The National tribune., 1910-01-06
THE SUPREME COURT.
The FederaIS and COnfederates
Now Evenly Matched.

The coming of Justice Lurton has
been much advertised, more so than
that Of any other of his colleagues upon
the Supreme Bench in recent years
The junior Justice next to Lurton, AS
sociate Justice Moody, was nominated
while he served as Attorney-General. 1t
therefore constituted, the transfer from
one place to another of an official with
whom Washington was already more or
less familiar. Justice William r. Day,
of Ohio, was transferred from the Cir
cult Court, like Justice Lurton, but he
had been in Washington as Secretary
of State and therefore was no stranger.
Justice Lurton, while he had been in
Washington before his nomination, was
practically a stranger here, for all of his
official service has been in tie Sixth
Judicial Circuit, comprising Ohio, Mich
igan, Kentucky and Tennessee. Then
the voluminous discussion about him in
the newspapers, extending over a period
of several months, in itself made him
of a celebrity. Few men
have ever come to the Supreme Court
under such circumstances. He was al
most nominated for the Supreme Court
by President Roosevelt, on the recon-
mendation of Mr.. Taft, then Secretary
.
who fell into the hands OF the Union
army, was sent to prison and released
by President Lincoln on the personal
appeal of his mother, who came to
Washington and found a way, in spite
of great obstacles, to reach the Presi-
dent. Accordingly, Justice Lurton has
figured in the affairs of four Admins
trations, for it was President Cleveland
who made him a Circuit Judge.
in
that four of the nine Justices are men
of civil war records. Two of them were
Union soldiers. Justice Harlan raised
the 10th KY, which he commanded.
He served in Gen. George II. Thomas s
Division. but resigned from the army
in the Spring of 1863. owing to the
death of his father, altho his name at
that time was before the Senate for
as a Brigadier-General.
Justice oliver Wendell Holmes went to
the front as a Lieutenant in the goth
Mass, when a young Harvard graduate;
was shot thru the breast at Balls Bluff
in March, 1862; was soon commissioned
Captain; was wounded in the neck at
Antietam, and in the heel at Marye's
Hights. The latter portion of his mill
tary service was as Aid-de-C Camp to
Brig.-Gen. II. G. Wright. He gained the
brevets of Major, Northumberland
and Colonel.
The other Confederate soldier of the
Supreme Court is Mr.. Justice White,
who, in all his biographies, from the
time that he entered the United States
Senate, has contented himself with the
simple assertion that he served in the
Confederate army"
With the civil war forces of the SUI
preme Bench now evenly matched as to
numbers, it is conceivable that the tedi-
Gus Iabors of the conference room will
be enlivened on occasion by numerous
interesting sallies from behind the ram
parts of leathef-bound volumes. Nearly
all the Justices are good story tellers
and love bristling anecdote. Col Har-
Ian Is one of the best at that sort of
a feat Col Holmes is more reserved;
but he. on occasion, can tell--a story
well. They can keep up the side of the
commissioned officers, while High Pri-
yate White and High Private Lurton,
both OF whom have the Southern gift
of being entertaining conversationalists.
can enrich the information of the court
with experiences in the trenches and
on the wearisome marches afoot.