Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-10-15
HUGHES TOOK OATH
TODAY At NOON
Now Member of Supreme Court--2o
Yards Silk in Robe-Makes In
terestino Reading.


Washington, October 10.-Former
Governor Hughes. ofNew York. is
here. Until today at noon Mr.. Hughes
was still to the world Charles Evans
Hughes, but one minute after II
o'c ock he was Hughes, ]. For
today the Supreme Court of the Unit
ed States met for the fall term, and
Mr.. Hughes took his seat on the bench
Exactly on the stroke of IL the court
entered the chamber, and the seven
members took their position behind
their chairs. The chair in the center
had no justice behind it, for the chief
justice OF the United States is dead
The chair o the extreme left on the
chief Justice likewise had no one
standing at its back, for Mr.. Justice
Moody has resigned and no one has
yet been appointed to his place. Were
Mr. Moody still member of the court
Mr.. Hughes would have stood behind
the last chair to the left. This chair
last year was Mr.. Justice Lurton' 5
seat for the latest member of the
court sits always in the extreme chair
to the left. But Mr.. Lurton moved
two chairs nearer the chief justice,
one for the vacancy created by the
death of Mr. Brewer whom Mr..
Hughes succeeds, and one for the va
eancy created by the resignation of
Mr. Moody.
Before she court made its solemn
entry into the chamber there was in
the robing room brief ceremony.
With more or less ease Mr. Hughes
struggled into his magnificent new
black silk gown. A word about these
gowns. Three months ago Mr.. Hughes
learned Of the solemn dignity that
hedges about the last resort of JUS
tice IN these United States. About
that time he was invited in a courte-
Gus note from the marshal of the court
to send 10 Washington the measure
ments for his robe. And there was a
casual suggestion in the note that the
traditional fee" for the robe was 800.
The robe consists of about 20 yards
of six, and the marvel to Mr.. Hughes
mind is undoubtedly what on earth the
dressmaker does with the 20 yards of
silk to fit man wha, ike Mr. Hughes,
is not overly fat. Nevertheless there
is 20 yards of the finest silk in the
world in his robe and when he put it
on today he found that about u yards
of Il was taken up in tucks and ruff1es
and other things which he will proba-
bly, ask Mrs Hughes 10 define Tor him.
Mistress of the Robes.
For more than fifty years one dress
maker in Washington made these
robes and when she died her daugh-
ter succeeded her, and when she dies
she will be succeeded by her daughter,
or if she has no daughter some other
female member of the family who is
equally as def in needlework.. The
robes owe their form to John Marsh
ALL to whom the Constitution owes
about everything else.
Having scrambled into his robe,
Charles Evans Hughes joined his col
leagues in the robing room ami here
the first oath, the so-called modified
OATH was administered to him. For
the first time in The history of the
court this oath was not administered
by the chief justice, for the chief JUS
tice is dead, and it has never happen
&c before that a new justice assembled
the bench while the center chair was
vacant Justice Harlan, the oldest
member of the court, administered the
oath. and then the seven justices, each
holding their ong-trained gowns above
their heels, passed into the court
chamber.
a Solemn Passage.
Nothing better Illustrates the rever-
entail awe in which the Supreme
Court of the United States IS held
than this little act of the passage of
the court from the robing room to the
chamber. The robing room ss one
comes ong he wide corridor that
leads from the house to the senate,
lies to the left, and the ante room Of
the court chamber is to the right.
Two minutes before u, when the
court is ready TO proceed from the
robing room % the chamber. four col
ored men app aetd Each two OF them
held in their hands a black velvet
ord, al the ends of VIII oh were small
golden hooks. The two pairs of co or
ed men stretcacd the velvet cords
across the corridor holding the ends
in their hands. The cords thus form
ed a passageway the court 10 cross
the corridor Once these men took
their places the cords We're removed,
and until then the whole world must
pause in an effort to pass, Time and
time again representatives and sena-
tors, hurrying to their respective
chambers, have been stopped by these
slender emblems of the dignity of
the court.
Promptly at the stroke of y the
justices entered the chamber, and
NJ 4.