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Willard Arnold Johnson (28 August 1862 Freeborn County, Minnesota – 5 May 1923 Memphis, Texas) was
 * a Texas State Senator from 1910 through 1918 for the 29th District.
 * From 1919 through 1921, he was Lieutenant Governor of Texas.
 * He was also a newspaper publisher and editor.
 * He served as Regent of the University of Texas from October 1909 to January 1911
 * As Senator, in 1915, Johnson introduced a resolution to carve-out a new state – the 49th U.S. State, composed of 116 West Texas and Panhandle counties (of 254 in the entire state) to be known as the State of Jefferson.
 * He helped to impeach Gov. James E. Ferguson.
 * He served as the Texas Lieutenant Governor from January 21, 1919 to January 18, 1921
 * He was a member of the Memphis chapter of the Knights of Pythias and a Presbyterian.
 * From 1909 to 1910, he served as the 31st President of the Texas Press Association


 * a member of the National Editorial Association and the National Geographic Society.

Career
Willard Johnson studied political science and journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He lived in Denison, Texas, until 1890, when he moved to Memphis, Hall County, located in the Texas Panhandle section of West Texas.

Newspapers publisher
In September 1891, he acquired the Hall County Herald newspaper, a weekly published on Fridays. The paper was founded in 1890 by Eugene de Bauernfeind (1850–1891), who had apprenticed at the Rolla Herald. De Bauernfeind was the second person from the Rolla Herald who had been killed for something he printed. Thomas M. Watkins (1856–1884), who also had apprenticed at the Rolla Herald and went on to become proprietor and editor of an newspaper – the Maries County Herald, of Vienna, Missouri. Seven years earlier, December 2, 1884, John Hatcher Diggs (1857–1914), editor of The Courier of Vienna, Missouri, fatally shot rival editor Watkins for something he had printed.

Johnson acquired the Hall County Herald in 1891 and served as editor and publisher until his death in 1923, when his wife took over as editor and publisher. The paper was absorbed (acquired) by the Memphis Democrat August 7, 1928, which was co-owned by J. Claude Wells (1879–1966) and Homer Herschel Montgomery (1907–2000).

De Bauernfeind was the editor and owner of the Hall County Herald, a newspaper he founded in 1890. On the morning of August 10, 1891, he was involved in a fight with Sheriff Pat Wolffarth. They shot each other, but the sheriff lived. Eugene died later that night. The dispute arose when de Bauernfeind published court proceedings in the Hall County Herald related to Sheriff Wolffarth (né Patrick Edward Wolffarth; 1859–1927).

Eight shots were fired in rapit succession at William Robertson's Restaurant. De Bauernfeind was hit four times and Wolffarth was hit once. Wolffarth resigned as sheriff and was placed under arrest and guarded by the Texas Rangers. Wollfarth was convicted of 2nd degree murder August 14, 1892, in Wilbarger County for the murder and sentenced 15 years in a penitentiary. He was finally pardoned by the Gov. Charles A. Culberson. Wolffarth was also the foreman of the Diamond Tail Ranch, operated by William Riley Curtis (1945–1901) and financially backed by Sam Lazarus (né Samuel Isaacs Lazarus; 1855–1926), one of a few Jewish cattlemen in Texas, but also a pioneering railroad executive. In 1927, Wolffarth committed suicide by shooting himself with a Colt .45 pistol in Lubbock.

One month later after Eugene's death, the paper was purchased by W.A. Johnson.


 * link

Texas Senator
Senatorial District 29 was composed of:
 * Panhandle counties (alphabetical)

 Childress  Collingsworth  Dallam  Deaf Smith  Donley  Hall  Hansford  Hartley  Hemphill  Hutchinson  Lipscomb  Moore  Ochiltree  Sherman  Wheeler


 * Panhandle counties lying within the Llano Estacado (alphabetical)

<li> Armstrong <li> Briscoe <li> Carson <li> Castro <li> Gray <li> Oldham <li> Parmer <li> Potter <li> Randall <li> Roberts <li> Swisher</ol>


 * Remaining counties (alphabetical)

<li> Archer

<li> Baylor <li> Clay <li> Cottle <li> Foard <li> Hardeman <li> Jack <li> King <li> Knox <li> Motley <li> Throckmorton <li> Wichita <li> Wilbarger <li> Young</ol>


 * Remaining counties lying within the Llano Estacado (alphabetical)

<li> Bailey <li> Cochran <li> Crosby <li> Dickens <li> Floyd <li> Hale <li> Hockley <li> Lamb <li> Lubbock</ol>

The 49 Counties of his Senatorial district comprised 46504 sqmi, a land size that would place it as the 30th largest state (New Mexico, Arizona, and Alaska were larger; but were not admitted as states until 1912, 1912, and 1959, respectively).

