Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-06-05

| the bar in lS4S.
Mr.. Wilson forthwith settled at York
vile and began the practice with the
elder Witherspoon, and the relation of
partner continued until the death of
| Col. WitherSpoon, when a like aSsocia-
ton was formed with the younger
| Wtherspoon, and subsequently with
his son. the Hon. w. b. Wilson, of Rock
| Hill
| first saw Col. Wilson thirty-five
years ago: he was then just past fifty
years of age, and fine specimen of
dign nified manhood. Though he has been
dead but twenty years, there are many
| here who never saw him. The young
bar Of today ought to take for model
! his professional appearances. In the
| trial Of a cause he was Jealous of the
rights of his clients, and he pressed
with vigor his views upon judge and
Jury; but he was the well hammered
gentleman, even where the tide of bat
| tie went against him.
When | was quite young man /
heard cause as a referee in which he
represented the plaintiff; and his de-
pertinent all through the trial was a
study to me and has been ever since
delightful memory. AS an orator. he
was far above the average; his voice
was pleasing; his periods were round;
| his action was graceful, and at times
he rose to high pathos. In his young
manhood he was much sought after to
address assemblies. He went twice or
three times to the general assembly;
and / think it is generally conceded
| that his powerful advocacy of the bill
| to create the first railroad commission
| in this state, procured the enactment
of that law. Mr.. Wilson died in the
spring Of 1894.
The late Hon. Isaac Donnom With
erspoon was born in this town on
February 7th, 1888. He bore his
fathers name. The family is Scottish,
and settled in this state first upon
| Black river in Williamsburg county;
thence they went to Lancaster county,
and this family to York.
This gentleman was graduated at the
South Carolina College in 1854, came to
the bar in 1856, and settled in his ma
| tive town to practice law. Before
that, he had gone TO Alabama, but he
did not long remain there.
His career at the South Carolina
bar was hardly twenty years in length;
his residence in Alabama and his SER
vice in the war interviewed betWiXt his
admission and permanent settlement at
Yorkville in 1866. He went on the
bench in 1882, and was there for six
motion, to the bar in 1898, but was
there only three years before his death
| [ never heard him at the bar save
once and the impression he made upon
me then was that he had those great
persuasive powers which constitute
the real advocate. Some really able
lawyers are unable to get the ear OF
judge and jury. That is the gift Of the
advocate; the entrance thus gained
grows from attention TO conviction.
A distinguished lawyer of the bar,
who best knew Judge Witherspoon
thus describes him: las an office law
yer and general legal adviser, he was
always safe and sound, having few
equals among his brethren of our local
| bar; and as an advocate he eXcelled
them all, not so much by his display
or attempt at display of learning in his
profession or out Of it, as by the pow
er born in him to make his listeners
| feel-whether judge or jury or outSld-
ers-that he himself has already be-
come convinced Of the righteousness of
his clients case. And because it was
not in his nature to diSSemble, it of
necessity followed that he was always
weak when he got on the wrong side
as many a lawyer finds out by intui-
| ton that he is, when ii is too late to
throw up his retainer. In 1876, when
| he was stumping the county for the re-
demption of our state from ignorance
and carpet baggers, even the negroes
heard him with gladneSs.'
This is perhaps the best analysis OF
the character of this distinguished man.
Perhaps no public man in the history
of York had so completely the abiding
confidence of it's people as Judge
Witherspoon. Upon the bench, through
out the state he made the same i'm
preston on the bar and the judge, who
are the people. There he had the fixed
purpose to do the right, and in his
search for the right he had no pride OF
opinion. While he was u gentleman,
he was tenacious of his rights, and
those Of his clients and of litigants in
his court. He died before his time,
with the love and confidence of his
neighbors and fellow citizens.
James Franklin Hart was born in
Union county the 18th Of February,
1897, three miles west of the court
house. Like many eminent lawyers,
his early circumstances were cramped.
BY the aid of friends, he secured ad-
mittance into the Citadel academy at
Charleston, and there graduated high
in his class at the age of twenty years.
He taught school two years after
graduation, and then studied law with
B. f. Arthur at Union. In May, 1860,
he came to the bar, and settled in his
native town: but was soon called hence
by the tocsin of war. He had very
distinguished career on the field,
where Hart'S battery made a fame that
will be perpetuated in the history OF
that great war. AT Burgess Mill he
lost leg.
Major Hart married in York, and
that circumstance fixed his residence in
1, ,,-hi hn q
conclusion of the war to make his liv-
ing by teaching. He then first went
into co-partnership with those emil
nent lawyers, c. ID. and $. w. Melton;
but after two years that association
ceased and until 1876 he practiced
alone. In that year the firm of Hart
G. Hart was formed and lasted for
many years. l knew Major Hart from
my childhood; he was at my fatherS
house before his wounded leg had
healed. He was a lawyer of large abll-
ity and great resource. He was at the
bar for forty years, and for well nigh
all that time was in full practice. Like
few lawyers, he had equal success be-
fore juries and judges in the civil and
criminal courts. l should say his dis
tinguished attribute was sagacity; he
was alert, and no blunder of his an
tagonist escaped him. Excepting the
late Honorable Robert Aldrich, he was
the only lawyer l ever saw whose
countenance did not betray his emer-
gency. Whether the tide of battle
went we'll or i'll, he was never off guard
and never betrayed the slightest emo
ton. He was no orator, he did not
have imagination; but he was strate-
gist of the highest order; he won
where other men would have founder
ed and where every chance seemed
gone.
He was good student of the books,
and especially of the decisions. But
his marked power lay in the trial Of Il
cause; he was 4 great trial lawyer;
and he was never vanquished until de-
feat was inevitable In 1882, together
with the late Judge SimontOn and Mr..
William Henry Parker, he coditied the
state laws. In 1905. he died after a
long and painful illness, but with great
fortitudc.
The last of these lawyers was Will
liam Bratton McCaw, contemporary
of my own, and my lifelong friend.
He was born 22nd August, 1857, and
died 10th September, 1908. His father
was Robert G.. McCaw and his mother
was Isabella BrattOn. His ancestors,
on both sides. were here before the
Revolution. William Bratton was at