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Obituary Sketch of Alvan P. Hyde.

noticed with admiration a certain cogent, weighty, forceful and compacted style of argumentation, which, joined with great energy and enthusiasm of manner, amply compensated for any lack of ornaments and flowers of rhetoric.

"He was a man of untiring industry and almost irresistible energy, and I have rarely seen his equal as a consummate judge of mind and motive. And few men have been able to make such a profound and abiding impression on courts and juries as he.

"His loss to the bar of the state and to the citizens of Hartford is very great, but to yonder darkened home it is immeasurable."

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REMARKS OF CHARLES E. GROSS.

Mr. Chairman and Brethren of the bar:

"I am so oppressed to-day by that which is, especially to me, a personal bereavement, that I would prefer to keep silent. I feel that I cannot give proper expression to what I would desire to say. Yet, notwithstanding this, I should not be true to myself if, at this time, I neglected to add a few words of personal tribute to the memory of Alvan P. Hyde, for whom we all mourn so deeply and whom I loved so well. For over 22 years I have been connected with him in the practice of the law, and for over 17 years I have enjoyed the privilege and the honor of a copartnership with him.

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"During this time our intimacy has not been simply formal, but I have been admitted within the sacred portals of his confidence and trust, and I am proud to believe, even of his affection also. Naturally, no one has appreciated more than I his great ability and attainments as a lawyer, yet it seems to me that, at this time, it is more proper that others should speak of him in this respect rather than myself.

"I prefer to speak of some of his personal characteristics, one of which especially has always impressed me deeply, and that has been his gentleness of spirit.

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'He carried with him everywhere an enveloping atmosphere, as it were, of brotherly kindness. No one, whether friend or stranger, client or beggar, could come into his presence without feeling at once its warmth and encouragement.

"Yet he wore it not as a cloak, to be put on or taken off, from time to time, as an outer garment; it was neither superficial nor artificial, but it was ingrained into the very nature of the man, and formed as much a part of him as the nerves or veins in his body. He had a remarkably even and lovable disposition. Masculine in power and appearance, yet in those qualities which lie back of all action he was as thoroughly feminine. He was sympathetic almost to a fault. Suffering appealed to him in any form, and rarely, if ever, was his aid withheld.

Another characteristic was his loyalty to truth and justice. He

Obituary Sketch of Alvan P. Hyde.

never prostituted his great ability to ignoble uses. He fought for the truth manfully and in open field. He hated deception and despised all underground influences. He neither bore false witness nor knowingly aided in permitting another to bear false witness.

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‘Akin to this was his loyalty to his friends, his old home in Tolland County and its people, his professional brethren, and his clients. It was always the same true, fixed and absolute loyalty under every circumstance. He harbored no doubts, and permitted no questionings.

"We have lost not only a leader, but a friend. We are to-day bringing the wreaths which our respect and friendship and love have been winding during our acquaintance with him. If among them all one flower shall outlive its fellows, I think, Mr. Chairman, it will be that fragrant blossom which stands for his gentle and lovable nature.

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Will we not always think of him as was said of another:

"God gave him wisdom and understanding exceeding much; but above all, largeness of heart, even as the sand which is on the seashore.""

REMARKS OF HENRY C. ROBINSON.

"Mr. Chairman: Although I had not expected to extend by remark my estimate of Mr. Hyde as expressed in the resolutions, yet I cannot decline your request to add a word by my voice. As I have listened with interest and emotion to the fitting and forcible tributes already rendered to the memory of our friend, I am impressed with the thought that no words of memorial speech or resolution can reproduce a marked personalty. We gather together closely about our table, and one has gone from its head; we look at the vacant chair and try to describe the man who has gone. But the phrases of our description are insufficient to reflect the portrait of the individual character which is sketched upon our hearts. Qualities were assembled in his person which we may not picture in adequate tone and force in speech. Mr. Hyde was a masterly man in his profession. How and wherein he was masterly has been well told you, and, better still, you all know it without telling. And what a successful thing it is to build up such professional worth and such character! If that is all of our friend, if life ends with his cold frame, breathless and pulseless in its robes of death, his professional and personal achievements, running in the lines of the best laws of our nature, have made his life a success.

