The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-12-27
JUDGE BARKSDALE
EMINENT CITIZEN.
Beautiful Sketch OF For
mer South CarOlinian.
HIS LIFE EULOGIZED.

1AhhC a1& ~ ~ " AAoO
Distinguished Career of Judge Allen
Barksdale as Soldier on the Battle.
field and Jurist in His Adopted State.
The following very pretty and inter-
esting sketch of the life Of the late
Judge Allen Barksdale is taken from
The Daily Star of Monroe, Louisiana:
AT his home in Ruston at a. m. on
Dec. IS, 1905, one of the most promi-
nent men of Louisiana departed from
life and his death deserves more than a
passing notice from the press Judge
Barksdale was distinguished jurist,
having held the scales of justice with
| firm hands for twelve years in one of
the largest and most important districts
| of the State, embracing the parishes of
Claiborne, Lincoln and Union AS a
| Judge he was fearless, painstaking un-
yielding in the enforcement of the law,
yet never neglecting the weightier mat
ters of justice, truth and mercy. No
man had a higher conception of the re-
sponsibilities OF public Office and the
purity, single-hearted devotion and
manly courage which should accompany
it. He was a judge on whom logic and
sound reason were never lost.
In political life, Judge Barksdale was
long active and prominent although he
did not possess the arts, devices and
practices of the typical politician. He
was independent, bold, exceedingly res
tive under machine rule and patisan re-
straint. In the State Democratic pri-
mary in 1904 he was candidate for
the nomination for ieutenant-gover-
nor and both as a writer and speaker
he was able and forceful in denouncing
the concentration of appointive power
and other prevalent abuses in the State
government. The last case which he
| argued before the supreme court was a
mandamus which he brought to prevent
member of the legislature from hold
ing the office of parish superintendent
of public schools. He was very fond of
such public service. He loved the eX-
citement of conflict and held his own
manfully amid the crowd and hum and
| shock of men. But he was essentially
home man. These was the center of
his entire existence. He had the old
fashioned Southern sense of the sacred
ness of the family and around it's heal th-
stone he sought and found the Holy
Grail of his highest hopes and happi-
ness. He believed with Burns:
''To make happy freside cline
For BARNS and wife
Is the pathos and sublime
Of human life
Love begets love, and it is worth re-
cordlng that his unbomded tenderness
for wife and children was reciprocated
by an affection as boundless as it is
beautiful and true. 1t was touchinplv
fitting that the last whispered words of
such man should be, wife. come kiss
met"
Let us turn from the tender husband
and father to the brave soldier How
true it is that the gentle and loving are
the bravest! 1t is of Judge Barksdale's
record as Confederate soldier that we
would chiefly speak.
Born in Laurens county, South Caro-
- >''O
'''l'' 80 V.'o S''''''''e' ol 1910 before ne
,, I'ense.'' A'o'' DarNSoale entered
WV ol'I,''ei"'e -, service at the out
~ o',, o;,e ~'i ''',u ~. ioue'V !hrough all
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wn,,raod +haIoot '; ','to' seriously
omn, ~ ., I''0 't's, V''''e 'oS'llg ms right
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sa' ~ "'ie" o'' MS '"ehVeth birth
W S"S nc l'ieu ms flhe
a,.,,, 'i - '"'.' ""S peloFc ms
mo,,,o,a1 t'"' OIL Ai'ei .he war no
~ i,s,s ~, N''0'''' louisiana wherc
~, e"'' .''o P'"'''ce oi la"' and was
foo Sna,, =" 4a,' ,i'""' n": ne was never
tho Confo 49, 'S. p''Io III reunions OF
o;aoa | ilI tIl4 'uoi"to u Ne'eranS or any eXer-
snntati"' l ;,"' &c '.'u 'ol V'iS' "oJecC the pre-
roonts -, t,,~ ~ co".i "'','ol'eF' ana "chleVe-
,ooI ,,ooa;o,t 'oN'''e'i' "oll.lers' He
of ~" ,'''e,o.t'' c0''| p,Iue ~ all inc glories
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