xt708k74ts2x https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt708k74ts2x/data/mets.xml  1920  books b92-134-29323973 English [Press Westerfield-Bonte Co., Louisville, Ky.], : Lexington, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Shelby, John Todd, 1851-1920. In memoriam  : proceedings of the Lexington Bar and certain memorial resolutions adopted on the occasion of the death of John Todd Shelby. text In memoriam  : proceedings of the Lexington Bar and certain memorial resolutions adopted on the occasion of the death of John Todd Shelby. 1920 2002 true xt708k74ts2x section xt708k74ts2x 






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     IN MEMORIAM



PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEXINGTON BAR

             AND

 CERTAIN MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS

            ADOPTED



   ON THE OCCASilON OF THE DEATH

               OF


JOHN TODD SHELBY



Mors janua vitae





Lexington, Kentucky
    1920

 






NOTE.



   JOHN TODD SHELBY, who died at his home in the
City of Lexington, on Tuesday, March 2, 1920, in the
70th year of his age and on the forty-eighth anni-
versary of his admission, when a youth of twenty-
one, to the Fayette County Bar, ranked with the
greatest who have honored and adorned the legal
profession in Kentucky.
   This record of the proceedings had and the reso-
lutions adopted upon the occasion of his death is pre-
sented to his friends and fellow-members of the Bar
as a slight tribute of respect by the Association of
the Bar of the City of Lexington.


           HOMAGE TO THE DEAD

   "In the loving bosom of his mother-land, Ken-
tucky, his body lies, and there his brain and heart
will moulder into dust and become a part of her; but
his influence lives after him, and will be eternal.
Always the past is the lawgiver of the present and
the future. The past of Kentucky has been great,
illustrious, and fortunate. Her future will be no
less so, if, standing upon the old ways, she thence
makes progress, obeying the legislation which the
past has enacted for her in the wise thoughts, the
great examples, and the beneficent influences of the
generous and gallant sons who have lived and died
in her service, crowning her with honor and glory."

       PRESS
WESTERFIELD-BONTE COMPANY
tLOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
                        2


 








             IN MEMORIAM.


    (From the Lexington Herald of Wednesday, March 3, 1920.)

    JOHN TODD SHELBY DIES AT
                HOME HERE TUESDAY EVENING.

     Day Forty-Eighth Anniversary of Admission to
                 Fayette County Bar.

          HAD STATEWIDE REPUTATION.

   Life intertwitned With History of Central Kentucky.

   John T. Shelby died af his residence at 4 o'clock
Tuesday afternoon, March 2, 1920, forty-eight years
to a day from the day he was admitted to the bar, a
youth of 21. He had been ill since February 14th,
though not in good health for some years. A full
history of his life would be an accurate account of
the chief events and most notable trials in the Blue
Grass from the date of his admission to the bar,
March 2, 1872, to the day of his death, March 2, 1920.
By birth and family connections he was intimately
associated with those who played a dominant part
in the political, financial, agricultural and social life
of Kentucky. When little more than a lad he mar-
ried the sweetheart of his childhood days and upon
the attainment of his majority began the practice of
                        3

 





his profession in Lexington, where he spent his life
and did his work, resisting all temptations, no matter
how flattering the offers, to leave Kentucky, or even
go from Lexington to Louisville. He quickly won
conspicuity in the law, meeting with success the great
men who gave fame to the Lexington bar in the last
century.
   Gifted with a mind of marvelous lucidity, edu-
cated with great care, trained to think and to labor,
from the first he was recognized as among the ablest
lawyers in Central Kentucky. There were few nota-
ble cases in which his services were not engaged, few
public movements in which he was not influential,
the mere fact of his support of a man or advocacy
of a principle having weight because of his lofty char-
acter and pure ideals He never sought public office
-never evinced nor cherished selfish ambitions. -But
there was no movement, no project of value to his
community or his State in which he did not have
interest.
   Mr. Shelby was for nearly thirty years a member
of Christ Church Cathedral and had been a member
of the vestry for many years. He was senior warden
of the Cathedral from 1907 until his death.
   November 7, 1872, Mr. Shelby was married at
Christ Church, St. Louis, Mo., to Miss Lizzie M.
Craig, of that city, who was born near Ghent, Ky.,
and who had spent much of her girlhood in the Wal-
nut Hill neighborhood of Fayette County, not far
from the home of Mr. Shelby's father. To this mar-
riage were born four children, Thomas Hart, Francis
Todd, John Craig and Christine. The second child,
Francis, died in infancy. Mrs. Shelby died in Lex-
ington on December 12, 1917.
                       4

