Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-02-03

said that he reported to the Constitu
tional court the case Of the State VS.
Fley and Rochelle, without reference
to his notes He never forgot th'
faces Of men or their peculiar traits
of character" II he knew a man once
he knew him ever after, and neither
the lapse Of time, nor the place wher'
he might meet him, however little ex'
pected, misled or deceived him. A,
an illustration, the following incident
may be noted. He had been employed
many years before, to defend a mar
at Pinckney or Spartanburg for kill.
ing a horse in the night time, which
by our statute is a clergyable felony
His client did not meet his trial-ht
fled the state. II the case occurred
during the existence Of the court al
Pinckney at least twenty years must
have come and gone; and II at Spar
tanburg, at least ten years must have
elapsed before Judge Smith entered
congress as a senator from s. Caro-
lima Walking into the hall Of the
house Of representatives soon after he
had taken his seat as senator, he dis
covered his client in the person OF
John Alexander, commonly called the
Buffalo of the West" sitting as q
member from Ohio. In Spartanburg
the name was usually called Elchinor
and so the Judge addressed him. The
member professed not to know him
The Judge with one Of his bitterest
oaths swore he should know him, tell
ing him he had his note at home for
800, and that he should pay it. He
wrote to his wife to send the note, and
by the return mail 1t came, and Mr..
Alexander admitted the acquaintance
by paying the note.
The speeches of his political oppo-
nent he never forgot, and often to
their dismay, the judge, from the bot
tom Of his old trunk, fished up some
speech, or speeches, entirely at war
with their present views What ter
rible bastinadoing he gave to Mr.. De
Wolf, the senator from Rhode Island,
when he arrayed before him the evil
dences of his participation in the slave
trade before 1903, will be recollected
by some, even at this late day!
His ability as judge will be seen
by referring to the case Of Read and
Elfert q N. & McC., 374, note). His
opinion in that case settled the vexed
question Of adverse possession, and
gave, for the first time in our court, a
plain, sensible and just construction
Of the Act Of Limitation.
At the session Of the legislature in
December 1916, Judge Smith was
elected to the senate Of the United
states and thus vacated his place on
the bench. From March 1917, to March
1928, he served and most faithfully
and ably discharged his duties in the
United States senate. In December
1922, the talented and accomplished
attorney general of the state, Robert
Y. Hayne, was elected senator in pref
erence to Judge Smith.-He was re-
Of South Carolina in 1924, and in 1926
he led the party which reversed Mr.
Calhoun's previous policy in the state
The doctrine Of a strict construction
Of the Constitution was adopted with
singular unanimity. In December 1926
Judge Smith was elected senator In
congress, for the unexpired term OF
John Gilliard. In 1880, his former
friend, Stephen D. Miller, superseded
him. The doctrine Of Notification was
then beginning to gain the ascendancy
in the state. In 1881, Judge Smith was
one of those who signed the appeal to
the Union party OF 8. Carolina
Throughout the struggle to which
Notification gave rise, Judge Smith
remained true to the Union; but the
violent divisions and party strife which
then pervaded the state, drove Judge
Smith and many other valuable men
from it.
Judge Smith was remarkable for the
'indomitable energy Of his character.
He turned not aside for obstacles
what he thought right to be done, he
did. His opinion he surrendered to no
man, and Of consequence he was led
by no one. To this unbending will, is
to be attributed his opposition to Mr..
Calhoun. He felt that he was much
his senior-that he belonged to the
old radical school, when Mr.. Calhoun,
Mr. McDuf1e, Generals Hayne and
Hamilton, belonged to the party in IA
vor of a liberal construction Of the
Constitution-that he had larger ex-
perience as a Republican than any of
them, and that his former position as
a Judge placed him far above Mr.. CAL
houn, and that, therefore, If Difference
ought to be paid to any one, it ought
to be paid to him. His love Of truth
made him defend in the strongest
terms, his opinions. political or other
wise.
"As a friend and neighbor," says Col.
Williams, mo one could excel Judge
Smith. No kinder hearted man ever
lived, and none could be found who
sympathized with the distressed more
sincerely" But his sympat,.ies could
only be elected by and for virtue in
distress. He had no sympathy" as he
said, with vagabonds." While he low
ed his friends, he hated his enemies.
He could not bless the man that
cursed, nor pray for the man who de-
spitefully used and prosecuted him."
He was a total stranger to the idea
Of conciliating an enemy-his course
towards such an one was defiance.
His intercourse with his friends was
unrestrained freedom and pleasant
ness. He abounded in anecdotes Of
the Bench and Bar, and Of his varied
life; these he poured out for the en-
tertainment of his friends. But to
those whom he disliked, or who he
supposed disliked him, he was reserv-
ed but courteous.
He and his wife were blessed with
an only child-a daughter. She be-
came the wife Of John Taylor, Esq, OF
Pendleton, and died soon after the
birth Of her only child, a daughter,
,,,bo ,,,o, ,o i,o1 ard adroataH hv her