The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1886-02-24 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

MOORE. "I notice," I said, "that R. B. Moore is mixed up in that awful Rock Ferry murder case as solicitor for one of the accused." Snorter: It would be strange if he were not. It is seldom that there is a local mum celebre with which he has nothing to do. "That's just it," I continued. "Now, what I want to know is whether either of you can tell me the reason why he is so universally run after." Snorter: Reason! Why, there are many reasons. But the principal reason is that he is without doubt the sharpest and most successful criminal lawyer in Cheshire. I don't believe that Dickens' famous Mr. Jaggers, if he had lived and practised to-day, would have been in the hunt with him. Barker: When you draw a kind of parallel between Moore and Jaggers you do not mean to imply that the former has any of the faults as a , practitioner by which the latter was , characterised. II Snorter: Certainly not. I merely referred to Joggers because he was the smartest and most effective criminal advocate of the old style that I could think of at the moment. Some of his practices, of course, I put altogether outside my analogy. Barker: You mean that Jaggers at his best, and Jaggers without any of his faults, would have found it difficult, if not impossible, to hold his own against Moore in any professional struggle conducted with accredited professional weapons? Snorter: Exactly. Moore is simply a perfect master of the litigious side of law business; and hence it is that he is concerned in the great majority of the important cases which come before our borough and county magistrates. Barker: Some of his rivals say that they do not believe him to be a profound lawyer. Snorter: They are the last persons to whom I would go for an opinion, for, notwithstanding his extraordinary parts, he has not succeeded. in winning their goodwill and admiration to the extent that a disinterested observer might fairly have anticipated, though most of them value victory over him more than they do a victory over any other opponent. The merciless, but unsuccessful, way in which he was some time ago harried by the Incorporated Law Society of Liverpool may be cited as a conspicuous example of the scurvy treatment he has frequently received at their hands. Barker: Surely he must be in some degree responsible for the attitude observed by them towards him? Snorter: I am rather inclined to attribute their action to jealousy and to the fact that instead of yielding to their. authority he has invariably met their hostility with uncompromising defiance. He is able to be one of the most obdurate, as well as one of the most gracious, of men, and I don't know of anything that could cowe him when his spirit was fully roused. He's a true British bulldog, and if he had been a soldier he would, I believe, have permitted himself to be cut to pieces before he would have relinquished a position that he had been ordered to hold. Barker: He must be a very awkward customer, and I don't wonder that many persons elect to give him a wide berth. Snorter: Well, I do, because the aggressive side of his character which, by the way, is admirable in its place— is more than balanced by the soft side, which, if it is not generally exhibited, delights everybody afforded the opportunity of contemplating it. There is no man living whom I would sooner or more confidently ask to help a deserving object; he is the most genial and selfsacrificing of friends; his sympathy with the victims of injustice is so acute that he is ever ready to be active on their behalf; children love him for his tenderness; and his tastes are those which induce a man to revel in flowers, and pictures, and books, and the pure delights of home life. Add to this, that lie is absolutely charming as a host, and you can easily understand why those whom he admits to his intimacy, and who are best able to judge, cannot with patience hear a syllable in his disparagement.