habit of making known to my clients everything that pertains to their interests, and therefore I will have to submit your offer to her." And he did so. He made it his habit to have bound in volumes which he preserved the printed arguments made by him in cases in the appellate courts; and these were all profound and exhaustive. And he so preserved them because he knew their value. His mind, always fertile abounded in resources and his client could always rely upon it that "no stone would be left unturned." If a decision on any point could be found anywhere in the United States his industry would always find it and give the court the benefit of it. He was fond of legal reasoning and argument, and few things gave him more delight than to discuss legal questions with younger members of the Bar, to whom he was always very kind, unless he imagined they were imposing on his courtesy. I know of his sending a sharp note to a prominent country lawyer who had failed to return a law book loaned him. Mr. Kagy was always ambitious politically and the great desire of his life was to be a trial judge; but for some reason this ambition was never realized. This was one of the keen disappointments of his life. He took great interest in public affairs, was a thorough Democrat, and a devoted friend of William Jennings Bryan. He always claimed that it was largely through his advice that Mr. Bryan settled in Nebraska rather than Kansas City. He numbered among his friends not only many of the great politicians and statesmen of the country, but many of those splendid lawyers in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, not conspicuous for office-holding or political standing, who have spent their lives in splendid legal achievements. During his life in Kansas City his party frequently called him to the stump and he never failed to respond with speeches of power, aptness, and rare humor. The cause of the poor and the helpless always touched his heart, but he extended assistance in such a way that the recipient would be obliged to help himself; or he put him in the way to help himself. On the occasion of the death of his father, in 1884, Mr. Kagy went back to Ohio, leaving a young lawyer in charge of his affairs, who collected something like $50 for him during his absence. On his return, the young lawyer handed him the money and said, with tears running down his cheeks, "Mr. Kagy I haven't had any thing to eat for forty-eight hours.” Mr. Kagy exclaimed "My God! Mr. and with all this money in your pocket?" "Yes," answered the young lawyer, "I had all this money in my pocket, but it was yours and not mine, and what would you have said if I had handed you less than the amount I collected?" Mr. Kagy not only returned him a $5.00 bill, but put him in the way of securing a nomination and election to an important office which raised him above want. I have not spoken of Mr. Kagy's home life. I knew him only during the time when he lived with his second wife and children. To his home he was greatly attached, to his wife greatly devoted, and to his children there was nothing he thought too good to give. He was especially fond of the company of his boys and it delighted him in his hours of recreation to have them with him, he doing his utmost to entertain, amuse, and instruct them. This was one of the brightest sides to his character. I do not believe that it detracts from a man's importance, whether he be dead or alive, if it be known, that with many great talents some weaknesses were mingled. Mr. Kagy always had the notion that he would have made a great actor, and yet in my judgment he possessed little or no dramatic ability. He cherished a notion also that he could have been a great singer, and yet he himself confessed with laughter that when he began to sing the children about him began to cry. He would have resented any imputation of great personal vanity, and yet there was no side of his character which was so accessible as an appeal to his vanity. The book agent who announced that his books were for sale to none but the most prominent citizens was sure to get an order from him. A pol itical striker who held out hope that his political ambition would soon be realized, was sure to "touch" his weak spot. I mention these as mere sidelights to a character which was far above the average in natural ability and acquirements, a character which has left its impress and mark on hundreds of lives, a character which was capable of great things, and which we hope and believe will in another and better world still enlarge, develop, and grow. In the last years of his life his physical suffering was so excruciating that he frequently expressed a longing for death. But throughout it all he would study law; and I have frequently seen him, in a struggle that seemed to me simply heroic, as he sat in his library briefing some important cause, when his body was racked with pain and when he would give expression to his sufferings in heart-rending groans and exclamations. But after each paroxysm of pain he would turn at once to his books and continue the struggle. I have sometimes thought that he sought relief from suffering in his way, and to some extent found it. I can compare it only with the heroic struggle that Grant made. Let us hope that in that other sphere we may meet and greet him where are those who have come up through great tribulation. JOHN K. GRIFFITH. By W. C. SCARRITT. John King Griffith was born on Washington's birthday, in 1863, on the Griffith homestead near Cynthiana, Kentucky. He graduated from Yale University in 1886, read law in the office of Mr. Goebel, subsequently governor of Kentucky, and was graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in 1888, coming to Kansas City thoroughly prepared as a lawyer in the summer of that year. His loyalty to his native State and his abiding affection for the old home place were peculiar characteristics of his nature. He never found it necessary to disparage his adopted State or the loyalty of his newer friends to glorify what he had left but held dear. His nature was large enough to rejoice in both. And so he chose Missouri and Kansas City as the field of his life work, but every year he took a summer pilgrimage to his old home. Upon arriving at Kansas City he became at once associated with the firm of Scarritt & Scarritt, and afterward in the year 1895 became a member of the firm under the name of Scarritt, Griffith & Jones, of which firm he remained a member while he lived. He was diligent, of large capacity for work, careful and thorough to the utmost detail. He was lovable, and no word of anger ever fell from his lips. Colonel Griffith was a man of intellectual strength. Infidelity, meanness, deceit could not be thought of in his presence. They were incompatible with his nature. For searching out law and understanding it and loving it and establishing it he was pre-eminent. Modest, sincere, in honor preferring another. One of the judges of our court, in speaking of his worth, at a meeting of the Jackson County Bar held in honor of his memory, remarked that he did not see much of Mr. Griffith in the courtroom; but his influence, his declarations of principle, his fortifications of them, have been felt in the courts of this State and of this nation. Fidelity to clients, loyalty to his associates absolutely dominated his nature. It seemed impossible for him to be false to either relation. His irony and sarcasm were but the ebullition of humor and mirth. There was no bitterness. Malice was not in his nature. He had that graciousness of manner which let people understand the generosity and kindness of his heart. He loved his home, and his children idolized him. And we all loved him because he was so lovable. The Silent Reaper has passed by. The Colonel's desk is closed. Those helpful associations and companionships are ended; and it remains for us alone to wonder and to weep. And the busy crush goes on, and the multitude of conflicting interests and duties crowd upon us; but the friendships formed on such principle as this cannot be extinguished. The helpfulness and inspiration and goodness of such a life cannot be quenched. "And the stately ships go on To their haven under the hill; But O for the touch of a vanished hand, "Break, break, break, At the foot of thy crags, O sea! |