Elbridge Gerry Mitchell Jr. (1863–1927)

Elbridge Gerry Mitchell Jr. served two terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives, was twice elected as the circuit court judge for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, was a prominent criminal attorney in Harrison (Boone County) during the early twentieth century, and served as a Democratic Party delegate for the Third Congressional District to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention of 1917–1918.

E. G. Mitchell was born on December 23, 1863, in Bellefonte (Boone County). He was raised by his mother, Nancy J. Ewing Mitchell. His father, Elbridge Gerry Mitchell Sr., was an attorney in Marshall (Searcy County) before becoming a Carroll County candidate to the Secession Convention in 1861, although he was not elected as a delegate. He served as a Confederate captain in Company D, Sixteenth Arkansas Infantry Regiment (CS), and was killed less than three months before his son’s birth, being shot by Unionists on his front porch near Bellefonte in September 1863 in front of his wife and three-year-old son.

Mitchell received a common school education in Boone County and then taught school there. Aided by the Freemasons, he studied at West Point Military Academy in 1883. Later, he moved to Marshall and became the editor of the Searcy County New Era newspaper. He studied law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, where in 1888 he earned a Bachelor of Laws degree and subsequently opened a law practice in Harrison.

Mitchell was a large man, at one time weighing 260 pounds. He had a minor physical disfigurement: in early 1890, he caught his finger in the spring of a chair, cutting it off at the first joint.

Around 1888, he married Anne Bell Spring. The couple had four daughters, as well as one son who died. The Mitchell family lived in Harrison. A large spring was located on their property on a hill east of their house. In 1916, Mitchell contracted with the City of Harrison as part of the construction of a new water supply for the city. A 250,000-gallon reservoir was constructed on the Mitchell family’s hill, and water was pumped into it from the spring. Mitchell Spring was still being used as Harrison’s primary source of water as late as 1973.

Mitchell supported Harrison’s school system and donated to local community causes and drives. He spoke frequently at the town’s public events as well as at Confederate soldier reunions. When the first train arrived in Harrison in 1901, he delivered an eloquent address from the depot platform. The night before Harrison’s troop of soldiers departed to serve in World War I, Mitchell gave an inspirational speech.

In 1891, Mitchell was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives; he would serve two terms. According to reports from the Arkansas Democrat and Arkansas Gazette, Mitchell was well liked by his peers in the House and was said to have had good attendance, answering every roll call. He often voted with the Democratic Party majority. An able and persuasive orator, he once apologized for his tendency to talk too much and take up excessive time on the floor. In 1893, the Arkansas Gazette reported that Mitchell had convinced the Arkansas General Assembly to pass more bills in 1891 than anyone else in the House or Senate, and that he and Jerry C. South of Baxter County had made the greatest number of historical references in all the speeches delivered during the 1893 session.

In 1891, Mitchell was a member of at least four committees. He proposed four House bills in 1891, three of which were enacted. His proposed House Bill 136 would have established term limits for the office of governor, secretary of state, treasurer of state, and attorney general. In 1893, he proposed this bill again as House Bill 73, but again it did not pass.

After serving in the state legislature, Mitchell was elected as the circuit court judge for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit. He held that position for two terms, from 1898 to 1905. Per the Harrison Times, he was fair, nonpartisan, and willing to work long hours, on occasion convening court as early as 6:00 a.m. and adjourning as late as midnight.

In 1906, Mitchell ran for a third term as the circuit court judge of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit but was defeated by B. B. Hudgins of Harrison. Mitchell ran again in 1910. His opponents were incumbent Judge George W. Reed of Heber Springs (Cleburne County) and S. W. Woods of Marshall. Judge Reed won.

In 1910, Mitchell ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, Third District, in the Democratic primaries against incumbent John C. Floyd. Floyd defeated him.

When he was not serving in the state legislature or as a judge, Mitchell worked as an attorney in Harrison. The Mountain Echo of Yellville (Marion County) wrote, “Mr. Mitchell is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, criminal lawyers who ever practiced in the courts of North Arkansas.”

