The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-14

! Sional life the logic or MS mlhd suiaSu
! him to correct views upon stated facts.
Horace Ruclx NOT only had a thorough
knowledge of the principles of law, put
! he analysed principles by lneh1ai
I strength OF reasoning, submitted them
| to tests whereby correct and Just soiu-
l lions were arrived at. he may ha'e
sometimes too quickly concluded what
! facts could be proven. but in applying
the law 10 the conclusions he assumed
t his powerful mind comprenenslNely
| aimed at and grasped the right or the
matter undetr investigation. mus, as
! q lawyer. he became wise counseior'
and by his advice was able to secure
| valuable and important rights to his
| clients He was never an advocate IN
the usual sense of the word. that is he
was not effective as jury lawyer. Ills
voice was not good, his manner was
diffident but above all he could not
| add To logic eloquenee or rhetoric. Inc
arts of the trial lawyer were strange TO
! him. He had no power of appealing by
v persuasion TO the impulses OF man. lie
| felt all this and very seldom took part
/ in the trial Of cases. But in drawing
| instructions for the jury, or in comm
1 ing the issues TO the pleadings. or IN
| disssecting the pleadings themselves
! and in questions of practice, he dis
| played great ability for the aifiuence
| of his professional knowledge gave him
! decided advantages over most Oh MS
! lnItH DIT Inc liS Aeso iits - s1b
porter of the jury system. Time and
! again has he told me that except II
! criminal cases where he thought 1t
might we'll be preserved II DEFENDANT
wished a jury he believed the verdict
| of jury far less certain to be right
! than the mature judgment Oh an eA-
perjenced Judge
His Judicial Career.
"Of his official career others have
/ I shall briefly DdSS
! that part of his life. No more honest,
no more fearlessly honest judge ever
! presided over court than TINS re-
/ markable man. / never knew a man.
or read of one in history, more I'M
1 swerving in his fearless devotion to
! duty, and to his official conscience. lie
was not even patient in his judicial
! honesty for his eyes blinked ana MS
body squirmed, and he coughed ana
writhed at once when fraud was trans
parent or perjury was going on peiore
/ him. Such demonstrations OF DIS
pleasure brought criticism upon nm,
but no fair man ever impugned his IN
tegrity of purpose or upbraided his alb
horrence OF scoundreism. More than
/ once / have told him that he ought not
to be SO quick to show his intolerance
! of the one or other side of case; that
! he should be patient, and when ne de-
I cided that matter then come out as
/ firmly as he pleased. oh, l can't help
il, he would say, i cannot sit still and
look Indifferent when a man is palpaply
/ lying and his lawyer sits there and lets
him do it, The community felt abso-
lutte confidence in him A pioneer of
Helena, now dead, told me once that 1t
was so now that he wasn't afraid to
die for since that little judge got upon
/ the bench, administrators ana trustees
1 of estates had learned that dead
mans money belonged to his wife and
children and was not to be stolen or
used by the administrator himself.
But he was at his best when decid-
/ ing causes upon the law raised by
1 pleadings. II was then that the mind
found its scope of play and that the
| fruitful thought found expression In his
| opinions. How quick to understand
the point, and how responsive was the
faculty Of his reason! He cared less for
precedent than most judges, certainly
than most young judges, but when he
threw aside older views, II was because
he detected a flaw in their reasoning
and moi because he desired To turn the
Jurisprudence of the state into new
| path Reason was the sole star of his
judicial opinions. Logic was the science
| by which he was guided to his con-
clusions.
lie nisliked Politics.
Judge Buck dlsliked politics intensely.
/ II was a great bore to him to discuss
them or to hear them discussed. His
democracy was based upon his firm con-
yiction that nation to prosper in econ
omic Industrial relations must throw
down all bars which restrain entire free
dom of trade His later views upon popu-
lar government We're that unless some
checks were put upon too prevalent and
dangerous corruption among congressman
and state legislators, the republic may
not prosper. Indeed as we walked down
town together at about / o'clock on last
/ Monday he asked me whether | had reao
the advice that Governor Stevens of Mis-
souri, had given To some one. to the effect
that the way to stop corruption II Il
elect incorruptible. honest men 10 this
legislature. ! told him | had and wished
il might DO efiicacious. lie said that on
of the difficulties was that men who wer'
honest often when elected yielded to cor
rupting Influences afterwards through IS
norance or a belief that to take bribe
was customary and hence tolerahle.
| may say that this was the last converse
tion of any length upon any serious sub
ject that / had with him in his life.
He was a very highly educated man.
know no one whose knowledge is 50 ex
tcnsive. so thorough and SO varied. TX
had always been dcvourer of books. an
never forgot anything he read. Their
was positively no superncialtty 10 MN
He was thoroughly familiar with ancien
and modern history. knew the Greek an
/ Latin classics well and his mind wa
stored with treasures of literary WORT
Like most Southern men he could no
make money or keep what he did earn
SO hc was always poor and harfasse
? about financial affairs. lie has died with
= out a dollar except his policies of insuf
ance. Such was the man whose charae
? ter has been eulogized here to-day h
! members of this bar Such a man wa
The associate whom we have lost.
: 4 Fral Mortal Frame.
: But this courageous character was onl
. in frail and mortal frame. Responsible
u oil n