The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1859-05-04

sallles and extermnatlng sarcasm OF the stran-
ger, interspersed with jest and anecdote that
filled the forum with laughter
Then without SO much as bestowlng an allu-
sion on Prentiss, he turned short on the per-
iured witnesses of Hopkins, tore their testimony
into atoms, and hurled in their faces such terri
bic nvectives that all trembed as with an ague,
and two Of them actually fed dismayed from
the court house.
The excitement Of the crowd was tremen-
dous. Their united life and soul appeared the
burning tongue Of the stranger. He inspired
them with the powers Of his own passion. He
satuated them with all the poison of his
own malicious feelings. He was the sun Of
the sea of all thought and emotion, which rose
and fell and boiled in pillows as he chose. But
his greatest triumph was yet to come.
His eyes began to glare furtively at the as
sassin, Hopkins as his lean, taper finger slowly
assumed the same direction. He hemmed the
wretch around with strong circumvallatlon of
strong evidence and impregnable arguments,
cutting off all hopes of escape. He piled huge
bastons of insurmountabe facts. He dug
beneath the murderer and sanderer's feet.
bitches of demmas, such as no sophistry could
oyerleap and no stretch of ingenuity eyade;
!
the victim and girt him about like a scorpion in
circle of fire, he stripped himself to the mas
sacre!
OH then but vision both glorious and
dreadful to behold the orator. His actions
before graceful as the wave Of golden willow
| in the breeze, are now impetuous as the motion
| of an oak in hurricane. His voice became
trumpet filled with wild whirwinds; deafening
the ear with crashes of power, and yet inter-
mingled with a sweet under song of the soft
est cadence. His face was red as drunkard's
his forehead glowed like a heated furnace
his countenance looked haggard like that of a
maniac, and ever and anon he flung his long
bony arms on high, as if grasping after thun-
derbolts! He drew picture OF the murder IN
such appalling coIors, that in comparison, hell
itself might be considered beautiful. lie pain
ted the slanderer so black, that the sun seemed
dark at noon day when shining on such an ac-
cursed 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
perilous height His voice weied out for the
murdered dead and describing the sorrows Of
the widowed iving-the beautiful Mary, more
beautiful every moment, as her tears flowed
faster-till men wept, and lovely women sobbed
like child
He closed by strange exortaton to the jury
and through them to the bystanders. He en-
treated the panneI, after they should bring in
the verdict for the plaintiff not to offer to the
defendant, any violence, however richly he
might deserve it; in other words, mot to lynch
the villain, Hopkins, but to leave the punish,
ment to God!' This was the most awful trick
of ALL and best calculated to insure vengeance
The Jury rendered a verdict for fifty thou
sand dollars, and the night afterwards, Hopkins
was taken out ofhis bed by lynchers, and beaten
, almost to death,
As the court adiobfned, the stranger made
! known his name, and called the attention of tht
, people with the announcement-''J ohm Taylo
will preach here this evening at carly candle
] light"
The crowd, of course, all turned out, anc
Taylor's sermon equalIed, if it did not surpass
the splendor of the forensic effort. This is nj
exaggeration. / have listened to Clay, Web
f ster and Calhoun; to Dewey, Tying, and Bas
comb; but have never heard anything in th'
, form of sublime words even remotely approx
, mating the eloQuence of John Taylor massive
as a mountain and wildly rushing as catarac
of fire. And this is the opinion of all who eve
heard that marvellous man.
A French writer gives neat summary OF tht
different obseryances among mankind rel&tlTt
to mourning and funeral ceremonies. all tht
world, says he, is acquainted with the magnlh
cence oftheRoman obsequies and funeral games
The Greeks also burnt the corpses OF distln
, guished men, with funeral feasts, and the la
l mentations of the hired weepers though thel
generally displayed less sumptuous grief ant
better regulated piety. The Persians buret
the bodies of the dead: the ScyGans ate them
. the Indians enveloped them for preservation
sake, in a sort of locker; the Egyptians EN-
5 balmed and dried them, exhibited them on fes
! tai days, placed them at the table among thei
guests, guarded them as their most preciou
l possessions, and loaned and borrowed none,
: upon these strange pledges. In our time, tn
! custom of dancing at funerals, is only practlse'
in India and among some savage nations; bu
: funeral entertainments still prevail in man,
European countries Amongst others, the ce
d remony of nterment is solemn and silent WhcI
nevertheless does notinterfere with the wish tha
II all NAV be forgotten as speedily as possible
We observe more ostentatous rites for person
n ofconsequence. Their carriages follow them t
/ the graves, and sometimes their horses are pa
e raded, which, having been made to fast, seem
S to partake of the affections of the OCCASION
The orientals, from whom we borrowed this Gus
/ tom, went further-they made horses in funera
$ professions weep, by blowing particular kin
j Of powder up their nostris.
n In Italy, the mourning was formerly whit
! for women, and brown for men. In China
: is white; in Turkey, Syria, and Armenia it
e blue; in Egypt, yellow; in Ethiopia, gray; eac
of these colors had, originally, its mystical sig
d nifcation. White is the emblem of purity; &c
IS lestisl blue indicates the space where the sol
IS ranges after death; yellow, or the tlnge Of dea
6 leaves, exhibits death as the end of all huma
II hopes, and man falling like the leaf of autumn
T. gray presents the color oftbe earth, our mother
e and black, the funeral costume now adopte
/ throughout Europe and America, is an alusio
J to the eternal night.
y In England, the sovereign never wears black
he is clothed in dark purple as mourning. VI
l. the reign of Charles VIII. white was the fune
g raj garb in France. The emperor LeopoId, ,Wh
n died in 1905, used to suffer his beard to gro'
Il in disorder during the whole period of mourn
n ing. In this he initiated the jews The dow
LI l. Il .,