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SuMi CARULIJIA 'iRITERSI PROJECT
LIFL HI6ToRY
TITLE AOW N'S iiULLOOG COURACI WON
Jate of ilret ariting
aame of Person Interviewed
Fictitious lame
street Address
occupation
February 28, 1939
Aidhard E. Broome
Aaymond E. Branson
5433 Wilson Boulevard
Attorney at Law
are of Writer Stiles Scrui-;6s
Nae of Reviser State Office
It was a crisp, sunny day in February when I called at the law
office of Agymond Es Branson at 1341 Amin Street. he was sitting with
his back to the door, with his feet on a vacant chair, reading a lawbook.
he shouted a cordial "Gone in," in reply to my knock. Be laid aside his
book and rose to his feet as i entereds "Your's is a aelsh name, I think,*
he said, extending his hand. doing on rapidly, he said with a chuckle:
The difference between the Irish and the Welsh is that the Welsh stopped
fighting; a thousand years ago, and the Irish never have quit."
All this tine I was taking a mental picture of Ar. Branson. he is five
and a half feet high. his heavy brawn hair falls over his head in such
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confusion that it reminds no of a brush heap. nis Jane are high and
firm, and his chin stands out very prominently. his blue eyes are
cordial but defiant. Ae throws back his ample shoulders uhen he stands.
As 1 spoke of his general appearanoe, he explained, "The boys at the Cedar
Creek public school nioknamed me 9J.D.1 which they told me stood for bulldog,
because, they said, I had a doz4„ed way of holding on and a determination to
win or die."
As I stated the object of my visit, AO. Branson listened, then said,
"in that ease, you mitt as well write down obstacles and vicissitudes at
te start of our ramble, for my trail has been throudl flint rooks and oak
stu:Aps from the beginning of ny life forty-six years ago to this good day
of our Lord in 1939." Then 4'. Dranson vent along, over his route in this
fas_l.ons
"1 was born on a farm near Cedar Creek, in iairfield county, south
t.:arolina, on January 9, 1d93. Ay parents were Jacob Branson and Ann
(nickley) Branson. jether told ne once that my life began about 3 o'clock
on the mornint: of that minter day daring a violent storm of arinkia, rain,
and sleet. I have often thoa;ht of that day, because my career to date has
Dean stormy and full of barriers. But the hickory tree on our farm soon
tat, :it me a lesson. 4 noticed it was buffeted by the same wind that blew
down the pine, but it stood p straiht when the sun shone.
"Father and Aother took more time and interest in helping ne with ny
lessons than they did the other children, because 1 was the only child that
was prune to study pV
ooke at ni,.ht after the chorus nad been done. The
tear that I started to the public school, in 190c„ when was seven, ny
father died. That was a severe blow to the ilulily. Aother was loft with
s.
eleven &Wren, and the hardships inereased as time passed. The farm
embryos,* 140 sores. The land vies sandy,amd it would not produee good
*rope unless expensive fertilimervas applied, and this cost money.
*14 had three mules, three oeve,and same hogs. The oldest boy did
the plowing, vhile the remainder of the children, me included, Chopped oat.*
ton and hoed corn and potatoes. To me, the summers we long and hard.
Still, ve did pretty well in farming, so far as living and paying taxes were
concerned. I insisted an going to school during the fall, winter, and early
spring; and *other took ey side of the oontroverey. The other Ohildren did
not care to attend school regularly. instead, they elvers had work at home.
when the groundless too vet to work, they eat and hauled vood.
This sort of program filled all the years of my early life, and we
had a tugrobovar to get by on the farm'. Yet it kept the home together.
One day Mother came by as I was intensely reading a oopy of the 'Tale of
Two Cities,' by Charles Diekens. She smiled and said that the vies happy
because I loved r books. 'You are vise in striving to prepare to make
your living without beooming a farmer,' the said. I instantly thought of
some poor tenant farmers than living in the Cedar Creek neighborhood.
°I had finished the publie school curriculum in 1909. Ives then
fifteen years old, and I gawked at a neighborhood sawmill most of the tine
from 1908 until 1912. I ves only nineteen years old, but I got a man's Imo
St the sawmill, *wish averaged about $2.80 a (Ley. Abet of this veg vent
into the family budget, and I an not sorry of it, for I wouldn't have been
the right sort of a lad if I hadn't aided my mother in her effort to brine
up a family in the way it should go.
