Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-03-12
Az APoLooY.
How Solemn BIuEders are COmmftted
Involuntary HoDie1de By e
Newspaper.

The first circuit court adjourned gstur-
day on motion of Mr. Mcdowell tout Of
respect" as the clerk OF that court writes
II, ito the memory of Walter Coleman,
deceased Upon this OH ial notification,
Puolished Sunday morning and re-
ceived Saturday evening, we wsrs i'm
PEELED to write OF the dssth Of this distin-
guished gentleman. The clerk of another
court advised as Of the demise of another
lawyer prematurely, and not very long
ago q man whom we hsd known well, APP
parently sane and telling 9 connected
credible recital Of minute circumstantil
facts, informed us that q distinguished
jurist OF Mississippi was no more. The
APPEAL, In each instance, pronounced its
eulogtum and the SD story, utterly
incOrrigtole, went abroad. Ths LAWYER
bad not died; but practically he has shut
hsd OF this mortal c~Oil-there is no NOR
tai agency that can resurrectD him. We
apOlORizsd and corrected the assertion of
his decease, but it avsiled nothing. The
world thinks him no more, and ne, find
ing this true, again wrote for our inter-
venticn to rescue him from the hands OF
the grsve-digger. Nothing could b done.
the papers mad patented the original
four times around tins world. DespairinR
Of the possibility of retrieving the
error, we wrote TO our friend TO sur
render himself TO the undsrtaker. and
go and be buried quietly and de-
Gently and make no more fuss about
It. A very sensible gentleman as he Is,
We have no doubt he accepted our advice.
In any event be has pever-since been
from. But by this LAST unhappy incident
Of Saturday, we are led TO say that no
man should write an obituary notice Of
another till he holds & c~Oroner's verdict
In n hand, the DOCTORS certificate that
he was at least in the sick room and pre-
soribed once or twice strong corroboTs-
tive facts-aud ths sections rscejps for tie
body. II, in addition to this presumptive
evidence Of death we can confer
with q unhappy widow and fad
that she Is as sOrely perplexsd to and
ways and means Of paying the cost OF
the funeral pageant which fashion or
dams, IS q is grievsd by the loss Of h5r
only friend and protector, the obituary
notice may be safely written We make
this statement of facts apolOgssicslly for
fear that some model jury, gathered I'M
der the wisely bsnign IaFs Of Tennessee,
which prefer ignorance to intsiligence
] and deny the right of seyic8 on juries to
men who have opinions, may indict the
APPEAL for hurrying Innocent psople
into another world.
B. B. BARNEs's CAsE.
While the APPBAL, very proftably to
mankind, hes been engaged inthe delecta-
bic task OF knocking lawyers on the head,
| our neighbor over the way ehucks them
into b ~penitentiary, and bstWeen the
two, the lawyers are having rough time.
Il happened that Mr.. B. b. Barnes. an ex-
osllent attorney of this city, applied, In
behalfof some lucklsss convicted client of
his, for the governors pardon. The indi-
vidual psrdOned was William B~sauregsrd,
VIII had forged the signature OF Mr..
Barnes. The mistake made by U con
Il Eamn0raFu No m Hat Ian1nrchla o-l Id
crous. Surely 1t Is infinitely less culps-
bic TO send one Of the knights of the gown
and greenbsg to the bOne-ysrd than to
consign him to the ~penitsntiarY. Mr.,
Barnes, we know, would go to - first.
In fact, these little blunders and accidents
will happen and while mankind is 50
given to stretching the blanket'' It Is
not wonderful that q newspaper nov and
then gets the "Ysrn" In the shape OF q
shroud and that q lawyer should thus be
enYelOped Is by no means amazing. By
sill odds the funniest newspaper blunder
OF modern times is this by which Mr..
Barnes, Of kin to him who wrote 'Eotes
on the Gospels" IN place Of his luckless
client, IS consigned to the p~enitentiary.
II the story be as incorriglble IS that Of
the Mississippi lawyer whom we killed
some time ago, we can only say with
fearful eyes 10 our learned friend Barnes,
that he should go along quietly, don 3
striped jacket n make himself useful
for the next ten years in digging stumps
on Forests or NoIton's railroad,
ASTONISHING.
We had hardly told the foregoing story
whsn Mr.. Mcdowell called to say that ne
never announced in court the death OF
Colonel Walter Coleman; that the clerk
OF the court was wholly mistaken; and
that his memorandum Furnished our re-
porter was not truthful; and that Colonel
OOlemau's name was accidentally subati-
tuted for that of another lawyer by the
clerk of the court. In fact we are not,
from this day forth, inclined to believe
anything we hear about lawyers. They
are the last people who should, and We
are satisfied that they are the very last
VINO do kick the bucket.
Memphis boasts OF an accomplished bar.
judges of federal courts who traverse
many States and listen everywhere to ju-
ridical eloqusnee have said thai IL no
city do they find lawyers SURPRISING ours
of Memphis in any element OF profession
al or intellectual greatness. May they all
live forever,