USA > Texas > The bench and bar of Texas > Part 21
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He was a great friend and admirer of President Pierce, and during the latter part of his administration removed to Washington City, where he continued his practice until the clouds of civil strife gathered in 1861. He remained in that city until his arrest was threatened, and it is said that it was in consequence of a dispatch from him to the author- ities at Montgomery in regard to the departure of the Fed- eral fleet to relieve Sumpter, that the order was given to Gen. Beauregard to open his guns upon that fort.
And now at the sound of war, the spirit of the Texas Revolution and the fires of San Jacinto rekindling in his bosom, he entered the Confederate army and was made ad- jutant-general and chief of staff to Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston. In this capacity he shared the short but brilliant career of that officer in the Confederate service, and was near him when he fell while leading his victorious columns across the field of Shiloh. He was afterwards employed on special duty, chiefly with the command of Gen. Hood.
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At the termination of the war he returned to Texas and resumed the practice of law in San Antonio, to which, as the Nestor of the Texas bar, he devoted his energies and talents until 1883, when he was appointed by Governor Ireland to the office of Commissioner of Insurance, Statistics and His- tory, and held that position at the time of his death, which occurred from a stroke of paralysis on the 27th of Novem- ber, 1884.
The fires of two revolutions had burned and waned in his bosom, and, while those of the latter one were quenched by the cold hand of fate, the embers of principle still glowed in all his being and inspired every sentiment of his soul. While the frosts of seventy winters had wrinkled his brow and silvered his locks, they had wrought no sear upon his heart. Neither the blight of years nor the storms of revo- lution could shake him from the solida mens of his con- scientious faith ; and if the heavens had burst asunder and broken up, the shattered fragments would have fallen upon him standing erect and still lighting the torch of duty.
Patriotism was the guiding star of his life, and, through- out his long career he never swerved in his endeavors to perform the obligations which he conceived to be due to his country and his fellow-man. If he was in some respects eccentric, his idiosyncrasies were such as often tread the paths of the purest virtue. He knew Texas from her cradle. Before the world had heard of her, he knew her. He was present at her birth, he saw her baptised into the family of nations, and attended her when she gave her hand and heart to the American Union. He abetted her in the wager of battle for her divorce. He saw and felt the decision which the Great Arbiter of war rendered against her, and it was happy for him that he lived to see the elec- tion of a Democratic President and the prospective complete reconciliation of the estrangement.
In the office of Commissioner of Statistics and History he found a congenial element. His patriotism found in its duties food for reflection and inspiration. His memory was retentive and vigorous, and at the time of his death he was personally cognizant of more important and interesting
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H. P. BREWSTER.
events in the history of Texas than any other person in the State. His pride was enlisted in a service so agreeable to his taste, and he spared no pains in his efforts to gather and preserve the incidents and details of events in which he was oftentimes a prominent actor.
Colonel Brewster, though reserved in disposition, was a warm and constant friend and a devoted husband and father. He kept one of his daughters, a young lady of rare accomplishments, in his office with him, and was happy alike in having her companionship and her efficient services.
Amid the varied opportunities which his talents com- manded he manifested no desire for the accumulation of wealth. He lived upon a higher plain than that which is devoted to the struggle for gain, and, while he was, as General Johnston characterized him, " a natural born aris- tocrat," and possessed every quality required for command- ing positions, he had no thirst for distinction, and no ambition for notoriety ; and, unless yielding to the demands of kindness and courtesy, he was reticent in regard to matters illustrating his varied experience and eventful life. He said that he desired no monumental stone, no epitaph, not even a grave mound, to mark his last resting place. He cherished the desire to be buried at sea, and on the evening before the battle of Shiloh, while resting under a tree and discussing with other officers the mighty struggle which he knew the morning would bring, he remarked to Colonel Thomas M. Jack, of General Johnston's staff, that he had no fears of death, as he was too far from the sea, but requested him, if he should be killed, to have him buried in the Gulf of Mexico. This desire he repeated to his daughter not long before his death, and she faithfully and nobly complied with his request. She carried his body to Galveston, where it was placed on board the little State steamer, Hygeia, which the Governor had kindly placed at her disposal, and was borne to a spot in the deep waters of the Gulf where the ill-fated City of Waco went down a few years since, and was there committed to the sea.
