Tag: Roberts Wilson

Wilson v Scruggs and the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows

“And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!”

Just a few months after finally reaching a settlement with Dickie Scruggs in a lawsuit stretching back 15 years, attorney William Roberts Wilson has moved into the office space that once housed his nemesis’ law firm on Oxford’s Square.

“Ever since watching ‘Intruder in the Dust,’ I’ve wanted an office on the Square,” Wilson said. He had previously worked out of Tuscaloosa, but he said that, after a decade and a half of financial issues, he could afford to make the move.

Faulker’s Intruder in the Dust may have inspired Wilson.  However, it is the similarity of Wilson’s story to what one source called the “social hyporocrisy” and “irresistible comedy” of Twain’s  The Prince and the Pauper that comes to mind.

“Social hypocrisy” and “irresistible comedy” are so common on the Square that Wilson –  a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows attempting to assume the role of the King of Torts – should feel right at home.

The government made his move even more affordable today when it settled Wilson’s claim Continue reading “Wilson v Scruggs and the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows”

“Miz Lillian” and the Sun Herald on “bribe” Scruggs and others offered Judge Delaughter

A few years after Former president Jimmy Carter left office a woman reporter from Washington D. C. came to Plains, Georgia, to interview his mother Lillian Carter…[who] really didn’t want to be interviewed…[but]…when the reporter knocked at her door, Mrs. Carter invited her in. The reporter asked some hard questions and actually was rather aggressive, insensitive, pushy, and rude.

“I want to ask you a question,” she said. “Your son ran for the presidency on the premise that he would always tell the truth. Has he ever lied?”

Mrs. Carter said, “I think he’s truthful; I think you can depend on his word.” The reporter again asked if he had ever lied in his entire life.  His mother said, “Well, I guess maybe he’s told a little white lie.”

“Ah, see there!” the reporter exclaimed. “He’s lied! If he told a white lie, he has lied.” The reporter was still not satisfied and asked, “What is a white lie?”

To which Lillian Carter, now being the protective and wise mother said, “It’s like a moment ago when you knocked on the door and I went to the door and said I was glad to see you.”

Long one of my favorite stories, I’ve thought of it often as I’ve read about the “bribe” offered Judge Delaughter; and, it was the first thing that came to mind as I read Scruggs’s exploited judge’s ‘vulnerabilities’, Anita Lee’s story in the Sun Herald –  if you don’t count first thinking the computer linked me to the National Inquirer, not the front page of the Sun Herald (speaking of exploited).

To bribe Circuit Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter, Dickie Scruggs exploited two vulnerabilities, according to court records: DeLaughter’s close friendship to former Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters and “his known ambition to become a federal judge.” Continue reading ““Miz Lillian” and the Sun Herald on “bribe” Scruggs and others offered Judge Delaughter”