Regretably, the death of an attorney isn't something many people regret. In fact (and in keeping with the general theme of my blog thus far), it has been suggested that attorneys should be buried 8 feet below ground rather than the customary 6 feet, because deep down, we're really nice people. Others joke that the definition of a busload of attorneys plunging over a cliff is: a good start. Thankfully this sentiment isn't universally held, and is rarely felt by fellow lawyers, except perhaps when death finally catches up to the occasional attorney drawn to the Dark Side of the practice of law.
I happened upon a series of the most eloquent, sincere expressions of remorse and regard for a fallen brother of the bar, that, in my estimation, has ever been recorded. These came in the form of resolutions adopted by the Tyler, Texas Bar Association and subsequent responses by the Tyler Court of Appeals on the occasion of the accidental death of Captain Thomas Smith, the clerk of the Court, on the stormy night of October 15, 1880, as the result of being run over by a train. These were included in memoriam, in Volume IX of The Texas Court of Appeals Reports, entered in accordance with an Act of Congress in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
The attorney and owner of the company I work for acquired a set of these beautiful, now cracked leather-bound books when he bought out his partners years ago. They have been residing unnoticed in our reception area bookshelves until recently, when he picked up this particular volume at random and began reading, at first silently, then aloud the words penned 130 years ago lamenting the sudden loss of Captain Smith. He continued his oration for about 10 minutes, and I could tell by his careful enunciation and emphasis of the words he was reading for the first time that he was as spellbound by them as I was.
I think it might be disrespectful to the authors of these resolutions, not to mention Captain Smith, to reprint them in their entirety here, but I would like to share one writer's comments and quote him exactly, as he has expressed my sentiments about Captian Smith, ere I knew him at all.
"MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT: On presenting these resolutions touching the death of Capt. Thomas Smith, on behalf of the committee appointed by this court, I cannot expect to speak as my eloquent brother who preceded me has spoken. Yet I beg to add, for the individual members of that committee, the assurance of their appreciation of the worth and virtues of the lamented dead.
I, sirs, was a stranger to the deceased, as I am to his family and to many of my professional brethren now around me, and I am a resident of a distant portion of the State, but I feel that an appreciation of, and respect for, the name and character of such a man as was he to whose memory we have assembled to do honor, should not be and are not restrained by conventionalities or bounded by geographical lines or limits, but that such a life and character is the common heritage of all men who admire the virtue, worth, and dignity of true moral and intellectual manhood.
It is creditable to the charity, if not the sincerity of mankind, that they are always so willing to speak kindly of the dead as to be often carried by that charity beyond the limits of strict truth. But we can rejoice and be proud today that these resolutions contain no line or utterance that is not beautified by the impress of sincerity and truth, and that they contain an earnest tribute to departed worth and virtue.
By these resolutions we convey to those loved ones who so deeply mourn the departed, all of comfort and condolence that is contained in the assurance therein given of the reverence, respect, and affection entertained for their husband and father by his friends and associates who knew him best; and, having done this much, we can but commend them unto Him who is willing and able to pour upon their bleeding hearts a balm of hope and consolations more healing and soothing than any man can offer.
For a third of a century the deceased went in and out before his fellowmen "wearing the white flower of a blameless life;" and though no dirge-breathing bands have told his requiem, though perchance no proud mausoleum will be reared above his humble grave, though his name may not be emblazoned on the pages of history, yet the bitter sorrow of his devoted family, the grief and the gloom that enshroud the hearts of his fellow citizens, and the tributes to his zeal, capacity, and fidelity so earnestly and eloquently paid by his professional friends and associates and by this court, all testify that in every relation of life he discharged the full measure of his duty, and therefore he has not lived in vain; for, as has been most beautifully said:
"No stream from its source flows seaward, how lonely soever its course that some land is not gladdened. No star ever rose and set without its influence somewhere.
"No life can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife, and all life not be purer and better thereby. Surely the spirits of just men made perfect on high, the army of martyrs who stand round the throne, and gaze on the face that makes glorious their own, know this surely at last. Honest love, honest sorrow, honest work for the day, honest hope for the morrow - are these worth nothing more than the hands they make weary, the hearts they have saddened, or the lives they leave dreary? Hush! The manifold voice of the heavens to the Spirit, Echo: He that o'ercometh shall all things inherit."
I can only hope that upon my death I should be remembered by my family, friends, business and professional acquaintances in a way that approaches the level of respect and appreciation expressed for the late Captain Smith. These words inspire me to be a better father, husband, friend and attorney. And they remind me to look both ways before crossing a railroad track.