The 29th Senatorial District included geographis regions:

<li> Edwards Plateau <li> South Plains <li> Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge <li> Oklahoma Panhandle <li> Palo Duro Canyon <li> Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River</ol>

To understand Johnson's critizism of the state's stewardship of public lands, a bit of history is needed.

The western part of the Panhandle was part of the Llano Estacado.

Because Texas was originally a Republic before being admitted as the 28th state, Congress allowed it to keep its public domain — about 200 e6acre. Texas's public domain –
 * Main article: Hisory of Texas § Land use politics
 * quoted material

''[Public domain] – all land not already sold by Spain or Mexico to private citizens. Under Spanish and Mexican laws, when the sovereign sold land it retained all mineral rights under those lands. When Texas became an independent nation, it recognized the titles of landowners who had acquired their lands by Spanish and Mexican grants, including the state’s retention of mineral rights under those lands. In its constitution of 1876, Texas set aside more than 42 e6acre of unsold land as "public free school land," and provided that the sales of those lands would be set aside in a permanent fund to finance the provision of schools in Texas. That constitution also provided that the State released to the owners of lands previously sold "all mines and mineral substances" under their lands. This same provision was included as Article 4041 of Title 87, Chapter 1, of the 1895 Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas. Thus, Texas decided that, unlike Spain and Mexico, it would not retain title to minerals under lands it sold for settlement and development.''

By contrast, the U.S. maintained ownership of public lands of other territories that were admitted to the Union. Spanish law in Texas's past complicated such practices. But the overriding concern in this case was Texas' debt. The federal government thought that Texans ought to address financial shenanigans of their own making.

Leaving Texans to their own devices led to excesses. In one instance,

Johnson, who moved to Memphis in 1890, became acutely aware and critical of the State selling public lands – in particular, the selling of public lands in West Texas and the Panhandle to pay for civil projects in other parts of the state. For example, in 1885, Texas sold – for $3,224,593.45 (equivelant to $ million in ) – public land from Texas Senatorial District 29 (the Panhandle) – to outsiders comprised mostly of British investors, led by Chicagoians Charles B. and John V. Farwell. The proceeds were used to pay for the construction of the state capitol building, which was completed in 1888. The syndicate formed the XIT Ranch, a vast 3 e6acre complex that stretched across all or portions of 10 Panhandle counties: Dallam, Hartley, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Parmer, Castro, Bailey, Lamb, Cochran, and Hockley.


 * 19th dist https://www.newspapers.com/image/634089760

Johnson was a member of the Democratic Party. In 1910, he was elected to the Texas Senate, representing the 29th District. He won by a thousand plurality. John P. Slaton (1867–1947), a lawyer from Hereford, was second in the race. Johnson served as Senator for four terms, through 1918.

Others candidates included Judge Lysius Gough (1862–1940) of Hereford. Gough, born near Roxton, had been a school teacher and Justice of the Peace in Pilot Point (1888), the first County Judge (1888) of Castro County, and a cowboy.

In 1915, while serving as Senator, Johnson attempted to bring attention the needs of West Texans.