 




   Besides his two sons, Thomas Hart and John
Craig Shelby, and daughter, Christine Shelby, Mr.
Shelby is survived by a grandson, John Todd Shelby,
II., son of Thomas Hart Shelby; three half-brothers,
Thomas H. Shelby, Lexington; Wallace M. Shelby,
Fayette County; Edmund B. Shelby, Charlotte, N. C.,
and eight half-sisters, Miss Mary C. Shelby, Lexing-
ton; Mrs. Charles B. Post, Kingston, N. Y.; Mrs.
Fanny S. Matthews, Mrs. W. P. Richardson, and
Miss Florence Shelby, Lexington; Mrs. Hugh Rid-
dell, Irvine, Ky.; Mrs Kate S. Scott, of Lexington,
and Miss Willie Shelby, Charlotte, N. C.
  The funeral services will be held at Christ Church
Cathedral Thursday afternoon, March 4, at 3 o'clock.
   The following brief sketch gives the salient facts
about Mr. Shelby:
   John Todd Shelby, the son of Major Thomas
Hart and Frances Todd Shelby, was born in Spring-
field, Ill., January 25, 1851, while his mother was
visiting the home of her parents, Dr. and Mrs. John
Todd, his mother giving her life for his, dying within
a week of his birth. He was reared in Kentucky, and
educated at Centre College, Danville; Kentucky Uni-
versity (now Transylvania College), and at Prince-
ton, from which he was graduated with high honor in
1870, one of the youngest men in his class, and re-
ceived from Princeton the A. M. degree in 1873.
Later in life he was given the degree of Doctor of
Laws by the University of Kentucky.
   He was admitted to the bar in Fayette county in
1872, and formed a partnership with Judge J. Soule
Smith, one of the most famous wits and raconteurs
who ever practiced in the Kentucky courts. In 1875
there was a partnership formed between Mr. Shelby
                       5

 





and W. C. P. Breckinridge, which lasted until the
death of Colonel Breckinridge in 1904. During the
greater part of that partnership Fayette was joined
with other counties in a circuit, and the olden custom
of lawyers at different bars practicing in the courts
of different counties was followed by Mr. Shelby,
who won first State-wide and then national reputa-
tion as one of the most erudite, clear-thinking mem-
bers of the American bar.
   After the death of Colonel Breckinridge, Mr.
Shelby practiced alone until 1907, when with his son,
J. Craig Shelby, just graduated from the Harvard
Law School, he formed the firm of Shelby  Shelby.
R. L. Northcutt was taken into the firm in 1910 and in
1913 the firm name was changed to Shelby, Northcutt
 Shelby. This firm has maintained the highest tra-
ditions of the profession, has been representative of
the strictest ethics and stood at the very forefront
of the law firms of Kentucky.
   In politics Mr. Shelby was a Republican, though
a member of the Democratic party until the first Mc-
Kinley-Bryan campaign in 1896. For three years,
during the administration of Governor Augustus E.
Willson, he was the Republican member of the State
Election Commission.
   As a lawyer Mr. Shelby ranked with the greatest
who have graced the bar of Kentucky. First of all
a gentleman, courageous, high-minded, dutiful, he
carried into the practice of his chosen profession the
lofty courtesy that marked his social as it distin-
guished his professional life. Though always taking
an active interest in public affairs, he never sought
nor would he ever accept public office for himself
save in temporary discharge of obligations to others.
                       6

 





FAYETTE BAR ASSOCIATION TO
                         HONOR SHELBY MEMORY.

