The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1897-03-20
BILL ARP'S WEEKLY LETTER
HE TALKS OF THE RECENT JUDI.
CIAL INVESTIGATION.
GLAD THE JUDGES WERE ACQUITTED
The Trial VIII Result in Making Legal
Lights More Circumspect In the
Future, Says william.

never would have made themif he had been
a Democrat. His motive was not so patri-
otto as it was partisan, but maybe the lnves-
tigatien of the charges against the two
! ~dges will do good in the long run. They
La 70 been acquitted, as they should nave
been. but still they will no doubt be more
prudent and circumspect in the 1uture'
There was sufficient evidence to Illuminate
any sensitive man, and no doubt these men
EEL it so, and will hardly claim 1t as q very
triumphant acquittai.
The Judges of our courts have been gener-
ally very high order of men, but after an.
they are lust human, and are subject TO ike
passions with the rest OF us, but, because
they are in high position and entrusted WIN
unusual power, the people watch them Win "a
critical and sometimes with an enyious eye.
= The public requires and expects Inors VI
Judge than from a private c1tlzen-l3o1e
learning. more dignity, more patience, ma =
decision of character and besides these qua |
ifcations. he must be exemplary IN DIS nap.
its and conversation. The community must |
look up to him as man OF purity ana integ-
rity-the enemy of crime and the protecsof
of the poor and helpless. .
In recalling the many circuit judges wnoln
have known in Georgia during the last naii
century. / do not remember one VINO Iaiieu
to ill his position to the satisfaction OF
large majority of his constituents Cer'ah
Iy none were charged with Incompetence VI
corruption. Party spirit ran high petween
theWhigs and Democrats before the wal;
and sometimes one party was in power anu
sometimes the other, but no charges We're
ever brought against any judge. HIS poilIlcS
left him as soon as he got on the pencn, anS
ne commanded the respect OF the par anu
the people.
But we had better material to make JUDGES
of in those old ante-be'irIn times than W.
Nh 10
and nobody need take any offense at tne as
sertion. We had higher standard OF schol-
| arship and literary attainments. hno"ieoSe
was not so difflsed to the many, put was OF
| a higher grade TO the few. we nave hefol
had supreme court that equaied the r miss
one-Lumpkin, Warner ana Nespit.., 10y
| were classical scholars, and coulu reau
Latin and Greek as well as English. 30
| could all the old-time jurists-Story, Mar
shall. Piclpey. fancy, Writ, Kent and many
others. II required something more tnan
| politics to make a man @ Judge In the oluoa
| time. In the old Athens circuit we hau suon
| great men as old Tom Harris, Cnaries
Douoberty- Augustine Clayton and JuDius
Hillyer upon the bench. They were all Gas
| sic scholars and knew the difference between
| 0nolens yolens" and "bolus noxious gem
nine Latin and dog Latin. They understood
law as a science and had mastered It's iunoa-
mental principles. Nowadays many OF our
Judges who have been maze ou' y,
scheming politicians are nothing put case
LAWYERS. They have to be re-educatea
for every trial. Books upon books nave 70
he read to them from both sides, and at the
last they go it blind or split the oliierehce
. and are reversed by the supreme court.
Judge Underwood, of the Rome circuit wa wa
a great lawyer-a lawyer by intuition as wen
as education. and nothing irritated him
more than the long continued reading o.
casas and authorities. He knew the law
and could have made it, and did not nave te
! be educated. / remember when case law
} yer had trunk full Of books brought iht'
court and began to make an osteh,al u. ~
array of them on the long table before him
looked up at the judge and perceived III
' disgust. When the case was opened Tor ar
, ,ument he leaned forward and said: Broth
, or Jones. Won can select from your library
: few cases that you think are pertlnen. any
, read the syllabus of the decision, but nothint
t more The court understands tho Jaw :,
! this case and nothing that you can iinu II
: those books will change it. The time Oh Tn
court is too valuable to be wasted In permis
. It never availed anything toread law book
y to Judge Underwood. He said 1t anecte'
q his spleen.
8 doctors will tell YOU that the spleen ha
i nothing to do with mans serenity, IN Iac
q has nothing to do with anything, ana ma
inst as we'll been left out of the human anal
3 omv. but the ancients knew better. In
It spleen is the seat Of melancholy ana pee'
:. ishness, and is connected with the praii
e lust as the heart is. II the spleen Is OUT
y order the man is splenatic. He is fretful an
= morose."
e "What is the spleen?" said I; "and where
o it?''
- "The spleen." said ne, s'is soft spong
= organ located In the left hypochondrium-
g and that Is where the word hypochondria
4; comes from. 1t is just below the diaphragl
% and above the colon, and Mes. between IL
+. ,uperosity OF the stomach and the cartilag'
y of the false ribs, anterior to the kidney
;. Now. YOU understand it. have studied
's good deal of anatomy and surgical jurispr1
10 dence and can tell my brother Jim, the 90
le tor, O good deal more than he knows. !
"a fact. a LAWYER who has case OF poisonlr
- or of stabbing has to study anatomy with
X zeal that the average doctors know nothli
II about / have confused doctors on the w
Id ness stand until was sorry for them.
a. That the Judge was sometimes spleAa.
we all know who practiced under MIN. y
ar witnesses against Judge Reese said new
&c sometimes very cross and grabbed ana cut
n. the LAWYERS and the constables In "
ha hostile manner. So did Judge underT3o
l remember that one time wnen iSii
%. winded LAWYER who had been boring U
nd tell fossiliferous anecdote that was oVlue
ho tionable propriety for ears polite, the 9ual
- leaned forward and said
Oh Brother -, you had just as wet OH
the rest OF that anecdote. II has no bearll
upon the case whatever, and it is now ha
past O'Clock. Anecdotes that are not
for women to hear in q courtroom are not
for men. Proceed with your argument.
ed Underwood was emphatieaiiy learn
ID Judge, and his quick perception aiWa
. = grasped the case ia all'its bearings.
!. course it provoked him when young la
ID yer or a conceited one sought to teach q
ey from the books or asked him to charge
of jury something that was rot the law.
~ derwood was good schoomaster and cor
'", take the conceit out Of man with &C
ali delicious sarcasm that sometimes was %
taken for compliment.
us 1t is said that justice is blind, or has
cir bandage around the head that hides
an. eyes, while she holds a pair OF scales In
- right hand. She does not know the part
IN to the case, but weighs both sides with
nd even, impartial hand, but Judge Underwt
air said that when there was q combination
nv lawyers TO acquit a criminal and cheat
!. gallows or the changing, patriotic ius
~ could not help raising the bandage II
EN- bit and he did II. Sometimes when deie
ant was acquitted his lawyers would
with aggrayating impudence, Wen, Juu
-. You lost that case last night. Ihe Jury u
~ come down With verdict OF not guilty.
" Eyes, said The judge, land you seem