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 The Green Bag July, 1910

Volume XXII

Number 7

The Life and Character of William T. Wallace1 By Hon. BARCLAY HENLEY, or THE SAN FRANCISCO BAR EDITOR'S PREFATORY NOTE TO the judge of hallowed memory whose noble, leonine countenance looks out from the opposite page, the Green Bag offers its tribute of appreciation. It is a pleasure to think of a life so eventful and useful, a

personality so masterful and strong, a character of such honor and wisdom. A prominent Californian has remarked, that if this generation knew Judge Wallace as he ought to have been known, there is no question that he would have been entitled to be classed among the few who the world calls “illustrious." Judge Wallace was a man of commanding talents and conspicuous learning, and his career in the state of California was long and distinguished, He was a dominant factor in the upbuilding of that state. He was born in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, March 22, 1828, and died at his home in San Francisco August 11, 1909, at the age of eighty-one, in consequence of a stroke of paralysis.

The Bar Association of San Francisco passed appropriate commemorative resolu tions, from which we quote the following extract:

"As a member of the bar, by his unvarying and courteous deportment he furnished an example of amenity to his professional brethren at the bar. By his learning and the clear phraseology in which it was manifest; by the wide scope of his studies and his robust and masterful grasp of the intricate problems of the law; by his well known and oft expressed

disapproval of all trick and devious practices; by his elevation of tone and grace of bearing, noted and marked by all who knew him;

by the patient indulgence with which he treated unintentional error and tolerated unfortunate incompetency; by these qualities and many others, which adorned and elevated his character, he becomes entitled to the permanent and lasting esteem of this Asso ciation.”

UDGE WALLACE was born in the state of Kentucky, and although in his teens when the war with Mexico broke out, at the tap of the drum he enlisted as a private soldier, serving throughout the war, and until American valor carried the stars and stripes to

that county, during the term of which office, he married the daughter of the

Mexico's capital.

On the termination

late Peter H. Burnett, the ﬁrst Governor

of that

he

of California who subsequently him self was elevated to the Supreme Bench of the state. On the expiration

conﬂict,

applied

himself

‘Extracts from a memorial address delivered before the San Francisco Bar Association.

to the study of law, and obtaining ad mission to the bar, migrated to California in the year 1850, where he settled at

San Jose in Santa Clara County. He was then elected District Attorney of