(Excerpt from A Sheaf of Memories: Address Nothing can be...)
Excerpt from A Sheaf of Memories: Address Nothing can be more pleasant and satisfying than a visit under such circumstances as these to the scenes of one's early life. I care not how varied the experience or changed the sur roundings, or numerous the friends and associates of later life, or how engrossed the mind may have become with the cares and the duties which come to us all, or how lighted by sunshine or darkened by sorrow the years may have been, all, all of these vanish, for a time at least. As if by magic, in the presence of the scenes and the faces we knew in happy child hood. Exuberant youth and ambitious young manhood. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Robert Franklin Walker was born at Florence, Morgan County, Mo. , of Scottish and Virginian ancestry through his father, Belford Stephenson Walker, and of Welsh ancestry through his mother, Abigail (Evans) Walker. His parents, both natives of Delaware County, Ohio, moved to Morgan County, Mo. , at an early age.
Walker graduated from the University of Missouri with the degree of B. S. in 1873, and from the same institution received that of M. S. in 1877.
After teaching school and studying law in Missouri and in Texas, he was admitted to the Missouri bar in 1876, and at Versailles, the county seat of Morgan County, began a distinguished professional career of fifty-four years, thirty-five of which were in public service. As prosecuting attorney of Morgan County (1877 - 85), assistant attorney-general of Missouri (1885 - 89), and attorney-general (1893 - 97), Walker became thoroughly familiar with the substantive and procedural law of crimes. A Cleveland Democrat in 1896, he publicly supported the Palmer and Buckner national ticket, thus bringing to an end, seemingly, his political career. In 1897 he gave up his residence in Versailles and moved his law office to St. Louis, where he soon became known as a safe, industrious, and successful lawyer in private practice. In 1912, when the animosities of 1896 were forgotten, Walker was elected as a regular Democrat to the supreme court of Missouri for a term of ten years, and reëlected in 1922. His death occurred at Jefferson City thirteen months before the expiration of his second term. Walker's judicial actions and opinions are recorded in 247-326 Missouri Reports. The opinions exhibit adequate learning, a realistic grasp of modern social conditions, a desire to make law fit in with those conditions, jealousy in guarding the individual right from encroachment by the police power, and a rhetorical grace above the average in American legal literature.
(Excerpt from A Sheaf of Memories: Address Nothing can be...)
Quotations: Toward the end of his life he was able to say: "Where it is disclosed by the record that the accused had a fair trial there is an increasing and commendable tendency on the part of appellate courts, not to disturb a verdict of guilty for mere technicalities".
Although it was not generally known in his lifetime, Walker was a writer of poetry, always simple in style and generally humorous or satiric in tone. Some of his shorter and lighter verses, written while he was a member of the supreme court, were published anonymously in the "Just-a-Minute" column of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In 1927 Walker caused to be printed an uncopyrighted book of 180 pages, entitled Random Rhymes by R. E. Klawfera. When reversed the pseudonym becomes Ar Ef Walker. This book is now valuable because much of it relates to the personal, gossipy, or seamy side of Missouri political history. One of the poems, "Bill and John, " is a bitter and merited denunciation of two eminent and successful corporation lobbyists.
Walker was twice married; first, September 20, 1877, to Nannie A. Wright of Fayette, Mo. , who died in 1892; second, September 28, 1896, to Mrs. Geneva C. Percy of Brooklyn, New York. A daughter and a son, children of the first wife, survived him.
