The Placer herald., 1873-04-05

attorney were forgotten or spared The
great Prentiss concluded for the defendan,
with glow of gorgeous words, brilliant as "A
shower of falling stars, and with final
burst of oratory that brought the house down
IN cheers in which the sworn jury themselves
joined regardless of the stern ''order" of the
bench.
| 1t was now the strangers turn. He had
remained apparently abstracted during the
previous speeches, sitting motonless in his
chair, his pale, smooth forehead shooting up
high like mountain cone Of snow. Bul
now at last be rises, and so near the wonder
ing jury that he might touch them with his
long, bony fingers. With his eyes still hall
shut, and standing rigid as pillar of iron
his thin lips curl, slightly part, and the voice
comes forth. AT first it is low and sweet
like the melody of an incantation, while the
speaker proceeds to tear in shreds the argu
ment of Ashley, that melts away as snow
before the sun. Every one looked surpris-
ed. Anon he came to the dazzling wit of
the poet-lawyer, Pike. Then the curl of his
liz grew sharper, his sallow face kindled up
and his eyes began to open, now dim and
dreamy no longer, but vivid as lightning
red as fire globes, ond glarng like twin me-
teors. The whole soul was in the eye, the
fall heart streamed out on the face. In five
minutes Pixies wit seemed the foam of folly.
and his finest satire horrible profanity W en-
contrastcd with the iimitable sales and ex-
erminating sarcasms of the stranger. Then,
without so much as bestowing an allusion to
Prentiss he turned short on the periured
Witnesses of Hopkins, tore their testimonv
into atoms, and hurled into their faces such
terrible invectives that all trembed as will
an ague, and two of them fed in terror from
the courtroom. The excitement of the
crowd was becoming tremendous; the lif.
and soul of the assembly seemed to hang on
the tongue of the speaker; he inspired them
with his own passions and saturated them
with the poison of his own malicious feeling
But his greatest triumph was to come.
His eyes began to glare frrtively at the
assassin Hopkins, and his lean, taper fingers
slowly assumed the same direction. He
hcmmed the wretch with a circumvallatiou
of strong evidence and impregnabe arsu-
ment, cutting off all hope of escape He
piled up huge bas,ions Of insurmountable
facts
He ding beneath the murlerercr and SIAN
aercrs feet di'chcs OF dilommis such ms no
sophislrv coul overlap and 10 stretch of
ingenuity evadc; and having thus, as one
might say impounded his victim, and hem
med him ike scorpion in fire, he stripped
himself TO the work Of massacre.
OH then, but it was vision most glor-
ous and dreadful to behold the orator. IIi-
actions, before graceful as the wave of "a
golden willow in the breeze, grew impctuous
rs the motion of an oak in the hurricane.
His voice became "A trumpet filed with the
wild whirIpools, deaiening the ears with
crashes Of power, and yet inlerminged all
the while with sweet under song OF
-oftest cadence. His face was as red as a
drunkard's, his countenancc looked haggard
rs that of a maniac; and ever and anon he
flung his long, bony arms on high, as il
grasping at tIunderbots. lie drew pic
ing coors that hell itself might be con
sidered beautiful. He painted the slanderer
so black that the sun seemed dark at noon
day when shining on such an accursed mon
ster; and then he so fixed both portraits on
the shrinking brow of Hopkins that he nailed
them there forever The agitation of the
audience nearly amounted to madness.
All at once the speaker descended from
his perlous height. His voice walled our
for ihc murdered dead, the beautiful Mary.
rore beautiful every moment, as her tears
hove faster, till men wept and lovely wo-
men sobbed like children.
He closed by a strong exhortaion to the
Jury, and through them to the bystanders.
He entreated the PANEL after they should
bring in their verdict for the plaintiff, not to
offer violence to the defendant, however
richly he m ight deserve it; in other words,
mot to lynch the villain Hopkins, but leave
his punishment to Cod" This was the
rnost arrful trick of all, and the best calcu-
lated to insure vengeance.
The jury rendered verdict of $50, 600,
and the night afterwards Hopkins was taken
from his bed by lynchers and beaten almost
to DEATH
As The speaker concluded, faint scream
was heard, and the beautiful Mary Elliston
sprang forward and throwing her arms around
the neck of her eloquent benefactor, pro-
ooh, my husband! my long lost
md folsaken husbandp The two walked
from the room together. Just as they were
passing the door. the stranger turned and
announced, "John Taylor will preach here
tonight"
The sermon is said to have equalled his
speech at the bar.
have listened to Clay. Webster and
Csdhoun-to Dewey, Tying and BAscome,
but have never heard anything in the form
of sublime words even remotely approxima
ing the eloquence of Taylor, massive as
and wildly rushing as a cataract of
fire. And this is the opinion Of all who ever
heard the marvellous man.
THE Eureka Sentinel says the horses in
Virginia are recovering from the epizootic tho
present warm weather being favorable to