Obitutiaries: E.J. Delony Submitter:Pauline Mobley 6/01 Source:1892 Banner Democrat ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** HONORABLE E.J. DELONY We approach the mention of Judge Delony's departure from this life with feelings of inexplicable sadness. Our acquaintance with him dates back over three decades. "I knew him well Horatio." "He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again." Judge Delony was born in Talbot County, Georgia, on the 10th day of July,in the year of our Lord,1836. Dr. Delony, his father, moved to Louisiana with his family while the Judge was yet a stripling. He evinced from early life a literary tendency, being of a nervous sanguine temperament, his mind soon outstripped his physical strength,hence the lingering illness and his early departure from the bosom of his family and the scenes of his general usefulness. He came to Old Carroll sometime before the memorable campaign that placed Abraham Linclon in possesion of the Chief Magistracy of the Nation. At Floyd, in the office of Hugh Short, we first made the acquaintance that soon ripened into the intimacy in the then stirring times. The South was all ablaze with secession fires, and there were but few in this section then that had the nerve to peer through the conflagration and the smoke and gaze at the danger ahead. Douglas and Johnson, the Union Democrats, had scarcely a corporals guard to stand by their banner in old Carroll. There were not more than eight or ten who led the forlon hope. Nearly everybody was for Breckenridge and Lane on the part of the Democrats and for Bell and Everett on the part of the Whigs. It was a perilous time for those who fought for the Union, and young Delony equally as fearless and aggressive with burning words of eloquence described the threatened danger to the South. We were with them in the "True Issue," but it was all in vain, and when the storm and the tempest came, the same Union loving Delony was among the first to shoulder his musket in defence of his beloved Southland, while numbers of the loud-mouthed fire eaters, who had denonced the Unionists, sneaked within the Federal lines. We may her pertinently say that the Judge never failed all through life to evince the courage of his convictions. The war over, he devoted himself like a good citizen to his family and his profession as Counsellor and Attorney-at-Law. How well he succeded is to a great extent a matter of history. His home devotion is seen by its happy surroundings. His legal attainments are luminous as a matter of public record. At the Bar and on the Bench he was the peer of the very best in the palmy days of the profession, and by his brilliant talent and solid acquirements he commanded the respect and admiration of his fellow practitioners far and near. As a citizen and a fellow man, his career will bear the closest scrutiny possible. As a Citizen, being naturally of an aggressive disposition, he was always found in the front ranks when any public movement was a foot. He was a natural leader among men, and so sang- uine, that he was often found in advance of the times. In his fierce and fearless battles with the carpetbag element during the dark days of re- construction in this parish the true elements of his character and his noble efforts for the public good, stood out in bold relief. His life was so full of action that what we have to say maybe justly classed as a mere mention. It is well known that no public sprited citizen can possibly stand so persistently in the front ranks for the benfit of the many so long as he did, without having detractors and fault finders in- numerable barking and biting at his heels. We sincerely hope that they will now in common with ourself, loose sight of his few faults and foibles in view of his many priceless virtues, for as a man he was, "one among the best", a fast friend and a fearless enemy; untiring in his exertions early and late to unselfishly serve his friend as far as in his power,(this we know) and equally as earnest to resent what he deemed a wrong. He had a hand "open as day for melting charity." Never was he appealed to in vain in a worthy cause. We know whereof we write. Much more might be said of the prominent citizen who was laid away in the Providence Cemetery on Monday, last. His departure has pro- duced a gap that can never be filled; not only in the domestic circle but in the community, where he has lived for so many years, and in our grand old State to which his warmest feelings were so earnestly wedded. The Judge has padded away, and while we shed tears of thought over his too soon departure, we extend to his bereaved family our profound sympathy in their irreparable loss. It is impossible for ordinary mortals to peer into the future and question the doings of the Master of the Universe, yet in this case, we should certianly have asked for a few years more for such a use- ful citizen; but it was not to be, and we must submisively exclaim, "The will of God is accomplished, so mote it be".