Document text
SOUTH CAROLINA WRITERS' PROJECT
Life History
Title: ROHM JOSEPH GAIT?
Date of first writing
Name of person interviewed
Fictitious name
Address
Occupation
Name of writer
Name of reviser
28-C-
Feb. 15, 1939.
Robert Joseph Gantt
None
Spartanburg, S.C.
Attorney
D. A. Russell
"I'm not making a lot of money, but I live well, huh? Financially, I
don't guess I would be called a successful lawyer, but I've never been hungry,
and my home is my awn, huh? I awe a little money, but it's not pressing. I
don't have to worry like some people I know, huh?
Robert Joseph Gantt, who, in point of service, is the third oldest member
of the Spartanburg bar, is a typical country lawyer. There is no "put on"
about Bob Gantt. He's just "the judge" to all of his acquaintances in Spartan-
burg, and has received the title during all the years since he served as a city
magistrate in Spartanburg for twelve years, beginning in 1905. He's "plain as
an old shoe," if you pleass,..and kw knows it and, furthermore, likes itl
No, he doesn't make much money, te-be-tems., but
some days he makes as much as
time he is satisfied if he picks up a case that will
he doesn't worry, On
50 --"when business is good'-- vand- most of the
net him $5 or $10 for
his services. During the present hard tines, he will-sveragmr$30 a weekx
sometimes more, moat often less. The estimate is his ann. There are days,
however, when no money is forthcoming, and clients are scarce. He makes ay)
Tenaistent effort to secure all -of his legal fee from his client in advance,
hut -Ailing in this he will ask, for at least half of it as a 'down payment.'
If he fails in *hat effort, t'ilmw. he will consent to visit until his client has
a pay dayw that is, if he is convinced that his client has a habit of receiving
weekl,y -or -monthly pay envelopes.
Te-reaoh Judge Gantt's office you go -up a.... flight of stairs that give with
every step takee;marbwr a dark hallwayl and turn to the first' door on_the 130A4
-His office is not the type you would expect to find being used by a nan of his
acknowledged ability* Seven cabinets of law books, many of them of much value,
almost crowd him out of the window into West in Street. You elan see that the
ceiling was mace covered with yellow paper, and the* the walls were at one time
,I.
calcimined in green, long ago,(gbelerl.e—ifie\uses an old walnut desk that he says
is over sixty years old, and it is scattered over with papers. Nothing is
arranged. It -4e ---picture of a country editor's desk,- -The dust has settled
an most of the papers thereon. Hanging directly over his desk is a framed
picture of Senator J.L.M. Irby of South Carolina, wearing a campaign hat.
Nearby, a frame holds the diploma Judge Gantt received at the University of
Georgia in the nineties, but it is necessary Peowpou to part the dust with
your fingers before being-ehle-te-read 13/4*--ATTerently„ there is no janitor
service in the building he oocupies, or at least, not for his single roam.
In a corner of the roam is a small sink whieh-ie badly in need of wash-
ing. Above the sink is nailed a ten -cent mirror. A soiled towel hangs from
a nail nearby. On a shelf to the left of the wash basin are two glasses, a
box of soda, and a large bottle of kidney pills. Timorep-iis a coal bin in the
room, and a drum of kerosene, partially hidden by a airtain. The room is
heated by a small laundry heater. A pan of water is an top of the heater.
There is a trash can beside his desk that is forever empty Agree the un-
carpeted floor isma,061-gior unwanted papers. Occasionally he sweeps out his
office, but only -when he feels that he has to in order to clear a path for
his awn entrance. There are three chairs, one of them beimg an old-fashioned
rocker more than forty years old -which he says he made himself.
If you ask him the age of the old law books on the shelves, he will tell
you that many of them are over a hundred years old. Then, he will get up from
his rocker, go to a cabinet and hand you a book that is covered with dust,
titled, The Symboleography--Newly Corrected and Amended and Verie Much En-
larged in All Severall Treaties. Printed for the Companie of Stationers -1618.
Cum Privilegio.' Judge Gantt tells you that he could, if need be, sell this
particular book for quite a sum, but that he will not do so "unless the wolf
comes to the door, huh?'