The author can not by any means subscribe to that mate- rialistic doctrine which would consign genius and intellectual
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culture to the narrow sphere of an earthly existence, and which would send us from this world disrobed of all intel- lectual graces, with no conception but that of accountability, and with no endowment but that of an embryo capacity for an existence certified only by the dim scroll of religious faith or the blank sheet of infidelity. There is with every one, notwithstanding the dogmas of casuists, an inward revelation that the acquirements and treasures of the mind are immortal, and, as the Greeks expressed it, to aloviny ztqua - " the possession forever;" and when we are told that " angels desire to look into these things," we are reminded that the cravings of the intellect are manifested even around the very throne of Heaven, and that it there continues to weave the golden threads of thought, gather its ambrosial food and rise higher and higher, until it is merged in the zenith of illimitable light.
Col. Brewster was fond of the pure elements of nature, and sought to attain in death that perfect freedom from its alloys and dross which he had striven for in life. But while, as if to escape the ruins of man, he sought a burial beneath the waves which in his youth had borne him to the Texan shores, those shores will ever preserve his memory and proclaim his virtues. No darksome caves of the deep, nor emboweled caverns of the earth, nor crypts of time can sepulchre these. They rest in the golden urn into which Texas will always gather the scattered ashes of her great and good.
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THOMAS M'KINNEY JACK.
THOMAS MCKINNEY JACK.
It is seldom that nature, in her partiality which designates, here and there, an individual as the favored recipient of her special endowments, and ordains him to a particular sphere of eminence, groups such an array of talent in the limits of a single family, and fashions the moral and intel- lectual traits of so many of its members within the mould of greatness, as she conferred upon that to which the subject of this sketch belonged. As the author has had occasion to observe in another work in regard to the Yergers, of Mississippi, the Jacks, of Texas, seem to have been born lawyers.
Captain James Jack, the grandfather of Thomas, was selected by his fellow-citizens of Charlotte, North Carolina, to convey and present the famous Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to the Colonial Convention at Philadel- phia. His uncle, Patrick C. Jack, was one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the Texas Republic, and his father, William H. Jack, whose sketch is presented in this work, was one of the most distinguished lawyers of the Texas bar.
Thomas Mckinney Jack was born at San Phelipe, Texas, on the 19th of December, 1831. His mother was Laura Harrison, daughter of Isham Harrison, a planter of South Carolina, afterwards of Mississippi, where he was known as " Father Harrison," and was one of the best men the author ever knew. Thomas was highly educated, and having at- tended Georgetown College, in Kentucky, a short time, he entered Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1853 with all the literary accomplishments which that celebrated institution could bestow. He afterwards read law in the office of Judge W. P. Ballinger, of Galveston, his brother-
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in-law, was admitted to the bar in that city in 1855, and entered upon the practice of his profession as the partner of his preceptor with the most flattering prospects. In 1857 he was elected to the position of County Judge, and in 1859 represented Galveston County in the Legislature.
In 1860 he was an elector on the Breckinridge and Lane ticket, and rendered efficient service in promoting the over- whelming majority given in Texas for the distinguished Kentuckian. With the exception of these intermissions, he continued his practice with a growing reputation until the outbreak of the civil war. Upon the withdrawal of Texas from the Union in 1861, he acted as aid to General Sydney Sherman in organizing State troops at Galveston, and accompanied the expedition for the capture of Fort Brown on the Rio Grande. Returning to Galveston, he enlisted in the Confederate service as a private in Wharton's company of Terry's rangers, and never quit the field until the close of the war.
