Mexico Missouri message., 1917-06-07
MEMORIAL ADDRESS UPON
JUDGE JAMES D. BARNETT
By PATRICK HENRY CULLEN
Before Missouri Bar Association, September, 1916.

Iby Judge Barnett as a banker demon
strates that in banking as' we'll as in
| all other lines of business, he who
succeeds best is he who is fair, liberal
and just. He was an ardent friend of
public education and devoted much
of his life and thought to the better
ment of the public school system. He
believed that education was the
birthright of every child, and that
the school house should be the ral-
lying ground of the republic-the
deep and silent spring from which
flows the life-giving waters of a free
and just people.
But all his resplendent qualities
showed brightest and best in his ca
reer as a lawyer and a Judge. AS a
lawyer he was thoughtful, conserva-
tive, painstaking, always courteous
to the court and opposing counsel,
considerate of the feelings of witness
es. He tried his cases upon a high
plane. / have served with him as
co-counsel in some important and
strenuous cases He never became
excited, never stopped thinking, and
was always ready with some new idea
bearing upon an essential feature of
the case. In the presentation of a
question to the court he was direct
plain and forceful, always seizing and
resting his argument upon the essen
tial, underlying principles of law or
Justice involved. In argument he con-
ceded much to the other side and
never harshly attacked an opposing
witness. His appeal was to the JUS
tice of his cause and the higher and
nobler elements which arouse and
control men. He possessed the conf
dence of the people who knew him.
to a marked degree. He never abused
that confidence and his influence with
juries, especially in his county where
he was best known, was very great.
Juries did not look upon him as a
lawyer seeking to win a case, because
what he said was clothed with such
garb of fairness and delivered with
such directness and judicial pOise
that the juries accepted his state
ments as advice to be followed and
were influenced by his argument al
most as much as by the instructions
OF the court. He was every inch a
lawyer. He never sacrificed the rights
of a client. He was bold and relentless
in presenting everything which could
in justice be presented on behalf of
his clients. and he feared no conse-
quences. 1t may not be generally
known, but it is true, that on one
occasion, when the mob spirit was
rampant in his county and threat
ened the life of a prisoner, he took
the prisoner, his client, from Jail to
n T,1a nd
alone. stood guard over him during
the night, and when the morning
came, the fury of the mob abated,
and his client was saved from its fu-
ry. He was engaged in nearly all i'm
portant trials in his county, and
many in adjoining counties, before
he ascended the circuit bench, and
was a most successful advocate.
His splendid qualities of heart,
conscience and brain beamed forth
in all their height, might and grand
eur when be became circuit judge.
He was distinctly of judicial type.
Great judges are, like poets, born,
not made, and Judge Barnett was
born to be a judge. He could see
both sides of all propositions, and
with great precision weigh the mer-
It's of each. His vast and accurate
knowledge of human nature enabled
him to find the truth through a null
.iplied amount of details given by
witnesses from the various stations
Of life. He was, in my judgment,
the most patient man on the bench
that ever lived since Job faded from
the earth. Nothing could disturbe his
poise and equilibrium, and his kingly
courtesy and manifest kindness and
good nature drove all bick-
ernigs from his court room and he
dignity without austerity
and enforced his power without be-
ing tyrannical. There was not a drop
of the tyrant's blood in his veins.
He impressed the stamp of his per-
on the law when he became
a circuit Judge. One of the most OPP
pressive features in the administra-
tion of the law, in my judgment, is
the cost system. | believe it is the
duty of the State to furnish justice
to all its people without money and
without price. The primary concern
of every government is to render JUS
tice to it's people. For a litigant to
be turned out of court because he or
she is unable to secure the cost is
shocking. During Judge Barnett's
administration as judge of this cir
cult no one was turned out of court
who had a meritOrious cause because