The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-01

able to stand But he was faithful to the
 last to the man who had been his friend | in need.
 | Distinguished above all the western law ycrs of his time for eloquence was Urfel
 Wright of Marion county. He located I at Palmyra in 1883 and had been practic-
 ing there only short time before the fame of his oratory spread throughout Missouri. He was picturesque, eloquent, graceful, magnetic, ingenious, scathing.
 No man got drunk more gracefully or talked temperance more convincingly,
 swore more fuently or quoted from the Book of Books more eloquently, de-
 nounced gambling more terribly or held 1 a hand in a game with more satisfaction and pleasure than Wright. He was classic scholar and knew every chord of
 the human heart. While practicing in | Missouri many wretch went unhung because of his eloquence in defending
 him. Wright went with the Confectionery
 when the civil war began and served in | the Confederate army during a greater
 part of the war. At the close he located | in his native state, Virginia. He died in | 1869.
 Smith Is IncOnvenient
 | Col. John Smith T of Ste. Genevieve was | Of the most unique and picturesque char acters in the history of Missouri. He was native of Georgia, but in early life moved to Nashville, Tenn. It was here | that he realized the inconvenience of his lhame-John Smith, and decided to add | to it something to distinguish him from | the other Smiths. After some delibera- | ton he called himself and wrote his name I"John Smith of Tennessee."l But that lnan1e was too long, so he shortened it to | John Smith T, and by this name he was l known in all business and social rela- | tions until his death. He moved to Ste. l'Geneyieve in 1903 and entered land for Harm which he named Shibbeleth. In per son Smith was tall and slight of build, | very courteous in manner, but terrible when aroused by anger. He was well edu- cated, a lawyer. farmer land specuiator and miner. Few men, living or dead. Furnish so abnormal combination or | lcharacteristics as John Smith T.
 Colonel, Smith killed 15 men, most. of lthenl in dtels. He always carried two pistols in his belt. two in his side pockets, and a bowie knife in his scabbard in an- other pocket. His servant, Dave was a gunsmith, kept his firearms in order, | and had a shop in the yard for that pur-
 pose.
 Portrait of Boone
 There never was but one oil painting of Daniel Boone, painted from life. and that
 was by Chester Harding, distinguished [artist of Boston, who came to Missouri l in Jane, 1920, and painted it in the resi- | dence of Flanders Galloway, Boones son.
 in-law. where Boone was then living, near
 the village of Marthasvile, in Warren l county Rev James E. Welch, one or lthe oldest Baptist preachers in the state
 and father of Aikma,l Welch, attorney
 general of Missouri during Governor
 Gamble's administration, sat in Boone
 bed behind Boone, for him to lean against while Harding painted the picture the pioneer being too feeble to sit alone.
 Harding's portrait of Boone now hangs in l the state capitol at Frankfort, Ky. | When Daniel Boone took up his resi-
 dence in this state the country was under Spanish dominion. The fame of Boone 1 had preceded him and the Spanish lieu ltenant-govern welcomed him and gave | 1000 acres of land. His title to this land was confirmed by Congress on December
 24, 1S13 He sold all of this tract except | 1s1 acres. to pay his Kentucky debts. All | though his creditors never would have de- manded payment, he could not enjoy life
 until his debts were wiped out. He kept Inc book accounts and did not know how much he owed or to whom, but in the honest simplicity of his nature he inquired | of all with whom he had had dealings ana lnaid whatever they demanded. He made
 q special visit to Kentucky to settle these debts. and when he returned home to his | family he had half dollar left But. said he to his friends who called to see l him, now am ready and willing to | die. I lave paid all my debts and nobody can say when I am gone, Boone was ldishonest man..
 A Pioneer Preacher
 The late Col. J. F.. Hutton of Mexico | was fond of telling a story on one of
 Missouri's pioneer Methodist preachers. The preacher was a good old soul and 'Lhad done valiant service in the Masters ;Lcause, but, like many others of his age. The had only.a rudimentary education, and I his knowledge of characters was confined almost exclusively to those of the Bible and his own native state. Virginia. Ills 4 idealstype of manhood was Methodist l horn in Virginia After detailing the many prlvations and hardships of Paul
 he summed him up in this little perora- ton:
 l"PaGl was physician. He was schol-
 ar. He WAS grand. He was magnificent.