|
THE OLD
MEMBERS OF THE CALHOUN AND KALAMAZOO
COUNTY BARS BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
As he began to speak we could see the gauda certaminis (the joy of battle) beaming from his face. Nothing could equal his speech in trenchant logic, ridicule and burlesque. It seemed that the thought most desired and the most fitting illustration came just as he wanted them. Quotations from scripture, Shakespeare, Jefferson, Tom Moore, or whatever author his memory could draw from, added strength, enlivened or gave point to his discourse. The whigs in the audience grew uneasy and alarmed as he proceeded. The shafts of logic and ridicule flew thick on every hand till whiggery, like a huge elephant bristling with them, staggered and fell. Gordon was answered. But the coup degrace of his speech was his description of the great whig mass meeting at Marshall. We can only give the closing sentence: "Fellow citizens, I was there and saw the entire whig procession, and it was large. Why, counting all that were there, whigs, native Americans, old men, women and children, strangers and stragglers, I have seen funeral processions larger, but none ever so mournful!"
ABNER PRATT
Abner Pratt was born in Springfield, Otsego county, X. Y., May 22, 1804; was admitted to the bar in Batavia, X. Y., and afterwards practiced at Rochester; removed to Marshall, Mich., in 1839; was member of state senate, 1844-45; associate justice of supreme court, 1850-52; circuit judge, 1852-58; chief justice, 1856; consul at Honolulu, 1858-62; member of state house of representatives, 1863. He died at Marshall, March 7, 1866.
Michigan
Page 11
|
|
Thank you for visiting. If you have found the information here interesting please consider making a donation.
|
