Marcus Aurelius Smith (January 24, 1851 – April 7, 1924) was an American attorney and politician who served eight terms as Arizona territorial delegate to Congress and as one of the first two senators from Arizona. As a delegate, he was a leader in the effort to gain statehood for Arizona. His non-voting status, however, minimized his influence with only 35 of the 277 bills he introduced into the House of Representatives being signed into law. Lack of a voice in the United States Senate further weakened his efforts as he managed to get Arizona statehood bills passed by the House only to see the legislation blocked in the Senate. Beyond his efforts for statehood, Smith worked to have government buildings constructed and to provide relief to his constituents affected by either man-made or natural misfortunes. His efforts to provide relief to the citizens of Arizona did not extend to the indigenous population, for whom Smith expressed great animosity.
Smith was a dedicated conservative for most of his political career. This changed following his electoral defeat in 1908. As Smith campaigned to become one of Arizona's first two senators he became a progressive. In this new role, he was a firm supporter of Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom initiatives.
Background Smith was born on January 24, 1851, near Cynthiana, Kentucky, as the youngest of seven sons to Frederick Chinn and Agnes Ball (Chinn) Smith. His family were successful farmers who also raised livestock. He and his brothers were educated at a combination of public and private schools. In 1868 Smith enrolled at Kentucky University (now Transylvania University) where he initially studied classics. After his graduation in 1872 he enrolled in the university's law school. Smith graduated from law school at the top of his class in 1876.
Following his graduation, Smith worked for the Lexington legal firm of Huston & Mulligan. In 1877 he was admitted to the Kentucky bar. The same year saw him elected to a two-year term as prosecuting attorney for Lexington. After completing his term of office, Smith moved to San Francisco, California, where with the assistance of his cousin, newspaperman William T. Coleman, he established a legal practice. While in California he met and married Elizabeth Rathbone. The marriage produced no children.
Tombstone From California, Smith moved to the boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona Territory. There he became one of the first attorneys in Cochise County when Judge William Henry Stilwell admitted him to the territorial bar on May 9, 1881. He established a law practice with Ben Goodrich and quickly gained a reputation with his lively courtroom style. An example of this came when a donkey located outside a courtroom window began braying while opposing counsel was making a long speech. Smith used the resulting laughter as reason to object to "two attorneys arguing a case in the court simultaneously." In addition to his legal practice, Smith acquired an interest in a local mining operation during December 1881. To this initial stake he added three other mines during the next two years and gained a reputation as an up-and-coming mine owner. During his leisure time, Smith enjoyed fishing the San Pedro River, hunting, or spending time at the local saloons.
Smith became active in Democratic Party politics during Cochise County's "cowboy" troubles. When the U.S. Federal Government threatened to impose martial law, Smith became a leader of the plan's opposition. Believing that public safety was as established in the county as in other parts of the United States, he became a candidate for district attorney in September 1882. He won his race and served a single term beginning in 1883. While he was in office he was noted for the fairness and efficiency he displayed in his duties, always presenting well prepared and researched cases. After leaving office in 1885 he returned to his private legal practice.
Territorial Delegate The 1886 Democratic territorial convention nominated Smith for the office of Territorial Delegate over longer serving possibilities such as Peter R. Brady and Albert C. Baker. The same convention created a party platform calling for free silver, territorial home rule, opposition to Chinese immigration, granting territorial delegates the right to vote, and support of the Cleveland administration. Smith's opponent was the incumbent, Curtis C. Bean. During the campaign, Smith and his supporters focused on two issues. In the 1884 campaign, Bean promised to resign if a Democratic president was elected that year. He failed to keep the promise after Grover Cleveland was elected president. Second, when the Tres Alamos land claim in Cochise County was presented to the U.S. Congress for final confirmation, Bean had taken no action even though ratification of the claim had resulted in 300 settlers being displaced. Smith in turn had no political record to defend and won the November 2, 1886, election.
With the first session of the 50th United States Congress not beginning till December 1887, Smith remained in Arizona practicing law until August 1887. This time period also saw him become a director of Tombstone's Grand Central Mining Company. When Congress finally convened, Smith was assigned to the Committees on Mines and Mining and Private Land Claims. He additionally served as a member of the Special Committee on the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of the First President.
