important ques
tions are suggested, the determina
tion of which requires the highest
•rder of legal talent and constant in
vestigation.
A vast amount of the adjudged oases
constantly being printed by the press
in the form of reports and treatises,in
the increasing variety of important
subjects created by the growth of
modern civilization, must be examined
if the lawyer would keep abreast with
the times and be equipped for the
legal battles constantly being fought
He must know not merely the law
which the legislatures enact, not the
constitutional and statute laws alone,
but that ampler and boundless juris
diction, the common law brought by
the pilgrims and early settlers from
the mother country, and enriched, en
larged and ameliorated by successive
generations and adopted to meet the
wants of a progressive civilization.
Where can th s law be found? In vol
umes—you count them by' the hun
dreds, by the tnousands, filling vast
libraries- exacting long labor, con
stant research; the labor of a life
time. In early days the lawyeis rode
the circuit. There were giants in those
days, yet they carried their libraries
with them in their saddlebags. Books
were few and they were compelled to
rely not on precedent so much as on
principle The South, being an agri
cultural section, the principle objects
of legislation were lands and negroes.
Corporation law was in its infancy,
and the lawyer of anti belluin days
did not have to grapple with a great
variety of new and perplexing legal
problem*; yet the bar was crowued
with the highest order of talent, and
especially was the bar of Floyd county
ever distinguished for the ability and
character of its members.
At the Floyd county bar have
practised some of the most eminent
lawyers, men who have adorned the
history of the state and whose names
are household words. To the profes
sion of law are committed some of the
most important interests of the state,
its member re-iuforce the judiciary,
counsel the executive and furnish the
most capable members of the legisla
tive department of the state and fed
era' government. They defend the
weak, they humble the proud, they
defeat and frustrate dark deeds, they
deliver/’t.he poor that cry,” and the
fatherless, and he who hath none to
help him, they break the jaws of the
THE ROME TRIBUNE, SOUVENIR AND TRADE EDITION.
wicked and pluck the spoils out of
their teeth.
in the language of a great English
jurist, as long hb the profession re
tains its character for learning, the
rights of mankind wilt be ai-
R. A. DENNY.
ranged, and as long as it retains its
character for virtuous boldness, these
rights will be defended.
The bar o’ Floyd is an able one. and
its individual members are endowed
with a generous feeling toward each
other, and it may be said in truth, that
there are few, if any jealousies, but an
earnest desire upon the p irt of every
member to uphold the ho .or anl integ
rity • f the legal profesion.
One noticeable thing about the pro
session in Georgia, is that it takes brains
and energy to gc to the front, family
name or social distinction does not give
prestige to an unworthy member. Tne
race belongs to the swift, and" it cannot
be said in this connection, that—
’•Audacious igioran -e. s'a'ka by with proud
and pou. 1 ous pac .
While high-born genius dallies the Jl' w iest
in rhe race ”
But the men of great ability are always
found in the front ranks.
Here, as elsewhere, the lawyers reflect
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HON. JOHN W. MADDOX.
in their most advanced form the genius, '
growth aud greatness of the country’s
prosperity ard the stability of the local
and state government.
The members who constitute the bar
of Floyd, are far and widely known for
their good citizenship. Some are mark
ed by the “sere and yellow leaf of age;”
others young, and full of life and am
bition, are ready to walk in the foot
prints of those who so honorably adorn
a profession in history.
Judge Junius F, Hillyer,
There is no profession more facina
tiug than the law: its successful pur
suit demands special fitness and
adapability. The subject of this
sketch, Judge Junius F. Hillyer is a
lawyer by nature and training, and is
one of Rome’s leading and most in
fluential citizens.
Judge Junius F. Hillyer is a native
of Green county, Georgia. At an
early age he removed to Floyd, and
has for many- years been identified
with its development and growth.
After receiving the rudiments of an
education, he attended the Mercer
university, Macon, Georgia. He
studied law under Judge John T.
Clark of Cuthbert, Ga., and was ad
mitted to the bar in 1875. Judge
Hillyer began the practice of his pro
fession in Rome over twenty years
ago, and has won more than ordinary
distinction. In 1883, Judge Hillyer
was appointed judge of the county
court of Floyd county by the gover
nor of the state, which office he held
until that court was superceded by the
City court a few months later. Sub
sequently he was twice elected by the
mayor aud council city attorney of
Borne.
JudgeJHillyer has been connected
withanumber of noted cases' tried
before the courts of this section, and
whs for seven or eight years attorney
for the Rome railway,and as such was
identified with all litigation of the
road.
i As a lawyer he is a man of the high
I eat integrity, a careful student honest
■ and diligent. Personally he is a man
of fine traits, pleasant in manneisand
easy of approach. His genial nature
renders him a favorite in the circle in
which he moves, and being_yet in the
prime of life, there is bes >re him a
prospective career of still greater use
fulness and distinction.
Judge Joel Branham.
Judge Joel Branham needs no ex
tended mention in these columns; his
life, his attainments, his success have
been many times extolled, yet ano
lice of those who constitute the bar
w< uld indeed be incomplete wtfli< ut
some mention of the genial, pleasant
judge for he is one of the ablest and
most successful lawyers practicingrt
the Rome bar, and one, too, who bus
risen to the highest rank as a prac
titioner. By nature and training he
is a refined gentleman, a sound busi
ness man, a ripe scholar, an elegant
speaker, ai d one of the best educated
and learned of the distinguished at
torneys of this city.
