Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-06-02
o,CoNoR,s ECCENTRIcITIEs
Some of the Weaknesses of the Grea
Advoeate-strength of His PREF eiudiees.


Advoeate-Strength of His Prejudiees.
A New York lawyer says in the Com
mereidl Advertiser. Twenty-four years
ago there were few better known appear
ances on New York street than the dry
as-dust earthly tabernacle of Charles
O'Conor, with swift stride and the pre-
occupied air; and in the courts was no
better known voice than his high tones
carrying the utter bitterness of sarcastic
emphasis. To the man of to-day, how
ever, Mr.. O'COnor is an eidolon. tradi-
ton. And yet the man, by reason of his
very singularities his extraordinary abili-
ties, and his curious mental limitations,
is worthy of recall to peoples memory.
Charles OCOnOr was incOntestablY the
last of the common law lawyers. a relic of
the believers in the ''perfectiOn of human
reason" and though his weapons began
to become antiquated in his later life, he
was so thoroughly trained to their use
that skillfuf had to be the guard which
could oppose the thrusts OF his OId-fasb-
ioned logic and learning. In mentality
Mr.. O'COnor resembled a bar Of Furnished
steel, as bright, as strong, and as narrow.
Never in the whole course of his life did
he dfyest himself of one single prejudice,
never did he allow an event to modify his
precOnceiYed opinion. And never. never
did he forgive an enemy or forget friend.
An old friend and protege has the follow
ing illustration of his unfOrgiviL gness: In
an inquest on insanity, OCOnOr was, for
him, uncOmmonly mild with the witnesses
and examined away in perfect peace un-
til rOund-faced, gOOd-natured, rather
inconsequent doctor was put on the
stand.
Then the scene changed; kissing and
glaring, the great advocate fell upon this
unfortunate, and rended him limb from
limb. Sweating and trembling, the un-
happy man was forced into endless con-
tTadictiOns, and finally retired covered
with shame as a garment. Years after
the witness to this episode Yentured to ask
the cause of this unprovoked assault.
''That fool attended my mother when l
was born" said O'COnor; ''his stupidity
nearly killed her, and l never forget" A
great deal of this after-life bitterness was
doubtless due to the intense poverty of
OConor's early life, when at times he
was actually short of food, and to the OBJ
stacles, partly, no doubt, caused by his
own temper against which he forced his
upward way. The struggle was a bitter
one and long one, and it was not until
O'COnOr had for years been very king in
the lower courts that he succeeded in
gaining an arena fit for the display of all
his talents. For some reason he attri-
buted his delayed preferment to the
adverse influence of the New England
lawyers at this bar, and therefore he
hated them with true O'COnorian
hatred. And ae great joy it was to the
veteran when he could drop VitriOl on
New England or New England men, as
when, with smile of delighted malice,
he described Dudley Field as 'Ethat gigan-
tic pettifOgger." Naturally, Mr.. O<COnOr
was Democrat in politics, but his intense
sympathies with the South rested on as
slight foundation as did his hatred for
New England. When Pierce was Presi-
dent, O'COnor visited Washington. and
was received at the instance of the Presi.
dent by the SOutherners with a distinction
which forever after bound him to their
cause. Among Mr.. 0COnor's many queer
limitations of genius was his utter inabil-
ity to choose men, consequent on which
came an amount of work whichfi nallv
wore out even his strength. This
liability at once rates Mr.. O'COnOr as a
secOnd-rate man, despite his learning and
his genius. Through this queer fabric,
combined of ability, prejudice, envy, and
malice, wound silver thread of charity,
of love, of chivalry-Of charity which was
at times QuiXOtic in its largeness; of love
which, to the few people who came within
its scope, was as warm as the sun of
August, and Of chiyalry shown to a
marked extent in the matter of his mar
Tiage. When going to Paris to settle up
the affairs of his friend McCracken, and
finding that gentleman a bankrupt, with
no support Offering for the widow, he,
though by no means "a marrying sort Of
man, promptly offered himself, and for the
rest of the lady's life treated her with the
most perfect courtesy, indulgence, and
generosity. Besides which be adopted
her son and treated him as If he had been
in truth his own.
With all these fine traits one fears
that the bitter side of O'Conor will be the
one least remembered in this community
and that men will quote "You may get
mercy in hell, sir, but not in Beekman
street," rather than the chiValeresque
incident OF his marriage or his countless
acts of private munificence,