The independent press. (Abbeville C.H., S.C.) 1853-1860, 1855-03-16
IFoR TIE INDEPENDENT rREss.
y From MONTGOMERY.
MoNrG oMERY, Ala, Feb. Is, Ii

| MoNTc oMEKY, Ala, Feb. Is, 1866.
Editors Of the Press Several months
ago wrote you letter from this State,
and you expressed wish that l would
write often again.
must assure you that should have
gratified your wish had not severe and
obstinate disease of the eye cut me off for
several months from indulging in either
reading or writing. have often had a
most exuberant bundle of topics fora COM
munication, and was only cstopped by ina
bility to write. have now SO many things
to write about, that it is difficult to decide
which will be most interesting to your
readers.
To begin with my own personality, |
have become citizen of this town, or city,
as we inaptly call it, and member Of the
bar. The bar hero is prodigiously strong
in ability, though rather small in number.
l believe it numbers about thirty. There
is, believe, i'll proportion to number, no
bar in this country equal to it. About halt
are young men, who, If they have patience
to wait until the veterans shall have "shuf-
fed off this mortal col, Twill succeed to All
immense Practice. The income of several
law firms is from fifteen to twenty thousand
dollars. knew one lawyer, though not Of
this place, to get fec of ten thousand dol.
lars in one case, and thousand dollar fees
are not at all uncommon. The most emf.
nent lawyers here are ELMonE, YANcEY
BELsER, RICE, WILLIAMS, HARRIS, WATTS
JUDGE, Moss, and HrLL1ARD. The first
five are from South Carolina. RICE has
just taken his seat on the supreme bench
We shall probably dispose of WATTS and
JUDGE in August, by making one Cover
nor and the other member of Congress.
hope we can dispose of Mr.. YAScEy in
1856, by sending him for four years to The
White House at Washington. There is nc
abler and sounder man in all the South
and should not be vastly surprised if my
wish should be fulfilled. lie is the most cl
oquent criminal lawyer that ever 1 have
heard. I always listen to him with delight
and might write for hours in describing
his manner. lie has no smoothness or ele
gance in his manner. He has only massive
strength and fiery earncstness. lie use.
mono but Saxon words, as every man must
to be powerful in pathos. The directncss
the simplicity and the, deep carncstness O
his speech, like a mountain wave bear.
down every thing before it. No case car
be so desperate but that he can find some
defensiblc point in it; and none so good
that he cannot break through it. l heard
him impose upon jury in one of the COW,
counties below here, and send poor fellow
tor several years to the Penitcntiary, for &
homicide, which was clearly a case of self
defence. These were the facts Three per
sons were together in public road about
dusk. Two of them were together, ani
the third, who was the only witness, was
few feet in front Of them. He heard two
or three blows, and turning round saw tn,
man who was killed with his rifle cocket
and raised in a striking position, and h,
fell Immediately and died without speaking
word. The man who killed him had two
bruises-one on his arm, and the other or
his head. He had killed his antagonis
with common knife. The case turned
upon this question: Whether the deceased
had struck these blows before or after re
ceiving his death-wound. If he struck be
fore, it was clearly selfdefence; if not, i
was murder: Mr.. YAScEY, for the prose
cution, insisted that the deceased struck til.
blows after, and argued that being power
full man, and having heavy rifle, if he hat
not been wounded and weakened, the blow
upon the head, instead of simply bruisine
it, would have crushed it to atoms. II,
also argued that having thesriAe raised wa
not to strike, but the act OF falling gave i
the appearance Of being raised: This hum
bugged the jury, and they came Very nea
convicting him of murder. Now, It is evi
dent that the force with which blow car
be struck with rifle depends upon the dis
lance of the object and the swing that tn,
striker has. It was much more probabl,
Explained by the supposition that they wer,
close together, and the gun graspsa by tht