The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-04
Is What Judge Purnel|
Calls 1t.
SATED ON SENSATION
The Public is Hard to Startle. What
[i;gus!ed the Fat Man Hunt
ing Excitement in
Court.
Strong meat breeds appetite!

Strong meat breeds appetite!
Beginning with the original fy-by-
night application for receiVership
| for the Atlantic and North Carolina
Railroad, the Indictment of McBee
and Finch for conspiracy against the
State, the Lumberton bar embroglio
and the stirring incidents Of that noted
cause and. lastly, the fine and impris-
onment undergone by Editor Daniels
for alleged contempt of the Federal
Court presided over by Judge Purnell,
the events of the last two months have
comprised a series of sensations that
have scarcely been paralleled in the
history of a State which has been the
mother of righteous revolution and
the prey of every species of political
vampire known to the student of po-
litical economy. Things have happen
ed fast and happened faster until no
man knows what the day will bring
forth: as Uncle Remus would say, the
average citizen has reached the point
where he does not know what min
ute will be the next"
As is always the case in >parlous
times like these, we have become in
ured to the ordinary surprises of life
even to what in calmer times would
give rise to heated comment and buZ-
zing tongues. The unusual has to go
off like a giant cracker to raise the
dust of public notice. Other things
have suffered except the school COM
mencements. The public pulse has
learned under constant stimulus to be
calm. 1t were indeed a revolution
which at this time would shake our
sang froid
This condition was well illustrated
in the Federal Court building yester-
day morning when, in opening court
and commencing the hearing of the
argument as to the Sufficiency of the
bond rendered by the State in compli-
ance with the order of Chief Justice
Fuller, Judge Purnell announced from
the bench that the two questions in
the matter that were bothering him
were, first, whether the Chief Justice
had the right to make the order when
he was out of the fourth circuit and,
second, whether the writ of SuperSe-
IDEAS amounted to a writ of restitution.
The court room at the time was
crowded with people who were on
hand to watch for the next party to
come into contempt Despite the or
derl-- movement of the proceedings
there was a distinct quality of appre-
hension evident in the crowd. When
the remark of the Judge is consider
ed, it will be seen that ordinarily it
was of character that would have
at least attracted passing comment
Even a suggestion that a District
Judge was doubtful as to the ruling
of Chief Justice in a case passed on
by the lower court would in common
times give cause to question among
the thrOng.
What really happened was simply
this. The counsel applied themselves
quietly to the argument, the crowd
of moonshiners awaiting trial seemed
even more than usually stolid and the
crowd yawned eXpanSively.
Near the door a big, fat man, with
a red face heated with the exertion
of the three flights of steps, rose dis
gustedly from his seat
He'll he exclaimed. 81 come
here hunting a sensation; if the best
excitement you can get up is for Tom
Purnell to overrule Chief Justice Full
Iler-why, I'm gOne!"
And go he did in search of cooling
comfort, disappointment writ large
upon the morbid back of him!
Late in the afternoon it became
kOWn that the Judge was weakening.
He had admitted to several friends
that he was i'm error in refusing Mr.
Daniels the right to appeal and to
give bond and had intimated that if
the application for bail was made he
would grant it. This again-that the
Judge should have actually admitted
his own fallibility-would customarily
have been firSt-rate sensation. But
the purpose was too evident Habeas
corpus means a quick vindication if
it means vindication at all, and appeal
involves a long drawn out litigation.
Doubtless the writ sticks in the judi
cial craw And if Editor Daniels
should be at liberty when Judge
Pritchard arrives there would no
doubt be q quieter judicial breast in
Raleigh. 1t is needless to say that
Mr. Daniels will stay in custody until
he is turned loose of the motion of
court as a matter of right.
About night, Judge Purnell APP
preached the front of the Marlboro
and sat down to talk to John d. Shaw
Jr.
"Wen, Judge" remarked the law
yer, chow are you getting along?"
Judge Purnell sighed deeply from
an ample stomach:
'I've been having a He'll of a time,
Shawl" was his terse and feeling COM
ment.
If the writer of these lines be not
mistaken, one of those fables that
are so old that they are ever young,
contained a similar remark from n
much diSheVeHed bird of green and
yellow plumage who spoke with equal
feeling from an insecure perch, while
a fragment of his ruined cage repoSad
gracefully about his twisted neck.
Controversies carried to the point
of open hostilities are apt to result in
fragmentary feelings when the smoke
begins to drift. And the funny thing
is that each man who aWakeS to those
sensation anew considers that he is
unique in human experience!