The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1906-10-05
SKETCHES AND
REMHNSc ENSES.
A Number Of Amusing Anecdotes OF
Florida Hen Related for Read
ers Of the Tribune.
fRobert w. Davis in Tampa Tribune.l

have / sat in the social circle ana us
tened to his stories and "reminiscences
told in that inimitable and droll way pc
culiarly his own. No one else can sue
cessfully repeat them, for no one else
can give them the spice and facial eX-
preston that he can. He told me a
story of a lawyer we'll known in his day
that.I wish | could repeat with half the
effect he told it to me. 1t was back in
the seventies or early eighties, before
DeSoto county was formed and when
Pine Level was the county seat OF Man
aztec. SpotswOod was clerk Of the cir
cult court, and he and Judge Blank
roomed together for time at primi-
tive boarding house at the county seat.
The Judge was an excellent lawyer and
most estimable gentleman, but was adj
dicted, occasionally, 10 the flowing
bowl He was engaged in drawing a
bill in chancery and doing his writing
in the room occupied jointly by himself
and Spotswood. Working by the light
of smoky lamp, the judge would al
ternatey write at his bill, then puff his
pipe, and then sharpen his wits with a
nip from the bottle. Every lawyer
knows how prone we are to indulge IN
high sounding phrases in drawing bills
in chancery land your Orator further
saws" this or that and complainant
AYERS that defendant did willfully'' do
so and 20. Judge Rlank was prolific,
that night, in the use of big legal terms
and high sounding phrases. Whenever
he completed a page or so he insisted
on reading it to Spotswood for his crit
icism, and each time received the as
surance that it was fine and that his
bill was irresistible. Finally, Spots
wood went to bed and to sleep while
the Judge continued his work, alternat-
ing, as / have said, between his bill, his
pipe and his bottle, adding to this pro-
gram, as the night wore on, an occa-
sional stroll around the yard to quiet
his surging thoughts. He would insist
at intervals that his sleeping roommate
wake and hear what he had written,
and Spotswood, in a good-natured.-bp t
drowsy way, always told him it was eX-
cellent. So it went until the night was
well-nigh gone and, as Spotswood wrote
a hand almost exactly like the judge,
he determined on practical joke that
he hoped would put an end 20 the break
ing of his slumber. Taking advantage
of one of the judges strolls, he crept
out of bed and wrote in the manuscript
where the Judge had left off, "Sic sem
per tyaannis-E pluribus unum-hocus-
pocus and General Jackson. He had
hardly gotten back to bed in feiRned
sleep when the Judge returned, took up
his pen and, without noticing the added
words, finished the great thought with
which he had been struggling. He
walked Spotswood once again and began
reading to him with animation, for the
bottle had by this time made him par
ticularly brilliant and imaginative. He
reached the added words-his voice
dropped. his brow contracted, and a
puzzled look came over his face. Sic
sem-sic-why, what the d? E
pluribus- -hocus-po--W Well, Ill be
@P' And then, showing his manu-
script aside he pressed his hand to his
troubled brow spots, said he, "I'll
finish some other time-I'm not feeling
well, I've had slight attack of-ver-
tigo" He went to bed but not TO sleep,
for he was sobered, troubled and per-
picked. Spotswood saw him the next
day, puzzling over the bill, but the
Judge did not allude 10 IL for several
ESays. Then Spotswood asked him if he
had finished it, and the now fully de-
pressed Judge Blank said no, he had not
worked on it since. The truth is
Spots, -" said he, Il am mentally
worn out 1t has been coming on me
for some time. have felt it, gradual
approach, and ] am going to take a trip
for rest and recreation. He took the
trip and came back, feeling as he said
"much improved in mind and body "
But he went TO his grave believing that
he himself wrote those words in that
chancery bill.
NOT Qualified.
Gov David S. Walker, genial, noble,
whole-souled man that he was, always
had a good story to tell, and always
told it well. A coterie of lawyers sat
in front OF the old st. James Hotel in
Tallahassee, telling stories of amusing
scenes in court. Someone spoke of the
difficulty of getting jurors TO intelli-
gently understand the formal questions
asked on examination as 10 their quail
fichtions in murder cases, or, as the
lawyers call il, on their voir doire Gov
Walker was then judge of the circuit
court and had just returned from hold
ing a term in Apalachicola. He told US
Of a would-be juror who pTesedted him
self for examination on voir dire IN
capital case tried during the week. He
Was asked the usual questions about
bias and prejudice. 20 which he replied
with more or less show Of comprehen-
sion and suffering hesitency, for the
Continued on page 81