Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-01-07

and peculiar marks in the calligraphy
of the signers, as to show they were ia.
millar with their handwriting. In his
reply to these sallies of his opponent,
Mr.. Peyton swept away the whole airy
fabric by q single happy illustration.
"Gentlemen,o he said, "you have often
been assembled in crowds upon some
public or festive occasion. Your hats
have been thrown pell- l-mell in mass with
perhaps hundred other hats, all having
. general resemblance. Suppose you
had attempted to describe your hat to a
friend or servant, so that he might 20
and pick it out for you. It has as ma
ny points for accurate description as q
written signature-its color, height of
crown, width of brlm, Its band lining,
&c. Do you think that friend or servant
could by any possibility have picked out
your hat for you !? Aud yet when you
went yourself, the moment your, eye
would light upon 1t you instantly re-
cognize it amongst hundred or five
hundred other hats. Familiarity with
it,, has stamped its picture on your
mind. and the moment you see it. the
hat fills and fits the picture on your mind
as perfectly as the same hat fits your
head" The jury were evidently won and
gave full credence to the ridiculed wit
nesses.
The other instance during the same
term (cited by Judge Thompson) occur
red in the celebrated prosecution of Naa-
man Roberts for forgery-in forging the
name of Col. adam Dickinson to bond
for 5000.
The body of the bond was confessedly
the handwriting of the prisoner at the
Bar. That was admitted. The sigma
ture was tolerably successful attempt
at initiating the peculiar handwriting Of
Adam Dickinson. But no expert could
look at the whole paper and fail to see q
general resemblance between the body
of the instrument and the signature,
raising a strong conviction in the mind
that both proceeded from the same hand.
The defense strongly insisted upon ex-
cluding the body of the instrument from
the view of the witness, by covering it
with paper or turning it down and so
confining the view to the signature only
upon the familiar doctrine of the law
of evidence f0r6idding comparison of
vGrious hdadsUritings of the party, as
ground for an opinion upon the identity
or genuineness Of the disputed writing.
And this point was ably and elaborately
Eargued by the prisoners counsel.
The learned prosecutor met it thus:
"Gentlemen, this is one entire i1sst7u-
nnent, not two or more brought into
comparison. Let me ask each one of
you, when you meet your friend or whom
you meet a stranger. in seeking to
identify him, what do you look
at? Not his nose, though that is the
most prominent feature of the human
face-net at his mouth, his chin, his
cheek no, you look him straight in the
eye, SO aptly called "the window of the
soul" You look him in the eye, but at
the same time you see his whole face.
Now put mask on that face. leaving
only the eyes visible, as the learned
counsel would have you mask the face
of this bond. leaving to your view only
the fatal signature.
If that human face so masked was the
face of your bosom friend, could you for
moment indentify him, even though
permitted to look in at those windows
of his soul ? No, he would be as strange
to you as this accursed bond has ever
been strange to that worthy gentleman,
Colonel Adam Dickinson, but glance
at whose face traces the guilty author
ship direct to the prisoner at the bal" ("
This most striking illustration seemed
to thrill the whole audience, as it
vertually carried the jury.
Mr.. Peyton never was politician.
His taste and prediction lay not in
that direction. But nc man was better
informed of the course of public affairs,
nor had keener insight into the char
acter or motives of public men. Once,
and so far az knew once only, did he
participate in the debates of Presiden-
tial canvass. It was the memorable
one of 1910; and the speech was deliv-
cred from the Albemarle hustings. His
analysis of the political character of
Martin VanBuren, and bis delineation
OF his public career from his desertion
Of De Witt Clinton down to his obse-
quious ingratiation with Andrew Jack
son, was incisive and mastery, and all
the more powerful and impressive be-
cause pronounced in judicial rather
than a partisan temper. Competent
judges, long familiar with the very able
declared 1t one of the ablest that had
been listened to by an Aibemarle audi
ence.
OF his services in the Virginia Senate,
| need only say, what every one would
naturally expect, they were most valu-
able from that enlightened conserva-
tism in the prevention of crude and
vicious legislation. In the last session
Of his first term in the Senate vigor-
GUS effort was made for the passage Of a
st0yLaW rather than an increase of taxa
ton.
It hardly needs to be said that he op-
posed the former and sustained the lat
ter measure with all the vigour of his
honest and manly nature. Nor could
he ever have looked with any patience
upon that brood of enactments sirce
his day-the stay of executions, home
stead exemptions, Limitations upon sales
OF property ct id onane genus. professedly
passed in the interest of the poor and
the laboring man, yet in fact more
detrimental to that class than to any
other, and most damaging to the credit
of the State abroad.
A character 40 pronounced and infiex
ible could hardly fail of provoking some
criticism and fault-Anding; and yet I
can recall but one sort of imputation or
aspersion ever cast upon his fair and
honorable fame.
have sometimes heard 1t charged
that be was close, exacting, and even
penufious in money transactions. My
opportunities for judging of this, az
| well as other traits Of character, were,
from my business relations with him
Tor ten years, as intimate and full per-
haps as those of any man, and I think
the judgment or opinion unjust. It
sprang chiefly. if not wholly. from his
remarkable exactness in all business
transactions and money settlements
But have this to say. that if he was
exacting to a cent in the receipt of all
monies for himself or his many clients,
ne was altogether equally SO in every
payment of money by himselfi nor was
he ever willing to consider an obligation
discharged by him till he had paid the
last cent. He would not give receipt
Till the debt was fully paid, nor would
ne accept one Till he had fully discharg-
Cd his obligation and he was every
whit as faithful in counting interes!
against himself, as in his own or his eli.
ents' favor. OF all this, I had almos,
numberless opportunities of judging.
Near of kin to this was his habit o
strict 1ounctudlity to all engagements
ne had a correct appreciation Of the
value Of time, and the value Of his a0oro
as well. So that whilst he would mo-
Keep others waiting for him, he wouit
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