The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1897-02-06
BILL ARP'S WEEKLY LETTER
HE TALKS OF THE RECENT JUDI.
CIAL INVESTIGATION.
GLAD THE JUDGES WERE ACQUITTED
The Trial Will Result in Making Legal
Lights More Circumspect' In thu
Future. Says William.

| A few broken remarks by Senator Garter
hus cost the state about 5000. The senator
never would have made them If h. had been
a Democrat. His motive was not 20 patri-
otto as it was partisan, bat maybe the Inyes-
tigation Of the charges against the two
| judges will do good In the long run. They
have been acquitted, as they should have
been. but still they will no doubt be more
| prudent aad circumSpect in the tutllre.
| There vas sufficient evidence to humiliate
| any sensitive nan, and no doubt these men
! feel 1t 80, and will hardly claim 1t as u very
triumphant acquittul.
| The judges Of our courts have been gener-
| ally very high order OF men, out after all.
| they arc just human, and are subject to Xix"
! passions with tho rest OF rs, but because
they are in high position End entrusted with
unusual power, the people watch them with
critical and sometimes with an cnyious eye.
Tie public requires and expects more Ol IA
; Judge than from q private citizen @horo
| learning. more dignity, more patience, moro
decision Of character and besides these Gu;ll-
iilcations, h must ha exemplary in his hab-
its and conversation. Tho community must
| look up to him as q man Of purity and intal;-
rty-tho enemy Of crime and Tho protector
of the poo. arI helpless.
! In recalling: the many circ,lii Judges whom
! | base Known in Georgia during the last bait
! century. do n0E remember one who failed
! to I'll hi, position 50 th@ satisfaction Of u
| large ma iority Of his constituents. Certain
" none were charged VITA Incompetence or
! corruption Parry spirit ran high bctwcen
! tln Who's u,,,A iis,,fvlf, ItinI-N Tho.
! and sOlnGLmcA one party was in power and
| sometimes tie other, hUt no charges ~"ro
eroc brought against any Judge. His politics
! left him as soon rs he gyt OF the bench. and
! he commanded ne respect Oh tie bar and
! the people.
| Eat Wo had better material to make judges
OF N those old antG-h2iium times than we
| have now. There is 10 doubt about this,
| and nob0G7 0rad take any orense at the as
| sCItiON. Ne had a higher standard OF sChOl-
! 0rship and literary attainlncnts. knowledge
| was not 50 ditIused to the m9Ny, but was Of
a higher grade - the few We have r"TCr
! had &supreI1N court that equalcd the iivst
one-Lumpkin warner aad Nesbitt. Ihey
| wara classical scholars, and could read
| LatiD ard Greek rs we'll IS English. SO
couit! atl the c!d-timc juri2ts-Story, Mar
shall, pic',ncy, fancy, Writ. Kent and many
| others. 1t required something more than
! politics 20 make man a Judge il the ol,len
time. in the ci! Athens circui! we had such
! great men rs old Tom Harris, Charles
| DCESfcrty, Augustine Clayton and .!unius
lIiiiy2r upon tie bench. They were all 2las-
sic scholars, and knew the difference between
| "nolnns yolcr," AID ''boius noNio1.s''-- ctN-
uina ratin ard dog latin. They Understood
IL" az a science and had mastered its fl'nda-
-s,t
Judges vito have Ec"n made out Of
schemins politicians a-c rosiHnt; but case
lawyers. Tiicy have to be re-cd,casad
for e1c2y trial. Doo,* uron book, have 10
be read 20 ti,c,n from both sides, and at the
last th9y so it blind CT SrliG III. diitC-s nee
and are reversed BY IL. supreme court
judge Underworld OF the Rome circuit, was
great hwyor-a lawyer By intuition IS well
as education. and nothing; irHita!ed him
more than tho long continued reading of
cases and authorities. he knew the law
and could have made it, and did not have to
be educated. ! remember when y ease INV.
yer had q trunk full OF books broNgh5 into
CONT and began to make an ostcntatipus
array Of them On tho long table before him.
I looked up at the Judge and perceived his
disgust When the case Was opened for ar
gumcnt he leaned forward and said: "Broth-
or Jones, you can select from your library q
few eases that you think are pertinent and
read the syllabus Of the decision but nothing
more. The court understands the law OF
this case and nothing that You cen find in
those books will change it. The time of the
court is too valuable to be wasted in permis-
cuous readiEg"
1t never avaied anything to read law books
to Judge Underwood. lie said it affected
his spleen.
:.'Eow, Major" said he, 'these modern
doctors will tell you that the spleen has
nothing to do with mans serenity, in fact
has nothing to do with anything, and had
just as well been left ont Of the human unat.
omy, but the ancients knew better. The
spleen is the seat OF melancholy and peev-
ishness, and is connected with tho brain,
just as tho heart is. If the spleen is out OF
order the man is splenatic. He is fretful and
mOrOse."
"'Yhat is the spleen?" sud I; ''and where is
it,"
the Spleen" said he, els soft spongy
organ Located in the left hypochondrum--
and that is where the word hypochon;lriac
comes from. 1t is just below the diaphragm
and above the colon, and lies between tho
tubarosity Of the stomach and the cartilages
OF the false ribs, anterior to the kiflneyS.
Now, YOU understand it. I havo studied
good deal of anatomy and surgical jurispru-
dence. and can tell my brother jim, the doc
tor, q good deal moro than he knows. In
fact, lawyer who has q case Of poisoning
Or OF stabbing has to stUdy anatomy with Il
zeal that tho average doctors know nothing
about. have confused doctors on tho Wit
ness stand until was sorry for them"
That the Judge was sometimes splenatic
we all know who practiced under him. The
witnesses against Judge Reese said he was
sometimes very cross and grabbed and cut 1T
tho lawyers and the coustablcs in a very
hostile manner. So did Judge Underwood.
remember that one time when a long
Wlnded lawyer who had been boring the
court and jury for half an hour started to
tell fossiiferous anecdote thatwas Of qucs-
tlonablo propriety for ears polite, the Judge
leaned forward and said:
"Brother you had just as we'll omit
the rest OF that anecdote. 1t has no bearing
upon the case whatever. and it is now half
past o'clock. Anecdotes that are not III
for women to hear in a courtroom are not lit
for men. Proceed with your argument"
Underwood was emphaticaIy q learned
Judge, and his quick perception always
Srasped the case in all it's bearings. Of
course it provoked him when young law
yer or conccted one sought to teach him
from the books or asked him to charge the