Proposal to create a new state, State of South Texas

 * On February 8, 1915, State Representative Lawrence Hughlett Bates (1876–1933) of Brownsville introduced House Joint Resolution No. 40 to create the State of South Texas, which included:


 * Northern border (east to west, moving south)

<li> Orange <li> Hardin <li> Liberty <li> San Jacinto <li> Walker <li> Grimes <li> Brazos <li> Burleson <li> Lee <li> Williamson <li> Burnet <li> Llano* <li> Mason* <li> Menard* <li> Kimble <li> Kerr <li> Bandera <li> Uvalde <li> Maverick</ol>


 * Southwesterly border, along the Rio Grande (north to south)

<li> Webb <li> Zapata <li> Starr <li> Hidalgo</ol>


 * Coastal counties (north to south)

<li> Jefferson <li> Chambers <li> Harris <li> Brazoria <li> Matagorda <li> Calhoun <li> Refugio <li> Aransas <li> San Patricio <li> Nueces <li> Kleberg <li> Kenedy <li> Willacy <li> Cameron</ol>


 * '''Interior counties (alphabetical)

<li> Atascosa <li> Austin <li> Bastrop <li> Bee <li> Bexar <li> Brooks <li> Caldwell <li> Colorado <li> Comal <li> Dimmit <li> Duval <li> Fayette <li> Fort Bend <li> Frio <li> Gonzales <li> Guadalupe <li> Hays <li> Jackson <li> Jim Hogg <li> Jim Wells <li> Karnes <li> Kendall <li> La Salle <li> Lavaca <li> Live Oak <li> McMullen <li> Medina <li> Montgomery <li> Travis <li> Goliad <li> Waller <li> Washington <li> Wharton <li> Wilson <li> Zavala</ol>

The resolution died March 1, 1915, in the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments.

Proposal to create a new state, combining West Texas and the Panhandle
To that end, on January 28, 1915, the 13th Legislative day of the 34th Legislature, Regular Session, Johnson introduced Senate Joint Resolution No. 7 ("S.J.R. 7" or the "Johnson Proposition" or the "Johnson Resolution") to carve-out a new state – the 49th U.S. State, composed of 116 West Texas and Panhandle counties (of 254 in the entire state) to be known as the State of Jefferson. When the Thirty-Fourth Legislature convened in 1915, there were 31 Senatorial Districts. Those 116 counties were represented by four Senatorial Districts:
 * https://www.newspapers.com/image/89394317/
 * District 25 (25 counties), represented by Senator Claude Benton Hudspeth (1877–1941) of El Paso
 * District 26 (10 counties), represented by Senator Robert Patton Conner (1856–1946) of Brownwood
 * District 28 (32 counties), represented by Senator Homer Platt Brelsford (1869–1933) of Eastland
 * District 29 (49 counties), represented by Senator Johnson


 * Panhandle counties (alphabetical)

<li> Armstrong <li> Briscoe <li> Carson <li> Castro <li> Childress <li> Collingsworth <li> Dallam <li> Deaf Smith <li> Donley <li> Gray <li> Hall <li> Hansford <li> Hartley <li> Hemphill <li> Hutchinson <li> Lipscomb <li> Moore <li> Ochiltree <li> Oldham <li> Parmer <li> Potter <li> Randall <li> Roberts <li> Sherman <li> Swisher <li> Wheeler</ol>


 * West Texas counties (alphabetical)

<li> Andrews <li> Archer <li> Bailey <li> Baylor <li> Borden <li> Brewster <li> Brown <li> Callahan <li> Cochran <li> Coke <li> Coleman <li> Concho <li> Cottle <li> Crane <li> Crockett <li> Crosby <li> Culberson <li> Dawson <li> Dickens <li> Eastland <li> Ector <li> El Paso <li> Fisher <li> Floyd <li> Foard <li> Gaines <li> Garza <li> Glasscock <li> Hale <li> Hardeman <li> Haskell <li> Hockley <li> Howard <li> Hudspeth <li> Irion <li> Jeff Davis <li> Jones <li> Kent <li> King <li> Knox <li> Lamb <li> Loving <li> Lubbock <li> Lynn <li> Martin <li> Mason <li> McCulloch <li> Menard <li> Midland <li> Mitchell <li> Motley <li> Nolan <li> Pecos <li> Presidio <li> Reagan <li> Reeves <li> Runnels <li> Schleicher <li> Scurry <li> Shackelford <li> Stephens <li> Sterling <li> Stonewall <li> Sutton <li> Taylor <li> Terrell <li> Terry <li> Throckmorton <li> Tom Green <li> Upton <li> Val Verde <li> Young <li> Ward <li> Wichita <li> Wilbarger <li> Winkler <li> Yoakum</ol>


 * Eastern border counties (north to south)

<ol type="1" start="104"> <li> Clay <li> Jack <li> Palo Pinto <li> Erath <li> Comanche <li> Mills <li> San Saba <li> Llano <li> Gillespie <li> Kimble <li> Edwards <li> Kinney <li> Maverick</ol>

The resolution passed February 8, 1915, in the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments. Senator Richard Edwin Westbrook (1880–1936) of the 5th District was the committee's acting chairman.

