108
department, told me one time that while he was a graduate
student at Cornell getting his Ph.D. degree and on leave from
the university, Tigert delivered a commencement speech to a
high school in Cornell. He went over to hear it. He read in
the local paper that he was going to give a commencement speech.
He also subscribed to the Gainesville Sun and when he saw
the Gainesville Sun, there the speech was written up. It
reported Tigert's speech was to the graduating class of Cornell
University.
P: And it was a high school?
L: It was a high school.
P: You alluded to Mr. Scott's charges against Dr. Tigert. What
did you mean there?
L: I just knew about them, but I didn't know too much. I knew it
took place, I didn't know Mr. Scott.
P: You did not know the basis of the charges?
L: No, I don't. I heard that it was Tigert's drinking, and that
Scott criticized Tigert for his drinking.
P: That's right. That is one of the major charges that Scott
brought out against Tigert. He claimed that he was drunk at a
funeral in Gainesville--Dean Newell's funeral.
L: I think I attended that funeral. I know Tress Atkins was there. Her
husband was chairman of the French department. She said, "Tigert
wasn't drunk. He just acts that way."
P: Well, I think the hearing brought out the fact that Tigert actually
was not physically in Gainesville on that day.
L: Is that right?
P: That he was attending a meeting in Chicago.
L: No, Bill Carleton told me that Tigert was drunk at the Georgia
game in 1928, with Clay Lewis and others down on the field, and
he walked, and some of the students said they had to hold Tigert
up at the game. That was the first year he was there.
P: First year he'd been to Gainesville, yes.