The news & observer., 1901-01-15
IN BURTON MEMORY.
The Raleigh Bar Passed Re-
solutions Yesterday.
Appreciatve Speeches Were Made by Pfomin-
ent Members Of The Bar. Resolutions
to be Spread on The Records.

resolutions drafted in honor of the late
Mr. r. Q. Burton.
The meeting was called to order by
Mr. F. H, Busbee. who in a few well
chosen woeGs explained the purpose of
the meeting and paid a high tribute to
Mr.. Burton.
Justice Clark, Of the Supreme court
bench, presided, and Mr. W. J.. Peele
was secretary of the meeting.
Remarks in eulogy were made by
Messrs. r. II. Battle, r. N. Smms. f.
II. Busbee, F. d. Winston, Geo. Roun-
tree, Col. Harris, Judge Shepherd and
Justice Clark
The speeches were all appreciative
and sincere and showed how deeply the
death of Mr. Burton bereaved his pro-
fessional brethren, and. in what high
esteem they held him. They told of his
sincerity, his earnestness, his kindness,
his learning and ability as a lawyer,
his greatness and nob1eness as man.
Judge Clark presented the resolutions
to the court, and Judge Starbuck in an
appropriate speech accepted them, and
it was ordered that they be spread
upon the minutes. They are as fol-
ows:
By the lamentable death of Robert
Oswald Burton the Bar of North Caro-
lima has lost one of its foremost mem
bers, the State has been deprived of an
honored and useful citizen, and the
church mourns the loss of a faithful fol-
lower of Christ
Mr. Burton was the fourth son of
Robert O. and Elizabeth Joyner Bur-
ton, and was born in Halifax county,
North Carolina, on January 9th, 1852.
His father vas an eloquent and devout
minister of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, continuing in the daily
exercise of his sacred calling until ex-
treme old age. His mother was the
daughter of Colonel Andrew Joyner, of
Halifax, a man prominent in his county
and section, planter of large influence
and for several terms a member of the
State Senate. He was a man of the
highest standing in his community, of
influence in his party and an example
to his neighborhood. During the youth
Of Robert, the fourth son, the demands
upon the lesSening income of his father
were large and imperative. and in order
for the promising Lao to obtain the col
legiate education which he so earnestly
desired, it became necessary that he
should raise The money himself. This
he did by teaching in alternate years.
He was graduated from Randolph
Macon College with high honors. An
education thus acquired had a value it
is hard to overestimate During all his
life he was accustomed to enjoy the
higher paths of literature and was a
devoted lover of books. The influence
of his literary training was easily de-
cernible in his arguments before courts
and juries.
Mr.. Burton's life after he attained
manhood was devoted to the unremit-
ting practice of the law, without being
influenced by the attractions of office
holding. His residence was at first in
the historic city of Halifax, as a mem
ber of a bar of unusual strength and
versatility. He became the partner OF
Edward Conigland soon after begin
ming the practice, and the partnership
continued until the terrible death by
accident of that eloquent and distin-
guished Irish lawyer. Soon after the
death Of M Conigland Mr.. Burton
removed to Virginia and opened. an Of
flee in Richmond. but his heart turned
longingly to his native State, and not
long afterwards he returned to North
Carolina, taking up his residence in
Raleigh in 1891. He had never lost his
hold upon his practice in Eastern North
Carolina, and in singularly short per-
iod he had acquired a commanding posi-
ton at the Raleigh bar. BY his victory
in the Super or court of Halifax and in
the Supreme court in the notable case of
Daniel, administrator against the Will
mington ana Weldon Railroad Company
Establishing the right of recovery
against a railroad for the unlawful kill
ing of a man by a station agent under
peculiar circumstances and the case
against the same corporation, involving
the validity of the tax exemption in it's
charter, M Burton's reputation as a
well-equippAd and successful lawyer at
once extended to all parts of the State.
He was eventually retained as counsel
for this corporation and represented it
at the time of his death in important
litigation. His career for nine years at
the Raleigh Bar in the various courts,
State and Federal, and in the various
counties in which from time to time
his services We're demanded was one
of marked success and prominence. He
was uniVer sally regarded as one of the
best lawyers in the State, his last ap-
pearance being in the notable case of
Gattis against Kilgo, recently tried in
Granville Superior court His argu-
ment for the defendants was regarded
as one of the most logical earnest and
effective of the great speeches called
forth by that trial. He had but recent
ly arisen from a long and weakening
attack of typhoid fever. and upon his
return homr he was again prostrated.
While his friends began to be anxious
about his condition. no immediate
alarm was felt. and his death. caused
by congestive chill at night, came as
an unexpe:.ed shock to all the citizens
of the State.
Mr.. Burton was lawyer who reflect
ed high honor upon his profession, and
he was held by its members in the high
est esteem. Scholarly. forcible ana
fearless, when occasion required, re-
sourceful, gifted with lucid style and
apt, but. not too prolific in classical and
historical Illustrations he was always
effective both before juries and the
courts. He was indeed model adNo-
cate. He was a lawyer, pure ana SIM
pie, making his clients cause ms own.
He never sought political preferment
or engaging in outside business. oh-
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