Abilene would have been the temporary capital. State Senator (28th District) Homer Platt Brelsford (1869–1933) of Eastland County would have been the inaugural governor. Johnson's proposition was legally viable. Under provisions of the U.S. Congressional joint resolution March 1, 1845, which started the process of admitting Texas as the 28th State, as many as four additional states may be created without an act of the U.S. Congress. Although a political amputation would end Texas' distinction as the largest state (Alaska was not yet a state), both Jefferson and the remaining Old Texas would have been larger than all but a few states. Johnson's proposition would have increased representation for West Texas and the Panhandle at the national level in Congress.


 * Quoted material
 * The proposed state of Jefferson would have included four congressional districts and four state senatorial districts. Its eastern border would have been the western boundaries of Clay, Jack, Palo Pinto, Erath, Comanche, Mills, San Saba, Llano, Gillespie, Kimible, Edwards, Kinney, and Maverick counties. "Senator Johnson contended that the western sections of the state have been unlawfully restrained from their lawful representatives in the Texas senate and national congress by the constant and persistent refusal of the legislature to redistrict," one newspaper reported on January 29, 1915, the day after Johnson put his bill in the hopper. The lawmaker from Memphis, where he owned and edited the Hall County Herald, argued that the state’s "liquor interests" had succeeded in blocking redistricting "by subscribing giant slush funds to control the politics of the state." The legislature actually did have a redistricting bill before it, but Johnson must have believed it had no chance of passing. His proposal to create a new state had originally been looked on as a joke, but on Jan. 31 the San Antonio Light said, in so many words, that the measure seemed to be growing legs. "The phenomenal growth of West Texas and the development of antagonistic interests" made statehood for that area a necessity, Johnson argued. The Alamo City newspaper continued: "A number of prominent antis [as in anti-liquor] in the state are said to be looking with favor on the proposition on account of the fact that a large part of the territory proposed to be included in the new state is hopelessly dry."

The impetus for the resolution included many grievances, including:
 * West Texas and the Panhandle districts, Johnson averred, had been unlawfully underrepresented in the Texas Senate and U.S. Congress due to inaction or refusal by the Texas Legislature to redistrict the state in accordance with the 1910 U.S. Census. The districts also were not receiving its fair apportionment for funding public schools, institutions of higher learning, and eleemosynary institutions.


 * The Constitution of Texas, Article 3 (Legislative Department), Sections 25 (Senatorial Districts), 26 (Apportionment of Members of the House), and 28 (Timing of Apportionment) clarify the matter. Specifically Section 28, which requires the Legislature, at its first regular session after the publication of each decennial census, to apportion the State into senatorial and representative districts.


 * One objective of Joint Resolution 75 was to force redistricting. Immediately following Johnson's Proposition, a redistricting bill was introduced and, as of February 16, 1915, became certain to pass in the Legislature.


 * unfavorable land laws for West Texas
 * Texas Technological College was established February 10, 1923 – The idea of West Texas statehood did not come up again until 1921, when Gov. Pat Morris Neff vetoed a bill that would have given West Texas its first agricultural and mechanical college. Once more, but this time with more vitriol than good humor, people in that part of the state began clamoring for statehood. The movement played out four years later when the legislature approved the creation of Texas Technological College at Lubbock.


 * the use of its lands to build railroads in East Texas and the failure to secure adequate predatory game laws.

