User:Jwilsonjwilson/sandbox/Powless W. Lanier

Powless William Lanier (March 7, 1885 – October 12, 1958)

Powless William Lanier (also called P. W. Lanier) was a well known attorney and politician in Tennessee and North Dakota in the early to mid twentieth century who made his home in Covington and Memphis, TN and then in Carrington, Jamestown and Fargo, ND after 1923. From 1933 to 1954 he was U.S. District Attorney for the North Dakota District.

Early Life in Tennessee
Lanier began practicing law after finishing law school in 1907, with W.A. Owen in Covington, TN. He successfully ran for the Tennessee legislature in 1910 and shortly after removed to Memphis, TN with his bride, Mary Roberts Lanier. In 1915, the Attorney General of Tennessee appointed Lanier as Special Prosecutor to investigate the administration of Memphis Mayor Edward Crump.