The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-09-15
JUDGE ADAMS CHARGE,
LAWYER LEWIS RUShES INTO
PRINT TO DEFEND HIS HONOR.

PRINT TO DEFEND HIS HONOR.
Admits That He Did Not Hear His
Charge to the Grand Jury at Colum-
bus Court, and Knows Nothing of
the Matter. but Thinks Injustice
Has Been Done an Innocent Man,
Hence His Letter.
Correspondence News and Observer
Whiteville, n. c., Aug. 26.
| see a great deal in the news
papers of the State with reference to
Judge Adams, who presided over the
Superior court of this county last
week. l did not hear his charge to
the grand jury, and | have heard no
unfavorable criticism of his charge,
except as agitated by the editor of
the Columbus Nescs, and published in
his paper. l have been a member of
the bar for sixteen years, and during
that time l have had the pleasure Of
appearing before many of the ablest
jurists and best jud ges who ever
wore the judicial ermine in this or
any other State, chief among whom
are Hons. j. E. Shepherd, A. c.
Avery, Jas. H. Merriman, H. G. Con-
nor, W. NJ. Shipp, James c. McRae.
Geo. H. Brown and others, and l am
glad to be able to say that none of
these great and good men, either on
or off the bench, made a more favor
able impression upon all classes and
conditions of men than did Judge
Adams during the time he held court
here.
am writing this simply because
l think the people Of the State ought
to know how Judge Adams conducted
himself while here, and because l
think an innocent man has been un-
| justly attacked.
Very respectfully,
d. J. LEWIS.
We confess that we were very
much surprised to find the above let
ter in Sundays issue of the Raleigh
News- Observer, the more so because
we have long known him as an able
and fair-minded lawyer and a Chris
tian gentleman, who on several oc-
casions has honored us with evil
dences of a friendship which we
highly esteemed. We utterly fail to
see wherein Mr.. Lewis is called upon
to attempt a defense of Judge Adams
in this matter and to seek to place
the NeUs in an unfavorable light, be-
cause,
1st, Mr.. Lewis says in the above
letter that he did not hear Judge
Adams charge to the grand jury
and,
2nd, Because the only criticism
which the News, or any of the other
papers of the State which discussed
this matter, made of Judge Adams
conduct while here, was of his charge
to the grand jury.
The report in the NeoOs, upon which
the criticisms of the other State
papers were based, went so far as to
state that with the exception OF his
partisan charge to the jury his con-
duct was such as to make a favorable
impression.
Therefore, we are utterly unable
to see the point in Mr.. Lewis letter,
and wherein he is called upon to say:
Il think an innocent has been un-
justly attacked.''
We are disposed to believe Mr..
Lewis memory at fault when he says:
81 have heard no unfavorable criti-
cism of his charge, except as agitated
by the editor of the Columbus News
and published in his paper" We
were discussing this matter with Mr..
Lewis upon legal point that might
become involved, and he said that he
would regret to see the report of the
Judges charge published, because
the Judge was special friend Of his
ever since an intimate acquaintance
made with him at school at Green's
boro. However, in the course of our
conversation in regard to it he stated
that Mr.. Schulken, Qawyer, PopulisD
told him, speaking of the Judges
charge, "Ill be dogged if he didn't
give you folks the Democrats the
ID" We would regard that as an
unfavorable comment, and the editor
of the News certainly had not
"agitated'' the matter with MIR.
Schulken. In fact. all that ever
passed between us in regard to this
matter was that soon after the
Judges charge we had occasion to
ask Mr.. Schulken a question in re-
gard to the last Legislature, (of
which he was member) and in a
good, jolly, humorous manner he
whispered to us Git was in open
court "that was that good Legisla-
turc." Catching the spirit OF his
remark, we replied, "Yes, that Leg
islature the Judge was defending"
If our Information is correct. we
could call to his memory other in
stances of his having heard this mat
ter discussed unfavorably to the
Judge. But no matter. The logic
of his own letter is that he knows
nothing at all about the points at
issue, but thinks an injustice has
been done his personal friend, Judge
Adams, nevertheless.
We repeat that we are very much
surprised that Mr.. Lewis should be
SO anxious to defend Judge Adams
and to reflect upon the Neus away
from its home, as to attempt to do
so when he confesses he knows moth
ing about it, however friendly he
may be to the Judge personally, and
we are forced to conclude that his
magnanimity has placed him in a
position which he would not have
assumed upon more mature consid
Grafton.
We also very much regret the
necessity for these comments, but
since very large part of the State
press has taken up the matter, upor
our report of it, we could not do les.
and discharge our duty to them al
well as to ourselves.