Note 46 — Chapter VII · MARSHALL AS A CITIZEN AND A NEIGHBOR

In speaking of this same Club, Mr. G. W. Munford says: “We have seen Mr. Marshall, in later times, when he was Chief Justice of the United States, on his hands and knees, with a straw and a penknife, the blade of the knife stuck through the straw, holding it between the edge of the quoit and the hub; and when it was a very doubtful question, pinching or biting off the ends of the straw, until it would fit to a hair.”

James K. Paulding has preserved an entertaining account of a game, in 1820, when Jarvis, the artist, was present, playing, apparently on the same side with the Chief Justice. “I remember,” he says, “in the course of the game, and when the parties were nearly at a tie, that some dispute arose as to the quoit nearest the meg. The Chief Justice was chosen umpire between the quoit belonging to Jarvis and that of Billy Haxall. The judge bent down on one knee, and with a straw essayed the decision of this important question on which the fate of the game in a great measure depended. After nicely measuring, and frequently biting off the end of the straw, ‘Gentlemen,’ said he, ‘you will perceive this quoit would have it, but the rule of the game is to measure from the visible iron. Now that clod of dirt hides almost half an inch. But, then he has a right to the nearest part of the meg; and here, as you will perceive, is a splinter, which belongs to and is part of the meg, as much as the State of Virginia is a part of the Union. This is giving Mr. Haxall a great advantage; but, notwithstanding, in my opinion, Jarvis has it by at least the sixteenth part of an inch, and so I decide, like a just judge, in my own favor.’” 2 Lippincott’s Magazine, 623, 626. It is said that he was often appointed thus to be judge in his own case.