267:. In March 1870, he resigned from his mayoral duties to become District Attorney of the Third Judicial District. The following month, he spoke at a meeting of the Republican Party for the Seventeenth Senatorial District of Texas at which the party members “hail with joy the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment” of the United States and that rejoining the Union “meets our cordial approval.” At this same meeting, he was elected Chair of a committee for the Seventeenth Senatorial District. The day after this selection, he again showed his other side, violently taking his cane to fellow Radical and State House Representative Charles W. Gardiner, “because Gardiner had been `shooting off his mouth' about Thurmond’s affairs.”
325:, W. C. Holland, E. C. McClure, and Thurmond. He served with the following aldermen: (Ward 1) John B. Stone, J. F. Caldwell; (Ward 2) L. F. Bohny and J.S. Ballard; (Ward 3) W. K. Wheelock and J. S. Witwer; and (Ward 4) C. E. Keller and W. R. McEntire. Wanting to further Dallas’ reputation as a safe, profitable, and well-maintained city, the Council passed ordinances related to public health, drunkenness, gaming, vagrancy, assault and battery, and disturbing the peace. Other ordinances of this council included building and maintaining both sidewalks and the water and gas supply.
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between the two men since 1880. The cause of this final altercation was not known, but it was possibly related to both the mayoral investigation and
Thurmond’s belief that Cowart had slandered Thurmond’s name. Thurmond produced a weapon first, but Cowart shot first and killed Thurmond. Immediately arrested then bailed for $ 200, Cowart was convicted of murder and sentenced to seven years in prison. Upon appeal, he was acquitted with self-defense noted as the reason for the shooting
344:, Zimri Hunt, and E. M. Tillman delivered the findings of their investigation to the other aldermen. Mayor Thurmond opened the meeting then retired from the chamber as he was “the object of the charges.” The committee declared it found no solid evidence of a bribery attempt relating to the horse; nonetheless, it judged Thurmond to be undignified in his disparaging comments while in court and refused to support Thurmond’s statements about the gambling fine.
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discovered near
Richardson, Texas, with the buyer showing receipts for the forty-five-dollar sale of the horse. Thurmond refunded the money when the horse was delivered to its proper owner in Wise County. At issue, however, was not only Thurmond’s unwillingness to provide Smith with the name of the buyer but also Thurmond’s offer of ten dollars to Smith if the matter was dropped. Smith and others felt this money was offered as a bribe.
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him, whereupon
Thurmond agreed to deposit, and did deposit, in the hands of Senator Hall, an unconditional written resignation which was to be delivered to the Governor by Senator Hall whenever his Excellency, becoming satisfied that Thurmond lacked the integrity necessary to fill a high judicial position, saw proper to demand it.
329:
Thurmond defended a man named
Goldsby who was accused of using vulgar language in a saloon. During the trial, Thurmond allegedly made defamatory statements about the Dallas police force, commenting that the officers must be acting in concert with the saloon’s owner and stepping aside as illegal activities occurred.
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in Dallas, Texas, was a man of many sides, as multiple newspapers, books, and first-hand accounts described him. Called a carpet-bagger, a “true and unswerving
Republican”, a loyal friend, a convicted liar, an honorable man, a scoundrel, and “a brilliant fellow . . . but a bulldozer, reckless in the
328:
At the time of his mayoralty, the city elected a new mayor every year, and he was re-elected in April 1880. The second term was fraught with difficulties, and in July, the aldermen of the city voted to remove him from office over three abuse-of-power charges. The first charge was that, while mayor,
347:
Alderman Hunt moved to accept the report with no action. Alderman
Tillman then proclaimed the Council’s “entire want of confidence” in Thurmond and declared the position vacant, citing the body’s prerogative to do so via Section 19 of the City Charter, which states that the City Council “shall have
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About the time of the appointment of Judge
Thurmond to the Thirty-first District, certain charges affecting his integrity had been made to the Governor, and, although these charges were denied and explained in writing by Thurmond, a doubt existed with the Governor as to the propriety of appointing
243:
in the Utah
Territory and opened a law practice in the Oriental Hotel. Once settled, he filed a lawsuit against Jeremiah M. Fox, a leader of the Vigilante Committee, alleging that, because of Fox, Thurmond sustained loss of property, health, earnings, and respect in the Idaho Territory. The suit
231:
Regardless of any military activity, in 1863, Thurmond moved to the Idaho
Territory and set up a law practice in Virginia City (now part of Montana). During the December 1864 trial for the first stage robbery in Idaho Territory, Thurmond was part of the defense counsel for George Ives, one of the
332:
Secondly, Thurmond was said to have received a horse in lieu of a fee while also knowing that the horse was stolen. When
Officer W. H. Smith confronted Thurmond with the information on the horse, the mayor declared he had already sold the animal and refused to identify the buyer. The horse was
278:
Governor Davis, uncertain as to the legal vacancy of Thurmond’s Thirty-first District, requested that the Senate Judicial committee investigate. This committee reported to Governor Davis that Thurmond’s words related to the purpose of the resignation letter rang false. Their report states that
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Outside his law practice, Thurmond participated in the first established Masonic lodge meeting, which occurred on November 11, 1865. They elected officers and began the steps for securing a Masonic charter in Utah. The minutes show Thurmond as being chosen as secretary. This lodge ultimately
359:
After the election, he did not pursue those allegations and continued his general law practice. On March 14, 1882, Thurmond died in a Dallas courtroom at the hand of lawyer Robert E. Cowart. Cowart was one of the prosecutors in charge of forcing him out of City Hall, and bad blood had existed
274:
Thurmond, however, denied the existence of such a document in a letter to Davis which was publicly read on the Senate floor in February 1871. Thurmond claimed that he had authored an undated resignation letter for his appointment as judge of the Thirty-First District expecting that it would be
336:
Finally, the mayor was accused of fining gamblers only one dollar for gaming when the city ordinance stated that ten dollars was the amount of the fine. Thurmond pled ignorance about knowing the amount; however, as the gaming ordinance was enacted by him, the investigators met his claim with
227:
Little is known of Thurmond’s childhood or formal education; he grew up on his parents’ farm and was one of ten children. And while no confirmable record of Civil War service, for either side, is available, his father owned enslaved people, and his brother Israel Snead Thurmond was in the
232:
men guilty of the crime. The Vigilante Committee of Virginia City, the ersatz law enforcement of the area, took umbrage against Thurmond for his representation of Ives. After the trial, the Committee hanged Ives then banished Thurmond from the Territory.
