Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
Charles H. Burchenal
One of the most distinguished jurists that ever practiced at the bar of Richmond was Charles H. Burchenal. The following sketch is taken largely from a memorial published at the time of his death and is a well merited tribute to the ability of this honored man.
The only son of Jeremiah and Mary E. (Cockayne) Burchenal. he was born at Greensboro, Caroline county, Maryland, on the 18th of September, 1830. His remote ancestors, of French origin, came from the neighborhood of Caen, in Normandy. At the time of William the Conqueror, some members of the family settled in England, where they remained and kept up the name for many generations. One or more of them came to America with Lord Baltimore's first colony and settled on the eastern shore of Maryland. Mr. Burchenal's branch of this family is descended from Jeremiah Burchenal, a planter of Kent county, Maryland, where some of the family still reside. He was born in 1700.
When Charles H. Burchenal was still a child, his parents removed to Zanesville, Ohio, where his mother died in 1836. His father was engaged in business in that place until 1838, when, while visiting his old home near Baltimore, Maryland, he too died, and the boy was brought by his grandmother, a member of the Society of Friends, to Wayne county, Indiana. At her death, four years later, Mr. Burchenal went to live with Achilles Williams, with whom he remained eight years. In 1844 Mr. Williams was elected treasurer of Wayne county and removed from Richmond to Centerville, which was then the county seat. While he lived in Richmond Mr. Burchenal attended the common schools of that city, and after his removal to Centerville became a pupil in the county seminary. In 1847 he was appointed clerk in the office of the county treasurer, a place which he held until 1850.
He was a boy of extraordinary promise, bright, quick and clear-headed, but very fond of fun and "mischief." Early in 1850 he entered the law office of Newman & Sidall, and he was allowed to sit within the enclosure of the court-room reserved for lawyers, a privilege from which the general public was excluded. Mr. Newman, then the leader of the Wayne county bar, greatly aided the ambitious pupil, and two years later the young man was admitted to the bar. Although the new constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1851, provided that any citizen of full age and good character should be allowed to practice law with no further qualification, Mr. Burchenal was unwilling to enter the profession upon such terms, but voluntarily submitted to an examination by a committee appointed by the lawyers of the county, an examination which he passed with credit.
The best legal talent in Indiana was then collected in the little town of Centerville, and, thrown into contact with such men as Oliver P. Morton, George W. Julian, Nimrod H. Johnson, etc., he was stimulated to put forth his best efforts. During the early years of his professional career he became a member of the" Dark Lyceum," a debating society of Centerville, the pur¬pose of which was to improve the members in extemporaneous debate. Its sessions were held in the dark, so that they might speak and gesticulate with greater freedom. Mr. Burchenal was prominent in this order. Sometimes the members were tried in solemn form for misbehavior. Judge Kibbey, for instance, was indicted for marrying without the consent of the lyceum. He had violated the following by-law: "Members are absolutely prohibited from engaging in any matrimonial alliance without first obtaining the approbation and consent of the lyceum, and having granted unto them a marriage dispensation in due form, under the signature of the prelate and seal of the lyceum. Any member convicted of willfully violating the provisions of this by-law shall be ignominiously expelled, his books confiscated and his marriage declared utterly null and void." Mr. Burchenal was the" prelate" of the organization at the time and defended his friend, who was acquitted because the "prelate" himself, who had been duly notified, had forgotten to inform the lodge. Many are the reminiscences of the forensic triumphs in the Dark Lyceum. The Monroe doctrine, the Wilmot proviso, the Kansas-Nebraska bill, Kossuth and Hungary and other great problems were disposed of by its invisible oratory, and the practice and experience thus gained proved of no little benefit to its members, especially to the representatives of the bar.
After his admission to the bar Mr. Burchenal advanced rapidly in the profession. In 1854 he was elected district attorney of the common-pleas court of Wayne county and served for two years. He never held any other office. In 1861 he moved from Centerville to Richmond and entered into partnership with William A. Bickle, afterward judge of the superior court, a connection which lasted until September, 1864. After this he practiced alone for many years. In 1885 he formed a partnership with John L. Rupe, which continued until August, 1895, a short time before his death. His extra-ordinary ability brought him at an early day to the front rank in his profession. He was for many years the leader of the bar, being engaged on one side or the other of nearly every important case, and his practice was the largest and most lucrative in the county. But, although he had the utmost regard for his professional reputation, he cared little for money. He was not a good collector of the debts which were due to himself, and saved but little from his income. In knowledge of the general principles of law, in skill in pleading and readiness in practice he had no superior in Indiana. He was never so dangerous as after he had been apparently overthrown. He always landed upon his feet. One of his associates said: "I remember two cases in which he had been defeated in the trial court, and again in the supreme court. There seemed to be no possibility of success, and yet, by a masterly argument, he secured in each case a re-hearing from the same judges who had decided against him. Then followed a reversal of each case, and favorable settlement in the court below." Mr. Burchenal was not, how¬ever, fond of compromising his cases. He generally fought to a finish. Although physically weak and apparently exhausted during a long trial, he would often test to the utmost the endurance of his adversary "I remember well," said one who opposed him, "the case of Horney versus Patterson. We had been several months in making up the issues. Finally the case came on for trial, and we worked on it night and day. We were both completely worn out, but neither of us would give up until finally Judge Colgrove, who tried the case, became ill and could proceed no further. Then we continued the suit until the following fall, and went to Europe together to recuperate, after which we came back and fought it out!"
