Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1900-02-15

able services. He was eminently con- servative towards the people of The south. and desired reconstruction with as little jar and friction as possible, and always opposed the odious and degrading disfranehise- ment of the dominant race of the South for political ends.
 In May. 1865, Governor Murphy ordered an election for judge and prosecuting attorney, and the polls were opened nowhere in the circuit except Pine Bluff; sixty edd votes were cast, all for Judge Harrison, eScept one. He was commissioned as clicuit judge under these ciream- stances. aud held court one day ia Pine Bluff, and then forwarded his resignation to the governor, not wanting the office unless freely con- ferred by majority of the electors, but the governor refused to accept the resignation. At this juncture a very large and influential number of the bar in the circuit, knowing his conservative character. persuaded him to continue in the office. In 1s6S he as elected associate justice of 1 the supreme court. under he consti- tuition and new order of things or dained that year. Tn 1874 lung suffering and oppressed people were enfFanchised, and the renegade para sites who had feasted and fattened on the spells of the State, were retir- ed to everlasting privacy in Arkan- sas, and are now only remembered for their conspicuous infamy and the enorInity of their spoliation. Judge l Harrison before the war N as an old line whig, during the war consist ent Union man, and after the war, up to 1S74. d conservative republican hut the odium which attached to the misrule Of that party in Arkansas, never soiled his reeoad. In letter to the author he states his position with great perspienity, thus: After the war I affiliated and heartily act ed with the Republican party. In l 1874, because Of the encroaehmentso of that party on the rights of the Southern States. and it's shameful co"ruptions, 1 severed my connec tion with it and became a Democrat" At the Democratic convention of
 1874, he was nominated for the office of associate justice and was elected on the ticket. Altogether he served fourteen years on the supreme hench. Conserva tism has been the great prop and stay, in fact the cOrnei-
 stcne of his character; it has upheld and sustained him in his relations If life. and nowhere is it more easily traced and distinguished than in his judicial career, He was neither an ambitious judge nor brilliant lhr- ist, but in every opinion he ever wrote conscientious desire to dis cover and proclaim the law is mani fest. He was not stubborn and tenacious of his opinions like many gument and conviction, and was ever ready to amend and correct any error or mistake. He always eon- suited the best lights accessible, and the measure of his ambition was full when he became satisfied that he had reached correct conclusions. He was always pleasant and affable to the practitioner before his court, whether on or off his bench, Il the days of reconstruction. when the military assumed t0 be superior to civil authority, he had the firmness to reppl and rebuke the dietation of aud orders of military and depart ment commanders. One fact, on ne act in his life ought not to be omit ted. as 1t illustrates the integrity Of the man. His environment during the war necessitated his doing many
 things which outwardly did not comport with tie stern duty 0f a
 loyal man, in conse quence ot wtich,
 when elevated to the supreme bench, he would not accept and qualify un- til congress passed an act removing any and all supposed disabilities, although his Unionism was never questioned.
 The deceased leaves to mourn bis death five chiIdren, Messrs. Wm. M., IT., Jno. O., James, and E. P