The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-08-30
JUDGE HENRY M. sPOFFORD.

ical arena, but he ia known and honored
throughout Louisiana as much for the
moral force and dignity of his character
as for his profound and brilliant legal
ability.
The South claims Judge Spofford as
entirely her son, by virtue OF his long
residence on her soil and the name and
the North may claim an equal parental
right, as he was born in Massachusetts,,
near enough to the Hub to call himself
a Bostonian, should he chose to claim
that glorious privilege. It is, perhaps,
his prouder boast that he is descended
from the old English race OF Spoffords,
who had for generations back filled
places Of trust and dignity in England.
His father was d Presbyterian minister,
respected and loved by all who knew
him. Henry M. Spofford received a
careful collegiate education, but being
one OF a large family, he struck ont for
| himself, when mere youth, rich only
In his boldness and fresh enthusiasm
and untried strength.
He settled at Shreveport, louisiana,
and while studying law supported him
self, as one half the clever men of our
country have done, by teaching school.
He soon won a distinguished position at
the bar in that town, for to mind ca
pable of understanding the law clearly,
and expounding it forcibly, was united
high degree Of assiduity and labori.
BUSINESS, q quick and fertile fancy, with
the minor but winning advantages of
harmonious voice and q graceful, cour-
teous manner.
He was called from Shreveport while
still quite young man, and elected to
serve term as Supreme Judge of the
State. and in that capacity won from
all the acknowledgment that "the Judi
cial ermine, when it fell ON his shoul-
ders, touched nothing not as spotless as
ITSELF" His judicial decisions showed
that his mind had become ilnbued with
the very quintessence Of equity, and
were admired everywhere for their clear
ness, strength and profound thought.
After retiring from the judicial bench
he settled in New Orleans, where he
gained large and lucrative practice,
and was welcome to the elite of New
Orleans society-the society that. under
the a,lcien regime in that city, was
hedged about with all the exclusiveness
and fashioned with all the stateliness
that ever distinguished that of the Fau-
bourg st. Germain.
In 1861 Judge Spofford married Opt1e-
liza, the daughter of Thomas K. Martin
Of Tennessee, a lady whose inherited
charms of wealth and. "blue blood"
were less powerful than the beauty and
wit that were hers by divine right.
Judge Spoford took no active part in
the war, seeing with prophetic eye the
incalculable calamities that would be.
fall the country from an appeal to arms.
The four years Of the civil strife were to
him gloomy and terrible years he felt
no good could come to the South from
such a war-her blood and treasure
poured into a gulf that the sacrifice Of
all her Curtii could hardly close.
After the war Judge Spofford formed
a law partnership with Judge Campbell
of New Orleans. Engrossed by re-
sponsible practice, he held aloof from
politics until appointed delegate to
the Democratic convention at st. Louis
and supported Mr.. Tilden, making
powerful speeches in Tennessee and
Louisiana, that proved he had mastered
the science of politics.
One disgrace Of the last campaign
was the vituperatiOn that all parties
Republicans, Democrats and Inde-
pendents -indulged in to such an extra
ordinary degree that a stranger reading
our journals might have supposed that
we elected all our sscoundrefs" to pub
lie office, as a better reformation
school than the penitentiary. To this
gross and Incorporate policy Judge
Spofford has never stopped; his satire
Is free from cOarseness; his invectives |
are as polished as they are keen; and, |
"as the finest cimetars are said to be |
tempered with Perfume" they perhaps
cut deeper from the delicacy employed. |
A piquant anecdote will sometimes IL |
lustrate character better than many
pages of description, but his most init
mate friend could scarcely furnish such
Of Judge Spofford. His life has been
such rounded out and regulated busi-
ness that there are no sharp points or
angles to hang anything odd or funny
upon. He is as smooth and polished as
Ice. and never speaks at random. He
has all his life illustrated the maxim,
What is worth doing at all is worth do
ng WE'LL" When asked by a village
school to deliver a lecture, he took the
same pains to make it interesting as il
earned scholars were to hear it. When
he people of New Orleans sent for him
20 act in their behalf before the Return
ng Board, he spent week in thorough
y studying the laws on the subject of
Boards before he attempted
o discuss the subject even in CONVERSE
ion. I
He is reserved and quietly pleasant at
III COUl tsOuS ttuu JlSb LOWdTU all :
nen. To an observer he seems to be o !
nan who has fathomed the follies and-I :
allacies Of life, and cannot be moved to |
ither joy or gloom.
A classic scholar, graceful orator, a b
ubtle thinker, he is still something
reater and better; he is a paragon Of r
loral manliness, an example of recti- \
1de; and whatever his clear reason =
hall dictate as right he will uphold and
efend with heroic firmness. s
In person Judge Spofford is tall, with t.
finely shaped head and a strong. r
1oughtful face. He wears mustache "
ut short, over a firm mouth and posi- fl
We chin. His eyes are dark, large and d
right, and, though his features are not n
'gular, they make his countenance "
ost engaging and expressive. :,
WINFIELD MEREDITH. "
Galveston, Texas, August 7. p
San Diego, California, mourns because h
; crop of honey is $25O,OOO short. tf
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