North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1852, 1851-03-12

Then, without much Eesfowing an dllusion
on Prentss he turned short on fhe peIured witness
of Hopkins tore their testimony into atoms, and
hurled in their faces such terrible iHvectve that all
trembed as with an ague, and tRo of them actually
fed dismayed from the court house.
The excitement of the crowd was becoming tremen-
dous. Their united fife and soul appeared to hang
on the burning tongue of the stranger. He inspired
them with the powers of his own passion He satura
ted them with the poison of his own malicious feelings
He seemed have stolen natures long-hidden secre
of attraction. He the to the of all hongh1
and emotion, which rose and fell and boiled in biows
as he chose. But his greatest triumph was to COME
His eve began glare fnrtiVely at the ASSASSIN;
Hopkins, as his lean, taper finger slowly assuheG
the same direction. He hemmed the wretcn aIoenu
with decentralization of strong evidence anu ihi-
pregnabe argument, cutting off all nope OF escape
He piled up huge bastions OF Insurmouh'aole ldc's
He duo beneath the murderer and sianderers ieet
bitches of dilemmas, SUCH as no soPnIsJ ooII
TINS as one might say, impounded the victim, ana
oirt him about like scorpion in circle OF fire, ne
str;nned himself to the work OF massacre!
| Oh then, but it vision both glorious ana
dreadful to behold the orator. His action, before
graceful as the wave ofa golden willow in the breeze,
Grew impetuous the motion of an oak In the nur,
TIcane. His voice became trumpet filled with wlio
whirwinds, deafenng the ear with crashes power
and vet intermingled all the while with sweet un
der-song of the sofes cadence. His face was red as
drunkard's-his forehead glowed like heated
furnace-hs countenance looked haggard IKE lna'
of maniac, and and anon he flung his long bo-
ny arms on high, as if grasping after thundebolts
He drew a picture of murder In such appalling col
lors, that in comparison hell itself might be CONSUL
cred beautiful. He painted the slanderer so black,
that the sun seemed dark at monday when shining
on such an accursed monster and then he fixed both
portraits on the shrinking brow of Hopkins, and he
nailed them there forever. The agitation of the audi
ence nearly amounted to madness.
All at once the speaker descended from his perious
height His voice walled out for the murdered dead
and described the sorrows of the widowed HUing-
the beautiful Mary, beautiful every moment, as
her tears flowed faster-till men wept, and lovely
woman sobbed like children.
He closed by strange exhortation to the jury and
through them to the by-standers. He entreated the
PANEL after they should bring in their verdict for the
plaintiff not to offer violence to the defendant, how
ever richly he might deserve it, in other words,
to lynch the william Hopkins but leave the punish
ment to God" This was the most arful trick of
all, and the best calculated to insure vengeance.
The jury rendered verdict for fifty thousand dol
lars and the night afterwards Hopkins was taken
out of his bed by lynchers, and beaten almost to
death
As the court adjourned, the stranger made known
his name, and called the attention of the people, with
the announcements" John Taylor will preach here
this evening at early candle light! "
The crowd, of course, all turned out, and Taylor's
equaed, if it did not surpass, the splendor of
his forensic effort This is exaggeration. have
listened to Clay, Webster, and Calhoun-to Dewey,
Tying, and Bascom; but have never heard anything
in the form of sublime words remotely approx
imating the elo9uence of John Taylor-massive IS
mountain, and wildly rushing cataract of fire.
And this is the opinion of all who ever heard that
marvellous man.