The Atlanta Historical Journal Summer 1981 Volume XXV Number 2 The Atlanta Historical Society OFFICERS Stephens Mitchell E. William Bohn Chairman Emeritus Second Vice-President Beverly M. DuBose, Jr. Tom Watson Brown Chairman Secretary Dr. John B. Hardman Dr. Harvey H. Jackson Vice Chairman Assistant Secretary Jack J. Spalding Julian J. Barfield President Treasurer Henry L. Howell Edward C. Harris First Vice-President Assistant Treasurer TRUSTEES Cecil A. Alexander H. English Robinson Mrs. Ivan Allen, Jr. Mrs. William H. Schroder Dr. Crawford Barnett, Jr. Mrs. Robert Shaw Mrs. Roff Sims Dr. F. Phinizy Calhoun, Jr. John M. Slaton, Jr. Thomas Hal Clarke Mrs. John E. Smith II George S. Craft John A. Wallace F. Tradewell Davis Mrs. Thomas R. Williams Franklin M. Garrett John R. Kerwood, Ex Officio Mrs. William W. Griffin Honorary Richard A. Guthman, Jr. The Hon. Anne Cox Chambers Dr. Willis Hubert Mrs. Richard W. Courts, Jr. George Missbach Philip T. Shutze Robert W. Woodruff Mrs. John Mobley Virlyn B. Moore, Jr. William A. Parker, Jr. William L. Pressly EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD Dr. Gary M. Fink Dr. Robert C. McMath, Jr. Georgia State University Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Jane Herndon Dr. Bradley R. Rice DeKalb Community College Clayton Junior College Dr. Harvey H. Jackson Dr. S. Fred Roach Clayton Junior College Kennesaw College Dr. George R. Lamplugh Dr. Philip Secrist The Westminster Schools Southern Technical Institute The Atlanta Historical Journal Franklin M. Garrett Editor Emeritus Ann E. Woodall Editor Harvey H. Jackson Book Review Editor Volume XXV, Number 2 Summer 1981 Copyright 1981 by Atlanta Historical Society, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia Coueri The caption of this photograph from the Tracy Mathewson Collection reads, "Leo Durocher, Atlanta Cracker shortstop who later became the scrappy manager of the New York Giants. Picture made in Atlanta in 1926." In this desultory summer of the major league baseball strike, where are Leo and the Crackers when we need them! The Atlanta Historical Journal is published quarterly by the Atlanta Historical Society, 3101 Andrews Dr., N.W., Atlanta, Georgia, 30305. Subscriptions are available to non-members of the Society. Manuscripts, books for review, exchange journals and subscription inquiries should be sent to the Editor. If your copy of the Journal is damaged in the mail, please call the Society for a replacement. Please notify the Society of changes in address. Table of Contents Editor's Note 4 The Captain Retires: Clark Howell Takes the Helm By Dennis Joseph Pfennig 5 "A Striking Resemblance to a Masterpiece" — Gone With the Wind in 1936 By Richard Harwell 21 Atlanta Vignettes: Photographic Sketches from the Archives of the Atlanta Historical Society — The Ambrotype By Elsbeth Lee Eltzroth 39 The Western & Atlantic Railroad — 1864 By James G. Bogle 45 Governor and Compiler of Records Allen D. Campbell, An Image of His Age By Elizabeth Hulsey Marshall 73 Notes and Documents: No Love Lost — A Governor Reflects on William T. Sherman By Robert W. Dubay 95 Book Reviews 98 New Members 109 In Memoriam 110 Published Works of Dr. Clarence A. Bacote Ill Letter to the Editor 112 Editor's Note One of the best things about the Journal is that it's portable and thus, we think, good company for any reader. But see for yourself. Fea­ tured in this issue are some familiar Atlanta "institutions," the W&A Railroad, Margaret Mitchell, and Clark Howell; two Georgia governors, Allen D. Candler and S. Marvin Griffin; and more photographic vi­ gnettes from our archives. An interesting letter from the noted sculptor Julian Harris rounds out the contents. Altogether it is an inviting issue and, although Hemingway no doubt considered the term once, I would add, a moveable summer picnic. A sad note tempers this issue, however. This spring the Society lost two of the staunchest supporters of our publications effort with the passing of Kent B. Higgins and Dr. Clarence A. Bacote. A former trus­ tee and member of the Publications Committee, Mr. Higgins was presi­ dent of the Higgins-McArthur Printing Company and later chairman of the board of Perry Communications. We appreciated him as a printing craftsman whose wise and creative counsel effected various format changes in both this quarterly and our newsletter. A distinguished his­ torian and revered professor of history at Atlanta University, Dr. Bacote, too, was a member of the Publications Committee and of the Journal's Editorial Review Board. He was a central figure in the article on Atlanta University in the last issue. A bibliography of his works can be found on page 111. We mourn the loss of these gentle men whose legacy to the Society as well as to the city was excellence. We miss them. Ann Woodall The Captain Retires: Clarh Howell Tahes the Helm By Dennis Joseph