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Capt. W. A. Fuller
Captain W. A. Fuller's death
yesterday morning at 3:25 o'clock coming as it did even upon
previous announcements of his dangerous illness was a surprise
to his many friends in Atlanta and throughout the state.
The funeral services will be conducted on Friday afternoon at 2
o'clock at the residence of Captain Fuller No. 327 Washington
Street by Dr. John E. White. The body will be carried to
Oakland Cemetery and according to the request of the deceased,
will be placed in the receiving vault and will remain there four
or five days when it will be taken to its final resting place in
the family lot in that cemetery.
Pallbearers will be A. J.
McBride, A. P. Stewart, Arnold Broyles, Clark Howell Jr., G. W.
Stewart, C. P. Goree, T. C. Irvin, and E. W. Martin.
Last fall Captain Fuller
discovered a slight sore on the back of his neck but at first
gave it no particular attention. It continued to grow
worse and October 2 a carbuncle developed with soon grew in size
and malignancy until the Captain was compelled to take his
bed. That was November 14th. Notwithstanding the
fact that the best medical skill in the city was almost
constantly in attendance and that we was given the closest
possible attention by the members of his family. Captain
Fuller continued to grow weaker and weaker. The progress
of the carbuncle itself was successfully combated after more
than a month's work by the physicians but a few days ago the
blood poison came to the aid of the original malady and though
the patient fought for right he was finally compelled to
capitulate. All through life Captain Fuller had been a
temperate man full of health, with a strong robust constitution
and an indomitable willpower. It was the use of these
which kept him alive many days upon that sick bed. Even to
the very last he manifested that combative disposition he showed
in the famous race and capture of the Andrews raiders in 1862
when he was but 26 years of age.
Captain William A. Fuller was
for many years one of the prominent citizens of Atlanta and was
identified with the upbuilding of the place as much almost as
any man in it. He came to Atlanta in 1855 and went to work
on the Western and Atlantic road as a conductor. It was
Captain Fuller's train the Andrew raiders cut in two at Big
Shanty in 1862 in their effort to burn the bridges between
Atlanta and Chattanooga and it was Captain Fuller's remarkable
and tireless pursuit only that frustrated that work and brought
about the capture of the raiders. That fear had it been
accomplished would have broken the line by which the confederate
army at Chattanooga and Knoxville was fed from Atlanta where
great stories of provisions were housed.
FAMOUS ANDREWS RAID
It was on the morning of April
12 that Captain Fuller's train from Atlanta stopped at Big
Shanty for breakfast. At Marietta a number of men boarded
the train all wearing citizen's clothing each one ticketed to
different points. When the train stopped at Big Shanty and
Captain Fuller and Engineer Cain entered the eating house the
men who had boarded the train at Marietta emerged from the coach
as Andrews, leader of the party, stepped to the door and called
them. The full details of the work were arranged the night
before in a room in a Marietta hotel. Each man went
quietly about his task and within two or three minutes after the
train's crew had sat down to breakfast one of the raiders, an
engineer--there were three engineers in the party--and another
man climbed upon the engine. Andrews stepped in front of
the foreward passenger car just as though he was discharging a
duty and drew the coupling pin. There were three boxcars
in front of the passenger coach and into one of these the men
had already jumped. Then stepping to the engine Andrews
jumped aboard, the engineer opened the throttle and the train
stealers were off. Captain Fuller was sitting at the
breakfast table facing the train. He heard the exhaust and
looking up saw his train, at least a portion of it drawing
away. Leaping to his feet he rushed to the door and as he
reached it he saw the last boxcar disappearing around the curve
a short distance up the road. Captain Fuller didn't stop
to consider the situation but on foot started up the track after
the fleeing train. A mile away he secured a hand car and
with Anthony Murphy, now one of Atlanta's prominent citizens and
Engineer Cain, and a volunteer or two started after the General,
for that was the engine which was pulling away from him.
The story of that chase and the subsequent capture of Captain
Andrews and his party has been told in prose and in
poetry. How Fuller, when he found his hand car stopped by
torn away rails carried it over and renewed the chase, how he
secured the Yonah, a spur track engine and came in sight of the
fugitives, how Andrews bluffed and deceived conductors of
meeting trains so that he might get by, how he tore up track
time and time again, how the wires were cut, how cross ties were
thrown from the fugitive train to wreck the pursuers--this and
more has been told. A hundred miles from the starting
point the General was overtaken and the raiders took to the
woods. How not content with what he had done, Fuller
sprang from his engine, he had used three in the chase, and
joined in that hunt is a part of history. But for the work
Fuller and his companions did that raid would have a
success. A man with less nerve, less determination, less
resourceful in emergencies than was Captain Fuller would have
abandoned the chase long before it was half over. A dozen
versions of that daring raid and pursuit have been presented in
book form and while no two are exactly alike there is not one
which does not either commend or blame Captain Fuller for
frustrating the plans and capturing the raiders.
STORY OF HIS CAREER
It's a peculiar, but high niche
to which Captain Fuller is entitled not only in the history of
Georgia and the confederacy, but in the history of the United
States. Captain William Allen Fuller was born on April 15,
1836, in Henry, now Clay county, Georgia. He was the
fourth son of William Alexander Fuller, a native of Morgan
county, Georgia. His grandfather, John Fuller was born in
Camden district, S. C. in the year 1749. When quite a
young man, he (John F) enlisted in General Washington's
command. He was under the immediate command of General
Gates at the battle of Camden, when that general was defeated
and General DeKalb was slain. Captain Fuller was educated
at Philadelphia Academy in Clayton county. (An unreadable
sentence follows and begins with) to Atlanta to make this city
his home in the fall of 1855. On September 8 of that year
he entered the service of the Western and Atlantic railroad and
continued in that service for about twenty years. During
the two years of the Bulloch administration just after the civil
war he served in different capacities for the Macon and Western
railroad the highest position occupied by him being that of
general ticket and passenger agent. He retired from the
railroad service in 1870 and entered the mercantile business in
Atlanta which he continued until 1881. After a short
service with the old Georgia Pacific railroad, he retired from
active business life and has since been attending to private
interests. In 1860 he married Miss Lula Asher, of Murray
county, Georgia. By her he had four children the oldest of
whom, Baxter C. Fuller was a graduate of the Boys' High school
and a general favorite among his acquaintances. None of
Captain Fuller's first family survive him. His first wife
having died in 1872, he married in 1874 Miss Susan Alford of
Griffin, Ga., and he is survived by her and and five children;
William A. Fuller, Jr., Miss Nina K. Fuller, Miss Lela Bell
Fuller, Miss Annie Laurie Fuller and Nellie Louise Fuller.
He was a man of strong mind and body and had many friends
especially among the older citizens of Atlanta. During the
last few years of his life he read assiduously and was
thoroughly posted on most scientific literary and political
subjects.
DETAIL FROM VETERANS
The following members of
Atlanta camp, No. 159 United Confederate Veterans, are detailed
to attend the funeral of Comrade William A. Fuller from his late
residence, 327 Washington Street, at 2 o'clock Friday, December
29, 1905, to wit, W. L. Calhoun, Anthony Murphy, Mark A. Hardin,
Amos Fox, William A. Hansell, W. N. Hawkes, Thompson H. Jones,
R. M. Clayton, Charles D. Alvigny, Benjamin F. Abbott, Henry
Hilflyer, and A. J. Haygood.--WILEY C.
HOWARD-Commander, W. H. HARRISON, Adjutant
Source: The Atlanta
Constitution 29 Dec 1905
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