Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-26
AN ABLE SON OF OHIO.
Ey-Clerk Lloyd's Estimate of Judge
Shelabarger's Ability.
HE REMINDS HIM OF WEBSTER
An Impromptu Retort That Merits High
Place in Literature.
HIS ABILITY IN LEGAL PRACTICE

Ohio has been prolific in Statesmen, as
well as in natural gas and agricultural
products. She has furnished her sons for
important public offices from the Presidency
down in such numbers as to entitle her to
dispute the claim of Virginia to be ''the
mother of Presidents" and other great men,
and she still has on hand sufficient num-
Der to FIJI all the best places for all time to
come. If were to be born again into this
world, and was consulted about it, my
choice of birth place would be either Ohio
or Tioga county, Pennsylvania, the latter
of which considering her territory and
population, distances any other locality I
know of in the number of citizens she can
spare to the public service.
Samuel Shelabarger, like Cox, was q
native of Ohio, but here the likeness ends.
They were the direct opposites of each other
in every respect Shelabarger was the solid
man of the House. I have never known
any man who seemed to me to so much re-
semble Webster as Shelabarger, both in ap-
pearance and style of speech. He has the
same dark complexion, massive brow, cav
ernous eyes, saturnine expression, and the
same ponderous logic In his discourse.
Seeking After the Right Word.
I remember an incident related some
where Of We5ster's style that is appropri-
ate. He was concerned as counsel in case
In the Supreme Court Of the United
States in which the Georgia Bank was a
party. He had habit Of using one word
expressed his idea In this case he said:
1--WE want the Georgia Bank to come out;
to show its hand; to render up;t to disgorge. "
And the word ''disgorge" as he uttered 1t
was said to have weighed at least ten
pounds.
This was Shelabarger's style He pos
sessed but little, if any humor, and small
play of fancy. he was terribly in earnest,
and drove straight at his point in every
speech he made. Earnestness is a wonder
full element of power in any man. 1t is the
keynote to the psalm of life. All the moral
forces Of the universe are enlisted In the
service Of the truly earnest man. In the
lexicon of such man there is no such word
as fail When you meet a man Of that kind
with his gun trained on you get out of bis
way. Shelabarger's logic was of the meat ak
order. 1t Glove straight through the mailed
harness of his adversary like the crash of
one of the old crusaders weapons. He was
the Richard Occur de Lion Of debate. He
struck to crush.
A Specimen of His Style.
His words were of ponderous weight, and
woe unto the head at which they were
hurled. He might have been justly de-
nominated "the heavyweight" of the
House, and whomever he struck was sure,
in the language Of the prize ring, to Ego to
grass" and stay there. cannot better CON-
vey an idea of his style than by quoting his
reply to Raymond, who interrupted him in
the midst of a set speech with the question::
"Where is the evidence Of any specific act Of
the Rebellion that deprived any of the States
Of their rights as States and made them
enemies2"
Instantly came the reply, ri answer the
gentleman in the Language Of the Supreme
Court of the United States, that the specific
acts we're that they causelessly waged
against their own Government war which
all the world acknowledges to have been
the greatest civil war known in the history
of the human race. That war was waged by
these people as States and it went through
long dreary years. In it they threw of all
allegiance to, and defed the authority of
your constitution, laws and Government
They discarded all official oaths and took in
their place oaths to support your enemy's
Government. They obliterated from their
State Constitutions and Laws every yes
tige Of
Recognition OF Your Government.
'aThey seized in their several States all
the national property. The Senators and
Representatives in Congress consulted, ban
tered, defed, and then left you. They ex-
PEELED from their land or assassinated every
inhabitant of known loyalty; they be.
trayed and surrendered your armies; they
passed sequestration and other laws in flag.
itious violation of the law of nations, max.
ing every loyal citizen an alien enemy; and
placed in the treasury of their rebellion all
money and property belonging to such citi
murder into law; they besieged for years
your capital, and sent your bleeding armies
back here in rout upon the very sanctuary
Of your national power. Their pirates
burned your unarmed commerce upon every
sea; they carved the bones of your unburieG
heroes into ornaments, and drank from COB.
lets made out of their skulls; they poisoned
your fountains, put mines under your sol
diers' prisons; organized bands whose lead.
ers we're concealed in their homes, and whose
commissions ordered the torch and yellow
fever to be carried to your cities and to YOU
women and children; they
Planned One Universal Bonfire
of the north from Lake Ontario to ths
Missouri; they murdered by systematic
starvation $4,000 of your sons as brave and
heroic as ever martyrs were; they destroyed
in the four years of horrid war another
army 60 large that 1t would reach almost
around the world in marching columns, and
then, to give the internal drama fitting
close and to concentrate into one crime, all
that is criminal in crime, and all that is de-
testable in barbarism, they killed the Presi.
dent of the United States. Mr.. Speaker,
allude to these horrible events of the recent
past, not to revive frightful memories, OF
bring back the impulse to the perpetual
severance Of this people, which their con-
duct provokes; allude to them for the
purpose of reminding you how utter was
the overthrow and obliteration Of all gov
ernment divine and human; how total was
the wreck of all constitutions and laws, po-
Etioal, civil and international. allude to
them to oondeuse their monstrous enormity
of guilt into one crime, and to point the
gentleman from New York to It, and to tell
him that that was the specific act"
And the words "specifc act" seemed to
weigh about four tons, and Raymond asked
Sheiabarger no more questions.
A Remarkable Impromptu Retort.
I have not intended in this quotation any
more than the author did in its delivery, to
revive any of the frightful memories that
time has hushed to sleep, and prefer to 'Iet