Herbert Clay
Herbert Clay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of the Georgia State Senate | |
| In office June 22, 1921 – June 22, 1923 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel L. Olive |
| Succeeded by | George H. Carswell |
| Member of the Georgia State Senate from the 39th district | |
| In office June 22, 1921 – June 22, 1923 | |
| Preceded by | Charles J. Harben |
| Succeeded by | Pierce B. Latimer |
| Mayor of Marietta, Georgia | |
| In office 1911–1912 | |
| Preceded by | E. P. Dobbs |
| Succeeded by | J. J. Black |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Eugene Herbert Clay October 3, 1881 Marietta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | June 22, 1923 (aged 41) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses |
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| Children | Eugene Jr. |
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Lucius D. Clay (brother) |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation |
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Eugene Herbert Clay (October 3, 1881 – June 22, 1923) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Marietta, Georgia, and one of the ringleaders in the lynching of Leo Frank.[1][2]
He was born in Marietta, Georgia to Senator Alexander S. Clay and Frances (née White) Clay.[3][4] Clay attended the University of Georgia and the Mercer University, graduating in from the latter with an LL.B.[3][4] He was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity.[3][4] He served as the mayor of Marietta, Georgia from 1911 to 1912.[3] He was twice elected Solicitor General of the Blue Ridge Circuit and served on the State Democratic Committee.[3]
In 1915, he helped plan the lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish-American factory superintendent whose murder conviction and extrajudicial hanging in 1915 by a lynch mob drew attention to questions of antisemitism in the United States.[1]
He married Virginia Hudson of Pocahontas, Virginia, on December 27, 1919.[3] He also had one son, Eugene Herbert Clay, Jr., by a prior marriage.[3] In the fall of 1920, he was elected to the Georgia Senate.[3] He was president of the Georgia Senate as of 1922.[3] On June 22, 1923, Clay died suddenly of a heart attack in the Wilmot Hotel at Atlanta, Georgia.[5]
His youngest brother was General Lucius D. Clay a senior officer of the United States Army who was later known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II.
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Oney, Steve And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank
- ^ Alphin, Elaine Marie Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Daniel Decatur Moore (1922). Men of the South: A Work for the Newspaper Reference Library. Southern Biographical Association. p. 434.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c Chi Phi (1924). The Chi Phi Fraternity, Centennial Memorial Volume. The Council. p. 216.
- ^ "Herbert Clay Dies Suddenly". The Macon Telegraph. Macon, GA. June 23, 1923. p. 7.
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- 1881 births
- 1923 deaths
- 20th-century mayors of places in Georgia (U.S. state)
- Mayors of Marietta, Georgia
- Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators
- Lynching in the United States
- American white supremacists
- Mercer University alumni
- University of Georgia alumni
- 20th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly
- 20th-century American murderers
- Georgia (U.S. state) politician stubs
- American crime biography stubs