The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-02-11
THE MARION COUNTY BAR IN 1857.
Hugh O'NeaI.


The criminal practice in 1857 was pretty
we'll distributed amongst the lawyers. All
the attorneys, young and Did, had a share
Of 1t. Felonies were prosecuted in the Cir
cult Court, and there was a daily sand
wiching of civil and criminal cases. Peter
Kennedy was serving as prosecuting at
torney Of this circuit, which then consisted
of the counties of Marion, Hancock, Mad
ison, Hendricks, Johnson and Upton. For
attending two terms Of the Circuit Court
in each county and prosecuting felonies
he was paid an annual salary OF $500 out
of the State treasury. This was really
his only compensation Docket fees were
taxed against the convicts, but they were
generally, if not always, insOlvent. When
Mr.. Kennedy was not in Indianapolis his
duties were discharged by Governor Wal
lace. Jonathan w. Gordon and such am
bilious young lawyers as the court might
appoint from time to time. 1t fell to the
lot of General Harrison to prosecute an
indictment against a servant employed at
the old Ray House, on the corner of South
and Delaware streets. who was charged
with poisoning the guests by putting ar
Senic in the coffee. DR.. Theophilus Parvin
made a careful analysis in that case, which
established the corpus deficit beyond doubt,
and I recolIect how in the onening state
ment, Harrison described the chemical tests
for arsenical poison. l will venture TO say
lidI " IliS IL tdlil VIZ H." a Als
who was then one of the foremost physi-
clans of the city, received no fee beyond
the fees of an ordinary witness. remem-
Der that in a murder case which L prose
cuted in 1859. where it became important
to make a microscopical examination of
some blood stains on the garments or the
prisoner. DIR. Talbut Billiard, having at
that time the largest practice in the city,
invited me to his house several evenings,
where we studied and examined the stains
with his powerful microscope, after which
he appeared at the trial and gave his evil
NJ L.,
means of which Incompetent experts are in
the habit of depicting the county treasury,
by charges for imperfect and careless analy-
ses, had not come in vogue at that time.
If the pay of the prosecuting attorney
was small, his campaign expenses were
light also. My assessment in 1855, when I
was a candidate rfor that Office. was one
dollar for each of the seven counties in
the circuit. and that money went to the
ing my name on the tickets. In the same
year Mr.. Simon Yandes was a candidate
on the Republican State ticket for Supreme
Judge. He paid an assessment Of $lO0 for
campaign expenses, n after the election
William Wallace. treasurer of the State
central committee, sent Mr.. .Yandes a
check for $25, being the uneXpended balance
of his contribution Contrast this with the
scandalous assessments upon candidates
for judgeships now. 1t is an inexcusable
outrage that some of our local judges have
been fieeced by cormorant committees to
the extent Of a thousand dollars for q
single campaign. But who cares for ex-
penses in this golden age of veneered side
walks and %pinchbeck payements? Have not
the officials OF our bankrupt city discovered
that we can make ourselves rich, prosper
Gus and happy by mortgaging our homes
for street Assessments? There ought to be
phrase-in this beneficent work. Let the
papers "whoop up" the Board of Works
until they tumble into the ditch with their
predecessors.
Hugh O'Neal had passed his prime when
a term as United States district attorney
under an appointment of President Taylor,
then went to California, and after a brief
son of Indianapolis, TO live and die amongst
his old friends. He was a remarkable man
in appearance He was tall, spare and erect
in his carriage. "A StronS nose, hooked to-
wards a prominent chin. which, as George
Eliot has said. bore tfae suggestion of nut
crackers in old age. His silk hat brim, tilted
forward upon his nose, concealed his fine
brow, and gave him a severe look, but
under it all there lurked the genuine man,
full OF gentleness. but upon occasions full
of fire and Indignation also. He was one
Of three men at the bar who possessed a
genius for oratory. Dick Ryan and Major
was a timbre in O'Nears voice
which when he was animated. and
dreadfully in earnest and made an i'm
of self-defense in a case of homicide always
prevailed with the jury, who seemed TO be
under a magician's spell during his adj
dress. His method was the opposite of that
of "damnabie iteration" His speeches were
Oil llOaA III bdN lt AOulI
put more logic and fire and genius into
one of them than can be gathered from a
whole days harangue of the ordinary Gala
boose lawyer, In chancery, causes also. in
which he indicated the rights of the weak
and confiding against the frauds and ras-
calities of others. his advocacy was eff
ective and powerful. In politics he was a
Wing of the old school, and was one of the
last in Indiana to admit that the party
of Clay had fulfilled it's mission. Clay and
he were personal friends. In 1856 the Dem
ocrats brought James b. Clay to Indiana
in the hope that the followers of his father
could be won over TO the support Of Blu
chanan by the persuasiOns OF the son.
O'Neal was introduced TO Clay at the Bates
mir. O'Neal. / am glad to meet you. I
have often heard my father speak of you"
Yes" said O'Neal; Il have heard of
your father. SIR" and turned upon his
O'Neal told me once that wher he saw
Henry Clay's son hOb-nobbing with men
who marched in procession behind a wagon
containing an effigy OF his father with its
crocodile tears and s~trewing dogfennei on
his fathers grave, he wanted to spit on
him. When Henry Ward Beecher came TO
indianapolis he found a congenial COM
Young preacher and young lawyer had
many a friendly intellectual set-to. BY the
freemasonry of genius they recognized each
other at once. O'Neal told me he heard
Beecher's first sermon in the old seminary
building on University Square, in the pres
ence of an audience OF thirteen. and that.
going from the room, he heard an old citi-
zen say that as long as Henry had an able
father to write his sermons he might sue
coed. but that sooner or later he would
collapse and tumble. by Cd, sir" said
from the beginning" Mr.. O'Neal spent his
money as fast as he made it. or gave it
away. He never married, and died a poor
man. w. p. FISHBACK.