Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1866-07-27
The Volunteer Counsel.
A THRILLING STORY,

| bAlTUOrulnury genius. lie married Deau-
! ty, who afterwards deserted him for anoth-
er.
On the 9th of April, 1910, the courthouse
in Clarksvillc, Texas, was crowded to over
! flowing. An exciting case was to be tried.
George Hopkins, wealthy planter had of
fered gross insult to Mary Ellison, the
! young and beautiful wife of his overseer.
| The husband threatened to chastise him for
the outrage, when Hopkins went to Ellison's
! house and shot him at his own door. The
murderer was bailed to answer the charge.
This occurrence produced great excite
mcnt, and Hopkins, in order to turn the tide
of popular Indignation, had circulated re-
Z ports against her character and she had
sued him for slander. Both suits were pend
| ing-for murder and sander.
The interest became deeper when it be-
came known that Pike and Ashley of Ar
kansas, and S. S. Prcntiss of New Orleans,
! by enormous fees, had been detained TO de-
! fend Hopkins.
Hopkins was acquitted. The Texas law
yers were overwhelmed by their opponents.
1t was the fight of dwarf against giant.
The slander case was for the 9th, and the
throng of spectators grew in numbers as
well as excitement; public opinion was set
ting in for Hopkins; his money had procur-
ed witnesses who served his powerful advo-
Gates. When the SANDER case was called,
Mary Ellison was left without an attorney
all had withdrawn.
"Ilave you no cOunsel?' inquired Judge
Mills. looking kindly at the plaintiff.
mo, sir they have all deserted me, and |
am too poor to employ any more" replied
the beautiful Mary, bursting into tears.
"ln such case will not some chivalrous
member Of the profession yolunteer?" said
the Judge, glancing around the bar
The thirty lawyers were silent.
~ will, your honor said a voice from the
thickest part of the crowd behind the bar.
At the sound of that voice many started
it was unearthly, sweet and mournGul.
The first sensation was changed into
laughter, when II tall, gaunt, spectral figure
elbowed his way through the crowd, and
placed himself within the bar. His clothes
looked SO shabby that the court hcsitatcd TO
let the case proceed through his manage
mcnt
"lIas your name been entered on the rolls
of the State?" asked the Judge.
''It is immatcrial,o answered the stranger,
his thin boodiess lips curling with Il snccr.
Here is my license from the highest tribu-
nal of America aud he handed the Judge
Il broad parchment. The trial went on.
He allowed the witnesses to tell their sto-
ry. and the defense to lead of. Ashley spoke
first, followed by Pike and Prcntiss. The
latter brought the house down in cheers in
which the jury joined
II was now the strangers tlrn he rises
before the bar not behind it-and so near
the wondering jury that he might touch the
foreman with his long, bony fingers. He
proceeded to tear to pieces the arguments of
Ashley, which melted away at his touch like
frost before Il sunbeam: every one looked
surprised. Anon he came to the dazzling
wit of the poet-lawyer, Pike. Then the curl
of his lip grew sharper, his smooth face be-
gan To kindle, and his eyes to open, dim and
drcary no longer, but vivid as lightning, red
as iire-globes and glarihg as twn-meteors.
The whole soul in the eve. the full heart
streamed out of his face. Then without be-
slowing an allusion to Prentiss, he turned
short around on the periured witnesses of
Hopkins, tore their testimony into shreds,
and hurled into their faces such terrible in
vectives that all trcmblcd like aspens, and
two of them fled from the courthouse. The
excitement of the crowd was becoming tre-
mendous. Their united souls seemed to
hang upon the burning tongue of the strang-
er; he inspired them with the power Of his
malignant passion: he seemed to have stolen
natures long-hidden secret of attraction.
But his greatest triumph was to come.
His eye began to glance at the assassin,
Hopkins, and his lean taper fingers assumed
the same direction. He hemmed the wretch
with wall of strong evidence and imprcg-
nablc argument cutting Off all hope of es-
cape. He dug beneath the murderers feet
ditches of dilemma, and held the slanderer
up to the scon and contempt of the popu-
lace. Having thus girt him about with Il
circle of fire, he stripped himself to the work
of massacre.
III, OIL oil orin Il
dreadful to behold the orator. His actions
became as impetuous as the motions of the
oak in hurricane. His voice became Il
trumpet filled with wild whirlpools, deafen-
ing the ear with crashes of power, and yet
intermingled all the while with a sweet un-
dersong of the softest cadence. His fore
head glowed like heated furnace, his coun-
tenance was haggard like that of maniac,
and ever and anon he flung his long and bony
arms on high as if grasping after thunder
bolts
He drew picture Of murder in such col
ors that in comparison he'll itself might be
considered beautifUl he painted the sland-
erer so black that the sun seemed dark at
noon-day, when shining on such an accursed
monster, and then, fixing both portraits on
the sinking Hopkins, fastened them there
forever, The agitation of the audience near
ly amounted to madness.
All at once the speaker descended from
the perilous height. His voice walled out
for the murdered dead and liying-the beau
tiful Mary, more beautiful every moment as
tears flowed taster-till they wept and sob
bed like children.
lie closed with an eXhortation to the Jury.
and through them to the bystanders; he ad-
ysed the panel, after they should bring in Il
verdict for the plaintiff, not to offer violence
to the defendant however richly he might
deserve it.; in other words, mot to lynch the
villain, but leave his punishment to Cod
This was the most artful trick of all and the
best calculated to insure vengeance.
The jury returned a verdict of $4,000;
and the night after Hopkins was taken out
of bed and beaten almost TO DEATH AS the
court adjourned, the stranger said:
John Taylor will preach here this even
! ing at early candle-light.N
He did preach, and the house was crowd
ed. ] have listened to Clay, Webster and
Calhoun, TO Dwight, Bascom and Beecher,
but never heard anything in the form OF
, sublime words even remotely approximate
ing to the eloquence of John Taylor-mas-
siye rs Il mountain, and wildly rushing as a
cataract of fire.
a BEAR in A BEDRooM.-On Thursday
night a tame bear, which is kept by the pro-
prietor of the Cambria House. rot loose
from his lpnnQl and etorfod ~, %, d.