During his first term, Smith introduced 41 bills. The subjects of these bills included a request to grant Arizona Territory another justice for the Territorial Supreme Court, authorization for Maricopa county to issue bonds, twenty bills providing financial reimbursement for losses suffered due to Civil War actions and Indian depredations, and six bills that would grant right of way to railroads and water companies to cross Indian reservations. Smith's first speech from the House floor came on March 31, 1888, when he spoke against creation of a Court of Private Land Claims. The court was intended to streamline the process by which Spanish and Mexican land grants were recognized by the United States government. In the wake of the troubles caused by James Addison Reavis and his Peralta land grant fraud, Smith argued that such a court would advantage large land claimants over smaller holders. Instead of creating a special court, Smith suggested that existing local courts could instead determine the validity of land claims. When it became apparent that the Court of Private Land Claims was to be created, Smith attempted to have Arizona excluded from the court's jurisdiction by arguing the territory had less than a dozen land claims, only two of which had any validity.
During the course of his career, Smith regularly spoke in favor of developing water resources in the West. His first term saw the introduction of a bill to survey Arizona to identify suitable sites for storage dams and reservoirs and to reserve the land at any located sites. Another topic on which he routinely expressed his opinion was dealing with the territory's indigenous population. His views on the subject are shown in a speech he gave on February 18, 1890, when Smith said, "We of the West are not brutal or even unjust to the Indian, but we sympathize more with civilization than with savagery. We much desire to see the Indian improved and the white man protected. We wish to see a human being made out of the Apache Indian." Toward this end, Smith advocated in his first term against increasing the size of Indian reservations, claiming much of Arizona's best real estate had already been given to "a lot of idle, vagabond, murderous Indians".
As his first term neared an end, Smith received his party's nomination for a second term in September 1888. His Republican challenger was Thomas F. Wilson who argued Benjamin Harrison would win the Presidential election of 1888 and Arizona would do better with a territorial delegate of the same party as the incoming President. After reading the speeches Smith had given while in the House most Arizona settlers felt the first term delegate had done a good job representing their interests, allowing him to win an easy electoral victory. Much of the margin of victory coming from voters in the Gila River valley who agreed with Smith's opposition to the Court of Private Land Claims.
In 1889, Smith began developing political connections in Maricopa County. With the rapid growth of Phoenix increasing the political influence of county, Smith purchased an ownership interest in the Arizona Gazette to ensure a friendly newspaper in the area. Professionally, Smith joined with Ben Goodrich and Webster Street to found the legal firm of Goodrich, Street & Smith. Despite the firm's office being located in Phoenix, the partners traveled the territory and practiced where there was need for their services. Finally, with Governor C. Meyer Zulick falling out of political favor, Smith took steps to distance himself.
Wham robbery trial While waiting to return for the next session of Congress, Smith's new legal firm became defense counsel for the Wham Paymaster Robbery trial. The case involved the May 1889 ambush of a U.S. Army detachment transporting roughly US$26,000 in gold coins between Fort Grant and Fort Thomas. Based largely upon reports the black soldiers assigned as guards for the payroll that the robbers had fled toward the Mormon town of Solomonville, eight men had been arrested for the crime. After taking the case, Smith and his partner, Ben Goodrich, performed extensive prep work.
The trial began in November 1889 with Judge Richard E. Sloan running a strict courtroom. Smith used his preparatory work to attack the prosecution's case. During his testimony, Major Joseph Washington Wham, who had been in command of the payroll detachment, identified newly minted coins in the safe deposit box of one of the defendants as coming from the coins stolen during the robbery. During cross examination, Smith asked Wham to separate the identified coins from similar ones borrowed from a local bank. Wham was unable to do so. Smith followed this by pointing out that U.S. Marshall William K. Meade had not gone to the site of the attack to check a claim that following the robbery the robbers had fled directly to Mexico. During closing arguments, Smith played upon the biases of the jurors and criticized the court. When Judge Sloan rebuked Smith over the criticisms, Smith feigned ignorance about the judge's concerns. It was not until Smith was threatened with a US$500 fine that the defense counsel backed down. At the end of the trial the defense won an acquittal.
The effect of the trial to Smith's reputation lasted for years. Even though none of the defendants were Mormon, attitude of the day blamed Mormons for the robbery. Smith refused to play upon this attitude by suggesting Mormon involvement as part of his defense. As a result, the Territorial Delegate was able to count on a large portion of the "Mormon vote" for the remainder of his political career. At the same time, Smith was accused of receiving some of the stolen gold as part of his legal fees. An example of this is a Tucson Citizen cartoon depicting the defendants and defense attorneys with the caption "The Wham Robbers – Which is Mark Smith?"