"In 1912, I entered a oompetitive examination at Winnsboro for a
niversity of 6outh Carolina seholarship. There were about thirty-five
yon c men in the contest, and they all :showed a keen interest in the
contest. I was the only contestant from Cedar Creek and the son of Uwe
yers and rich femora looked at me as if 1 didn't Gaunt. But that spirit
only increased my eareestness• 1 applied myself there with all the energy
of my nind. When the hour expired, we turned in our questions and answers
and were told that the winner would he announced in a day or two. Aother
,ot notice from the WiamciAoro newspaper that 1 had won before she received
j tett ee' verdict
":nther did everythinc she could to raise money for my entrance at the
an :ersity. eat uhe could rase only thirty-two dollars. The scholarship
certificate was valdaele. It admitted me to room and classes free of charge,
there were snch pressing needs as board, incidentals, -mashing, and
clothes. nunee, the thirty--
ollare i carried there were hardly a drop
in the ucket. explained nu predicament to to president and faculty,
wad they iot busy. I wae soon payint: my board by maitiN1 an the table at
the) ness all. In a few days, i :ot chance) to nuke three dollars ,try sell
in. sfl.oes op town on ,,at rdive This sum served for my incidentals.
".esron 1913, throeh 1.15, &mink; my l'reahrian, sophomore, and junior
semesters, 1 followed this plan in nem'. ent it took more money than
had, so i. sold life ins trance dArin6 ehe periods that was out of school.
.his kept me up late at nieht studyixv my lessons. In the fall of 1015 and
the sprinn of Lad, 1 taught wintry sehools and saved all could that way.
.arly in 1-17, the draft board sent me to Ca.xp Jive:son, linere 1 was to
train for overseao GCr.
"At h4p ean see, peeled potatoes, swept floors, or did some kindred
b.
work daily, in addition to drilling tidos a day. One day, nearly three
months after I entered Camp Jackson, Imes mustered with a large number of
other young men to entrain for New York, where a transport mould take us
to France. There a kemersered doctor gave um a rigid examination and dis-
covered certain disabilities in ne that out me out. I was given an honor.
able discharge after serving at Camp Jaokson eightroteo days.
"I returned to qy mother's home in Pnirfield County and did my share
of the mark on the farm, as it was too into for ne to cot a job totaling
school. In 1921, I returned to the university, with the ardent hope that
I could work my way through to =A.B. soadeaio degree and an LpL. D. dess
grope in law. My expenses that year mere mud' greater than they had been.
Books coat morel better clothes mere required; and even inoidentals mere
dearer. I was unable to get any odd jobs, and I was soon behind with olV
board bill and other obligations. Imes so determined to win my degrees
that I almost grew ill over the vicissitudes I was facing.
wume morning, following a restless, almost sleepless, night, I went
to the law Wise of Senator James H. Hammond and told him of my prediewl,
runt. NO. Hammond IMA courteous and sympathetic, but he explained he was
a poor man and hadn't any money to loan. I kept talking. Suddenly MO.
aannondlehmeled around facing his desk, apparently sakinc a notation.
ahen he revolved his chair and faced me again, he handed ne a cheek for
one hundred and twent,-?tve dollars. I was pretty well 011WOMMO 'when I
realised 'bat had happened, out I told Ab'. Hannond I mould return the
money in sixty days.
"With money to supply all my meats till June, 1922, I soon found
nor, work than I could attend to, and my anxiety was lessened. I pressed
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an and wen ev degrees* A.B. and L.L. D.* the following June* 1922.
And I didn't let the grass grow under nv feet after that victory ems won.
I opened up my law off tee about the first of July and began practioe.
Clients came slowly at first. 1 talked with older members of the bar* and
they told as they almost starved during their first year as a lower. I
bent to the task of building up a praetice* and clients began to increase.
But they were people of limited neans* and I had to work hard to earn
enough to take oar, of ev expenses and leave enough for as to live an.
"In the meantime* I had great luck. Ar. Hannend's kindness &eyed
as over the poverty barriers in the late winter days of 1922* and I earned
oonsiderable money. By relatives had sone luck* too* and they sent as a
substantial sun. So* at the end of sixty days, 1 we. able to talk around
to mt.. Hand's office and pay him $125, as per promise. He wee amazed
when I paid him. 'I thought you would pay as sometime,' he said* 'but I
certainly didn't expect you to pay it in sixty days.,
"An ev practioe increased* I began to think of mv one and only romance.
