The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1865-07-19

yer Pike Then the curl Of his lip grew sharper bis
saow face kindled up, and his eyes began to open
dnt and dreamy longer, but vivid lightning, red
Gs fire, and glazing like twin meteors The whole wa1
in the eye-the full heart sreamed out in the face
In FIVE minutes Pixies Wit seemed the foam of folly,
and his finest satire horrible profanity which contrast
ed with the inimable saliies and DISCRIMINATING sar-
casm of the stranger interspersed with Jest aud
1 dote that filled the forum with laughter.
Then without SO much az bestoRihg an sllasion on
Prentss he turned short the perured Witnesses of
Hopkins tore their testimony into atoms and hurled
in their faces such terrible iayectyes that all rembled
as with ague, and two Of them actual! fed dis
MAYED from the court house
/ The excitement Of the crowd was tremendous
Their united life and soul appeared be burning tongue
of the stranger. He inspired them With the powers Of
his passion He saturated them With all the poison
of his malicious feelings He the sun the
sea Of all thought and emotion which rose and fell
and boiled in pillows as be chose But his greatest
| triumph was yet to come.
His ewes began to glare furvely at the assassin,
Hopkins as his lean taper finger slowly assumed the
satne direction. He hemmed the wretch around with
strong decentralization of strong evidence and i'm
pregnable arguments cutting oil ali hope of escape.
He piled huge bastions of insurmountabIe fact. He
dug beneath the murderer and sanderers feet bitches
of dilenmas such as sophstry could overlap and
no stretch Of ingenuity eyade; and having thus one
might say inpounded the victim and GRIT him about
like scorpion IN circle OF ire, he stripped himself
to the massacre
Oh then what 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 trumpe. filed with wild Hhrl-
winds; deafenng the ear with crashes Of power and
yet intermingled with sweet under song Of the soft
est cadence. His face was red as a drlnkard's-his
forehead glowed like heated furnace-hs. eounte-
nance looked haggard like that of maniac ana ever
and anon he flung his long bony arms on high, as if
graspng after thunderboltsi He drew picture Of the
murder in such appalling coors that in comparison
hell itself might be considered beautiful lie painted
the sanderer go black that the sun seemed dark at
noonday when shining On such an aecarsed monster;
and thenhe liked both portraits the shrinking brow
Of Hopkins and he nailed them there forever. The
agitation of the audience nearly amounted to mad
ness. ef 4
All at once the speaker descenGed from is perilous
height. His voice weled out for the murdered dead,
and describing the sorrows Of the widowed living
the beautiful Mary, beautiful every moment as
her tears flowed fastet-till wept and lovely wo
man sobbed ike child.
He closed by strange exortation to the jury and !
through them TO the bystanders. lie entrcated the
pannel after they should bring in the verdict for the
plaintiff not to offer the defendant any violence
however richly he might deserve it; in other words
mot to ltnti the villain, Hopkins, but to leave the
punishment to God" This was the most awful trick
Of all, and best calculated to ensure vengeance
The jury rendered verdict for fifty thousand dol
ars and the night afterwards, Hopkins taken out
IF his bed BY lyhchers, and beaten almost to death
As the court adjourned, the stranger made known
name and called the attention Of the people with
he announcement-"Joh Taylor will preach here
his evening at early candeIight!" u +
The crowd, of course, all turned out and Tavlors
ermon equalled, if it did not surpass the spledor of
he forensic effort This is no exaggeraton have
stetled to Clay, Webster and Calhoun; to Dewey w
lg and Bascomb; but have never heard ANYTHING in
he form of sublime words even remotely appFoximat,
rs the eloquenee of John Tayor-rnassive as noun
ain and wildly rushing cataract of fire. Aud this
the opinion Of all who ever heard that marvellous
nan.