Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-02-24
Judge Minis repeated the aues

l
crowd, situated behind the bar.
AT the tones of that voice man.
started from their seats; and per
haps there was not a heart in tina
! immense thr0ng which did not bea
something quicker-it it was so un
earthly, sweet, clear, ringing AM
mOurnful.
The first sensation, however
changed into general laughter whel
a tail, gaunt, spectral figure that nc
body remembered to have seen be
fore, elbowed himself through tin
crowd and placed himself within
/ the bar. His appearance was
problem to puzzle the Sphynx her
self. His high, pale brow, ane
small, nervously twitching fac,
seemed alive with concentrated es
sence and cream ofgenius but ther
his infantile blue eyes, hardly yisi
bic beneath the arches, looked dim.
dreary, almost unconscious; and his
clothing was so shabby that the
court hesitated to let the cause pro.
ceed under his management.
HAS your name been registered
on the rolls of the State?'' demand
ed the judge, su5piciously. sE
SIT is immaterial about my name
being on your ROLL" answered the
stranger, his thin, bloodless lips
curling up into a fiendish sneer.
81 may be allowed to appear for
once, by the courtesy of the court
and bar. Here is my license from
the highest tribunal in America :"
and he handed Judge Mills broad
parchment. The trial Immediately
went on.
In the examination of witnesses
the stranger evinced but little in
genuity, as was commonly thought.
He suffered eachsone to tell his own
story without interruption, though
he contrived to make each tell it
over two or three times. He put a
few cross questions, which, with
keen witnesses, only served to cor
rect mistakes, and he made no
notes, which in mighty memories
always tend to embarrass. The eX-
animation being ended, as counsel
for plaintiff he had right to the
opening speech, as well as to the
close;s but to the astonishment of
every one, he declined the former
and allowed the defense to lead off.
Then d shadow might have been
observed to fit across the features
of Pike and to darken even the dark
bright eyes of Prentiss. They saw
they had "caught- tartar - but
who it was and how it happened
was impossible to guess.
In
the jury a dish of close, dry logic,
which years afterward rendered
him famous in the Senate of the
Union.
Then the poet, Albert Pike, with
a rich vein of wit and hail tcrrent
of ridicule, in which, you may be
sure neither the plaintiff nor the
plaintiffs ragged attorney were
either forgotten or spared. r..
The great Prentiss concluded for
the defendent with a glow of gor-
geOuS words, brilliant as a shower
of falling stars, and with a burst of
oratory that brought the house
down in cheers, in which the sworn
jury themselves joined, nOtwith-
standing the stern "order Of the
BENCH" Thus wonderfully suscept-
ible are the Western people to the
charms of the impassioned elo-
quence. ia@
, 1t was then the strangers turn.
He remained apparently distracted
during all of the previous speeches.
Still and straight and motionless in
his seat, his pale, smooth forehead
shooting up high, like a mountain
cone of snow; but for that eternal
twitch that came and went perpetu-
ally in his salloW cheeks, you would
have taken him for merely a man
of marble, or human form carved
in ice. Even his dreamy eyes were
beneath those gray, shaggy
eyebrows.
But now, at last, he rises before
the bar railing, not behind-and SO
near to the wondering jury that he
might touch the foreman with his
long, bony finger. With eyes still
half shut, and standing rigid as
pillar of iron, his thin lips curl as in
q. measureless scorn, slightly part,
and the voice comes forth. AT first
it is low and sweet, insinuating itself
through the brain as an artless tune
it's way into the deepest
heart, like the melody of magic
while the speaker pro-
ceeds without GESTURE or the least
sign OF excitement to tear in pieces
the argument of Ashley, that melts
away at his touch as the frost before
the sunbeam. #
Every one looked surprised. His
logic was at once so brief and luIni-
nously clear that the rudest peasant
could comprehend il without an eff
fort -g f r-
Anon he came to the dazzling wit
of the poet lawyer, Pike. Then the
curl of his lip grew sharper, his sal
low face kindled up, and his eyes
began to open, dim and dreary no
longer, but vivid as fire globes, and
glaring like twin meteors.
The whole soul was in the eye.
The whole heart Streamed out on
his face. In five minutes Pixies
wit seemed like folly, and his finest
satire horrible profanity when con- 1
.raSted to the inimitable Sallies and
sarcasm of the stran-
ger, interspersiug the jest and anec- |
lOte that filled the room with rOars |
)f laughter.
Then, without so much as bestOw |
ng an illusion on Prentiss, he turn
I'd short on the perjured witnesses
)f Hopkins, tore their testimony |
nto atoms, and hurled into their |
aces such terrible Invectives that |
Ill trembled as with an ague, and
WO of them actually fled dismayed |
rom the courthouse.
The excitement of the crowd was !
becoming tremendous. Their united
ife and soul appeared to hang on
he burning tongue of the stranger.
He inspired them with the power
If his own passions. He saturated
hem with the poisons of his own
malicious feelings. He seemed to
lave stolen natures long hidden
ecret of attraction. He was the
ca of all thought and emotion,
which rose and fell and boiled in
,illoWs as he chose. But his great
st triumph was to come.
His eyes began to glare furtively
It the assassin, Hopkins, and his
can taper fingers slowly assumed
he same direction. He hemmed
he wretch with a RECOMMENDATION
# strong evidence and impregna-
lie argument, cutting off all hope
# escape. He piled up huge bas-
ions of unsurmountable facts.
He dug beneath the murderer
nd slanderer's feet bitches of di-
such as no sophistry could
verleaD. and no stretch of ingenu-