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Historic Adair County Courthouse: Robert A. Taft argued here

It was the case of Elrod & Company v Royer Wheel Company. The year was 1920. Robert A. Taft, son of a President, worked with Judge W.W. Jones of Columbia as attorneys for Elrod & Company. On the other side were Gordon Montgomery of Columbia, Judge James Denton of Somerset, James R. Garnett of Columbia and Ben Smith of Somerset. The outcome is below.

By Mike Watson

The recent photographs of the Historic Adair County Courthouse have been excellent. My compliments to the several artists who took them. As my cousin, brother Jim, recently stated in a submission, our Courthouse has seen so much action since 1884. This wonderful building holds many exciting bits of history. If only it could and would reveal some of them, we would all be far richer today.



Many great orators and persons of note have held sway in our courtroom. Local attorneys from the golden era of oratory worthy of mention include: Col. Frank Wolford, Judge James Garnett, Judge Herschel Clay Baker, Lt. Governor James R. Hindman, Judge Rollin T. Hurt, Judge William Wallace Jones, Gordon Montgomery, Judge John R. Sampson, William Stewart, General Samuel G. Suddarth, Francis "Frank" R. Winfrey, Major Thomas C. Winfrey, and so many others.

It is unlikely there is anyone living today who can remember a certain man of note who argued a case here in 1920. At the March term of court, 1920, the case of Elrod & Company versus Royer Wheel Company was heard. Elrod & Company was seeking $2,900 in damages for breech of contract. This seems a rather paltry sum today, but in 1920 that was a bundle! Attorneys for the Royer Wheel Company were: Gordon Montgomery of Columbia, Judge James Denton of Somerset, James R. Garnett of Columbia and Ben Smith of Somerset. For the Defense: Judge W.W. Jones of Columbia and Robert Taft of Cincinnati.

Robert A. Taft, of course, was the son of former President of the United States, William Howard Taft. Robert Taft, born in Cincinnati in 1889, was a graduate of Yale University and of Harvard School of Law. He began the practice of law in Cincinnati in 1913. Elected to the US Senate from Ohio, he served from 1939 until his death in 1953. He may be most remembered today for the Taft-Hartley Act which was to create equality in collective bargaining between management and labor and is still a main-stay in labor relations, most successive laws being based upon it.

The outcome of the case in Adair County, you ask? The team of Montgomery-Denton-Garnett and Smith won; Taft lost. - MIKE WATSON


This story was posted on 2011-10-20 16:20:20
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