The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-05-25
IN MEMORIAM.
HONOR TO THE MEMORY OF
THE LATE JUDGE
G. M. WINKLER.
Addresses by Maj. G. 8. West, Chief
Justice Gould and Justice
Bonner, I'm the SUI
Preme Court
Yesterday.

court yesterday, Mai jor c. 5. West, in
behalf of the Austin bar, addressed the
court as follows
May 1t please the Court:
The melancholy duty has been as
signed me by my brethren of the bar,
recently assembled in this chamber, from
different and distant portions of the state,
of presenting to your honors for such
official action as may be deemed most
fitting and appropriate, series of reso-
lutions recently adopted by them ex-
pressive of their respect for the memory
of the Hon. G. M. Winkler, one of the
Judges of the court of appeals, who died
-in this city on Saturday last.
In discharginG this duty, your honors
will willingly indulge me in making a
few observations proper to such an oc-
casion, on the character of the deceased,
who in life was so very highly esteemed,
and, / may say without exaggeration,
loved by all of us.
In speaking of his many virtues,
speak advisedly, not unmindful of this
solemn occasion and of this high pres
ence not unmlndful that l speak not
alone for myself, as private individual,
but as the voice and selected organ of the
bar of this great state. Commissioned by
them to communicate to this court their
profound sorrow. and to bear testimony in
their behalf to their deep sense of the
loss experienced by his death, and also
to dwell for brief period of time, upon
the many virtues and amiable traits of
character, possessed in so marked a de-
gree by the deceased, it cannot be re-
garded as saying too much, to say that
the death of such worthy citizen in the
days of his usefulness, is not only a great
loss to the bench and bar, but a severe
loss to the whole state at large, to whose
service his time and his labor were most
unselfishly devoted.
Without gong at all into the details of
his life, 1t may be said, that from 1901
the date of Judge Winkler's arrival in
Texas, not having then quite reached his
majority, down TO the day of his death,
he stood high in the esteem and conf
dence of those among whom he lived. In
the year 1913, he held the humble, but
honorable position of deputy district
clerk, and if my memory is not at fault,
he had before that time taught small
school.
In 1874 he was promoted by the peo.
pie of old Robertson county, who es-
leemed him from the first to the last, TO
the responsible and honorable position of
clerk of the district court of that county.
During the period of his clerkship he
studied his profession, and was admitted
to the bar, where his standing was from
the beginning good. In his long and
successful career he received many fees,
and there was NOT dirty shilling
among them.
In lS47 he was elected a member of
the second legislature that assembled
after annexation, under the now famous
constitution of 1S45-46. In 1861 he took
up arms on behalf of the south in the
civil war then being carried on between
the northern and southern states, and
was u member of the famous fourth
Texas infantry, originally commanded
by General Hood, and to the command
of which the deceased himself attained
near the close of the war.
In 1866 he was declared to be elected
judge of the thirteenth judicial district,
and received the certificate of election,
took the oath of qualification and re-
ceived his commission, and entered on
the discharge of his duty, but learning
shortly afterwardsl that his honorable
jority of the votes cast, he at once sur
rendered the Office. He took no advice
of counsel as to his legal rights. He in.
terposed no special plea or technical OBJ
lection. 1t was enough for him to know,
and he knew it by instinct, that the true
title to the Office did not consist in the
certificate of election, nor in the commits
sion, but existed in the people, and could
not rightfully be held by any one, except
that person upon whom the people had,
by their suffrages, cast the title. He
scorned to take advantage of any quibble
to hold as his own that which the people
in their wisdom had seen fit to confer,
and worthily, upon another
In 1878, he was q member of the thir.
teenth legislature, and in that body repre-.
sented the interests of his immediate con.
stituency, and of the state at large, ably
and faithfully.
In 1876, he was elected by the people
of the state one of the judges of the court
of appeals. This high and responsible
position he held at the time of his death.
This hasty and defective enumeration
of the offices filled in his life time by the
deceased, bears honorable testimony to
the esteem in which he was held He
so conducted himself in official positions,
on all occasions. that he to the end pos
sessed the unbounded confidence of the
people who had confided these high
trusts to his keeping, and the duties of
which he discharged faithfully.
As judge, the ten volumes of the
published reports of the court of ap-
peals, tell the story of his industry and
devotion to duty.
He was not blessed with that Heaven
descended faculty or gift, called
genius" but very fortunately for our
profession, it does not require genius
or extraordinary.inspiratiQps to make a
good and faithful lawyer, and an able and
UPRIGHT Judge. Judge Winkler was never
theless, a very useful and valuable member
of the court of appeals. In the consul
tation room he brought to the considera-
tion of every case the fruits of large
experience, gained by his long connec-
tion with the bar as practicing attor-
ney.
He was possessessed, too, of thorough
knowledge of our penal code and code of
criminal procedure, and, as his opinions
show, was familiar with that branch of
the science of pleading which relates to
the requirements OF indictments, infor-
nations, and the drafting of the various
exceptions and special pleas, with refer
ence to which questions of difficulty are
continually arising in the court of which
he was an honored member. In addition
to these qualifications, he brought to the
disposition OF all causes a patience, a
mental serenity, sweetness of temper, a
love of truth and Of justice for their own
sakes, and an even Judgment tempered
with mercy, that of itself alone rendered
him very valuable adjunct to his learn
ed associates in their efforts to arrive at a
correct conclusion. He was Justly re-
garced by them and by the bar Of the
state as a useful and valuable member of
that high court.
In all the varied relations of life, as an
humble, sincere, devout Christian, as
husband, father, neighbor, friend and
counsellor, or private citizen, he was all
that he should have been. What higher
praise can be accorded to the dead than
thisg -.
Perhaps there was no period in his
long and honorable career upon which
hls many friends and warm advisers
looked with more pride, and of which
he himself was more proud (if the term
pride can be used at all in connection
with one so humble, so plain and simple
in his manners and tastes as the deceased)
than the four dreary years when he wore
the grey Of the Confederate soldier.
When under the mighty leadership OF
General Lee, and in the command OF
General Hood, he followed for better OF
for worse, through sunshine and through
storm, in the hour of victory and in the
hour of defeat, the battle-scarred flag oi
the Confederacy.
And, doubtless, hereafter, despite the