People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 March 1894 — A LAWYER’S COURAGE. [ARTICLE]

A LAWYER’S COURAGE.

How an Attorney Openly Rebuked tin. Presiding Judge. A certain New York judge has a habit which sometimes annoys members of the bar who appear before him —particularly young men—of talking to his associates on the bench while the lawyers are delivering their speeches; but, however exasperating they may be, the lawyers have not, as a rule, the boldness to complain, for they recognize the power of the court. An eminent lawyer of New York, however, set them an example. He was about to make the closing speech in a highly important case. Forty minutes had been allotted him for the purpose. He had scarcely uttered a dozen words when the judge wheeled round in liis chair and began a discussion with his associate oh the bench. The lawyer ceased speaking immediately, folded his arms and gazed steadily at the judges. A hush fell upon the courtroom. The offending judge, noticing the stillness, turned around and looked inquiringly at the silent advocate. “Your honor,” said the lawyer, “I have just forty minutes in which to make my final argument I shall *not only need every second of that time to do it justice, but I shall also need youi undivided attention.” “And you shall have it," promptly responded the judge, at the same time acknowledging the justice of the n> buke by a faint flush on his cheeks It was an exhibition of genuine cour age, but one that rtras mare fvlly ap predated by members of th« yrofes sion than by the others wle IL Youth’s Companion