Duncan Brown Cooper (April 21, 1844–November 4, 1922) was an American journalist, publisher and Democratic politician. He served in both the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

and in the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue rega ...

. In 1908, he became involved in a feud with a political opponent and newspaper competitor,

Edward W. Carmack Edward Ward Carmack (November 5, 1858November 9, 1908) was an attorney, newspaperman, and political figure who served as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1901 to 1907. Following his political service, and after an unsuccessful run for Governor ...

. Cooper warned Carmack that if his name appeared again in Carmack's newspaper, '' The Tennessean'', he would retaliate. Cooper and his son did in fact retaliate after Carmack ignored the warning and continued to attack and satirize Cooper. Carmack was shot and killed shortly thereafter. In the court case that followed Carmack's murder, Cooper and his son were convicted of second degree murder, and Duncan Cooper was given a sentence of 20 years in prison. His son was granted a new trial on appeal, but the prosecution decided against pursuing the case.

Early life

Duncan Brown Cooper was born at "Mulberry Hill" near Columbia, Maury County, Tennessee in 1844. He attended Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, now known as Washington & Jefferson College. His father was Matthew Delamere Cooper (1792–1878) and his mother, Marian Witherspoon (Brown) Cooper (1822–1861), was his father's third wife. His half-brother was

William Frierson Cooper William Frierson Cooper (March 11, 1820 – May 7, 1909) was a lawyer, planter and politician. He was nominated to the Supreme Court of the Confederate States of America by President Jefferson Davis, but the court never sat because of the American ...

(1820–1909), who became a member of the Tennessee Supreme Court and owned the Riverwood Mansion. His sister, Sarah, married Dr. Lucius Burch, a Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Their son was Lucius E. Burch, Jr.

Career

During the American Civil War, Cooper fought in the Confederate States Army. He was captured at Fort Donelson in Tennessee in 1862. He returned to Nashville after the war and became involved in politics. After the Reconstruction era, Cooper was elected as a Democratic state representative in 1881 and state senator in 1895. He was also the publisher of the '' Nashville American'', a conservative Democratic daily newspaper. Cooper worked on the 1908 gubernatorial campaign of

Malcolm R. Patterson Malcolm Rice Patterson (June 7, 1861 – March 8, 1935) was an American politician and jurist. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1901 to 1906, and as the 30th governor of Tennessee from 1907 to 1911. He later served as a circu ...

, who was elected and served as

Governor of Tennessee The governor of Tennessee is the head of government of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The governor is the only official in Tennessee state government who is directly elected by the voters of the entire state. The current governor is Bill Lee, a ...

from 1907 to 1911. Both Cooper and Patterson were opposed to prohibition. Patterson's gubernatorial opponent,

, was the editor of '' The Tennessean''. He grew embittered and published scathing articles about Cooper. On November 9, 1908, Cooper and his son Robin encountered Carmack on a Nashville street. Out of fear, Carmack fired first on the father and son, wounding the son. Robin Cooper retaliated, killing Carmack. During the first trial, both Cooper and his son Robin were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Governor Patterson granted a pardon to Cooper and saved him from jail. Shortly after, Robin was granted a second trial on appeal. He was released after the prosecutor decided not to retry the case. However, he was still vilified in the temperance press and shunned by Nashvillians. Governor Patterson found that he had damaged his political career by pardoning Cooper. Also, Patterson's veto of a popular prohibition bill in 1909 and his attempts to control the state Democratic primaries in 1910 created a division in the party that allowed Ben W. Hooper to become the first Republican governor elected in the state in nearly 30 years.

Personal life

In 1865, Cooper married Florence Fleming (1843-1870); the couple had three children. After her death, he remarried, to Mary Polk Jones (1856-1893). They had five children. In 1909, Cooper inherited Riverwood, his late brother's mansion.

Death

Cooper died in 1922, aged 78. He was buried in the cemetery of Zion Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Tennessee.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Duncan Brown 1844 births 1922 deaths People from Maury County, Tennessee Journalists from Nashville, Tennessee Politicians from Nashville, Tennessee Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Democratic Party Tennessee state senators American newspaper publishers (people) Prohibition in the United States American politicians convicted of murder Tennessee politicians convicted of crimes People convicted of murder by Tennessee Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons Confederate States Army personnel