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the history of the court by the accession to the bench of William W. Smith, who suc ceeded Judge Harrison. Since the recon struction era the judges had been men advanced in years, whose thoughts were turned backward to the days of their earlier manhood. But in the mean time great changes had taken place. The war had supervened, destroying old institutions and

creating new. Rail roads and telegraphs had been built, not "~ only bringing with them new questions, but revolutionizing the methods of business. A new age had come, and required a judge to comprehend it and to expound its needs. Such a one was found in Judge Smith. He was born in Abbeville District, South Carolina, on the 12th of October, 1838, and was a graduate of Columbia College in that State. Leaving the college in 1858, he taught Latin and Greek in a school at Charleston until a STERLING R. short time before the war, when he removed to Monroe County, Arkansas, and started in life as a planter. A true South Carolinian, he entered the army when the war broke out, and served until he was captured at Port Hudson, attaining the grade of a captain. While a prisoner at Johnson's Island, he devoted his time to studying law. The war destroyed the value of his lands; and upon his return to Monroe County, he taught school, con tinuing the study of the law in the mean time. In May, 1867, he was admitted to the bar, and became the partner of Simon

P. Hughes, — now .one of the judges of the court, — practising law at Clarendon, Ark. In 1877 ne removed to Helena. He took his seat upon the bench on Nov. 1, 1882, and died of consumption, brought on by too close attention to his offi cial duties, on the 18th of December, 1888. In person he was tall, slender, and wellfavored, with iron-gray hair, mustache, and imperial. His life was distinguished by the I most absolute purity of motives and con duct. His demeanor was kind and affable, I hisconversation agree able, and enlivened by a sly humor devoid of malice. With great suavity of manner he combined the most unalterable firmness in the discharge of his duty. He was one of the most rapid work ers that we have ever had upon the bench, disposing of a vast amount of business. His opinions are mod els, — clear, brief, and pointed, stating the facts with great con COCKRILL. ciseness and the law with extreme pre cision. He was particularly alive to the im portance of the new questions which had arisen out of changed conditions, and met them in a progressive and enlightened spirit. He brought to the bench a new vigor, a capacity to comprehend, and a readiness to accept the altered circumstances of the Com monwealth; and in his untimely death the State suffered a loss which it has never ceased to regret. Upon the death of Judge English, Sterling R. Cockrill was elected Chief-Justice, and still occupies the place. Upon Judge Eakin's