Percy Saint

Percy DuBose Saint Sr. (May 8, 1870 – August 13, 1958) was a lawyer and politician who served as the Louisiana attorney general from 1924 until 1932. He was an intraparty Democratic critic of Governor and U.S. Senator Huey Pierce Long, Jr.

Background

Saint was born in Franklin, the seat of government of St. Mary Parish in South Louisiana, one of eleven children tof physician John Davidson Saint and the former Ellen Jane DuBose (1840-1924), both natives of Alabama. He was educated in local private schools and attended the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa from 1888 to 1890. He subsequently graduated in 1893 from the Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.

From a first marriage to the former Mary Isabel Thorp on April 12, 1898, Saint had no children. On December 7, 1903, he married the former Cora Lee McCardell, daughter of Thomas McCardell and the former Lavinia Pelichet. The couple had a son, Percy DuBose Saint, Jr. (1908-1974), and a daughter, Mary Isabel, named for Saint's first wife. In 1893, Saint was admitted to the bar and served two years as a messenger in the United States Congress. He began his law practice in his native Franklin, where he edited the Franklin Vindicator News from 1898 until 1900.

Career

Saint was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1916 but served only one year before resigning in 1917. Saint was the district attorney of the 23rd Judicial District from 1907 until 1920. It is unclear if he resigned as district attorney to become state representative from 1916 to 1917 and then returned to the district attorney position or if he was simultaneously district attorney and state representative, a part-time position. Saint was district judge from 1920 to 1924. In 1922, Saint was assigned to the civil district court in New Orleans.

In 1928, Saint was one of the few state officials elected independently of the Long ticket when the Louisiana Kingfish procured his only term as governor before heading to the U.S. Senate. As attorney general, Saint faced the legal challenges of the Mississippi Flood of 1927.

In other matters relating to his nemesis Long, Attorney General Saint declared that Long should not have dispatched troops to raid gambling houses in Jefferson Parish without first having declared martial law. He also ruled that impeachment proceedings instituted in 1929 by some legislators, including Cecil Morgan of Shreveport, against Long were constitutional.

Long claimed that Saint acted in an arbitrary, politically-motivatged manner as as attorney general who "ruled laws off the books or back on the books as fast as the occasion required."

Saint retired from politics in 1932, when Oscar K. Allen of Winnfield was elected to succeed Long as governor.

Personal life

Saint was a member of the National Attorneys General Association; chairman, national crime commission, and member of the New Orleans and state bar associations. He was affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Masonic lodge. One of his political speeches was carried in the January 1925 edition of Louisiana Historical Quarterly, now Louisiana History, a publication of the Louisiana Historical Association. Saint died in New Orleans and is interred in Franklin.

The Saint House at 303 Main Street in Franklin was built in 1908. On the historic house tour of Franklin, the Saint House is styled in the manner of the Woodcraft movement with columns shingled with overlapping weatherboard. The front gable pediment has a wattle and daub treatment.