   Members of the Fayette County Bar Association
will meet Thursday morning at 11 o'clock in the cir-
cuit courtroom to hear resolutions on the death of
John T. Shelby, for years a leading member of the
association, and to arrange to attend the funeral in
the afternoon, it was announced last night by Judge
Charles Kerr. All lawyers here are expected to be
present.
   The following committees were named: Resolu-
tions, Judge J. D. Hunt, Major D. G. Falconer,
Major Samuel M. Wilson, Colonel John R. Allen,
E. L. Hutchinson, W. P. Kimball, George C. Webb;
Floral Designs, J. N. Elliott, J. P. Johnston, and
Samuel S. Yantis.



7



 







        BAR PROCEEDINGS.

   At a meeting of the Lexington and Fayette Coun-
ty Bar Association, held in the Circuit Court room
on the morning of Thursday, March 4th, 1920, Judge
Kerr presiding, the following resolutions, reported
by the committee, which had been appointed for the
purpose, were unanimously adopted:

                RESOLUTIONS.
   It is with unfeigned sorrow that this Bar is called
upon to record the death of Honorable John Todd
Shelby, one of its oldest, ablest, and most distin-
guished members. The Lexington Bar has seldom
sustained a heavier loss than that occasioned by this
bereavement, which occurred in this city on the after-
noon of Tuesday, the 2d of March, 1920.
   For several months past, Mr. Shelby's health had
been such as to cause anxiety to his friends, but it
was fervently hoped that his condition might not be-
come critical and that his exemplary and useful life
might be spared to his family and friends for many
years to come.
   While it cannot be said that he was ever endowed
with a robust constitution, yet his nervous energy
and exceptional will power enabled him always to
carry through a prodigious amount of labor, and the
vigor of his intellect was always such as to deceive
even those who knew him best as to the limits of his
physical strength.
   John Todd Shelby, the eldest son and only child
of Thomas Hart Shelby and his first wife, Frances
Stuart Todd, was born in Springfield, Illinois, on
                       8

 





January 25th, 1851, while his mother was on a visit
to the home of her parents, Dr. and Mrs. John Todd.
His mother having died very shortly after his birth,
Mr. Shelby returned with his father to Kentucky,
and grew to manhood at his ancestral home, " Belair, "
a beautiful country seat in the Walnut Hill section
of Fayette County.
   His preparatory education was obtained in the
schools of Lexington and Fayette County. During
the years 1866-67 he attended Centre College, of Dan-
ville, and through the collegiate session of 1867-68
was a student in Kentucky University (now Tran-
sylvania College), in Lexington. In the fall of 1868
he entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton,
and two years later graduated from that institution
as a member of the class of 1870. Although among
the youngest members of his class, he acquitted him-
self with high honor and laid broad and deep the
foundations of that superior scholarship for which
he was noted throughout his after life.
   The degree of Bachelor of Arts, conferred at
graduation, was succeeded by that of Master of Arts,
conferred upon him by Princeton University in 1873,
and afterwards by the degree of Doctor of Laws, con-
ferred upon him by the State University of Ken-
tucky, in 1904.
   Before his admission to the Bar, Mr. Shelby read
law in the office of his uncle, Judge William B. Kin-
kead. He was duly licensed to practice law on March
2, 1872, during the incumbency of Hon. Charles B.
Thomas as Circuit Judge of this District. Ile then
entered the office of Breckinridge  Buckner. where
he practiced law by himself until he formed a part-
nership with the late Judge J. Soule Smith. This
partnership lasted until September 1, 1875, on which
date Mr. Shelby became a law partner of Colonel
W. C. P. Breekinridge. This relation continued un-
broken until Colonel Breckinridge's death on No-
vember 19, 1904.
                        9

 





