74
THE GREEN BAG
sume, on the Bench of the Supreme Court of our nation. Not then are we to read his life story as it might have been forecast in the volumes of the reported decisions of the courts of Massa chusetts, admirable as that record certainly would have been, nor is it to be marked, as we had thought it to have been, by distin guished professional or public achievements within the borders of his native state. Distinctly of the type, but the highest type, of New England character and intellect, we have no surprise, but only pride and gratifi cation in the almost unprecedented series of honors that have been worthily conferred upon him, and though we cannot now write of him from the impulse of that daily obser vation which we might have enjoyed, we venture to believe, knowing the unchanging fidelity of his love for his native soil, that he rejoices, as we do, in his New England birth right, heredity, and environment, and we are confident that our countrymen have realized and have recognized as proudly as we do the virtue and the value of that heritage. No one who has known Mr. Justice Moody, as we must now entitle him, can think or speak of him without the warmth of ardent friendship; dominant and obvious as have been his intellectual powers, the humanity of the man, the generous qualities of friend and associate have been no less conspicuous and constant; yet there need be no fear that the prejudice of friendship can over-color the impressive incidents of his life, manifest to the world. In this instance friendship does not create or imagine incidents or qualities, we do but take note of them as they have been demonstrated, and in their own light contemplate their significance. Graduated from Harvard University in the class of 1876, he had proved himself a brilliant and diligent student. He had also taken active and enthusiastic part in the joys of outdoor life and of athletic sport, an inter est still keen as ever in his later years. He completed his preparation for the Bar at the Harvard Law School and in the office of the
late Richard H. Dana, who had done equal battle with Rufus Choate, the most brilliant of the sons of Essex. Of Mr. Moody's exam ination, conducted under the old system of oral interrogation by members of the Bar, it is related that his wide reading, marvelous accuracy of memory, and readiness of state ment had almost confused his would-be in structors, who, with discreet expedition, admitted him to practice with highest com mendation. We have sought in vain for the story of his first case, its nature, its procedure, and its result. That it brought him many and constant clients is certain, and that is the significant and desirable event of a young lawyer's first trial. He instantly gained pub lic recognition for sagacity, fidelity, ability, resourcefulness, and success in litigation, for always as a trial lawyer he has shown his supremest excellence. In the early years of his practice he was elected district attorney for the county of Essex, and the Common wealth never had more fearless or more effi cient prosecuting officer. A recital of the notable cases he conducted would far out run the necessary limitations of our space. The conviction of the Haverhill officials for corrupt conspiracy is a never-to-be-forgotten proof of his extraordinary power of marshal ing facts before a jury, and there was a no less notable triumph in his sustaining the verdict before the Supreme Court. Great moral, even physical courage, was required of him in this prosecution, brought against persons of much influence, of widely ex tended relations in the community, reaching even to personal friends and associates of the prosecutor. The qualities of the future Attorney General were markedly forecast in many aspects of these proceedings. The case which brought Mr. Moody into widest public recognition was that of the trial of Lizzie Borden of Fall River for the murder of her parents. He was retained for the Commonwealth in association with Dis trict-Attorney Knowlton, late attorney gen eral of this state. The evidence relied on by
