Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-09-02

day everything which touched turned to gold.'
HIS entire success in lfe," says Col. WILLIAMS,
che sat down to his faithful observance of this
noble promise" 20 =,
No better eulogy could be pronounced on Mrs!
SMITH than has Just been given in the words Of
her distinguished husband. The reformation Of
such man as WILLIAM SMITH is chaplet Of glc-
ry, which few women have been permitted to wear.
To the peOpls Of sodth Carolina, md especially Of
York District, certainly no stronger argument in
Svor of temperance, total a6stinetc need be given
Judge Smith was an able, but rather tyranni-
cal Judge. All stood IN awe of him. He COM
misted the. Captain of q volunteer company in
Charleston for disturbing the Court by persisting
to cause his drum to be beat after he had been or
dered to desist. He quashed, Spring Of 1874, ev-
cry venirs around the Southern Circuit, because
new jury lists had not been made out within three
years, snd from them the jurors drawn and sum
moned. This was great legal bluuder, and
worked great delay in the administration of jus;
tcs. Still no one doubted the purity Of the Judge,
although Bonch and Bar condemned the act as
high handed and uncalled for.i ..'..-....
Judge. Smith possessed a-wonderful q memory;
and have often heard it said that be reported to
the Constitutional Court the case Of the State u.s.
Plsy and Rochelle without reference to his notes.
"He never forgot the faces Of men or their pecu-
liar traits Of character" II he knew a man once,
he knew him ever after, and neither The lapse Of
time, nor the place where he might meet him..
however little expected, misled or deceived him.
AS an illustration, the following incident may be
noted. BE had been employed, many years be-
fore, to defend man at Pinckney or spartauburg,
for killinga horse in.the night time, which BY our
Statute is q elergyabie felony. His client did not
meet his trial-he fed the State. IF the case oc'
Cured during the existence of the Court at Pinck
nsy, at least twenty years must have come and
gone; and If at spartsubTg, at least ten years
must haye elapsed before Judge SMITH entered
Congress as Senator from s. Carolina. Walking
into the Hall ofthe House Of Representatives soon
otter he had taken hisseat as Senator, he discov-
cred his client in the person Of JOHN ALEXANDER,
commonly called the Buffalo of the Yves" !" sit'
ting as 9 member from Ohio. InSpartanburg the.
name was usually called ELoHIsoR, sudSso the
Judge addressed him. The member professed not
toknow him The Judge with one Of his bitterest
oaths swore he should know. him, telling him he
had his,note at holse for $780, and that he should
payit He wrote to his; wife TO send the note,
and by the return mail 1t came, and Mr.. A1ExAH-
DER admitted the acquaintance by paying the note:
The speechesof his political opponent he never
forgot and often to their dismsy, the,Judge, from
the bottom Of his old trunk fshed up some sspeech,
or speeches, entirely q. war with their present
views. What q terrible bastinadoing he gave to
Mr.. DEWoIE, the Senator from Rhode Island,
when he arraysd before him the evidences Of his
participation 10 the slayetrade before 1903, will
sseollsstad by-same. even at this late day!
( His ability as Judge Wit s>sseu BY
to the case of READ and EIrERr Il N. & Moe,
S74, note.) His opinion in that case settled the
vezed question Of adverse possession, and gave,
for the first time in our Court q plain, sensible,
and Just construction of the Act Of Limitation.
At the session of the Legislature in December
1915, Judge SMITH was elected to the Senate
Of the United States, and thus vacated his place
on the Bench. From March 1917 to March 1928,
he served, end most faithfully eSly discharged
his duties in the United States Senate. In Decem-
Der 1922 the talented and accomplished Attorney
General Of the State, ROBERT Y. HAYsE, was
elected Senator in preference to Judge SMITH -
He was returned to the House of Representatives
Of South Carolina in 1924, and in 1926 he led the
party which reversed Mr.. CALHouN's previous
policy in the State. The doctrine Of q strict con.
struction Of the Constitution vas adopted with
singular unanimity. In December 1926, Judge
SMITH was elected Senator In Congress- for the un-
expired term Of JOHN GILLIAnD. In 1880, his
formerfriend, STEPHEN D. MILLER, superseded him.
The doctrine Of Notification was then beginning
to gain the ascendancy in the State. In 1881,
5sass, Smith was one Of those who signed the ap.
peal to De Union party Of g. Carolina. Through
out the struggle to which Notification gsEe rise,
Judge Smith remained true to the Union ;but the
violent divisions and party strife which then per-
vaded the State, drove Judge SIXTH and many
other valuable men from It.
Judge Smith was remarkable for the "indomita-
bic energy of his character" He turned not aside
for obatacles-xhat he thought right to be done,
he did. His opinion he surrendered to no man,
and Of consequence he was led BY no one, 70 this
unbsnding will, is to be attributed bis opposition
to Mr.. CALHOUN. He felt that he was much his
senior-that he belonged to the old radical school,
when Mr.. CALHOUN, Mr.. McDUrrIE, Generals
HAYsE and HAMILTON, belonged to the party in
favor of liberal construction Of the Constitution
that he had larger experience as Republican
than any Of them, and that his former position as
q Judge placed him far above Mr.. CALHOUN, and
that therefore, if Difference ought to be paid to
any one, It ought to be paid to him. His love Of
truth made him defend, in the strongest terms,
his opinions, political or otherwise.
rAs friend or neghbor," says COL WILLIAMS,
"no one could excel. Judge sA1rHI No kinder
hearted man ever lived, and none could be found
who sympathi1ed with the distressed more sincere
ly." But his sympathies could only be elected
by and for virtue in distress. "He had no SYM
pnthy," as he said, 'with vagabonds." While he
loved his friends, he hated his enemies. "He
could not bless the man that cursed, nor pray for
the man who despitefully used and prosecuted
him"
He was total stranger to the idea Of oonciia.