The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1906-01-12

pEN.pICTURES OF THE OLDEN Time
ev COL w /. CLAYTON.

| When l came to the bar, Rus
sell O. Beene was district attor-
ney for this district, and then as
now included Itawamba county.
/ He was then a man of mature
age, l would say about fifty years
old. He was at one time circuit
clerk of Itawamba county and
! it was at a very early day, and /
know I have heard it said when
he was clerk he could and did
carry all the papers in the Office
in his hat. It may seem some
what strange to most Of our
my readers to here about carry
ing papers or anything else in
ones hat. But it used to be very
common for men to carry papers,
or money, and often customary
in the long ago to carry a banker
chief in the hat. You would say
at once, why he would be drop
ping whatever he had in his
hat out every time he took off
his beaver. But you really
should have seen one of those
old fellows take off his hat. He
was use Ito it, and it came like Sec
ond nature to take hold of the
hat with both hands, kinder bend
the body forward, lifting it off
the head as careful as if filled with
eggs. remember to have been
working with my father by the
road side when / was about fif-
teen years old, and l heard him
say that morning he wanted to
send about three hundred dol
lars that day to Pontotoc by the
mail carrier to make a payment
on his land. For many years
an old man by the name of Maui
din had been carrying the mail
between Po- .totoc and Fulton,
and we knew him well. In due
time the old man came on, riding
riding his cid roam horse, and
father stopped him and told him
he wished him to carry the money
for him, and to whom to deliver
lit. He very readily agreed to be
my father messenger, and l
remember when father took the
money out to give him, and Of
fered to count the bills the old
man said mo, put them in here"
and taking off his old wool hat
held it out for the money. Faith
er handed up the money however
to MIR. Mauldin and he very care
fully smoothed out the bills,
placed them in his hat, and
taking hold of the hat with bo5
hands, and bowling forward his
bent form, as caref ully y
placed the hat on his head
and road off. I said to myself
will father ever get a return of
that money. But in due time
the old man came by, took off his
hat again in the same way and
produced therefrom the land
notes the money was sent to
raise. So you see in the olden
time Russ Beene might have car
ried the circuit clerks Office in
his hat, and especially if the hat
should have been a high topped
beaver, like l have seen him
wear. Almost every one called
R. O. Beene, Russ Beene, occas-
sionally you would hear an old
timer like old uncle Jimmie
Whitesides who called him Rush. /
think Russell O. Beene was a
Tennesseean. He was a man as
full of the milk of human kind
ness as any one whom l have
ever met. He came from the
| farm and never forgot his origin
from the people, and was at one
time, and for many years in fact,
one of the most popular men in
old Itawamba. In addition to
the office of circuit clerk and
district attorney, he had been
a member of the state senate
before / ever knew him. Nc
man who ever knew him intima-
tely, as did, but will remember
him and will also cherish his
memory. He was of medium
hight, compactly built, hair almost
white, even when a young man,
sallow complexion, blue eyes,
large head with unkempt hair
and strait as an Indian. He was
a man Of wonderful memory.
never knew him to take a note Of
the evidence in any case, but he
was very accurate in the pres.
| entation of facts. have never
known q man who was better
advocate than he. He was al
most irresistible in summing
up in his last speech to the jury
One advantage he had over many
others was the fact that ht
~l,,,>,,c ,n~oI 4 = his Cv>o1.,h nH horI