The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 12, 1899, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1899. The character of the present winter has made the Califor- nia lions very troublesome to cattlemen and farmers. In Glenn County the lions have been particularly bold and savage, and the ranchmen, for protection of their stock, have been obliged to or- ganize hunting parties to check the marauding brutes. lowing is the story of one of these parties. Fol- The story is par- ticularly interesting, as one of the party took along a camera to {llustrate whatever stirring event might take place during the hunt. EVER in the history of Califor- nia have mountain lions been as “bad” as they have during the past few weeks. And never beéfore. have they been so fero- The long dry season has driven out of their mountain fastnesses ake: life a burden for the stock raisers living in the valleys below. From-several sections come reports of stock being killed by mountain lions; several .men have had very narrow es- capes from the roving beasts. So thick and venturesome are the giant cats be- corning that many ranchers and miners are. getting up regular hunts to check the lions. It is the most exciting sport as well gs the most dangerous to be found' in. California. Up in Glenn County, particularly in the western part, the llons have be- comé extraordinarily daring. The late w:.deprived them of their last bit of I drove them from the s of the Coast Range down 1e foothills. Just after the last the roving stock in search re began to disappear. A little tigation .showed bones and lion the hunt to stop the depre- Hons began. } nklin brothers, whose ranch is near Newvllle, suffered a loss of nearly ee .days by the ravages of lions. - Their fine herd of An- 80 cut into that the end and 1. have béen only a few days off not begun war on the goat- It was not so much what té as the number. of goats ed for the pure fun of slaugh- ey Last Monday Lou Conklin went out to see how his goats were getting along nd ran on & trail of blood. After h he foun the carcasses of d Angoras. The thoroughb: s 1 $15 to $30 each 2re worth f tender parts of the goats eaten. The rest of the gled carcass was left lying in the a couple of days e up my mind that I any mountain lion on e eplcurean- bits of thoroughbred An- a goats. efore doing anything else I drove ' of the herd into the corral 3 1d be safe and then I ed -the boys for a llon hunt. And 1 can bet we had one. brot Tom Insisted on taking ong, but that did not progress any. My brother d Pat Whalen completed our begari: The trail was easy to snow we soon 1e lair of . the lions. The first ted out was shot with- d so were three led them over like s they bounded out of the € got'on the trail of an d the real fun began. d scdred up a monstrous er - followirtig hot on his € distance they finally in the lead and as lése” to the tree ralsed )’ yelled Tom. ‘Let of .him and the h my gun point- led his defiance I heard the cam- t Whalen also fired, W through the the flerce brute wasn’t nd up he bound- ant he wag amone 1 ripping them to a ound him. rolling, bit- gle of dogs and lion for Inside of thir- the dogs realized he for them, and they began I could realize what was hap- SRSt e e R e R e R e e R e R R R R L P T T T T OO RN Joseph H. Choate Tells the Story of His Rerlarfiz@e Career as a Lawuer The Following Story is Particularly Interesting Just Now on Account of Mr. Choate’s Recent Appointment to Represent This Country as Embassador at + S 2B S S S T o T R S S S Epecial to The Sunday C OS'? men whose careers bring a thrill - to the heart of the democratic American are those who have succeeded in spite of terrible disadvantage—self- madeé: ‘firen, ‘'who fought their way upward through poverty to fame. Joseph Choate of- New York, who has just beer appointed, to fill the most dis- guished diplomatic position In the gift -of this. country, has succeeded in_.spite - of advantages. IIis uncle, Rufus Choate; was one of the most fa- mous lawyers of “his day; his father had ‘monéy in store to provide for him liberally, 'should. he never nerve him- Belf to. greater exercise than clipping coiipons. :'Therée seemed little incentive - pening the llon was jumping at me. I instinctively clubbed my rifle and struck out full force at the big, red mouth with the outstretched jaws. I felt its hot breath in my face and a dep growl sounded just beside my ear. “I don’t know exactly how I man- aged, but I turned my head just as the lion reached me so that he struck me on the shoulder. I was knocked down and for an instant I thought my time had come. “The lion must have thought the knockdown had