634
The Green Bag
Referring to the counsel who had pre ceded him in a long and tiresome speech, Marshall characterized him as suffering
badly from that lately discovered disease,
To read any of Ingersoll’s better speeches
is to be transported into a fairyland of sentiment and revel amid multiform beauties of thought and expression. His
“dementia oral, the insane desire to hear
arguments are seldom elaborate, but are
oneself talk." It was just such a speech as would have been most effective in the
as a rule clear, simple, terse and accom
panied by a sarcasm or a poetic senti
prosecution of any great criminal case, and deserves to rank among the greatest
ment that at once clinches and confirms their effect. While arguing one case he
masterpieces of American oratory.
referred tauntingly to the poor spelling
Another great orator of those times was Jere Black, the Pennsylvanian,
of a witness whom he had charged with
the forgery of a will.
whose oratory was virile, strong, full of
lawyer on the other side came to the
wit and sarcasm, and was generally effec
defense of the witness with the remark that such evidence was not convinc
tive in driving opponents to shelter, although it laid him open to terrible excoriation on one memorable occasion when he engaged in a magazine contro versy with Ingersoll. There were few men, however, if any, who could with
Instantly the
ing, and that he “had done worse"
himself. “You have done worse," replied Inger soll, “but you have never spelled worse."
pressed others with his deep sincerity, while as on all other occasions his speeches were glowing and brilliant. The victories
After this, he was more or less free from interruption. Ingersoll possessed in a high degree this faculty of rising with extemporaneous power to the emer gencies of debate, and it is a pity that his life was not so shaped as to bring into fuller prominence his capacity for these intellectual jousts. To one who wishes to read the great
in the Star Route trials and the Davis
speeches of which this article treats, the
will case, as well as several other notable
mean truth will readily appear that no adequate collection of great legal speeches has ever been made. Judge
stand him in the glittering clash of wits in an oratorical duel in court. Ingersoll’s chief power as a lawyer lay in his oratory. He could work wonders
with a jury.
Always earnest, he im
performances, are tributes to his power over men. Many of these speeches have
been preserved by Mr. Farrell in the
Donovan’s Modern Jury Trials is a
famous Dresden edition of Ingersoll’s works, perhaps the best edition, from the
fine and discriminating work, but not complete enough. Snyder's collection of great legal speeches suffers from the same fault. Some publisher should
bookmaker’s standpoint, ever published of the works of any orator. Ingersoll, in his excellences as well as in his faults, was closer to the people than most any of our orators of the North, who have, as
a rule, been rather too academic for public speaking before mixed crowds.
open the hidden wealth of American legal oratory and give it to the public in the masterpieces of the masters from every section of our country. Here's our best to him who tries.
