Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1878-08-15
Gard from Judge vii
iian1S.

T ldibfi5 Caiu hOHi OuuSc AlCh'-
erson, who finds fault with the
following paragraph in my circus
lar of July l0lh:
III found the dockets Of the
circuit clogged with litigation,
with an additional county with a
heavy criminal docket added on,
and that | will leave the circuit
comparatively free 10 my sue
cessor."
] will not say that his card was
published in the last issue Of your
paper before the election 10 pre-
! judicc my claims, nor will stop
10 controvert the meaning OF the
word ''cloegtd," which he with the
] aid Of Worcester has rendered to
my entire satisfaction, but l do
deny that any reflection was cast
upon him by the card complained
Of, and certainly none was intend
ed. Ii seemed TO me then as now
that when | said in the circular,
Being called suddenly and with
out previous training TO succeed a
man OK the eminent ability and
business capacity of my irnme-
date predecessor has made the
trust more difficult to fill with
satisfaction to my self or 10 you"
that ] was doing him ample JUS
tice. OF course, the publication
Of his card bad its effect, wheth
er intended or not, and cannot
now be recalled; bat | wish to
stand properly before the people
who have selected me for one Of
their judicial offices. /, there
tore, after disclaiming again any
reflection on him or anybody else,
will demonstrate the truth of the
statement, and will call Judge
Hickerson as the Grst witness.
In a circular letter addressed
to the bar OF the circuit On ten
dering his resignation on the Goth
Of June, 1877, be uses the follow
ing rather plain and unambiguous
language, which does not need a
Worcester TO Interpret: "When
this circuit was established in 1888
it was the 18Th Judicial Circuit
and was composed of Lincoln,
Franklin, Coffee and Warren.
This was considered then one
thirteenth Q-l3) part of the civ
il and criminal business of the
State pertaining to the circuit and
criminal courts; the entire bust.
ness Of the circuit and criminal
courts in the balance of the State
being done by twelve judges.
Since that time the Legislature
has added to this circuit the coun.
ties of Grundy, Van Buren,, Moore
and White, making eight coun.
ties, some of which are large and
wealthy With q large population.
1t is fair to assume that this por.
lion of the State has increased in
wealth, population and litigation
in proportion to the balance of
the State, and yet we see the re-
markuble spectacle Of twenty.
three Judges in the balance of
the State required to do the work
which twelve heretofore accom-
plisLed."
The meaning Of which is, that
while this circuit was enlarged by
four counties the labor Of the 9th.
er Judges wos diminished by the
appointment of eleven others to
help them. Now if what he says
is true Of this circuit when be had
it, what might ] not with equal
truth say Of it when l took it,
especially whea il is noted that
he did not hold single court in
White county, and which court |
had to hold in addition to the |
counties be had.
This county (White) had more
than twenty felonies with an e.
quail proportion OF other litigation,
and yet | had it TO take in add.
ton TO his labors. He further
says, IL would not have limited
Warren county to one week in
which to try the large docket of |
homicides and other telopies now
there" .
Ii the docket of that court was
not clogged, even according to his
definition, ! confess my inability I
to understand the Specification OF
language. There were, as ! now
remember, twenty-five felonies on
the Warren county docket and
but one week to try them aud
the other business. Some of these
took five or six days to try them;
this he knows, for be was coun.
sci in one or more OF them.
In this condition | found il and I
to relieve the county | ordered
special term, which took up all
the unoccupied time between the
courts Of Warren and White, and
in this way cleared the docket.
You can judge for yourself
whether the circuit was clogged
or not. BY the use of that term
| meant to say that it was a heav-
lily encountered circuit, Just what
he had substantially said in his
circular, and | now reassert that !
it has been In great measure
worked off. and that MS q conse.