Old Ben Hardin, of whom much as been written, was one of the most original and powerful lawyers that ever pleaded a case; he was phenomenally successful, it the the rarest thing for his client to be defeated. An account of the famous criminal trials alone in which he figured would fill a volume. He was quick to seize upon the strong points of his case and after bringing all the resources of a thorough knowledge of law and a remarkable fund of common sense to bear upon the question he would enliven the subject with a sarcasm keen and relentless and a humor original and irresistible. Tom Marshall once said of Hardin that"he was a good judge of bad men." While not confined to this particular class, he seemed to possess a kind of instinct in tracing and proving the guilt of criminals, to whom his name was a terror.

One of the most remarkable cases of conviction on circumstantial evidence was the Spencer murder case, tried in the Hardin County Circuit Court. Spencer had been indicted by the grand jury on very slight evidence for the murder of his stepson. The boy had been sent a short distance from home by his mother on an errand. He went on horseback. Not long after his departure the horse returned riderless. The mother wished to go in search of the boy, but her husband forbade her. Shortly afterward the boy was found dead in the public road with a fracture of the skull. The theory of the defense was that the boy's death resulted from being thrown from the horse; this opinion was generally accepted, and Spencer's acquittal was regarded as certain.

Hardin undertook the prosecution, declaring his conviction that Spencer was the murderer. His arguments were these: Spencer and his wife lived together unhappily, the boy being the source of discord; consequently Spencer was interested in his death. Spencer was not home at the time of the murder, and explained his absence unsatisfactorily, and also prevented his wife from seeking the missing boy. There was no hard substance where the boy fell to produce the wound in the head, so it must have been caused by a blow. Not far from the spot a hickory shrub had recently been cut down, which made a fine cudgel. Spencer had freshly ground his axe that morning, but had failed to grind out the gaps. The hickory stump showed that it had been cut with an axe that had gaps in it. On comparison the gaps in the stump exactly corresponded with the gaps in the axe. Tracks, identified as Spencer's, were found entering a field from the direction of the killing. Some person who knew of the boy's movements had evidently taken this particular axe, cut the sapling, lay in wait for the boy, and killed him with a blow on the head; this person, Hardin argued, must have been Spencer. The defense simply denied all this, and there were no proofs. The jury found Spencer guilty, and he was sentenced to be hanged. Before the execution he confessed that he had committed the crime in exactly the manner described by Mr. Hirdin, and insisted that someone must have informed the latter as to the details.

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Probably the most noted trial that ever took place in Kentucky, owing largely to the splendid array of legal talent, was the Wilkinson murder case.

The two brothers Wilkinson engaged in a fight in the barroom of the Galt House, in Louisville, with a tailor and a number of the latter's friends. The cause of the trouble was originally the misfit of a coat made by Redding, the tailor, for Dr. Wilkinson. The Wilkinsons killed two men named Meeks and Rothwell. Owing to a change of venue the trial came off at Harrodsburg. The prosecution was represented by Edward I . Bullock, prosecuting attorney, and Mr. Hardin; for the defense, in addition to Charles Wickliffe and Judge Rowan, appeared the celebrated lawyer and orator, Seargent S. Prentiss.

Feeling was strong and great excitement prevailed, the whole intereste centering in Prentiss and Hardin. The trial resulted in the acquittal of the defendants. Prentiss, being on the popular side and possessing brilliant social qualities, was the hero of the hour. Hardin was correspondingly neglected by the good people of Harrodsburg and vicinity. He smarted under the injustice of this treatment and soon repaid it. The question of dividing Mercer county was being agitated and was violently opposedby the citizens of that town. Hardin had much influence with the Legislature, and before long the county of Boyle was carved from the very heart of Mercer. Years afterward Prentiss was engaged in a law suit in the Supreme Court of Mississippi, in which his title to valuable real estate in Vicksburg was being argued. Ben Hardin appeared for his opponents and after a masterly conduct of the case secured a verdict for his clients. The result ruined Prentiss financially.

Another of Mr. Hardin's famous cases was the one of Green vs. Biddle; it aws argued finally in the Supreme Court by Mr. Hardin for the plaintiff and Mr. Clay for the defendant and resulted in a verdict for Mr. Hardin's client.

Instances of Mr. Hardin's wit and humor are so numerous as to be practically inexhaustible, but all who heard them from his own lips agree that his peculiar method and originality rendered the joke trebly effective. The following story is one illustrating his tact and good humor which are usually lost sight of. On one occasion he was spending the night with his daughter, Mrs. Palmer. A Mr. Key was also a guest at that time. The Constitution of 1849 had just been adopted, and had been warmly advocated and largely framed by Mr. Hardin. Mr. Key had held office under the old Consitution and was therefore violently opposed to the new one. The prospects for peace in the household were not good, and the hostess in great anxiety endeavored to keep the conversation away from the dangerous subject. All proceeded amicably until supper, when suddenly Mr. Key began a tirade against the "so-called" constitutional reform. The new Constitution he characterized as a fraud, a sham, an outrage, a disgrace, a swindle, an abomination; not only that, but its framers were a set of of scoundrels, tricksters and demagogues, and all who favored it were either knaves or fools - all this and much more of the same tenor. The storm had burst and the hostess sat in great embarassment waiting for the counter-temptest. Mr. Hardin, to whom the phillippe had been addressed, waited very quietly until Mr. Key had finished, and then observed very suavely: "Mr. Key, if I rightly apprehend the tenor of your remarks, you seem to be opposed to the new Constitution." This ended the discussion. Mr. Hardin was singularly fortunate in his homelife; he was happily married to Miss Betsy Barbour, and reared a large family.

In May, 1852, while riding from Bardstown to attend court at Lebanon, his saddle girth broke and he received a severe fall. He never recovered from the injury received, and gradually declined. His wife succumbed under the strain of nursing him, and died while he was in his last illness. Mr. Hardin finally died on September 24, 1852; Clay had preceeded him only a few months, having died on the 29th of June. Hardin's parents had been buried in their family burying ground on the farm in Washington county, where they had first settled in the wilderness. He had promised his mother he would be buried by her side, and before he died gave positive instructions to that effect.

Accordingly, in an old field, near the public road between Springfield and Lebanon, in a spot marked by evergreen trees, stands a stone bearing the inscription: "Ben Hardin, of Bardstown."

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