Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-12-25
JUDGE PRYOR RETInEs.
Reaches the Age-Limit of Service on
New York Bench.
New York World-Ath.)

NNeW 1oTk NOTlu-4tll.J
That fine gentleman and learned Judge,
Roger A. Pryor. sat for the last time in
the Supreme Court yesterday, when he
presided in Special Term, Part VI. and
disposed OF a number Of motions. JUS
tice Pryor has reached the age limit Of
service on the New York bench. having
passed his SEVENTEEN year a few months
ago. Yesterday he bade farewell to Gene
raj Ward, the Clerk of the court, to the
lawyers and court officers. His term
would not have expired for seven years.
With ripe experience and rich knowledge
he will go into active practice as a law
yer with Chauncey Truax, Justice Truax's
brother, after January 1st next.
Daniel D%ougherty, of the silver tongue.
called Roger A, Pryor secessionlst, con-
gresham, duellist. and southern general.
1.-The Harry Hotspur of the Confederacy.'
All New York now knows Justice Pryors
striking face, his tall, erect figure, his
long, black hair. When he was young
and a fighter he was even simmer OF
figure.
You give your men no chance, Pryor
a friend Of those days said to him. "They
have nothing but a shadow to aim at,
and that shadow has a deadly aim"
A WHIFF OF .CHIVALRY.
The Justice here has furnished a Whit
of the old chivalry Of the South before
the war. Blown into the colder atmos-
phere of the New York courts, always he
has been instinct with the feelings OF that
chivalry in his treatment OF women lit
gants. De Lancy Nicoll. attempting to
have reversed one of Justice Pryor'S de-
%cisions. said of him TO the higher court:
while we have perfect confidence or
the rectitude OF his intentions, we can
not escape the conclusion that his CHI
v2lric nature and almost reverential ten
derness for the gentler sex led him UNI
consciously from the paths of strict JUS
tioe and impelled him 20 acts ana i'm
pressions which had no place IN tie CAIN
atmosphere Of a court"
Justice Pryor one day startled the
courtroom by declaring he would not
believe the confession of a correspondent
backed by the statements OF a private
detective against the unsupported denial
Of a woman. Correspondents who testl-
fed against women ave been made most
unhappy by Justice Pryor.
IT'S infamous TO marry a woman SIM
ply for her money he impulsively eX-
claimed in court.
Again he wrote: ut is urged that this
mother is an unfit companion for her
children. If her sin were incapable Of
atonement, and her life of reformation,
the objection would be insuperable."
HIS GOLDEN WEDDING.
The Justice celebrated his golden we'd
ding early in November. What tenderer
compliment did man ever pay to his
good wife, than Roger A. Pryor, when he
said:
my observation is, that disagreements
are most frequent at first in married
life-with time the yoke wears easier.
and the true honeymoon is from the
tw~enty-hfth 10 the fftleth year"
For himself, as the representative Of
the law. Justice Pryor has always de-
manded the utmost respect. There was
a wordy and acrimonious dispute be-
tween counsel in chambers where Pryor
was sitting. He tapped gently on the
desk before him. the disputants became
silent. In the g~entlest tone the Judge
said:
please TO remember, gentlemen, that
when you practice law in this part Of
the court and when 1 am on the bench,
II is as important TO study Chesterfield
Blackstone"
Necessarily. Justice Pryor is a true
He refused an application
for the Incorporation OF a club of foreign
born citizens of New York, saying:
TRUE AMERICANIsM.
81 am positively against anything
which will in any "a hinder foreigners
from becoming Americans in every sense
Of the word; which has for its object
the segregation of foreigners from
and the fostering or cherish
ing Of Old-World ideas. When a man
his native country his duties TO
that country cease, and he owes them
all 20 this country. His love for his
native land becomes merely a sentiment,
but his sympathy must be with this
and its institutions, of which
he has become a part, and Of whose
benefits he has become a sharer. A true
man will never lose his love for his
native land, but when he has come TO
his country and has declared his inten-
ton to become a citizen he must realize
that ii is 10 this country that he owes
his duty in peace and in war"
Justice Pryor always closely questioned
applicants for naturalization and always
promptly rejected them if ignorant Of
what citizenship in this country means.
by him, a nan once went into
another court, got his papers, and de-
saying, with emphasis:
I'm a Democrat and always will be.
but II that confounded Injin of a Pryor
Is up for an Office ne Won't get my vote"