   The firm of Breckinridge  Shelby was one of the
strongest and most successful law firms ever in prac-
tice at this bar. The somewhat variant gifts of the
two members of this firm served in many ways to
supplement each other and gave to it a standing and
an influence which might well be objects of envy and
emulation by other members of the profession.
   After the death of Colonel Breckinridge, Mr.
Shelby practiced alone until 1]907, when, with his son,
John Craig Shelby, a graduate of the Harvard Law
School, he organized the firm of Shelby  Shelby.
Mr. R. L. Northcutt became a member of this firm
in 1910, and in 1913 the firm name was changed to
Shelby, Northcutt  Shelby. As thus constituted,
the partnership has continued in force until dis-
solved by Mr. Shelby's death.
   Mr. Shelby was one of that group of enterprising
citizens who organized the Belt Line Railroad Com-
pany, which afterwards passed under the control of
the Elizabethtown, Lexington  Big Sandy Railroad
Company, and was absorbed with that property by
the Chesapeake  Ohio Railway Company. He also
helped to organize the Belt Electric Railway Com-
pany, the parent and predecessor of the present Lex-
ington Street Railway system. He was for a long
time chief counsel of the Lexington Waterworks
Company, and also, for many years, had been general
counsel for the Chesapeake  Ohio Railway Com-
pany, serving that part of its system known as the
Kentucky division. He was also a director of the
First  City National Bank, and of the Fayette
Home Telephone Company, which he had a large
share in organizing and in placing upon a perma-
nent and prosperous foundation. He has been local
attorney for the Louisville  Nashville Railroad
Company, in Fayette and adjoining counties, almost
from the commencement of his practice and, for
many years, was also attorney for the Southern Rail-
way Company in Kentucky. These professional
                      10

 





engagements, weighty and important as they were,
did not, however, monopolize his time or atten-
tion, to the exclusion of other business, for his
activities as a lawyer may be said to have covered the
entire range of litigation usual to the Bluegrass sec-
tion of Kentucky.
   Nor did the engrossing nature of his professional
duties prevent Mr. Shelby from devoting much val-
uable time and patient and painstaking considera-
tion to other vital interests of the city and commu-
nity in which his life was passed. He served on the
Board of Aldermen of Lexington, at a time when
that body numbered among its members such men
as Major R. A. Thornton, Judge J. D. Hunt, Thomas
N. Allen, and others. For three years, during the
administration of Governor Augustus E. Willson, he
was the Republican member of the State Board of
Election Commissioners. He was for many years a
director of the Young Men's Christian Association
of Lexington, officiated for several terms as president
or vice-president of the Kentucky Society of Sons of
the Revolution, and was a member of the vestry and,
at the time of his death, Senior Warden of Christ
Church Cathedral, of which church he had long been
a communicant.
   No enterprise and no institution connected with
the growth or well-being of this community has ever
lacked for his judicious counsel or his whole-hearted
and unselfish support. And not only will his wise
counsel and generous co-operation be sadly missed
by men of affairs and men of business, but a host of
private individuals, who, either as clients or as
friends, were so fortunate as to enjoy the advantage
of his invaluable services, will mourn his loss as one
that cannot be replaced.
   No lawyer of his generation stood higher in the
estimation of this bar than did the distinguished
jurist, whose passing we are this day called upon to



1I

 




lament. For nearly fifty years past he has borne an
unsullied reputation as a leading exemplar of the
highest civic virtues as well as of the noblest ethics
and traditions of the legal profession. His abilities
and his attainments were such as to excite admira-
tion and command respect from friend and foe alike.
No lawyer, in any era of Kentucky's history, has
ever surpassed him in acuteness of intellect, in clar-
ity of thought, or in lucidity of expression. From
the beginning to the end of his busy career, he met
and mingled on equal terms with those whom this bar
and the bar of Kentucky generally have accounted
greatest in the profession of the law, and we can re-
call no instance when he can fairly be said to have
been overmatched. His knowledge of the law was
varied, accurate and profound, and his powers of
logical analysis in presenting any question or in ad-
vocating any cause were at all times the despair of
his adversaries as they were the subject of enthusi-
astic and unqualified praise by his associates and
colleagues. His high standing as a lawyer was em-
phasized by the quiet, unobtrusive, but none the less
impressive evidence of his dignity and worth as a
man, and it is not too much to say that he deservedly
takes rank as one of Lexington's most eminent and
most universally respected citizens. As a counselor,
Mr. Shelby was remarkably free from any appear-
ance or suggestion of aggressive self-assertion, and,
even when his advice was most eagerly solicited, he
seemed to invite the views of those who sought his
guidance rather than to impose upon them any opin-
ions of his own. His gracious, tactful and consid-
erate manner toward all who approached him has
been a matter of constant comment by every thought-
ful member of this bar.
   Realizing how feeble and inadequate must be any
tribute that the members of this bar may seek to pay
him, and that, in his case, even the sober language



