Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1885-06-15
THOMAS +. MARSHALL.
Anecdotes Of the Most Brilliant Orator Ken
tucky Has Produccd-The Crushing
nafnat Ia mi, tn

ilOUCOCtCtt tOUT TJtI-UOUI fCttC. Ills
recalls that of Thomas +. Marshall, the
most brilliant man that even Kentucky
has produced. In an evil hour Mar
shall had discussion with the ''old
man eloquent" upon matter of fact,
and as q result was badly worsted, as
Henry Clay himself was worsted by
an appeal to Adams inevitable diary,
which the ex-president invoked on all
such occasions. Marshall was the
most eloquent man of his day. His
speech had the dulcet sweetness of the
harp of Orpheus, and was as per.
suasive as the plea of Phryne before
the hostile court. 1t would have soft
ened the marble bosom of Rhadaman-
thus and planted the germ of mercy
in his fiinty heart. Marshall was a
singular genius, as erratic as Peters
boro and as gifted as Admirable
Crichton, though slave TO his pas
slons and without individuality of
character sufficient to resist tempta-
tion or reform a broken life. Like
Sir William Yonge, nothing but such
a character could drag down such
parts, and nothing but such parts
could sustain such character"
Until he was elected to congress
Marshalls convivial habits had not
obtained the mastery over him.
He once went to Philadelphia to de-
liver lecture. the subject of which
was the Life and Character of Ma
poleon the Great" There was much
curiosity to hear him, for his fame as
an orator was national, and the lect-
ure had remarkable excellencies in
literary, historical and critical point
of view. The hall was filled with the
beauty, grace, and culture of the Qua
ker city. When the lecturer appeared
before his audience he was pretty far
SOUTH" that is.
lie was mo- fu' but just had plenty,
md he began to repeat his lecture af-
ter first interpolating the following:
Ladies and gentlemen, l have not
doubt that Napoleon Bonaparte was
direct lineal descendant and heir-at-
law of woods colt of julius Caesar
begottten while that hero was sowing
his crop of wild oats on the banks of
the Adriatic or in one of the isles of
the Mediterranean"
The thought was we'll received, and
he delivered his lecture with his ac-
customed eloquence. he was n great
lover of Shakespeare, and knew the
best plays from stem 10 stern. He
possessed brilliant, luXuriant, gor9-
eous imagination, which gave a hue to
everything that emanated from him,
while there was happy originality
exemplified in all his utterances. He
illustrated Cables sentence: you
may dwarf n man till he be the mere
stump OF what he should be and he
ill Unt mt forth urpop lpaVpS -
He defended Matt Ward for the
murder of Prof. Butler in Louisville
about thirty years ago. 1t was indeed
over the state were divided. His guilt
or innocence became a political issue
The interest was great beyond the
limits of the state, George ID. Prem
tice, the life long friend of the father
of the acussed, championed the son of
his friend in the columns of The Louis
VUie Journal and narrowly escaped
mob Vengeance. His office was sacked
and gutted. A change of venue was had
and an array of counsel, such as has
rarely been equaled, appeared for the
defense. Besides Marshall there were
Crittenden, Helm, Wolfe, Wood, and
others, but it was universally conced-
ed that Marshalps speech surpassed
all others. An eyewitness says that
one sentence in his speech cleared tn o
accused. With an attitude Garrck
would have studied and tone Talma
would have envied, and at the close
of climax, he eXclaimed "Will you
tear him from his girl wjfe?' There
was not a dry eye in the room, and
the Judge upon the bench sobbed like