Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-09-02

= r.
papers. You and he together VIII do the Dusl'
ness full as well as | cam.
Before he became Judge, Mr.. Parsons met
Alexander Hamilton is an important suit, tried
before Judge Ellsworth, In the New York courts.
The former was astonished by his opponents
legal knowledge, and particularly by his skill in
special pleading, naming him in open court "the
giant of the New England bar Ii was Upon
this occasion that, in replying to some distinc-
lions made, Hamilton saidi-"May 1t please
your honor, have known men to split hair,
and have tried to do 1t myself, but | never be.
fore saw any one decimatc a hair and COUNT the
pieces before the court" Referring to Especial
pleading" in which Theophius Parsons had,
perhaps, never a superior. Arguing case Is
not meant but the written allegations and re-
plies of the parties before the ease is tried. He
himself used to tell his demurrer story" as it
at last got to be called, with great gust0, De-
murrer is technical term of special pleading,
which means that the party demurs-that is, adj
mis the facts, but denies them to be sufficient in
law. This brings the case to higher court,
and is called taking up demurrer" The senior
member of the Stratford bar entered the court
one day in state of beaStly drunkenness, and
in cndeavOring to reach his place fell to the
floor. Two OF three friends were dbout him,
consulting how they should get him out without
compelling the judge to notice his condition,
one suggesting this way and another that, when
the old man called out-"Take me UP by de-
murrer Judge Jones don't know enough OF
pleading TO sec through that"
In confirmation of what Mr.. Webstcr's early
journal states about the eyes of Chief Justice
Parsons one peculiarly used always to be mem
toned by those who remembered him, and that
was the habit of looking ut person without
winking. 1t is strange that while we never fi0i
tice that person winks when looking at us un'
less it is done with disagreeable frequency, when
one looks without winking, 1t Is observed at
once. Chief Justice Marshall had this PECULIAR
ri pfaa odd cit1arb
of South Carolina, said about it;-"Oh, yes; the
good old Judge finds it of great service. When
a lawyer is talking against time, or annoying
the court with plattudes, that cold, wide-open,
never winkng gray eye iastens upon him and
a man can't stand it,"
James Sullivan was six years older than
Judge Parsons, and was in the full enjoyment of
his honorS when the latter had risen to notorie-
ty. He was attorney general of Massachusetts,,
an office of much more dignity and importance
then than it has been since. His manner was
easy and engaging, his reasoning logical and
plausible. His addresses to the Jury were al
ways marked by that vigorous display OF intel
lectual power and felicity Of illustration that
gave him his reputation. He was a gen.
tlcmen OF the old school, and kept up, accord
ing to the habits of the day a generous hospi-
tality. Although possessing great dignity OF
manner and person, he was nevertheless fond
of practical jokes, none of which, nevertheless,
will very well bear the telling. twas, however,
in practical wisdom that his great forte lay.
He said to friend who was complaining that at
his age, sixty, he felt that ones days must be
few and the capacity of usefulness well high
exhausted. "You mistake there. At sixty
nan in fair health may enter upon series of
years equal in usefulness and happiness
to those Of any period, provided proper
precautions are taken and proper habits
formed. Employment without labor, ex-
ercise without WEAKNESS, and temperance
ahcfinpnRn ORC I'm rulac IF n N
of three score years." The advice properly
contains as sound sense as could easily be COM
pacted in the same number of words. To Judge
Jay, who had expressed his regret that proyi-
dcnce permits the benefit of experience to de-
scend to others only in an imperfect degree and
who had remarked how much wiser the world
would be if, when the father died he could give
TO the son all those lessons which he had him
self learned in the hard school of experience,
Mr.. Sullivan said: "That would never do, judge.
1t would defeat the chief purpose for which we
live. The culture and improvement of ourselves
by our own efforts, not by the efforts of our pa
rents, Is what God MEANS"
An anecdote, characteristic of both Parsons
and Sullivan, used to be told by witty men,
Der of the Suffolk bar, who witnessed the scene.
