The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-05-20
A sketch or Iudre Undervoo,l.

- VI UhNoE"OOus
John c. Underwood, United States
Judge for the District of Virginia, has
recently became famous inODonnectIon
with the jeff Davis indictment and no
lease. He is we'll known to many, peo-
pie in Wheeling, and we therefore, as
matter oflocnl interest, append the
following sketch of him from an ex-
change:
He is a sad-looking man, OF an ex-
preston of mingled fear and obstinucy.
with pale retreatiuG eye, without
color, gray OF hair, and suggesting an
invalid clergyman of some fanaticism.
His talk Is what l may call smOthered,
intensely urged into monotone, nd he
looks downward and forward together,
like q man at bay and about to spring.
Judge Underwood WAS n New York
er, from Herktmer county, and he was
the tutor ofn Southern family while a
young man, one of his pupils alter
wards becoming his wife. l surmise
thHt some original opinions which he
entertained at this time were radical
ised by his dislike of the personal over
bearing of shareholders and the Sights
which his sensitive nature received. He
came NOrthward after marriage, and
was one of the founders of the great
cheSSe-making interest OF the Mohawk
Valley. His wife's health, grievously
affected by the sharp Northern climate.
compelled his return to Virginia. and
he settled in Fauquier county, where
he practiced law.
In the adjoining county there was an
old man, who, dying, sent to Under
wood to write his will. He wished ten
thousand dollars that he had, and his
only negro, to be bequeathed to his re-
latives. Judge Underwood urged him
to set the negro free, and on refusal
told the old man that he must get
somebody else to write the paper. This
affected the old man with some COM
FUNCTIONS of remOrSe, and he left the
negro free. When the will was read the
relative who expected to be willed the
negro, made such an outcry against
Judge Underwood that he was cOmpell-
ed to fly. He then reappeared in 1856,
at the Fremont Convention, and for his
speech there was outlawed at home.
Since that time his heart has been so
embittered against slavery that the
fevOr of his charge to the Grand Jury,
generally condemned as too partisan
and undigniied, was reflex OF his
feelings and an exponent of his ordi-
nary conversation. With these intern
| perauce of speech, Judge Underwood
must be conceded an ardent patriotism,
consistency of opinion, and fair powers
OF argument.
| told him in somewhat long talk
/ that the feeling of the military was for
kind measures, and that he had not been
Fcomplimented for his already violent
/ charge.
you do not know" he answered,
"the feeling of these people and the
wickedness OF this city. This IS the
wickedest city of the world. The great
slave market of the country for fifty
years; four hundred slave traders lived
here and sold from ten to twenty mill
lions Of dollars worth of mans flesh
every year; One-quarter of this invest
. meut being clear profit.
The proceeds of this atroCious traffic
was shared by every child and woman
in the city. They fattened on it. The
concomitant sins of slavery were basest
and broadcast here. Disregard OF life,
and murder were common. They have
not changed one jot since the war, are
| no more loyal nor humane than before,
and kept from numbering me and every
Repu blicHn here only by fear. think
that the release OF Jefferson Davis, or
his going at large upon bail, or his
commitment to any place but Libby
| The soldiers would hail his return to
their old quarters as acknowledgements.
This IS my feeling"
He spoke in a low tone of smothered
zeal all the while. BalfOur, of Burley,
vas not more carnally armed for Cos pei
revenges. l left him, satisfied that Da-
Wis was doomed for Libby, to be shut
up there until his trial, which would
take place remotely.