Judge Gantt vas born at Elberton, Georgia, an Nhy 15, 1872, the son of
T. Larry Gantt, a country newspaper editor, and founder of the Oglethorpe Echo
at Lexington, Georgia. His father was once a power in Georgia politics, and
after he cane to Spartanburg in 1891 to establish The Piedmont Headlight, he
became a staynch supporter of Ben Tillman, and remained so until his death
in 1933. For years his influence was felt in politics in the Palmetto State.
Practically all of Judge Gantt's boyhood was spent in Georgia. The family
moved to Athens, Ga., when Larry Gantt purchased the Athens Banner and the
Southern Watchman, combining the two papers under the name of the Banner
Watchman. Judge Gantt had attended and graduated from the University of
Georgia, and he came with his father to Spartanburg when the latter began
publication of the Piedmont Headlight. Shortly after coming to Spartanburg,
however, young Gantt, through the friendship of his father with Hoke Smith,
of Georgia, then Secretary of the Interior Department in Grover Cleveland's
cabinet, received an appointment to the Interior Department at Washington.
His salary was $100 per month. Gantt found that his closest friend in the
Interior Department was Josephus Daniels, of Raleigh, N.C., afterwards editor
of the Raleigh News Observer, and later Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet
of Woodrow Wilson, war -time President. Mr. Daniels was at that time chief
clerk of the Interior DepalLment. Judge Gantt says that his friendship 'with
Daniels has lasted through the years, and he takes every opportunity he has
to see his former 'boss,' as he refers to Daniels.
Judge Gantt remained in the Interior Department until the election of
President McKinley, and then he was offered, and accepted, the position of
private secretary to Senator Irby, his salary being $125 per month. During
the period that he was with Senator Irby, he took a law course at night at
Georgetown University. Upon his graduation he was nineteenth in a class of
over two hundred students. When he had attended the University of Georgia,
he had hopes of becoming a civil engineer after graduation, and he received
a degree in engineering.,
"I sometimes vonder„" he recalled, "if it wouldn't have been better for
me to have become a civil engineer rather than to practice law. But it's
too late to change now, if I wanted to."
After his graduation in law at Georgetown University, Judge Gantt re-
turned to Spartanburg to hang out his shingle in 1896, and for forty-six
years he has been a resident of the "Hub City." He says that although he
is a Georgian by birth, he is a Carolinian by adoption. He has no relatives
in Georgia at the present time, but has several in South Carolina.
Judge Gantt served as a city magistrate from 1905 until 1917 and then
was appointed United States Connissioner in Spartanburg, serving in this
capacity for ten years, when he resigned in 1927 "because it got to 'where
the job didn't pay anything."
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Judge Gantt believes that he is the only living person in Spartanburg,
--amoi-TmThape-444mmiawiy who, as a youth, saw and talked to Jefferson Davis,
who later became President of the Confederacy, and Alexander Stephens, who
became Vice President of the Confederacy. He was eleven years of age when
these two Southern leaders visited with his father in their Georgia home.
Thomas Wilding Gantt, of Lowndesville, S.C., who was the grandfather of
Judge Gantt, was a Major in the brigade of General Robert Toombs, of
Georgia, during the Mar Between the States.
Judge Gantt was married to Dr. L. Rosa Hirschman, of Charleston, and
this union lasted for almost twenty years until the death of Dr. Gantt about
three years ago. Mrs. Gantt was a remarkable woman, especially in view of
the fact that women doctors were not looked upon so favorably in a town the
size of Spartanburg. Nevertheless, she won national recognition in her
practice, specializing in the eye, ear, nose and throat. At one time she
was president of this branch of the American Medical Association. Her
personal charm and her ability won for her leadership in women's club
activities in Spartanburg. Since the death of Mrs. Gantt, Judge Gantt
has called himself the 'chief cook and bottle washer."
To say the least, Judge Gantt is a unique character, and while his
dress and rannerisns may not appeal to the masses, his ability as a lawyer
is respected by all members of the bar. Without knowing, one would never
suspect Judge Gantt, on first acquaintance, to be a lawyer. He is far from
immaculate in his dress; and his hat like his suit, shows unmistakable
signs of having survived many winters. He has three complete suits, and
all equally worn out. He goes to and from his office to his home, located
in the mountains near Tryon, N.C., in an automobile he purchased for $25 in
1925. He insists to friends who have tried to prevail upon him to boy
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another car, that he does not need one, despite the fact that it requires
about an hour and thirty minutes for him to travel the twenty-five miles
from his office to his home. The top of the car is half torn off, and in
rainy weather one has to take the consequences.
