Micah Taul memoir

39 Lawyer of Louisville Mr. Talbot was also distinguished lawyer of Frankfort & afterwards a Senator in Congress. Mr. Montgomery was also a lawyer & Clerk of Lincoln County. Afterwards a member of Congress & Circuit Judge.

I omitted to mention at the proper date, that in 1904 or 5, the Judicial System was changed in Kentucky. The District & Quarter session courts were abolished & Circuit Courts: to be composed of a Circuit Judge & two assistants in each county were established. I was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court of Wayne County without opposition. Allen M. Wakefield was the Circuit Judge & Samuel Newelle & Isaac Chrisman assistant Judges. Judge W. was one of the best men I ever knew. My daugher Louisiana, was born on the day of March 1808. I was then in the practice of the law & had been for two or three years. attending regularly the Circuit Courts of Cumberland, Adair & Pulaski. Being entirely independent, having a farm & two Clerkships, I was very indifferent about getting business altho' I succeeded very well & made money at the bar and spent it, or rather I will record what is strictly true - lost it at the card table. It was then fashionable, amongst the profession to play cards - for money. The card table was set out every night, & some times every day. There were Gentlemen attending the Courts, who studied Hoyle, more than they did Blackstone, & generally won all the money made by others. I was too fond of play - not that I wanted to win, but it was an excitement that was pleasant to me but I paid for it, dearly. I seldom sat down to a card table, without losing, sometimes a great deal. If I had never played cards, I might have been a wealthy man, long, long ago. It is a ruinous vice. Others are sure to follow on its train - and I solemnly warn my sons and grand sons against it. Thank God, it has become unfashionable. I have not played for

40 [Top right side of page hidden by page 41] [Written in margin: War of '12] money in the last 20 years - and in fact have seldom played a game of cards for amusement in that time. War was declared against G. Britain in 1812, and [?] call was made on Kentucky for volunteers, to which she responded, as she always had done before, [?] done ever since. There was but one Regiment in the County of Wayne at that time. My brother in law Isaac Chrisman was the Lieut. Colo. of it. I was one of the Majors. Our Regiment was required to furnish a Captain, Ensign & about 50 privates the balance of the Company was made up from a Regiment in Lincoln. The Regiment was paraded at the Muster ground near Monticello & the number of volunteers required raised with out difficulty. I volunteered as a private, as did also Capt. Lewis Coffee, Capt. John Dick, & Capt. James Jones. Coffee, Dick & Jones each wished to have the command of the company, either would have made a good officer. I did not desire the office myself, but after the requisite number was raised, those who volunteered from the other companies desired me to offer to command the company, to which I reluctantly consented, expecting Capt. Coffee to be elected on the 1st ballot, the votes were pretty equally divided, Coffee having the largest number, all from his excellant company of rifle men. The lowest being dropped in succession, they all came to me except those who voted for Coffee in the first instance. I believe these worthy men (Coffee Dick & Jones) are all living. Coffee & Dick serve as privates during the campaign. Jones went as far, as Georgetown, but being unable to march was discharged & returned home. A new apportionment of Congressional Districts having been was made at the Session of 1811, and the counties of Lincoln, Casey, Adair, Wayne, Pulaski, Rockcastle & Knox composed the District. Thos. Montgomery of Lincoln & his friend Tunstal Quarles of Pulaski, were both