Soon after joining the army he was promoted to first lieutenant and made aid-de-camp to General Albert Syd- ney Johnson, who had known him from childhood, and was serving in that capacity when this great Southern leader fell swooning into his arms on the plains of Shiloh. He was then transferred to the adjutant-general's department, and was assigned to duty with the rank of major as adjutant- general of Polk's corps in the army of Tennessee. He was soon afterwards made lieutenant-colonel, and served upon the staff of General Polk until the death of that officer at Kenesaw Mountain, who also died in his arms. , He was then made adjutant-general of the district of Texas, and served as such until the termination of hostilities, when he returned to Galveston and resumed the practice of his pro- fession.
The character of Thomas M. Jack is one of the brightest luminaries in the annals of Texas eminence, and one that would have adorned the purest and most brilliant pages in the history of any age or country. Inheriting the legacy of ancestral emulation, the spirit which impelled the third Brutus to emulate the glory of the first, he possessed
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the invaluable stores of noble examples and the wealth of hallowed inspirations, which early planted in his bosom the strongest incentives to virtuous and vigorous action, and these expanded and developed into the highest order of moral and intellectual character, rounded and arched over with that blending of virtues which constitute the patriot, the philanthropist, the eminent lawyer and the perfect gentleman. He possessed a brave, candid and honorable nature, and was in himself the mirror of honesty and truth. His armor was always burnished for the maintenance of right, and his arrows were whetted for opposition to wrong; yet he was always courteous, generous and chival- rous in his demeanor -- high wrought and sensitive as to the means and methods of attaining his ends, and no one was more tenderly considerate and sympathetic in his regard for the feelings of others.
He was a lawyer of fine ability, and his career at the bar was like a meteor which flashed upon the jurisprudence of Texas and dispensing its beams suddenly disappeared in the fullness of its glory. In the study of his profession he cherished the lofty purpose of becoming a champion of justice, a factor in the promotion of the welfare of society, and his talent, his precept and example elevated the profes- sion which he adorned, and bettered the community in which he lived. As a lawyer, soldier and citizen, the glare of his character will shed light upon the future generations of Texas, and kindle incentive and emulation in the hearts of all who aspire to the attainment of the highest respect and admiration of their fellow-citizens.
Colonel Jack was married in 1857 to Miss Nannie Knox, who was a native of Lincoln County, Missouri, and a niece and ward of the venerable Robert Mills, of Galveston, who, at the time of his death, was the oldest living merchant in Texas. In the noble qualities and accomplishments of this lady he found a polishing response to every lofty sentiment and noble effort, and his rougher nature became chastened by the tender cords of domestic affection. He died in Galveston on the 26th of August, 1880, soon after his return from the Cincinnati Convention, to which he had
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been sent as a delegate. It is rarely that a lawyer amid the fierce rivalries of the bar can command or maintain the universally affectionate esteem enjoyed by Colonel Jack. He never permitted the heat of argument to render him unobservant of a kind and polished ethics, and he was be- loved by all of his professional associates. I will close these observations upon his character with the fervent tributes paid to his memory by members of the Galveston bar upon the announcement of his death to the courts of that city - by those who knew him well in every sphere of his life.
Remarks of Hon. James B. Stubbs : -
" I think I can see him now, scorning danger, his face aflame with that shining light we have wont to see en- throned upon his brow and flashing from his eyes in the forum, as he maintained the right, resented the wrong and illustrated the high purposes and generous promptings of which he was a living exemplar as well as an exponent.
" The career of a true lawyer affords a sphere of honor and usefulness second to that of no other vocation. This he recognized, and it was not to him a stepping-stone to any preferment. He was the beau ideal of a lawyer. Who, that has ever seen or heard him in the trial of a cause, will withhold his assent to this statement? He never sacri- ficed right to expediency. From the opening of a case to its close, his just conception of the law, his faculty of im- parting his ideas, his skill in eliciting evidence, his tact in the management of the case, his fairness to his adversary, . and then his lucid, earnest argument, smoothly flowing in rounded periods, marshaling facts and drawing conclusions with masterly logic and eloquence, all held the interest, ad- miration, and carried conviction to the hearer. Never did he ' extenuate or aught set down in malice.'