'I just tell them I don't need another car, huh? This one serves my
needs. It gets me back and forth, and that's all I want it for, huh? I
could purchase another car, but there's lots more years in this car yet, huh?"
The largest fee Judge Gantt ever collected was $1,000, and the smallest,
01. 1p
"The first case I ever tried," said the dudge, "was an the very first
day I open-ed my law office. A negro was charged with being disorderly,
and while in jail, employed me to represent him. He had a one dollar bill,
and gave it to ma, asking me to do all I could for the dollar in his behalf.
Well, I told the court a sob story for that boy, of haw his mother needed
him at home, as he vas an only child, and of this being his first offense.
,,E-mbeast-got.to believing it myself, I made it Ao realir—And-the court fell
fer-sty-time, end the boy vas given his freedom. I had won my first case and
made my first dollar as a lawyer. The thousand dollar fee I made was for
handling a land case in the county court during the World Mar period.
"In my years service as a magistrate, and in observing cases that have
come before others, I have noted that a magistrate is pretty close to humanity)
so to speak. He is called upon to make decisions in all manner of cases.
"One of the truest men I ever knew, and who a few years ago died in
Spartanburg, served as a deputy sheriff in Spartanburg County as a young man.
While I was a magistrate he often would come and sit 'with me, telling me of
his experiences as a young deputy. He told me that the hardest official act
he ever had to perform was to take charge of a white child that vas being
raised and cared for by a Negro mother. It seemed that some young white girl
had gone wrong and, leaving home, threw herself upon the mercy of an old mammy
that had largely reared her. The girl gave birth to a baby, and was!granniedw
and protected by the Negro women. To protect her from shame, the Negro mother
kept the secret and pampered the child, keeping it immaculately clean and neat-
ly dressed. She had several small children herself, and the little white girl
was being reared just as one of the family. The neighbors, however, began to
gossip, and finally the condition of affairs was brought to the attention of
the law.
*The magistrate in question, who served years before I did, could find no
law covering the case. It was before the days of the juvenile court act, but
it was decided that something must be done, so my friend was deputized to go
out and see if he could persuade the Negro 'woman to turn the child over to him.
'When approached, the Negro mdnan became hysterical. She declared it was her
child, that she had nursed it, reared it and loved the child, and that she would
not give it up because she held it in trust. She flatly refused to disclose the
parentage or the history of the infant. She sent for her husband, and he de-
olared that they could only take that child out of the house over his dead body.
!After making his report
in the neighborhood was held,
to the State to see that this
issued an order to his deputy
while he questioned the right
it his duty to carry it out.
to the magistrate, and a conference with the people
the magistrate decided that the court owed a duty
white child was not reared as a Negro. The magistrate
to seize the child. The constable declared that
of the magistrate to issue such an order, he felt
The child was situated in a cabin at the end of a
long lane, and as he drove domn to the house he noted the Negro husband working
in the barn and said nothing to him. He reached the cabin, told the Negro woman
that he had cone for the child, and had papers for the infant. The Negro
gathered the infant in her arum and uttered a scream. The officer noted her
husband running down the lane with a pitch fork. My,friend said that he
turned and ran to the door and, as the Negro came up, he covered him with his
gun; that the expression an the Negro's face was one of terrified determination
and that he pleaded with the Negro to stop and listen to reason. He felt every
minute that he would have to use his weapon, but the Negro paused, and he
commenced to appeal to him, finally stepping out of the may and letting him
jpin his wife in the room. He then commenced to plead with the two of them,
reading the order of the court to them, and telling them that he would be
forced to do his duty. The man weakened and commenced to plead with his wife.
My friend told me that he was patient, determined and deeply moved in sympathy
for the Negro woman in her affection for the dhild. Both the nen and woman
were in tears.