In polities Judge Branham is an
uncompromising democrat and an
earnest and faithful worker for that
party.
For six years he was solicitor gen
eral of the Macon circuit resigning
that office in 1866 to remove to R ime.
During his career here, Judge Bran
ham has served as judge of the stipe
rior court, and as such won the re
spect of the bar and admiration of the
people, and a member of the city
council, an honor altogether unso
licited, but accepted through un
selfish desire to contribute to the wel
fare of the municipality. He is now
a member of the public school board
of education.
As a citizen he ranks with the most
progressive. No enterprise that had
for its object the material advance
ment of the city has ever failed of his
support. He is a man of and for Borne
first, lait and always. It is more of his
kind that Rome needs and must have
before the fullness of its success can
be realized.
Some months ago when there was
a vacancy on the supreme court bench
to be filled, his friends here and all
over Georgia urged him to enter the
race. He did so, and though not
elected, his vote was such as to show
his great personal popularity through
out the state.
Hon, Richard Denny.
No practitioner in the state enjoys to
a greater degree the confidence and re
spect of the bar at large, or a larger and
more lucrative practice than H“n. Rich
ard A. Denny.
He is a man of more than ordinary
ability, and has long since been classed
as one of the most noted lawyers of
Georgia. Personally, Mr. Denny is
modest and unobstrusive, almost to a
fault, yet firm and unyielding when he
has arrived at a decision.
Hou. Richard A. Denny was born in
Talbot county, Md., January loth 1856.
He was principally educated at York,
Pa., where at the age of seventeen, he
began the study of law. In 1874, he re
moved to Rome and completed his law
studies under Alexander & Wright. The
following year, Mr. Denny was admit
ted to the bar and immediately engaged
in the praoti.e of his chosen profession.
Nine years later he formed a partner
ship with Hon, John H. Reece under
the firm name of Reece & Denny, which
partnership still continues.
Mr. Denny was elected to the
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HON. A. 8. CLAY.
general assembly from this county in
1886 and as a member of that body
took a leading part in many of the
noted events of that day, among
which was the “Denny bill,” one «f
the most imporant laws passed du
ring the term and which is now a part
of the common school law known as
the Denny law, a law under which
the schools of the state are now con
ducted, and under’which many sweep
ing changes were made.
He has also served in the capacity of
aiderman and city attorney of Rome,
and at present is a member of the city
council, and chairman of the ordinance
and police committees, and a member of
a number of other important commit
tees of that body.
As a lbWyer, Mr. Denny stands in the
front ranks, and enjoys a clientele that
must be gratifying, not only to himself,
but his many older friends, who have
seen him bud into manhood and grow
up as the city advanced in w. alth and
population.
Hon. John W Maddox-
Success is like a pyramid; broad at
the base as the thronging that
crowd it; towering upwards its poidt
narrows; scattered along its sides are
the men who have achieved something
more than the usual prominence in the
world of affairs. At the top are the
few men who'have grandly succeeded,
their forms lit up by the sunshine of
merited fame. Among those who have
achieved a place in the history of Rome
is the gentleman whose name heads
this article, one of the most successful
public men of North Georgia and the
present congressman from the Seventh
Congressional district. He has been a
man of public affairs for years, serv
ing his country as a soldier boy, subse
quantly a noted lawyer, legislator, ju
rist, and finally as a congressman.
Hon. John W. Maddox is probably
one of the best known men in the South
that Georgia has produced. He was
born in Chattooga county, Ga., June 3,
1848, in which county he was also reared
and educated. In 1863, when but little
over fifteen years old, he enlisted in the
Sixth Georgia cavalry, and from that
time was in continuous, active, and of
tentimes hazardous duty, until Febru
ary, 1865, when he was severely wound
ed at Aikin, S. C. His career as a sol
diet of the Confederacy waa clean and
above reproach, and it is his pride ><nd
pleasure today to ihingle among the
camp fires of his old comrades in arms.
Judge Maddox first Saw active setvice
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HON. SEABORN WRIGHT.
i at Chickamauga, subsequently at Knox-
I ville, the battle of Resacca, and in th»
obstinately fonght campaign thence to
Atlanta, and la the battles of July 19
and 22, 1864 at Atlanta. He was next
with his command in the famons raid
of'the army through Georgia, Alabama
aid Tennesssee, a regular three months,,
series of fights. His command was
then employed in rovering Hood’s,
retreat from Dalton, Geoogia.
to Gadsden, Ala. After that he was in
the engagement at Griffin, Ga„ and
thence in front or on the flanks of the
Federal army in Georgia and South
Carolina un’il wounded at Aikin.
I
W' irlQr nlffßT
J. B- HOSKINSON.
— UACrfef 1.-.. .J ——
In November, 1864,he was wounded in
the face while on the' skirmish line at
Turkeytown. / From Aiken he was
sent to the hospital at Augusta, and
later to Madison, Ga. 'On his restora
tion to health he returned to his homo
in Chattooga county, and for three
years followed farming.
His career was somewhat varied until
1875, during which time he followed
various vocations for a livelihood. That
year, he commenced the study of law at
Summerville and completed his studies
in 1877. As a lawyer his career was one
of success from the start. During his
r isidence in Chattooga county he served
as mayor of Summerville, county com
missicner, and represented the county
for several terms in the general assem
bly and in 1884 was elected to represent
the forty-second senatorial district in
that body.
In November, 1886 he was elected
judge of Ro ne judicial circuit and in
1890 was re-elected at which time he re
moved to Rome. In 1892 when the dem-