Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-07-21

| I'LL luu6A1QE6 u6l6TlIllIldblOIl 10 SUI
press crime and punish criminal
who were proven to be guilty. III
was, nevertheless, the last man il
the world who would have pros
tituted his high Office to the perse
cutiOn of the innocent, and VIII,
looked with unutterable abhorrenc
upon the crime of judicial murder
which often disgraced the annals o
criminal Jurisprudence in England
When in court, and during the pro
gress of an important cause, orde
had to be preserved in the court
room, and officers of the court knew
it and acted accordingly. When hi
had done his duty, and the prisoner
had been acquitted by the jury, what
ever may have been his opinion o.
his guilt or innocence, he had nc
words of reproach for thejury, whom
he presumed acted on honest cOnvic.
tions and conscientiously he sub.
mitted calmly and with dignity tC
the verdict. Being perfectly salts
fed that he had done his duty, he
left the consequences to the tribunal
which had the constitutional right
to decide upon the guilt or innocence
of the prisoner. An illustration OF
this trait of character in his judicial
administration of the law occurred
on the trial of Albert Jones for the
murder of Capt. Joe Miller, an old
steamboat captain who had naviga-
ted the waters of the Cumberland,
Ohio, and the Mississippi for a great
many years. The killing took place
at Trice's landing, in this county,
and the trial was held in Clarksville.
One or two miS-trialS had occurred,
and on the third trial Jones was ac-
quilted about O'Clock in the after
noon. Turner and | had been inVi-
ted to dine that day with Bryce
Stewart at 4 p. M. He had delivered
the seVerest charge to the jury l
ever heard in a court, the most sys-
tematic and clear, though, l must
add, strictly within the bounds of le-
gal and judicial propriety. Imme-
diately after the announcement of
not guilty, though excited and heat
ed with the charge, and the effort it
cost him to pronounce it, he at once
and in a firm voice, ordered the
sheriff to adjourn the court until the
next morning. l tried to avoid him
for while, he hunted me up, and
as he left the courtroom he took my
arm and we walked over one hun
dred yards in the middle of the
street without a word being uttered
by either of us. His fingers were
working cOnvulsively on my arm
all the time, and I felt he could not
stand it much longer, and that he
was then at the point of explosion.
He suddenly stopped and got imme-
diately before me in the street, and
a small cane he held in his
hand, three or four times, with deep
on the pavement, he said:
"Well sir, you have acquitted your
man; but if / didn MT give him the
clean law may I be damned" 1
very mOdestly said, eyes, Judge,
the jury thought he was not guilty"
He believed he was guilty and
ought to have been hung, but the
feeling that he had ably and consci-
discharged his duty recon-
ciled him to the verdict of the jury,
and unburdened his mind at once.
We walked more than half a mile
to the hospitable mansion of our
friend, partOok of a fine dinner, and
it may be, drank somewhat of the
vintage of 1900, and felt as happy
as Tam O'Shanter when he rose from
his pOtatiOns "O'er the ills of life
From q close eXamin-
alton and intimate knowledge of
his character as judge I have
thought he was as able a criminal
Judge as Sir Matthew Hale, and that
is saying enough in cOmmendation
Of any man, and is saying no more
than is strictly true
Herbert S. KimbIe was a very
chancery lawyer, kept
his Office and his papers in order,
and scrupulously neat. He was an
actor in some of the most amusing
incidents l ever saw in the court
house. They require, however, too
much acting to give them their prop
er stage effect to have a place in
this veritabie history. He had de-
cided passion, like many other great
men, for fine horses and game cocks.
Once while | was at Springfield
court he insisted I should go home
with him, about one mile east of the
town, and see his game cocks. We
walked through the fOwl-yard, and
it was enough to stir any mans
blood to hear him diiate on the mer-
its of his heroic birds with blood red
Dlumage. The old cock was a per-
feet specimen of the game chicken.
He was lord of all he surveyed. |
Five or six young fellows gave him
trouble and annoyance
by their assiduous grllantry to the
of the tribe, who ran to him
ever and anon for protection against
their assaults, and were giving indi-
cations that they meditated rebel |
ion against the arbitrary manner
IN which he exercised his paternal |
l said to him, ''Kimble,
these young blOOds will not quietly |
submit to that old fellow much lon
ger, and the firstrainy day that comes
they will fight him with a cOntinu-
andO, one after another, till they
worry him to DEATH" He replied |
that he could whip barn-yard of
them. A day or two afterwards |
was standing on the streets, before
court met, with some gentlemen;
lne of them said, "Kimble is COM i
ing in early this morning, some
thing very unusual has happened;
Dne of his children must be sick,
and he has come off after a doctor
1n foot" He was evidently labor
ing under great excitement, and
coming up to me he said, "Henry,
lon't you think those id young |
sons Of bitches have killed my old |
rame cock" He was very irritable |
al day, disrespectful to the bar, and
civil to the court, and evil
lently wanted to fight something or
We made out, however,
to get through the day without a
conflict, though we had many angry
collisions from morning till night.
If any one had crooked his finger at
him he would have fought him in
5tanter. He was as game as the
cock that was killed or those that
were alive.
Nathaniel III. Allen. What shall
[ say of the cold man elOquentn
that would be worthy of his unri-
vailed fame as a criminal lawyer?
need not seek to revive your recOl-
lection of him. He had the power
10 impress himself upon the memo
ry of all who ever heard him so in
ielibly that the surgeS of time cam
not obliterate your remembrance of
him. 1t was in the Criminal Court,
in defence of a client whose life and
liberty were in peril for having taken
the life of his antagonist in combat,