USA > Indiana > Early Indiana trials: and sketches. Reminiscences > Part 32
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It was clear, when the counsel for the defendant closed, that there was no ground, whatever, for the charge of murder to rest upon. It could be at most but a case of manslaughter, as there was no evidence of malice aforethought, and the killing was evidently under excite- ment and hot blood. Judge Morrison, in his closing argument, abandoned the charge of murder, and claimed a verdict for man- slaughter only. The jury, however, took a different view of the case, under the able charge of the Court, and found a verdict of not guilty, generally. The defendant was acquitted, and has since resided in Indianapolis, sober, industrious, and respected by all who know him.
Nicholas Woods was next put upon his trial. Great preparations were made for his defense. The court-house was filled to suffocation. Many of his friends, male and female, occupied the seats near the wit- nesses. Judge Hammond opened the case, before the evidence was heard. The proof showed that the defendant had commenced the fight with the deceased, and continued it until the final blows were given by Ballenger, with the single-tree, and the deceased fell, a corpse. Judge Hammond opened the argument to the jury, in an 22
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able speech of some two hours, plain and to the point, without any affectation of eloquence, as his manner and address always were. He was followed by Gov. Wallace, in an effective and eloquent speech. Mr. Quarles, in one of the ahlest speeches of his life, followed Gov. Wallace, appealing with all his powers to the sympathy of the jury. As he closed I noticed a female friend of the prisoner in tears. Mr. Bradley followed, in a brilliant effort of over three hours, perhaps the ablest speech of his life. I closed the argument before the jury. Gov. Whiteomb was present during the whole trial, giving constant attention to the evidence and arguments, to enable him to decide for himself, as he told me, should a conviction be had, and an application for a pardon follow.
The jury retired, after the charge of the Court, and in less than an hour returned a verdiet of guilty of manslaughter-three years at hard labor in the penitentiary. Motion for a new trial overruled, and judgment on the verdict. A petition, numerously signed, for a par- don followed, but the Governor had decided that the conviction was right, and refused to interfere.
TRIAL OF HIRAM GASTON.
THE trial of Hiram Gaston, for the unfortunate killing of his apprentice, Lezar Luse, at the April term, 1849, of the Marion Cir- cuit Court, hefore Judge Peaslee, created great excitement at the time. I saw the deceased a few minutes after he was killed. Hiram Gaston was a highly respectable coach-maker, working in his shop, on the lot where the Bates House now stands, at the time of the lamentable oeeur- rence. The deceased was his apprentice, about twenty years of age, quite as stout as Mr. Gaston, and a highly esteemed member of his family. He was a good young man, and a strict member of the Bap- tist Church. Gaston and Luse, at the moment of the occurrence, were fitting a plate on a buggy. Luse appeared awkward, and Gaston took hold of one end of the iron, and asked Luse to let go, and he would fix the iron on the buggy. Luse refused, and Gaston pulled the iron, but Luse was too strong and drew Gaston forward across the anvil. Gaston reached back, with his eyes forward on Luse, and took from the block, upon which there were many light hammers and loose handles, a small hammer, by the handle, without seeing it, with no probable intent to do any great bodily harm, much less to take life, struck around, a side blow, that would have hit the body of Luse, below the shoulder, without injury, had he stood erect ; but at the
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very instant of time Luse stooped, and the small point of the hammer struck the vertebra of the neck, near the head. Luse fell and expired instantly. Gaston caught him in his arms, had him conveyed to his house, sent for a surgeon, exhibited the deepest possible sorrow and agony over the body, voluntarily gave himself up, and was taken before Samuel Henderson, Mayor. I was sent for, and advised with Gaston before the Mayor. The excitement was intense, the office crowded, the street in front filled with people. I waived an examina- tion, and offered bail. The Mayor fixed the bail at one thousand dollars. Gaston was left in custody till morning. That night the crowd was elamorous, the Mayor denounced, and Gaston threatened. I feared for the safety of his person. Next morning the Mayor's office was crowded early. Governor Wallace, the prosecutor, moved an increase of the bail, and supported it with a speech that was loudly applauded by the excited audience. I replied, and stated that the Mayor could fix the recognizance at his own figures, as Mr. Gaston would never leave the ground till he was tried by a jury of his coun- try. The Mayor required bail in five thousand dollars for his appear- ance at Court. William Quarles was then employed with me in the defense. We thought it best for Mr. Gaston to decline to give bail, and go to jail until the storm blew over, although he could have given any amount of security. Gaston was confined some time, the excite- ment began to subside, and before court the people were able to speak of the transaction with their ordinary coolness.
