The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-12-08
CONSTRUCTIVE CONTEMPT,
THE BARTHOLOMEW BUSINESS.
PRATHER AS A PURGER.
Forty Dollars Worth of Contempt
for Court that Needs Purging.
TIE sENTINEL's CONTEMPT CASE.

a ZEN PICTURE OF PRATAEfS--0 AO "oOIDN Il
HAVE CONTEMPT FOR SUCH AS he!
The most memorable day in the history
of Bartholomew county was Friday, Decem-
ber Sd, A. d. 1875. Early on that eventful
morning the citizens Of Columbus jumped
from their beds, broke the ice in their do
mestic pitchers, bolted their breakfasts and
then mounted their housetops to look out
for the Indianapolis train. The idea had
become general that some paper in Indian
apolis had smutched the purity OF Allen
w. Prasher's judicisl ermlne; that
the court had thereupon realizsd that
il might under some circumstances be an
object of contempt, and acting upon that
conviction, had summoned the managers OF
the Indianapolis Sentinel to appear and
show cause why they should not mount the
stool of repentance for contemptuous deeds
done in the flesh. The delegation arrived
within the limits of Pratber jurisdiction
promptly at Gals, aud filed to the
court house, and there was lamenta-
ton and much crane in the ranks.
The magnitude of the contempt was felt to
be 50 immense that the parties sum-
moned just thought they would remain at
home and send down afhdavits and replies
TO the blind and outraged goddess who runs
the SCALES. The frigidity, as it were, OF this
proceeding rather checked, so to speak. pub
lie enthusiasm, and there was feeling Of
sadness akin TO pain in the breasts of the
awe-stricken multitude at the court house.
The funeral procession, composed of two
lawyers and a sixth of a dozen reporters,
passed few moments in silent med
ita.ion, commencing their lives and property
to Providence, and then passed mournfully
into the temple ofjustice. The great con-
tempted had previously carried himself,
including his outraged dignity, into the
room and his legal anatomy was arranged in
negligee fashion on plain chair in front of
the bench. This was something of shock.
To find man who was capable of
being so grievously offended actually
sitting on level with the common
herd rather smashed the exalted ideal. But
the fieshy substance left for the fancy to dis
sect made some amends for the disappoint-
ment.
LORD CHANCELLOR PRATHER
partially opened one eye on the proxies sent
by the offenders, then shut it and waited
till the clock struck 10, then he arose from
his lowly station, and on mounting the
bench brought his physiognomy into bold
relief. His legal spirit is now imprisoned
in q feshly tenement which weighs
over two hundred pounds. A chance ohser-
yer would conclude that some proprietor
OF butcher shop had stolen behind the
bench, so repulsive and stupid is the man.
There are some stations in life, not too in
tellectual in their surroundings, which the
present lawyer" might adorn; but his
heavy animal features (which nature has
had the goodness to conceal partially by a
growth Of whiskers), bis big, coarse, habby
lips; his dull, sleepy eyes, which he rolls up
lsnguidly like walrus in the inter-
walls of his torpor, combined with the
crooked course of his legal conceptions, make
a compound, physical and mental, which
might easily be the object OF contempt. His
appearance on the bench of one of the most
important courts in this state was a painful
picture for the eye. Though attempting to
buckle on dignity, his manners indicated that
a sense of thinly disguised shame ad tanned
him into feeling OF wholes ome respect for
his critics. aud this, in the absence of dig
nifty, served partially to conceal the revenge
he wanted to unbridle, but for fear it might
like the boomerang, come back upon him
SELF His struggle after some legal brilliant
that would give the audience faint notion
at least that he had a mind was extremely
painful and it may be added, fruitless.
Whatever he said told either of the weak
ness of an imbecile or the trickery of a
cross road quack. His elaborate bowl OF
legal mush about the dignity of his bench
is given In full below, and will be found to
eonduee to his rapidly descending reputa-
ton. By the way, when the chancellor
had heard the arguments made by
Mr.. Howe, and said he would take several
hours to incubste on q decision, very
honored attorney of the Bartholomew bar,
the Hon. Ralph Hill, begged the court not
to dissolve into thin air till he could pre-
sent petition. He then proceed to drop
THE LAST STRAW
on the chancellor's judicial back He said
that by agreement of all the lawyers
OF the Columbus bar interested in case
set for this term, both civil and criminal, he
would request the court to file the proper rsc
ords for their continuance till srcn time as
Judge Hester could hear them. Fe alleged
as a reason that Judge Hester had already
made up the issues for most of them and
that all parties concerned would bs better
satisfied to have che same judge continue
through with the cases. Then the chancellor
rolled up bis wslrus eye, dropped it, and
remarked, with stoicsl resignation, that
the clerk might issue such a general
order. Mr.. Hill said they preferred a
special record in each case. The chan
celor opened his left orb again and OBJ
served that the petition would be honored as