574 APPENDIX. 



Recorder of Deeds and Register of Wills for Huntingdon County, 

 which offices he accepted, and continued to discharge their duties until 

 the day of his death. 



To add to his difficulties, he now found himself involved in a law 

 suit about the title to a piece of property in the borough of Hunting- 

 don, the amount involved not being large, according to the valuation 

 of property in the town at that day, yet he had come to consider it as 

 the great event of his life. He prepared for the trial with much anxiety 

 of mind, as if his future prosperity depended upon its result, or he 

 feared something serious would happen. At length the day of trial 

 came, and its progress was watched by him with the most intense in- 

 terest until its close, when the jury returned a verdict in his favor. A 

 motion was made by his opponent for a new trial, and this was argued 

 upon the second day after the rendition of the verdict. Upon the argu- 

 ment he was grossly insulted, and statements made by his opponent 

 which Mr. Smith promptly arose to deny. He was sternly ordered by 

 the court to sit down, when he slowly sank down in his seat, his head 

 fell forward and rested upon the counsel table, having been seized with 

 apoplexy. His nephew. General William R. Smith, one of the mem- 

 bers of the bar, caught him in his arms and had him carried to the open 

 air at the door of the court room, where Dr. Henderson immediately 

 attempted to bleed him, but all in vain, and in less than ten minutes 

 he was dead ! 



The consternation and confusion this event occasioned in court caused 

 it to immediately adjourn, and nothing further was done in the cause. 

 His funeral took place in a few days, his body being followed to the 

 grave by the members of the bar and a large concourse of citizens of the 

 town and county, among whom he had so long resided. The following 

 inscription covers his grave and that of his elder brother, by the side 

 of whom he was buried : 



Sacred 



To the memory of ^ 



Thomas Duncan Smith, M. D., 



Born Nov. i8, 1760, 



Died July 9, 17S9; 



And of 



Richard Smith, Esq., 



Born Jan. 25, 1769, 



Died Oct. i, 1823, 



Sons of 



"William Smith, D. D. 



In life 



United in brotherly love ; 



In death 



They are not divided. 



