Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-08-20


A MULTITUDE OF WARM. FER
soNAL FRIENDSHIP FUNERAL
WILL OCCUR tom R 70 w.
SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.
Johr Walton, Deputy Clerk of the
Circuit Court of Ohio county, died at
his residence on Vermont street, Is
land, yesterday afternoon at three
o'clock in the fifty-eighth year OF his,
age. He will be sincerely mourned by
hundreds of Wheeling and Ohio county
people. No man in Ohio county was
better known; none was more widely
esteemed. His loss is one which IL
distinctly marked, and the difficulty OF
supplying his place will be widely con-
coded by members of the bar and those
brought into contact with the business
of the Courts of this county.
John Walton was born in Woodsfield,
Ohio, on Christmas day, 1910. OF the
family of nine children, but one now
survives-Daniel Walton, of this city.
Deceased spent his early life in Woods
field, but drifted into the newspaper
Office of the town, where he became
familiar with the art of setting type.
He followed this business for several
years, and when the war broke out he
was doing reportoridi work in Pits
burg. In 1861 he enlisted in compaLy
c., Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteers, the
commandant OF which was Colonel
Jones, of Cleveland, who was succeeded
by Colonel Dick Robertson, OF
Woodsfield, and later by Col. Hough-
ton, of Toledo. The Lieutenant ColCnei
was James F. Charlesworth, CT st.
Clairsville The Captain Of Company
c., vas Captain Williams, now OF
Washington City, and the First Lieu
tenant was Frank Sinclair. The COM
mand was mustered in at Columbus,
and deceased served the full term of
three years. At the expiration of this
perior he re-enlsted, and served unit.
the end of the war, being the last man
Of his regiment to be discharged, he
being at that time regimental adJu-
tant. Mr.. Walton fought at Bull Run,
Charlottesville and Gettysburg, be-
sides participating in numerous minor
engagements, and his record as sol
der was an enviable one. He was
wounded at Gettysburg on the night
of the Sd of July, 1863, on the occasion
of the moonlight charge of the
Louisiana Tigers, on Cemetery Ridge.
The ascent was very steep, and as the
Southern troops toiled up the slope the
Union command charged with the de-
tense of the crest of the hill, fired
away all their ammunit. Ill, and then
began throwing "rocks. While thus
engaged MI. Walton was wounded
with a ramrod which some careless
Louisianan had left in his gun, aud
rolling part way down the slope lay all
night amid the rocks. The attacking
command charged over him, and what
was left after the attack retreated the
same way, and Walton was not found
until morning He came around all
right, however, after a time, and lived
to march and fight on many another
field.
After the war, deceased came t. mis-
l. lou ~
mitted to the bar. From zine to time
he acted as Deputy Circu.t Clerk III
der Clerk Sam McCullocn, and when
! the late Major John w. Mitchell was
chosen to that office, Mr.. Walton was
made the regular deputy, and oificiated
in that capacity for over eleven years.
At Major Mitchell's death, he became
Circuit Clerk by appointment He was
a candidate for reelection, but was de-
| feated, and was re-apOinted to his old
position by Clerk c. H. Henning, who
| fully realized his invaluable services.
No man in Ohio county, and prob
| ably none in the State, was more
| learned in the intricacies of Court
practice than John Walton. He knew
| his business, and the best Of the at
! torneys at the Ohio county bar were
| glad to consult him when unusual
questions of procedure arose. The
writer has on more than one occasion
| been in the Clerks office when there
would enter an eminent attorney with
| knotty problem of procedure on
| hand. He would state his case and
| his doubts, and sometimes without lift
| ing his eyes from the book before him
! or ceasing his writing, John Walton
| would tersely state the course to be
| pursued, and it was invariably the
! right one. The mysteries Of the law
We're to him an open book, and his
| knowledge was comprehensive and
| exact But his information was not
confined to the law. An omniverous
reader, he mentally digested all he
| read, and had general knowledge Of
men and an understanding of events
| beyond the common. He appeared TO
| intuitivaly absorb tho salient DOinfs 0s