Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1920 — JUDGE HAMMOND WONDERFUL MAN [ARTICLE]

JUDGE HAMMOND WONDERFUL MAN

DAN SIMMS PAYS BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE TO MEMORY OF DEAD SOLDIER—JURIST. * ..A; _ ; Tributes of respect and reverence were paid the memory of Judge Edwin P. Hammond at the speical ■meeting of the Tippecanot county bar association held Saturday morning. No member of the legal profession stood higher in the esteem of his associates than Judge 'Hammofid, and several members of the local bar Voiced their sentiments regarding the many admirable attributes of their beloved co-worker. Among those who spoke of Judge Hammond’s virtues as a lawyer, jurist, soldier and citizens, were Dan W. Simms, who for many years was associated with him in the practice of law; Judge Charles R. Milford, George P. Haywood, Sr., and Alva O. Reser. Resolutions were adapted by the local association and the resolutions on the death of Judge Hammond passed by the members of the Cass county bar association and the Huntington county bar association were read and ordered spread of record in the circuit and superior courts of this county, together with the resolutions passed by the local association.

Simms’ Address.* The address of Mr. Simms was as follows: । “Judge Hammond—soldier, citizen, lawyer, jurist, scholar—-Judge Hammond whom for a generation we have so reverently respected, so intimately known and so ardently loved, grew weary just the other day, lay down and folding tired hands, • dozed off into that sleep which we call death—a sleep from which his exhausted mental and physical organisms shall awake no more. “While the shock was yet upon us we carried tenderly the mortal remains—the tenement in Which for almost a century his spirit dwelt—to the quiet cemetery yonder overlooking the Iroquois, where rest the ashes of his loved ones gone 'before, and sadly said goodbye. We mourn his absence but We dare not complain, for who in all our range of knowledge or acquaintance has been more entitled ar better prepared to matriculate and enter upon the curriculum in God’s greater university than he? “Poignant, of course, must be the grief of those who linger here, and difficult the readjustment for those who stood in close relationship; but upon us all there rests the great duty to see, that his precepts be not forgotten nor his example disregarded. He was, indeed, a great—a noble man. The purity of his life; the grasp of his intellect; and the breadth of his vision; the kindliness of his heart; and the stability of his character—these were the integral factors that an all-wise Providence employed- to make of him the wonderful man he was. True To Profession.

“Out of absolute integrity of mind and heart his keen unerring sense of law, of equity, of justice, took its rise. Out of love of family, home and fellow man there sprang that patriotic impulse which lea him on to victory in his nation’s cause. “Out of environment in part created by himself grew the splendid character, crystallized the enobling sentiment, and came the potent poise that' marked him as a leader among his fellows. “Judge Hammond’s life and achievements ate now history. His contribution to that great current fund of common knowledge which bears the race forward and upward on its bosom, was tremendous in its volume and far reaching in its effect. He donned, for a long time wore, and doffed the judicial ermine with never a stain, but with satisfaction to the bar, credit to himsetf/ and great "honor to tlfb bench. His* love for his profession was equalled only by the jealous and zeailous care with which he guarded the virtue and honor of that high calling. The practice of ,the law was to him a noble vocation. Never did he forget that as a lawyer he •was a sworn officer of the court, whose duties called for the highest qualities of mind and heart in assisting the court to arrive at correct conclusions and to dispense even-handed justice. “His life and his career on the bench and at th& bar aptly demonstrates the theorem, ‘An honest man is the noblest work of God.’ “No- man can achieve even moderate success at the bar or upon the bench who is not inherently and distinctly honest in thought and deed. “Our duties with relation to Judge Hammond end not with these memorial exercises. Indeed, they just begin. Upon us now rests the responsibility to maintain and preserve the high ideals for which we stood. We t must not—dare ourselves or others to deviate from the highest standard of legal ethics. / The greatest tribute we mm pay to his memory will be .to' follow in his footsteps in discharging our duties in relation to our clients, to the court, to the body politic, and to ahd among our““The choice is ours to live as he

hqs lived with the unshaken' confiddence of all in the integrity of his intentions, and to die as he died at the very zenith of the love the esteem and the veneration of a veritable multitude of good and noble men and women who were proud to know and call him friend; or to live the lives of .cynics, distrusting and distrusted, while added years but show the narrowing mind, the shriveling, piteous soul, and die at length leaving never a comrade to say, ‘He acted well his part—he did his share—and the world is better because of him.’ For some -of us the journey is almost done; for others, just commenced. But whether young or oM, I am sure our choice has been pondered well and made —-and to each of us I know the life and character of him to whom we do homage here today will stand out as a beacon light, and grow brighter and stronger and more inspiring as the seasons come and go and as the years multiply. And to you Judge .Hammond, whom we all Jove and venerate —you. whose earthly form has bepn given back to earth from whence it came, but whose spirit lingers here and communes with us—in the name of the lawyers and judges here assembled, I P T «dge our- devotion to the high jdeals that animated you. Our motives shall be pure, our lives shall be dean and upright, our work shall be.unremittingto maintain the highest standard of’ legal ethics ; th® us.”—Lafayette Journal. " Tin mm