Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Foreman Brothers

Percy Foreman was a dynamic character, a voluble defense attorney who could charm a jury. He had a brother in their home town of Livingston who was named Zimmie. He was older than Percy but also was a lawyer, and never lost a case in his part of East Texas. Zimmie did not deal in grandiose deliveries, but he knew his juries. Both the Foreman brothers were over six feet tall, and were imposing in person. The big difference in appearance was that Zimmie had an artificial leg. This was the result of a riot at Camp Logan in Houston during World War I. Zimmie was in the Military Police unit of the U.S. Army and he drove a Model T Ford which was the forerunner of the Jeep. Camp Logan was on the outskirts of Houston and to leave this outpost and go to the Negro section of Houston, which was referred to as the "colored" section, you had to go through the best neighborhoods in the city. During this old war the black soldiers at Camp Logan were forbidden to pass through the affluent white neighborhoods. Many of them had girl friends and relatives in the "colored" section. This led to a riot at Camp Logan and it was during this unrest that Zimmie drove into a violent part of the outpost and a black soldier threw a grenade at his vehicle. Zimmie was in the hospital for a long time and ended up with an artificial leg. In spite of that he graduated from law school, but he chose to practice in his home town where he was widely respected. Zimmie had his clients and Percy had a different bunch of clients, and they only joined together to represent a client one time in their existence. Next I will tell you about this case and the outcome of their representation.

No comments: