nder his hand the witnesses went to
pieces. After the witnesses left, Farley said, "We can never succeed
if those are your witnesses." Mann replied: "Oh, those are the
witnesses for the other side. To-morrow evening I will show you my
witnesses." When the evening came, the same witnesses came also.
They were again subject to examination and cross-examination, and
proved impregnable under Farley's hand. An invention, no doubt, and
yet the story had a run.

Although Russell was not a competitor in any sense with such
antagonists as Farley and Mann, he was in the enjoyment of a practice
that was sufficient for a living, and a prudent man would have made it
the beginning of a moderate fortune. He had neither skill in money
matters nor ordinary economy. Hence he was always in debt. At one
term of the court he entered fifty-eight writs, and there were terms
when he had from seventy to one hundred cases on the docket. Each of
these cases gave him thirty-three and one third cents costs for every
day of the term.

Russell held the office of Master in Chancery. In 1838 the Insolvent
Law was enacted, and its administration was confided to Masters in
Chancery. Russell soon gained a reputation for leniency in the matter
of granting discharges to the insolvent debtors, and his business
increased rapidly. His jurisdiction was the whole county, and although
there were several masters in the county, his fame was such that
petitions came from Lowell, Waltham and other places where masters had
offices. I was appointed clerk in insolvency, at five dollars a day
when a court was held. In this way I gained some needed income,
acquired a knowledge of the Insolvent Law, and more than all, I gained
the acquaintances of the leading lawyers of the county. As debtors and
witnesses were examined, I may have gained something in practice. The
Insolvent Law, amended, to be sure, has remained on the statute books
of Massachusetts to this day, and the United States Bankrupt Law was
modeled upon it. Indeed, there can never by any wide departure from
the provisions of that statute, and from its principles no departure
whatever can be made.

A leading man, and a character in the town, was Thomas A. Staples. He
was a native of the neighboring town of Shirley. He was a man of large
size, handsome figure, resolute in his purposes, and vindictive in his
enmities. His chief business was that of stage proprietor, and mail
contractor. He