| Show recollections of a orosia statesman Sta daring my sojourn iu ili lexington find while I 1 was a pupil in the preparatory department ol of transylvania university a camons among almost u ause ee lebre carao came to trial 1 in that town tho the cout bouso ir in lexington was waa a small email anil and place most molit like a dissecting room in la one ot of our oar medical colleges the judges occupying occupying ft a chair at a aemi circular table at I 1 the a baso base of 0 on nu amphitheater of benches arranged on tiers above anil and which might modulo it crowded about two hundred spectators the last day of tho the t trial rial when mr clay was to speak for tho defense happened happ onel ti ta bo be the fourth of july anil ou on that tha diy daiy the court bled sa in tho the hall ot of tile tho transylvania veula university ver sity which had hu 1 room tor for 2 2000 per lions abero happened to bo sunday school tie some day und mud I 1 attended atton dod that lining being a child instead ot of seizing tile tho opportunity to hoar hear clay make the I 1 great effort of lis LIB lifo life still I 1 saw anil till heird heard tha great orator under very peculiar and very favorable tavo rabla circumstances and my caust have been very pronounced tor for I 1 can remember ram embar on oil luring during tho the trial that I 1 was wai passed in in through the courtroom court coart room window and nursed durand upon the knees of cl some generous ren KM lack ians who understood that I 1 was waa a stranger and were determined that in spite of tho the thermometry I 1 should hivo have a fair chance chanco of hearing and seeing the tha groat 11 harry tot tho the west boat the case was wan a e 1 I 1 one it w wan the second or thirdy third t trial r li a 1 of 0 one ono no of the tha Shel shelbye bys tho the son boni I 1 think ot of an ex governor or for the abo willful deliberate enli an 1 unprovoked shooting of 0 a steady young man who eat bat opposite him at tile hotel dinner table and abscond to glanco glance at my lay lord with what he ha took to bo be insolent eyes ayes all tho the testimony proved tho the assault to havo have boon unprovoked and public fooling feeling was greatly aroused in fact whon the caso cabo cd deal to trial again shortly after I 1 loft left L lexington Lexi okiu agton g ton there was wan a 2 very vary serious riot in which several m men on were shot and if I 1 remain bar rightly two killed it is is how well I 1 leet that shelb y murder case and all tho the little circumstances connected with it the mexican war at that timo time was in in tall fall blast and just j ast then there were three companies recruiting in lexington Lei ington one OEO commanded by basins M U olny clay another comprising the young clerks in tho the town und the third composed of of mountaineer riflemen from the adjacent hill country co whose uniform was wag their own butternut homespun hunting hauling shirts vory very picturesque aud and very in convenient these laili lada all of them more than six an feet tall w with ith careins mi clays company were 0 captured a M red almost as once ok as they ente reil mexican territory and practically did nothing garing during the whole war except draw drair subsistence from the slim elim mexican commissary do da pertinent part moar however some of them by enlist enlisting ing escaped serving on thu tho shelby jury which could not be filled out except by resorting to a very panel of fayette county eligi blos but tha iury was secured at last and od then this to re mark ablo trial began I 1 do not remember nil all tho the lawyers but ow still decoi loot that the state stale was waa represented by tho the local prosecutor prose by the attorney general chosa nacio items was robertson bertson Ko or orl Ro billson aud and by another mn man whose name escapes mo me there were four lawyers f for or Us I 1 j defense of ease all of wh whom OM sink into insignificance beside henry clay As I 1 havo have said I 1 missal lateon clays final argument in order to go to a sunday school picnic kienic buooa but on the whole I 1 do not know that I 1 ought to regret this very much the trial lasted several days daya from monday till saturday in fact awl and what I 1 saw of the g great reat orator was on en so to speak and ana therefore so much the more mora to be treasured I 1 missed his studied efrost but hall had a full fall opportunity ot of which I 1 eagerly availed myself to observe ilia his natural manner this thia was almost ably gracie fal mr air clays voice was a miracle to in itself and probably lie he had bad nursed it anti and cultivated it with as much care as prima donnas do theirs their it was rich mellow flute like and modulated modula tod with the tha most moat exquisite art ile he was very tall it must be remembered b bat at he how w gracefully ho he availed himself of every inch of his I 1 do a not think I 1 ever saw BUT r a man spend so much ural in in rising to lui ilia feet wid annj gath ering himself together no nor r did I 1 ever behold such a handsome lian daime such a grace ful fat performance but when the wan man wits was at I 1 laet as t root erect and after bowing with wondrous court courtliness linese to t the right and to tho the lattof left of him turned lid hid lend head at last to tile court anti and said eaid 11 U may ay it please your honor I 1 object all the ilia useless preliminary lire all the intense in expedition expectation wivi jm tilled and WILY why gild i d not this wan man object and why whir auld not life lii objections prevail 4 i a mile man much a vat voice ce it seems I 1 to ue 1 ought to barry everything conscience right lw law everything omy thing ought t to 0 swerve before it ought to yield to it mover before never since have I 1 heard anything like that hut voice voino and I 1 never will though I 1 should live to be as old me as methuselah it may be ba mont montio loual nod in passing that the shelly shelby murder trial resul resulted tad in in a hung j tiry ton ten being tor for acquittal two tor for conviction the court house in lexington stool stood in a handsome aquaro enclosed with a low fence to wl which le coiro b on court days many country jt fast ened their 11 critters crit er ittem tors I 1 it t wets was our by quite a grove ot of tall all trees ashes oaks poplars films elms etc and tho the imbruing after the jury ju y had been dismissed thosa these trees veto made populous lous with figures in in effigy there was waa the judge adga with a bag of money in his hand tho the ten jory jury neu mea the wardon of he jiel all labeled as having accepted bribes the warden and his wife were vory very in di 9 nant but the crowd present cosent said that none nona but tho the wardens war ions wife would bo be pr omitted tod to the trees aud and to re move tho the effigies effi gies As slie she would have had to hin ahlo up tip about thirty feet of the pole of a very large treo trea iu in the th presence of a jeering jeenne nob mob she ehe very wisely declined the undertaking bud that night the tha figures were all taken down and bur burnt at with many execrations exec rations and some speechmaking speech making upon the tha commons no one me however dreamed of burning henry clay ia in effigy yet undoubtedly lie ho saved bayed shelbye Shel hys bys life buil etl ward spencer |