The flower withered by the frosts of autumn or cut down by the scythe in summer, if it has fulfilled the laws of its best nature-beauty and fragrance-is still a success, though to-morrow it is cast into the oven.'

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"It was my lot to be many times called into the inner chamber of our friend's soul, in joy and sorrow, and the occupants were manliness, sincerity, and tenderness. In God and His laws, in integrity and truth,

Obituary Sketch of Alvan P. Hyde.

and in man's personal immortality, he believed, and his belief in these invisible realities was not bound by the ragged threads of speculative possibilities, but by the firm cords of conviction.

I have said if this were all of our friend, but it is not. There must be more the pure and blessed invisible things within us must go on, and into the pure and blessed invisibles external to us we may go. The dying Rabelais said, 'Je vais chercher un grand peut-être ;' our philosophy halts not at a 'perhaps,' it is assured of a future where incomplete lives shall be made complete."

REMARKS OF JOHN C. PARSONS.

"Mr. Chairman: One word should be said, in recounting our memories of Mr. Hyde, of his kindness and consideration of his juniors at the bar, especially those associated with him in a trial. Fortunately for our times this trait or habit was not peculiar to Mr. Hyde alone at our bar. There are traditions coming down from a time earlier than you, Mr. Chairman, or I can remember, when the leaders of the bar were wont to throw all the labor and drudgery of preparation and trial upon their juniors, and appropriate to themselves all the credit and honor. That was long ago. None of us who have served under Mr. Hungerford, Governor Toucey, Mr. T. C. Perkins, or Governor Hubbard, have known what it was to be imposed upon or slighted by our leaders. We have understood that our seniors would see that we were not snubbed with impunity by opposing counsel, or overawed by the court; that we should be guarded from surprises and flank attacks; that a retreat, if necessary, would be skillfully covered, and that every possible opportunity would be given us for success or distinction.

Mr. Hyde was an admirable illustration of this increasing courtesy. He had no place in his large, robust, generous nature, for envy or jealousy. He was ever ready to take the laboring oar; his vehemence and untiring energy gave his young associate strength and courage; his prompt resource covered any stumbling, and it was his pleasure to afford his junior every chance of winning the laurels of the contest. And in all his relations to his brethren at the bar, old or young, I am sure we can none of us recall any incident which has left any rankling or heart-burning; on the contrary, all our recollections are of a noble and kindly character."

The chairman, Mr. Perkins, before he put the resolutions to the meeting, said that he and Mr. Hyde had practiced together for forty years. During that time he was associated with him only twice. In having Mr. Hyde as his opposing counsel he felt his grit and the power of his mind. He used no flowers of rhetoric in his addresses, though he had the power to use them if he felt disposed to exercise it. Mr. Perkins eulogized Mr. Hyde as a lawyer and as a man.

The resolutions were unanimously adopted.

INDEX TO THE SIXTY-THIRD VOLUME.

ABANDONMENT.

See PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT, 1.

A BATEMENT, PLEA IN.

1. An appellee cannot maintain a plea in abatement of an appeal from a
judgment of ouster in a quo warranto proceeding on the ground that
he is in undisturbed possession of the office and that the appellant no
longer claims it, unless the inquiry whether the judgment appealed
from was right or wrong has become immaterial. State ex rel. Ry-
lands v. Pinkerman, 176.

2. The relator in a quo warranto proceeding had been declared to be re-
moved from the office of chief of police of a city by the board of police
commissioners, who thereupon assigned the duties of the office to the
defendant, who as captain of police was next in rank in the police
force. The court having rendered a judgment of ouster against the
defendant, he appealed to this court. The relator pleaded in abatement
of the appeal that he had been put into possession of the office, and that
since the appeal the defendant had been removed by the police com-
missioners from the office of captain of police. The defendant replied
that he was removed upon the relator's charges and that the causes
assigned for his removal were his refusal to obey the orders of the re-
lator and his continuing the litigation in spite of the adverse decision
of the court. To this replication the relator demurred. Held that
there was not sufficient ground for an abatement of the appeal. Ib.
3. Though a proceeding of this sort is in the name of the State, yet the
relator is the substantial complainant and conducts the cause. Ib.
ACTION.