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41 members of the Legislature, & it was distinctly understood that the district was formed for the benefit of Mr. Montgomery. It was expected he would be elected without opposition. Mr. Quarles having made a remark to that effect & that he could beat any man in the district in the presence of my friend Colo. Newelle, he implied that he did not think so - he believed (he said) that Majr. Taul of Wayne, could beat him. Quarles treated the suggestion as perfectly ridiculous - said Montgomery could beat me in my own county. Colo. N. told me of the conversation without however any serious expectation of my offering. My pride was offended, & my ambition somewhat excited & in a very short time, after consulting with a few friends, I determined to be a candidate and immediately set out, on a canvass over the district. I prepared & circulated a short, pithy circular letter, that took well. I regret that I cannot find a copy of it. The first places I met Mr. Montgomery was at Rockcastle County & I at once saw what I had to depend on - an unpleasant electioneering campaign. Mr. Montgomery was my senior, by as I suppose about ten years. He was probably born in Lincoln County, the oldest, I think in the state; at any rate he was raised there, & was allied by blood & marriage to several of the most wealthy & influential families in the country, amongst them the Logans. He was a lawyer of good standing but not a good speaker - & of unimpeachable character & had a good practice in every county in the district - but he was a cold hearted, unsecure[?] & rather a repulsive man. Not expecting opposition, when I met him at Rockcastle Court, where he was well acquainted, & I an entire stranger & saluted him respectfully after shaking hands he turned from me, disdainfully without speaking to me. We had never been intimate, altho' he had practiced law in Wayne from its organization in 1801 and we had attended

42 [Top right margin partially covered by next page] the Adair & Pulaski courts together. After dinner the attention of the people was called in front of the principle tavern, & Mr. M. addressed the people [people] in a long, dry sensible speech, without any previous consultation with me. Before he concluded [concluded], most of the people had retired. I took the stand, & having a good voice & perhaps because I was a stranger, the people very soon collected near and gave me their attention for probably an hour, during which, I spoke in the best manner, I could of "matters & things in general." I am sure when I concluded, the people were pleased [pleased] with me, but at the election I got but few votes in the county, which was a new one, having [having] only a few years before been taken principally [principally] off of Lincoln County. I remained at Mount Vernon, the county seat of Rockcastle, a day or two & went to Knox County, where the Circuit Court sat the next Monday. Here we met again, but without the interchange of the ordinary civilities. Mr. M seemed to have brought himself to the determination not to "speak to me" & he found me perfectly contented with that state of things. We addressed the people at this place, as we had done at Mt. Vernon he speaking first without any arrangements between us I next, & Capt Henry James of Pulaski, who was also candidate, speaking last. In this way, we canvassed the district. In Knox County, tho' an entire stranger, never having been in the county before, I made many [many] friends. Mr. M. might not have found it out himself, but his friends did, & became alarmed. Some of them treated me, with a little more respect than they did at first. I was young - of ardent temperment - gay busy and happy - laughed at their impudence & presumption, & kept them constantly in hot water. Having accertained that I was a foe not to be despised, & that they were in danger

43 of being defeated, they undertook to injure my private character, by raking up a law suit I had with a man in Clarke County, growing out of a transaction between us before I was 16 years of age, in which he had attempted to swindle me out of one hundred dollars. Two different messengers [messengers] had been dispatched from Lincoln County to Clarke, for the purpose of getting a copy of the records, certificates etc. One of the messengers was a young man, a cousin of Mr. M's & had been raised in his office (Mr. M. had been Clerk of Lincoln) - the other, was probably also a violation, particular friend at any rate; he had been a merchant, & was then a pedlar - both of them were lame. I attended the Lincoln Court, for the purpose of addressing the people, to the great mass of whom, I was an entire stranger, tho I had a few devoted friends, on whom, I knew, I could rely in any emergency. I went to the court house after dinner & Mr. M without speaking to me, shortly commenced addressing the people - by attacking my character. His cousin also made a speech - read a transcript of the records of the law first, and several certificates to prove falsehoods. During all this time, I sat on the judges bench in the court house, perfectly at my ease, to the manifest astonishment of M's friends & my enemies. When they concluded I rose to address the people & recognized in the crowd the noble & majestic form of Gov. Isaac Shelby then a candidate again for the same office. (He was the first Gov. of Kentucky having been elected in 1792). I was confident I had the advantage of my opponent on this occasion. It was in the county & town of his residence & a notion of treating me, a young man who had never injured him with courtesy & respect, he made a wanton attack upon my character & surrounded by relations, & personal & political friends, aiding him with their presence & chears in his unholy attack upon my character. Being perfectly