Grass Valley telegraph., 1854-07-06


In the examination of witnesses the stran-
ger eylnced but little ingenuity, as every one
thought. He suffered each one to tell his
story without interruption, though he con-
trIved to make each one tell it over two or
three times. He put some cross questions
which with keen witnesses, only served to
correct their tales and he made notes. which
always tend to embarrass mighty memories.
The examination being ended, as counsel for
the plaintiff he had a right to the opening
speech, but to the astonishment Of every one
ne declined, and permitted the defence to lead
off Then a shadow might have been observ-
ed to fit across the features of Pike and to
darken even the bright eyes Of Prentiss.
They found that they had caught Tartar,
but who he was they found it impossible to
guess.
Col. Ashley spoke first; he dealt the jury
q dish Of tn 1T close dry logic that has render
ed him so famous in the Senate
The poet, Albert Pike, succeeded in a rich
vein Of wit and a hail-torrent Of ridicule,
and you may be sure neither the plaintiff nor
the plaintiffs ragged attorney were forgotten
nor spared.
The great Prentiss concluded for the de-
fendant with glow of gorgeous sentences.
and a final burst of oratory that shook the
house with cheers the jury themselves join
ing. notwithstanding the stern 'order" of
the bench. Thus susceptible are the South
ern people to the charms of impassioned elo-
quence.
1t was then the strangers turn. He had
been perfectly distracted during all the pre-
vious speeches. Still, straight and motion
less in his seat, his pale smooth forehead
shooting up like a mountain cone of snow ;
but for that eternal twitch that came and
went perpetually across his cheeks, you might
have taken him a mere man of marble, or
man carved in ice. Even his dim, dreary
eyes were Invisible beneath those shaggy eye
brOWs.
But at last he rises before the bar railing,
not behind, and so near the wondering jury
that he might have touched the foreman with
his long bony finger. With eyes half shut,
and rigid as pillar of iron, his thin lips
curl as if in mcasureless scorn, slightly part,
and the voice comes forth. At first it is low
and sweet, insinuating itself into the brain
as an artless tune winding its way into the
deepest heart Ike magic incarnation while
the speaker proceeds without gesture or
the least sign or excitement to tear in pieces
the argument Of Ashley, that melts away at
his touch as frost before the sunbeam Eve
ry one looked surprised. It's logic seemed at
once so brief and SO luminously clear that
the merest peasant could comprehend it,
Anon he came to the dazzling wit Of the
poet lawyer Pike. Then the curl of his lip
grew sharper; his face kindled up, and his
eyes began to open, dreary no longer, but
vivid as lightning, red as fire globes, and
glaring Ike meteors. The soul seemed in
the eye. The full heart streamed out Of tie
face. In five minutes Pixies wit seemed the
acme Of folly, and his finest satire horrible
profanity, contrasted with the inim;table sal
lies and eXterminating scarcasms of the
stranger, interspersed by jest and anecdote
that filed the forum with rOars Of laughter.
Then without so much as hestowing an al
lusioD on Prentss, he turned short on the
perjured witnesses OF Hopkins, tore their tes-
timony TO atcms and hurled in their faces
such terrible invectives that all trembed as
with an ague, and two actually fed dismayed
from the courthouse.
The excitement of the crowd became tre-
mendous. Their united life and soul seemed
to hang on the burning Of the stranger. He
inspired them with his own passions He
saturated them with the poison of his own
malicious feelings. He seemed to have sto-
len Natures long hidden secret of attraction
He was the sun to the sea Of all thought and
emotion which rose and fell as he chose. But
his greatest triumph had yet to come
His eyes began to glare furtively at the
assassin Hopkins, and his lean taper finger
slowly assumed the same direction. He hem
med the wretch with a decentralization of
evidence and impregnable argument, cutting
off all hope of escape. He piled up huge
bastiOns Of unanswerable facts.
He dug beneath the murderer and SANDER
er's feet. bitches that no sophistry could over
leap, and no stretch Of ingenuity evade; and
having thus. as one might say, impounded
his victim. and girt him about like serpent
in circle of fire, he stripped himself for the
work Of massacre.
Oh then, but it was vision both glorious
and dreadful, to behold the orator His ac-
tlons became impetuous as the motion Of an
oak in the hurricane. His voice became
trumpet filled with whirlpools, deafening the
ear with crashes Of power. and yet mingled
all the while with an undersong Of the oft
est cadence. His face was like drunkard's
his forehead giowed like heated furnace
his countenance looked haggard like that
of maniac and ever and anon he flung his
long bVny arms on high as if grasping after
thunderbolts. He drew picture Of murder
IN such appalling colors that in comparison
ACIi iCoCll uIiSuG U6 COuSluoTCu DeauIlIui. lie
painted the slanderer so black that the sun
seemed dark when shining upon such an &C
cused monster, and then lie SO fixed both the
portraits on the shrinking brow of Hopkins
that he nailed them there forever. The agi-
tation of the audience nearly amounted to
madness.
All at once the speaker descended from his
perilous height. His voice walled out for
the murdered dead and the living--the beau
tiful Mary-more beautiful every moment
as her tears flowed faster-till men went.
and lovely women scbbed like children.
He closed by strong exhortation to the
jury. and through them to the bystanders.
He entreated the panel, after they should
bring in their verdict for the plaintiff, not to
offer violence to the criminal, however richly
he might deserve it; in other words, ''not to
lynch the villain Hopkins, but leave his pun
ishment to God" This was the most artful
trick Of all, and best calculated to ensure
vengeance.
The jury returned verdict of fifty thou
sand dollars; and the night afterwards Hop