318:, Thurmond defended the accused men. In his three-hour closing argument, Thurmond disparaged the local press for alleged biased reporting, and though the defendants were judged guilty, the public still praised Thurmond for his command of the case.
270:
Soon after, as judge for the Thirty-first District, Thurmond ran afoul of Governor Davis. Davis allegedly possessed a signed resignation letter from Thurmond that Davis could date and officially accept at his (the governor’s) pleasure.
223:
James Madison Thurmond was born February 22, 1836, in Daviess County, Kentucky, to Philip Thurmond and Rebecca Ann Snead. He married Amanda J. Bentley on February 14, 1880, in Dallas, Texas. They had one son, James M. Thurmond Jr.
355:
was elected. During the brief campaign period, Thurmond asserted that not only had official papers been forged against him but also that without the input of the citizenry, he had been unconstitutionally removed from office.
275:
exchanged for a nomination and confirmation to a new district. Thurmond stated that he gave the resignation to Texas Senator Phidello W. Hall and requested that Hall give the document to the governor at the appropriate time.
251:
On a less positive note, while no one was harmed, in October 1868, Thurmond found himself in a knife- and pistol-involved argument that would replay itself similarly in Texas on more than one occasion.
236:
reported, “The Vigilantes were highly incensed and notified him to quit the country within fifteen minutes. Thurmond replied that if his mule wouldn’t buck, he didn’t want but five!”
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Resuming his law practice, Thurmond was a well-known attorney, willing to take up high-profile cases. In the 1874 trial of the lynching of Reuben “Rube” Johnson,
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758:
288:
The charges against Thurmond’s integrity were unnamed, and the episode ultimately resulted in Thurmond’s removal from the judgeship.
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extreme” who had nothing “in the nature of what the world calls moral principles,” Thurmond made an impact wherever he called home.
441:
Vigilante Days and Ways: The Pioneers of the Rockies - The Makers and Making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.
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1033:
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299:, its first issue coming out on January 1, 1872. His proprietorship came to a quick end; a mere five months later, the
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119:
1083:
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767:
883:
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57:
427:
1043:
778:
322:
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978:
783:
567:. "Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, at Bryan, Texas, April 15th 1870." April 19, 1870: 2.
341:
730:"Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, at Bryan, Texas, April 15th 1870." April 19, 1870: 2.
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Dallas held an election for a new mayor only weeks later. Thurmond ran for this election, but
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power to remove any officer . . . for any neglect, misdemeanor or malfeasance in office.”
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appointed Thurmond, an avowed republican, both mayor of Bryan, Texas, and county judge of
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207:(February 22, 1836 – March 14, 1882), was an American attorney who served as mayor of
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In the council chambers on July 16, 1880, in front of a large crowd, Aldermen
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In April 1879, he was elected mayor from a field of candidates that included
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259:, in early 1869, for unrecorded reasons. In April of that year, Texas
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212:
680:
An Act to Incorporate the City of Dallas in Dallas County, Texas.
428:
http://discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0001-004-0322
740:
590:
Senate Journal of the Twelfth Legislature of the State of Texas
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The State of Texas vs. Marion Dill, William Bell and Elija Rice
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was for $ 10,000, and Thurmond eventually received $ 3214.28.
424:
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Napoleon B. Thurmond, Indictment.
615:
Hangings and Lynchings in Dallas County, Texas 1853 to 1920.
516:
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and that Thurmond was retiring and moving to Dallas.
422:
Crittenden Circuit Court, Commonwealth of Kentucky.
387:. 1850. www.ancestry.com (accessed January 8, 2020).
491:"The Great Vigilance Com. Case." February 15, 1865.
455:. "Salt Lake Correspondence." September 1, 1866: 3.
