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17; '-yOOO
Russell holds court over history
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Judge Dan Russell relaxes on the concrete -G? bench that his 1931 Honor Society donated to the Gulfport High School when they graduated. They also planted the massive oak tree that the bench surrounds.
Judge Dan M. Russel] Jr. has been involved in many historical moments during his long tenure as an attorney and as a U. S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. He was in private practice for 25 years and has served as U.S. District Judge for 35 years. One of his highest moments was the recent decision that the proposed $60 million eight-story Federal Building would be constructed on the west side of the old Gulfport High School building, where he graduated in May 1931. The building will house the offices and courtrooms of the U.S. District Judges and the bankruptcy judges. Other offices will be in the original school building. In 1958, after his father's death and at his father?s instructions, Judge Russell deeded to the school the two-story family home and property at the back of the school, as did several property' owners. This makes the property even more important to Judge Russell.
Like father, like son
He was one of four boys and two girls bom to Judge Dan M. Russell Sr. and his wife, Beulah Watkins Russell, in Magee. Miss. His father was the Chancery Judge of the 10th District before he bacame a law professor at Ole Miss from 1922 through 1926.
He received his law degree from Ole Miss and while there continued his journalistic efforts as editor of The Mississippian. He was practicing law in Bay St Louis when World War II was declared and immediately went into Naval Intelligence in 1941. He was one of the 15 officers who opened the base at Burwood, La., which was three miles north of the SouthWest Pass of the Mississippi River. It was strategically placed, since German subs were lurking in the gulf near the mouth of the river. The German subs sunk over 65 Allied ships in that area in an
18-month period. Judge Russell assisted in stopping this action and handing over a lighthouse keeper as a German spy. He attained the rank of lieutenant commander.
Upon his return to his law practice in Bay St. Louis, he found open corruption among some elected officials with slot machines in every grocery store, barroom and bus station in the area and rampant bootlegging. He set about to clean up the area.
He married after his return from the Navy. He and his wife, the former Dot Tudury, have three children.
Judge Russell practiced law for 25 years before he was appointed U. S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi by former President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was his friends, Sens. James 0. Eastland and John Stennis, who recommended him for this honor.
Working in interesting times
His appointment to judgeship in 1965 came on the brink of the civil rights legislation and desegregation cases. He handled 48 forced integration cases himself and tried the Jackson school case five times before it was resolved. Shortly after he became judge, he was given the famous Vernon Dahmer case, in which Ku Klux Klan members were accused of murder and other crimes. It ended in a mistrial.
A number of his rulings have brought him national publicity, not
all favorable. The 1968 trial of the mail fraud case against the infamous and colorful Rev. Charles J. Jessup was written up in the April 12,1999 issue of New Yorker magazine, along with the reverend?s life story. His comments on the case ? ?Reverend, instead of praying for the multitudes, you have been preying upon them" ? gained him a spot in Reader?s Digest.
He?s still on the go. Russell has just been handed the Jones Park issue, which will pit the Jones descendants against the city of Gulfport.
He feels strongly that some of the cases that come before the federal courts today are frivolous and should never reach that court For example, the issue about the dress code in Jackson County.
He reminds us that had the students had a ?judge? in their home like his mother, and his elementary school principal, Ms. Hattie Turnip-seed, there would be no argument about what to wear to school. His mother had a sacred peach tree from which the children had to break their own switch and after she wrapped it around their legs a few times, he says, ?We never questioned her 'ruling."?
One of the highlights of his life was the trips he made with his friend, Sen. James 0. Eastland, to South Africa, Rhodesia, Yugoslavia and the Adriatic Sea. They, along with several other buddies, attended 14
The Russell file
Among Judge Russell?s most interesting cases:
?	48 desegregation cases.
?	Rev. Charles J. Jessup's mail fraud case.
?	151 mail bomb cases.
?	Vemon Dahmer/Ku Klux Klan case.
?	Witchcraft lawsuit.
?	Reapportionment of legislative districts (3 times).
?	Dawson Gang's bank robberies.
?	B. A. Fox extortion trial.
Super Bowls.
When he's not on the bench . ..
Judge Russell is a frequent speakc at Bar Association meetings and wi honored to bring the eulogy for his longtime friend and fellow judge, tb late Hon. Harry Walker, at the Russell, Walker and Blass Chapter of the American Inns of Court. He ha: been a member of First Baptist Church of Bay St. Louis for 61 year and is a lifetime deacon.
Judge Russell wants the people o: South Mississippi to know ?it has been a privilege of mine to have served for 35 years as your judge through the many changes in the national, state and local governmei Some have been good and some bad. It has been a wonderful expet ence and I want to express my thanks to those who have assisted me and the federal judicial system for allowing me to serve.?
It is impossible to list all of his memberships, the offices he has held in all the organizations and associations, the awards and even the cases, but it reads like a book.
Perhaps his colleague, Judge Henry T. Wingate, expressed it b< in 1990 during one of Russell?s ?hangings,? when a painting of hi: likeness was hung in the Sen. Jan 0. Eastland Federal Building in J; son: ?Judge Russell is a judicial cc poser of lyrical opinions who recc nizes that it takes both the black; white keys of the piano to play?T Star-Spangled Banner,? Wingate said. ?Overall, I find the painting, quate, but deficient in one respec that it fails to show truly the gian1 stature of a Mississippi hero.? '
by Ada Reid
Slant on Seniors