Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1871-03-22
TECHNICALiTIES-AN ANECDOTE.


once heard pretty good thing il
the s. j. Court, at Portland. The cas-
was one of severe assault upon the frs
officer of Yankee barque, by one of tn
crew, which occurred on shore. Judg,
S. was upon the bench. He was I;
small man; resting firmly upon his judi
cial dignity; firss-class lawyer; and
withal, inclined to be seifsuficient anC
crusty. No attorney at the bar ever ven
tured to take liberties with Judge s.
| The principal witness IN the present
case was an old weather-beaten sailor
named Jack Miller,-and more perfect
specimen of .he unsophiscated son of the
ocean | never saw. He was born OF
shipboard. and during life of three and
Fifty years I've had hardly spent twelve
month on shore 1t was study-thost
two men the Judge upon the bench
smooth as glass, and as polished, hi:
white hair brushed down as though every
particular silvery thread had. been laid ii
its appropriate place; while stern, un
yielding dignity sat like frost-work upon
him,-the old sailor upon the stand
gaunt and square-shouadered his swarl
face SCARED and corrugated Ike the shell
of an alligator his coarse, srizz}ed hail
not unlike the hirsute coat of q bear
while his whole mien and bearing was
that of the man who made up his mind
to take his chance, do his duty, and trust
the result to Providence-as he had beea
wont to do all his life.
Now Jack was called to testify agains,
his shipmate. as he had witnessed the as
sault. and had in,erfered to terminate it
but he was anxious to tell as little against
his chum as possible; and, Furthermore
to soften down and excuse what he Gid
tell; and this led him to be little Yamb.
ling in his testimony. The Judge had
been making notes with pencil, and as
Jack was wandering off into an unneces-
sary explanation, he lifted his head. and
evidently forgetting for the moment the
exact stand of the witness-with his
mind partially upon his notes, She testify
exclaimed /:
Come witness,-ad rem,-ad propos
ifum Don't wander So
The witness stopped, and looked up at
the Judge wonderingly. He repeated
the abstruse words to himself as nearly
as he could pronounce them, and then,
with earnest simplicity, asked
Yer Honor, what dose them words
mean?'
Never mind, never mind" returned
the Judge, with an impatient wave of the
hand. They are technical terms, used
in law, not for men in your position to
understand. Go ONO on
There was a litter i'll the courtroom as
poor Jack turned, rather crest-fallen,
back to the examining counsel Pretty
soon the witness sought to explain that
his shipmate, when be made the assault,
was not himself. Said he, half to the
counsel, and half to the jury:
"Tom were pooty hard on for it,
He'd spliced the main brace, an doubled
the tub, an tapped the admiral, more'n-'' y
The little smooth head of Judge s.
bobbed up at this point.
"Stop, witness I don't comprehend.
What don you mean by doubling the
tub tapping the admiral, and the other
equally ambiguous expression ?"
Jacks face snapped just single
spark, and then his face was calm and
serene as the bark of an old gnarled oak
way, yer Honor, he replied with
patronizing respect and Difference,
.them's tecknicle terms, used on ship
board, which it aren't expected at men
in yer Honor's position would under
stand"
While his Honor was subsiding a tit
ter broke loose in the courtroom which
would have swelled to roar if the sheriff
had not sternly bitten his lips, and loudly
commanded, Order y 5. G., JR.
a little five-year old boy was being in
structed in morals by his mother. The
old lady told him that all such terms as
'By golly," "by jingo,' "by thunder .
etc. were only minced oaths, and but 1t