Walter Smith Cox was a professor of law at what was then called Columbian University, known today as The George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.. On February 26, 1879, Cox was nominated by President Rutherford B. Hayes to a new seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia created by 20 Stat. 320. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 1, 1879, and received his commission the same day. During his service, he presided over the trial of Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of President James A. Garfield. Cox retired from the federal bench on July
Moses J. Liddell loss of slave labor. As a result of these conditions the Jones-Liddell feud came to a boil when Liddell's father, St. John Richardson Liddell, was assassinated by the Jones family on February 14, 1870. In ratalliation of his father's murder, on February 18, 1870, when Moses J. Liddell saw the accused assassin of his father, Col. Charles Jones, Liddell shot him while Jones was being transported to the boat in custody at Harrisonburg. Jones did not die as a result of the gunshot wounds. As a result of the political unrest due to the sensationalized feud, Moses J. Liddell along