The daily gazette., 1879-06-17
Men Of tl,e Pocomoke.


men of the Peninsula as follows:
The ablest men produced about and
below the PocomOke river have been
Samuel Chase, the celebrated judge, who
was impeached in Jefferson's administra-
ton; Abel p. Upshur, Of the Virginia re-
gion, just below, and Henry A. Wise,
who lived at Onancock, almost within
sight of the Pocomoke sound. Stephen
Decatur was accidentally born in the
Pocomoke region, and John M. Clayton,
of Delaware, originated close to the
sources of the Pocomoke, and his mother
was Marylander. A part of the youth
of Clement l.. Vallandigham was passed
in Snow Hill. Henry A. Wise in his life
of John Tyler, which bears the absurd
name of the "Seven Decades" gives an
account of his neighbor Upshur, the sec
retary of the navy who was killed by an
explosion on the Princeton frigate.
ABEL p. UPsHUR,
1t seems, according to Wise, was born on
that peninsular land of Virginia, the
Eastern Shore, 'the land Of the pine and
myrtle" He was in his youth the leader
of the great rebellion at Princeton Col
lege. His mother was sister of Colo
mel Thomas Parker, called "1Iangman
Tom" by the Tories of the Revolution,
who was captured at the battle of Ger
mantown, in Matthew's regiment, and
when Earl Iarcourt role along the line
of rebel prisoners, ragged and worn and
dropping, asking each what his occupa-
ton had been, Lieutenant Thomas Par
ker stood erect and, when his turn came
to tell who and what he was, replied to
the question of the Earl, saying, 81 was,
as my father before me was, a gentleman,
and be d-d to you! Who are you?"
Old Dr. Smith, to the day of his death,
we are told, never failed to speak of Up
shur's defence of himself and his COM
rades for their rebellion at Princeton as
one of the finest displays of argument
and eloquence he had ever heard.
After his college career Upshur studied
law in the Office of William Writ, and
became imbued wi h his manners and
learning. He Eext settled in r edmond,
and practiced his profe sion there: but,
with view to obtaining seat in Con
gress, he moved to Northampton, on the
Eastern Shore, his native county, and,
| failing to be returned 10 the House oi
Repre- sentatves in Congress, being beat
ell by Mr.. Bassett, he was after elected
to the House of Delegates of the Legis-
lature of Virginia. There he became
| highly distinguished as debater and
orator of the first water. His speech
uron what was called the "Marriage
bill," to repeal the laws prohibiting a
man from marrying The sis er of his de-
ceased wife, was signal effort of ant and
learning in debae, and during its heat
when the eel brated General Blackburn
of Bath, rather indecorously and sar
donically limited that sour Abel" had in
lerested motives in the repeal, because
the Eastern Shore people, isolated a
they were, had been obliged to inter
marry among themselves, and that SOM
of his own kindred probably required TIN
legalization of their marriages, Upshu
was aroused, and there are persons nov
alive who speak of his reply as one o
the loftiest tone of eloquent invective
pointed, clear, cutting, and yet in perfect
ornate order. His retort was painful.
polite, but went through and through hi
adversary, and, as he left him prostrat
on the plain, he arose above him to
height inaccessible to most men.
UPsHUR's oRAToRY.
His forensic displays in encounter
with his great rival, Thomas Il. Joynes
the father of Judge Joynes, of the Coul
of Appeals, were splendid. T. r. Joyre
was master IN his way, and Upsnu
was greater only in oratory. Joyne
a mathc 1natician, quick, powerful, al
ways to the point, reticent, cautious ,au
over-latorious. "He could alm ost mutt
ply" says Wise, "nine figures In h
head, and as quick as thought could Civ
a statement OF any proportion In the n
lation of numbers, and, always practica
addressed himself to common sense
Upshur was more highly cultivated, moi
ornate and graceful, a metaphysyciar
scholar, logician, and rhetorican. 1t wa
a treat to see them frnce on any subject
great or small. A scene OF more tha
common moment occurred bttwee
them in the trial of the Gibbs brother
for manning one Hargis. The case wa
a romantic one, AMI is we'll remembers
on the Eastern Shore, having the mos
pecu lar state of facts. which were al
fully developed in the trial-a mis- tres
and family of children, marriage in n
spectacle life among strangers in anotl
er State, the bringing home of the lad
wife; the first visit to church of tn
couple after marriage; scene there
the mistress breaking upon the new
married couple in the procession {
church goii people, and tearing th
lace shawl from the shoulders of th
bride; that followed by the TWO younge'
brothers of the groom, of eighteen an
twenty years, severely switching the VIC
man for her audacious assault; that TO
lowed by her brothers attempted veI
gean se upon the youths, and their stab
bing and cutting the man nearly to deaf
and infictipg permanent wounds, brini
ing them within the statute Of mayhem
For this prosecution was institute
agai nst the two youthful Gibbses. Par
lnour and m stress, husband and wifi
brothers and sisters, thus comminglln
in strange confusion of crime, were a
the survey and scenery of the case, an
the defense gave Upshur full scope fl
all his powers.
YOUTH OF HENRY A. WISE.
Wise expected to be President of tf
United States after his celebrated victol
over the Know Nothings in Virgin
Y about 1855. He prepared a life Of hin
self at lhat tune, now obsolete, whit
q contains some curious recollection
among hem the following descriptlc
of leaving his home for the West:
"In the month of August 1923, with
law license in hand, we left our natl,
Eastern Shore of Virginia for Baltimo
Oh our way 10 Nashville TO be marie
{ and settled for life. We stopped
a Tangier Island, in the Chesapeake ba
Q there to part with kindred and frien
d who accompanied lis TO the island whe
q was held the annual camp meeting
Methodist Episcopal Church. Love al
q plighteG troth urged us to fly with swi
: wings westward, and the amor loci