Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-01-14
BENCH AND BAR.
A Reminiscent sketch by Judge Brannon.
Second Paper

qualities Of few would be invidious.
Whether in the Courts, on the political
huStingS, or In the halls OF legislation
at Richmond, our old lawyers were stall
wart men. They were as lawyers have
ever been, leaders of the people and de-
tenders Of good government aud civil
liberty. What an immense influence
they have welded in this land. AT the
Courts the freemen of the mountains
met them, and there they discussed
grave questions OF constitutional gov
eminent and policy. The arena was
free TO all, the debate was had, the peo-
pie were instructed, and the suifragans
registered their will at the ballot box.
What the character Of these debates
was, none know but those who have
heard them. The audience was made
up OF the free, generous, hard-senSed
mOuntaineerS in homeSpun garo, often
with rifle in hand. Orators and hearers
were akin. The orator knew his audit |
ors, and moved them with his magic |
wand. Who, though then boy, can |
forget the high debate that echoed ,
through the mountains in the crucial
contest in 1855 in Virginia between the
Know Nothing party and the Democrat
lc party under Henry n. Wise? And
that tremendous issue OF 1861, the dis /
solution OF the Union. No section OF /
the Union was more deeply convulsed
by divided opinions on the question /
than Northwestern Virginia. The law I
yerS then prominent threw themselves
into the breach on the one side or the /
other. and led the hosts. How the roS-
trum was afame with the mighty queS-
ton of peace or war; What a frightful |
and perilOuS issue IL was TO country ana |
TO individuals, No higher question was !
ever debated. Then came the civil war, |
in comparison with which those between |
Cesar and Pompey and King Charles
and his Parliament are of minor import. !
For four years In these mountains the |
bench and bar were silent, the courts /
closed. for inter GITRd silent legeS The |
temple OF Janus In war stood with ever |
open doors, but the temple Of Justice
closed its doors To hide the goddess
within. Only few Of the lawyers |
in their prime in 1851 yet survive. All
the Judges who held the courts of this
section prior TO the Constitution OF ISL
have passed over the river; but one even
of those who were on the bench before
the war is left: Judge Camden still lives
honOred and honorable. May his days
still be many in the land. The old law
yers have passed on with their chiefs,
and the old pioneer settlers having re-
deemed the country from the Wilder
ness, were unwilling TO tarry, and they
too, have borne them company into the
silent land In the grayeyards in the
suburbs OF our towns and along our
roads. bench, bar and suitors are all in
one burial blent. Glorious old settler.
We ne'er shall see his like again. lie is
extinct. His hound no longer yellS; his
rifle no longer flashes. Over the door
in many old homes the rifle still hangs In
its accustomed place; the ole man put IT
there before he went afar oil; but It's
now begrimed with dust. Panther
bear. deer and hunter are gone, and its
mission is ended.
"strp from his cOpsc and let him in that
staldeth there alone
Aud walteth a the door.
He is a new conner, and he thirsts for
wealth, not peaceful repOse that says,
s'giye me neither poverty nor riches
IN fares the land TO Fastening ills prey,
Where wealth Accumuates and men decay;
PRINCES and lords may flourish and may fade;
A breath can break them As a breath has made
but "A bold paasautry, their country prlde,
when once destroyed. can never De suppheu'
That giant OF these days, the type of
resistless strength, the locomotive, has
come and overrides all opposition.
.sRing out the old, ring in the new.
Farewell, dear old mOuntaineer. VINO |
are these invaders? Chief among them
Is ex-senator Camden. Yet he tells me |
that the best and happiest OF his days
were those of bOyhoOd and early man
hood in the wilds OF Braxton, on that
most beautiful of rivers, the Elk. But |
his railroad is going right there to
drive away its peace. Ex-senator
Davis is another chief invader.
Much as they have done
for the States development, fer which /
they merit our thanks, great as they |
are when they take hold of railroad, |
one thing they both have been unable
TO do-they could not get to Chef
Morgan's retreat. Years ago he re-
moved from the best part OF Upshur
county TO the head OF Sugar creek OF
Elk. a wild remote point beyond the |
head OF BuckhannOn river, TO get rid
Of doctors and people, as he said. Cam
den and Davis with their competing |
roads both sought to go through So
called low divide between Buckhannon
and Elk. Camden had certain vantage
ground and secured the pass. II was
big thing, he thought He had bought
a narrow gauge road on the Buckhan-
non. went to work widening II, sent his
engineers ahead 10 lay his road out
through the pass, but they discovered
that Chef Morgan dwelt in citadel,
defended by $500 feet altitude, when
engines could not scale, and Camden
turned his road in another direction
and left Morgan wrapped in the soil
tnde OF his mountain wilds and OF his
own originality. rejoice with Morgan
in his triumph.
Who that has ever tarried with
Chester ID. Morgan could wish TO pro-
fame the peaceful abode with shrieklng
He is on the top OF one OF
the most beautiful mountains. See those
bee-hiveS that I'LL almost a field, ana the
many pals OF milk; the wild strawoer-
ries growing in his fields; and go but a
few wards from his house 10 the cleared
named by him Mt. Pisgah, in
his religious admiration for Moses, and
see mountain rising after mountain, and
see the sources Of many OF West Viz
yinia's rivers. But Chef has miSnamed
his mount. PiSgah, the mount men
toned in sacred writ, is the mount this
Tide Jordan from which Moses viewed
he distant Promised Land, which he
was never to enter, the land flowing
with milk and honey; whereas Morgan's
nonnt is i'm the midst OF milk and honey.
Long life to you, Chef, in that glorious
and. Anyone who has tarried with you
Slll never be sorry for il. May your
lag long wave on high in triumph over
he railroad builders.
James PickenS, striking type OF the
,arly settlers. lived on his nice farm in
inner Lewis, which, thirty-ive years
go was wild enough, one would think,
or anyone: but as neighborS settled
,ear him, he folded his tent, left his
amily at home, and took up his lonely
.bode al Turkey Bone, few miles
rom Morgan's, where he could range
us cattle in peace. He died, and his
am James inherited his fine mountain
and. and has lived there many years,