El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-13
JUDGE MORRIS
ON JUDGE HARPER
To the Voters of the Eighth
Supreme Judicial
District:

lylSGllCIs
! During nv canvass of the district I
I have circulated a card on which make
! the statement that majority of the
/ 1.,,,,,e,s of Ell Paso support me for
] cute Justice Of the Court Of Civil
Appeals, which I know to be true from
! - canvass of the bar. Judge Harper, my
/ onnonent. is circulating a card over the
5iE+ric+ in which he makes the follow
- - +aroAnt. My opponent asked the
l ai-I59orSement of the Ell Paso Bar, which
! raSIIest was rejected by a vote of 80 to
s se.a -.
IN I'd misleading that I feel bound
a. reriv to it. through the papers, as I
am through with my canvass Of the
! seventeen counties outside Of FL Paso
I Comfy. which are embraced IN this
I Sistrfct While I have solicited the
e-,TI1,ort of some individuals of the Bar,
/ 7 never made any request to the Bar
/ Association for an endorsement, nor
/ bava 7 solicited the support of many
( of them, and the Bar never rejected
+ a0y DrOpositiOn to endorse me
I Not wishing to rest this matter on a
! question of veracity between judge
8 FTarper and myself. addressed note
to MI Walter Scott, the member OF the
/ Rar who was chosen by the bar meet
No in question as their Chairman ana
who presided at that meeting, REQUEST
inc him to give me statement OF the
facts on the point at issue lie gave
ma the following answer:
eel Paso, Texas, July lst 1917
Judge Norris;
Dear SIR
In answer to your inquiry OF this
date. I have to state that the meeting
Of the Bar was called by several mem
bers thereof, as expressed in the call 10
decide whether the Bar would lndorse
one of the candidates for Chief Justice
Of the Court of Civil Appeals ana II SO.
which one Il would indorse- The Bar
meeting decided by a vote Of 4S to 2S, as
shown by the record that it would not
make an Endorsement as an assoclatlon-
No motion to indOrse any particular
candidate was made or voted on a
motion to decline to take action on the
matter was the only motion voted on
It was the sense Of the meeting that
each individual member Of the Bar
should be left free to support either OF
the candidates unaffected by an asso-
citation Endorsement both being mem
bers Of the local Bar.
Respectfully,
Walter II. Scott"
Judge Harpers statement can mean
nothing else than that the Bar voted on
a request by me for an endorsement and
rejected my request, thus carrying the
Implication that a majority of the Bar
virtually opposed my candidacy as
against him. which is grossly untrue
and is calculated to deceive the voters
of outside counties.
The endorsement, or refusal of en-
dOrsement Of lawyers Of candidates FOR
judgeshiD Justly carries with the pub
lie great weight Hence the propriety
Of my correcting judge Harper's state
ment And since he has seen proper to
make that fling at me I feel JUSTIFIED
in retOrting in kind. l am reliably in
never endorsed judge Harper for any
judgeship. Almost without experience
a a lawyer. he began early in his pTO-
fessional life to hold office, aud has
ever since held office. He was first
justice Of the peace, then a county judge
and afterwards district attorney He
then aspired to become q district Judge
The Bar endorsed his opponent, judge
A N. Walthall. and was almost unani-
mOusly opposed to elevating TO the dis
trict bench judge Harper, who had had
almost no experience in the trial or
civil cases Judge Walthal withdrew
from the race and judge Harper was
elected by default Afterwards politi-
cal conditions in FL PasO county pre-
vented him from having an opponent for
the district judgeship- As he was prac-
tically without experience in civil mat
tiers the Bar for several years seldom
tried civil case before him, after the
41st district court was created Lately,
when the docket of the 4lSt court be-
came crowded with business the trial
of civil cases was undertaken before
judge Harper, the lawyers in the main
writing his charges to the juries for
him-a practice which is not improper
in a trial court. but it would be utterly
inadmisSible for q lawyer to write his
opinions for him If he was on the ap-
pellate bench. A Washington judge was
put out of office for such an act. Judge
Harper has had no practice in the ap-
pellate courts. and il IS impossible that
o nT nrTrT inf cd
properly take part in the discharge Of
the duties of an appellate court No
criminal cases would come before the
Court of Civil Appeals to which he
aspires. But il may not be out of place
to call attention to the fact that ne has
seldom been sustained by the higher
courts in his criminal trials Of impOr-
lance wherein skilled lawyers were en-
gagged. His ordinary trials of theft,
burglary and assaults, being very SIM
pie, were often sustained. But such
cases as the Max Miller murder case
and others were reversed on numerous
grounds. In the recent case of Mrs.
Orner. a murder case. the Court OF
Criminal Appeals severely criticised his
action in violation of a well known
statute requiring the verdict of the
degree Of murder of which they found
the defendant guilty. The law places
the responsibility on the judge to see
that The verdict Is in proper form. for
WllCn purpose ne may 0lreCL cOrEeC-
lions or send the jury back for further
consideration and correction. The
Court of Criminal Appeals in reversing
The judgment said, among other thipSS;
why cases should be permitted 20
come to this court with the verdict in
the condition this is, in view of the plain
provision of the statute and long line
OF decisions, is not readily cOmpre-
hended." This appeal was I'M
necessary. and with a little care and
caution this verdict would have been
avoided as written. The verdic5 was
read in the presence Of the court when
returned into the court by the jury, and
this defect was then discoverable, and
had the jury been sent out to correct
this verdict in accordance with the
statute, this question would not have
been suggested to this court for re-
vision" 143 s ". 935.
When judge Harper was known to be
an aspirant for appointment to a judge
ship of the new Court of Civil Appeals,
the Bar endorsed for appointment
judges Walthau, Goggin and Peticolas.
full court which emphasized their
objection to him. Afterwards, when
fudo-a PpffrO1QG tho only I'll PaSo law