" When he spoke, his face usually lit up with a radiant smile and his cordial greeting spread an atmosphere of cheerfulness about him. If his mission in life had been to make men happy, well was it fulfilled, for the world was better and happier for his having lived in it. His ready sallies of wit, and he was full of playful raillery, left no sting. In a group of persons, he was the central figure -
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the choice spirit. That indefinable quality, which, for want of a better name, is called personal magnetism, drew men about him in pleasant talk, and his views were sought, and found acceptation, for he illumed whatever he touched. He was the light and life of every circle. Now that he has gone, how dull and commonplace seem the scenes that know him no more.
"I have spoken of his kindness to the young. He was their ' guide, philosopher and friend,' as well as their ad- mired pattern. To the younger members of his profession he was especially gracious, showing them the same con- siderate courtesy he exhibited to the first men of the land.
" He was the soul of chivalry and honor. His winning address, and his sterling qualities of head and heart, rendered him the most perfect gentleman I ever knew. While his character was ' as round and perfect as a star,' yet, if I were called upon to particularize any predominant trait, I would name his sympathetic kindness, his utter un- selfishness, that made his life a living embodiment of the Golden Rule."
Response of Hon. T. C. Hume: -
" Is there a man of this bar - especially a young man- who has not been comforted by his words of encourage- ment simply spoken in season; who has not felt the pres- sure of his hand, and been warmed into hope by the light of his eyes, at some time when the need of a friend was exceeding sore ? And is there a lawyer here, old or young, who does not feel it is something -that it is much -to have lived within the sphere of this man's influence; to have marked the loftiness of his professional name and practice, and to have confessed to his own heart the ennobling reflec- tion of his personal virtues? He was one man who spoke no slander, nor listened to it; who never prostituted the opportunities, nor solicited the employments, nor haggled for the rewards of the profession; who never intervened be- tween his brother and the clientage he deserved to win or keep ; who held in knightly scorn the belittling temptations which often beset and sometimes degrade our ancient order."
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Response of General T. N. Waul : --
" In the prime of manhood, in the fullness of physical vigor, without a trace of decay or diminution of capacity; at the summit of professional distinction, in the merited enjoyment of the noblest of earthly rewards; the respect and admiration and the love of all who knew him; still growing and waxing stronger in all his great elements, he has gone from us. We shall greatly miss him from our faternity. How much a loved and only sister, the guide of his boyhood, the adviser of his mature years, the daily companion of his life, shall miss him, we will not attempt to describe. Nor can we realize in thought, much less de- pict in language, how much his wife and children shall miss him as the evening shadows fall darkly upon that home of which he was the light and life."
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CHAPTER VII.
THE STATE BENCH - EMINENT LIVING JUDGES -O. M. ROBERTS - RICH- ARD COKE - J. H. BELL - A. H. WILLIE -THOMAS J. DEVINE - JOHN IRELAND - R. S. GOULD- J. W. STAYTON - C. S. WEST -R. S. WALKER - JOHN P. WHITE-S. A. WILLSON - J. M. HURT - A. S. WALKER- GEORGE CLARK - A. T. WATTS-W. S. DELANEY -E. B. TURNER.
ORAN MILO ROBERTS.
This eminent lawyer and patriot is a native of South Carolina and was born in Laurens District, on the 9th of July, 1815. At an early age he removed with his father's family to Ashville, in the mountainous region of North Alabama, where he was engaged in the labors of the farm. His early life was attended with many difficulties and trammeling circumstances. But he was an ambitious and aspiring youth, and determined to be aut Casar aut nullus. One of the noblest commentaries upon American institu- tions is the facility which they afford to genius and rectitude for rending the clouds of obscurity, for bursting from the most adamantine gyves of condition into the glare of honor and the full round orb of fame. Fate has here no iron bed upon which its victims, like those of Procrustes, are bound and fitted by the fiat of unalterable decree. Here genius, once fledged in the nest of morality, leaps forth like a young eagle from its eyrie, and spreading the wings of resolution, soars away to the heights. of its ambi- tion and capacity. Here honor and distinction demand no glittering armorial, wealth no splendid heirloom of inherit- ance, and eminence no pomp of pride or lictorial badge.
