Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-01-09
Opening Of the Tiltou.Reecher Trial,


george Alfred 0ownSend, who is doing up
the graphic and picturesque features of the
Illton- Bcecher trial for the New York Her
90, thus sketches some of the actors on the
DAY OF the opening proceedings:
This celebrated cause, after long DELAYS
not To say prevarications and maneuyerings
Tor Position. came forward yesterday to
something like action. The large court room
on the east side of the great corridor of the
brooklyn courthouse was filled with queer
medley OF professional and non-professiOnal
people. generally respectfully dressed. but in
The main of bewildered countenance. az il
strange 10 the forms of justice while contrib
uting to its aggravation and disorder.
BEECHER THERE
In the midst, widely known by his portrait
10 every, even the Obscurest, invader of the
chamber, Henry Ward Beecher sat reading,
the old look of the bloOded horse i'm his nos
trlls and little age enshrined in his worldly
wise and notable face, mellowing il to mix
ture of sandy gray and BLUSH red. Warmth
and time, thought and pain, ardOr and intui
non, spoke out of its autumn colOrs beyond
me expressiyeness of any face In the room,
judge or attorney. The nOn-prOfeSsional
character OF this eminent divine was in more
IMAM usual contrast among the legal brother
hood. He showed the lOOser iii of the clerical
as compared with the legal texture, less gim-
Lefty features, more breadth of introspection
and less of mere incisiOn of the wits; a sort of
halo OF temperament was around him almost
visibly. and his adaptable life and histrionic
art showed as well in this secular court as i'm
some more spiri tual temple, although he did
no more than sit and look OH.
The occasion was not favorable TO n close
study of Mr.. Beecher's face, as he was sur
rounded by standing laggards looking on
agape, and for certain periods would not be
visible at all, swallowed up in the crowd.
Yet, that the face OF one exceptional was
there was felt every instant that chance re-
vealed 1t. The length of the profile, the swing
of the eyes in their sockets, and of the long
haired head on the shoulders. and the leonine
ShyneSS, like something in q cage on show,
but with great bounding Out-of-dOOr ma
ture. not yet inert. gave Mr.. Beecher sort of
lonely irrelevanCy to the spot
Sometimes he looked to be bored, as If all
this time was being SubtTactcd from creative
work and finer study. Again. he took
sharp, worldly interest in some subject mat
ter, and his whole temperament seemed to
beam out then, like the flame of q revolving
light. AT other times he turned to his news
paper or review, and read along like q re-
viewer and cO-authOr, with a lengthening
face, at last serious and tired.
Those who know the motion and throng of
p great city court OF very high jurisdiction,
the rapid disposition of cases, the press of
the attorneys in crowd 10 the clerk table.
and the snap and dispatch of what seems to
the novice profound matter for reflection.
Will apprehend the confusion in which the
great orator was passive being until his
case came up-"Tilton against Bcecher."
Ready" exclaimed Mr.. Shearman. dra-
matte a. the occasion required.
Then the crowd cleared away invOluntar-
lily. and MI Beecher was seen looking at
Tracy with all the dependence he could have
made client fele if he were upon the thea
ter at the beginning of the climax scene
where the innocent chief actor l. in the dock
Mr.. Sherman, vino will have the main
conduct of the first part of the case, is less
widely known than Mr.. Beecher and may
require word or two of description.
SKETCH OF SHEARMAN.
A small, solid, tidy man, of nervous fingers
and manners. bearded black around the laws
ana with goatee running from the lip into
and his forehead is the best of him. massive
and unwrinkled, except which he grows quer-
ulous. His black eyes are ncar-Sighted and
beam very close under small, YhitiSh eve
brOws. Gold spectacleS increase the appar-
ent oveT-anXicty and frOWniug nature of
those eyes. and Hebraic nose, short and
eyes, with very little bridge and noStril to
1T. His ears are nearly square. and he might
carry two earrings on the lobe of each of them
without juggling. The mouth gets in as well
a IL can between this short Roman nose and
the gOatce, and his little, pretty hands
are generally in motion, as are his eyes. ell
bows and head. Ii appears as if he might get
easily cnraged, but with difficulty he kept
stationary. lie is apparently fOTty-fOur or
fOrtN-SiX years old and very clean and proper
in his tonsuTe and dress. When he rises he
looks smaller than when seated, and his head
becomes prOpOrtiOnably more fOTmida BILE. At
times keen and clear, he has a genius of OBJ
stIuCtiOn. and falls back before the enemy a.
slowly as General Joe Johnson, of whom il
was said that he took lOO days TO fall back to
Atlanta, less TO ObStruct the enemy than to
pick up all the old shoes and leaky cantecns
ttil the fOttt MI Slltstfllliln
having figured as counsel for James Fisk.
Jr., when his favOrite judge dictated bench
orders from lodgings near by the Grand
Opera House.
SCENE OF THE TRIAL.
The city cOUrt-rOOmS OF brooklyn are clean,
lofty, Carpeted halls. set out abutment fashion
from the corridors, so as 10 afford light on
three sides. y small gallery is in the dark
end, set on brackets, with n railroad space
beneath il, outside the bar, the whole afford
ing room for about two hundred spectators.
Within the bar the area is much larger, and
the warm light Of the tall windows and
figured carpet brings into plain relief the
attorneys, reporters, principals and their de-
pendentS; the three chestnut tables for bar
and counsel; the double rows of chairs for
iurymen, and the platform, gilt desk and
hallustTades and high leather chairs of the
judges. Over the central chair is q pale cOpv
of Pealc's Washington Stenciled on the wall:
above this a pair of metal scales pendant.
Over the entablature which makes the back
ground of the bench is a gilt gle and CAV
painted shield. The sides Of the room are
made in imitation OF stone, and the ceiling is
deep with mOuldingS, gay in color. and suS-
tainS reflector at the center