Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-04-12
Died April s, 1889.
H. W. SHEFFEY.|
A GREAT LAWYER and GOOD
MAN GONE /!

MAN GONE !!
ACCOUNT OF HIS DEATH-sKETCH OF HIS
PUBLIC LIFE-MEETING OF THE BAR
DELEGATIONS FROM WASHINGTON g.
LEE UNIVERSITY AND THE LEXINGTON
BAR-sKETCHEs OF THE SPEECHES.
&C., &C., sc
Hugh White Shelley, the distinguished
lawyer, passed from earth on Monday
morning last at 5 o'clock.
A great legal mind has been eclipsed, a
friend and pupil Of Jesus has passed to his
home, and a heart ever ready to aid the
helpless and the poor is still.
HIS LAST HOURS.
1t has been visible for some months that
Judge Sheffey. was breaking. Several at
tacks of sickness have been mastered, but
each one left him yet more frail. After each
he reappeared at his office and on the street
with the same genial smile and pleasant
word for those who met him, but it was
clear that they were among the last he
would have to give. His advanced age for
babe the hope that he would survive anoth-
Ell attack. 1t came last Thursday night.
On Friday he was worse, and five physicians
were in consultation. Later he lapsed into
Inconsistencies and the Sabbath church
bells fell upon ears fast losing the sounds
of earth. If he opened his eyes it was but
for moment s glance. In the same house
with him lay woman that had long been
dearer to him than life. For nine years the
devoted Christian wife had been paralyzed
and for six years she had been confined to
her room-her thoughts and activity bent
on four things-her God, her church, her
husband and the poor. One Of them was to
be taken fromher, and the news was carried
to her room from the bedside of her dying
husband. She bore it with calmness and
patience, saying it was best that he should
go first-it would be SO hard former to leave
behind one whom she had cared for for SO
many years, to the care of others. When
| the end came Monday morning the last news
was heard with the same resignation she
had heard the first. She could not see him.
He was to start on his long journey without
her taking farewell of the face that had
been her companion for nearly half centu.
| ny, but she busted herself in giving the last
| directions about him just as she had every
| day of her married life. She gave way t(
no overmastering emotion, she only said
simply and trustfully that it would not be
| very long before she saw him again.
Sketch of His Life.
Hugh White Shelley, the son of Henry L.
and Margaret White. Sheffey, was born il
Wythe county, Va, on April 18th, 1916
Henry L. and Daniel Sheffey, his father ani
! uncle, were born in Frederick City, Md.
and their mother, who was of German
parentage, was a noted woman in Maryland
during the Revolutionary War. She was
very active in the American cause, anG
issued an address to the women of America
urging them to deny themselves luxuries il
order to give aid to the cause, and to urge
their husbands and brothers to the front
After the death of his father, young Hugh (
guardian, Gen. Smyth of Wythe, sent him
to Staunton where his uncle, Daniel Sheffey
the great lawyer, had settled in 1911. Tht
youth was sent to the Staunton Academy
and from there went to Y ale College where
he took the degree of A. M. He and thu
late William Frazier were the only two
residents of this part of Virginia who eve
| took the degree of Master of Arts at Yale
In returning from Y ale, he passed through
Washington city where his guardian, Gen
Smyth, was, and was taken by him t.
visit Gen. Jackson, who was then President
Judge Sheffeys description, in after life, o
Gen. Jackson, was very different from tn
popular idea of him. He spoke of him as
man of the most courtly manners. Judg
Sheffey commenced the study of law, an
came to the bar in 1910. He soon got goo
practice, his first case being the defense Q
a criminal, a trial in which he had been Ell
gagged to assist Hon. A. III. H. Stuart.
HIS PUBLIC LIFE.
| Judge Sheffey's public life began with tn
the opening of the discussion ON the mike
basis and white basis in apportionment
representation in the legislature. 1t wa
in 1916 that he and the distinguished ChaI
man Johnson, advocates of the white basis
ran for the legislature against John b
Baldwin and N. L. Massey who advocate
the mixed basis, and defeated them. Whe
the election for members of the State Con
stitutional Convention, at which this basi
question was to be decided, came on, Hug
W. Sheffey and David Fultz were electe
over Alex. H. II. Stuart and Thos. J
Niche. He afterwards ran for the Senat
but was defeated by DR.. Glen Harris. H
was elected to the ''war" legislature and b
! it chosen Speaker, and so remained durin
the civil war. He had the implicit conf
dence of the Confederate government and a
MEMORABLE SCENE
he was one of the chief actors. The Con
tederacy was on it's last legs, the Hampto
conference had failed, and there had begunt
be- an angry and despairing feeling amongth
oeople. The Confederate authorities mad
out programme for mass meeting in Rich
mond. asort of effort to restore confidence
by a show of confidence. 1t was held at tn
African church, and that immense build
ing was densely packed. Among the speak
ers were President Davis, Judah P. Benja
min and Hugh W. Sheffey. Of all tn
speeches the most popular was that of MI
Shelley, for while the others spoke, ham
pered with the knowledge that the days Q
the Confederacy were numbered, the Speak
Ell of the Virginia House of Delegates spok
in ignorance of that fact and animated b
| c.,.,la11dod to The echo an