Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-11-28

nurse took charge of the place anC
| ignored the existence Of the brown Wo'
man, refusing to speak to her or per-
NIT her to enter her fathers room.
His illness made II necessary tc
choose an assistant to conduct the
case before the High Court. There was
but one member of the house whose
character and ability fitted him fol
the place-General Benz. F. Butler, Of
massachusetts,, whose name was
enough to start a riot in any assembly
| in America.
His selection precipitated a storm a.
| the Capitol. A member leaped to his
feet on the floor of the house and
shouted:
IF l were to characterize all that is
pusil!animous in war, inhuman II
peace, forbidden in morals, and cor
rupt in politics, could name 1t in one
word-Butlerism!"
For this speech he was ordered tc
apologize, and when he refused with
scorn they voted that the speaker pub
licly censure him. The speaker die
so, but winked at the offender while
uttering the censure.
John A. Bingham of Ohio, who had
been chosen for his powers OF oratory
o make the principal speech against
| the president, rose in the house and
Indignantly refused to serve on the
board of Impeachment with such a
man.
General Butler replied with crushing
insolence:
1T is true, Mr.. Speaker, that 1 may
have made an error of judgment ir
trying to blow up Fort Fisher with a
powdership at sea. did the best
could with the talents God gave me
ho
At least barred my own breast in my
country's defence-a thing the distin-
guished gentleman who insults me has
not ventured to do-his only claim to
greatness being that, behind prison
walls, on perjured testimony. his fervid
eloquence sent an innocent American
mother screaming to the gallows."
The fight was ended only by an or
der from the old Commoner's bed to
Bingham to shut his mouth and work
with Butler. When the president had
been crushed, then they could settle
Kilkenny-cat issues. Bingham obey
ed.
When the august tribunal assem-
bled in the senate chamber, fifty-five
senators. presided over by Salmon P
Chase, chief justice of the supreme
court, constituted the tribunal. They
took their seats in a semicircle In front
of the vice presidents desk at which
the chief justice sat. Behind them
crowded the one hundred and ninety
members of the house of representa-
tives, the accusers of the ruler of the
mightiest Republic in human history
Every inch of space in the galleries was
crowded with brilliantly dressed men
and women. army officers in gorgeous
uniforms, and the pomp and splendor
of the ministers of every foreign court
of the world. In spectacular grandeur
no such scene was ever before Witness
ed in the annals Of justice.
The peculiar personal appearance OF
General Butler, whose bald head shone
with inSolence while his eye seemed to
be winking over his record as war
rior and making fun of his fellow
ma 'ager Bingham, added a touch OF
humor to the solemn scene.
The magnificent head of the chief
Justice suggested strange thoughts to
he beholder. He had been summoned
but the day before to try Jefferson Da-
Wis for the treason of declaring the
southern states out Of the Union. To-
day he sat down to try the president
of the United States for declaring them
to be in the Union! He had protested
with warmth that he could not conduct
both these trials at once.
The chief justice took oath to dc
impartial justice according to the con-
stitution and the laws" and to the
chagrin of Sumner administered this
oath 20 each senator in turn. When
BENJAMIN F. Wade'S name was called
He" bricks, of Indiana, objected to his
sitting as judge. He could succeed
temporarily to the presidency. as the
presiding officer Of the senate, and his
own vote might decide the fate of the
accused and determine his own success
sion. The law forbids the vice presi-
dent to sit on such trials. 1t should
Apply with more vigor in his case. Be-
sides, he had without a hearing al
ready pronounced the president guilty
Sumner, forgetting his motion tc
prevent Stockton's voting against his
own expulsion. flew to the defence OF
Wade. Hendricks smilingly withdrew
his objection. and Bluff Ben Wade
took the oath and sat down to judge
his own cause with unruffied front.
When the case was complete, the
whole bill of indictment stood forth g
tissue of stupid malignity without g
shred of evidence to support It's
charges.
On the last day of the trial, when the
closing speeches were being made, there
was a stir at the door. The throng Of
men, packing every inch of floor space
were pushed rudely aside. The crowc
craned their necks, senators turned
and looked behind them to see wha
| the disturbance meant, and the chic
justice raped for order.
Suddenly through the dense mas!
appeared the forms of two gigantic
negroes carrying an old man. Hi:
grim face, white and rigid, and his bis
club foot hanging pathetically from
those black arms, could not be mis-
taken. A thrill of excitement swep
the floor and galleries and a fain
cheer rippled the surface, quickly sup
pressed by the gavel.
The negroes placed him in an arm
chair facing the semi circle of sena
tors, and crOuched down on thei
launches beside him. Their kink!
heads, black skin, thick lips, whit
tech, and fiat noses made for the mo
ment a curious symbolic frame for tn
chalk white passion of the old Com
moner's face.
No sculptor ever dreamed a NOR
sinister emblem of the corruption of ;
race of empire builders, than thi
group. It's black figures, wrapped IL
the night Of four thousand years o
barbariSm. Squatted there the equal
of their master, grinning at his form
of Justice. the evolution of forty cen
turies of Aryan genius. To their brut
strength the white fanatic in the mad
ness of his hate had appealed, and fo
their hire he had bartered the birth
right of mighty race of freemen.
The speaker hurried to his conclu
sion that the half-fainting maste
might deliver his message. In tn
meanwhile his eyes. cold and thrilling
sought the secrets of the souls of tn
judges before him.
He had not come TO plead or per
suade He had eluded the vigilance o
his daughter and nurse, escaped wit
the aid of the brown woman and he
black allies. and at the peril of his lif
had come to command. Every energ
of his indomitable will he was uSin
now to keep from fainting. He fel
that if he could but look those me-
in the face they would not dare to def
his word
He shambled painfully to his fee
amid a silence that was awful. Agai
the sheer wonder of the mans person
ality held the imagination of the au
dience His audacity, his fanaticisn
and the strange contradictions of hi
character stirred the mind of frien
and foe alike-this man who tottere
there before them, holding off deaf
with his big ugly left hand, while wit
his right he clutched at the throat O