have been acquitted of murder and convicted of manslaughter. Colonel T. rose equal to the occasion, and at least once in his argument also wandered from the record. In one of his oratorical flights he referred to the numerous victims of the Hatfields, to the midnight burning of a McCoy dwelling house across the border in Kentucky and the shooting of the fleeing inmates by the Hatfields, during the Hatfield-McCoy feud. He lined up the ghastly skeletons of their victims before the jury and then, to give the jury a better view of the horrible picture, he flashed upon the whole line the light of that burning dwelling-house. Here the presid ing Judge rung down the curtain upon the scene by mechanically instructing the at torney to confine his argument to the evi dence in the case. The attorneys now practicing in the south ern part of the State, while not less eloquent than their predecessors, are as a rule better lawyers. They do not trust alone to their gifts of oratory. They watch closely the rec ord of the case and endeavor to keep the same clear of reversible error. They are familiar with the reported decis ions of the Court of Appeals, and the practice and procedure in the Circuit Courts; and their constant endeavor is to obtain judg ments for their clients that will stand the scrutiny of the appellate court. The office of an advocate continually prac ticing his profession and arguing cases in court, tends to sharpen his wits and powers at repartee. The late P. K. McC. was well known in this part of the State for his nat ural and acquired characteristics in this re spect and also for an exuberance of diction. If attorneys in the court-room grew facetious attempting to make him the butt of their jokes, they always found to their dis comfiture, that he was abundantly able to take care of himself. And quite frequently he was wont to assume the aggressive, at
times unexpected and somewhat inop portune. It is related that the late Senator John E. Kenna, when a young man, aspiring for his first congressional nomination, went to the County of L., there met and was in troduced to McC. in a crowded court-room. The candidate, anxiously looking for politi cal friends, expressed his pleasure in meet ing a Democrat of whom and whose ability he had heard such favorable reports. "Mr. Kenna," replied the attorney, surveying the candidate from head to foot, "I was well ac quainted with your father. He was a man of fine personal appearance, of an unusually intellectual countenance, attractive in his manners and prepossessing on the first ac quaintance. There is nothing about you, Mr. Kenna, except your name, that reminds me of your father." We imagine that the witty attorney's greeting would have been somewhat differ ent, could he have foreseen the subsequent career of the young man; that he would be elected three times to Congress and twice to the United States Senate; that he would ac quire a national reputation for wise states manship; and that his statue of imperishable marble would be placed in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington to perpetuate the name and fame of John E. Kenna. Times have changed. Lawyers to-day do not go regularly with the Judge on the cir cuit, but stay at home and spend more time in the seclusion of their office. There they do their most effective work and earn the largest fees; but occasionally when out on the circuit, they take quite naturally to the ways of the pioneer lawyers. 11 They strive mightily, But eat and drink as friends."
They become social creatures, drink to each other's health and success, and for the time being observe and obey the second great commandment in the law,—Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