As an attorney, Mitchell often chose to defend those whom he believed to be underserved, less fortunate, misunderstood, or somehow victims of a larger entity or circumstances beyond their control. In his obituary, the Harrison Times wrote: “Although his opposing counsel accused him as taking up the ‘wrong side,’ they respected his ability to successfully represent his clients.” At Mitchell’s funeral, his friend W. E. Halbrook explained Mitchell’s character, stating, “He was one of the most grateful of men, charitable to the faults of others, for he sympathized with men in their weakness; and he was in the acme of his glory when he could champion the cause of the downtrodden or the scorned of society.”

For example, in 1892, Mitchell defended Charles (a.k.a. Andrew J.) Hudspeth for the 1886 murder of George Watkins in Marion County. Found guilty, Hudspeth was hanged in Harrison on December 30, 1892, the first man to be legally executed in Boone County. In 1913, he defended Odus Davidson for the 1912 rape, murder, and dismemberment of Ella Barham in Boone County. Davidson was hanged in Harrison on August 11, 1913, the last man to be legally executed in Boone County.

Mitchell may have been one of the attorneys for Charles Stinnett, an African American man charged with rape in early 1909, whose arrest triggered the second wave of the expulsion of African Americans from Harrison. Stinnett was convicted and sentenced to death, but a request for reprieve sent to Governor George Washington Donaghey bears the signatures of both Mitchell and local lawyer Guy Trimble, suggesting that Mitchell was part of Stinnett’s defense team. (If he was part of Stinnett’s defense, then he played a role in all three legal executions carried out in Boone County.) During the Harrison Railroad Strike, Mitchell defended strikers, including Luther A. Wise and Hurley “Red” Orr in Boone County Circuit Court. In 1921, Mitchell personally attempted to sue the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad in federal court.

Mitchell was a Democratic delegate for the Third Congressional District to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention, held in 1917–1918.

In 1924, Mitchell ran again in the Democratic primaries as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, Third District. His opponents were incumbent John N. Tillman of Fayetteville (Washington County) and Claude A. Fuller of Eureka Springs (Carroll County). Mitchell ran exclusively on his anti–Ku Klux Klan beliefs, some of which likely stemmed from the circumstances surrounding the resolution of the Harrison Railroad Riot. Mitchell’s platform was simple: He was “against the Ku Klux Klan and the cowards who distress the poor behind masks.” To open his campaign, he delivered a stinging anti-Klan speech at Harrison on April 15, 1924. However, Tillman won the House seat.

On February 14, 1927, Mitchell’s home in Harrison was destroyed by fire when an oil lamp exploded. Mitchell was home alone when he discovered the kitchen in flames. Mitchell lost everything, including, according to the Madison County Record, “one of the most complete law libraries in the state.”

In April 1927, Mitchell suffered a stroke and never fully recovered. He died on November 21, 1927, while on business in Russellville (Pope County); coincidentally, the date was the fifteenth anniversary of the murder of Ella Barham, whose convicted murderer he had defended. He is interred in Rose Hill Cemetery in Harrison.

For additional information:
“Closing Words at the Funeral of E. G. Mitchell.” Harrison Daily Times, November 30, 1927, p. 1.

“Docket for Federal Court.” Harrison Daily Times, October 3, 1921, p. 1.

“E. G. Mitchell Candidate for Congress.” Yellville Mountain Echo, May 8, 1924, p. 2.

“E. G. Mitchell Is Victim of Illness.” Harrison Times, November 25, 1927, p. 1.

“Feasibility Study of Beaver Water Supply, Transmission System to City Is Released.” Harrison Daily Times, November 28, 1973, p. 18.

Gould, Nita. Remembering Ella: A 1912 Murder and Mystery in the Arkansas Ozarks. Little Rock: Butler Center Books, 2018.

“Harrison’s Waterworks.” Harrison Times, July 1, 1916, p.1.

Rea, Ralph R. Boone County and Its People. Van Buren, AR: Press Argus, 1955.

Nita Gould
Tulsa, Oklahoma