Omaha daily bee., 1912-10-26
| HAYDEN BROS.

preme court judges as lighthouse towers
above low-lying fog. There are now,
and have been in the past, some able men
on the New YORK bench, possibly men Of
greater ability, merely as lawyers, than
Justice Goff. But 1t is douv,.ul II there
Is or has been another Judge so we'll fit,
for every reason, to undertake the pres
ent work Of investigation and punish-
ment
BY many Justice Goff is called a harsh
trial judge, and there are some Incidents
Of his career on the bench which seem
to lend force to the criticism. He has,
beyond question, brusque and oaustic
way Of disposing of many matters that
come up IN his court; and he rather often
treats counsel to a stinglng reply or bit
Of comment that Is quite unnecessary.
In common parlancs, he gets his Irish
up on what seems like very slight
provocation, and then outs loose with a
tongue that needs but few words to do
great execution.
When he takes hand In the question
ing Of witness the spectator Is quick to
understand why he is feared and dreaded
as a cross-examiner. His mind does not
have to climb the stairs Of q carefully ar.
ranged series of questions before 1t ar
rives at the floor above. Instead, 1t
jumps, taking witness, prisoner and coun,
sci q long leap that leaves them rather
breathless, and with an inner impulse to
Lad ~
hero SO sooni'' His questions are liks
flashes of lghtning-not that they are 60
swift in time interval, but because they
bare for an instant the heart Of things,
and then leave behind a bewildering dark.
ness. II you have ever tried to walk ovei
rough ground by the light Of Intermittent
lightning flashes, you can imagine the
sensations Of an unwilling witness. You
don't know what minute g'wine ter be
De mex" and you'd q lot rather hevs
mittsnt illumination. Many Of the wit.
nesses examined by Gotf In the Lexow
investigation are sald to have felt this
range Of sensations rather snutely; and
some of them were quite prostratsd after
the storm had passed. Justice Goff has
no patience with pottefing siowness and
yerbosity, and he often reaches q point
where It seems az though he could not
resist the impulse TO clear away the rub.
bish with few swift strokes OF his own.
TAc Making OF . Man.
Justice Goff 10 q selssmRde man, and
the manner and metnod Of the malIins
throw q good deal Of Hight on the man as
he now isl To get quickly over the
statistical beginning, Justice ooff was
born in County Wexford, ireland, In 1880,
Of q family that had for generations been
active in sacrificing even their lives In ths
struggle for tho Independence of Ireland,
His father and mother died when no waA
about years old. and he then lived with
an uncle until he was II. Then he learned
tolegrsphy. and was In the government
service In both Eneiand and Scotland,
leaving that service shortly, to 80 to
Brasil. sidetracksd by yellow fever, hs
was landed In Argentina, and from there
he made his way north, landing In New
York In the sumfsse of 1896. He got
Job, finally, with H. 7. Stewart and
studied o. nights. taxing courses at tho
Cooper iussAtute~-a pssety determined pro-
gram fnr "a ovphan boy Of Is In strange
country, He was soon advanced by Mr..
Etswart to responsible position which
no Asid uatil 1878, when he left to study
law Ia a law office As he got no salary
there, hs had 60 support himself by night
work az teisgraphy and by writing for
the newspapers, He married in 1874, was
admitted TO the bar two years later, and
CT once entered private practice.
To one VINO has NOT received the i'm
preston Of personal Intercourse with Jus.