found him with his hat, one boot and all his clothes on, lying across the bed asleep from his various potations. The next morning Taney was obliged to go into court alone. But just as the case was called in walked Mr. Martin. 'And in none of his forensic efforts,' says Judge Taney, 'did he exceed his skill in the management of this cause; and from this trial I, comparatively a young man, got a new insight into, ejectment causes.'"-Taney's Memoirs, p. 122-3. Fond of Music-Serenade. "Martin was very fond of music, but could not distinguish one tune from another. After his defense of Burr for treason he was very unpopular in Baltimore. A crowd surrounded his house with a band of music playing the Rogue's March. The old gentleman took it as a compliment, walked to the front and thanked them politely for their music. Not expecting such a reception, the mob stared and moved on, and his family, who were much terrified, gave him a hint to slip away from the door.”—Bigelow's Bench and Bar, p. 229. His Absence of Mind-Apologizing to a Cow. On his way home he was in the habit of reading the newspapers, becoming so absorbed at times as to pass his door, when he would look up, saying, "Bless me, I have passed my house," and, resuming his reading, would perhaps go as far the other way, much to the amusement of the neighboring youth. It is reported that he once ran into a cow, took off his hat, and with a bow apologized, "I beg your pardon, madam," without discovering his mistake. Whisky-Saturated Bread. Martin was once retained to try a case in Montgomery county, Maryland, upon the condition that he drink no liquor during the pendency of the suit. After a couple of days' trial he found himself utterly unable to cope with his adversary, as he was usually saturated with liquor, but remembering his fee depended upon his not imbibing, and that his success hung on his imbibing, he sent out for a loaf of bread and had the same saturated with a pint of whisky, after eating which he concluded the case, vanquishing his foe. JEREMIAH MASON, MASSACHUSETTS. (1768-1848.) Said by many to be the ablest lawyer in New England during his time. Born at Lebanon, Connecticut, April 27, 1768; died in Boston October 14, 1848, aged eighty. The son of a well-to-do farmer, he graduated at Yale at twenty, attended law trials in New Haven, visited Albany, New York, meeting Hamilton and Burr; read law with Simeon Baldwin, of New Haven, was admitted in 1791, and settled at Westmoreland, New Hampshire. He moved to Portsmouth in 1797, was United States Senator 1813-17, and before 1813 had no equal as a lawyer in the State. In 1802 he was Attorney General of the State, and was frequently pitted against Webster, who settled in Portsmouth in 1807. Mr. Mason moved to Boston in 1832, where he practiced till seventy years of age. Bowdoin, Harvard and Dartmouth conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. His abilities were of the very highest order. His judgment was unerring, whether dealing with law or facts; his learning, profound in all departments of the law; his tact in court, sagacious and unfailing. Of all lawyers, he was the most successful—no man tried so many cases and lost so few, in proportion to those tried. Says Hillard: "There was nothing wanted of a lawyer he could not do as well as any and better than most." "Not so much a lawyer as law embodied," adds Whipple. "In my library," says Benjamin F. Butler, "stand three busts of the three greatest lawyers, each in his sphere, of whom I have ever had any knowledge: Mason, Webster and Choate." Webster, being asked who was the greatest lawyer in the United States, replied: "I should say, of course, John Marshall; but if you should take me by the throat, and run me back into a corner and demand, 'Now, Webster, upon honor, who is the greatest lawyer? I should have to say Jeremiah Mason." Webster said he owed his success to the close attention he was compelled to pay for nine successive years, from day to day, to Mason's efforts at the same bar. Mason was six feet seven inches in height, and his language, always very forcible and direct, was, when irritated, somewhat profane. Tax Brain to Utmost. "Unless a man tax his brain occasionally to the utmost, he will soon begin to fail." Objected to the Judge Putting Question. "A distinguished judge before whom Mason was trying a case, put to a witness a question of very doubtful competency. Mr. Mason bluntly exclaimed, 'If your honor puts that question for us, we don't want it; if you put it for the other side, I object that it isn't evidence.'"-Nov., 1889, Green Bag. Slow Judge. "Being asked what he thought of a judicial appointment, he replied: 'He'll make a slow judge.' 'Do you mean, Mr. Mason, that his mental processes are slow?' 'No, it's not that; but he'll have twice as much to do as most other judges. He'll have first to decide what's right, and then to decide whether he'll do it.'"-Idem. His Professional Position. "Mr. Mason was a great lawyer, perhaps the greatest lawyer that ever practiced at the bar of New England. Of all men who ever practiced * * law in New England, he was the most fully equipped with all the weapons of attack and defense needed in the trial of causes. He was the most formidable opponent. And, of all lawyers, he was the most successful; that is, no other man ever tried so many cases |