I had net Miss Cleo Shealy two years before. We decided to get narried as
soon as we could p111 out of the fingoncial fog, and both of us kept watoh
on our progress. About Deoenber 1* 1923* we decided that we could safely
make the marriage grade. Ando on Deoenber 23* 1923* we married and went
to housekeeping at 5433 Wilson Soulevard. We still reside there. At first*
we didn't entirely own the home. But we had faith in ourselves and paid the
mortgage off in a few years.
'In. 1925* I became a candidate for the House of Repreeentatives in
the South Carolina General Assembly. I won that election and the two suos.
eseding elections and served in the House from 1926 to 1932. This service
7.
in the logielature tonight ne emit. The smadidate in the stump& seeking
election& Is generally an optimist. no promises many things that saw
never happen. I was sooksure I could secure new benefits for the people,
but, when the nenent oane to sot, I found many opponents an any given
proposition.
"I know now that human nature, being what it is, never permits us to
be oompletely content. If we possess a thousand dollars, we are not con-
tent until we have another thousand dollars, and so on to the and of the
mad. 1;uoh is the endless chain of life, ad we never rends complete
happiness on this planet. I oane away from the Astor House soesiehat sad.
cloned& but much wiser than when I entered it. 4 services there, I think,
aided qy law practice. Although tilb whole oountry vas just plunging into
the depression, business picked up wonderfully for me. I have, since 1926&
specialised in civil practios, partioularly in realty.
"There hasn't been a single year, sines 1932, that my practice has
netted we less than 4'000 a year. The civil practice of lem is more
profitable than the criminal practice. And 1 like it better& bemuse it
takes as out of the environment of the orieinal world. I an a retained
attorney for the (.41umbia Federation of Trades, and at present two or were
other *ivies organisations are negotiating with as for 4m4,) t' engagements.
"I an milled on for many addresses by civic, social, and business
orosnisations. lhat is why I have onepiled ;Ail typewritten book of 1,108
jokes." Bore Branson picked up a volume and began to finger it. A
single joke, credited to the late ?resident :41.1vin k;oolidge, may serve as
an examples "The President vas reading a newspaper in his (Arno.1 and his
atenovaphors wtk.ndiac at tits windows &aids 'There is ftliator William Borth&
8.
Weil% e horseback rides' Without lofting, the President aftedt 'Are
the Senator and the horse going in the sane direction?"
*When I vas studying law at the University of South Carolina, Judge
W. Bonham, now a sinker of the Sopron, Court of South Carolina, spoke
to the low *lasses. Hifi impromtu address wee rall of praotioal ideas
for law students, bot one partioalarly stuck with me. Juetioe Bonham
said, If a nan stumbles, help him, if he lies down, donett' I have made
that epigram a sort of seoond nature, and I prootios it studicasiy In MV
nethod of living along the way.
"'When I began the practice of law In 1924, I sew the benefit of cons
tact ing other awn, and, as I have always beena social person myself, I
joined Magda Blue Lodge of liasone, but I was not content to rest there.
pressed an and took the Scottish Rite from the fourth degree to the
thirty•seoond degree. Then I joined the ")(1d Fellows, the Legion, and the
'Senior Order of United Anerioan Mechanics. I find in/Mc:lent good in all
these organisations to retain nv memborth4 in then. 4v wife became in•
terested in these orders, and the is now u member or the Rebekah Lodge
No, 6, the woman's orLnnisation of to Fellow.
"Ai.c. Branson and I are also members of the -.Ain Street :Jethodist
7picoopal !71hAroh„ anl we attend there rotnilarly. Iconsider it a high
privilezA to bow mv knee to c triune flolf eml If t MA, an some of mv
friends ney, too do,-ed to boo to tyrunte and sone other dictators.
"1 an inclined to think that I have about =covered mv life and the
tog•or•war I have had to date. I am now in my fort;i•sixth year, and,
within the next twenty :ioars, I fully expect to blaze sone new trails.
To paraphrase John Amu' Janen' fiz;hting reply to his mdversary, have
just begun to fight."'