Stephen A. Douglas As a Lawyer. sons in the crowd proposed that they should enter the court house, take him out, and hang him. A gallows was hastily erected in the court house yard, and a body of four hundred men entered to carry out their pur pose. With loud cries, they broke into the room where Judge Douglas was holding court, and approached the place where the trembling prisoner was sitting. The judge directed the sheriff to clear the court room, as the proceedings were interrupted by the noise and confusion. In a weak voice the sheriff requested the "gentlemen" to retire; but they only laughed at him, and infuriated by the sight of the prisoner, several of the mob climbed over the bar, and rushed toward him. Douglas rose at once, and calling upon a gigantic Kentuckian, who was in court, said: "I appoint you sheriff of this court; select your deputies, and clear this court house. The law demands it, the country de mands, and I, as presiding judge of this court, command you to do your duty as a citizen bound to preserve the peace and en force the laws." The newly appointed sheriff ordered the crowd to disperse, the judge en couraging him all the time. The first, second and third who refused to leave the court fell beneath the arm of the powerful Kentuckian. He threw others out of the windows, and soon the mob, instead of refusing to go, were fighting to get out. In less than twenty minutes from the entrance of the mob, the court room was cleared. Thus, by the cool courage of Stephen A. Douglas, a murder was prevented, and the administration of the law was allowed to have its course. The most striking feature in the matter was the fact that the judge had no authority to ap point a sheriff, as the duly appointed sheriff of the county was present. He knew this, but he knew, also, that the emergency was great—that a moment's delay would have been fatal—and that the least sign of waver ing would have cost the prisoner his life. It was a great occasion, and Douglas proved
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himself equal to it, just as General Jackson had in proclaiming martial law in New Orleans. The honor of a seat upon the Supreme Bench had not been sought by Mr. Douglas. His practice was large and increasing rap idly. He was already holding the office of Secretary of State of Illinois, the duties of which were light, and did not require him to give up his law business. As judge, his salary would be small in proportion to his work. He held court ten months out of the twelve, and it is said that his journeys from county to county were by no means pleasure trips. He decided many important cases, only one of which was reversed, and that involved merely a question of practice. This is a great, a remarkable, a splendid record for a judge, presiding over the chief court of the State before he was thirty years old. Judge Douglas' labor in his judicial capac ity had been so severe and exacting that, in the spring of 1843, I"5 health was so im paired he thought of resigning the position, and passing the summer in what was then known as the Indian country—Kansas and Nebraska—with which his name and the wreck of his political fortunes were subse quently to be so closely associated. But in stead of resting that summer, and retiring for a while from public life, he was called upon by his party to accept a Congressional nomina tion in a doubtful district. He was holding court at Knoxville, when a committee waited upon him and informed him of his nomination. He was told that his acceptance was neces sary in order to carry the district. His friends advised him, as his election to Con gress was doubtful, not to resign his judgeship until he knew whether he was elected. This he declined to do, and having accepted the nomination, he resigned his office as judge as soon as the term was closed. Douglas' early success in politics was as marked and remarkable as his last years were disastrous and crushing; although in
