Last week The Times and Democrat printed an article written by me years ago that first appeared in the quarterly periodical of the Supreme Court Historical Society. The society’s members are professional legal scholars and gave The T&D permission to reprint it. It described in detail some of my experience as a 14-16-year-old page at the court when it resided in the U.S. Capitol Building in the 1920s.

Seeing it again reminded me of the strict factual standards a professional society demands. When they got it in the mail, they telephoned me to do some fact checking. They said they loved my article. But in it I said I carried Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes in a private elevator and was nervous about getting it level with the floor so as not to risk the great old man tripping and falling. I also had written that Justice Sanford and Chief Justice Taft had died on the same day, March 8, 1930. They couldn’t find the elevator and records showed Sanford dying a day later. What about it?

The elevator in question, which I operated, was indeed private, for the nine justices and their wives. I called them back and redescribed its location. They found it; it was no longer used but I was in the clear. I had operated it with my famous old passenger inside.

Now to the same-day deaths. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had died on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. No doubt about it. Americans are intrigued by coincidental same-day deaths.

Chief Justice Taft retired in February 1930. He was beginning to fade after a career of 44 years in high office. Three weeks later he died in his bed, March 8. Justice Sanford died in the waiting room of his dentist, after a tooth extraction, tough in 1930. He had a stroke and was carried to an ambulance. It was a Saturday morning. He may have died instantly but certainly that day (March 8, 1930). He never spoke or recovered consciousness.

Well, the society printed my article as written and expressed its satisfaction. The subject was one that fascinated its members.

Some newspapers have been plagued with inaccuracies and downright lies. They print occasional mea culpas and almost daily corrections and explanations. The New York Times and the Washington Post, two of our most prestigious, have had to expose several reporters who wrote whole series of untruthful and fictional articles.

I’ve lived dangerously on occasion and written about some bizarre life happenings. Falling up to my armpits in a fish gut tank in a cannery in Monterey, Calif., for example. Having a wild hawk sit on my head while bicycling in Winnetka, Ill. Riding alone on elevators with Herbert Hoover, Mrs. Winston Churchill and Hedy LaMarr. We barely spoke but Hedy gave me a brilliant smile.

Woodrow Wilson waved to me when I was 7 years old standing outside his house on S Street. John Benjamin Mattingly, my grandfather, was an eyewitness, but he died in 1925.

I’ve had some odd experiences, happy memories, but they’re all actualities. I’m just glad the Historical Society fact checked me on two items and I sailed through. Absolute, unadulterated truth can be just as fascinating as its alternative.

Attorney Austin Cunningham has been the president of five business companies and in 1988 was named Outstanding Elder Citizen of the Year for South Carolina.

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