Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-03-15
HOEuRs 70 the DRha,
tIar Aieeting 10 Take Action in
Regard 10 Judge HOrri-
gan's Death.
List Of the Committees Appointed.
Address by Judge Eammoud.

A useful citizen, a righteous Judge,
and a man, indeed an idol, OF the peo-
pie, passed from our midst and entered
heavenly realms yesterday afternoon
q few minutes before one o'clock,
when Lawrence B. Horrigan died. His
demise had not been wholly unex.
peOted by those who had been made
acquainted with the nature and sever.
ity of his illness. His naturally frail
body was unable to stand against the
acute attack Of pneumonia with which
he was taken on Sunday last, and he
passed away quietly in less than four
days from the time he was first pros
trated. The Judge was on his feet in
his usual apparent health until
some time after the dark Of
Saturday last, He then complained q
little, but about 10 o'clock at night
retired TO his room at the Peabody,
and he never rose from his bed Of
illness after. DR.. Mitchell, his family
physician, was called early Sunday,
and aiterward had the advice and as.
sistance of DR., Maury, but the com
bined skill Of both, with the closest
and most careful attention in the way
Of nursing failed to check the ravages
Of the malady.
No man in this community could
have been taken from US whose death
would cause more poignant and uni
versal regret, and as evidence of it the
bar, of which he was an honored
member, held a meeting this forenoon
to give expression tc the sentiments
entertained for the departed Judge.
The meeting was a large one, and a
thrOng of spectators gathered about
in addition to the regular members.
The following speech, made by the
departed gentleman's personal friend,
Judge Shelby Hammond, of the U. s.
District Court, is a fitting testimonial
to the memory and worth Of the la
mented jurist:
Brothers of the Bar:
We assemble here, as is our custom, TO
make record of the death of our de-
ceased brother, l.. B. Horrigan, late
Judge Of the Criminal Court Of Shelby
county. When | knew yesterday that
he must die it seemed to me that it would
not be inappropriate to speak of him from
my place in this assembly, and now that
you have honored me by q call to the
chair 1t is to be expected of me. Of Judge
Horrigan's personal history | cannot
speak with biographical detail for want of
knowledge of the subject He was a pc
culiar man in never talking of himself in
that regard so far as my own intercourse
with him is concerned. But of his public
career in this community we can all say
something, and it does not belong exclu-
sively to his intimates. That he had
within him the elements of success we all
know, mostly because he did succeed and
became, in his line of public life, the
foremost man, not alone of this county
and city, but of this State. Beyond the
State he was the best known by reputa-
ton of all the Judges in it. That he
reached this degree of success, coming
here as he did among the strong men Of
this bar q stranger and, in one sense, an
alien, for be came first as a soldier in
what we believed to be an army of inva-
sion, is an evidence of his energy and
talent He won his way, and that
he could so win it does honor to
Us as we'll as him, and
very striking ILLUSTRATION that the
bitterness Of civil strife did not deny a
brilliant career to a worthy man who
fought upon the adverse side. He was
called almost unanimously to the bench
without distinction Of party. But his was
the triumph not of genius but of labor
He was not man of genius-whatever
that may mean-and had he been he
would have failed without the patient la
Dor with which he pursued 'the lawless
science Of the law" Judge Horrigan was
Young man to haVe required the disc
tin'ction he did, and he could not have
done il without industry and patient toll
Bliss OF time Is bliss Of toll:
No bliss but this from sun and sell
Does God permit to grow"
While he was i'll a friend related to me
circumstance that demonstrates this
fact, and shows how he acquired that ex-
tensive knowledge Of the criminal law.
which was the foundation Of bis peofes-
;ional SUCCESS. When he frat came here
he did not own tho Tennessee Reports,
and from that friend he borrowed them
volume by volume. until he had digested
the whole criminal law of the State.
He didnot hunt the digests spasmodically
for particular use nor learn all he knew
by such frantic searches for 'law." but
thoroughly and Complementary mas
tered the whole body pf tie specially "a
which he devoted ~Ris attention. If the
career Of Judge Horrigan teaches the
younger bar 10 which he belonged any
more sautory lesson than another. IL Il
that which Is contained in the incident
nst peptiplfa;. Il says To Ais brethren
| Va pApAheeiVhs 4AtAlu lDAI INV NE
much as possible, before the absorbing
duties of active practice begin. But on
this occasion we are permitted to deal
more with his relations to the public than
his merely personal relation to the profess
sion. | saw in a law magazine not a
great while ago, reference to certain
spIpgies on deceased Judges and lavyers,
one Of which vas cdnimended Us Tho beS,
example cfthe kind eYtant, and / turned
10 it II that charnelshouse Of buried elo-
quence, the Law Reports. The truth OF
lis sentiment struck me more than its elc.
quent words The deceased there was
an old man, eighty-six years Of age. who
was confessedly the leading lawyer in the
State, where that distinction is worth AZ
much as II can be elsewhere. / cannot
here repeat the words Of the eulogist, but
briefly, the sentiment was this, That take
the life Of any lawyer who has reached
even the highest ranks Of the forum or the
bench, and when his life q closed there 4
nnothing left q II all but a tolling bell, l
handful Of earth and Q passing Tradition
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