Charles Mather Cooke
The Judge was one of (lie keenest students
of human nature that North Carolina ever
had: a splendid gentleman and also a great
lawyer.
I HAVE n vivid recollection of the
day I first saw him. In 1893, I
was a raw, unformed youth, mem¬
ber of the preparatory class at Wake
Forest, and had been down in Nash
County on (I week-end visit to tin-
home of a schoolmate. Coming back
with mule and buggy, we met upon
the road a carriage drawn by a beauti¬
ful pair of bays, driven bv a Negro
coachman. On the back seat of the
carriage, in solitary grandeur, sat a
stout gentleman, florid of complex¬
ion, clad in frock coat and beaver
bat. Inquiry disclosed that it was
Charles Mather Cooke, ablest lawyer
of the Tar River section, on his way
to Nash County court.
Thut settled me in my determina¬
tion to become a lawyer. If lawyers
dressed in frock routs, wore silk hats,
and wont from court to court in car¬
riages drawn by spanking hays, driven
by u coachman 1 just luid to be one.
As the years passed, I managed to
get to the Bar, accumulated a frock
coat, and Angus Wilton McLean
(iater Governor) kindly saw to it that
I was provided with the accessory of
a silk hat. After experimenting with
this carefully iu the privacy of the
back yard, I grew bolder and finally
assayed to wear it to what I will term
a function. Never again! But Judge
Cooke could wear one, not only could
but did.
Lived in Bute County
The Cooke family lived in Bute
before the county of Franklin was
created out of it, ami six members
of that family served in the patriot
army during the Revolution. Judge
Cooke’s father. Captain James Cooke,
derived hie military title from service
in the war of 1812; while bis mother
was a lineal descendent of a brother
of the famous Cotton Mather, Puritan
divine of New England— hence the
“Mather” in the Judge’s uame.
Judge Cooke was born in Franklin
iu 1844. 11 is education was at
Louisburg academy and ho was in his
second year at Wake Forest when the
Civil War broke out. He promptly
enlisted as a private in Company "I”
55th North Carolina; was promoted
By It. C. L\ WHENCE
Lieutenant ; and Inter t<> Captain, iu
which rank he served until he was
designated Adjutant of the regiment.
In March 1865, during the siege of
Petersburg, he was so seriously
wounded in the leg that he was forced
to go on crutches an entire year.
Returning to Franklin County he
was admitted to the Bar iu 1867. and
his natural gift of leadership was
such and his legal ability so great,
that he rapidly rose to the top rank
in his profession and soon became
the outstanding lawyer of that sec¬
tion. lie rode the circuit just as much
as did the presiding Judge, and at¬
tended all the courts of his section,
mostly those of Franklin, Nash, Edge-
the Bar but in the wide field of public
service. He served in the Senate in
1874; he became Solicitor in l.**77;
he served iii the House in 1878, where
be was chairman of the Judiciary
Committee. He again served in the
House in 1880. when he was elected
Speaker. Judge Henry G. Connor
was elected Speaker while serving
his first term; Judge Cooke followed
him closely, being elected Speaker
while serving his second.
Nominated for Congress
He was his party’s nominee for
Congress in 1894, hut was defeated
by the “fusion” ticket consisting of
и
coalition between the Republicans and
Populists. In 1895 he was designated
Secretary of State. lie liecnnm
Superior Court Judge in 1903 and
served in that capacity until his death
in 1916.
When he came to the Bar, law and
equity were administered in different
courts, and to the end of his life the
Judge retained an affection for the old
system and an admiration for the
principles of equity a- therein ad¬
ministered. As a Judge he was best
known on the civil side of the docket
for his comprehensive grasp of the
great principles of equitable juris¬
prudence. Ho was one of the really
great equity lawyers of the State.
Me hud a knowledge *»f the Bible
that 1 considered no less than truly
remarkable. I do not think I ever
heard him quote from any other book
hut once, and then from Shakespeare.
But he knew the Bible from lid lid.
Say to him “Saul, son of Kish” and
he would immediately smile and »uv,
“Look him up iu 1 Samuel 9-1." Re¬
mark in his presence: “The Heaven*
declare the glory of God," and the
Judge would say immediately "That's
from Psalm 8-1."
He possessed a broad and deep inti¬
mate knowledge of that intangible
thing which, for want of a better term,
we designated as "human nature." He
could size up either a witness, n liti¬
gant or ,i lawyer, and instinctively tell
just how they were handling I ln< truth,
and just how far off its track they
up around this characteristic, some of
which have been recoil n to 1 iu the
State from time to time; anecdote*
which are so varied as to have been
told and retold in every county, for
when he first came to the l«rnch, there
was no Eastern or Western riding,
but the Judges rode the entire state
from Currituck to Cherokee.
Getting at the Truth
I refer briefiy to one ease which
1 think perfectly illustrate- tlii-
liniquc quality to get at the heart of
the truth.
Л
young Negro, on trial
for some misdemeanor, had taken the
stand in his own defense. Tin-
Solicitor bad not ken able to break
down his testimony on cross examina¬
tion, but the shrewd Judge knew the
defendant was guilty. When the
Solicitor finished hi- cros- e.xnmina
tion, the Judge quietly stepped down
from the bench and seating himself
only a few feet from the defendant
said in a low voice: “Mom-, tell de
court all about it." Before Mom-
realized just where he was or what
he was about, he had blurted out tin-
whole thing to the court tin- truth.
(Continued on pa ye fourteen)
ombe, Wilson, Vance, Warren and
Wake. He rose rapidly not only at
had wandered. A wealth of storm-
of abiding human interest have grown
