The Washington herald., 1914-11-18
HISTORY BUILDERS.
A Jurist Who Was Strong on
Etiquette.
tWntten ENure-zly f"r The Herald
ny DIR. +. J. EDWARDS.

When he took his seat upon the bench
of the Supreme Court at Washingtnu
Horace Gray was the talIcst OF all the
justices who from the organization OF
the Supreme Court had held a similar
position. Scvt raj exceeded him in
weight. David Davis was a Corpulent
man and was one of the heaviest OF all
the Supreme Court justices
Judge Gray's unusual stature was new
ertheless we'll prUpurtiOn,d d. When he
was a young man, a student at Harvard,
he had as his college mate. George r.
Hoar, afterward Senator from MassaChu-
setts, once distingUts he'd among the stu
dents for a Chsrubic face, which was
all the more impressive because OF the
early age at which he had reached his
extraordinary stature. Afterward. his
head and face were in perfect symmetry
with the rest OF his body.
Judge Gray was distinguished by
serving upon tn, bench OF the highest
court of Massachusetts before he became
justice of the Supreme Court at Wash
ingtOn and for an austerity Of manner
and dignity which seemed to some OF
the members Of the Massachusetts bar
as excessive. He was a stickler for the
proprietles OF the courtroom and always
exacted proper Difference to the court.
Shortly after Judge Gray took his place
upon the Supreme Court bench at Wash
inGton l was told an interesting anecdOtc
about him. The Quincy Market in Bos-
ton had been for years characteristic
Boston institution. II was named in
honor Of Josiah Quincy and the market
men who were in charge Of stores estab-
lishcd a kind of etiquette or fOrmality
which was always carefully observed.
Th"y were proud of their vocation and
almost all of them were men who were
respected by the community. Among the
Conventionalities adopted by these mar
krtmen was n sort of smock frOck made
nf white duck and put on over the ordi
nary clothing The marketmen were al
ways careful to keep these smOcks clean.
They looked upon them as an honorable
badge of Office.
TpOn one occasion a marketman was
summoned to testify as 4 witness in a
case involving a large amount Of mon'y
Judge Gray was sitting as the tnal
judge. The marketman was convinced
that he must pay the greatest respect to
the court. Therefore he put on a per
fectly clean, snowy white smock frOck
and appeared in court. and when his
name was called he entered the witness
box in the most dignifed manner he
could assume.
Judge Gray stared at him in amaze
ment. At last. without asking for any
explanation, he commanded the tmOar-
raised witness to quit the witness box
and leave the courtroom, saying: You
have not paid due Difference to this
court You are not attired properly. You
cannot appear here as witness until
you are dressed in appropriate fashion"
The marketman stepped down and
seemed to be greatly Inundated. He said
as he left the courtroom. Il put on my
best froCk because l thought it would
be polite to the judge to do that" Later.
the lawyer who had summoned this mar
as a witness assured Judge Gray
that no offense was intended. but instead
a tribute to the dignity and honor OF
the court. but Judge Gray insisted that
a marketman was not justified in ap-
pearing before the court in such un-
dress.
Copyright. 1914. BY E. ]. Edwards. All rights re-
SerYedl