|
Book recalls earlier courtroom era
This newspaper’s July 2000 story that announced the sad news of Marcellus Buchanan’s death opened like this: “‘The buck stops here.’ The engraved sign that graced the desk of Solicitor Marcellus Buchanan and was displayed on a memorabilia table at his funeral typified the man most knew simply as “Buck.”
“He was a man who gave you a lot of latitude, but who always had to have his way,” state Sen. John Snow said 10 years ago about Buchanan. “Everybody who worked with him knew exactly where the buck stopped.”
That sentiment was echoed by his longtime assistant last week during a ceremony to dedicate the section of U.S. 23/74 from Exit 81 to Exit 85 as the Marcellus Buchanan III Highway.
“Buck was always in charge and always right,” said Marion Jones, who worked as Buchanan’s assistant for the 20 years (1967-87) Buchanan was solicitor (district attorney) for the 30th Prosecutorial District.
Buchanan might have relished being in charge, but he also always looked out for the little guy.
“He had a heart as big as a watermelon, was generous to a fault, and always believed in helping the little people. He was always fair,” Snow told The Herald in 2000.
Last Wednesday, Jones said Buchanan always told him to look out for the “one-gallus boys,” by which he meant the country people who sometimes only had one strap on their overalls.
Sitting in the Justice Center last week as Jones, Snow, state transportation board member Conrad Burrell and state Rep. Phil Haire recalled the former solicitor, I realized I was probably one of the few people present without a personal recollection of Buchanan. Though I was working at this newspaper during his last three years as solicitor, I started out in advertising so our paths didn’t cross.
Luckily for those like me who weren’t fortunate enough to experience Buchanan’s larger-than-life personality firsthand, the book he co-wrote with another Jackson County native, Bob Terrell, titled “Disorder in the Court,” is still available. Terrell, a prolific regional author who grew up in Addie, died last year. He was a writer and columnist for the Asheville Citizen-Times and once described the relationship between him and Buchanan as “cousins somewhere down the line.”
“Marcellus was funny and fun to be around,” Terrell told The Herald in 2000. “After hearing him give a humorous speech one evening, I told him we needed to write a book together. So he would tell the stories to his secretary, who would type them up and send them to me. I had more trouble writing that book because I laughed so much.”
Despite the fact that North Carolina lawmakers in 1973 decided to rename its solicitors, Buchanan rejected the new title of district attorney and remained the 30th District’s solicitor until his retirement. In the book, Buchanan explains why he felt that way.
The prosecuting official for the state of North Carolina has through the years been known as the “solicitor.” It is a designation I revere and it has always drawn into my thinking the one who controls and prosecutes the criminal dockets in our state. It conjures up memories of such able men as John M. Queen, Thad Bryson and Glenn Brown, all of whom held the office and served North Carolina with distinction.
Buchanan went on to say that not long after the statute that changed the name of the job to district attorney was enacted, he received a memo advising him that most solicitors had chosen to become district attorneys and suggesting that, for the sake of uniformity, all solicitors adopt the new title.
Seldom do I respond to memorandums, but this one was in my opinion deserving of some reply. I immediately dictated to my secretary the following reply, and I print it here in its entirety: “Receipt is acknowledged of your memorandum of July 2, 1973. Kindest regards, Marcellus Buchanan, Superior Court SOLICITOR.”
In his “Disorder in the Court” story titled “Who’s Driving,” Buchanan tells a tale on the late Charlie Hipps, who was district attorney for the 30th District from 1990 until his death in 2003. Hipps had worked as one of Buchanan’s assistant solicitors during the 1980s.
Charlie Hipps of Waynesville ... was a superb trial lawyer and one of the finest men who ever worked for my organization.
During a court session in Jackson County in the trial of a rather complicated breaking and entering case that had been investigated by a member of the State Bureau of Investigation, the SBI agent became a problem. He thought he knew more about the trial preparation and the order of presentation of evidence than Hipps.
We were unable to convince him that Hipps knew how his case should be presented, in what order, what evidence should be put before the jury and what should not. We had numerous recesses, and at each recess the SBI agent would approach Charlie and give him unsolicited advice.
Finally, Charlie reached the breaking point. I was standing next to him when the agent offered too much advice. Charlie threw back his head, looked the agent in the eye and said, “Why don’t you just load the wagon, and I’ll drive the team.”
|
