The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-21
THE CASE of TAYLOR CRUM.

THE CASE OF TAYLOR CRUM.
Taylor Crum came down from North
Dakota and applied to the board of OK
aminers for admission to practice law In
this state. Crum had been practicing In
North Dakota for several years, and had
experienced that deterioration Of good
nature Inevitable to the jewellers in that
country of perpetual wind and alkaii
water. These worked rather harder On
him than on other members Of the Da-
kota bar. for, whereas they swore at the
court only after adjournment and when
within the seclusion Of the nearest dis
pensary of-weil, drugs-Crum. on one oe-
casion. swore at the court right to the
face of the dignified gentleman who com
posed, in his own person. the court. For
this. we understand. he was disbarred, IN
proceedings duly and formally had. The
supreme court Of that state. if news dis
patches are veracious, lifted the. ban of
the decree.
Whether this be true or not. CruIn de-
cided to shake the Dakotan mud from mis-
feet and cross the raging Red and hang
out his shfngie in the city Of Moerhead.
Whereupen he sought permit from our
state board of examiners. We are told,
In the papers, that the board denied mis-
application. This Is probably merely d
reporters rendition Of their action. for,
of course, the board could only transmit
to the supreme court its recommends
lions, and 1t probably recommended
the rejection of the application. But it
is the grounds Of the action Of the board
if accurately narrated by the versatile
gatherer of official doings. that strike the
lay mind as rather uncommon. The OBJ
lection presented to the board by sundry
lawyers opposing Crum's proposed inva-
sion of the Minnesota bar was that he Is
a man Of irascible temper. That was
what was the matter with him in Da--
kota, andSit led him into an open and
emphatic expression of his contempt Of
court. That was a mistake; he should
have reserved his expression until he was
lawyers do. and, If one can believe thu
yarns they spin in private, a thing they
are very frequently amply justified IN do
ing. We are inclined to believe9 that in
Crum,s. case the same causes that pro-
duced irritability In him affected the
judge also. and. that the latter, was guilty
of coritributory negligence -
But is the possession of an irascibIe
temper a disqualification in an applicant
for admission to the bar? If so, where,
in the statutes, is 1t writ? Certain it IS
that 1t Is nowhere to be found in The
common law, else Engiand's courts would
not have been adorned by that long line
of eminent judges whose tempers were
always on edge. E. G. Ryan rose through
the bar of Wisconsin to its supreme
bench, and his temper at the bar and on
the bench was always as pungent as red
pepper. We find specifications in our
statutes of an attorneys duties, and we
find explicit statement of the causes for
which he can be suspended, but nowhere
is 1t writ that it is his duty to be sweet
tempered, nor is a bad temper set down
among the causes for suspension Be-
sides. how does our learned board know
but that Crum's removal to the balmy
air, the sweet waters and the salubrious
climate of Moorhead-so markedly differ
ent from conditions in Fargo-would mol
lily Crum's temper and make him as gen.
tie and lambfike as are all Minnesota
lawyers. as everyone knows We submit
these considerations to the honorable su-
preme court when 1t comes to sit on
Crum; and, in his own behalf, we appeal
to their own memories of differences with
the bench when they were at the bar,
where their only satisfaction was swear
Ing at the court. when round the corner.