Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-04

circumstances. The similar circumstance
! were that he spoke for Tammany ant
against Cleveland's nomination and agalns
the angry protest of the overwhelming ma
jority of his audience. He spoke in the
face of the storm and certain defeat. Blu
those who heard the two speeches recognize
the difference.
The orator has trimmed down his rougl
edges He has cultivated more of th,
grsces of speech and diplomacy of bearing
| His English words and Irish tongue ar,
more sweetly beguiling. For sledge ham
winning words and waya Instead o.
shouldering his way rough-shod over al
opposition, he edges gently and firmly
along and is through before you begin tt
realize how he got there. Instead of letting
his vessel thump among the breakers h,
pours oil on the waters and steers across Al
easily as possible. That is the difference
between Bourke Cochran in "a and Bourkt
Cochran in 49, In other words he is be
coming more finished He is rising.
The man has strong personality. II
see him once is to know him always II
know him is to love him always The onct
slender figure, now grown big and burly
| and round of shoulders: the great heat
poised upon stout neck; the careless
brown hair, sometimes short and sometime,
long, Just as he thinks to have it cut; the
blue eyes of wonderful depth, the breadth
of chest, the big feet, the funny little tuft
on the chin-all these form a consplcuou.
man from purely external point of view.
Comes Into His ONCE Like q Breeze.
He comes into his Office in the Equitable
from his country seat at Sands Point, Long
eli ho frooh II
seems to bring the openness and brusque
atmosphere of the sound in with him.
There is breadth about his personality
few men possess. And this is the secret OF
his strong friendships. He is optimistic in
everything. Little things don't bother
him. In law case he goes straight at the
underlying principles of the matter. The
details are secondary, and once having mas
tered the points of law and merits of q case
the details follow.
He never allows himself to be diverted
from the main points by running off after
them. He has an analytical mind that
grasps a legal proposition at once. OF
course, he now handles only big cases and
of course makes 3 good deal of money. In
the midst of his legal labors he finds time to
keep well posted on the questions of the
day. He is an ornniverous reader, loves
French literature and good living. He never
drinks anything, but is not opposed to the
use of liquor by those who do. He SMOKES
strong cigars, however, and plenty of them.
When he is hard at work he smokes contin-
uously. From 10 to Is strong Perfectos q
day is his average. He wears good clothes,
sack business SUITS but never thinks of
them; and doesn't know whether he looks
we'll in them or not He never wears jew
elry or anything SNOWY of any description.
Spurs Won in the Jake sharp Case.
Cocxran's first really big case in New
York was the Jake Sharp cnse. This he
carried to the Court of Appeals on an ap-
plication for a stay of proceedings and got a
new trial This in the face of popular
clamor and the prejudice of the courts. His
success gave him enormous prestige. Judges
and lawyers united in admiration of his
legal talents and force of character. He is
man who never gets ratified.
Mr.. Cockran's family relations are pleas
ant. He has been married twice, his first
wife having been a Miss jackson, sister of
Father jackson, of st. AIMS Church. She
bore him one child and both mother and
child died not far apart. His second wife,
Miss Mack, daughter of wealthy brewer,
John Mack, is q charming woman of taste
and culture. She was rich IN her own right
Their home on Long Island is said to be
model of refinement They have no chill
dren. Mr. Cochran takes pride and pleas
ure in his dogs and horses, maintains an
excellent stable and table and believes life
worth living.
As an e1temporaneous orator William
Bourke Cochran probably stands ahead of
any living American. This statement is in
the broadest sense. The vital element of
real oratory is that which is in touch with
4 ~ H.. L.
ment of words that will read well next
week. "a. ..i.E}.-P
One Of Natures Great Gifts.
The fitness to great possibilities, there
fore, is natures gift. But there are vari-
Gus qualities necessary to oratorical great
ness beside the quick wit and readiness of
tongue. Physique, force of character, mag
netism, courage, education, mental breadth,
the power of logical analysis-these are
some. And these Bourke Cochran possesses
in a marked degree. An orator may have
all the rest but physique and fail. The
strong, robust and commanding figure
coupled with a barytone voice of extraordi-
nary range and volume Cochran has for
The faint touch of Hibernian
brogue with the French trill on the "r''
makes that voice sweeter to the ear.
Oratorical fire is, of course, not merely
impressive because of the body from which
it issues. heard Thaddeus Stevens on the
floor of the House of Representatives in
his greatest oratorical effort during the re-
period when the ematiated old
man could not rise from his chair, and his
effects were great Yet had Stevens soul
been in Bourke Cockran's body the distin-
yuished Pennsylvania would have over
.opped all the great speakers of his exciting
lime. Charles Sumner was an orator, and
ret Sumner had not the fighting quality of
Cochran. His orations were learned and
ylittered and sparkled with strange words
md classical quotations. Roscoe Conkling
vas an orator; but Conkling was stacy and
# stilted style.
Cockran's Points Of Superiority.
Both Sumner and Conkling-in most re-
poets as to personality and speech wholly |
lissimilar only to the scholarly |
nd refined of language and ideas In |
3ourke Cockran's shoes at Chicago neither
would have been equal to the occasion.
contrast the utterances of the latter with /
nv speech ever delivered by men whom all |
men admit we're or are orators. The SIM
'licity of words. the, directness of state
nent, the clearness of presentation, the di-
'lomacy that rounds out every PROPOSE
ion, the utter absence of generalities gilt
ering or otherwise, the coaxing logic, the
1act fitness Of the whole to the subject and
he time, make it an oratorical marvel It
) literary gem. When flowing from the
ips of the impassioned Irishman into the
eeth of that vast audience under the Ieaky
oof it was an inspiration.
And yet the real greatness Of the orator
7as not so much in what he said as from
that he refrained from saying. The temp
alton of the spectacular would have turned
be head of Sumner or q Conkling. The
revocation to the coarse and vituperative
'as painfully present. The yells and in
ults that hurtled from every quarter of the