New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-02-24
GOSSIP AT THE CAPITAL.
HOW THE LATE JUDGE MERRIoK WAS
LEGIsLATED OUT OF OFFICE.
MAsoN's PoPULARITY-THE LARGE hNAni'' w
ercnrrARy rE1LER-A SPEECH BY GENERAL


HARRISON - INCIDENTS OF SOCIETY
washington. Feb. 23-The deaih' inc oslol u1y' VI
,rdge Merr,cl, one OF the Justices OF the supreme
S"us. 60 D,s,r,ct of columbia, reminds me OF an
-. 4, ne no which led 70 HIS being ieSsiated
o., 30 oeace "a the result Of an apparently Trivial
,ndIscrction Twenty-elght years ago '"use ao,''oA
80 ,,o Cl,,af Justice of the same CouIt VI Mn0n hc
,ras AssocIate Justice through Mr. CieVelanas ap-
,,o,n,Dent at the time Of his death IN inc carry
snrtnc OF 1861 Francis f. Spinner '"0 -, -,
81 The United States whose myseno"S - 70
came 60 familiar on tho National grecnoASn
oaIed unon Judge Merrfck at his house III aslns'on
caiieu uPoH 80, a. oa,h 81 office prescribed by law
The Judge not In very ahi'"'
IN fact he said 10 Mr. Spinner: m. A.. ,
at will not administer the oath OF ONCE " sou'"
rho law REQUIRES thai the oath Shah DO adj
r,n,stered by Judge Of the United euies Nou'' fo
piled Mr.. Spinner. .o.,od ths 1rdoo
at am aware of that cooly rotor'ea me judge
q but there is no law compelling mo 10 uo -,
Mr. Spinner tried TO argue VIII" "'. e1, "'.N
finally asked him for the reason why ~ ~
ct consIder a man holding your polucal opinions
=. ta,no mat 10 hold auy office, and VIII not DC
a party TO qualify you to do So ,,...,.u ., ,ho 4,
ro,sr nm the assessment and coileouoh Oh ene III
come tax was being put in operation ana 'he sussiO
arose whether Il could be coliec'ed Oh 'no
Jpdres Of the United States. MI SPINNER Voon .io
ground that It could. and deducted nom 'ne usi's
for the quarterly salaries Of tho 'uuses ' u
,a tax soon after the draft was sent 10 Judge Met
. NJ snInner received letter from him. in which
A.. trd,e stated that the draft was for an amount
ss than ns,a and thai he thought 10 probable that
Mr. spinner had deducted ths income TAX nom inc
GALAXY ~ that were the case Mr.. spinner haa oeuer
send to the Judge the amount SO oouo'eu a. on'e VI
include the amount so deducted IN ihs heA' au@'UfH
remittance Judge MerTsck argued that oy the Uoh
stItrrtion Of the United states his SALARY Wa nA anu
that Il could not be reduced py sct 0i ' "
an executive officer At tlat time the Judge was
49,, 20 he an open seoessionist and sympathEer
r,,h ,bosa engaged in rebellion. In The mean
,,r,. Afr euinner had received q letter rom the
limited states judge from the District oil DELAWARE IN
which he returned draft for his salary sent TO him
for the reason that enough bad not been IetSeu 10
meet the tax. Mr.. Spinner returned inc oFa's anu
wrote 10 the Delaware Judge that INC law leFSihs Ao
tax did not take effect until the middle oil the quarter
and that hence the tax was less thah u Wou NC iOr
the fun quarter Mr.. Spinner caused the letior OF
the Deeware Judge to be copied and inclosed copy
in n letter IN answer 20 Judge MerTsck In which Mr..
Simmer stated that he did in order to point out TO
him (Nerrick the difference between loyal judge and
a dsloyal one and that. while he WOUND rot discuss
with him the question whether Congress had or HAD
not the constitutional right to tax the salaries Oh
United States Judges be would suggest 10 him that
II certainly had the light 10 abolish his COMPOUNDED
rebel cOurt.'
On the next day Mr. Spinner received a letter from
tho Judge I'm which he said THAI tle communication
received By him was Of such extraordinary char
actor that he felt 10 bis duty % send u 10 the Pres
dent Of the United Statos in order to secure Mr. Spin
ner,s removal from ofice. Not kong after this Mr.
Simmer had occasion 10 submit paper 10 Mr Chase,
the Secretary Of the Treasury, and while the latter
was reading n be showed Mr. sDinners letter 10 judge
Msrick (Which was lying before him the table,
10 Mr. Spinner and asked him what he had 10 say
about IT, Mr.. Spinner blunty answered
aHad known, when wrote tho letter, that the
Judge would send TO the President and that would
be submitted 10 you, would have written II con
founded sight stronger
The Secretary undertook 10 give Mr. Spinner,
stemly, lecture on Official etiquette. urging tha,
the different branches Of the Government should &C,
I'm harmony With each other and that comfy required
respectful language IN communications passing DO
tween them. Secretary Chase, finding that Mr.. Spin
ner would not Yield to the correctness of his con-
duct ct length said, good-naturedly
swell, General. while I feel that your lottcr Is
very pertinent TO the subject, IL Is yty mpertinent
TO the judge
The sequel to this story, little forcseen by Judge
Merrick Is told IN letter addgesscd by SIR. spinner
to Mr.. j. c. Derby. friend Of his. To quote his
language:
Mr.. Whitelaw Reid was then Washington CORE
spondent OF The Cincinnati Gazette Ho an init
mate friend OF Governor Chase and from him he OBJ
anod these fac and they were published IN The paper
OF which he vas the correspondent. Nib conimuni-
cation was extensively copied BY papers IN all parts
OF the loyal States. Members Of Congress saw u,
laughed at II as good Joke, but after nule viewed
N I'M another light and came 10 the conclusion 20 carry
out the joke so bill introduced into Con.
gTess aud became law, by which the then United
and the Judges were abolished a. wel. The same
act created a new court Of which judge CeIuer' OF
Ohio became the Chief Justice and Mcssts. Wiley, OF
Virginia, and DIN, OF NewYork became Associate
Justices
Those Judges no doubt enjoyed Tie joke hugely
but It IS reasonable to suppose that II was never
fully appreciated by Judge Merrick, ana that ne uln
not get entirely over II unt President Cleveland
found IT m hts heart TO appoint him TO the same place
out Of which he was legslated by Congress for his
disloyslty.