Weaver. Two weeks after Jones announced that state troops would remain in Birmingham until the miners' strike ended, on August 8, 1894, Kolb again lost his bid to become Alabama's governor, this time to Democrat William Calvin Oates, who, unlike Jones, supported the convict leasing system. Expenses incurred during his gubernatorial term would haunt Jones for the rest of his life. Jones's life insurance went to pay off the mortgage incurred during his governorship. Thus, he did not challenge John Tyler Morgan for the US Senate seat but remained politically active in supporting US President Grover Cleveland. Jones became a Gold Democrat rather than supporting William Jennings Bryan, despite continued criticism from Kolb. However, the Gold Democrats got only 6,453 votes in Alabama, compared to Bryan's 107,137, and so Jones's political capital in the state also seemed to be finished. Jones rehabilitated his political fortunes in 1897 by remaining in Montgomery, despite a yellow fever epidemic in the coastal South, his policies being fumigation, prompt burials, and a quarantine supported by armed guards. The 11 people who died in Montgomery were part of at least 71 in the whole state. Federal judicial service Jones received a recess appointment from President Theodore Roosevelt on October 7, 1901, to a joint seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama vacated by Judge John Bruce. President Roosevelt nominated him to the same position on December 5, 1901. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 17, 1901, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on April 28, 1914, because he died in Montgomery. Jones was considered a moderate during his time on the bench. He opposed labor unions but supported the 14th Amendment and was a friend of black leader Booker T. Washington, to whom Jones owed his appointment as a federal judge. Roosevelt, also a friend of Washington, asked him to name a Southern Democrat he thought would qualify as a federal judge. Washington endorsed Jones for that position. During his tenure, Judge Jones heard civil rights cases, took stands against lynching and refused to allow the state's convict lease system to become de facto slavery. Those stands became unpopular in the white community for holding that federal law permitted the protection of black people. Death and legacy His health