The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-03-08

Ou cituSt
The sander suit was set for the 9th,
and the throng of spectators grew IN
number, as we'll as excitement. And
what seemed strange, the current of pub
lie opinion now ran decidedly for Hop
kins. His money had procured witness
es, who served his powerful advocates.
Indeed, SO triumphant had been the sue
cess on the previous day, that when the
slander case was called, Mary Ellison was
left without an. attorney. All had with
drawn.
The pigmy pettifoggers dare not brave
the sharp wit of Pike, and the scathing
thunder of Prentiss.
Have you no counsel ?" asked Judge
Mills, looking kindly at the plaintiff.
No, sir they have all deserted me,
and l am too poor to employ any more, :"
replied the beautiful Mary, bursting into
tears.
9 In such case, will not some chiv-
alrous member of the profession volun-
teer ?" asked the Judge, glancing around
the bar.
The thirty lawyers were silent.
4 will, your Honor" said voice
from the thickest Of the crowd, situated
behind the bar.
AT the tone of that voice many started
half from their seats, and perhaps there
was not heart in the intense throng that
did not beat somewhat qucker-it was
SO unearthly sweet, ringing and mourn
lu.
The first sensation, however, was
changed into laughter, when tall, gaunt,
spectral figure. that no person present
remembered to have seen before, ebowed
his way through The crowd, and placed
himself within the bar.
His appearance was problem to puz-
zle the sphynx herself. His high, pale
brow, and his small, neryously twitching
face. seemed active with the concentrated
essence and cream Of genius but then
his inlantile blue eyes, hardly visible be-
meath their massive arches, looking dim,
dreamy, almost unconscious, and his
clothing was SO shabby that the court
almost hes;tated to let the case proceed
under his management.
Has your name been entered on the
rolls of the State ?" demanded the Judge,
suspiciously.
1t is immaterial about my name be-
ing OH your rolls" answered the strang-
er, his thin lips curling up into a fiend-
ish sneer. 81 may be allowed by the
courtesy of the court and bar. Here is
my license from the highest tribunal of
America" and he handed Judge Mills a
broad parchment.
The trial Immediately went on. In the
examination of the witnesses the strang
er evinced very little ingenuity, as COM
monty thought. He suffered eaah one to
tell his own story, without interruption,
though he managed to make each one tell
it over two or three times. He put few
crosse questions, which, with keen wit
nesses, only served to correct mistakes,
and he made no notes. which, in mighty
memories. only tend to embarrass.
The examination being ended, rs coun-
sci for The plaintiff he had the right to
the opening as well as the closing speech;
but to the astonishment of every one, he
declined the former, and allowed the de-
fence to lead otI.
Then shadow might have been seen
to fit across the features OF Pike, and to
darken the bright eyes of Prentiss. They
saw they had caught Tartar" but
who it was, or how it happened, was i'm
possible to guess.
Col. Ashley spoke first. He dealt the
jury dish of that coarse, dry, logic
which years afterwards rendered him ia
nous in the Senate of the Union.
The poet, Albert Pike, followed with a
vein of wit and half torrent of ridicule,
in which neither the plaintiff or her rag
ged attorney were forgotten or spared.
The great Prentiss concluded for the
defendant, with a glow of gorgeous
words, brilliant as a shower OF falling
stars, and with bursts of oratory that
brought the house down in cheers, in
which even the sworn jury themselves
joined, Notwithstanding the stern order
of the bench. Thus wonderfully suscep-
tible are the SoutherE people to the
charms of impassioned eloquence.
1t was the strangers turn. He had
remained apparently abstracted during
all the previous speeches. Still, and
straight, and motionless in his seat, his
pale, smooth forehead shooting high like
a mountain cone of snow, and, but for
that continued twitch that came and
went perpetually in his face, you would
have taken him for mere man of mar
BILE, or a human form carved in ice. Even
his dim, dreary eyes were invisible be-
meath those grey, shaggy eyebrows.
But now at last he rises-but before
the bar-not behind it-and so near the
wondering jury that he might touch the
foreman with his long bony fingers
With his eyes half shut, and standing
rigid as pillar of iron, his thin lips
curled as if in measureless scorn, slight
ly apart. and the sound came forth
AT first it was low and sweet, insinua-
ting itself into the brain, rs an artless
tune winding its way in the deepest re-
cesses of the heart like the melody of
magic incarnation, while the speaker pro-
ceeds, without gesture or the least sig
nal of excitement, to tear to pieces the
argument of Ashley, which mets away
at his touch as frosts before the sunbeam.