"Then, my friend said, as the sun began to sink in the west, the officer
gently prised the arms of the weeping Negro woman apart, took the crying white
child in his arms, and backed out of the door. He heard the Negro woman fall
to the floor with a thud, but drove away without looking back. He said that
as he drove up the hill, he heard someone calling, and stopped. The Negro man
came running up with tears in his eyes, and said: 'Boss, it's hard, but I
reckon it's for the best. But I do think the county ought to pay me something
for what we've done for that child. It has nearly killed the old woman to
give it up.' The deputy asked the Negro how much he thought he was entitled
to., and said that the Negro replied: Mello I think it's worth as much as ten
dollars. You know, we have kept the child almost four years.'
wkly. friend said that the county paid the ten dollars to the Negro gladly.
The little girl was put in the proper environment, and the incident was closed."
In sharp contrast to the shabby appearance of his office, is the home of
Judge Gantt, nestled in the Carolina mountains near Tryon, which is a picture
of contentment and peacefulness. From the main highway, just beyond Tryon, you
turn to the left and continue up a winding dirt road for about a mile until you
reach "Liberty Hallo" which judge Gantt calls his home place. The two-story
frame structure is situated on a hill right in the heart of the mountains, and
the picture from the flower garden looking towards the mountains, is one for an
artist to paint. Many years ago Judge and Mrs. Gantt built this hone in the
mountains.
The front door of "Liberty Ball" opens into a spacious living roam where,
during the winter months, a log fire is burning. All modern conveniences are
available, even to a hot air furnace in the basement, which Judge Gantt has
not fired up since his wife's death. There is no telephone, but, as Judge
Gantt says, "I don't want one here, for when I get home I want to forget the
court room and my clients, huh?"
To the left of the living roam is the dining roam, and to its right, the
kitchen, which has a frigidaire. His muter is supplied from a well that he
helped to dig hineelf, and the water is always cool.
French doors in the living room open into Judge Gantt's library, where
he has a large number of valuable books and personal papers of his father. He
has a first edition of poems by Robert Burns, which is valuable to any collector,
and other books that would bring him hundreds of dollars were they placed on
sale. He has some of the original manuscripts of Henry W. Grady, the crusading
Georgia editor of a generation ago, who was a favorite of both Judge Gantt and
his father when they resided in Georgia, and whom the Judge knew as a young man
while attending the University of Georgia. He will sit and reminisce for hours
on Grady, Toombs, Stephens, Davis, Tom Watson, Eli Whitney, Ben Tillman, and
many others who made history in the years past.
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The upstairs has four bed rooms and two bath rooms and three large closets.
There is one roam that no one but himself is permitted to enter. It is the
bed roam that was used by Mrs. Gantt. Everything is just as she left it.
Judge Gantt stopped the clock an her mantel at the very minute and hour of
her death ---3:48.
Each day, after Judge Gantt leaves for his office in Spartanburg, the
house is cleaned by a woman who, with her husband and two children, live in
a hone which Judge Gantt built in the rear of his place. The husband acts as
caretaker of the twenty-three acres which the Judge awns in the mountains.
The Judge does his own cooking, and when he has invited guests, talks
boastingly of his preparation of the meals. And all who have sat at his
dinner table cone away praising his culinary ability. His Sunday dinner,
for example, may consist of the following: broiled ham, two inches thick,
with gravy; boiled irish potatoes; baked sweet potatoes; carrots and peas;
rice, tomatoes and celery, and hot biscuits and coffee. His Sunday breakfast
is served at about 10 o'clock, and dinner at about 4 o'clock. If, before
bed time, you feel the need of additional food, the Judge will offer you
swiss cheese, rye bread and coffee. In the morning you will be served with
scrambled eggs, toast and coffee, and if you desire, grape fruit.
After the evening meal, unless he has company, Judge Gantt enjoys the
solitude of his library, where he mill continue work on a book he is writing.
He thinks he will give it the title, "A History of Upper South Carolina.'
He has been working an this book for two years, he says. He hopes to finish
it during the next few months. He hopes, also, to prepare a book an the
Spartanburg bar similar to Judge 091eall's Bench and Bar of South Carolina;
and toward this purpose he has accumulated a mass of material. He night
find embarrassment if required to write a three -figure check an short
notice; but he can always give a guest a warm welcome, a comfortable bed,
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and a good meal; and he can always answer an intelligent question about the
county of Spartanburg.
Such is Judge Robert Joseph Gantt, respected member of the Spartanburg
bar, a TilImanite to the end, a country gentleman, and an author with per-
ception and insight.