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Balch, Lewis P. W. (d. 1868)
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Aler's History of Martinsburg and Berkeley County, West Virginia
by F. Vernon Aler, 1888
Printed for the Author by 
The Mail Publishing Company, Hagerstown, MD.

CHAPTER VIII.
Historical Pen Sketches of the Early Residents of Berkeley County
by the late Hon. Chas. James Faulkner.

Pages 134-135, LEWIS P. W. BALCH

The first Judge appointed for the Berkeley circuit after the close
of our late civil war. He was far advanced in life when elevated to
the bench, but preserved much of the vigor and eccentricity of his
mind. He was eminently fitted to perform the duties expected of him
at that sad period of our history. He was a slave to popular
prejudice, intolerent in his opinions and overbearing in his
conduct. He was inordinately vain of his judicial position, and
brought his authority to bear on the unfortunate rebels, if not
with the bloodthirstiness, certainly with all the buffoonery and
vindictiveness of a Jeffrey. The character of his judicial
administration may be inferred from the following extract from one
of his opinions: "Common fame is prima facie ground for putting a
person on trial for an offense. It is the duty of a magistrate to
arrest on such evidence, and the onus probandi of innocence is on
the accused." There was much freshness and originality in the
character of his mind, while his heavy and grotesque figure, his
bombastic and theatrical airs upon the bench, with the quaint and
characteristic opinions to which he gave utterance, offorded a rich
fund of entertainment to the usually crowded court room. A keen
sense of the ludicrous was irresistably inspired by his appearance.
He presided on this circuit from March 1865 to March 1866; but even
his own party could tolerate him no longer. An accurate sketch of
his personal appearance, has been preserved by one of our best
native artists, and as we have rarely had such a specimen of
judicial eccentricity, if not monstrosity, in this section of the
country, he may be regarded as the natural outgrowth of the
diseased and disjointed period in which he officially flourished;
it is hoped, that the picture may be engraved and perpetuated, as a
reminiscence of times never to be seen again.

He died at his residence near Leetown, in the County of Jefferson,
in 1868.

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