Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-05-21
Che freemau.
MONTPELIER. VT.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 81. 1879.
Asahel Peck.


ton, Massachusetts. September. 1903, and
in 1901 his father moved to Montpelier
and settled in that part of the town which
is now East Montpelier. Asahel was a
sludious boy. improved his time in the
district " school. taught school himself,
for time was a student in the University
of Vermont. left college before gradu-
ating and went TO Canada where he ac-
quired practical knowledge of the
French language.
lie studied law on his return from Can
ada with his brother Nahum at Hines
burgh, went from there to Burlington
where he completed his law studies in the
office of Hyde & Bailey and was admitted
to the Chittenden county bar March 90,
1882. After practicing alone for time
he became member Of the firm of Hyde
& Peck and afterwards of that of Smalley
& Peck.
In 1850 he was made Judge of the
circuit court which position he held till
that court was abolished when he returned
to his practice. In 1860 he was one of the
senators from Chittenden county and was
elected judge of the supreme court and
remained such till his resignation in
1874 when he was elected governor. He
was during the greater part of his time on
the bench the presiding Judge in Wash
ington and Orange counties.
Judge Peck was Vermonter of the
olden type; even to being born "down
country" and brought into this state when
he was baby. Simple in manner, in
habits and grandly so in thought, the only
thing that tempted him from 1.-The law :"
was his farm on which he passed his last
years in the main.
He was the greatest lawyer in Vermont
and it is extremely doubtful if his knowl-
edge of the law was surpassed by that of
any man in the nation. We know this
may seem eXtravagant language TO those
to whom he was unknown, but we are
sure that the judges of our supreme court
and such members of the bar as f lmunds,
Poland and Phelps would bear testim ony
to their like belief. Not that Judge Peck
was always right-he was not superhu-
man. But through a long life he applied
his mind to the law and he had a memory
whose tenacious grip held everything once
obtained. He knew the law was n Jealous
mistress and perhaps because of this he
never married.
lie was man of intensely strong con-
victions'a will and yet att times as genial a
human being as one could meet His tender
though rather awkward care of couple
of little children travelling alone, when he
was on circuit was related the other day
as having been a new revelation to one
who saw it. His one failing as a Judge
was riding" case for the weaker party
With a corporation on one side and
woman on the other, the law generally
seemed TO the jury pretty clear for the
woman after the judges charge-and
what made il bad for the corporation was
that it was good law too.
He had it is true temper that once in
while burst over the court room like a |
thunder cloud letting loose its lightning
and thunder; and those on whom it fell |
always had the appearance of having been
" struck" But these outbursts of wrath |
were not SO frequent rs to cheaper them |
selves and were called forth by what he |
deemed dissertations Of n court of Justice. |
He was patient with and helpful to the |
young lawyer who stumbled throgh igno.
rance but woe to the older advocate who |
did an unprofessonal thing Or to witness
who told lie or wouldn't tell the truth.
His early utilization politically was with
the democratic party which he left in 194S, |
being in that year member of the IA
nous Buffalo convention that elected Van
Buren,. During the war, and in fact ever
after, he was Il radical of the radicals |
He could not be otherwise. Great us was
his affection for the guards of the law over
personal liberty, his utter hatred and
abomination of the man who made his |
liberty under the law the means of doing |
treason to the law was greater. Early in |
1861 there was lawyer from the west
staying in Burlington who had been a |
student in Judge Peck's office years be-
fore. The lawyers feelings were greatly
outraged by what he deemed the illegal |
arrest of some federal citizens with coz. |
federate procivities. He met Judge Peck
at the American House and asked, GLOW
long are such outrages to be endured?"
" What outrages?" growled the Judge. |
This arrest and Imprisonment of Amer- |
can citizens without process of lawp" The |
judge replied, AZ don't know what this |
case is, but know one thing, that good |
many more men are out of Jail who ought |
to be in than in who ought to be out"
The remark of the Judge was intended
to have personal application to the
questoner, and if the man imprisoned
had been brought before him he would
have had his case decided on its merits
and the law, but the law would have been
administered in all its rigor in case of a
traitor. In the later days of the Judges
life he was greatly exercised by the action
of President Hayes in his course as TO the
Packard and Chamberlain state govern
ments, deeming his course to be that of
" traitor TO his party and his country"
The strong old man is gone-one who
had the respect and confidence of the
people of the state beyond any other one
within its borders. He was an honest
man and great man-whose faults will
be forgotten and virtues remembered.
The Woodruff scientific excursion around
the world has collapsed.