The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-04-29
"REMINISCENCES
Of ANOLD MAN
Judge II. E. Hill Writes of
Things Long Ago in Abbe-
vile, County.
CONTINUED

q
lived for a great many years before
his death in the house in which r. S.
Link now lives, on lower Main ST.
His shop stood just short distance
below his house nearly opposite the
house now owned and occupied by
Hugh Bowen, which was then owned
by gentleman by the name OF
Branch. Mr.. Shillito was one OF the
most genial, whole souled men I ever
met; a man of fine intelligence and a
most entertaining conversationalist.
When boy my father owned and we
) lived in the house now owned by Mrs.
Addie Hill, which is nearly opposiet
the Shillito home, consequently saw
a good deal of the old gentleman and
ii used to do me good to hear him
laugh when he would tell a joke,
which he could do in an inimitable
manner.
In his more. youthful days he would
occasionally get on a little spruce but
on such occasions he invariably stay
ed close at home, as intact he gener-
ally did on all occasions, this being
one of his popularity.
On one of these off occasions this
Mr.. Branch, who was great church
man of the Methodist persuasion, con-
cluded he would go over and have a
talk with Bro. Shillito about the way
he was doing.
During the conversation Mr..
Branch had occasion to remark that
he felt confident that If he were to
die at that moment he would go
straight to heaven; to this Mr.. Shillito
said, Branch, if 1 were you dammnd
if 1 didn't go and get somebody 70
kill me, if 1 had to hire him to do the
Job; thus ended the interview.
Abbeville in those days had her
full complement of bad boys-chier
among whom was Lon Sperrin and
Ed Kingsmore.
These boys, for some reason took
offense at the oldest and most promi-
nent doctor in the place, DR.. Isaac
Branch.
So to crafty their spleen, they
went to the stable where he kept ihs
buggy horse, a fine animal and shaw
ed every hair off his tail. OF course
everybody knew who did it, but it
couldn't be proved on them.
In anti-bellum times, away back In
the fifties, the Abbeville bar could
Justly lay claim to as fine an aggrega-
ton of lawyers as could be found in
the State.
There was Major Armistead Burt
Hon. Thos. C. Perrin, Col. Jas. M.
Perrin, Samuel MCGOWAN, Edward
Noble, John H. Wilson, James S. Goth
ran, w. A. Lee, and several others ]
could name, each of whom took high
rank among the legal profession.
I used to greatly enjoy attending
the sessions of our courts in those
DAYS, where I never failed not only to
learn something worth knowing, but
often was highly entertained by list
ening to the brilliant Sallies of wit
and humor with which some OF these
men were wont to interspersed theil
speeches.
Mayor Burt wa sa fine lawyer, and
a most entertaining speaker but the
most sarcastic man I ever knew.
1t was decidedly interesting to hear
him cross examine witness, especl
ally if the witness didn't testify tt
suit hirl-and it was perfectly with
ering the manner in which he woulc
wave his hand and say to the party
when he had gotten through with him
"yOu can 60 sir"
But tehre was one occasion which
recall, when he met his match, in the
person Of woman who was able tt
hand him back as good as he sent
"a Roland for his Oliver"
1t seems that he had reason to sus
pect that she would prove to be
formidable witness against nj:
client and he was anxious tt
disparage he testimony before tn
Jury. She was not woman Of first
class character, fact which he him
self we'll knew, but he wanted tn
Jury to know it also-the fact was sh
had more children than the law al
lowed her-in other words those sh
had were Notwithstanding a
that time, calculated to reflect some
what upon a woman's character.
The first question which he put t
her was, "Mrs. Jones', cher name wa
Betsy Jones), "how many childre
have you? To which she prompt
answered, three" "Now Mrs. Jone
will you please tell us the name
your husband?" "I've got no husband
"Eh! got no husband, why that is rs
ther remarkable"
By this time Betsy was getting pre-
ty "hot in the collar" and lookin
daggers at the Major, she said, "Mr
Burt how many children have yOuF