Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-07-28

no notes, which, III mighty memories, AWAY
tend to embar ass The examination beinl
ended, as coun ell for the plaintiff he had
right to the opening speech, as we'll as tn
close I; but to the astonishment Of every on
he declined the former, and allowed the de
fence to lead off. Then shadow might hav
been observed to fit across the fine feature
of Pike, and 10 darken even the bright eye
of Prentiss. They saw that they had caugh
Tartar but who it was, or how it happen
ed, was impossible to guess.
Col. Ashley spoke first. He dealt the ju
ry dish of that close, dry logic, which, year
afterwards, rendered him famous in the Sen
ate of the Union.
The poet, Albert Pike, followed, with {
rich rain of wit, and a hail.torrent of caustl'
ridicule, in which you may be sure neither
the plaintiff nor the plaintiffs ragged attor
ney was either forgotten or spared.
The great Prentiss concluded for the defen
dant, with a glow of gorgeous words brillian
as showers of falling stars, and with bna
burst of oratory that brought the house dowr
in cheers, in which the sworn jury themselves
Joined, Notwithstanding the stern "order J
"order!" of the bench. Thus wonderfully
susceptible are the southwestern people tt
the charms of impassioned eloquence
It'was then the strangers turn. He had
remained apparently abstracted during al
the previous speeches. Still, and straight, anc
motionless in his seat, his pale smooth fore
head shooting up high like mountain cone
of snow but for that eternal twitch that
came and went perpetually in his sallow
cheeks, you would have taken him for mere
man of marble, or human form carved in
ice Even his dim, dreamy eyes were invisi
bic beneath those gray, shaggy eye brows.
But DOW at last he rises-before the bar
railing, no behind it-and so near to the won
dering jury that he might touch the foreman
with his long, bony finger. With bis eyes
still half shut, and standing rigid as pillar
of iron, his thin lips curl as if in measureless
scorn, slightly part, and the voice comes
forth. At first, it is low and sweet, insinua'
ting itself through the brain as an artless
tune, winding Is way into the deepest heart
like the melody of magic Incarnation, while
the speaker proceeds without gesture or the
least sign of excitement to tear in pieces the
arguments of Ashley, which melt away at his
touch as frost before the sunbeam. Every
one looks surprised. His logic was at once
so brief and so luminously clear, that the
rudest peasant could comprehend it without
effort. .
Anon, be came to the dazzling wit of the
poet lawyer, Pike. Then the curl of his lip
grew sharper, his sallow face kindled up his
eyes began to open dim and dreamy no longer,
but vivid as lightning, red as fire, and glaring
like twin meteors The whole soul was in
the eye-the full heart streamed out on the
face. In FIVE minutes Pixies wit seemed the
foam of folly, and his finest satire horrible
profanity, when contrasted with the inimita-
BILE sallies and exterminating sarcasm of the
stranger, interspersed with jest and anecdote
that filled the forum with roars Of laughter.
Then, without so much as bestowiDg an
allusion on Prentiss, he turned short on the
perjured witnesses of Hopkins, tore their tes.
timony into atoms, and hurled in their faces
such terrible invective that all trembled as
with an ague, and two Of them actually fled,
dismayed from the court house.
The excitement of the crowd was becoming
tremendous. Their united life and soul
appeared to hang on the burning tongue OF
the stranger. He inspired them with the
powers of his own passion. He saturated
them with the poison of his own malicious
feelings. He seemed to have stolen natures
long. hidden secret of attraction. He was the
sun to the sea of thought and emotion, which
rose and fell and boiled in billows, as he
chose. But his greatest triumph was to
come.
His eyes began to glare furtively at the as
sassin, Hopkins, as his lean, taper finger
slowly assumed the same direction. He hem.
med the wretch around with circumvala.
ton of strong evidence and impregnable ar.
gument, cutting off all hope of escape. He
piled up huge bastions of insurmountable
facts. He dug beneath the murderer and SIAN
derer's feet bitches of dilemmas, such as no
sophistry could overleap and no stretch of
ingenuity evade; and having thus as one
might say, impounded the victim, and girt
him about like q scorpion in circle of FIRE,
he stripped himself to the work Of massacre
Oh then, but it was a vision both glorious
and dreadful to behold the orator. His &C.
ton, before graceful as the wave Of a golden
willow in the breeze, grew impetuous as the
motion of an oak in the hurricane. His voice
became trumpet filed with wild whirlwinds,
deafening to the ear with crashes Of power,
and yet intermingled all the while with a
sweet under song of the softest cadence. His
face was red IS drunkard s-his forehead
glowed like heated furnace-his counten-
ance looked haggard like that of maniac,
and ever and anon he flung his long bony
arms on high, as if grasping after thunder
bolts He drew picture Of murder in such
appalling colors chat in comparison hell itself
might be considered beautiful. He painted
the slanderer so black, that the sun seemed
dark at MONDAY when shining on such an &C.
cursed monster and then he fixed both por,
traits on the shrinking brow of Hopkins, and
he nailed them there forever. The agitation
of the audience nearly amounted to madness
All at once the speaker descended from his
perious height. His voice walled out for the
murdered dead, and described the sorrows Of
the widowed livng-the beautiful Mary,
more beautiful every moment, as her tears
flowed faster--till men wept, and lovely
women sobbed like children.
He closed by strange exhortation to the
Jury and through them 20 the by-standers
He entreated the panel after they should
bring in their verdict for the plaintiff, not tc
offer violence to the defendant, however rich
ly he might deserve it; in other words, moi
to lynch the villain, Hopkins, but leave the
punishment to God" This was the most art
ful trick of all, and the best calculated to in
sure vengeance.
The jury rendered verdict for fifty thou
sand dollars and the next night afterwarc
Hopkins was taken out of his bed by lynchers
and beaten almost to death.
AS the court adjourned, the stranger made
Al.