The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1893-01-04
A PICTURESQUE JURIsT.
Justice Lamar Books More Like an An
archist Than Judge.


/ From the New York r corder
The most picturesque figure On the
United States Supreme bench is ohat OF
Justice Lamar. In physical appearance
he is as little like jurist as possible.
He might be taken for a roet or for an
anarchist, but hardly for a judge. HIS
manner in court harmonizes with his
appearance. He never seems to listen
to what is going ON, but sits with sub
dued aspect, sunk in the leather cushions
of his big arm chair, overwhelmed on one
side by the enormous frame OF Justice
Gray, and on the other basking in the
benevolence of Justice Brown. His chin,
with its ragged tuft of beard, usually
rests on his breast. His black hair,
barely touched with gray, flows down
over his shoulders, and his eyes have
dreamy and distracted look. Once in
while, during an unusually striking ar
gumeDt, he will pick up law book and
turn to a reference, but that is all. He
takes no more interest, apparently, nthe
cases argued before him than any one of
the spectators lined around the room.
The Mississippi Justice is noted for his
absence of mind. Frequently, when he
comes to the capitol, he turns instinct
lively toward the Senate chamber, after
the habit of former years, and, If alone,
he has been known to get into the cloak
room and prepare to hang up his coat
and hat before beginning to realize where
he is. Occasionally he drops into a rev.
erie on the bench, from which he bas to
be aroused by one of his associates, and
his attendant is constantly on the watch
TO prevent his scandalizing the court by
walking up Pennsylvania avenue with
out removing his judicial robes. When
he was Secretary of the Interior he lad
a bad habit of going down to the depart
ment at all hours of the night and get
ting lost in the corridors. Sometimes
during the day even he would leave his
desk and take turn up and down the
corridors for half hour at q time, and
then, in starting back to his room, he
would almost invariably turn the wrong
way, and impose upon an accommodate
ing subordinate the task Of guiding him
to his desk. During these lapses he
would follow his guide meekly and sub
missively, apparently oblivious of the
situation in which he was placed.
He is a man of moods. At times he
will devote himself with intense applica-
ton to the unraveling of a knotty legal
problem, and at other times he will shun
the semblance of mental effort for a week
at q stretch. For this reason he is err
ratio in his treatment of the cases handed
over to him for review. He was equally
uncertain in his moods when a member
Of Clevelands cabinet. On one occasion
a newspaper man applied to him for per-
mission to see the papers in certain
case of removal from office, and met with
a peremptory refusal. Having a pretty
lIllll1lCtLC h41O VI 4AAo W1IAAAot OAAS
young man few days later called with
the same request. Lamar happened to
be in business trim, and with no recol-
lection Of the forme- refusal, he ordered
the papers to be placed on tablein an
adjoining room. Then, pointing to them,
he said: "There they are, writing pa
per and everything you want, and there"
he added, good-naturedIy pointing to a
closet, lis bottle of whisky. If you
need anything else ring for it."
The Justice enjoys riding, although he
cannot indulge in this pastime to the
same extent as three or four years ago.
But he still keeps staid and amiable
Old family horse, on which he may be
seen on pleasant days ambling along from
the capitol to his house on Massachu
sets avenue. He trusts to the alertness
of the animal to keep from stumbling
over fences, and he has been seen more
than once jogging past contentedly, with
an umbrella tucked complacently under
his arm.