1. It is provided by Gen. Statutes, § 1094, that "in actions by or against
the representatives of deceased persons, memoranda of the deceased,
relevant to the matter in issue, may be received as evidence." Held
that an appeal from the probate of a will is not an "action" within
the meaning of the statute. Barber's Appeal from Probate, 393.
2. An owner of land adjoining a highway, the grade of which is changed
by the town without any notice to the land owner of such intended
change, and without affording him any opportunity to be heard there-
on, or as to the damages liable to be inflicted thereby, and without any
attempt to agree with him as to the amount of such damages, may sue
the town and recover just damages in an action at law. Holley et al.
v. Town and Borough of Torrington, 426.

3. The complaint in this action alleged the plaintiffs' ownership of land
adjoining the highway, the change of grade made in such highway by
the defendants and the special injury thereby inflicted upon the plain-
tiffs' land, but omitted to allege the want of any notice and the non-
payment of the damages sustained, and concluded with a claim for

ACTION-continued.

damages, without stating any amount, and for the appointment of a
committee to assess the damages pursuant to § 2703 of the General
Statutes; it was held, that the defendants, by denying the allegations
of the complaint and going to trial before the committee upon the mer-
its, had waived the right to object to such omissions and could not there-
after avail themselves of such defects, even though the complaint might
not have withstood the test of a demurrer seasonably interposed. Ib.
4. The motion of defendants to dismiss the complaint for want of juris-
diction was properly overruled, as the defendants being municipal cor-
porations located in Litchfield county the Superior Court of such county
had jurisdiction to hear and determine it. Ib.

See PARTIES, 2, 3.

ACTION BY PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES.
See ACTION, 1; EVIDENCE, 25-27.

ADMIRALTY COURT.

See DRAWBRidge, 7.

AGENCY.

See STOCKBROKERS, 1.

AGENT.

See EVIDENCE, 29; MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS, 19–25.
AMENDMENT.

The plaintiff brought, before a justice of the peace, an action against
the defendant, a citizen of another state transiently here, charging
fraud in contracting a debt, and attached his body on the writ, such
attachment being allowed by statute in such a case, and the defendant
gave special bail. After judgment for the plaintiff the defendant ap-
pealed to the Court of Common Pleas, in which court the plaintiff,
without discharging the attachment or releasing the bail, filed a second
count in contract for the original debt, without charging fraud. The
court allowed the amendment and the case went to trial and a verdict
was rendered for the plaintiff on the new count only. Held that the
court erred in allowing the filing of the new count, as it virtually en-
abled the plaintiff to hold his attachment of the defendant's body and
the special bail, upon a judgment rendered solely upon the contract.
Allen v. Woodruff, 369.

APPEAL.

1. Under § 1129 of the General Statutes an appeal will not lie to the Su-
preme Court of Errors from a decision of the Superior Court sustaining
a remonstrance and refusing to accept committee's report. If taken
the cause will be erased from the docket. Cothren v. Atwood, 576.
2. A finding by the trial court upon the questions of negligence, contribu-
tory negligence, or of a defendants' intent to defraud, presents no ques-
tions of law which the Supreme Court of Errors can review on appeal.
Slavin v. R. R. Co., 573; McCarthy v. New Britain, 573; Terry v.
Bates, 574.

See ABATEMENT, PLEA IN, 1, 2; LIQUOR LICENSE.

APPOINTMENT OF TESTAMENTARY TRUSTEES.

See TRUSTEES, 1, 2.

ARSON.

1. The essential ingredients of the crime of arson are the voluntary and

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