Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-03-07
BAR MEETING.
Honor to the Memory Of the Late ludgs
IsFHsF-Elegsnt Tribute to his Char
sOtsF bv Eminent Gentlemen Of
the PrOfessloH-AFrangB-
ments for hls Funeral.

aCtsF bv Eminent Gentlemen Of
the rOfessIoB-Arrangs
ments for hls Funeral.
A meeting Of the members of the bar OF
/ Memphis was held in the Second Chance
| ~ Court room yesterday, at noon, to
| arrange for the burial of the remains OF
/ the late Judge Yergsr. The room was
| properly draped in mourning, and, the
/ blinds Of the windows being all down,
/ the gloom of the place added an addi-
| tiOnal solemnity to the scsne. The room
was full. Such representation OF the
] bar Of Memphis has seldom met together.
/ Never on more truly mOurnful occasion,
I and they all felt it. Il was house Of
/ mourning. The quietude and silence that
pervaded that assembly of fine intellects
and orators was eloquent in telling Of
/ their sorrow. They came there from all
/ parts OF the city, on a few hOurs' notice
/ They had no thought save that of honor
| ing the dead. They were like members Of
a great family that had just lost much
/ loved brother, and, having met, old assO-
Citations and memories we're called up,
producing g simultaneous burst of grief.
| What was said came from the heart; the
unbidden swelling of breasts full OF grief.
The speeches were few and short and inn
pressiYe; sll the more impressive because
they were unstudied.
Judge John p. Caruthers was made Pres
ident Of the meeting, and Col. NJ, ID. L.
Stewart Secretary.
Judge J. P. Caruthers, on taking the
chair, sHid:
We have met here to pay the last sad hon
Ors to the memory Of our departed brOther,
e n. Yerger. Il is one Of the NEST melan-
choly events that has transpired In my life,
and one Of the most melancholy occasions
upon which have ever been called upon to
preside. / feel deeply moved upon the occa-
sion, and am not prepared, in the lew re-
m arks may make, 70 do anything like Jus
tics to the eminent merits and virtues Of the
deceased. l knew him well for over thirty
years; we were boys and young men together
In Middle Tennessee, before either OF US read
law He in early manhood went to Missis
slppi to read law, and 70 Lebanon. We both
sfJeT obtaining license, located in Memphis,
and have known him Intimately here ever
since 1873. He was genial, pleasant and
agreeable. From his rst entrance into busi-
ness lie up TO the time Of his death,I was inti
mately associated with him socially aud pro-
tessiOnslly, aud / can say, In truth, that in
all the relations of II q 1 never knew him to
entertain any bitterness or unElnd feellngs
70 any human being, or 70 wound inte tiOp-
ally the feelings Of any one. He was the
friend OF the poor and the oppressed, and In
his death the country has lost one OF its
ablesL advocates, the bar one Of its ablest
lawyers, and the Judiciary one OF its bright
est ornaments. All that Is now LETT for Us to
do is TO express Our great sorrow for this IRE
parable lOEs, and 70 extend our heartfelt
sympathiss 10 hls bereave1 family.
The meeting, being organized, is now ready
10 take such action as may be deemed neces-
sBry and appropriate upon the occasion.
The Hon. Tom Avery stood up and ssid: /:
Mr. CbdiTmdn-Of al the friends of my
life about whose biers I have met and
mOurn6d not one, no, not one, Of that
small number whose names now crowd
the portals Of my memory stood so close
to me in life as he whose death we now 50
deeply deploro.
An uninterrupted intimacy, indeed l
may say attachment, for now thirty years,
has existed between US. During that long,
long time not single ripple has for q
moment marred the smooth surface of our
intercourse.
Well do remember, as 'twere but yes
terdsy, the day aud hour, yea, the very
spot, Of our first acquaintance. II was in
the summer time OF l843, st that beauti
full resident place at the eastern end Of
Adams street, then the hOspitsble subur-
ban mansion of Seth WReatley, Esq
long since dead IL was in the midst OF
social party Of gentlemen, invited to meet
the great RentuckisG, Mr.. Clay, who hsp-
pened TO be on q visit to our village at
that time. Even then, though a very
young man (tWenty- four years Old) those
scintillatioRs of genius which all along
through life so illumined the social circle,
flashed amidst that stranger crowd, we
were all then strangers TO him, he having
lust made Memphis his home. Ever since
then We have been brothers.
