Biographical Sketch of Thomas H. Musick, Wright County, Missouri

>From "History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, 
Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri" The Goodspeed Publishing
Company, 1889.
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Hon. Thomas H. Musick, attorney at law and proprietor of the Southwest
Republican, a journal published weekly at Hartville, Mo., was born in
Pike County, Mo., May 27, 1834.  He attained his growth in his native
county, and supplemented his common school education with a course at
Ashley Seminary.  He afterward followed the profession of teaching in 
Pike County for ten years.  About this time the Civil War broke out, 
and he joined the Ninth Missouri avalry, and served until the close of
the war.  Having read law while teaching, he was admitted to the bar at
Danville, Mo., and located at Mexico, Mo., and there practiced law 
until 18810, when he went to Douglas County, of the same state, and
there remained one year.  He then moved to Wright County, Mo., entered
upon the practice of his profession, and was thus engaged until 1885,
when he purchased the Wright County Republican, which he changed to
Southwest Republican, and which he still runs in connection with his
law practice.  Mr. Musick was elected prosecuting attorney of Wright
County, Mo., in 1882, re-elected in 1884, and served until 1887.  He 
was a Republican candidate for Congress, Eleventh Congressional Dist-
rict, in 1888, and reduced the Democratic majority from 3,598 to about
400.  Mr. Musick was married January 20, 1863, to Miss Lois E. Pickett,
who was born in Pike County, Mo., in 1846, and who became the mother of
three children, two now living: Ida, now married to J. C. F. Clark, and
Shelley.  Cyril died at the age of three months.  Mrs. Musick died in
1870, and two years later Mr. Musick married Miss Kate Taylor, and by
this union became the father of two living children: Ruth V. and Lois
E.  Mr. Musick is the son of Rev. Lafreniere C. and Jane D. (Hayden)
Musick.  The law firm of which Mr. Musick is now a member is Musick &
McKenney.  Mr. McKenney is a man of long years of experience in the
practice of law, and has practiced in some of the highest courts of the
country.  Mr. Musick has been a consistent member of the Baptist Church
for thirty-six years; has always been strictly abstemious, and an 
advocate of temperance and other reformatory measures.  He is in favor
of the equal rights of all before the law, and, as might be expected,
is in favor of a strict enforcement of the law.  Politically he was a
Whig prior to 1860; since then he has been a steadfast, active and
aggressive Republican.  During his term as prosecuting attorney he was
vigorous in his prosecution of criminals, but withal he was so just and
kind in the discharge of his official duties that, contrary to the
general experience of vigorous prosecutors, he made but few enemies by
enforcing the law.  Mr. Musick is a fluent and effective speaker, and
pays more attention to bringing out the strong points than to mere 
oratory; yet, when he wishes, he can be very ornate in his language.
He is a man of very cool, even temper, never permitting himself to be 
drawn into a quarrel, nor does he ever become perceptibly excited. But,
notwithstanding this, his experience has proved that having a cool,
even temper, and avoiding quarrels, will not always shield a man from 
the rough corners in life, for while he resided in Douglas County there
was a most dastardly attempt made to take his life.  He was sitting one
evening, a little after dark, in his house in Ava, the county seat of
Douglas County, with a babe on each knee, one of them being three years
old and the other eleven months, when the would be assassin, in a 
stealthy, cowardly manner, slipped up and fired at him through the 
window.  The ball struck him in the breast, and followed a rib around
for about four inches, then glanced off and went through his right arm
above the elbow, fracturing the bone down to the elbow.  It also passed
through the wrist of the youngest child, shattering it in a fearful
manner.  The child, had it lived, would have been a cripple, but it 
died about six months after.  Mr. Musick's wounds were so severe that 
he was not really in a proper condition to attend to business for six
months after receiving them, yet, such was his energy that he went into
court in about four weeks after he was shot and tried a murder case 
with success.  The only cause known for the dastardly act is the fact
that Mr. Musick had been employed to prosecute the claim of an old 
blind man, on a plain promissory note, against his sons, who had sched-
uled against it, and it is supposed that he was shot to prevent his 
doing so.  While Mr. Musick enjoys a large, laborious and lucrative
practice, he finds time to devote himself assiduously to literary and
scientific pursuits, for which he has a strong liking.  He controls 
the county paper in such a manner that it has a circulation of some-
thing over 1,000 in this sparsely populated country.  In addition to 
this he has written a monogram of fifty-six pages on the "Conservation
of Forces," a deep and intricate subject, yet treated by him in such a
way that any scientist can read it with pleasure and profit.  He is now
engaged in re-writing, revising and enlarging it, and it is thought by
scientific men that when the revised edition appears it will attract an
enlarged attention.  William H. H. Musick, a younger brother, born on
the 26th of June, 1840, edits the Southwest Republican, making it not
only a good newspaper but an able and fearless investigator of all
current public questions, as well as a journal of high literary merits,
considering its rural location.  He is a gentleman of indomitable 
energy and idustry, correct habits and stern integrity.
 
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