Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-27
BACK IN I f HARNESS
Former Ambassador Choate
Practicing Law Again.
ONE OF THE OLD SCHOOL
His Method When Conducting
Trial.
STORIES OF HIS CAREER
How He Rebuked Inattentive Judges
Reputation as a Speaker-His
Wit and Humor.
Written for The Star.


Joseph Hodges Choate, who is to be presi-
dent of the New York State Bar Assocta-
ton for 1896, has grown much stouter in he
years since he left off active practice to be
come ambassador to Great Britain; also he
is beginning to show his age.
The latter is quite natural, since 'by rea-
son of strength" he is already more than
the biblical three score and ten-he was
seventy-four last Wednesday, January "a
but none of his old-time intimates ever ex-
pected to see him fat.
He was never scrawny. but in the days
of his active practice he was of almost ideal
proportions, his figure being as agreeable
to the eye as his face, which is saying u
good deal.
But to those who have known him long
he is the same old Joe" who was rightful-
ly called genial in the days before that
fine word was vuIgarized by too tnd.s-
eliminate use; whose jokes combine the
glitter of wit and the glow of humor al
ways; whose stories have a point, but rare
ly sting; whose smile is truly charming
and who knows how to extend a kindness
with more grace than most men who live
on this fOOtStOol.
Mr.. Choate is understood to have resumed
the active practice of law in partnership
with his son. He is of far too active a
mind" said an old friend the other day, ito
be content with a do-nothing life, even in
the decade between seventy and eighty, but
though he was out of practice only seven or
eight years, and his mental Vigor is hardly
impaired as yet, he will undoubtedly find
that many changes have taken place in the
field of general legal practice since he left
off.
Belongs to the Old School.
You see," continued the speaker, Mr..
Choate belongs to the old school now,
and when 1 say that l don't mean that
he is an old fogy. or to show the slightest
disrespect. But when he was building up
his reputation and his practice and in the
zenith of his success, as everybody who can
remember or who has read of those days
knows full well, other things being equal,
the able orator had a leverage over the
other fellow that made the latter's case
almost hopeless. If, in addition to being a
fine speaker, he had wit and humor, the
odds were still more in his favor
Now, of course, good address is still a
great help TO lawyer, but it ism nearly so
essential as 1t used to be. Every trial law
yer today tries to make some hit before the
jury that will bring out a smile in the
past, but the power of legal oratory is by
no means so overwhelming as formerly
and the present-day juries are by no means
so often swayed by appeals to their sense Of
the humorous as they once were.
"Ridicule is no longer so strong a weapon
before the jury as it used to be, either,
and ridicule used to be one of Mr.. Choate's
cardinal points. l remember very we'll his
extreme use of it in case some years
ago, when he went to greater lengths, l
should say, than any lawyer would care to
go today.
Ridiculing an Imperial Roman"
'Tn that case Mr.. Choate was suing the
Metropolitan Street Railway Company N
behalf OF a man who had lost his right
6a md
was not carrying passengers, was technical
ly declared dead The passenger tried to
board it when IN rapid motion, and was
thrown tc the street.
The chief witness for the railroad COM
pany was a manufacturer from Rome, n.
Y, who had seen the accident and whose
testimony Choate sought TO impeach, more
by the use of ridieule, of which he was ard
is past master, than by any other means.
He began at this in the very first of the
cross-exannation, addressing the manufac-
turer as my Roman friend, or some thing
OF that sort, almost in his opening question.
rs the examination progressed,
Choate made the witness admit that his ho-
tel expenses while staying in New York,
in order that he might testify, were beng
paid by the company, and when the wit
ness said that he was staying at the I'm
perial Hotel, Choate Immediately dubbed
him Imperial Roman. The great law
yer was evidently working for an unusu-
ridicule would help.
"He got a verdict but it wasn't an ex-
ceptionally heavy one-only S5,0o0-not
enough, ordinarily, to pay the fee Of man
like Choate for such a determined effort
as he put forth that day, and l firmly be-
leve that the Imperial Roman business
cut it down; that even then ridtcule as an
element in a trial lawyers work was losing
its efficacy somewhat.
"In spite of the fact that the defendant
in that case was a corporation, and that
sympathy Is generally Withheld from such
defendant by the spectators, | believe
most of those present Sympathized, not
with the corporation perhaps, but surely
with the upstate manufacturer, who, as
the corporations witness, driven al
most to distraction by Choate's ridicule.
Rebuking Inattentive Judges.
81 have heard OF another occasion in
court, however. when the sympathy was all
with Choate.
HE had to argue case before certain
high-grade Judges, whom need not name.
They had won the fear and dislike of many
practiciug lawyers by their habit of engag-
ing in private conversation with one anoth-
er while the arguments were going on.
mo one not a lawyer can understand
how utterly discouraging 1t is for the Judges
to ignore the argument, as | am told tie
judges ignored Choate's that day. The time
allotted to lawyers for speaking in that
court Is very short-say, quarter of an
hour--too short for the ablest man to more
than briefly outline his case.
well, on that day Choate, who had a
really intricate case to present, arose. ap-
parently prepared to do his best. The mo-
ment he began one of the judges touched
his neighbor on the arm, they put the. r
heads together and the first said something
to the second that made him turn purple In
the face and laugh until he almost choked.
Then he passed 1t on to the third judge,
with q like result, and he in turn told it to
the next man.
"Choate saw 1t all. of course. Suddenly
ne stopped. right in the middle of the sem
fence.
" May IL please the court he said, or
words to that effect, i have only fifteen
minutes In which to present the case of my
client. TO whom it is a matter of the great