The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-08-09

kibbey was a good technical ma
and Morton a fine pleadcr before I
jury. and so it came that the firm were
the leaders of the bar It is remem
bered that on one occasion a cast
came up between a Richmond man anC
one from Cambridge City. The two
started for Centerville in the
dead of night. The Richmond mar
being nearer to Centerville got there
first and retained the firm. 1t il
needless to say that he Won his suit
and it shows what 4 reputation the
firm had.
An odd case is on record at the
state house at Indianapolis which has
some humorous aspects. 1t was a dis
pute over the delivery of twenty-five
hogs which had been contracted TO-
The defendant pleaded that the con-
tract had not specified whether the
animals were dead or alive.
Morton, Newman and Siddal filed a
printed brief as follows:
What Is Hog?
The issue submits for the consid-
Grafton the very grave and mooted
question, What is hog? No tribun-
al can approach such a question with
out a deep sense of its Importance,
and of the awful responsibility involv-
ed in its decision. According to
Noah Webster a hog has no exist
ence without the faculties of breath
ing and squealing-taie these away
and he is transformed into pork. The
appellant in his brief insists that a
hog is hog. dead or olive, and that
1t is hard to make anything else than
hog out of hog" We think that
the reverse of this proposition is true.
and that the appellant should be COM
PEELED to exert his capacity to the ut
most tension before he would sue
coed in making a hog out of 4 hog,
but he would find no difficulty in con-
verting a hog into pork. lard bacon,
carcass or anything else but a hog"
The opinion is still more ridiculous
for it gravely states that I'VE under
stand that among hog dealers two
kinds are recognized and well under
stood, towit: gross hogs and net hogs;
net hog Is the dead hog" Morton I'M
fortunately for once lost the suit to
G. w. Julian, who was his opponent.
Thus his life went on simply enough
in the quiet village. Meanwhile the
agitation against slavery vent on in
the north and the war clouds grew
thicker and thicker and more threat
ening. 1t was then Morton was forced
out of the democratic party on account
of his pronounced anti-slavery views,
The cries, Your head is getting
kinky," go equalize yourself with
the niggers," uttered amid taunts and
Kisses were the words which kept the
state for a quarter Of century. From
this time on Wayne county was nc
longer the stage for Morton. He left
it for the arena of national politics
1t was in his new field he performed
his splendid services for tire union. In
Wayne county his friends are gone or
going. All that remains is his man
sion on the National road west OF
, Centerville and the plaster cast in the
court house which stands without hon
or and is gradually going to pieces al
| the hands of the vandals. But in the
| history of the country where he made
his great battle for the preservation
Of the union the memory of Morton is
still bright.
Morton in Indiana.
Morton's most conspicuous services
to the country are in his unfiaggins
efforts for the preservation of the I'm
ion. His public life then was en-
tangled in the great struggle between
the North and South. From the very
earliest times after his expulsion from
the Democratic party his path always
| lay in the abolitionist movement. Thus
he was a Pierce man in the days be
| fore the formation of the Republican
party.
Father Of State Republicans.
Indiana was disposed to be friendly
with the South and there were man!
sympathizers with the cause of SLAYER,
here as we'll as in Kentucky. In 1856;
| Morton was advocated for the govern
orship by the papers of the eastern
section of Indiana, among them being
the Richmond Palladium. In 1856 h,
was nominated for the governorshil
on the Republican ticket. His oppon
ent was Willard. Willard was electec
but Morton ran far ahead of his tick
ct. Mortons popularity made the Re
publican party unit in Indiana ant
fused all the anti-Democratic element!
into it. He may therefore be calleC
the father of the Republican party ii
Indiana Two years later he wa
president of the state Republican
convention and came out as lieuten
ant governor on the ticket of 1860.
Lane Was Candidate.
In his campaign, Morton was one o
the first to declare that the impend
ing action of South Carolina and he
neighboring states should be me
with force in event of their secession
Lincoln, Lane and Morton wer'
elected.
Morton made a speech in tn
court house yard in indianapolis IL
which he declared: Better conced
independence TO force than TO right,
and, Better be defeated in arms, thai
concede principles that will explod
the nations into fragments Thi