s official term, was in
his manly meridian of life, in the full fruition of his matured
intellectual powers, in the plenitude of his public usefulness,
and in the enjoyment of apparent robust physical health, out upon
his circuit, and about to hold a session of the Supreme Court at
Lebanon, in Warren county, when suddenly, without any premonition,
he was struck down with a fatal malady, that was frightfully rapid
in its termination. The best medical aid was summoned from
Cincinnati; it was in vain. An express messenger was hurried to
Lancaster for Mrs. Sherman, but before she reached him her lamented
husband was dead.

"He died in Lebanon, June 24, 1829, in the 41st year of his age.

"I will not attempt to describe the outburst of public sorrow that
prevailed over this event. It was general and sincere, touching
and outspoken; but it was in Lancaster, it was here in his happy
home, which he made the home always of genial and open-hearted
hospitality--here among his neighbors and fellow-citizens of every
class and description, all of whom knew him and all of whom loved
him--that the intelligence of his death came with the most painful
and startling abruptness. They could not comprehend it. But
yesterday he was among them in perfect health, and now he is dead.
Men wept in our public streets. I do not believe he had a single
personal enemy on earth.

"Had Judge Sherman lived, higher and broader spheres of public
usefulness would have opened before him. There is no doubt whatever
that the same spontaneity of opinion that placed him upon the
supreme bench would have again united, when the vacancy happened,
to have sent him to the Senate of the United States, and those who
know him knew full well that his first prepared public utterance
in that chamber upon any pending matter of national importance
would have secured to him a brilliant national name. This is no
fancy penciling. It was conviction with his contemporaries, and
it would have been the record of history had he lived. As it is,
he has left to his children the heritage of his spotless public
reputation--of his loved and honored name.

"This fragmentary sketch would be more incomplete did I not mention
that Judge Sherman was a zealous and prominent member of the Masonic
fraternity, and that he filled its highest offices of honor in the
several grand bodies of Ohio."

General Reese, the author of this sketch, was born in Philadelphia,
Pa., on the 5th