Mr. Burchenal never entertained personal animosity toward those whom he opposed in litigation. His professional antagonists were his warmest personal friends. He was a consummate master of the art of pleading. He never betrayed the slightest sign of weakness to an adversary, although in conference with his own clients and those who were associated with him he gave due weight to the advantages of his antagonists. It was often wonderful to his associates to hear him unfold in consultation, one line of defense after another, things which had been entirely overlooked by others, but which presented an impenetrable barrier to the prosecution. He was not naturally a fluent speaker; he did not cultivate the graces of oratory; he never sought to impose upon a jury by the thundering tones and artificial impressiveness by which many lawyers of second-rate ability seek to win success; there were few figures of speech; but all the points in the case were clearly and exhaustively stated in a manner which appealed mainly to the reason and very little to the prejudices of his hearers.
In the adjuncts of his practice, in a knowledge of medical jurisprudence, of handwriting, of bookkeeping and of business methods, his information was extensive and accurate.
One of his most marked characteristics was his love of nature. He enjoyed nothing more than long rides, drives or walks with his family and intimate friends. During the summer months, when he was at home, Sunday afternoons were spent by the family in driving through the beautiful country surrounding Richmond, and, toward evening, picnicking at some favorite spot; and there were many such places, each one having a particular name invented by the children. His literary and intellectual resources were inexhaustible. He had continually some allusion, some story, some quotation from every field of literature and from actual life, opposite to the question under discussion.
He read and enjoyed all that was best in modern fiction. Tolstoi especially attracted him, not only by his wonderful powers of description and his deep knowledge of human nature, but also by his remarkable religious and social views. Mr. Burchenal was especially impressed by the doctrine of non-resistance as developed by the Russian author, although not satisfied that it would apply to present conditions. He insisted that Tolstoi's ideas of self-sacrifice and non-resistance to evil represented something toward which humanity should constantly strive. He was also an admirer of the works of the Polish novelist, Sienkewicz, discovering in them a virility of thought and power of description beyond that of most contemporary literature. He also read and admired Balzac, whose power of portraiture he fully appreciated. He insisted that of all men he had seen and known, Robert G. Ingersoll and his own townsman, Oliver P. Morton, had most impressed him by the personal magnetism which they exercised over those around them. Early in life Mr. Burchenal joined the Episcopal church, and retained his membership, always enjoying the service and mode of worship. His belief, however, was far from orthodox. His natural interest in religious topics, and especially those of a more spiritual nature, led him to a close study of the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, and his religious belief was largely founded upon them.
In politics Mr. Burchenal was originally a Whig, having cast his first vote for General Scott in 1852. When the Republican party was formed he attached himself to that organization and continued firm in his adherence of it until his death. He was stalwart in his Republicanism, and had little confidence in any reform to be accomplished by destroying or weakening the party which had saved the Union, overthrown slavery and established universal suffrage.
In 1860 Mr. Burchenal married Miss Ellen Jackson, who died in 1863, leaving one son, John. In 1871, in Baltimore, he married Miss Mary E. Day, by whom he had three daughters, Ruth, Elizabeth and Emma, and two sons, Carlos and Selden. Mr. Burchenal was the most hospitable of men. His house and heart were always open to his friends. Even during the extreme suffering of his last days, no one could visit him but he would make some faint effort to renew the old times of jovial companionship. He died December, 1896, after a long and painful illness. The tributes paid to his memory in the letters written to his widow, and in the memorial and speeches made at the bar meeting on the occasion of his death, were not the mere customary tributes to the memory of the dead; they were the heartfelt expressions of a genuine conviction of his great ability as a lawyer and worth as a man. E. B. Martin, who had known him for years, said: "His singular refinement, generosity and sincerity of nature, his breadth and variety in sympathy and acquirements, and his strength and delicacy of apprehension, added to his warmth and faithfulness in friendship, made him a man among ten thousand;" while General Benjamin Harrison said, "He added to fine intellectual powers a high sense of personal and professional honor." At the bar meeting judge Comstock thus appropriately summed up his qualities. Any true estimate of his character must credit him with marked individuality. He never copied anyone. He was very quick to see the imitation. He was a law unto himself. He was independent and self-reliant. In his judgment of men he was indulgent. He was a modest man. He never obtruded himself either in social, public or professional life. The success of others never gave him pain. He was free from the base passion of envy. He did not attempt to exalt himself by the disparagement of a brother. He performed his duties in life fearlessly and honestly, without expectation of applause. He was absolutely free from fraud or sham. There has not been at this bar anyone of his fine mental fibre, nor of his learning in law, history and general literature. I have heard members of the bar say that they had more confidence in his first impressions upon a legal proposition than in the mature judgment of most lawyers. He was not, in the popular sense, a great advocate, but his thorough familiarity with the principles of the law, and the precedents in the decisions of our highest courts, and his own fertility and coolness, which never forsook him, made him always formidable. He was a versatile man. He might have succeeded in literature and art. He had the taste and touch of a true artist, and knew more of painting and music than many professionals."
He was a self• educated man, yet so extensive and thorough was his reading that there was no branch of literature which he left unexplored. He was a great lover of poetry and the drama. He wrote verses of no mean ability, but he never disclosed this fact except to his intimate friends. Among his papers the following stanza was found, added to Tennyson's poem, "Crossing the Bar"
"Dawn and the morning light
That shines above the deep,
And there will be rare visions of delight
When I awake from sleep.
What though through dark and gloom my bark shall sail
On its strange quest,
So in the morning I the goal may hail
The islands of the blest."
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899