Fletcher advised his client that although he had
an excellent case, the evidence at his command was not sufficient
to prove it, and advised against bringing an action. Francis,
who was quite avaricious, left the office with a heavy heart.
When he had gone, Fletcher turned to my friend and said: "Isn't
it pitiful, sir, to see an old critter, wandering about our
streets, destitute of proof?"
But the most interesting and racy character among our old
Judges was Theron Metcalf. He used to say of himself--a saying
that did him great injustice--that he was taken to fill a
gap in the Court as people take an old hat to stop a broken
window. He undervalued his own capacity. He was not a good
Judge to preside at jury trials. He had queer and eccentric
notions of what the case was all about, and while he would
state a principle of law with extraordinary precision and
accuracy he had not the gift of making practical application
of the law to existing facts. So a great many of his rulings
were set aside, and it did not seem, when he had held a long
term of Court, that a great deal had been accomplished.
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