Edwin NJ. Yerger was born ia Wilson
county, Tennessee, on the 18th day Of jan
usry, 1919. I have often heard him speak
Of q brief period Of his life spent as clerk
in the postOfice at Nashville, when he
first entered upon the threshold Of man
hood. This probationary period of clerk
Is duties was, however, Of short duratlOn;
for he doubtless felt that he would be do
ing violence to the ordained will, did he
not make one Of that grand line of Illus
triOus born lawyers OF the name Of Yer
ger. After having served a campaign in
Jhs Florida war, q fellow soldier with the
lamsnted Haskell, he went 10 the office
of that great and good brother OF his in
Nicksburg, George s. Herger, where he
studied his profession. 1 do not believe
be ever undertook to practice law much
before coming to Memphis. Here, in this
portion Of his native State, has been the
Jhsater Of his renOwn, since that sunny
summers day at Seth Wheatlsy's, where
first we met. OF the luster which Edwin
NJ. Yerger has shed upon the profession
Of the law it is needless to speak, In at
tsststion of this / need but point to the
records in every important case upon the
EQUITY, Law or Criminal side Of the dock
ct for the last quarter Of century. For
twenty-five years after he launched his
professional bark upon the troubled
waters of our legal sea, no case Of any
magnitude has occurred in which the
name Of Yerger did not appear.
Until he was put upon the Chancery
Bench by the popular voice, some few
months since, believe he never held a
public position. In 1854, however, he was
pressed by the Wing party, to which he
then belonged, to the candidacy for Con-
H.
whom he was defeated, l believe, by two
votes. Although much more of lawyer
than q politician, he always took deep
interest in the political affairs of the day,
and entered ZealOusly into the Presi-
dental canvasEes when they occurred. He
was firm and steadfsst in his political con
victions, bold and fearless in their enun-
citation. His alliance " it'll the old Wing
party remained intact so long as that
party maintained its distinctive Organi-
tion.
In 1866, however, together with many
of his personal and political friends, he
cO-opersted with the Democracy and the
first Democratic vote / suppose be ever
gave was for James Buchanan. In that
memorable canvass he took an active
part, and in company with my humble
self made an extensive tour in this end
Of the State. The powerful speeches he
in West Tennessee will be long remem-
bered by the many thousands who heard
him. In the Presidential canvass which
followed four wears thereafter, he espous-
ed ths cause Of Douglass, and together
with the Hon. Henry s. FoOte, power
fully put forth ths claims Of that renoWn-
ed statesman for the Presidency.
Although ranked with what we called
Onion men at the commencement of our
troubles int the SoVlh, he, however, in feel
ing and in fortunes linked his destiny
with his section, remaining steadfast to
the end.
It was not, however, in the field Of poll
itics that his vast mental powers shone
most brilliantly. II was not upon the
stump that be mostly developed the won
derful workings Of his mind; able al
ways, Oft-times brilliant, this was not his
forum.
1t was as s lawyer that he excellsd. It
was In arguing purely legal propositions
that be rose the highest, Most lawyers
of distinction take their rank in some
particular branch Of the profession. Some
excel In the courts of ChRncery; others
again In the 7ltSi pTittS; many there be
who stand prominently as Criminal
lawyers; whilst there are those who are
alone fitted FOR the appellate courts; COM
paratively few there are who are acknOwl-
edged gr6st In all these different theaters
Of the law. Among those feW--and we
may wen say foremost of the few stood
Edwin NJ. erger, when in the zenith OF
his career. II was hard TO tell in which
he eXCelled, for ] have many times, in
each Of these different forums, heard him,
when l thought that was his special place.
But the fact Is, he had no spe-
cial place. he was great alike
in all. 1 mean what I say, for I knew
him we'll. We were, at one time, associs-
ted together, with the lamented W. A.
Both now dead. He was indeed q great
lawyer, hut how he became 80 no one
hardly knew. His legal knowledge seemed
TO come to him by intuition, rather than
by the plodding process of profound read