The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-05-24
The NEWS AM OBSERVER, MORNING MAY a. 1896

rem at the bar, at Charlotte. declared
with emphasis, after a victory to
which he thought Vance was not
fairly entitled, that there ought to be
special act of assembly that Vance
should never have the last speech TO a
jury in Mecklenburg. An incident in
the trial of a great case in which
Vance took conspicuous part, to-wit,
the johnson will case in Edenton, in
which Governors Graham and Bragg,
Judges Heath and Gillian, Mr. Moore,
Mr.. Winston, Mr.. Eaton, and perhaps
others of the ablest lawyers in the
State were engaged, was cited by Mr.
Battle as indicative of Nance's power
to electrify his audiences. Judge A.
). Merrimon, the rival of his early
manhood, tried the case and with very
signal ability, and he told the speaker
more than once that he had never wit
messed such a scene as he witnessed in
that trial Mr.. Johnson, in his will,
had given as a reason for leaving out
his relatives and giving his property
TO comparative strangers, that men
would fawn upon one when in pros
perity but forsake him when adversely
should overtake him. Gov. Vance,
after reading this to the jury, de-
nounced it as a libel upon human ma
ture. He said that he had received
from the people of the State many
honors, many more than he deserved,
and he felt that the people were his
especial friends while he was Gov
ernor and otherwise in their service,
but when the war ended and he was
taken prisoner from his home and
carried to Washington, there to linger
in prison and possibly have his life
ended by the gallows, and that never
in times Of prosperity had he felt that
he had more and as attached friends
as when he was on his way to prison
or as he had as parole prisoner. For
ten minutes after he ended this SEN
tence which he spoke with great en-
phasis and much feeling, the court
house was i'm hub-bub. Ladies,
many Of whom were present, were
waving their handkerchiefs, men were
applauding and stamping and hur-
raining and cries of "HurTah for
vance," were made lin spite of the
efforts of the Judge, sheriff and bailitfs
to reduce the crowd to order In his
speeches at the bar Vance sometimes
used anccdote which conyulsed the
iurv and bv-standers and sometimes
even the Judge, but always, rs in his
public speeches. merely to Illustrate
| a point or attract the attention of the
| Jury to his position. If success be the
| criterion of a great advocate, Vance
was one.
| Of course, we do not reproduce all
| Mr.. Battle said; for his address occu-
| I'M
| Our CORRESPONDENT, Mr.. Christian, has
heretofore alluded to the alternate
pathos and playfulness of his language
as he spoke of his great friend, look
| ing down upon him from the portrait
We gave in last Wednesdays paper the
written words in which he spoke, in
| terms of high praise, of the portrait
as a triumph of the painter s art,
fspeaking likeness and of the great
work done by President McIver in
building up the Normal and Industrial
| School, that magnificent instrumental
ity for the development of our best
womanhood, made possible by Nance's
recommendation when his voice was
most potent with the people of the
| State-and his analysis Of Nance's
character. as the friends who knew
him well could see it portrayed on the
canvass, his courage, his sincerity, has
honesty, his genial kindness. ms VII
and humor, his eloquence and patriot
ism.
Finishing the reading Of this tribute
Mr.. Battle made an appeal to his au-
dience, substantially III III these w0r1s.
"And now, fellow-citizens OF his
State, what do we, his younger broth
ers and sisters, owe to this great ora
tor, statesman, patriot and Christian
for Vance was @ Christian, too. in the
hest sense Of the word? And what do
we owe to this, the rising generation
and posterity, in respect TO him? We
owe il, that, without much further de-
lay, we erect, in Capitol Square, at
| Raleigh, in the shadow of the capital
in which he sat and labored for the
welfare of the State, as our Great Gov
ernor, in war and peace, three times
elected by the people or in some other
more prominent place in our capital
| city, a statue in bronze of Vance, the
| eXemplar, and as an inspiration to our
| ingenious and patriotic youth of this
and future ages; and that we prevail
upon the Legislature of the State to
provide for the erection in one of the
| inches reserved for North Carolina. in
| Statuary Hall of the capitol at Wash
| ingtOn, another statue i'm his memory,
| chiseled from purest marble to stand
| amid the statues of Washington and
Jefferson, Jay, Clay, Webster and Cal
houn, Hamilton, Grant and Garfield,
and others, their greatest from differ
ent States of the Union, as the embodi-
ment and permanent representation of
what was best in the citizenship,
patriotism and craftsmanship of North
Carolina.