Contempt By Wholesale
It happened in lt€»eon.4lrueti»n Days. Some
twenty-five off tlic»
1оп«Ипд'
lawyers in the
slate were deprived for the time being from
practicing law in 14'ortli Carolina.
Til
К
memory of Zehulon B. Vance
is held in reverence in North Car-
olinn. In iln- nipitol at Washing-
ton wlieic he nerved so long and so
ably as United Stales Senator, onr
slate Ini' placed his statue in Statuary
Hall, with that of Charles B. Aycock,
as one of Carolina’s most distin¬
guished -Oils. On Capitol Square at
Raleigh, where he twice served as
Governor, a grateful people have paid
a fitting tribute to his memory. On
Back Square in Asheville, in the midst
of the mountains he loved so well, the
people of his native county have
placed an imposing shaft in his honor.
But Vance did not always have easy
sailing. Federal troops once lodged
him in jail, and his own |ieople omw
temporarily deprived him of his right
to practice law!
In 1800, Bartholomew F. Moore, of
Wake, was the undisputed leader <>f
the Xorth Carolina liar, and Chief
Justice Richmond M. Pearson was the
ablest judge of his day. But the sinis¬
ter figure of political difference stood
between them. It was a time of fiercest
political strife, each political party
seeking control of a state which was in
the throes of reconstruction following
a devastating war.
Stirring Times
In 1868, Albion W. Tourgee. supe¬
rior court judge and brilliant carpet¬
bagger, not only served on the Repub¬
lican State Executive Committee and
made stump speeches, hut acted as
"chief inarshal" when the State Re¬
publican Convention met. Chief Jus¬
tice Pearson himself was the author
of an address, of which 50,000 copies
wen* printed, appealing to the electo¬
rate to vote for Grunt for president.
Supreme Court Justice Reude joined
with John Pool (later United States
Senator) in an address in which the
whites were threatened with the ven¬
geance of the blacks if they did not
cease their opposition to the Republi¬
can administration.
I'he Daily Sent inf I, at Raleigh, was
editt-d bv Josiah Turner, one of the
ablest editor- our state has produced.
He was soon to It* arrested by order
of Governor Holden, carried to Yan-
«!#
IK. €’. LAWRENCE
ceyville, and lodged in jail in the
same cell with a Negro murderer,
whence he was to
!«•
released on halieas
corpus by Federal Judge George W.
Brooks. But in 1 86S, all this lay in
the future.
A Solemn Protest
On April 10, 1869, an article was
published in the Sentinel signed by
one hundred and eight leading North
Carolina lawyers, entitled “A solemn
protest by the Bar of North Carolina
against judicial interfere! . in politi¬
cal n fin irs,” and the substance of the
article, in a dignified manner, justi¬
fied its title, 'I'his protest was signed
bv men whose name- are famous in
our history, some of these names,
with the public olliees then or there¬
after held by the signers being: Moore,
Thomas Bragg, Kd. Graham Hay¬
wood, A. S. Merriinou (Chief Jus¬
tice and II. S. Senator); Zehulon B.
Vance (twice Governor and
Г.
S.
Senator), E. J. Warien (judge), Jo¬
seph J. Davis (Supreme Court jus¬
tice George V. Strong (judge).
Spier Whitaker (judge), B. 11. Bunn
(congressman). Octavius Coke ( Sec¬
retary of State). T. ti. Skinner (con¬
gressman), Thomas J. Jarvis (Gov¬
ernor), Mill» I.. Eure (judge), .lames
K. Boyd (federal judge), Henry R.
Bryan (judge), James 1C. Shepherd
(Chief Justice), Asa Biggs (federal
judge),
С.
M. Cooke (judge, congress¬
man, Secretary of Stale), Walter A.
Montgomery (Supreme ('otirl .Ills
lice), Thomas Kullin (Siipreiue Court
Justice), Alfred M. Scales (Gover¬
nor), ArmUtcnd Burwell (judge), and
Jefferson Standard Life
Insurance SALES over
$1,000,000 a week
a large number of other lawvct- ulm
stood at the top of their profe.-i .
One June IStlll, the Supreme
Court issued an order directing ii-
elerk to report to . . onrl the uaim
of those signing tin* protest who were
at that time practicing before the
court. The clerk reported twenty-five
names, including tho-e <»f Moore.
Bragg. Haywood. Mcrriin . Davi-.
Bigg-, Jarvis. Strong. Dortch, Bu-
l>ee, Kerr. Vance, and others.
Thereupon the court issued an order
that these twenty-five should In- de-
l«arred front practicing as attorney,
unless they should appear on June 15
and show cause why they should he
permitted to do •<*. In -lead of having
the rule served on all twenty-five, it
was served only on Moore, Bragg, and
Haywood. It was Moore for whom the
court was really gunning.
"Excused But Not Acquitted”
The respondents filed answer as¬
serting that the article published was
true in fuel, and denying that there
was any purpose to bring the court
into disrepute. On the . . trnry the
answer alleged that it was the purpose
of respondent- to protect the purity
of the courts.
The court, through the Chief Jus¬
tice, delivered an opinion -ccniiugly
directed against Mr. Moon*. The
Chief -Justice- did not like the latignnge
of the answer filed by the rc-pondciit-.
Said the court: “We agree with ih.
learned counsel that hi- disavowal
meets the words of the rule, but we
must say it seems to Us in had la-lc
to have introduced the expression
'ho admits that his purpose wn- to
express his disapprobation of the eon
duct of individuals occupying high
judicial station’." The court adminis¬
tered quite a scolding to Mr. Moore
and made him pay the cost». The
opinion concluded: “It i- proper that
he should pay the costs. He i- not M<--
quit ten, out is excuse*!.
The record i- not clear a- to ju-t
how or when poor Zob Vann* and the
others regained tli*-ir right t«* prac¬
tice in the courts, bill tliev *-vi*lently
did.