Newspaper people in the Texas State Senate in 1917
<li> W.A. Johnson, Democrat, publisher and editor of the Memphis County Herald <li> Col. R.M. Johnson, editor of the Houston Post <li> Augustus Rounsaville McCollum (1949–1918), editor of the Waco Tribune <li> James Clayton McNealus (1850–1921), editor of the Dallas Democrat</ol>

Texas public lands
He also drew attention to the facts:
 * West Texas furnished all school lands and did not receive its portion of monies paid in taxes;

Common school lands

 * 12.8 e6acre


 * In 210 counties

University lands – 2.2 e6acre

 * 1839: The Republic of Texas Congress set aside fifty Spanish leagues – 219.986 e3acre – of land for the establishment and endowment of a university (Grant #1)

<li> Cooke <li> Fannin <li> Grayson <li> Hunt <li> Collin <li> McLennan <li> Shackelford <li> Callahan</ol>


 * 1876: The State of Texas Constitution Congress called for the creation of the University of Texas and appropriated 1 e6acre for the establishment of a Permanent University Fund ("PUF") (Grant #2)
 * 1883:	An additional 1 e6acre million acres were added to the PUF lands (Grant #3)

Eleemosynary institutions (asylum lands)

 * 307615 acre

<li> Callahan <li> Comanche <li> Eastland <li> Jones <li> Shackelford <li> Stephens <li> Taylor <li> Tom Green</ol>

State Capitol lands

 * 3.05 e6acre

<li> Dallam <li> Deaf Smith <li> Castro <li> Jones <li> Cochran <li> Lamb <li> Bailey <li> Hockley <li> Hartley <li> Oldham <li> Parmer</ol>

The resolution provided that a Constitutional Amendment for the creation of the "State of Jefferson" be submitted to the people on the first Tuesday in July 1915; that a temporary capitol be located at Abilene, in Taylor County; that a special election be held for the selection of state officers; that the new state retain all unsold lands and receive its portion of public school funds derived from the sale of lands in its territory. The measure died in the committee.

In 1917, Johnson authored a resolution in the Senate to investigate Texas Governor James E. Ferguson behavior in official capacities. That same year, State Representative Henry Phillip Davis (1861–1930) from House District 28 – who also was pastor of a Baptist church in Wills Point – filed impeachment charges against Governor Ferguson alleging that he misappropriated public funds and violated state banking laws. Ferguson was indicted on nine charges in July 1917. The Texas House of Representatives prepared 21 charges against Ferguson, and the Senate convicted him on 10 of those charges, including misapplication of public funds and receiving $156,000 from an unnamed source.

Women's suffrage
At the national level, the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits states and the federal government from denying the right to vote on the basis of sex, was certified August 26, 1920. Although much of the opposition to the amendment came from Southern Democrats, only two former Confederate states (Texas and Arkansas) and three border states voted for ratification. Texas ratified the 19th Amendment June 28, 1919, the first southern state to do so. Johnson was an exponent of equal suffrage.

At the state level,

"Negro suffrage"

 * source

1911: 32nd Legislature, Regular Session

 * Congressional Districts
 * Constitutional Amendments
 * Federal Relations (Chair)
 * Finance
 * Judiciary No. 2
 * Public Debt, Claims and Accounts
 * Public Lands and Land Office
 * Representative Districts
 * Roads, Bridges and Ferries
 * State Affairs
 * Stock and Stock Raising

1913: 33rd Legislature, Regular Session
Johnson gain notoriety for authoring the local option pool hall law. He was a statewide prohibitionist.
 * Commerce and Manufactures
 * Constitutional Amendments
 * Counties and County Boundaries (Chair)
 * Educational Affairs
 * Federal Relations
 * Finance
 * Internal Improvements
 * Military Affairs
 * Mining and Irrigation
 * Public Buildings and Grounds
 * Public Health
 * Public Lands and Land Office
 * Public Printing
 * Senatorial Districts

In 1913, populist William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State, acknowledging receipt of a recommendation to appoint Johnson as Minister of Chile, an office that had been vacant since November 16, 1909. The appointment, under President Taft, went to Thomas Cleland Dawson (1957–1932), who served as Minister of Chile from September 9, 1910, to November 19, 1914.

