The San Francisco call., 1899-02-12

he may have reasoned correctly that
they would stand better chance of full
fillment away from the direct compar-
ison with Rufus Choates abilities. Mr..
Choate has been able to succeed in
spite not only of advantages in wealth
and education, but in spite Of a distin-
guished relative as we'll.
The famous relative was something
Of a handicap at first. Lawyers and
others in New York said:
Rufus Choate's young cousin has
come down here to practice. Let's go
and see how he compares with the old
man."
They f1ocked to "Joe" Choate's first
cases and most of them were dis
appointed. His quiet manner CONVEX
sational arguments and offhand jokes
were so entirely in contrast with the
stirring eloquence Of Rufus Choate that
the observers did not appreciate its
power at first.
Guess he hasn't much to bank on
but the family name" they said.
But there were some who appreci-
ated the young attorneys possibilities,
and one of these was William NJ.
Evarts. In 1859 he invited Mr.. Choate
to join his firm. He did So and for the
past twenty years has been the prac-
tfcal head of the firm, though the style
Of it is still Evarts, Choate & Beaman.
His Way With Jury.
It was noticeable from the first that
young Choate won his cases. His way
of talking to the jury, as he would to
an acquaintance he had stopped on the
street. his genial manner and his habit
of illustrating his telling points with
humorous or sarcastic illusions relieved
the ordinary tedium of a trial, and car
ried weight with the jurors.
From the first Choate has been
great jury lawyer. His telling way Of
expressing his ideas makes them stick
in the jurors memory. At the same
time the aptness of his comparisons
and the manner in which they go
straight to the heart of a question
makes them influential with the Judges.
When Choate said of a wealthy and
somewhat hypocritical witness, who
had purchased a house in Brooklyn on
the further side of Greenwood Gene
terry, 81 suppose it was the only way
he could make sure of a home beyond
the grave" the remark was bound to
remain with his hearers.
In the Pacific Railway case Coils P.
Huntington set up the claim that he
was not responsible for the acts of his
agents on the Pacific Coast. But when
Mr.. Choate alluded to the chief of these
agents as this Mark Hopkins, by
whom he was represented absolutely,
completely and without any limitation
whatever, so that you might say that
when Mr.. Huntington took snuff on the
Atlantic coast, Mr.. Hopkins sneezed on
the Pacific" it was impossible to es-
cape from his Interpretation.
His wit and fun making powers
brought Choate into early prominence
among the members of his own pro-
fession. Jurors, Judges and listeners
welcomed his appearance in court as
certain to relieve the ordinary tedium
Of trial. But he was not all fun. He
could be terrible and Scathing when he
chose, and the sharp sarcasm which
made the Laidlaw-Sage suit celebrated
was employed to the confusion and en-
barrassment of witnesses in many an
earlier and less famous case. No more
cutting remark was ever made in a
courtroom than Choate's utterance in
the suit Of Architect Hunt against Mrs.
Paran Stevens. In summing up he
sketched Mrs. Stevens rise to social
prominence in eloquent terms, con-
cluding:
"And at last the arm of royalty was
bent to receive her gloved hand, and
how, gentlemen Of the jury, did she
reach this imposing eminence? Can i'm
pressive pause.) Upon mountain OF
unpaid bills"
Why Choate Succeeded.
When I asked Mr. Choate to what he
attributed his success as lawyer, he
said:
ITO studying the books and fighting
in the courts, principally to fighting in
the courts"
The remark calls attention to another
of Mr. Choate's characteristics. He is
a broad gauge man. He does not win
cases on fine technicalities, but by ap-
pealing to the broad, basic principles
of the law. He presented this view in
the celebrated case of the Mylod elec-
ton certificate, which involved the con-
troll of the New York Senate, when he
said:
These questions of disputed cleo
tions were not to be settled by tech
nicalities or by appeals to technicali-
ties. They were to be decided