12

 





of strictest -truth may sound like exaggerated eulogy,
nevertheless,
   Be It Resolved, That, in the death of Honorable
John Todd Shelby, this bar has suffered a grievous
and irreparable loss; that his long and honorable
career has conferred imperishable lustre upon this
bar, the consciousness of which is not confined to this
city and county, but is widely recognized throughout
our own and other states; that his eminence as a law-
yer, his leadership as a citizen, and his worth as a
man are most keenly appreciated by those of us who
have enjoyed the privilege of daily contact and asso-
ciation and personal acquaintance with him; that
none know better than ourselves or can better ap-
praise his studious habits, his unflagging industry,
his large experience, and his absolute fidelity to his
profession, and none can more truthfully or more
emphatically testify to his sterling character, his lib-
eral culture, his extraordinary legal attainments, his
public spirit, his unfaltering courage, his flawless
courtesy, and to that rare combination of qualities,
both of mind and temperament, which have stamped
him as a shining example of the Christian gentleman,
the erudite scholar, the upright counselor, the faith-
ful advocate, and above all, as the exemplary citizen;
and that, while none had a better right to boast of an
illustrious ancestry, no man who has ever graced the
bench or bar of Kentucky, had less occasion or need
to rely upon pride of birth or the blazon of lineage
to justify his title to distinction; and,
   Be It Further Resolved, That we offer this ex-
pression of our affectionate regard and our lasting
esteem as, in some sort, a token of reverent respect
to our departed brother, and as a solemn testimonial
of our sense of loss; and that, in common with the
entire community, we extend to his surviving chil-
dren and to the other sorrowing members of his fam-
ily, our sincere and heart-felt sympathy; and that,
as a further evidence of our friendship and respect,
                        13

 





we assemble in this court-room, as our custom is, and
attend the funeral of Mr. Shelby in a body.
                         D. G. FALCONER,
                         JOSEPH D. HUNT,
                         JOHN R. ALLEN,
                         W. P. KIMBALL,
                         E. L. HUTCHINSON,
                         GEORGE C. WEBB,
                         SAM'L M. WILSON.

   Mr. Wilson having read the resolutions, moved
their adoption, and the motion was seconded by sev-
eral members of the bar, accompanied by the follow-
ing remarks:

      REMARKS BY COLONEL JOHN R. ALLEN.

   COL. ALLEN: Mr. Chairman, the death of Mr.
Shelby makes me realize the passing of the years.
When I came to the bar, I was the youngest member
of the bar. I am now, with the exception of Judge
Hunt (who is no longer in the practice), Judge Matt
Walton, perhaps, Judge George B. Kinkead, and
Major Falconer, the oldest, if not in years, at least
in service, at this bar of any who are now living.
When I came to Lexington as a law student, Mr.
Shelby, who was then a member of the firm of Breck-
inridge  Shelby, was a member of the law faculty
of Transylvania University, being the Professor of
Equity. Among the other members of the faculty
were such distinguished men as Major Madison C.
Johnson, Gen. John B. Houston, James 0. Harrison,
and one or two others of like prominence. As an ex-
pounder of Equity Jurisprudence neither Yale nor
Harvard, nor any other great university of our coun-
try, could produce his superior. I remember his
                      14

