The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-02-01


1S04-August, continued
1S05-Feb. 10, argument opened.
1605-Feb. 20, argument continued.
1605-Feb q, argument continued.
1605-March /, judgment affirmed with costs
Feb. z, 1871, the court met at Phila-
delphia, the seat of government having
been moved thither by congress. Here
the minutes show that the court sat in
the city hall, but in New York there was
no record of the meeting place. Curl
ously enough, there is a good deal of
doubt as to the character and location of
the building in which the court held its
Initial sessions. Charles McKenney says
he has looked with some diligence for
information concerning the first court
room, and the best he has been able to
discover is an extract from The Gazette
of the United States, Feb. 8, 1890, which
says the supreme court room at the
exchange was uncommonly crowded the
day before" The following day the pa
per says 'the court met at the hall of
the exchange" This exchange building
must have been ON or near Broadway,
for it is known that when Justice Cush-
to take his seat on the supreme bench he
wore big periwig, as had been his habit
in the supreme court of Massachusetts,
and the boys followed him up Broadway
making fun of the wig.
The periwig has never been used in the
supreme court, but the gown still holds
it's sway. Probably the gown will be re-
tanned as long as the court exists. It is
better liked by the justices of the pres
ent than it was by many of their prede-
cessors. A number of the justices from
the west, particularly Miller, Swayne
and Davis, made somewhat violent OBJ.
jections to wearing the gown on first
taking their seats, but precedent proved
too strong for their preferences, and after
becoming accustomed to the flowing robe
of silk each and all declared it good
and comfortable and dignifed thing to
wear. The court of appeals of New York
has recently returned to the wearing of
the gown.
had the rare pleasure the other day
of looking upon the justices of the su-
preme court in their ''snuggery." Hav-
ing read certain tales about their apart
ment, where tradition has it tea kettle.
singing over the fire, containing the hot
water with which colored man famous
for his skill mixes the favorite drinks of
the august judges, was prepared to
see number of portly and well fed gen
tlemen sitting about table smoking
long pipes and slipping delicious concoc-
tions. What l did find was the chief
Justice and the eight associates, the first
in an arm chair nearly hundred years
old, and the others in quaint old square
seats handed down from the first days of
the United States senate, chatting over
their after breakfast cigars. In this
room the justices meet every morning
before taking their places on the bench.
Justice Lamar, an early riser, is usually
there by 10 o'clock, but the majority
come in about 1880. To show how
strong are the rules of precedence in the
court, l need only say that even in this
retiring room each man has a certain
seat assigned him, and on the death or
retirement of the justice ranking him he
moves up one chair nearer the chief jus
tice, in the same manner as on the bench
itself.
1t was also my pleasure to see Archer,
the master of the robes, putting the
gowns on the justices in the robing room,
the latter little alcove in which are nine
pegs, each marked with the name of a
great justice. Here, again, rank is ev-
erything, and on the occasion of death
or resignation those below him in the
line of precedence literally "move up a
peg" nearer the hook on which hangs
the little chief Justices gown. Mr.. Full
ler's gown is the smallest ever seen in the
room, Archer says, containing but five
yards of silk, whereas David Davis was
the largest, at fourteen yards. Archer
ought to know, for he has been here
since 1S49, when he succeeded Uncle
Henry, who had been master of the robes
since the year 1900. These two men
therefore, have practically togethe,
spanned the first century of the court.
1t was with genuine interest that
watched Archer put the gowns on the
backs of the justices-big, broad backs
the most of them are, too. Archer is of
average stature, and yet he is much tall
err than the chief justice; but to rob,
Justice Gray, the giant, he had to stel
upon a little box which he keeps Their,
for that purpose.