As criminal lawyers
they stood as high in society as corporation lawyers stand now
and were a good deal more popular, though less wealthy. The
code of independence that fostered personal violence and
justified killings--in contradistinction to murders--and that
ran to excess in outlaws naturally fostered the criminal
lawyer. His type is now virtually obsolete.
Keen observers, richly stored in experience and delightful in
talk, as many lawyers of the Southwest have been and are, very
few of them have written on other than legal subjects. James
D. Lynch's _The Bench and the Bar of Texas_ (1885) is confined
to the eminence of "eminent jurists" and to the mastery of
"masters of jurisprudence." What we want is the flavor of life
as represented by such characters as witty Three-Legged Willie
(Judge R. M. Williamson) and mysterious Jonas Harrison. It
takes a self-lover to write good autobiography. Lawyers are
certainly as good at self-loving as preachers, but we have far
better autobiographic records of circuit riders than of early-
day lawyers.
Like them, the pioneer justice of peace resides more in folk
anecdotes than in chroniclings.
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