The Tupelo journal., 1906-01-26
PEN-PICTUREs OF THE OLDEN TIME
BY COL w l.

vance the star of my honorable
opponent, cast your suffrage
for the Big Black en-, - Of course
that raised the laugh, and at
tracted attention to both Barton
and Barden, one of whom was a
tall. but small red haired and
red faced man, while the other
was a heavy set two hundred
and fifty FOUNDER, and as dark
a white man as you generally see
The hit really cut both ways,
and resulted in the election Of
both. After the war Barton
moved to Saltillo, and entered
into partnership with Gen. Fin
ley, who then and for many years
thereafter, lived at Guntown.
They did a very considerable
practice, and Barton was a con
spicuous figure in the courts for
a good many years. He was
somewhat peculiar, having the
most unbounded confidence in all
judges and chancellors, and was
never known to give them any
trouble. Until a Judge or chancel-
lor decided against him, he would
contend strenuously, but when
they decided against him, he
bowed in humble submission to
the ruling, and was never known
to say any word of criticism,
not even the implied criticism
of saying, I'VE take an appeal,
your honor" or well see what
a higher court will say"
He was really the most defer
entail toward those in authority
of any lawyer whom | have
ever seen at the bar. He had
a kind heart, and Steve was also
a streak of dry humor in his
make up, and often you could
scarcely determine whether he
was in cold earnest, or used
irony. | remember to have been
engaged in a case in opposition
to Maj. Barton once before
chancellor Whitfield, in which
Whitfield did not know how to
take him. 1t was a case involv-
ing a question of trust. Barton
had all his evidence in, but
claimed not to be ready for the
hearing on account of having
lost his Brief. He said to the
chancellor, IF your Hon. please
l have lost my Brief; that is l
have lost that part of my Brief
which | have made. 1t was only
in part completed, but l have
lost that and cannot we'll proceed
with the case" The chancellor
told him that he did not think
the excuse sufficient, and that he
must proceed with the case.
When it came Barton's turn to
address>the court, he proceeded to
a discussion of trusts in general.
The chancellor stopped him and
said, M Barton, do you con-
tend this is a case of express
trust or implied trust" If your
Hon. please" replied Barton, l
shall first contend that it is an
express trust, and if | find l am
wrong in that, then | shall claim
that it is an implied trust
A little further on with the
case he picked up a law book,
Story's Equity Jurisprudence,
and turned to the chapter on
trusts, which was over one
hundred pages long, and said to
the court, If your Hon. please,
/ will begin reading here on
trusts, and if l find anything
which l think applicable, | will
call your Hons. special atten-
ton to it," at which Chancellor
Whitfield broke in with the sur
prised and deprecated expression
Mr.. Barton, are you going to
read the whole chapter on trusts"
Finally we got through with case
Barton, in the meantime, hav-
ing sew eral times referred to his
lost Brief. When the chancellor
rendered his decision, which
was adverse to Barton, he
was on his feet at once, saying,
If your Hon. please, as | said
before my Brief was not a COM
pleted brief, but / desire to say
so far as | had gotten with it, it
was in accordance with your
Hons. decision" The chancellor
did not know how to take Barton,
and called me round to the bench
andasked me what Barton meant,
thinking he might be poking fun
at him.