The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-09
LAWYER BEAcHs EccENTRIcIT1Es.
His Peculiar Manner of Illustrating Hia
Women's Rights Theories.

His Peculiar Manner of Illustrating His
women's Rights Theories.
New York Letter in Pittsbnrg Dispatch
William a. Beach, the eminent lawyer who
died this week by the way, was a strong believer
in the Justice and expedieney of admitting
women to practice at the bar
The fact is, he remarked to me. less than a
month ago. that opposition to wonans right to
earn n living in al the ways that men do is COW
ardly Are We afraid of competition on the
part of the sex whose mental abilities some Of
us affect to despisel Nonsense. Let as many
women become lawyers as wish to.
Beach was a big lawyeren small model. ia
spite of his liberal view of the woman question.
He had about all the peeuliarities of the petit
logger developed so extremely that they made
him remarkable in attainments and success He
was mighty with jury of average quality. On
the first trial of Ned Stokes, for the killing of
Jim Fisk, when he assisted the prosecution and
made the closing speech there was a verdict of
murder in the first degree, but when, on tech
nical grounds, a second trial was ordered, and
his services were not employed, Stokes es-
capped with sentence of imprisonment for
i've years To the public away from New.
York Beach was introduced. and for six
months kept daily in view by the Beecber
trial wherein he was the leading counsel for
Tilten. One day, early in the pretracted strug
gle, he burst out with ten minutes of remarkable
oratUfy, efoqueHtly denunciatory of Beecher,
erammed with bitter inEective, ana altogether of
texture to excite high expectation as TO what
the same speaker would do when the time cane
for his closing speech. That address lasted a
week. and consisted chiefly of rehearsing and
commenting on the testimony. When the day
came for the peroratiol, the court ROOM was
densely crowded, and people waited in the corri-
doris, hoping to catch word here and there.
There was keen disappointment when
the lawyer unrofled manuscript and
began TO read with mo fire or stimulation of emo
ton, a written climax to his speech.
Nor was the matter any less disappointing
than the delivery The language had no
originality Or special force, and when he neeleda
final denunciation Of the pastor accused of
despicable sin, he quoted several pages from
Hawthorneis Scarlet Letter. This faiure to
turn splendid opportunity into fame WAS unac-
countable to many, The lawyer seemed to lack
courage Tor an ambitious effort
1t was a curious fact that, while William A.
Beach was pleading the cause of marital rights
and domestic sanctitys he was himself untrue to
those very things Two women were his wives
in fact, il not in law By the first and regular
of these, he had Ave living children, one Of
in this city and another is the wife
Of an Appleton Of the great publishing
firm, The second was the daughter of an
innskeeper at Lansingburg, n. Y, with whom
he openly lived for nearly twenty years, right
up to his death, and for whom he prefessed the
utmost respect and love. He intended to marry
her, he said. whenever 1t became possible, aud
for her children he provided as though they had
peen the result of wedlock. The case was pecu-
liar in its freedom from all ooneealinen6 and in
the mans complicated relationship to two dis
tinct families Of his OWL. Whatever may have
been the household disturbances engendered By
this practice Of Mormonism the exterior was
calm, and the world is not likely to ever know
about It, unless there should be q fight over the
dual husbands property
Think OF the difficulties in the way Of drawing
family genealogical tree with two sets of lambs
Of that sort