72
minds of the jury, but what effect they were calcu lated to produce. We cannot determine what effect they did have, but it is apparent what effect they were calculated to have. "But counsel for the State argued before us that the defendant had no right to complain of these tilings. Whether this be so or not, we think the court below should have put the seal of its con demnation upon this conduct. We think the Judge should have stopped the argument of the State's counsel then and there, and ascertained the guilty parties, and should have punished then; to the extent of the law. He should have taught them that the law was supreme; that the trial of a man for his life, however heinous the crime charged against him might be, was a serious and solemn thing, and that the law would not permit a mob to interfere, either by applause or by threatening and exciting cries. By so doing he would have upheld the supremacy of the law, and would have shown to the jury that whatever verdict they might find, the law would protect them. It would also have shown them that the court was uninfluenced by the feelings and demonstrations of the crowd; and that it was still able to administer justice and to give the accused a fair and impartial trial. It would have given them a moral support, and would have tended to impress upon them the necessity of resisting such influences." Logan E. Bleckley. Chief-Justice Bleckley is as tall as Bishop Brooks, and every inch is pure genius. It is natural with him to think, speak, and act in an unconventional way; but the thorough saneness of his character is attested by the fact that this marked individualism never passes into eccentricity. If I were asked to state in a word the most prominent characteristic of his mind, I should answer, provided I was first per mitted to define the meaning of the word, Wit. I do not, of course, mean mere droll ery, although that is continually springing up in his dryest decisions, like a fountain leaping from a bed of sawdust and "Shaking its loosened silver in the sun." Sometimes the fun seems to be just for its own sake, as in a will case where one Potts
was charged with making Cupid kin to cupid ity by a mercenary marriage, he gravely asks, " Why may not a Potts marry for love?" Oftener pleasantry is used to expose error: "A gentler death shall falsehood die, Shot through and through with cunning words." But it is not to these significations of wit that I refer. The definition that I would give would be that striking epigram of George Eliot, " Wit is wisdom raised to a higher power." It is a curious fact that perfect clearness of thought and expression often af fects the mind like wit. The style of the late Judge J. S. Black had this remarkable quality. It is present in all of Judge Bleck ley's utterances, legal and literary. It is another form of illustrating the above definition to say that Judge Bleckley has a legal imagination. Lawyers whose practice has brought them before many courts, State and Federal, say that they never saw his equal in " catching a case " from the opening statements. And they are often amazed when by a flash of legal insight he discloses views arising on the record which months of laborious study have never enabled them to see. In the selection of quotable extracts, the discussions of Judge Bleckley present an embarrassment of riches. The description of the lawyer who was cut off at twelve o'clock Saturday night with an undelivered speech has become familiar to the profes sion, through Mr. Snyder's book, " Great Decisions by Great Judges." From a single volume of the Georgia Re ports nearly all the following have been culled : — "In Harriman against First Bryan Baptist Church, which involved a breach of contract to furnish a steamboat for an excursion for the so ciety, the Judge says : ' A committeeman on board was threatened with a most profane form of im mersion.'" "In Kupperman against McGehee. he says : 'Trusts are children of equity; and in a court of equity they are at home, — under the family rooftree, and around the hearth of their ancestor.'"