put me out of the fight, for he jumped from me at Tom, who was rushing to my help and looking for a chance for a safe shot In the scrimmage. “I pulled my hunting knife and jumped up to help Tom. All the while Pat Whalen and Joe stood near by, walting to send a bullet where it would do the most good. They dared not shoot while we three were fighting so close together. The dogs were close by, biting and snarling at the lion, but he didn’t mind them any more than it they’d been guinea pigs. The impact of the lion’s body bowled Tom over; he fell on his side and face, and the claws fortunately only ripped up a little fiesh. Before the beast could get in his deadly work I had my knife in hig back. “The others crowded up to get in a shot and blow that would tell. I giess the cantankerous old snarling cuss saw he had the worse end of the fight, for suddenly he swung around, knock- ed me over again and started to run for the undergrowth above us on the hillside. Dogs and men took after him pell mell. Bullets did not seem to have any effect on him; besides, the dogs began to regain their courage when they saw the brute on the run, and they hugged his heels closely. ‘“He hadn’t covered half the distance to the brush when: five other lions pop- ped out and began to cry and snarl. Up went the guns, and we began to pump bullets into them. The dogs be- gan to fall away from the chase when they caught sight of the others. “That AFTER the Court of St. James. for him to work or strive in the busy world; it seemed impossible for him to add luster to the already famous name of Choate. There is, therefore, sense as well as wit in Mr. Choate’s remark: “I have succeeded in spite of advantages.” Choate wasted none of his early op- portunities, He was born in the old town of Salem, Mass. His family was respected and well-to-do, and his early education was carefully . looked after. He was graduated from Harvard in 1852, at the age of 20, and two years later completed the course of the Har- vard Law School. When Mr. Choate was asked how he came to adopt the profession of Jaw, he replied: ‘Why Choate Became & Lawyer. ““Well, it was this way: In those days THE LION POSES FoR HIS PICTURE, gave us a free shot at him, and he was quickly laid out. “That seemed to settle the fight, for the two live lions disappeared into the brush before we could get a crack at them. “The big one, that came near mak- ing an end of both Tom and me, was one of the largest lions ever seen in this section. He measured nine feet from tip to tip, and welghed 240 pounds. The others were of ordinary size, but plenty large enough to make short work of an Angora goat. There is one satisfaction—that bunch of lions will never trouble my goats again. “Tom and I felt somewhat bruised T™E FIGHT. +t4ttttt 44t FHEEETHEE 4444444444444 4444444444444+ 4444444444444+ a man who went to college had his choice of three courses—law, medicine and theology. My friends assured me that I wasn't cut out for a minister; in medicine our family was already rep- resented, so I accepted the only alter- native.” In reality, however, Choate was In love with the law. He believes thor- oughly and enthusiastically in his pro- fession, and he has taken occasion to pay eloquent tribute to it in an address before the American Bar Assoclation. He said: “We love the law because, among all the learned professions, it is the only one that involves the study and the pursuit of a careful and exact science, “Theology was once considered an immutable science, but how it has changed from age to age! “And then as to medicine? How it theories succeed each other in npla next day. We fixed up our claw marks and let the other boys bring in the game. It was all they could do to pile the seven carcasses into our wag- on. Now we have got the skins to re- mind us of the livellest lion hunt we ever had. 5 “The strangest thing about the whole fight is the fact that the big lion made such a stubborn fight with a bullet through his heart. Examina- tion showed that the bullet Pat Whalen fired first went right through its heart, and yet it fought with fury and strength for at least ten minutes. And he came very near to getting away from us after all.” revolution, so that what were good methods and healing doses and saving prescriptions a generation ago are now condemned, and all the past is ad- Jjudged to be empirical. ‘‘Meanwhile, common law makes void the past where the fault is and pre- serves the rest, as for centurfes. * * “So long as the Supreme Court ex- ists to be attacked and defended; so long as the public credit and good faith of this great nation are in peril; so long as the right of property, which