ARGUMENT OF HON. HENRY L . STONE.



then a resident lawyer of Carlisle, in a conversation with him, and to his
friend Mr. C. H. Ashton, in the letter which was read to you of the
26th of September, 1873. At the November Term, 1873, of the Rowan
Circuit Court, having in the meantime partially abandoned his purpose of
runningfor that office, after having an interview with Judge Stanton,
the incumbent, he announced his determination to make the race.
Shortly afterwards, on the 4th day of December, 1873, he publicly
announced himself in the Flem;ingsburg Democrat as a candidate for
the Democratic nomination. Sometime in February, March, or April-
in the spring of 1874, at least-the question of his eligibility was can-
vassed by the people in his district. The means and agencies by which
that question was made and brought about, I propose to examine
further along. In all the history of Judge Hargis preceding, 1874, and
since, he has maintained a character for truth, for honor, for sobriety,
and for morality, second to no man's in the State of Kentucky.
  But we find in 1874 the plaintiff undertakes to charge him with a
crime, the only one that has ever been charged against the defendant.
The only man that has ever made a criminal charge against the defend-
ant is the plaintiff in this action. It is a little remarkable, it seems to
me, that a man whose character stands unimpeached and unimpeach-
able, whether as a private citizen or as an officer, legislative or judicial,
and who in his profession in all the relations between client and attorney
has maintained his good character, should be guilty, of the crime with
which the plaintiff has charged him in this action.
  The first proposition in controversy, then, gentlemen of the jury,
is, did the defendant obtain his certificate prior to the first day of the
February Term of the Rowan Circuit Court, i866 Judge Hargis has
testified before you that some ten days or two weeks prior to the Feb-
ruary Term, of the Rowan Circuit Court, i866, he obtained from Judge
Roe, the County Judge of Rowan County, in the County Court
Clerk's office, in the presence of the Clerk of that Court, a certificate
of his honesty, probity and good demeanor; that there were others
present whom he does not recollect; that the matter was first named to
Judge Roe at his father's house; that he went with Judge Roe to the
County Clerk's office and there obtained his certificate. He received
it from the Clerk of that Court.  He does not pretend to say that that
certificate was ever recorded. He has no knowledge upon that subject.
It is argued by the plaintiff's counsel in this case that it was necessary
to be recorded, that it was not a certificate without it was recorded, but
the court has not told you so. You have no instruction upon that
point, and such is not the law. Many orders are made by a court
which are never entered of record. The very object for which the
orders are read over in the morning in this court is to ascertain whether
any of them have been made wrong, or if any of them have not been
entered by the clerk. The County Judge held a special term of that
court. It is quite probable that orders made in that way might be
neglected by the clerk and never entered up. We find that in this
-record, among the small number of lawyers who have testified in this
case, that there are three of them whose certificates were never
recorded besides the defendant. Is your witness [Addressing Mr.
Green], Mr. Harvey G. Burns, a lawyer This man who says that he
went to the house of Judge Lykins, the County Judge of Morgan
county, twelve miles from West Liberty, on Caney Creek, and obtained



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