 




text-book, perhaps the greatest text-book of all on
equity, a short and very condensed one-Adams on
Equity. That book he knew from cover to cover, and
he required all of his students to learn and to know
and understand it and to practically memorize the
introductory chapter, which is a terse, lucid sum-
mary of all the great principles and maxims of equity
jurisprudence. From that time until the day of his
death I have known Mr. Shelby perhaps as intimate-
ly as any other member of the bar. I have been asso-
ciated with him and his distinguished partner, Col.
Breckinridge, and have been his adversary in many
cases. I have seen him engaged in legal controver-
sies with the great leaders of the bar, those to whom
I have heretofore referred, Madison C. Johnson,
James 0. Harrison, John B. Houston, James B. Beck,
Frank K. Hunt, Richard A. Buckner, and they each
found in him, though a much younger man, a foeman
worthy of their best steel. I believe I can say in all
sincerity that of all the lawyers with whom I have
been thrown in contact, Mr. Shelby had no superior
in learning, in acuteness of intellect, and especially
in splendid powers of discriminating analysis. His
arguments in this court were to my mind models of
legal argument. He was always courteous to the
other side, though maintaining his own position with
firmness and force, never letting go a proposition
that he believed sound. We all know with what great
success he met in his practice.
   I knew him not only as a lawyer, but was asso-
ciated with him in various business enterprises. He
was one among ten of us who organized the Belt Line
Company here some years ago, the Belt Electric
Railroad; one among some of us who organized the
                       15

 




Fayette Telephone Company. I have served with
him as a director in nearly all of those corporations,
and there never was a wiser counselor, a saner or
safer adviser than Mr. Shelby, not only in legal, but
in all business matters. He was a man of the most
upright integrity, and of splendid physical and
moral courage. I remember on one occasion a con-
troversy that took place between the Kentucky
Union Railroad and the Belt Line Company in re-
gard to the possession of a tract of land out near the
old Anderson place on Third Street, or the Win-
chester pike. A trainload of workmen, under the
charge of the superintendent of the Kentucky Union
Railroad, threatened to and did come on flat cars to
take possession of that tract of land, which we be-
lieved belonged to us. They came with all the imple-
ments to run a fence, and we directors went out to
protect our rights. We didn't have time to protect
ourselves by law, because we only got the informa-
tion that they were coming a short time before, and
injunction proceedings would have been too late. So
that all the ten directors of the Belt Line Com-
pany went out themselves to oppose the taking pos-
session of this tract of land by the Kentucky Union
Railroad. I recall, as if it were yesterday, the super-
intendent. He was a large, heavy man, rather coarse
and brutal in appearance, and he, with some of his
assistants, had already, when we got there, dug holes
on this tract of land preparatory to putting in their
posts and running a line of fence. We armed our-
selves, not with guns or pistols, but with whatever
was lying around in the way of sticks and staves or
anything handy. I recall Mr. Shelby, frail and deli-
cate as he was, stooping down to pick up a branch
                        16

 




for the purpose of protecting himself against the in-
roads of a lot of ruffians, as we thought, and this
superintendent put his foot on that branch, and Mr.
Shelby could not move it. But he got in one of those
holes that had been made for a post, and no post was
allowed to go in that hole. He showed then the same
firmness and courage physically that he always
showed, morally and otherwise, during his life.
   Mr. Shelby's death comes to me as a personal
grief. I not only knew him in business, I knew him
socially. He has been a guest at my house and I a
guest at his. Before my marriage, both my wife and
myself were frequently guests at the country place
of his father, the most charming home I have ever
known, where the most lavish and generous hospi-
tality was extended to everybody, particularly the
young, and Mr. Shelby himself was frequently there
on our visits.
   This bar, to my mind, has lost one of its greatest
ornaments in everything that pertains to the best
ideals of the profession, uprightness of conduct, ab-
solute integrity in the management of all cases, cour-
tesy to opponents, firmness in presenting the facts
for every client. Mr. Shelby was tenacious of
every opinion which he believed to be valid, and pre-
sented it with an acuteness of intellect, a power of
logic, a lucidity of expression that very few in my
memory or knowledge equalled. Not only that, but
above all, gentlemen, Mr. Shelby was a Christian.
For many years he had been connected with Christ
Church, was Senior Warden of the church, a mem-
ber of the vestry for many years; and every one who
knew him in his daily life, in all his conduct, saw
that there ran through all his actions the faith that
                       17

 




he had in his belief in the precepts of the Christian
religion. This bar has lost a great man, modest and
unpretentious as he was. I desire to pay this tribute
of admiration for his character, this testimony of
my respect for him, and of my profound reverence
for his learning and ability. To the younger mem-
bers of the bar I can only say that they could have
no brighter example of all that is best in our pro-
fession than the life and character of Mr. Shelby,
and no young man could do better than to follow, as
far as he can, his footsteps and his example. Peace
to his ashes, God rest his soul.

