Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-01-22

part OF the cr0Wd, situated OenlIiu tne oar.
At the tones Of that voice uany started halfway from
their seats and perhaps there heart in the I'M
mense ihrong which did not beat something qucker-It
was so unearshly sweet clear, ringing, and mourniu
The first sensation, however, changed into gene
raj laughter, when tall gaun,, spectral figure that no.
body present remembered ever to have seen before ell
bowed his way through the crowd, and placed hImset
within the bar. His appearance was problem to puz-
ze the sphinx herself. His high pale brow, and SMALL
nervouslywitchng face seemed alive with ,hetconcen-
trated essence and of genius but then his imam
tine blue eyes, hardly visible beneath their massive
arches, looked dim dreamy, almost unconscious; and
his clothing exceedingly shabby, that the court
hesaled 10 let the proceed under his manage
ment.
"Has your name been entered the rolls of the
State 7" demanded the Judge suspicously.
Ill is immaeria about my names being entered on
o,tr rolls answered the stranger, his hin. bocdess
lips curling up into fendish may be allowed
10 appear by the courtesy of the Court and Bar
Here is my license from the highest tribunal in Amer-
ca 70 and he handed Judge Mills broad parchment.
The trial Immediately went on.
In the examination Of Witnesses the stranger evinced
bu! little ingenuity, commonly thought. He suf
fered each one to tell his story without interruption,
though he contrved to make each of them tell it
YER two or three times. He put few questions,
which with keen Witnesses only serve to correct mis-
takes and he made no notes, which, in mighty memo
rles, always tend to embaass. The examination being
ended, counsel for the plaintiff he had right to the
opening speech, well as the closes but to the aston
ishment every he declined the former and allow
ed the defence to lead off, Then shadow might have
been observed TO fit across the fine features of Pike and
to darken even in the bright eyes of Prenss. They
saw that they had caught Tartar; but who it was,
how it happened, it impossible to guess
Colonel Ashley spoke first. He dealt the jury dish
of that close, dry logic, which, years afterwards render
ed him famous in the Senate of the United States.
The poet, Aber, Pike followed, with rich vein Of
w.t. and hail.lorrent Of caustic dicue, in which you
may be sure neither the Plaintiff nor the Plaintiffs rag
ged attorney was either forgotten spared.
The great Prenlss concluded for the defendant, with
glow of gorgeous words, brilliant showers Of fall
ing stars, and with final burst Of oratory that brought
the house down in cheers, which the jury them
selves joined, notwithstanding the 'oder 'order!'
of the bench Thus wonderfully susceptible are the
South people to the charms of mpassoned eo.
quence
1t then the strangers tarn. He had remained ap
pareny abstrac.ed during all the previous speeches.
Still, and straight and motones his seat his pale,
smooth forehead, shooting up high like mountain-cone
of snow but for that eternal twitch that and
perpeuay in his shallow cheeks, you would have taken
him for a Of marble, human form carved
in ice Even his dim, dreamy eyes were invisible be-
meath those gray, shaggy eyebrows.
But last he rises before the bar railing. not
behind it-and the wondering jury that he might
touch the foreman with his long, bony finger. With
eyes still half shut, and standing rigid as pillar Of ir
on, his thin lips curl if in measueless scorn, slightly
part and the voice FORTH AT irs it is low and
sweet, nsnuang itself through the bran arlless
tune, winding its way into the deepest heart, like the
melody of magic incarnation while the speaker pro-
ceeds without gesture the least sign of excitement
in pieces the arguments of Ashley, which mes
away al his touch as frost before the sunbeam Every
one looked surprised. His logic at so brief,
and luminousy clear that the rudest peasant could
comprehend it without effort.
Anon he came to the dazzling wi. Of the poet.law-
yer. Pike Then the curl Of his lip grew sharper--his
saIlow face kinded up-and his eyes began 10 open,
dim and dreamy no longer, but vivid as lightning, red
6re:globes, and glang like twin meteors The whole
soul was in The eye the full heart sreamed out the
face. In FIVE minutes Pixies wit seemed the foam of
folly and his finest satire horrible profanity when
pared with the nmitabIe saes and exermnating sar-
casms of the stranger nterspersed with jest and
dole, that filled the forum with of laughter.
Then, without SO much as bestowing an suson on
Prenss, he turned short on the perured witnesses of
Hopkins, tore their testimony into atoms and hurled in
their faces such terrible nvecve, that all trembled
with an ague, and two Of them actually fled dismayed
from the Court House.
The excitement of the crowd was becoming tremen-
dous. Their united life and soul appeared 10 hang on
the burning tongue Of the stranger. He inspired them
with the powers of his own passions. He saturated
them with the poison of his malicious feelings
He seemed to have stolen natures long hidden of
attraction. He the to the sea of all thought and
emotion, which fell and boiled in bllOws as he
chose But his greatest triumph was to come.
His eye began to glare furivey the assassin, Hop
kns his lean, taper fingers slowly assumed the same
direction. He hemmed the wretch around with cir
cumvallaon of strong evidence and impregnabe argu
ment cutting off all hope of escape. He piled up huge
bastons of nsurmoun,abIe facts. He dug beneath the
murderer and sanderers feet bitches of demmas, such
as no sophstry could overeap, and stretch OF nge.
nuiy evade, and having thus, might say impoun-
ded the victim, and girt him about like scorpion In
circle of fire. he stripped himself to the work of massa.
Gre!
Oh then, but it was vision both glorious and aeau'
full to behold the orator. His action, before graceful as
the wave Of golden willow in the breeze grew inpet-
uous as the motion of oak the hurricane. His voice
became trumpet. filled with wild whirlwinds deaien-
ing the ear with crashes of power, and yet ntermngled
all the while with sweet undersopg of the softes ca
dence. His face was red drunkards-his forehead
glowed like heated funace-his countenance looked
haggard like that of maniac; and ever and anon he
flung his long bony arms on high, as if graspng after
thunder-nolls lie drew picture of murder in such