The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1886-01-08
STORIES OF JUDGE BLACK.


ters of Judge jeremiah ). Black, " calls
to mind a picture which should bear
date sometime in the spring of the year
he died. a tall old man. though he did
not strike one so clearly as old OF tall,
but rather as great and venerable, sat
in the Office of q hotel at Harrisburg.
His massive head, with its crown Of
silver, a cOuntenance that frankly faced
the eye ss a face bearing no tell-tAle ,
line that needed cloak from scrutiny, .
and ewes beaming kindly with humor, 4
OF flashing under their brushy brows /
when he warmed in controversy, we're l
up-borne on frame OF oaken strength /.
and stature The frost Of years had Z
touched it only TO give it added majesty.
The limbs were stiffening, but It was
young at heart. He met old age as a
victorious general might meet his king
who comes upon The field 10 decorate
him
His steps were somewhat uncertain
when he walked, but when he stood up,
as he had a few weeks earlier, before
the Senate of the State-the "garnered
wisdom" Of the Commonwealth
plead for the passage of the anti-dis-
elimination bill. il was an incaTnate
illumination OF the text that He made
man after His own image. ITO plead
/ is rather the common legal term than
I the accurate description OF what he did.
There was nothing of the suitor7s key
/ in his voice, nothing of the suppliant
I posture in his attitude. 1t was a charge
| ne delivered rather than a pleading.
I He stood up with manful front and,
I with no title save his name and no Gre
/ dentials but the right of every man to
| serve his fellows, demanded the passage
Z of the bill, not as a privilege or conces-
I sion, but as that which he believed in
/ dubitably Just and necessary upon the
facts which he presented and the argu-
msnt he made.
The occasion moved him. His words
rang trumset- et-toEgued, and his bearing
fOrcibly recalled that other time, when
ne stood up, simple cOmm0ner, before
the prOudest tribunal this country ever
saw, and with the full knowledge that
the verdict was already made up against
him, threatened the judges with infamy
and predicted the overthrow of the
work they were about to do. Those
who had tasted despair in counting the
leaden steps of justice welcomed with
stern delight that vision of tie iron
hand uplifted, and the words of his
prophecy of wrath passed into the
common speech of men. Before any
other tribunal, in any other country, or
under almost any other circumstances,
a man who dared utter such a speech
would be committed for contempt, but
Judge Black measured the time and
the occasion. and the court to which he
spoke, if it differed from him, ventured
no attempt to set aside the Judgment
which he passed.
His great presence, his eaTnestness,
and hts bold bearing must have lent his
words great weight with jury. Even
in reading his speeches we can see how
the thoughts formed in his brain sprang
from his lips clothed in the simplest
sy tables that could best weapon them
for battle with a resisting understand
ing. His speeches brstle with swords
like an army in assault. No other
American orator, in our generation at
least. has given to language so many
brief, terse, keen edged expressions To
read his speeches we can well imagine
how they must have sounded when
, spoken from such lips as his.
They tell a story of friend of a West
ern Congressman who happened to be at
the Capital sight. seeing at the time the
historic Milligan case was on trial be-
, fore the Supreme Court. This Con-
gresham was to make a great speech
upon a certain day on some question OF
other, and his friend went up to the
Capitol to hear il. He somehow missed
his way in the building, however, and
! wandered into the court room instead
There he saw a man of towering figure
stTiding back aud forth in the narrow
space before the bench arguing the case
of the defendant, Milligan. OIatorv is
} captivating to a Western man, and he
stayed to listen few minutes. Judge
Black was denOuncing trials by military
commissions, and painting the iniquity
of all the extra judicial tribunals that
had ever in all history usurped the pre-
negatives of the duly established courts.
! lie instanced Herod. who, when unable
to single out from the multitude of
children the Christ child who was to be
king of the Jews, tried all the babes for
prospective treason, convicted them
decreed their death, and bad his sen
tence carried out with such aIacritv and
zeal that in one day the land was filed
with mourning and lamentation. He
cited Nero trying the whole Christian
Church in body On the charge of set
ting hre to Rome, and sending them to
the cross. He described Macbeth's
hired murdereIs, 1.-THE commission OF
ganized in Banquo's case, which sat
upon him that very night at a conye-
nlent place beside the road by which it
was known he would be travelling y
lie pictured Lola MOnteZ, minister and
mistress to the King of Bavaria, and her
''commission''-''a pack of British
bull dogs, trained to tear the flesh and
mangle the limbs and lap the life bIood''
and much more which I can not accu-
rately recall. The Westerner stood and
drank it all in with eager ears and ewes
that hung on every gesture of the ora
tor, until at the climax of tie Moptez
instance, when Judge Black thundered
out:
ut gives me unspeakable pleasure to
tell you the sequel. The people rose in
their wrath. smashed down the whole
machinery of oppression, and drove out
into uttermost shame king. dogs and
strumpet-"
Then the listener rushed out of the
chamber, hurried across INTO the hall of
the House, pushed past the doorkeeper.
I - Tho n'oln 20 Tho 5--I- ~.rhara 80
friend was III the midst of his speech
and, plucking him by the coat tail. ex-
GAINED In voice so loud as to be heard
a dozen seats around
Wind her up, Bill Wind her nm
and come over here and listen to old
Jerry Black givin' 'em h-Ip,
A Little Chef-d'Oeuvre.