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127:
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101:
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443:Vol. 1. 2 vols. St Paul: DD Merrill Company, 1893.
654:History of Mayors and City Councils 1866-Present.
398:History of Mayors and City Councils 1866-Present
555:"Military Appointments." February 26, 1870: 6.
752:
8:
641:Dallas Ordinance Book, Volume 1A 1873-1882.
588:Twelfth Legislature of the State of Texas.
543:"Military Appointments." April 17, 1869: 7.
759:
745:
737:
592:. Austin: J. G. Tracy, State Printer, 1871
411:Dallas County Genealogical Society Journal
248:became Mt. Moriah No. 2 F&AM of Utah.
18:
652:City of Dallas, City Secretary's Office.
396:City of Dallas, City Secretary's Office.
694:"Death of Judge Hunt." January 25, 1883.
377:
513:Mt. Moriah Lodge No.2 F&AM of Utah
617:Fort Worth, Texas: Eakin Press, 2016.
400:. Dallas, Texas: City of Dallas, n.d.
7:
667:Council Minute Book No. 3 1879-1882.
628:Council Minute Book No. 3 1879-1882.
503:"Masonic Notice." November 11, 1865.
706:"The Deadly Pistol." March 14, 1882
656:Dallas, Texas: City of Dallas, n.d.
479:"Probate Court." February 22, 1865.
14:
1089:19th-century American politicians
1052:
716:The Salt Lake City Daily Herald.
132:
577:The Galveston Tri-Weekly News.
1:
682:Austin: State of Texas, 1871.
669:Dallas: City of Dallas, 1883.
643:Dallas: City of Dallas, 1883.
630:Dallas: City of Dallas, 1883.
553:Flake's Semi-Weekly Bulletin.
430:(accessed September 2, 2020).
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439:Langford, Nathaniel Pitt.
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774:
602:The Dallas Weekly Herald.
519:(accessed April 4, 2020).
517:http://www.mtmoriah2.org/
385:1850 United States Census
297:The Corsicana Independent
198:
75:
40:
28:
728:The Houston Daily Union.
501:The Daily Union Vedette.
307:name was changed to the
97:Daviess County, Kentucky
565:The Houston Daily Union
413:XXV, no. 3 (1979): 149.
186:Co E 4 Kentucky Cavalry
467:. January 25, 1865: 1.
409:"Marriages - Book F."
363:Thurmond, interred at
157:James M. Thurmond Jr.
531:October 28, 1868: 8.
301:Dallas Weekly Herald
261:Governor E. J. Davis
58:William Lewis Cabell
426:November 11, 1863.
16:American politician
718:March 16, 1882: 4.
704:The Dallas Herald.
692:The Dallas Herald.
579:April 20, 1870: 3.
489:The Union Vedette.
365:Greenwood Cemetery
291:Thurmond moved to
255:Thurmond moved to
239:Thurmond moved to
228:Confederate Army.
120:Greenwood Cemetery
1061:
1060:
541:Flake's Bulletin.
529:The Deseret News.
477:The Deseret News.
205:James M. Thurmond
202:
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149:Amanda J. Bentley
95:February 22, 1836
1096:
1084:Mayors of Dallas
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768:Mayors of Dallas
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678:City of Dallas.
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303:states that the
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170:Military service
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80:Personal details
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35:Mayor of Dallas
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342:Henry S. Ervay
309:Navarro Banner
241:Salt Lake City
220:
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109:(aged 46)
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165:Lawyer, Judge
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123:Dallas, Texas
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116:Resting place
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337:skepticism.
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323:W. L. Cabell
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257:Bryan, Texas
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107:(1882-03-14)
65:Succeeded by
42:
1079:1882 deaths
1074:1836 births
989:J. L. Smith
984:C. P. Smith
128:Nationality
53:Preceded by
1068:Categories
1044:Wozencraft
372:References
175:Allegiance
162:Occupation
91:1836-02-22
70:J. J. Good
824:E. Cabell
819:B. Cabell
219:Biography
47:1879–1880
43:In office
33:17th
1024:Thurmund
1019:Thornton
979:Sherwood
974:Sergeant
954:Rawlings
929:Lindsley
874:Harrison
839:Crockett
804:Bradford
799:Blaylock
794:Bartlett
784:Aldredge
154:Children
1029:Traylor
999:Strauss
994:Sprague
964:Rodgers
924:Leppert
919:Lawther
904:Kerfoot
899:Jonsson
894:Johnson
844:Crowdus
829:Caraway
515:. n.d.
194:Private
1034:Turner
1014:Temple
1009:Taylor
969:Savage
944:Naylor
939:Miller
859:Folsom
834:Connor
209:Dallas
146:Spouse
137:
949:Pryor
869:Guess
854:Evans
849:Ervay
809:Brown
789:Barry
779:Adoue
213:Texas
178:Union
1039:Wise
1004:Tate
959:Rice
934:Long
914:Lane
909:Kirk
864:Good
814:Burt
191:Rank
102:Died
85:Born
879:Hay
140:USA
1070::
211:,
760:e
753:t
746:v
93:)
89:(
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