1915: 34th Legislature, Regular Session

 * July 31, 1914: Johnson defeated Richard Hundley Cocke, Jr. (1883–1954), a Judge from Wellington and Ben F. Smith from Lockney
 * Committees:


 * Commerce and Manufactures
 * Constitutional Amendments
 * Educational Affairs
 * Finance
 * Internal Improvements
 * Judiciary No. 1
 * Military Affairs
 * Public Lands and Land Office (Chair)
 * Public Printing
 * Stock and Stock Raising

1917: 35th Legislature, Regular Session

 * Committees:


 * Commerce and Manufactures
 * Educational Affairs
 * Finance
 * Internal Improvements
 * Military Affairs
 * Public Lands and Land Office
 * Public Printing
 * Senatorial Districts
 * Stock and Stock Raising

Texas Lieutenant Governor
One of Johnson's opponents in the election was Judge Thomas Whitfield Davidson (1876–1974) of Houston, who withdrew before the election. While serving his fourth term as a State Senator, Johnson formally announced his candidacy for Lt. Governor February 6, 1917. He was running against:

<li> Henry Lewis Darwin (1886–1945), State Senator from the 2nd District</ol>

In 1918, Johnson was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas alongside William P. Hobby. He held this office between 1919 and 1921. He was Deputy Governor and Chairman of the State Senate. Johnson was also a member of several press associations and the Freemasons. He died in Memphis on May 5, 1923.


 * Johnson, while a Senator, in 1917, played key role in the impeachment of Gov. Ferguson, who, among other things, strongly opposed women's suffrage.
 * On June 28, 1919, the Texas legislature approved a resolution ratifying the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

Johnson ran again for Lieutenant Governor but was defeated in August-September 1920 by Lynch Davidson (1873–1952) of Houston. He ran again in 1922 but was defeated by Thomas Whitfield Davidson (1876–1974).


 * I believe in strict law enforcement regulations, and favor for the passage of a law to provide for the removal by quo warranto of any officer who refuses to do his duty in the way of enforcing the law. I am opposed to mob law in any form, but I recognize the presence in this state of the Ku Klux Klan as the outgrowth of lax law enforcement. I believe that that the settlement of the enforcement problem will be the solution of the other. In many parts of the state, the Ku Klux Klan have had a deterring effect on the lawless element. They are the outgrowth of prevailing conditions, and will pass away as they did following the Civil War, when the need for them has passed way.




 * quo warranto

The attempt to pass the controversial "Quo Warranto" bill failed in 1923. The objective was to remove corrupt public officials. The bill would have allowed the Texas governor to remove law enforcement officers from their posts.

( “Extra Session of Legislature is Called,” AS, March 10, 1923.
 * “Message to the Legislature,” March 9, 1923, Records of the Governor, Texas State Library and Archive, Austin, Texas;
 * “Extra Session of Legislature is Called,” AS, March 10, 1923;
 * “Governor and Legislature in Sharp Clash,” AS, March 11, 1923;
 * “Neff Refuses to Rescind Call for Extra Session; Won’t Force It,” AS, March 13, 1923





Acting Governor, April 1920
Beginning around 1920, Johnson served as Acting Governor while Gov. Hobby was in Mexico. While serving as Acting Governor, Johnson, did the following:


 * April 1920: Johnson declared Desdemona (southeastern corner of Eastland County) under martial law in response to a request by citizens. The city had been allegedly experiencing a reign of lawlessness and indignities by gamblers and bootleggers who, in addition to operating illegally, had been intimating citizens. Desdemona was, at the time, an oil boomtown, currently a ghost town, located in Eastland County, east of Abilene in West Texas.


 * June 26, 1920: Johnson proclaimed a limited quarantine in Galveston as part of a campaign to mitigate the risk of the bubonic plague outbreak in connection to a rat infestation.


 * Evening of July 6, 1920: Johnson received a letter from the NAACP, signed by James Weldon Johnson, Acting Secretary, protesting the spectacle lynching of Irving and Herman Arthur on July 6, 1920, in Paris, Texas.


