had attained his majority. He graduated fourth in his class in 1852, Milton Sayler taking first honors and David Swing standing second. As a boy he distinguished himself as an offhand debater in the Union Literary Society. From the first he showed an aptitude for thinking on his legs, and a gift of utterance which enabled him to express himself in apt words. At a town meeting, where an abolitionist abused Webster and Clay for the part they took in the Compromise measures of 1850, the citizens were amazed to see a slender, tow-headed boy of seventeen mount a bench and make a vigorous speech in vindication of the great statesmen. He studied law with Storer & Gwynne, of Cincinnati, and in 1853 married and was admitted to the bar. In 1854 he put up his sign as attorney at law in Indianapolis, where he has kept his residence ever since. It was not long before his ability became known. His first effort at the bar was in prosecuting a man charged with burglary. He received a few dollars by acting as crier for the United States Court, and was glad to take a five-dollar fee now and then for a case before a country justice, though one half of the fee was necessary to pay for the hire of a horse to take him to the place of trial. Whoever employed him could count on his doing his very best, whether the interests involved were small or great. Promptness and thoroughness are characteristics which have been manifest in his whole career, professional and political. In 1855 he formed a partnership with. William Wallace, and when that gentleman was elected county clerk in 1861 he formed a partnership with W. P. Fishback, which was interrupted by his enlisting in the army in 1862, but the connection was resumed again in 1865, when the firm became Porter, Harrison & Fishback, and so continued until 1870, when Mr. Fishback retired, Judge Hines taking his place. Gov. Porter retiring, W. H. H. Miller became a partner in the firm, and upon Judge Hines retiring, Mr. John B. Elam became a member of the firm of Harrison, Miller & Elam, which continued until it was dissolved by Gen. Harrison's election to the presidency in 1888. While not always the senior in years, he was the senior in fact in every firm of which he was a member; such is the ungrudging testimony of all those who have been his partners.

Though breaking the chronological order of events somewhat, it is as well to complete here the sketch of his profes

sional career. He has been concerned in the most important litigation in Indiana for nearly thirty years. He was employed in all sorts of cases, such as came to attorneys engaged in general practice before the era of professional specialists. The panorama of human life with all its disappointments and successes is unrolled before the busy lawyer who has such a practice. The exclusive devotion to special branches makes men strong in their lines; it narrows them also, and the lawyer whose work has a wider range acquires greater breadth of view, a happy versatility, and a flexibility of mind which enable him to pass from one subject to another without weariness and without distraction. Benjamin Harrison has amazed his associates in professional and official life by the ease and ability with which he despatches so much important business in a masterly style. For the exigencies of high station the discipline of his professional life was an excellent preparation. As a lawyer he was thorough in the preparation and study of his cases, in the preliminary statement he was clear and exhaustive, putting court and jury in full possession of his theory of the case; as an examiner of witnesses he had no rival; and as an advocate his performances were characterized by clearness, cogency, and completeness which left nothing.

Ben Hornom further to be said on his side of the

case. It often happened that his colleagues who had prepared to assist in the argument threw away their notes and rested the case upon his single speech. As a cross-examiner he was unsurpassed. No rascally witness escaped him. No trumped-up story or false alibi could pass muster under his searching scrutiny. In a case where Gov. Hendricks was defending a man in the Federal Court against a charge of conspiring to violate the election laws, the Governor injudiciously put his client in the witness box. He denied his participation in the crime in the most positive manner; but little by little under Harrison's cross-examination he was driven to admit fact after fact, the cumulative force of which drove him at last to a practical confession of his guilt. In the celebrated Clem murder case several alibis, fabricated for the

principal actor in the conspiracy, were pulverized by his crossexamination. It was not his plan to confuse or persecute a witness, but to quietly, persistently, and courteously press for a full disclosure of the facts. He never attempted to browbeat a witness, never excited the sympathy of a jury for a witness by any show of unfairness. His skill as a nisi prius lawyer was surpassed by his power before the higher and appellate courts. He put himself on paper admirably, and his briefs are models of strength and conciseness. He was deferential to the courts, courteous to his opponents, generous to his colleagues. He showed no fussy fear that he would be shouldered to the rear. It was not necessary. It soon became evident to his opponents and associates that he was the conspicuous figure in the fight. Unlike many able attorneys, he cared more for success than for an exhibition of his own powers. Lawyers who had never met him were sometimes led to think that his abilities had been overrated; no lawyer who ever encountered him in a forensic fight came out of it with such an opinion. His commanding abilities as a lawyer stood him in good stead in his political career, which began with the organization of the Republican party. He became conspicuous in Indiana politics in 1860, when, as a candidate for the office of reporter of the Supreme Court, he made a thorough canvass of the State. His first debate with Gov. Hendricks was in that year. By some mistake of the campaign committees he and Hendricks were announced to speak the same day in Rockville. Hendricks was then the Democratic candidate for governor, and was in the zenith of his fame as stump speaker. He courteously invited Harrison to divide time with him and made the opening speech. The local Republican managers were amazed at the temerity of a stripling who dared to measure strength with the Goliath of the Indiana Democracy, and showed their distrust of his ability by leaving the courthouse. Harrison, who had been seasoned and warmed for the work by speaking every day for weeks, assumed the aggressive, and as his few political friends. began to show their appreciation by applause, the audience increased until the courtroom was packed with enthusiastic Republicans, who crowded about the speaker when he closed and showered their congratulations upon him. Mr. Voorhees was present, and, feeling the force of the impression made by