Benjamin Harrison as a Lawyer and an Orator. 'Xothin' to say.' That is literally true. More than once, when some other pressing duty was calling him, he would be allowed to make the first speech; and it was amus ing to see Porter [one of his partners], as he proceeded. He would strike out from his notes one thing after another until Harrison had finished. Then, when he was done, we would put our heads together and wisely conclude to let the case go with one speech from our side. He was a merciless reaper; nothing, absolutely nothing was left for the most careful gleaner. Porter 1 will bear me out in this." This is the testimony of all who knew him in his practice. Previous to his election as President, General Harrison's practice was a general one; he tried all kinds of cases, except patent cases, and investigated all kinds of legal questions. Such a practice broadens a law yer, while a special practice renders him narrow. Previous to 1884, Indiana was the home of many noted and great lawyers:— ex-Governor Thomas A. Hendricks, A. W. Hendricks, ex-Governor Baker, Senator Joseph McDonald, John W. Butler, Cyrus C. Hines, Governor A. G. Porter, William P. Fishback, ex-Senator David Turpie, exSenator Daniel D. Pratt, William Z. Stuart, John R. Coffroth, and Jonathan Gor don.—but he was easily the peer of any of them, and perhaps excelled any of them in ability as a lawyer. He despatched business easily, readily, and with celerity. His ability in this was always a source of surprise to his associates and partners. "In my experience of thirty-two years," 1 Albert (1. Porter, Governor of Indiana, 1881—1885. J
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said one of his old partners in 1888, "I have never seen a man in whose hands I would be more willing to place my imperilled life or fortune than in his. I have heard some men say that he is over-rated; but they are generally those who have never grappled with him in a hard fight. Xo lawyer who ever met him before Court or jury will talk that way." Perhaps no lawyer in the West excelled him. As an orator Mr. Harrison ranks high, but not with Clay, or Webster, or Patrick Henry, or Ingersoll. He had a penetrating voice, not always pleasant; but one that carried a long distance. He spoke with little apparent effort. On his legs he was a good thinker, and had a fine command of lan guage. He had a "telling way" of "putting things" that carried his thought to the most witless members of his audience. His speeches are sprinkled with gems of thought, and are filled with epigrammatic sentences. His powers of condensation were very great; and his speeches abound with no superfluous words. While he was a ready speaker, and was not at a loss for ideas on almost any topic brought forth for discussion, yet his set speeches were the result of careful thought and study. He did not exactly commit to memory such speeches, but it was frequently his practice to dictate their substance to his stenographer, often whole passages of which were afterwards delivered verbatim when on the rostrum. All who ever attentively heard him in a speech of any length upon a serious subject could not help believing that he was a man of great resources and intellectual strength.
