The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1859-12-14

caustic rdicule, In which you may be sure
neither the plaintiff nor the plaintiffs rag.
ged attorney was either forgotten or spar.
ed.
The great Prentiss concluded for the
defendant, with glow Of gorgeous words,
| brilliant as showers Of failing stats, and
with a final burst Of oratory that brought
.he house down in cheers, in which tho
swotp jury, themselves joined, notwth
standing the stem 'orderI 'orderr Of the
bench. Thus wonderfully susceptible are
the south western people to the charm Of
impassioned eloquence.
H was then the strangers turn. lie
had remained apparently abstracted dur.
ing ali the previous speeches. Still, and
straight, and motionless in his seat, his
pale, smooth forehead shooting up high
| like IA mountain cone Of snow; but for
that eternal twitch that came and went
perpetually in his sa lew cheeks, YOU
wontd hnve takeH hira for mere man of
marble, ,r human form carved in ice
Even his dim, dreamy eyes were invisible
beneath these gray, shaggy eye-hrows.
But now at last hs rises-betore the
bar raling-uot behind it-and so near
to the wondering jury that he might
touch the foreman with his long bony
finger. With his eyes still half shut,
and standing rigid as pillar Of iron, his
thin lips curl as II in neasureless scorn,
| slightly part and the voice comes forth.
| At first II is low aud sweet, insinuaLinr
| itsef through the brain as an arllrss tune,
vending its way InIo the deepest heart
! Iik" the melody of u magic inrau,atOm,
while the speaker proceeds without a ges
! ture or the least sign OF excitement To
tear IN pieces the Arguments of Ashley,
which fell away at his touch aS FROST he
fore the sun beam. Every one looks sur
! prised. lis logic Was at once SO brief
and so LUMINOSITY clear that the rudest
! peasant could comprehend without effort.
Anon, he came 10 the dazzling wit of
the poet lawyer, Pike. Iheu the curl of,
his lip grew sharper, bis sa!ow face kin
died up; and Iis eyes began to open, dim
and dreamy no longer, but vivid as light.
nlng, red as fire, aud garing ike twin
neieors. The whole soul was in the eve
| full heart streamed out in the face Ia
| five minutes Pixies wit seemed the foam
OF folly, and his finest satire horrible pro-
| family. when contras,ed with the nimita
! bIe saIl,es aud. extermiua,ing sarcasm OF
the stranger, interpers4d with Jest and
anecdote that filled the tOrum with the
roar of laughter.
Then without 10 much as best0wing
All nlluson on Preuiiss, he rJrned short
on HE pcrjnred witnesses Of Hopkins,
! tore their testimony into atoms, aud hurl
! ed III their faces such terrible invectives
! that all trcmhled rs with an ague, and
two of them actually fled dsmayei from
the Court House.
The excitement of the crowd was be
coming tremendous. Their united life
and soul appeared to hang in the burn
ing tongue of the stranger He inspired
them with The po~e ers OF his. own passion
lie saturated Them with the poison Of
his own malicious feelings. de seemed
10 have stolen natures IoCg hidden secret
Of attraction. lie was the sun of the
sen Of all thought and emotion. which
rose and fell and boiled in GiIIows as he
chose. Blu, the greatest triumph was to
! come.
HE eye began TO glare iurtvely at the
assassin, Hopkins, as lis lean, taper fla
ger slowly assumed the same direction
/ lie hemmed the wretch around with n
decentralization Of strong evidence and
impregnabIe Argument. cutting oil all
hope Of escape. He piled up large bas
! tious of insurmouu,ahle facts. lie dug
| beneath the murderer aud slanderer's feet
! bitches of diIemmas, such as no sophis-
! try could overlesp and no stretch OF ia.
| genuity evade and having thus, as one
might say, iDpounded the viciim, and
| girt him about like n scorpion in circle
Of fire, be stripped himself 10 the work
Of massacre
On then, but it was a vision both
! glorious aud dreadful TO behold the ora
tor. His action. before graceful as the
wave OF golden willow in the breeze,
/ impetuous MS the motion Of an oak in
! the hurricane. His voice became trum-
pet filled with wild .h1'ainds, deslening
/ the ear with crashes of power, .nd yet
| intermingled al! the while with s~ eet
under song Of the sohest cadence. His
/ face was IA red as a drunkard's his fore
head glowed like a heated furhace-his
counlenauce looked haggarG like that OF
a maniacs, and ever and anon he flung
his long bony arms on high, as il gras.
ping after thunderbolls ! He drew n
! picture of murderer in such appalling
colors, that 10 comparison, hell itself
might be considered beautiful. lie pain
led the slanderer SO black, thnt the sun
seemed dark at MONDAY, when shining
on such an accused monster, and then
he fxed both portraits on the shrinking
brow Of Hopkins, and he nailed them
there forever. The agitation Of the Ru.
diencs nearly amounted to madness.
All at ouce the speaker descended from
HE periIous height. His voice walled out
for The murdered dead, and described the
sorrows OF the widowed Iiving--the beau
tiful Mary more beautiful every moment,
as her tears flowed fas,er---ti! man wept
and lovely women sobbed like children.