Note 469 — Chapter XXVIII · Dismissal of the Graft Cases.

Calhoun’s denunciation of Judge Lawlor was as follows:

“Mr. Calhoun: May it please your Honor: I have been educated, sir, to have respect for the courts. I have sat in your court under circumstances that would have tried the patience of any American. Throughout these trials I have sought, sir, to give you under most trying circumstances that respect to which your office entitles you. But, sir, I cannot sit quiet and listen to the vile insinuations which you yourself have stated there was no evidence before you to justify. There have been periods, sir, when the greatest honor that could come to a man was to go to jail; and as an American citizen I say to you that if you should send me for contempt it will be heralded all over this country as an honor. You have seen fit, sir, to send three of the most distinguished counsel of this State to jail. Why? Because they have sought to express in terms of respect, and yet in terms of strength, their protest against injustice—--

“The Court: Mr. Calhoun—--

“Mr. Calhoun: There is a time—pardon me, your Honor—when every man has a right to be heard—--

“The Court: Mr. Calhoun—--

“Mr. Calhoun: Now, before I take my seat, I desire further to say this, that any insinuation that implies either that I was a party to any obstruction of justice, or that I was a party to the absence of this witness, or that I have sought to control the District Attorney’s office of this city is untrue. There is no evidence before this Court. You yourself know it.”