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mt^in=Wi0ltott
and like him also was much employed in public business. In his profes-
sional practice he was not less able and happy in repartee than in argument.
He was often opposed by a brother lawyer of the name of Eels. His
opponent, supposing that, in a particular case, he had got much the better
of Pitkin in argument, said ' The Court will perceive that the Pipkin is
cracked.' ' Not so much so, may it please Your Honoi-,' was the reply,
' but that you will find it will do to stew Eels in yet.'
"As to his public employments, he represented the town of Hartford
in the General Assembly in 1696 ; and from 1697 until his death, a period
of twenty-six years, he was annually elected by the freemen to the Council
of the colony. From 1702 until 171 1 he was a Judge of the County
Court. In 1703 he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Assistants.
" Upon the establishment of the Superior Court, in 171 1, he was made
a Judge of that Court, and in 17 13 he was made Chief Justice of the
same.*
" In addition to these judicial duties, he was also employed in other
important business of the colony. In the great Mohi case, to decide upon
which Royal Commissioners were appointed in 1705, he was the first of
the agents of the colony. In 1707 he was one of the Council of War;
and for many years he, together with John Chester and William Whiting,
was employed in the settlement of the boundary line between Massachusetts
and Connecticut. I have in my possession a statement, drawn up by Wil-
liam Pitkin in his own handwriting, containing a brief account of the
proceedings under this appointment. He states that they went to Massa-
chusetts on this subject, and, after debating three weeks with Governor
Belmont, intrusted with the power of adjusting the line, all that could be
obtained was an Act of Massachusetts to appoint certain persons to find
out the line run by Woodward and Safifory.
"After a long controversy Massachusetts, though proven to be wrong,
utterly refused to begin the fine at any other point than a certain designated
station. So Connecticut finally yielded, and in 1713 the line was run by
Pitkin and Whiting, and struck the Connecticut River seven or eight miles
»o "William Pitkin the second was chosen a Judge of the Superior Court in 1711, and subsequently.
In 1712 he was appointed Chief Judge in case of the absence of the Deputy Governor "— Private letter
of Charles J. Hoadly, State Librarian of Hartford, Mar. 6, 1879. See List of Judges of the Superior
Court, in " Connecticut Reports," Vol. 53, p. 595.
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