Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/395

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��have been at the bar, has been no infrequent visitor. A Mitchell, 3'oung in years, to whom the doors of the temple of justice were only opened, not having been permitted to cross its threshold ; a Parker, far advanced in age, with a mind well stored with all the learning of the law ; a Stewart, of most majestic face and form, while in the perfected fullness of his intellect- ual powers ; a McLaughlin, with head all sil- vered with age, but with a heart all ablaze with patriotic fire, unmindful of ease, giving his last days, as he did the earlier years of his life, to his country and her flag ; a Johnston, in middle life, scholarly, eloquent, with an Irishman's keen wit, but an Irishman's warm heart; and a Ford, of grand stature, of great phj'sical strength, with intellectual endowments, if aroused, equal to an}- emergency, but for the most time inactive and useless, because not used. All these we have known ; we have for a time gone in and out with them, and then theij icere not; and now, again, has this bar been convened to pay the last sad tribute of love and respect to one of its members — Milton W. Worden." Judge Worden was l)ut twenty-nine years of age, but a man of brilliant promise, though undeveloped as a lawj^er. He went into the army, and lost a leg at Harper's Ferry. Returning home, he was elected Probate Judge, and was subsequently appointed Internal Rev- enue Assessor, which office he held at the time of his death. He was followed to the grave by the Odd Fellows' societies and Young Men's Christian Association, of which he was a mem- ber, and a large concourse of citizens.

As an estimate of the earlier Mansfield bar. nothing could be Ijetter, perhaps, than the following from the pen of Gen. Brinker- hoflf, who knew all these men in their prime : "When I was a student at law, in 1850 and 1851, the giants of the Mansfield bar were Jacob Parker, James Stewart, Thomas W. Bartley, Jacob Brinkerhotf and Samuel J. Kirkwood. Gen. McLaughlin and John M.

��May had passed their zenith. James Purdy had become a banker. Charles T. Sherman was at his best. He did a collecting business, but rarely appeared in the courts as a trial lawyer. John Sherman had promise, but no large ful- fillment as yet. So, also. Col. Burns and Col. Isaac Gass.

" Thomas H. Ford was at his best, and was a man of great natural powers, but was indolent and careless and did not make the mark he might have made at the bar. Judge Geddes was the partner of Judge Brinkerhoff, and was a young man of ability, which rapidly devel- oped and subsequently made him an able law- yer and one of the best-balanced common-pleas judges in the State.

"Henry P. Davis, Manuel Ma}^, Robert C. Smith and several others had their shingles out, but were not famous as yet. I knew them all very well.

" Parker, Stewart and Bartle}- were specially friendl}^ to ine, and I appreciated it. I have always retained a warm remembrance of all of them. I was a student with BrinkerhoflF & Geddes.

"Judge Stewart was the reverse of Judge Parker in his mental make-up. The latter was pre-eminently a book lawyer, and could give from memor}' volume and page for every decis- ion of any special consequence in the Ohio Reports, and, probably, could refer oflT-hand to more legal precedents than an}- man in the State. He read the dryest law reports with all the zest of a school-girl with her first novel. It was all meat and drink to him.

" Judge Stewart, on the contrary-, cared but little for the Reports, and consulted them to fortif}' his own judgnnent rather than to guide it. He was a born jurist, and his instincts of right and wrong were so keenl}' accurate that he rarely went astray. His decisions were ver}' rarely questioned, and still more rarel}' set aside l)y a superior court ; in short, he was by common consent the model Judo-e of his time.

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