Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-01-14
FIRST EDITION.
the GREAT TRIAL.
OUR NE wy oRK LETTER


AND rREss-skEToHEs OF THE LEGAL GIANTS
ENGAGED, ETC, ETC.
Correspondence of0ie Commercial.
New YORK, JAN 9.
Like the other principal chambers OF the
building, tho General Term court room of the
Brooklyn City Court is noble room. 1t is some
fifty feet square and thirty feet high,
with lofty windows and handsomely
fr1scocd walls. In this room the
great Beecher-Tilton contest goes on. high
get in first, and is always crammed for an hour
or 10 before the opening of Court in the Beech
er case. The main floor il given up to lawyers,
Jurors. and
REPRESENTATIVES, OF THE PRESS
OF the latter there are fifty or sixty in atten-
dance, crowding number OF long tables ar
ranged around the witness stand besides many
correspondents and editors who are not under
the necessity Of being CONFINED to their notes. "
Some of the leading city papers employ az many
as ten stenographers each on this case,
but these and mostly such stenographers
as mere newspaper reporting can
command. The men who are capable
of a really oerbdtim report of a trial like this,
can be counted on your fingers, and mostly en-
gagged in official positions in courts OF law.
The daily reports OF the Tribune, which
give the reader fuller view Of everything said
and done than an ordinary spectator could posB-
bly, get for himself if he sat by the side Of the
judge, are the work OF
wARBURroN, BosYNeE AND ADAMS.
of New York, official stenographers to the Court,
for this case, and the Oldest law reporters, il
mistake not, IN the city. Warburton, at least,
have met as a reporter for nearly twenty-five
years. Their reports are, Of course, made to be
sworn to, and the court and counsel rely on them
exclusively for the minutes Of the case. They
are published, to the last st, in every morn
ranged on the blank pages Of convenient-sized
scrap books, for the convenience of the lawyers,
who may be seen frequently consulting them.
Each of the three stenographers above named
in succession writes for half an hour, and when
relieved repairs to the Tribune Brooklyn office,
reads off his notes to rapid copyists who take
them down, revises the copy" and sends it, as
fast az completed, to the compositors. Each
days proceedings would fill pamphlet Of fifty
large octave pages.
JUDGE NELSON
is every inch Judge, and his (cubc) inches are
not few. His portly rotundity, however, is but
ndiTerently supported on the right side by a
lmping artificial leg. His looks would pass for
sixty or upwards although his hair is not gray,
for he has none. A smooth brown wig plasters
his well developed Uranium, except, of course,
the Webster-hke dome in 'front.' His clean shaved
strong and unsymmetrical face is massive
immolsh, grave, judicial, and yet by no means
sterile or unkindly in expression. 1t is face
for wear, not ornament, and his manner on the
bench il equally simple, as if his high functions
were the most commonplace matters in the
world. His word is courteous and liberal alike
toward counsel, jurors, witnesses, (whom he
does not allow to be brow-beaten) and even the
press. l saw him interpose personally before
taking his seat) to secure chair in the Jam for
Nh humble representative of II rural paper, whom
a corrt officer had just rudely hustled from an
inappropriate position.
THE NoBLEsr FACE
in the most remarkable Of counsel, is, OF course,
that of VIM. M. Eyarts though shrunk and
shriveled away. at the lower part from the
ma ajestcally expressive forehead, by an extreme
degree of emaciation, which deprves the super
fetal eye of very much of the unconscious dignity
of his presence. There is also sweetness in the
expression of the mouth i'll action which de-
tracts from tho imposing effect of his counte-
nance in repose as seen in photographs. His
slight and tleshless figure constitutes nothing,
and he looks better without it. refined intel
lectlality and purity arc the stamp of his as
pect. 1t seemed somewhat singular to see
senior council of Mr.. Evarts' cabre, taking the
commonplace drudgery of cross-examining ju-
rors, all day long, with 30 many capable juniors
by his side inactive. But as he is to be the
great advocate in the case, he wishes to get
into personal contact and rapport with
tho men he is to deal with.
TILToN's SENIOR COUNSEL,
VIM A. Beach, is also leader of the New York
bar, but striking contrast to his distinguished
opposite. He il handsome man, symmetrical
and commanding in countenance as well as i'll
figure, but with a cold light in his blue eyes and
faultless smile, that does not suggest the nobler
moral qualities. His face is slightly iorid,
neither full nor spare, with high forehead, hair
rather white than gray, with a tuft of the same
at the chm and on the whole is formed for se-
verify, which his irritable temperament brings
out strongly, in a contest with witness, for ex-
ample. His bearing in the examination of jurors
il much less polite and conciliatory than that of
other counsel. Even
EX-JUDGE FULLERTON,
his next associate (also of New York; who is
considered all odiolisly overbearlng lawyer, was
respectful to the Jurors he examined.
He is stont English-look ng blonde, OF far
height, full, ilorid face features just the least
puggy, or bully, according to excitement, and
light curly hair, beginning to recede from hls
temples. The next in rank, on Tilton's side, is
Ex JUDGE NORRIS OF BROOKLYN,
who looks the able, downright lawyer, busi-
ness-like and practical yet sufficiently politi-
clan. He il Of medium height, strong shoul-
dered, with black thick lair, thin moustache, and
a not unprepossessng countenance.
ROGER A. PRYOR,
on the same side, is tall and lauk though not
excessively, with nearly black hair falling
straight behind, delicatey sanguineous COM
pexon clean-shaved, and in a suit of no gray
but all blue. He s uneasy and embarrassed
with self elf-cnnsciousness his hands distract his
attention, as do also his head and most of his
joints, but espe Tally his under lips which con-
tinually requires to be boosted up Into conference
with the prominent nose His manner is suave
and complaisant to an extreme. These unpre-
possessing weaknesses however, are the indca-
tions of susceptibility which is often related to
fine qualities and powers, and Gen. Pryor has
certainly taken very respectable rank at the New