Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published
by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.  Reprinted by Southern Historical
Press.  p. 101.  Franklin County.

THOMAS HENRY HINES, of Frankfort, member of the court of appeals from
1878 until 1885 and chief justice during the last two years of his service
on the supreme bench, was born in Butler county, Kentucky, October 9, 1838,
a son of Judge Warren W. and Sarah (Carson) Hines. His ancestors were of a
English and Scotch origin and were among the first settlers of Kentucky.
They were noted for their love of liberty and were men of strong
individuality.
     Judge Hines attended the common schools to a limited extent during
his youth, but his literary education was largely acquired outside of the
school-room.  Of a studious nature and anxious for self-improvement, he
utilized all the means whereby he might add to his store of knowledge, and
had made such rapid advancement that in 1859 he was offered a position as
teacher in the Masonic University of La Grange, where he remained until
the war.  Deeply in sympathy with the south, he joined the Confederate
army, and the days of chivalry furnish few tales of greater heroism,
loftier patriotism or more loyal devotion than he displayed.  It was he
who planned and secured the escape of General Morgan and six of the
Confederate officers who had been taken prisoner by the Union troops and
whose loss to the southern cause was immeasurable.  He was then but
twenty-three years of age, but he displayed a military ingenuity and
mental alertness shown by few generals of either army.
     Treatment received in the prison determined him to plan a means of
escape.  Prison life had become intolerable, and the thought of breathing
the free air of heaven once more was inexpressibly sweet.  Being led to
believe by the dry condition of the cells that there must be air
passages under the prison, and in pursuance of an idea suggested by the
escape of Jean Valjean, as portrayed by Victor Hugo in Les Miserables,
Judge Hines resolved to make and opening into these air cells and by
means of those subterranean passages effect on escape.  There were
difficulties to overcome from the arrangement of the cells,--five tiers or
stories of solid stone masonry, six feet long, six feet high and three
feet wide.  With two case knives which had been sent from the hospital
the work was begun November 4 in Captain Hines' cell, he assuming the
responsibility and alone taking the risk of discovery and its consequent
punishment by imprisonment in the dungeon.  Only two men could work at a
time, and it was not until November 25th that the passage was made clear
to the yard of the penitentiary; but at length through the walls of solid
masonry apertures were effected, and by a little strategy General Morgan
and six captains, on a dark and stormy night, made their way into these
air cells and crawled through them to liberty.  It was one of the most
subtly contrived and skillfully arranged maneuvers found on the pages of
military history, and was all the result of the planning and labors of
Judge Hines.  Before they reached safety within the Confederate lines
his wit and bravery were again called into requisition on behalf of
General Morgan, and later on many a battle-field he displayed equal
coolness and daring in command of his troops.  His military record is
unsurpassed for bravery and his strategic movements were worthy the
skill of a Fabius.
     After the war Captain Hines went to Toronto, Canada, where he began
the study of law under John C. Breckenridge.  In March, 1866, he
returned to his country, and in Memphis, Tennessee, completed his law
studies under the direction of General Albert Pike, at the same time
having editorial charge of the Memphis Daily Appeal.  In October, 1867,
he removed to Bowling Green, where he successfully practiced law until
1870, when he was elected judge of the Warren country court.  He
resigned, however, in 1872, in order to give his attention to the court
of appeals and his eighteen year term on that bench was distinguished
by the highest legal ability.
     To wear the ermine worthily it is not enough that one possesses
legal acumen, is learned in the principles of jurisprudence, familiar with
precedents and thoroughly honest.  Many men, even when acting uprightly,
are wholly unable to divest themselves of prejudice and are unconsciously
warped in their judgments by their own mental characteristics or
educational peculiarities.  This unconscious and variable disturbing
force enters more or less into the judgments of all men, but in the ideal
jurist this factor becomes so small as not to be discernible in results
and loses its potency at a disturbing force.  Judge Hines was
exceptionally free from all judicial bias.  His varied legal learning
and wide experience in the courts, the patient care with which he
ascertained all the facts bearing upon every case which came before him,
gave his decisions a solidity and an exhaustiveness from which no
members of the bar could take exception.  His professional career has
been successful and brilliant, and he is now one of Frankfort's most
eminent attorneys.

Hines Carson
=
Warren-KY Butler-KY TN Canada

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/franklin/hines.th.txt