The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1878-08-29
[ From, The Philadelphia Times. I


When thieves knocked down and
robbed Jonathan Jasper Wright,
the colored South Carolinian, on
Sixth street, not long ago, they wore
dealing with very prominent man.
Flo was the first colored man ad>
nitted to thc bar of the Pennsyl..
vania courts; he was the first
colorod man admitted to the bar in
any State wherc the negro had no
Qoto ho was the first colored car
pet'bagger that entered the bor-
doris Of South Carolina; ho was the
tirst colored man admitted to the
bar Of that State; he was the first
colored man elected to any State
Senate; ho was the first colored
man that ever occupied seat on
the bench; he was tho first and
only colored man that was elevated
to the bonch of the Supreme Court
of the any State, and finally he is
the last man about whom there are
pretty distinct statements that he
has soiled his judicial robes and
got found out, and thereby turned
down from his high scat. He is
ono of Che men that has made
history for South Carolina since the
reconstruction of the Palmetto
State, and his last contribution to
his own notoriety is summed up in
three drinks, tho foolish exposure
in q saloon of 5000, fight. the
absence of that 5000, and his re-
moval to bed, from which he las
just arisen. In person he is tall,
Droad-shouldered and muscular.
His forehead is marrow, his eyes
dcep>set, his mouth large and his
color the deepest black. His mo-
tion and speech arc both slow and
ponderous. A lisp iaterfcres with
the trilling sound he invariably tries
to get on his rs, and in conversa~
tion he halts, says Ali, All, and socks
Tor larger word to express the
meaning smaller one is adequate
to do.
THE JUDGES SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK.
At present he is living in tho
highly aristoeratic colored boarding
house at 604 Pine street. His
immediate business is to excite q
moneyed interest in South Carolina
Sunday schools. In this religious
task ho says he has been fairly
successful and he proposes soon to
return to South Carolina, "whoro,
sir" says he, 81 propose to reside
the residue of my life-span and
there be buried"
Pennsylvania has furnished eome
very prominent carpet-baggors, but
Wright is the only distinguished
one of color, and for that reason, as
we'll as for his steps in advance of
his race in SO many instances, his
early record is worth preserving.
His father was slave and made
his escape by tho underground
railroad. He married in Luzeno
county, where the future South
Carolina statesman was born, in
1910. Afterwards the family went
to Susquehanna county and
Jonathan Jasper went to school
there. At the age of fifteen he
became the private pupil of the
Presbyterian minister at Spring
willie, and IN 1868 went to the
Lancasterian Academy, near Ithica,
N. Y, where he graduated in 1860.
He then taught school in Montrose.
Susquehnnna county, and in 1862
he entered the law Office of Bentley,
Fitch & Bentley, in Montroso, and
road two years. He then taught
school q year in Willsesbarre,
studying law at the same time with
Judge 0. Collins. In 1864 he made
an informal application to Judge
Mereur for admission to practice in
tho Pennsylvania courts. The
Judge, declining to give direct
answer except from the bench, said
that it was scarcely probable tho
application would receive an affirma-
tive reply. Thereupon Wright
accepted on appointment from the
American Missionary Society to 60
to Beaufort, South CaEolina, to
organize schools. Shortly after he
got there he hoard that Judge
Mercur had gone to Congress, aud
he returned at once to this State,
and his application for admission