The two eminent lawyers were opposing c0un-
sci in an insurance case. Parsons, from some
confusion OF ideas, in painting the horrors of
shipwreck, spoke of the wind "blowing off the
lee shore" Sullivan at first doubted the accu'
racy of his hcaringi but when Parsons, In reiter.
ating his argument, repeated the same blunder,
Sullivan quietly asked what kind of wind that
could be. Parsons, much excited, turned quick
as flash upon his enemy, and shouted out
with an impetuOuS voice, cit was an Irish hur-
ricane, brother Sullivan"
Samuel Dexter, as we have said already, was
eleven years yotinger than Theophilus Parsons,
and nearly twenty years younger than Gen.
Sullivan. He was above the average height, of
81
clined to corpulency. His features were large
and bold, his complexion dark and-Huguenot-
ic, In face his mouth large, and his face full
of logic His hair Just before his death, at the
early age of ifty-four, was ron-gray, coarse,
and falling loosely; his forehead broad, his step
firm, and gait erect, and his dress always neat
For period of some zen years he was the lead
ing politician, as well as the foremost lawyer of
New England, Madison made him secretary of
the treasury He possessed the power, both at
the bar and in the forum, Of stirring the pas
sons of men. In the supreme court at Wash
ington he rarely spoke without attracting an
audience composed of the taste, beauty, wit and
learning of the city. He opened his argument
in Il progressive order, erecting each successive
position upon some other, whose solid mass he
had already established on an immoyable foun-
datlon, till at last the superstructure seemed by
its ponderous proportions to bid defiance to the
assaults of human ingenuity. He was in mind,
gravity and method of speaking, greatly like
Daniel Webster.
Chief Justice Parsons was given to interrupt
ing counsel, saying, e. O., "Supposlng you take
this view of it, Brother Dexter" and himself
then proceeding with an argument. Mr.. Dex-
ter becoming one day very angry at these inter-
ruptions, took a small volume from his pocket
and said: "MaY it please your honor, will read,
with your permission, a few passages from the
book hold in my hand" What book is it?"
asked the chief justice, taking pen to make
note of it. "My Lord Bacon's Essay" replied
Mr.. Dexter; "and will read from the fifty
sixth Essay on Judicature. Judges ought to
remember that their office is JUS deere, and not
jus dare-tO interpret law, not to make it
Reading several sentences of similar tenor, Mr..
Dexter closed the book, replaced it in his pocket
and continued his argument without further in
terruption.
There was great bitterness when Mr.. Dexter
separated from the federalists, one of whose
leaders he had been. At political meeting in
Faneuil hall, held shortly after, Mr.. Otis adj
dressed the assembly. MIR. Dexter sat at his
left hand, little in the rear, at a distance of
eight or ten feet. TWAS no unusual thing at
dinner parties and in counting rooms TO accuse
the latter of "apostasy," but no man had dared
to do it in public. Mr.. Otis, however, closed his
speech with these words: owe shall not be
turned aside from our course, which we believe
TO be the path of duty, by any fear of the rulers
at Washington on the one hand, nor by that of
apoStaSy on the other" The utterance of these
words was accompanied by significant gesture
which plainly designated Mr.. Dexter, upon
whom all eyes were instantly turned. The lat
ter half rose, with all appearance of great in
dignatoD, and said, so as to be heard by Mr..
Otis, eff he does not retract those words, | will
wiring his nose" A gentleman friend of both
at once went to Mr. Otis, whispered a word in
his ear, when he resumed his remarks, saying,
that nothing could be more remote from his
intention than the slightest allusion of dsre-
spect to any gentleman present-especially to
one, the purity of whose patriotism was above
all suspicion. He should as soon think of
doubling the existence of his God" The mat
ter passed off, but the two eminent men were
never afterward friends.
Mr.. Otis power of persuasion Oftentimes
damaged him with the court. He relied too
much upon it, Arguing case before jury in
the supreme court of Massachusetts. Justice
Parsons said to him once: Brother Otis, don't
waste your time on that point; there's nothing
in it," Mr.. Otis stopped, looked the judge full
in the face, bowed, and, turning to the jury,
went on to another point in his case. "Nor in
this, either, Brother Otis, don't waste your
time" Mr.. Otis bowed again, went to a third
point, to be once more interrupted by the judge.
Somewhat annoyed, he turned to the bench and
said: 81 regret to find myself, your honor, I'M
able to please the court this morning" "Brother
Otis, replied the judge, with pleasant smile,
'you always please the court when you are