 * December 1920, pardoned thirty convicted criminals, most notably:
 * Johnson, as Acting Governor on behalf of Governor Hobby, on December 14, 1920, issued a conditional pardon to Agnes Örner


 * (née Seastone – Sjösten
 * (née Seabrook – Sjöbäck
 * (née Seabury – Sjösten


 * Death of Carleson in Bridgeport


 * born abt. 1876 Sweden), of El Paso, who was sentenced to prison for life February 4, 1916, for fatally poisoning her child, Lillie Cordovia Orner. Agnes was serving her sentence at the Goree State Farm for Women in Huntsville. Members of the Pardon Board included: Ten years earlier, on August 20, 1920, in Oklahoma, Governor Haskell pardoned Lydia Howland who had been convicted of 1st Degree Murder in Lincoln County in April 1902 and sentenced to life imprisonment for fatally poisoning her infant child. She always had maintained that the poisoning was accidental. She had been paroled October 1909.
 * Judge William Hughs Knight (1854–1923), did not support the pardon
 * Judge Fritz Robert Smith (1876–1932), Chairman, supported the pardon

January 28, 1918, massacre by the Texas Rangers
(reference)

Selected regents surrounding Johnson's term
'''Govs. Ross, Culberson, Sayers, Lanham, and Campbell''' <li> 1886–1911: George Washington Brackenridge</ol>

'''Govs. Culberson, Sayers, Lanham, and Campbell''' <li> 1895–1911: Thomas Stalworth Henderson</ol>

'''Govs. Sayers and Lanham''' <li> 1899–1907: Thomas Watt Gregory</ol>

Gov. Lanham <li> 1903–1907: James Browning (Texas politician)</ol>

Gov. Campbell <li> 1907–1909: Elvis Abner Calvin <li> 1907–1909: Judge Newton Webster Finley (1854–1909) <li> 1907–1908: Gov. Lanham <li> 1907–1911: Thomas Benton Greenwood (1872–1946) <li> 1909–1911: Alexander Watkins Terrell (1827–1912) <li> 1909–1911: Ashley Wilson Fly, M.D. (1855–1919) <li> 1909–1910: Hampson Boren Gary (1873–1952) <li> 1909–1911: Will Thomas Henry (died 1951)</ol>

'''Gov. Colquitt <li> 1911–1913: Joseph Faust <li> 1911–1915: William Henry Stark <li> 1911–1917: Alexander Sanger</ol>

'''Govs. Colquitt and Hobby''' <li> 1911–1920: George Washington Littlefield</ol>

Johnson died May 5, 1923. Five days later, in Reagan (West Texas, Permian Basin) the Santa Rita No. 1 was completed by the Texon Oil and Land Company as the first producing well on Texas University Land. 3 months, 16 days later (on August 24, 1923), the first royalty payment to the Permanent University Fund was made in the amount of $516.53. Carl G. Cromwell (1889–1931) was the contract driller.

The cornerstone on the northeast corner of Battle Hall, erected in 1911 as a library, lists the then names of the Governor and Board of Regents, which in includes Johnson.

Affiliations and offices

 * 1909–1910: President, Texas Press Association
 * October 1909 – January 1911: Member, University of Texas Board of Regents, appointed by Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell
 * Pre-Johnson
 * 1903–1907: James Browning (Texas politician)


 * 1907–1909: Elvis Abner Calvin
 * 1907–1909: Newton Webster Finley


 * Note: Other regents appointed by Gov. Campbell
 * 1909–1911: Alexander Watkins Terrell (1827–1912)
 * 1909–1911: Ashley Wilson Fly, M.D. (1855–1919)
 * 1909–1910: Hampson Boren Gary (1873–1952)
 * 1907–1911: Thomas Benton Greenwood (1872–1946)
 * 1909–1911: Will Thomas Henry (died 1951)


 * Abt. 1907: President, Roswell Tent and Sanitorium, Inc. (for treatment of turboculous)

Family
Johnson, in 1888 in Denison, married Mary Nora Sullivan (maiden; 1865–1935).

W.A. Johnson was a descendant of Vice President Richard M. Johnson (1780–1850).

W.A. Johnson was an ardent proponent of prohibition. Yet, his daughter, Alma Mae Johnson (1903–1984), was married to James Elijah Bass (1898–1970), an accountant. They lived in Highland Park and owned the Bass Liquor Store.

Johnson's father, Marquis LaFayette Johnson (1828–1908), a native of Indianapolis, had served as a Captain in the Union Army during the Civil War.