The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-08-29

Vic pfdcticc VI law. ne was appoint
, ed reporter of the United States Su
preme Court and issued two volume
!. Of reports, when his practice increas
ed SO rapidly and SO suddenl,
crowded in upon him that he wa.
compelled to resign his place, ant
J since then probably no lawyer o
! the land has had a larger practice be
fore the highes. judicatory within
its borders. After several years
residence in Washington, seeking
home in Pennsylvania he finall,
selected York as place of residenc,
} choosing it as more central than AM
other to the four points of his chic
professional interests-New York
Philadelphia, Washington and Har
risburg. AS a practitioner befor,
the Supreme Court Judge Black wa,
conspicuous for his participation il
nearly all the great cases involving
the constitutionalily of the recon
struction acts. His eminent lega
ability, his courage and his skill il
arguing these cases was breakwatel
against a judicial subversion of oul
constitutional system. In the famou:
Milliken case, in which the accused
were under sentence Of death from q
military commission, he spoke fol
three hours, displaying in this prob
ably the greatest effort of his life,
all his leading characteristics as 9
lawyer and public speaker. He
talked to a court deliberately, with.
out any notes, citing authorities en-.
tirely from memory, never tiring the
court with long citations, but going
at once to the core of the case.
A stalwart Kentuckian visiting
the National Capital during the
Milliken trial accidentally stumbled
into the Supreme Court room. He
had never heard Judge Black before
and listened with intense interest to
the conclusion. He could not con-
tain himself after the eloquent coun-
sci. with all his terrible power and
inveciive, had cOntrasted military
tribunals with the impudent as
sumption of Lola Montez in import
ing pack of English bulldogs into
Munich to harrass and worry and
tear everybody who displeased the
roval mistress of dissolute king S
fancy. As he told how the people
finally arose and 8 drove out king,
dogs, and strumpet," Kentucky
rushed breathless from the court
room over to the House and begged
the first group of Congressman whom
he encountered to hurry over to
the court room and hear old Jerry
Black give them hell.
THE REBoRD OF A GREAT LAWYER.
Important as the Milliken case
was in its results to the defendants,
saved from the Judgment of death,
the service rendered in II by Judge
Black to the whole country was OF a
most signal character, in establish
ing forever the irregularity and un-
lconsttntionali.y of military COM
missions in civil cases. Judge Black
was likewise of coinsel in the fa-
NOUS slaughter house causes and In
most of the other leading cases in
volving the reconstruction laws. he
was attorney in. the Vanderbilt will
case, the McGarrahan claim, the new
Idria quicksilver mine grant, the
Belknay Impeachment, the electoral
contest and many other causes eel
ebres. In no case in which the pub
lie interests were involved, whether
directly or when represented in
some one person, as in the Milllken
case, did he ever take a fee.
His appearance before the Su-
preme Ccourt was always a subject
of interest and attention by the
Judges, ard Justice Miller, a political
opponent, once said that sit is al
ways a reliet when Judge Black
rises to speak. His arguments are
as delightful as page from Macau-
law" The same member of the
court less relished an incident that
is worth telling. Upon one occasion,
since the civil rights laws were pass-
ed, white man was indicted for
killing a negro in Kentucky and a
motion was made to transfer his case
TO the Federal courts for trial before
a mixed jury. Judge Black was
earnestly pressing the case upon the
Court for decision of some mooted
point, when, to avoid judgment upon
it, the Court held that it had no
jurisdiction, the law in question not
being applicable to a case in which
the victim was a negro and the de-
fendant a white man. Sauntering
up the street few days afterwards,
with Pennsylvania friend, Judge
Black met Justices Miller and
Strong. Stopping them, and ad-
dressing his friend, that they might
hear, he said: :" l want to introduce
you to these two gentlemen. They
are a remarkable pair. They are
two Judges of the Supreme Court,
who, in order to dodge a constitu-
tional point, decided that killing
niger did not affect him." There
is a touch of audacity about this
which only he dared, who, in his
address before the Electoral Com
mission, could hurl at that court,
committed in advance, the fine scorn
of disappointed people Hundreds
of thousands who found no other
satisfaction from its sittings took
delights in his promise of the ''fine
grinding" yet to be done, and ha We
waited with savage hope to see that
the strength of the iron hand shall
atone for the delay of the leaden
hell" The "thunderous veracity"
of his speech in behalf of Belknap
lay in his scathing denunciation of
the prevalence of official brike tax
ing, which made his clients offense
no exceptional crime.
SERVING THE PEOPLE WITHOUT RE-
.i0H .Ta WARD.
Judge Black was in 1873 elected
member of the Pennsylvania Consti-
tutional Convention on the Demo
cratic ticket of Delegates at large
and he toWered alOft in tnat distin-
ouished assemblage of Pepnsylva-