Fisticuffs on the Courthouse Lawn and other Political Drama

Fisticuffs on the Courthouse Lawn and other Political Drama. Spotsylvania Court House National Historic District. , Like his father before him, Samuel Powell became involved in politics. In 1906, he served as a Representative on the Republican Committee and in that same year, lost his run for chairman to R.C. Blaydes. In 1910, he lost to Blaydes again. Powell did not take defeat gracefully. He wrote to the Fredericksburg paper, The Daily Star, that Blaydes was corrupt and used underhanded tactics., Political drama continued in 1912, when Powell and W.D. Carter were opposing attorney in a chancery case in Spotsylvania. Powell submitted to the court that allegations made by Carter in the suit were "maliciously false and untrue." Carter later found Powell in the Clerk's office. The newspaper article (below right) recounts the events., Both individuals pleaded guilty in court and the men were fined $6 each., More drama ensued when Powell was elected to the House of Delegates in 1914. He compiled a long list of charges of corruption against Circuit Judge Richard Henry Lee Chichester (left). The House voted to impeach Chichester, but the Virginia Senate refused. Ten years later, Chichester was appointed to the Virginia Supreme Court., [Captions:] , Powell as he appeared in 1914, the same year he was elected to the House of Delegates., William Douglas Carter (left) was born in or near Louisville, KY in 1861. He moved to the area in 1904, and established a practice in Fredericksburg. He returned to Louisville in the late 1920's, before dying there in 1931., The article that appeared in The Daily Star after the fight.