The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-05

Israel Phillips, on Washington street. opposite
the New York stores site, in 1649 or 80, Dir.
| Quaries, who. with Mr.. O'Neal, was defending,
attempted little dramatic effect in his speech
/ by jerking a dirk from inside his vest and
/ gesticulating with it. Unluckily for the effect
| he slapped it down on the table in front of him
so hard that he broke the blade off and spoiled the
/ tragedy air of the scene. To an appre-
| ciative listener he weakened its force by
more than usual frequency and sameness of
repetition. 1t was Mr. IO'Neal's cean-cut, wire
| spun" speech that saved Young from a life term
| in the penitentary. and sent him there for three
| years only. Mr. Quarless oldest son John was
| young man Of unusual promise, and if he had
| lived and used himself well, would have made
one of the first lawyers Of the West He was
| for time partner of his uncle r. l.. Walpole.
| He was killed one night about 1854 or 1855 by
falling down the stairs of College Hail. site of
| Fletcher 81 Sharpes Block, whether by accident
| or by blow from some one whom he had Of
/ Tended at the ball then going on in the hail. is
not certainly known, but the latter was the gen.
eral surmise.
| HUGH o'NRAL
| Hugh ONeal, also buried in the old cemetery,
nearly thirty years ago stood foremost among the
young Wings of central Indiana, both as stump
| speaker and as a lawyer. His father Thomas
ONeal, came to this section ins182l, and settled
on a tract of land north of the fair ground One
of his sons, Charles. was remarkable for stature,
4
hardly more than five and half Charles was
/ teamster in the days when all merchandise was
| hauled here from Cincinnati on four-horse, COW
| cred wagons, capable of carrying, on ordinary
roads, about ton and half. He was never
anything but WAGNER and farmer. Hugh,
however, had the inspiration OF native intellect
and the restless energy that usually accompanies
| it. He educated himself in ordinary English
| studies, and then obtained the county appoint
ment to the State University when Andrew
Wylie was president Here he made himself
| fair scholar in general study, and graduated,
coming home to study law He was admitted
to the bar about 1S4O In 1s49 he went to Cali
fornla. where he was afterwards joined by the
late Governor Hammond, who had been bis law
partner here for time and they both did we'll
in nFrancisco, but returned in two or three
years. Mr.. ONeal was once the Wing candidate
| for Congress during the dark ages" Of Demo
| cratic despotsm from 1S43 to 1854, but was de-
| feated, and that disappointment was Of the
causes that sent him to the Pacific. His
| best-remembered professional efforts were the
| defense of Edward Davis, in 1G45 charged with
aiding in the murder of John Tucker a colored
| man. on the Fourth of July, acquitted; the sue
cessful defense of John McFall, some eight or
| ten years later, indicted for murder in a saloon
| on Illinois street, just south of the Occidental
Hotel in which his speech was one of the most
| admirable specimens of clear, compact, cegent
argument ever heard by any jury in any
| try-the Journal Of the next day compared it to
| a "wire rope for size, solidity and strength
and bis defense of Merritt Young. above alluded
| to. He died in his prime, with the command of
| the highest position at the bar at his will;
but the especial devil of men of
| his exctable temperament deprived him of
| the will He died in his office on the corner of
the alley, west of Pennsylvania street, north
side of Washington, attended chiefly by his
| pupil. the late General Chapman, and his nurse
| the once noted Md local gossip and chronicle
| John Givan.
| Mr. O'Neal was the "Fidus Achates" of Gen
| eral Morris in their earlier lives. When
noted Democratic writer of this city sent to the
Democratic paper at Terre Haute, belonging to
| George and Page Chapman, account of the
| Wing parade here in 1910, in which he spoke
slightinely of the Generals sister, who appeared
with many other ladies on the occasion, the
| General met him In or near Turner's barber
| shop one morning ard gave him thrashng. In
| this little affair Hugh O'Neal was his supporter
/ to ''see fair" Some years later while the
Methodists were holding a camp meeting in the
military. Ground'-now Pathfinder the
irreyerently called .Old Sorrel,' it
came to the ears of Mr.. O'Neal and General Nor
ris that Dave Buckhart, the leader of the chain
| gang" company of roughs left here by the
abandonment of the National road and the
| Central canal, who lived ostensibly by moving
houses and digging wells, and really by stealing
pigs and chickens and plundering corn-felds,
meant to raise a row in the meeting and break
it up. The two young friends proposed to stop
| any such demonstration, and went to the camp
| ground prepared to do it. Buckhart began his
disturbance by singing ribald song around the
outer circle of seats, but Mr. Ravens went
| straight at him with threat that meant mis-
chief, and the General and Mr.. O'Neal were
standing by to back it. Buckhart concluded
| to quit. The tradition is that the sturdy old
| preacher licked him, but that is not true The
| rowdy backed down, and the late Samuel Merrill
threw him down the next day in wrestling
match in Squire Scudders Office, where Buck
hart was brought for disturbing the meeting,
and the double defeat broke the chain gang
leaders heart, and broke up his company.
| One of Mr.. ONeals eccentricities was his de-
testation of whistling. and when he was in one
| of his splenetic hoods, aggravated by his unfor-
tunate indulgence, some OF the "boys" who
knew his humor would gather about him in a
| room or pass and repass him on the street.
whistling as Mostly as locomotives and his help
| less rage was the fun thaF whstled for. In his
better senses, OF course, he was undisturbed.
Once in while this weakness made scenes
| comical enough to build into a first
Mr.. ONeal was one of the most acute, clear
| headed, laborious lawyers in the country. His
| intellect was not broad, comprehensive one,
but it was amazingly clear in its perception of
| what it could see at all. He could not be con-
| fused by any speciousness of sophistcation, and
/ he never tried to confuse jury. His aim was
to convince and not confuse, and he usually sue
| ceeded Mr. ONeal lived and died a bachelor
WILLIAM STEWART.
| During tire writer's stroll through the Old
Cemetery he looked for the place where William
Stewart was buried, but could see no trace of it,
He was clerk of the county. succeeding Robert
| b. Duncan, and Mr. New of the Journal was for
some years his deputy and then bis successor.
| and was noted in the profession for the com
| pleteness and correctness of his knowledge of
every case and every stage of it in court, without
| referring to his dockets Mr. Stewart came here
with Mr.. John Carlisle, in 1888 or 1889, and
| the writer thinks, worked with Mr..
! Carlisle for while in the mill
| He studied hard and was admitted to the bar
about 1916. His Intellectual endowments were
| not remarkable, but he was a sensible, level
headed man, and an Industrious man in his
student days. and one of the most genial and de-
| lightful of companions generous, warm hearted
and honorable and strikingly handsome wthal