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Show SELECTED. 0 fit (volunteer COUNSEL. : 1 , ! i i n -rr' ! ; , ! ,U U 1 4 THRILV?a. jpoR3 i i :J John Tuylor was licensed, when a yjutb of twenty-one, tp practice at the bar. He- was poor, -but we: 11 educated, and 'possessed extraordinary sen u, uiarrit-d a be:mty who afterward de serted him tor another. Un the yth of April the court house in Clark-ville. Texas, was filled to over-flowine. . An exciting case was to be tried. George Hnpk'ns, a wealthy planter, had offered a gross insult to Mary El'ison, the youug and ' beautiful wife of his overseer. The husband threatened to chastise him for the outrage, "when Hopkins went to Ellison's house and shot him in his door. Tee murderer was arrested, and bailed to answer the charge. The occurrence produced great excitement, and Hopkins, in order to turu the tide of popular indignation, in-dignation, bad circulated reports against her character, and she had sued him for slander Both suits were pend'tig for murder and slan er. The interest bec-une deeper, when it was known that Asklcy and Pike, of .Arkansas, and S- 8. Prenti.-s, of" New Orleans, , by enormous fees, . bad been retained to. defend Hopkins. Hopkins was acquitted. The Texas .'laffterp1, we're"' ovej'helmbcl -)(y 'ttcr 'ippDurits. ! ,ln was 4 fight pf; a.dwajf f':-dnjn4 itiantsi ; ' i 1 1 j j Ml .! j TTlieislandcr shit was fer trre tTi.'and the throng of spectators grew in numbers, num-bers, as in excitement Publicnpinion was sorting in for Hopkins;" his money had procured witnesses who served his powerful advocates. When the slander case was called, Mary Ellison was left" without, any, attorney all had withdrawn .' ' ;( ., "Have you no counsel ?" inquired Judge Mills, looking kindly on the plaintiff. '. ' " '"No, sir; they have all deserted me, and. I 'am too poor ,to. employ any more," replied the beautilul Mary, bursting into tears. ' "In such a case, will not some chivalrous chiv-alrous member of the profession volun teer ?" said the jude, glancing around the. bar. Y ... i ... . The thirty 1 iwyers were silent. "I wilL yaur huuor,',' said a voice .from the tthickest,pai!tiqj'the crowd behind be-hind the bar. : At the sound of the voice manv started it was so. unearthly sweet and mournful i . : - - Y The fir.-t sensation was turned into laughter, when a tall, gaunt, spectral figure elbowed his way through the crowd, and placed himself within the bar His clothes looked so shabby that the court hesitate! to let the cae proceed under bis management. . "Has -your namo been eatered oo the rolls of the Stale?" demanded the judge. -.-."it is im material;" answered the stranger,- his thia tiloodi-s lips curling curl-ing up with a sneer. '"There is my lim-nse from the highest tribunal in America !" and he handed the judge a broad parchment. The trial went on. He suffered the witnesses to tell their own story, and he allowed the defense to lead off, Ashley spoke first, followed by Pika ' and Preatirs. " The latter brought the bouse down in cheers, in which the jury joined. It was now the stranger's turn. He rose before the bar, not behind it, and so rear the wondering jury that he might touch the foreman with hijlong, bor.-y finger. He proceeded to tear to pieces the arguments of Ashley, which melted away at his touch like frot be fore a sunbeam. Every one looked surprised. Anon he came to the dazzling daz-zling wit of the poet lawyer, Pike. Then the curl on bis lip grew sharper, his smooth face began to kiddle up, and his eyes to open dim and dreary no ionger, but vivid as lightning, red as fire-globes, and glaring as twin mete urs. The whole S"U! was in his eye; the full he rt streamed out of his face. Then, without e.-i owing an .aliuMou io Pientiss, he turned short around ou the. nerinred witnesses of H.jnkins tore i heir testi ony into threads, and hurled hurl-ed in their faces such terrible invectives, invec-tives, that all tiembied like aspens, and iwj of them fled irum the comt-house. comt-house. Tlie exeitemeut of the cr-wd was becoming t enu-ndous. Their united life and soul bcemed to hang upon the I'Unriug tongue of a stranger, and he inspired them with the power ol his p inions. Lie teemed to have s oleu nature's lou;; hidden secret of attraction. But his greatest triumph w.is to come.:: His eyes began to glance at the assassin as-sassin Hopkins as his lean, taper duel's du-el's assumed the same direction. He hemmed the wielch within a wall of strong evidence and uupiegnabie. argument, ar-gument, cu'tiug 'ff all hope of escape. He dug beneath ihe muiuerer's leet. ditches of dilemmas, audlnli up the blanderer to ihe -corn and Contempt of the populace. Having thus nirt him about with a circie of fire, he stripped himseif to the work of massacre. Oh! then it as a vision' both glorious glori-ous and dreadful to bi hold the orator. His actions became as impetuous as the motion of an oak in a hurricane. His voice became a trumpet fided with the whirlpools. d a renin t the ears with cra.'-hes of power, and yet intermingled all the wiili as eet undersong ot the softest cadence. His forehead glowed like a heated furnace, his countenance was haggard, like that of a maniac, aiid ever and anon he flung his long bony arm ou high, as if grasping after thuu derbolts. .... He drew a picture of murder in such appalling colors, that, in comparison, hell itself might seem beautiful; he painied the slanderer so black thaf the sun seemed dark at noon day, when shining on such a monster. And then, fixing both portraits on the shrinking Hopkins, fastened them there forever. The agitation of the audience amounted almost to madness. At once the speaker descended from the perilous hight. His voice wailed out tor the murdered dead, and living beautiful Mary, more beautiful evoiry, momeut. as her tears- tiow.-d lasreri and faster, till men wept and sobbed like children. . ' ' . Hefilosed by a strong exhortation to Ihe jury,' and through them to the bystanders; by-standers; the panel, after they should bring in a' verdict for the plaintiff, not to offer violence to the defendant, however richly he might deserve it in other words, "not to lynch the villain, but to leave his punishment to God." This was the most artful trcik of all, and calculated to insure vengeance. ' The jury rendered a verdict of fifly thousand djllars ; and the night afterward,- Hopkins was taken out of his bed by the lynchers, and beaten almost to death. As 'he court adjourned, the stranger said : "John Taylor will preach here this evening at early cai die light" He did preach aud the house was crowded. I have listened to (Jlai , H eb.-ter, and t'alhoun to Dwight, Baeom, and' Bcecher but never heard anything in ihe form of sublime words even approximating to the elo quence of John Taylcr massive as a mountain, aud wildly rushing as a cataract of fire. |