The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-03

nave case to try in the courts here
every lawyer in town who can spare
the time goes to that particular court
to observe how the great man tries his
case. It is not an every day occurrence
to see one of the great legal giants
hard at work, as not many people can
afford to pay the fee required by these
men when their personal attention
to a case is demanded.
Many people employ the firms of
i which these lawyers are leading lights
and they pay heavy sums for doing so,
but unless treble the amount be handed
over, the case is given into the care OF
some Junior member, or some en-
! ployee of the firm and he manages ii
/ to the best of his ability.
/ Joseph Hodges Choate, for instance,
never gives his attention to a case
which requires much attendance at
court for less than $4,000 AS the lead
ing lawyer in the country today he can
| easily fix his own price and there are
always number of wealthy people
and rich corporations ready to pay
it. Mr.. Choate earns something like
S125,O00 year, and naturally he places
| high value on his time.
1t is to see how man with this pile
| VI AAAOAiCS aus IIIe1I Oil lIIt lawyer uOCh
to the court room when the news flies
around that Joe Choate is going to ar
que a case. Each one of the big law
yerS has certain mannerisms and unique
methods for impresSing the judge and
| jury. Some of the bar do their best
to copy their peculiarities, but unfor-
| tunately they lack the genius underly-
ing the work of the legal heavyweights,
SEEKS A SATIRICAL TARGET.
At times Mr.. Choate will take I'D a
case and put his whole heart and soul
| into 1t when the chances of his deriv-
/ ing any pecuniary benefits are mighty
slim. The Laidlaw suit against Rus
sell Sage is an instance of this kind
Mr.. Choate worked like a Trojan in
Laidlow's behalf for the mere pleasure
| of making Uncle Russell squirm in
the witness chair
Mr.. Choate had the faculty of saying
the most satirical things and rubbing
them in deeply with the most innocent
face and manner. His bearing is al
ways the pink of politeness, but his
tongue is just the reverse He hates
any one who boards up money for the
mere pleasure of owning numerous dol
lars and for many years Russell Sage
and Hetty Green have been his partic-
ular targets. During one of the trials
in the Laidlow suit, when Uncle Rus
sell was on the stand, Mr.. Choate in
nocently asked the aged financier if it
were true that he was a great phi
lanthropist Mr.. Sage saw the humor
in the question and grinned but he
didn't like it when Mr.. Choate also
asked him if it were true that he wore
brown paper waistcoats
Mr.. Choate makes few gestures when
! speaking. He reserves all his vital
ity and energy for the summing up and
has repeatedly talked solid fact for six
hours at a time without showing signs
of fatigue, and every word he utters is
worth listening to.
When engaged in the trial of a cause
he begins the summing up in his own
! mind the moment the trial begins. He
believes that the surest way to con-
/ vince the court and the jury is to stick
to the main facts and to construct a
! theory of the case consistent with the
undisputed points. Cases, he thinks,
are and ought to be decided upon the
main facts and features and not on in
significant details. especially nowadays,
when trials are conducted under great
pressure for time. Mr.. Choate always
likes to have good lawyer pitted
against him. being of the opinion that
case is more likely to be tried on it's
merits, the function of the lawyer be-
| ing to aid in the administration of
justice.
COUDERTS TIRELESS COURTESY.
Frederick Kene Coudert, who is a
/ good second to Mr.. Choate in legal
greatness, is most effective in cases
where intricate legal knowledge is re-
! quired. He has the faculty of present
| ing the dryest and most prosaic facts
| in an interesting way and can give
an inviting coloring to a statement in
! which cold figures are uppermost.
! Mr.. Coudert, while of French descent
is the least theatrical of all the big
! lawyers. His gestures are few In
| jury cases he wins favor at once by his
/ courteous treatment of his opponents.
| He always conveys the idea that he
| rather pities the other side because
of the weakness of their case and
would like to help them make as good
! a showing as possible. He does this
! so delicately that each juror thinks he
! has made an important and useful dis
coverv.
Mr.. Coudert never badgers a witness
He is so gentle and obliging that the
witness feels in honor bound to recip
rocate and says very nearly what the
! astute lawyer wishes to go on record
T. In the summing up Mr.. Coudert is more
emphatic and brings out all the strong
points of his case with startling force
He is a fluent talker, with a quaint
fund of humor,e and usually manages
to look upon every subject from a
unique point of view.
General Benjamin F. Tracy likes to
get hold of a sensational case to show
how he can tangle UP witnesses. In
divorce suits he is at his best, and by
artfully inducing witnesses to contra
dict one another he manages to make
the case of the other side appear very
weak. He can make a most pathetic
appeal to the jury, and if his client
happens TO be a woman he always
succeeds in making her cry at the pro-
per moment.
WORKS ON THE JURY.
1t is worth while going a long way to
see Colonel Bob Ingersoll try a case.
He has a tremendous amount of ener-
gy and a voice that fills a court room
with forceful oratory. He likes to get
the desperate side of case for the
mere pleasure of making much out of
little. He grasps the smallest and
most insignificant item in favor of his
client and by carefully nursing it de-
velops it into a regular boombshell be-
fore the trial is concluded.
He is a clever reader of human char
acter and In jury cases picks out two or
three men whom he is convinced are
logged and determined. He concen-
trates his energy to win these men to
his side of the case, and if he doesn't
pet an acouittal he feels confident of a
disagreement.
Elihu Root, who can make better
showing against Mr. Choate than any
of the other LAWYERS because of his i'm