The Cairo bulletin., 1912-08-10

y 4 p~l
al ,as sa sss,s s,'n ,s ,ss (k1( lE]
he intended to be JUDGE JEFFREYo
a Judge, Young as he was, the
lat-George Jeffreys-was already
ac tistomed TO have his way. He
bullied or caioled his parents in
to giving HIN a costly school ed
ucation ard law course that they
could i'll afford. Thus started a ca
ar that Was to cost England many
hundred innocent lives. STD
From the very first young Jefreys
vTas a man CT mark. He was brilliant,
s,rikingly handsome. and had an al
most supernatural power of reading
other mems minds and purposes. He
took scant pains to study and never
had much real knowledge OF law. But
his cleverness supplied what His
learning lacked.
He took UP criminal practice and
handled cases no decent lawyer wsuld
touch. Ee had genius for making
influential friends. Through these
friends and his own cunning he rose
fast In his profession, At last he at
tracted the notice Of the easy-goi1ig
unscrupulous King Charles II. Charles
despised Jeffreys rs man, but was
not above using the young lawyer to
do his dirty work. A strong faction
of the people were the kings political
opponents. Jeffreys publicly declared
himself the peoples friend-ahd7 Sc
cretiy worked for the king. From
both factions no received high re-
wards.
BY the time he was thirty he was
baronet and Chief Justice of Eng.
land. Then be threw off all pretense
of decency. His drunkenness, his In
sane temper, his insclence made him
generally loa:hcd. He could cry at
will. Often in court he would brow
beat witnesses with a voliey OF filthy,
bitter, blasphemous sarcasm, make
the jury tremble by maniac, glare
of his black eyes, foam at the mouth
with rage, then break into spasn Of
loud laughter or into food Of tears.
When Charles II. died without d.
rect heir the dead monarch's Younger
brother took the throne as James
II. JefTreys had already curried favor
with james and now rose TO higher
power than ever. James made him a
baron and showerad favors on him.
It was during this kings reign, in
1886. that Jef'revs enacted his vilest
crimes. The Duke of Monmouth had
laid claim to the English throne and
had fooled thousands of simple-mind,
ed farmers and shop folk into joining
his rebellion. The uprising was crush
ed. The duke was beheadedoE His
captured followers were brought be-
fore Jeffreys for trial Then came a
horror still known as the ',Rtoody
Assizes"
Jeffreys first making mis- work
easier by falsely limiting that those
who pleaded guilty" would be spar
ed0 condemned to death 800 men and
boys. (Some historians say 1907
These were hanged alters mere mock
cry Of a trial. during which Jeffreys
alternately raved, cursed, drank, wept,
howled with laughter and behaved In
general like a mailman. Even the
hardest-hearted servants of the king
! were Mortified by such slaughter-the
more so since many Of the condemned
( were innocent people who had taken
no part in the rebellion Jeffpeys was
/ ordered to be more lenient. So he
( sent 841 of the remaining prisoners
/ to be sold into slavery in India and
( the Barbados and had the rest
scourged or thrown into jail.
Throughout the trial he spared any
one who could pay him large enough
bride. But few Of these country folk
and tradesmen could raise such sums
as he demanded. For his work at the
"Bloody Assizes" Jeffreys was made
Lord Chancellor of England. He
boosted that as chief justice he had
hanged more men and women than
all his predecessors put together.
Three years later the English PEG,
PIE grew tired Of James r. and over.
threw him. lie fed into exile. JEFF
freys, knowing how he himself was
hated by the people, tried to get &c.
= cretly out Of England. He staved
off his shaggy eyebrows, dressed as a
sailor and boarded an outgoing ship
But on the eve Of calling he went
ashore and got drunk In a waterside
tavern, A roor writer whom he had
once unjustly punished recognized
him. ~
at Is the bloody judge!" shouted
the writer.
The mob hurled themselves upon
the disguised Jeffreys and were tear
ing him to pieces when the authorities
rescued him. He was taken to the
Tower of London and Imprisoned
there, until ct the age of forty he
drank himself to death Though he
had ten children his family soon died
out His own name. however, Is still
remembered and cursed throughout
England
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