Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-07-09
SUPREME COURT HOLDS
MEMORIAL EXERCISES
LATE JUSTICE HALEY

Cornish, speaking for the Law Court,
paid glowing tribute to the late Jus
tice George F. Haley at memorial ex-
ercises held in the Supreme Court
this afternoon, following a more in
innate address on the life of Justice
Haley nv a fellow member of the
Bar. James o. Bradbury of Saco, who
spoke for the York County Bar. JUS
tice Cornish dwelt on the great con-
trast that marked the early part of
the lives of Justice Haley and the late
Justice Madigan, the former having
had to struggle against poverty and
the latter having enjoyed the advan-
tages that come from wealth, but de-
same goal and sat side by side on the
bench. Justice Cornish said in part:
For the last time the name CT JUS
tice George +. Haley is linked with
ours on the records of this Court, and
as we say farewell to another loved
and honored associate we sorrowfully
and yet gladly pay tribute to his
memory, a simple tribute as he would
have it.
The outlines of Justice Haley's pic
turesque life as biographers would
sketch it are these: Born in Saco on
January 80. 1856. attending the COM
mon schools until the age Of II, for II
years a laborer in mill OF factory, for
two years a law student in the otlce
of a local attorney, admitted to the
York County bar in 1881 praoticing
attorney for so years. and on April l.,
1911. appointed associate justice Of
the Supreme Judicial Court of this
State. So runs the n1eagre biogra-
phical record, but the real record is
written deeper, marking a life full Of
inspiration to young members OF the
bar who have been deprived of early
advantages, and illustrating the new
err to be forgotten law, that success
is achieved and fame IS Won through
avenues quite dissimilar.
A few days ago and during the
present term, Mr.. Justice Spear paid
an appreciative tribute to the msm-
DRY Of the late Justice John B. Madi-
gan. and drew a picture of his life
and character with a faithful pen. In
all that he said of Justice Madigan, as
husband, father. citizen. lawyer and
magistrate, we all most heartily con-
cur. We respected, admired and loved
him, and his memory will remain
fragrant with us, as Ions as life shall
endure.
No more conspicuous contrast can
4 @lo, s,, no n
titious circumstances attending the
careers of these two justices. whom
we are honoring this term. In their
environment they were as far apart
as the poles, and yet they reached the
same goal and sat side by side on this
bench performing the same import
ant public work and rendering the
same valuable service.
The one was born Of an ancestry
widely known in the annals of this
State, the other of plain humble folk,
of which, however, much Of the solid
fabric Of democracy is woven: the
one born into an atmosphere of Gull
ture and of legal study, the other in-o
an atmosphere of manual labor; the
one surrounded by wealth that for
babe privations, the other encom-
passed by that rigid economy which
counted every penny and was COM
PEELED to sacrifice the school room for
the factory; the one thoroughly
trained in preparatory school, college
and law school, the other with the
grammar school for his alma mater;
the one standing at the threshold Of
his professional life surrounded BY
influential and helpful friends and
the other standing almost alone.
Specifically it might seem that the
advantages all lay with Justice Mad:-
gan, and in his case they did to some
extent; but wealth and position too
often beget snobbishness. Incidence or
vice. While the Good Book declares
that it is easier for a camel to pass
through the eye of needle than for
a rich man to enter the Kingdom. J
am inclined to believe that that strik-
ing smile more often applies to the
rich mans son than to the rich man
himself, because Of the temptations.
distractions and lack of personal ef-
iO1 NY wealth.. Dull
wealth and poverty place obstacles in
the path of the young, and it is only
by converting these obstacles into
challenges that the rich boy or the
poor boy can march straight on to
the goal of a self-reliant. useful and
worthy life. The dangers that Turk
in the fullness of the one and in the
paucity Of the other are alike to be
What was it then that brought SUE
cess to Justice Haley, deprived as he
was Of all these aids usually deemei
essential? 1t was the uncomfortable
spirit of him, the determination that
could not be thwarted, the fire that
could not be smothered. venture
to say that no man ever sat upon this
bench who overcame more obstacles
on the way than did he.
You, who are members Of the York
County Bar and who practiced with
aim or against him during his 50 years
OF active work have in your resolu-
tons and in the address Of Brother