Pfennig* VKit h his failure to capture a United States Senate seat in late 1896 still troubling him and the cancellation of the experimental Evening Constitution adding to his depression, Evan Park Howell, now sixty- nine years old, decided to retire after twenty years as the Atlanta Con­ stitution's editor-in-chief and seventeen years as president of the Con­ stitution Publishing Company.1 In a "casual and friendly conversation" with his long-time friend and fellow stockholder, Hugh T. Inman, he indicated a desire to "obtain the rest" he deemed necessary. Howell of­ fered Inman, an Atlanta financier, his quarter interest in the company, 250 shares of stock for $100,000.2 Knowing such a purchase would make him the major stockholder, Inman accepted. On April 5, 1897, the board of the Constitution Publishing Company met to accept Howell's resig­ nation and to select his successor. Because Inman had no desire to manage the company, the directors selected as the new president Wil­ liam A. Hemphill, a multimillionaire businessman and one of the pa­ per's two founders. He agreed to retain his responsibilities as business manager as well. The board then turned its attention to the question of a new editor-in-chief. Although he held but a small block of shares, the board unanimously elected Evan Howell's son, Clark.3 Realizing that there were great differences of opinion regarding the editorial position the Constitution should pursue on a host of topics, differences that con­ ferences could never resolve, the board members decided to give the thirty-three year-old University of Georgia graduate "full control" of all "matters pertaining to . policy."4 Thus Clark Howell assumed the position of editor-in-chief with the same powers his father had been granted in 1876. The appointment in- * Mr. Pfennig is chairman of the Department of Social Studies, Hayfield Secondary School, Fairfax County, Virginia. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 1975. b ATLANTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY dicated the faith and trust the board had in Howell, who had for the preceding seven years served as the daily's managing editor. Equally recognized by the board was the fact that under Clark Howell's man­ agement the company had earned $300,500 in profits.5 The Americus Daily-Times Recorder's owner, Marie Louise Myrick, regretted the decision of her old friend, Evan Howell, to retire, but at the same time she wrote that "the worthy and able son of a distinguished father" had been appointed to take over the editor-in- chief s duties.6 Not all Georgia journalists were so kind. While the How- ells' oldest adversary, Hoke Smith of the Atlanta Journal, made no edi­ torial comment on the change in the Constitution's management, Charles R. Pendleton, editor of the Macon Daily Telegraph, did. Still smarting from the Constitution's sharp attacks in 1896 on both the Telegraph's pro-gold standard policy and its endorsement of Savannah attorney Fleming G. du Bignon for United States Senator over Charles Crisp, a friend of Howell's, Pendleton suggested that rather than retir­ ing voluntarily, Evan Howell had been forced out of his position be­ cause of an unspecified quarrel with his business associates. He further claimed that Howell had a falling out with his son over the latter's deci­ sion to stay with a firm that had so "mistreated" his father.7 The senior Howell was so disturbed by these charges that he wrote Pendleton de­ nying them all. When the Macon editor failed to print Howell's rebut­ tal, a copy was sent to the Macon Evening News.' Pendleton's rival gladly printed it, as did other dailies and weeklies in the state. In his letter Evan Howell reiterated his friendship for Hemphill and Inman and his firm decision to allow his son to assume complete control of editorial policy.8 For the first time since his association with the Constitution Clark Howell had the opportunity to operate as he wished. He could now free himself of his father's shadow. The future of the Constitution was to­ tally in his hands. His seven-year internship as managing editor was over. His father's close associate, Joel Chandler Harris, predicted great things for his new boss. He wrote that the "conservative and sympa­ thetic," though hard-fighting, new editor-in-chief of the Constitution would "make perfect" the work begun by his predecessors and that under his direction the paper would continue "to grow in power and influence not merely as a newspaper but as an organ and representative of the people."9 Harris based this prediction on the assertion that what the Constitution had accomplished during Clark Howell's managing ed­ itorship compared "more than favorably with the results of any seven- year period in" the paper's history.10 In the ensuing two years Clark Howell would confirm Harris's prophecy on both the state and national level.