Cline recalls practicing law in early days of courthouse
By BARRY HALVORSON bhalvorson@journal-spectator.com

For nearly as long as the current Wharton County Courthouse has been in place, a Cline has practiced law in Wharton.

And most of those years belong to William Cline, 97, who started his law career in 1931 and said in a recent interview that he can't recall any sound problems in the courtroom before the recently completed renovation.

"I never noticed a problem when I was there," he said. "I did notice when I went up there after it reopened that there could be a problem."

But he added the project was successful in its main goal. "The courthouse is more beautiful," he said. "It looks better than it ever has."

The first of the family to practice law in Wharton was Cline's father, who was hired by local attorney Billy Brooks in 1899. Cline's own son, William Jr., practiced for a while locally and is now an attorney in Wimberley while his grandson Scott Cline also began his career in Wharton before moving to San Antonio.

The most notable case Cline was involved in was representing Jackie Robinson in a court-martial case during World War II. Robinson had been charged in the case with refusal to obey an order of a superior officer during war time and conduct unbecoming an officer at Fort Hood in Killeen.

"Both are serious offenses," Cline said. "It developed out of a bus incident in which the driver told Robinson to move to the back of the bus. While Texas was still segregated, the U.S. Army had issued a ruling against segregation and Jackie knew about it."

Cline said he wasn't Robinson's initial choice for representation.

"I was assigned as his defense attorney," he said. "But we met and he said he had requested an attorney from the NAACP. A couple of days later he was calling me back saying he wanted me. I knew he'd been an All-American football player at UCLA, but didn't realize he was such a good baseball player until he broke the color line.

"But representing Jackie did establish me with the black community as an attorney that would work for them."

And while he did make a connection with the famous in Robinson, Cline said he almost ended up representing the infamous. He said Bonnie and Clyde once traveled through Wharton County, but were able to escape a roadblock. As an attorney, Cline said he might have been assigned to their case had they been captured locally. Cline had experience in trying criminal cases. Among the first was a murder in the Glen Flora area.

"Attorneys back then were assigned to indigent cases and not paid anything," he said. "One of my first was an incident where a man had been shooting dice and lost some money. He walked to his home, got a shotgun and blew the other guy's brains out. I didn't win that one."

He did, however, have his share of victories.

"The case I remember the most was a man from the Crescent area charged with cruelty to animals," he said. "There was a man who shot what everyone in the area knew was an 'egg-sucking' dog. The man's sister was a widow, lived with him and her only income was hatching chickens from eggs."

The problem, Cline said, was the dog was owned by the area superintendent of schools.

"He had some influence in the community because of his position. The trial lasted only one day, but we had 36 witnesses and we had each of them testify and the man was acquitted."

Cline grew up around the courthouse. In addition to his father being a practicing attorney, the courthouse and grounds also served as his childhood playground.

"We lived along the river only a block from the courthouse, so we were always playing there," he said.

"Depending on the time of year, it was marbles or tops and then water pistols. I remember one of my contemporaries was Thomas Abel, who went on to become county judge.

"I remember one time we where shooting water pistols and he ran out of ammunition and filled his gun in the horse trough and then shot me in the mouth. I took exception to that and threw my gun at him, breaking his tooth. But we were always friends."

Cline also recalls using the courthouse fire escape as a piece of playground equipment.

"It was a slide and we'd go down it on wet burlap sacks, flying off the end to see who could get the most distance," he said. "Then all the kids would pool their money and go across the street. We could buy a pound of bulk cookies for a quarter. Once we'd get 25 cents together, we'd get to the store and then share the cookies out."

As a life-long Wharton resident, Cline said he couldn't have grown up in a better place or a better environment.

"Wharton has always been a special place," he said. "I'm glad I had the opportunity to grow up here and spend my life here. I couldn't have picked a better place to live."