The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-01-14
THE MARION COUNTY BAR In 1857.


THE MARION COUNTY BAR In 1857.
Poor Keats, dying at the age of twenty
six, hearing the soft footballs of the angel
of death pacing to and fro under his win
dow" told his friend Severn. who was
watching at his bedside, that he wished
this epitaph marked upon his gravestone:
Here lies one whose name was writ in
water"
This was not true of Keats, nor is it true
of any true poet. We appeal from Keats
dying to the poet singing the praise of
Chatterton in Endymion:
"a thing of beauty is a joy forever"
Nothing is surer of lasting fame, and
power, and influence than the work of the
poet. 1t is for all time, and all places and
all men, because his material is the I'M
changing human heart, with all its pas
sions, joys, griefs, fears, hopes and fancies.
Reading this epitaph of Keats a day or
two ago 1 was reminded of a remark made
by the late Col. Abram w. Hendricks in
an address to the graduating class Of a
law school. He said the lawyers fame,
resting, as it generally does, in tradition,
soon becomes a faint "Reminiscences, and
after time fades entirely away. He then
called the roll of the great lawyers of IN
achievements. once so celebrated, are now
forgotten.
Along with that thought comes another
thought, or question, rather, which has
also a touch of pathos in it: Why is it
that so worthy, so honorable, so useful a
class of citizens as the lawyers are con-
coded to be, get such scant justice from
the poets, the dramatlsts, the novelists and
journalists? Or, rather, why is it that in
nearly all forms of literary composition,
from Hesiod to the present time, the law
yer has been held up for public ridicule
execration? That the public do not really
distrust lawyers is manifest. The existence
of the federal judiciary, forming the most
powerful, permanent and influential branch
Of our government, is a perpetual monu-
ment testifying TO the public confidence in
the profession. Add to this the fact that
from the beginning nearly all the Presidents
and a large majority of the members OF
both houses of Congress have been lawyers;
and, coming to matters of private concern.
who but the lawyer is the confidant, the
adviser, the helper of the unfortunate citi-
zen who is involved in financial difficulties
or domestic troubles? The confessional is
not a more sacred or safer repository of
the woes and burdens of the human heart
Only an unworthy priest would betray the
secrets of the one; only a scoundrelly law
yer would betray the secrets of the other
And yet the fact remains that outside of
the official, and often perfunctory, necrolo-
gies which are exploited at bar meetings
and in legal periodicals we seldom hear or
see a good word spoken or written about
the lawyers. This ought not TO be So For
forty years I have met and mingled with
men of all sorts and conditions-in private,
business and political HfeLand l have
Stilled into my youthful mind by father
who was a lawyer in active practice for
fifty years that in this country the pro-
fession of the law furnishes more incentives
to worthy ambition and greater oppor-
tunities for public usefulness than any
other vocation. How far lawyers fulfill or
come short of their duties it is not my pur-
pose to discuss here.
All this by way Of prelude to some things
/ wish to say to the public through the
Journal concerning the Marion county bar.
The changes in the personnel or type of the
lawyers here during the last thirty-five
years has been as radical as that Of the
organization of the courts and the changes
in the methods of doing business. which have
been modified TO meet the eXigencies of the
business of what is now getting to be one
of the great cities of the land. Fortunately
for me, when 1 came to Indianapolis, thirty
six years ago, the lawyers were not SO nu-
merous as to preclude fairly familiar ac-
quaintance with one another. Nearly every
member of the bar was acquainted with, if
not on terms of intimacy and friendship,
with all his professional brethren. What first
strikes me in the retrospect is the fact
that death has almost wholly effaced from
the roll of membership the names of those
who were at the bar in indianapolis in 1857.
/ recall from memory falone the following
list of those who. in lawyers phrase, have
departed this life" since that time:
Conrad Baker, Solomon Blair, John II.
Bradley, Ovid Butler, Lucien Barbour,
George c. Butler, Thomas III. Bowles
Thomas w. Browne, James Buchanan, Isaac
Blackboard, George ii. Chapman. A. II. Con-
ner Charles Coulon, Sims A. Colley. Isaac
II. Coffin, Ebenezer Dumont Calvin Fletcher,
Thomas A. Hendricks, A. w. Hendricks. o.
=. Hord. ]. ID. Rowland, Livingston How
land, John Hanna, r. III. Hall, j. S. Har-
vey, Charles Hunt, t. c. Harrison, William
Henderson, w. H. Harrington, T. Jackson,
John l.. Ketcham, Chas. =. Jacobs II. Kiger
son, James Morrison. David Mcdonald. Jo-
seph T. Mcdonald. Ezekiel Mcdonald,
Frank Il. Mcdonald, stephen Major. Walter
March J; Miner David Macy. Hugh
Perkins, William Quarles. Richard j. Ryan
Martin NJ. Ray. Levi Ritter. Oliver H
Smith. Caleb Il. Smith, James y. Sweetser
Charles T.. Test, oliver Il. Torbet, Gordon
Tanner, Nelson Trusler, Harry Tincher. Ma
poleon Il. Taylor, q. II. Voss, W. w Wick
David Wallace. William Wallace and VIII
Jams, Robert L. Walpole. Thomas ID Wal
pole Israel Klingensmith. W. r. Niblack
This. L think. is a complete list, but there
may be some omissions, and | will take Il
as a favor IL other members OF tho bar with
better memories will furnish me with the
names OF those who have not been mem
toned There is food for reflection In this
list OF dead lawyers i is my purpose
give some sketches OF these men as they
lived and worked, together with some anec-
dotes which Will set forth their strikin 2
peculiarities. W. Il. FISHBACK. -