les at the root of all civil government, is scouted and the three inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which the Declaration of Independence prociaimed, and the con- stitution has guaranteed, are in jeop- ardy, so long will great public service be demanded of the bar.” Choosing a Place to Practice. Equipped with his love of the law and his thorough preparation in it, Choate began, in 1854, to look about for an opening. He took plenty of time for the task, as might be expect- ed of a scholarly man able to command leisure. He took a trip through the West, and it was not until 1856 that he settled to practice in New York. It might have seemed the natural thing for young Mr. Choate to hang out his shingle in Massachusetts instead of emigrating to New York. Although it has been doing . Mr. Choate does not say so, it is prob- able that the presence of his famous kinsman, Rufus Choate, then in the zenith of his power and fame, at the head of the Massachusetts bar, had something to do with it. Young Jo- seph had ambitions of his own, and BRINGING DOWN THE LiON. . . . . (DRAWN FROM SNAPSHOTSJ g he may have reasoned correctly that they would stand better chance of ful- fillment away from the direct compar- ison with Rufus Choate's abilities. Mr. Choate has been able to succeed in spite not only of advantages in wealth and education, but in spite of a distin- guished relative as well. The famous relative was something of a handicap at first. Lawyers and others in New York said: “Rufus Choate’'s young cousin has come down here to practice. Let's go and see how he compares with the old man.” They flocked to “Joe” Choate’s first cases and most of them were dis- appointed. His quiet manner, conver- sational arguments and offhand jokes were so entirely in contrast with the stirring eloquence of Rufus Choate that the observers did not appreciate its power at first. “Guess he hasn’'t much to bank on but the family name,” they said. But there were some who apprect- ated the young attorney’s pessibilities, and one of these was Willam M. Evarts. In 1859 he invited Mr. Choate to join his firm. He did so, and for the past twenty years has been the prac- tical head of the firm, though the style of it is still Evarts, Choate & Beaman. His Way With a Ju-y. It was noticeable from the first that young Choate won his cases. His way of talking to the jury, as he would to an acquaintance he had stopped on the street, his genial manner and his habit of illustrating his telling points with humorous or sarcastic allusions relieved the ordinary tedium of a trial, and car- ried weight with the jurors. From the first Choate has been a great jury lawyer. His teiling way of expressing his ideas makes them stick in the jurors’ memory. At the same time the aptness of his comparisons and the manner in which they go straight to the heart of a question makes them imnfluential with the Judges. ‘When Choate said of a wealthy and somewhat hyp al witness, who had purchased a house in Brooklyn on the further side of Greenwood Ceme- tery, “I suppose it was the only way he could make sure of a home beyond the grave,” the remark was bound to remain with his hearers. In the Pacific Railway case Collis P. Huntington set up the claim that he was not responsible for the acts of his agents on the Pacific Coast. But when Mr. Choate alluded to the chief of these agents as ‘“this Mark Hopkins, by whom he was represented absolutely, completely and without any limitation whatever, so that you might say that when Mr. Huntington took snuff on ths Atlantie coast, Mr. Hopkins sneezed on the Pacific,” it was impossible to es- cape from his interpretation. His wit and fun making powers brought Choate into early prominence among the members of his own pro- fession. ~Jurors, Judges and listeners welcomed his appearance in court as certain to relieve the ordinary tedium of a trial. But he was not all fun. He could be terrible and scathing when he chose, and the sharp sarcasm which made the Laidlaw-Sage suit celebrated ‘was employed to the confusion and em- barrassment of witnesses in many an earlier and less famous case. No more cutting remark was ever made in a courtroom than Choate’'s utterance in the suit of Architect Hunt against Mrs. Paran Stevens. In summing up he sketched Mrs. Stevens' rise to social prominence in eloquent terms, con- cluding: “And at last the arm of royalty was bent to receive her gloved hand, and how, gentlemen 6f the jury, did she reach this imposing eminence? (An im- pressive pause.) Upon a mountain of unpaid bills.” ‘Why Choate Succeeded. When I asked Mr. Choate to what he att;ibuted his success as a lawyer, he said: “To studying the books and fighting in the courts, principally to fighting in the courts.” The remark calls attention to another of Mr. Choate’s characteristics. He is a broad gauge man. He does not win cases on fine technicalities, but by ap- pealing to the broad, basic principles of the law. He presented this view in the celebrated case of the Mylod elec- tion certificate, which involved the con- trol of the New York Senate, when he said: “These questions of disputed elec- tions were not to be settled by tech- nicalities or by appeals to technicali- ties. * * * They were to be decided yANTH/ A 3 :Jl i on their substantial features.” He has acted on a principle in every important case in which he, has appeared—and the list includes almost every trial of national interest that has come up since 1870. How to Handle a Case. Mr. Choate threw an interesting light on one cause of his success as a lawyer when he said: “I have made it my rule never to negléct a case, no matter how unim- portant it may seem. A doctor owes it to the dignity of his profession to treat a cut finger successfully, just as he would a fractured skull. The same thing is true of the lawyer, although, unfortunately, not all attorneys appre: clate the fact.”” It is due to this de- votion to the interests of even the hum- blest clients that Mr. Choate has won probably a greater percentage of the cases he has appeared in than any other lawyer in the country. In spite of his love of fun and his frée and easy manner, Mr. Choate is a stickler for the dignity of his profes- sion, and he has the courage to defend its rights, no matter by whom they are ignored. 3 Rebuking a Judge. On one occasion, when Choate was addressing a bench on which Judge Van_ Brunt was sitting, the latter turned his-. chair around and began talking to one of his associates. This habit, which other Judges have been known to in- dulge in, is annoying to lawyers, but they think it the part of wisdom not to notice it. Choate, “owever, instant- ly paused in his address and stood gaz- ing at the bench, with his arms folded. When Judge Van Brunt, surprised by the hush in the courtroom, looked around, Mr. Choate said: “Your Honor, I have just forty min- utes in which to make my argument. I shall need every second of the time, and also the undivided attention of the court.” “And you shall have it,” .re- plied the Judge, instantly acknowledg- ing the justice of the appeal. : These incidents give a fairly aceu= rate view of the qualifications with which Choate started out on his career as a lawyer—a profound belief in profession, a reliance on broad princi- ples rather than fine technicalities, a. keen judgment, ready wit and genial manner. To these must be added un- limited ambition and a studious na- ture. These advantages soon out- weighed the objections of a wealthy family, a distinguished cousin and a partner famous as a lawyer and public man. There was no nonsense about Choate. He wanted to be a successful lawyer, and he Wi never led away from that aim. He said to one of his youthful friends: “I would rather be the leader of the New York Bar than the President of the United States.” Too Busy .or Society. He kept his ideal before him. When it was suggested that he should enter politics, he said “No.” When oppor- tunities to go into society presented themselves, he answered, “I am too busy.” He studied harder—not only law books, but the masters of English writ- ing and speech. Studying the books and fighting in the courts soon began to tell for Choate. By 1870 they had made him one of the foremost lawyers of the - country. Since then every year has made his position as leader of the bar more unquestioned. Yet Choate is not a well-known man ° in the sense that Depew or a dozen others who have been no more con- _ . stantly before the public are. To the citizens of the country at large his name signifies a man who makes occa- sional brilliant speeches and who re- ceives large fees for his services to wealthy clients. This is a singularly erroneous view. During the recent campaign in New York, Richard Croker made the charge against Choate that he had never taken up the case of a poor man. Choate re-. torted that on one occasion he had ap- peared for a man who, by his own sworn testitmony, was poor. He al- luded to his appearing for Croker him- self, after that gentleman had declared before an investigating committee that he was poor. This may be hardly a convincing instance, and was inspired, doubtless, by a desire to get the better of Mr. Croker. But it is a fact that Mr. Choate’s charges are very moder- ate, considering his eminence in the . legal profession. B. W. MAYO.