     REMARKS BY MR. WILLIAM WORTHINGTON.

   MR. WORTHINGTON: I came to Lexington to live
in the spring of 1890, and on the first day of Sep-
tember of that year I went into Mr. Shelby's office
as stenographer, and remained there, with a short
intermission, until the first day of September, 1897.
My work was with Mr. Shelby during all of those
years. When I first went to his office my equipment
for the duties that I took up there were very inade-
quate, both in my training as a stenographer and in
my general education. As I look back upon Mr.
Shelby's treatment of me, it makes his death a more
poignant grief to me, when I think of the kindness
which he extended to me. He gave me opportunity
to go back in the shorthand school for about a year,
in which I had all the time that was necessary to per-
fect mvself in the work as best I could, and also, at
his suggestion and advice, and by his giving me the
time to do it, I went back to college to undertake to
prepare myself better for the work which I did.
                        18

 




Later on I read law in his office under his guidance,
under his advice, and generally he gave me advice
about what I should do. I recollect on one occasion
I had an opportunity to go to another office at a little
larger salary, and I talked about the matter with Mr.
Shelby, and he advised me that under the circum-
stances he thought it would be better for me to re-
main where I was, and his advice was certainly most
excellent. I say these things to show the kindliness
which the man gave to those surrounding him, and
how valuable he was to every young man who came
in contact with him. In later years, after I went out
to myself, I officed next door to him, I saw him dur-
ing all those years, and I never went to him for ad-
vice or assistance that he did not give it willingly and
cheerfully, and not only gave advice and assistance,
but gave employment, which was of very great help
to me.
   Mr. Shelby's death comes to me as a very great
personal loss, as I know it must be also to those mem-
bers of the bar who came in anything like the con-
tact with him that I did. I consider it a very great
privilege of my life to have been in his office, to have
seen as I did his methods, how careful he was, how
conscientious he was in everything he did. The
workings of his mind were the most accurate of any
man I ever came in contact with; whatever he did was
complete, his thought was accurate, and above all
was always that of a man of splendid conscience and
honesty both by natural endowment of mind and
later by training. I remember what a friend of mine
said about Mr. Shelby, about his work in the court
room, about being on the opposite side from him, a
man, as I thought, of very great ability himself. In
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speaking about having an argument with Mr. Shelby,
he said that he very much preferred to make his argu-
ment first, because, if he didn't, he generally found
himself without very much to say after Mr. Shelby
got through. I saw him during the course of my
work in his office in the trial of many cases, I saw
him associated with lawyers of splendid ability. I
recall on one occasion a trial which took place in the
United States Court at Frankfort, in which he was
associated with Judge Lindsay, and I remember the
consideration which was given to Mr. Shelby's opin-
ion and in fact it was Mr. Shelby who conducted the
case. I remember the sort of consideration he always
got from the judges before whom he practised. His
mind was keen, analytic, accurate and tenacious. I
have never come in contact with any lawyer of
trained mind which I considered in any way superior
to his. I want to add my few words to the splendid
resolutions that have been presented here, and to add
my tribute of affection and respect at this time.

         REMARKS BY MR. W. C. G. HOBBS.

   MR. HOBBS: Mr. Shelby's attainments as a law-
yer, his standing as a citizen, are too well known in
this community for me even to refer to. But I want
to make a few remarks about another side of Mr.
Shelby's character and life. I feel that I would be
recreant if I failed to do that on this occasion, and
yet I feel that it is almost too sacred for me to refer to.
He was a man who had the tenderest and most loving
sympathy and solicitude for his friends when they
were in trouble or distress that I have ever known.
His simple, childlike, unwavering faith in the ef-
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ficacy of the redeeming blood of the crucified Christ
was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. My
talks with him along this line, his abiding hope, his
confident expectation to mee