Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Texas during the latter part of Galveston term, 1858, and the whole of Tyler term, 1858. Volume 21. Page: VI
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Vi OLIVER CROMWELL IHARTLEY.
States district attorney, R. D. Hubbard, Esq., and feelingly responded to
by Judge Duval, and ordered to be entered on the minutes of his court.
On the opening of the supreme court at Galveston, February 10, 1859,
the Hon. M. D. Graham, attorney general, addressed the court as
follows:
May it please the court -
It is a practice which has the sanction of long usage, and which is in
itself right and proper, when a member of the legal profession, eminent
for his attainments and moral worth, has been cut off by the hand of
death, for his surviving brethren to place upon the records of the courts
in which he practiced, some enduring memorial of the esteem in which
he was held, while living. In conformity with this usage, I appear this
morning to present to this court the resolutions adopted by a meeting of
the bar, held at this place on the 13th ult., in relation to the death of
Oliver C. Hartley--a distinguished member of the Galveston bar, and
the reporter of the decisions of this court. These resolutions, however,
are not the result alone of a desire to conform to a mere custom; their
adoption was not intended to be an empty and unmeaning ceremony;
but, unless the sources of my information have been greatly at fault
they speak the irrepressible emotions of stricken hearts, that felt and
appreciated the loss which had been sustained by the immediate family
of the deceased, by the legal profession, and by society at large.
It might be deemed supererogatory on my part to enter into an extended
review of the history of the deceased. That has been done, on
other occasions, and by others far more competent to the undertaking
than myself. Suffice it for me to say that, in all the relations of life in
which he was called upon to act - whether as a citizen, or a soldier -
whether as a member of the state legislature, or the reporter of the decisions
of this court--whether as a husband or a father-- whether in
the public or private walks of life, he has left a record unmarred by a
single spot, and a character above suspicion and without reproach.
His mind was thoroughly disciplined, and deeply imbued with solid
learning; which added to rare powers of analysis, and a patient industry,
which no amount of labor could deter or resist, enabled him to,
master every subject which he had occasion to investigate. At the bar,
he was forcible and impressive, and sought rather to convince the judgment,
than to please the fancy. His perceptions were unusually clear,
and at the same time he possessed a philosophical turn of mind, which
would not rest satisfied with first impressions, but which sought to learn
the remote as well as the proximate relation of things, and having once
satisfied himself of the correctness of his premises, he deduced his
conclusions with the power and skill of an accomplished logician. iHe
had no higher ambition than the full and complete discharge of every
duty, and how well he succeeded in this, the results of his professional
and official labors will abundantly testify. In his professional intercourse
he was characterized by fairness and candor, a temper rarely
disturbed by passion, and a judgment never betrayed by impulse.
But it is his highest encomium to say, that his cardinal virtue was an
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Texas. Supreme Court. Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Texas during the latter part of Galveston term, 1858, and the whole of Tyler term, 1858. Volume 21., book, 1882; St. Louis, Mo.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth28553/m1/4/?q=tex-fron: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .