Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-11-20
HONORs no GENERAL SAFE.
R~roeeeaings OF the Meeting of ms Mem
phis Bar Testerday-ResOIutions
Presented and Adopted
speech By Judge
FiipPiD.


The adjourned meeting Of the bar Of
Memphis was held IN the Criminal
Court room at nine O'Clock yesterday, to
receive the report of the committee ap-
pointed to draft resolutions in relation to
the death Of General John F. Sale. The
committee, through Judge T. w.
Brown, madethe following report:
PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS.
The American lawyer exertsa control
ing influence on the contemporary opin-
ion and events of his country. To have
been eminent in the profession is to have
made such a figure in the public life of
any community as justifies exceptional
recognition and especial funeral honors,
when death closes the career Of the ju-
rist or advocate. Therefore, in the loss
by death of JOHN +. SALE from the
professional circle of the Memphis bar,
we feel that to do otherwise than yield
70 his memory the most respectful tri-
butte, would be unworthy of ourselves,
aud prove as utterly insensible to high
professional merit, and the genial, love
able qualities Of a good heart and gen.
erOus nature. Hence be il
ResOlued, That in life the bar Of Mem
phis awarded to the deceased a most
distinguished role in the department of
the law selected by him for the exertion
Of his pOwers-that Of criminal jurispru-
dence and practice. We will always
cherish the great reputation achieved by
him in this line of professional effort,
conscious that while acquiring for him.
self renown, he likewise contributed to
the general fame of our bar. In him =
native ability of a high and eccentric
order, was blendid with a peculiar apti-
tude for the particular professional pur-
suit he so delighted in, which accom-
plished for him as advocate forensic tTi-
umphs-and for his clients acquittals, az
remarkable as any that ever occurred in
the history of the criminal dock, at any
time or in any country. He was a faith
ful and labOriOus advocate, carrying
about him mindfully even in his
apparently most careless moments,
the weight and responsibilities of the
causes entrusted to his care. He was not
sordid-not mercenary in the use Of his
great professional capacities. These,
though commanding the highest fees,
were never refused TO the needy. None
ever appealed in vain 10 him for a de-
Tense, when poverty and helplessness
solicited. He was by nature in full
sympathy with his race-really incapa-
bic of having IN enmity-Of nursing a
quarrel or cherishing the slightest bit
terness toward any one. Whenever the
ability was present he lever allowed an
opportunity to do a kindness to any
mortal, high or low, to slip by unim-
proved. His qualities of mind and
character were all conspicuous and stood
out with marked angularity. There was
nothing tame or prOsaic about his mould
and structure. His faculties and dispo-
sitiOns did not move in worn grooves, |
nor OF level planes. In his death the
bar of Memphis has lost a member Of
large intellectual proportions, of a
noble heart and with a ~well-earned
fame, leaving in our midst room
and space not soon to be filled. |
ReSOlUed, That we tender to his be-
reaved family such coincidence as their
great calamity may allow, and that they
be assured of our sympathy with them
in their supreme sorrow.
Resolved, That a copy of these resO-
lutions be transmitted to his family, and
that the respective courts of Shelby
county be requested to spread these res
olUtions on their records.
The resolutions were seconded by
Judge JohnR r. Flippin in the following
remarks:
Mr.. CHAIRBLAN-If ii ever imprOp-
er not to speak, I feel were | to remain
silent on this occasion il might seem
.singularly inappropriate. Here, in this
court, owe which / have had the honor
to preside for the last two years, was the
theater Of his great professional tri-
umphs. Here guilt found in him most
relentless prosecutor, and conscience its
warmest and ablest advocate. Here he
exhibited that rare combination of TO
rensic abilities by which he acquired
such a mastery over juries, as it almost
seemed that to gain a verdict was only
him in every conceivable mood,
and in almost every conceivable
known to the criminal law. At
one time arguing some dry legal prOpO-
sition with a vigorous logic, fortifying
each successive step in the pathway OF
ais discussion by principle and prece-
dent, and at another, handling with in
comparable power and adroitness some
question of fact, at moment soften
and winning with the fine witehery
Of his humOr and fancy, and at another,
mounting the hercest sarcasm and absO-
consuming his opponents cause
and witnesses with his terrible vitupera-
tons. He welded the blade of ridieule
into an instrument Of torture, and pitt
iessly bound to the rack the unfortunate
victims of his animadversiOns. His
convictions were strong and earnest,
and his zeal almost invariably led him
10 ultimate success, breaking down every
interposing obstacle ave the barrier Of
his honor, at the threshold of which he
stopped. ! verify believe he
gave his great talents as freely to the
poor as to the rich. His fidelity to his
client could never be questioned. ] re-
member on one occasion having ap-
pointed him to defend n too poor to
employ counsel, who but a few minutes
as witness against some of his
had fallen under his whitening
anathemas. This party's protests were
and almost pitiful to the court
against his appointment as counsel, so
greatly did he fear him; but this only
met with his prompt rebuke, saying
that it was in Difference to the court and
not to him he entered upon his defense,
he did in a few minutes, and in a
brief period he had extricated his newly
made client, amid his reJOiclngs, from
the tolls of the law. His word and
70 the court were iryiolable,
and always redeemed. OF the honesty
Of his statements in the conduct Of a
cause, the court never entertained a sus
In the courtroom his verbal
agreements We're solemn obligations. He
was open in his friendship and bold in
bis antagonisms; original in his eOneep-
lions and frequently grotesquely unique
in his ~phraseology. The flashes OF his
wit were only equaled by the sparkles of
his enlivening humor. His nature was
singulsrly free from the alloy Of envy,
and his heart knew not the existence Of
He was e~mphatically the young
lawyers friend. For him he always had
B smile and word of encouragement
He was a man Of great brains, perhaps
wanting in analysis and orderly arrange
ment, but always grasping the vital
Of a aauGa and driving fhpm I