The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-12-24
Sketch Of Judge Observation-Disclosures oi.the
I Federal Court. 4
INTELLECT. !. |lI, A COSMOPOLITAN
Relieves I'm ahe Newspapers, for He,
Was "a. Newspaper Mnn nimscIf-,
ms Journalist, District Attorney
md Understanding OF Hi.
Work.

10 d lnlng or the past, generally speak
ING. 1t would be impossible with con-
ststency to dismiss the trial without
particular reference to Judge Robert
w, Hughes, in whose district the un.
fortunate cooks fate was decided, and
VINO, with Judge Golf, held the scales
or justice so equally divided between
the accused man and the Government
of the United States.
Judge Hughes is one Of the most re-
m ,,r and interesting figures in that
palll4ant throng of braIny men to whom
mus been entrusted the high duty of
seeing Justice. stern, pure, iunyielding.
| memorable, administered in; the Federal
| courts OF this country. In his long and
useful career on the bench he has
achieved a record rarely made in that
department, to be member Of which
argues a magnificent record 4.'
| Only those who know Judge Hughes
intimately can fully appreciate him.
An old Virginia gentleman in the truest
ana noblest sense OF the word, he Is
inspired also with the spirit and Ideas
| OF progress which are considered by
some to be Indigenous to the North.
ana which placed him IA little in adj
vance of his day and generation, aver
| aged up. A journalist, endowed with
the inalienable, inevitable and eternal
instincts OF the profession, he was not
bounded by the narrow limits Of the
tNurth Estate. but was equally at
| nome within or without its confines.
An editor, brilliant, virle, influential,
ne never assumed a dictatorship which
the position too often implies. A law
yer keen. eloquent, forceful, he did his
DUTY to God and his client a .prosecut-
ing Attorney for the United States. he
sought out wroag and avenged It, evil,
and punished it; but his zeal in behalf
| or justice and his country did not make
MIN blind to the claims OF mercy and
Gonsidenation. a Judge. upright and
Just, his knowledge OF the law pro-
round, of human nature, Immense. he
tempers the law with equity and jus-
tice with mercy.
such Is Judge Hughes In general, a
gentleman, Judge. journalist, literuteur;
| In intellect. cosmopolitan.
AS to his experience in newspaper
aom' 1t was long and eventful His
| last paper was the State Journal, in
| Richmond, che of the most ably edited
OF the. time. That was In 1866 Judge
Hughes counts those days spent In the
ed'torial room as not the least pleasant
and useful Of his life. He loved and
loVes the work, and this Is daily evi.
denced not only by the graceful and
kindly courtesy with which he treats
| ,he press; but by the fact that he Is an
| inveterate newspaper reader. and re-
| tains his high opinion OF the profess
| sion TO which he was once so happily
welded. His lecture before the Vir-
| sinta Press Association on June % last.
on Editors of the Past" proved that
the fascination of older days still held
MIN. This paper, by the way, Is one
Oh the most valuable contributions to
literature bearing upon this subject.
Newspaper men are generally so busy
writing the biography of others tina
they are too often themselves forgotten,
put the Virginia Editors of the Pas
| VIII not be aforementioned, for in THAT
lecture. which has fortunately been
printed and put into keepable shane,
| their deeds have been preserved as
| though by "a loving brother who cher
| ished them.
In 1874 the subject of this portrait.
af SUCH 1t can be called. was appointed
| by General Grant from the District At
rorneyship to the position which he now
| nils SO em!nently. In the long period.
or nearly twenty-four years. he has won
the admiration and unqualified respect
| or all who have come In contact with
| him, and his services to the Govern
ment cannot be estimated. He has
been freque0tly spoken of in connection
| with vacancy in the Supreme Court,
ana mad he been appointed 1t would
nave been no more than just recogni-
ton OF his work and qualifications.