Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1892-03-08
osFoRp COUNTY COURTS
~ YroLpEN TINES.

" w hlhtN Ithtss
Editor D,mocrdi
Oxford County was the seventh In
numlsr In the state aud was incorpo-
fatel VI arch I. lsOj, aud rsri. bccsmr ".
shire town the same year. The hrst
court held In the county was NJ Pafi.
llill. anI was an ocva.lon of great In
trrr.t. G-n. samuel fcs.endcn of Port
land attended H.. aud once gave the
writer a brief description of the grand
o,-ning. The lawyer. boarded at the
dselling hou.c ~ msn by the name oi
jackson, th-n living on the illll, aud
cam. Iva The day l-for- court.
The Inauguration ccrrmonlc. COM
menccd Al Jack.oa's the night before
the formal opening At the court houss,
aad the pfinyipil actor. were the
members oi the bar there assembled.
They had a grand "oli.ia.hionol time, .
vun.istiug ~ sp-c hc., song., mock
trlal, etc. sni ~ course a fair lot of
l,quor. were consumci. Tor everybody
drank al that day. ani an extra qutnii.
~ ou special Oc,asion. Ike this. III.
i,.ti,iiir. lasted the entire night. Land.
lord Jackson. time VA. la greater de-
mand at his "bsr", than Ia shoaiug
the nlcmlcr. uf the other "har' Ia tl,ir
retiring ro,m.. ten. fr..eDden .aii IL
Nasa great time" long rcmrmber~i
aud talked atout by the lawyers who
afterwards attended Paris courts.
Ia. iir.t time We ever entered the old
couft hou.s, sss gh.u boy. Ircutis.
Mrllcn, then chief Ju.ticc, w,s on the
urnch, william 4. whitney .herif and
l,uiu. II. Goo,icnow clerk. Among the
lawyers that Nc remember then prrssni,
acre Juith Dana II fryeburg, Levi
Whitman of NorNav, stephen Emefy
~ par., samuel q. i,roNn ~ Buckdcld
and l,tct &. Nirgin ~ Humiorl from
Oxford County, aud ten. frssenden,
Chariss :. DsNei., Simon Gr-cnlcai
and John llulmc. frum either PLACES.
We we'll rvvolrvt hearing thrvc arsu.
mcul. IN ,dr to the Jury, On. by llolme',
80 fall ot .arva.m, storytelling aud fan,
that wc r,msmb-r some of hi. .tori.- To
tai. day one by l'rOf. Grrcnlcaf, so ahlr,
candid aud logical, that he Non hl. ease I.
aud Que by Judgc Dana, Who made an
elaborate Argument on the .irong poln,.
iu hl. clients c,.c without noticing any.
thug aid by thc opponent. counsel, aud
got a Vepliyt. a. some thcu thought,
against tlIr weight ot c,llcncc.
Tbc old Judge had habit, when deep
IN ,ng,g,d Ia an argument, of dipplng
hi. I-u Into the iuk.tsni and doing
Nhat printcr. might c,ll ".lingius Ink, .
80 that II Wss sometimes little danger
uus Ia BE- near him, when Intensely adj
dressing jury.
Judgy Dan. wa. a grand old man, a
genuine "DNfpni Hear" Who, when
bolding ior brief period, a seat la the
luU~i ~tstss >snat", by appointment
fr,m GoN. punlap, g,S" evidence of hi.
coarsgr ani pluck by making . bold ani
.snsltipnil attack upon no le.. person
igr than Henry Clay.
fut many year. after oxford became a
county, u. court. were attended by q
large number oi out of county lawyers,
- ~lo managed Ia g,t employed a. senior
couu..l la nearly all the le ,ding cas-s-
thereby taking the ''liOn'. share" of fees
i,ut they were not so much to blame for
this a. Ga. attorney. la the county Who
allowed them Ia do Il; aud u b.csme an
c.tabi.hcd custom, that clients really
th1ugli u Nas not ssfc Ia try case
without as.oci,ting HOLMES, or fr.srn-
i,n, or ,o.iman, or iiOsari, or Clifford,
ur MAY, or somc other distinguished out
of county lawyer, With the attorney em.
ployci At home, who generally dd al.
The work Ia pryp,rin: ease, and only
r,,yti,ri small dividend Oui ot the pay.
liut tai. old custom "a. m,inly buk.
lssn 4.
ClAs, of attorney. la the county, repre-
.vui,d by such men az David III lannon's,
Eibriige Dctry, Charles Andrews,
stephen n. chase, Charles ". Wal.
ton, william Wirt Virgin aud Timothy
l.udicn, came tO the Oxford bar. Those
men and their associate. Informally form
si among themscl,-. what might
Ice callel nOs a lawyers '"trust" mutu, a.
Ia agr,cing To- help each other when
help Nas nc,Siei. In. old "fcllers" OF
thc "groen bag" Who had Tor years
becu growing fit on Oxioni County
irc., when they folni thcm.elye.
'h,ukci' by their younger brrthrcn oi
Iir oxford bar, took the whole thing In
a kindly, goOd-naturci way, and when
they occasionally appeared aflsrsani
Ia the old "liill' court house, were AL
way. "iellov. we'll met" with the legal
"Bruins" by whose strategy they had
bccu "ousted."
Ti,ere have been many motel case.
tried In the old Pah. Hill court hous,.
I we'll remember the case of State ~.
kisy q a., when Niihan Clifford was At
toruey general of Maine. King aud u
m,n by the u tme of small were Indicted
Tor breaking into Bradley a Warmers
store Ia Fryeburg aud stealing certain
bonds. John Holmes AMI Daniel Goode-
nov wcr. counsel for the respondents.
small MAS found not guilty but King
was found guilty, mainly on the e,i-
deuce of Que llO.e. Who testified that
King tried o. sell him the stolen
bonds about the time of the burglary
which MAS twenty years before the tins
IL the trlsl-ind that he had kept the
matter a secret all that time. Two
thing. have specially caused me to re-
nembcr the case. lat. Judge Clifford
told me after King went 10 state prison,
that there was % technical nsw la the
Indictment which would have quzshed
II, IA al IL been taken advantage Of; that
he discovered IL soon after the trial COM
nencei, and Was In constant fear u
would be detected until King was finally
.entenced ~. When the jury retired.
they voted one for conviction, III for
acquiitsl. The one brought over the
eleven. and the verdict Was guilty.
Among the civil cases were the suits
Of yoAR IreloA 20. jacob ID. Brown,
BroeH r,. W,IcA, aud over twenty other
rs.es standing In the name Of other
parties, growing out Of the msiu contro-
,er.y, betwe cen welch & Brown, relating
Ia the "Crsigie timber lands" la the
town Of Oxford. The litigation between
these parties had been going on fo'
many years, and Was In full blast, When
Brown died, aud la less than six months
snsr wslch followed his old antsg
oni.t to the ''great unknown" A fr~
weeks before Browns death, wa'
present at the taking Of his deposition
- ben friend remarked to him that be
VAS sorry 70 nnd him % low. eyes,