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Here fame requires no arbitrary circumstances, depends upon no golden opportunities, and exacts no impersonal qualifications; but only that he who would reach its realms shall be guided by the beacons which it has established along the sacra via of its glory.
At the age of sixteen years, young Roberts, full of natu- ral genius and ardor, and with the inspirations which the institutions of his country engendered, left his plow, and with slender means determined to obtain an education, and met at the outset with the fortune which Providence seems always to provide for those who earnestly seek their own advancement. Through the kindness of Ralf P. Lowe, an attorney of Ashville, and afterward an eminent lawyer, governor, and supreme court judge of Iowa, he obtained a situation in his office, where he prepared himself for college, and in 1836, at the age of twenty-one years, graduated at the University of Alabama in a class which furnished many others who afterwards attained distinction.
He began the study of law in the office of Judge Ptolemy Harris, near St. Stephens, in South Alabama, and acted at the same time as private tutor to his sons to defray his expenses. He completed his studies in the office of Wm. P. Chilton, of Talladega, who was subsequently one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Alabama. Having obtained his license, he settled at Ashville in the successful practice of his profession, and was soon afterward elected to repre- sent his county in the Legislature of the State.
But his aspirations was not yet satisfied with the flattering prospects which spread themselves before him., The young Republic of Texas, bright with the halo of fame and the glory of heroic achievement, extended inviting arms to his patriotism. Its unlimited resources and unbounded pros- pects presented their allurements to his ambition, and in 1841 he removed to Texas and located at San Augustine, which was at that time a place of great political and professional activity, and the Athens of the Republic. He was equal to the severe test which a claim to distinction demanded and to the expectation which his talents engen- dered, and he was soon recognized as one of the most
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skillful and logical, as well as most learned advocates at the bar of that district.
The elevated standard of professional excellence estab- lished by the eminent array of legal talent which surrounded him, and which he made the goal of his attainment, beckoned him upward and onward. His advancement responded to the aspirations of his genius, and in 1844 he was appointed by President Houston to the office of district attorney, which he held until the annexation of Texas to the Union.
It was customary at that time for the lawyers to travel around the circuit in company with the judge ; it being an old English custom which was introduced at an early day in the colonies, and long lingered in the States of the Union, and was transplanted in the Republic by the judges and lawyers who had been accustomed to the usage in their native States.
In reference to this habit Governor Roberts says: " When the time for holding the courts arrived it was not unusual to see a dozen or more lawyers and the judge mount their horses, with saddle-bags, blankets, and tie ropes; and, thus equipped, start on their journey around the district, which then embraced many counties, comprising a large scope of country. As some of them would drop out of the company at different points others would fill their places, so that about an equal number of traveling lawyers in addition to the local bar, would be found in attendance at nearly every court. This mode of practice was continued until the civil war, since which the members of the bar have become more and more localized in their practice."
In these professional excursions he traveled over the country fro'n the Sabine to the Trinity - a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and experienced all the hardships incident to travel in a new and sparsely settled country, encountering rain and storm, sloughs, and swollen streams, which he was often obliged to swim in order to reach his destination at the proper time. On one of these occasions, being the youngest man in the party, he was selected to swim the Neches River on horseback and bring over a ferry-
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boat which was fastened to the opposite bank. He says, however, that the universal hospitality of the people amply compensated them for the fatigues and inconveniences of these journeys. Night and day their doors were thrown open to the travelers, and a hearty welcome extended them to share whatever comfort they could render and usually with- out charge. He says that their humble fare, seasoned with pure and disinterested kindness, was more palatable than the most artistic dishes of modern hotels.
It was during these travels that he first observed the character and habits of the people of all classes and occu- pations, the peculiar and diversified characteristics of the country, and its varied natural productions and capabilities ; which excited the investigations of his inquiring mind, and afforded him a knowledge of the wants and wishes of the people, which he afterwards impressed upon the laws and institutions of the State.
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