The trial of Gaston for murder came on at the next term : David Wallace, assisted by Hiram Brown, prosecuted on behalf of the State, and William Quarles and myself appeared for the defendant. The evidence before the jury was substantially as I have stated the facts. The case was opened by Hiram Brown, in one of his strong, matter-of- fact speeches. I followed in a speech of three hours. Mr. Quarles closed the defense, in one of the best efforts of the life of that able advocate. Governor Wallace closed the prosecution with a speech worthy of his high character, and best Whitewater days. Judge Peaslee gave to the jury a clear and able charge. The jury retired but a short time, and returned a verdict, " not guilty." Mr. Gaston returned to his business, and has since resided in the city, with the good feelings and well wishes of even those who blamed him at the time.
TRIAL OF MARTIN L. COYNER.
MARTIN L. COYNER was tried at the Hendricks Circuit Court for killing James Crow. The indictment was for murder in the first
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degree. Judge David S. Gooding appeared for the State, Christian C. Nave, Hugh O'Neal, and myself, for Mr. Coyner. The facts were few and simple, although fatally tragical. Mr. Coyner was the superin- tendent of a section of graduation, on the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad, in Hendricks county, upon which there were a number of laborers ; Crow, a large, powerful, overbearing, dissipated, quarrelsome Irishman, among them. Crow became ineensed against Mr. Coyner, and had frequently threatened his life. Coyner had been informed of the threats, and prepared himself with a long, sharp knife, for defense. The morning of the rencounter Coyner saw Crow coming, and to avoid a personal difficulty went into the woods and hid in the bushes, until Crow left, and then returned to his men. Crow saw Coy- ner, and went to where he was standing, on the bank of a cut in the road, with his back to a rick of wood. Coyner held his knife down his side as Crow approached, and again and again warned him to go away. Crow still advanced with a knife in his hand, swearing he would have the life's blood of Coyner. At the moment Crow was about striking, Coyner struck him one blow with his knife, under the arm. Crow fell, crying " Hurrah boys, I'm kilt." He bled profusely, and expired in a few minutes.
The case was opened before the jury by Judge Gooding, in a brief speech for the State ; Mr. O'Neal followed for the defense, in an able, conclusive argument, placing the case on the ground of self-defense ; Col. Nave followed in one of his happiest efforts, maintaining the same ground; I closed for the defense in a speech of some two hours ; Judge Gooding replied in one of the strongest speeches I ever heard him make. The Court charged clearly upon the law of self-defense. The jury returned a verdict of " not guilty," and Coyner was dis- charged, to the satisfaction of the entire community, and is now among the most industrious of our citizens.
A TIGHT FIT.
IN carly times there lived in Indiana a man by the name of George Boone, a descendant of the celebrated Daniel Boone, who should not be overlooked in these sketches, although I have not space to pay the same respcet to many others whom I would be pleased to notice. George Boone would have stood well in those days when there were giants in the land. Ile was near seven feet high, with large bones and museles ; his hands were large, but his feet were beyond any thing of the kind I have ever seen in length, breadth and depth. I
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ean best give some idea of them by relating an incident that George used to relate with a gusto, after he became one of our State Senators. " I was about eighteen years of age, when, for the first time, I took it into my head to go a sparking. One of my neighbors, a few miles off, had a large, pretty daughter that, I thought, would just suit me. It was late in the fall, and the weather pretty cold; still it was too early to put on shoes. The Sunday evening had come; I dressed in my best butter-nut colored suit, made some six months before, but soon found that the pantaloons reached only just below my knees, and my coat stretched over me as tight as an eel-skin dried on a hoop-pole. I started barefoot, wading the 'ereeks and muddy bottoms till I reached the house. They were about sitting down to supper, and invited me. Sally sat by my side. We had mush and milk, and plenty of it. The old lady handed me a large bowl. I thought politeness required me to meet her, at least half way, and stretched out my hand to take it; but I had made no calculation of the size of the table, the space between the milk pitcher and the bowl, nor of the width of my hand. I struck the big milk pitcher on one side, and out went the milk over the table. Sally jumped up, and went roaring with laughter into the other room. The old lady merely remarked : ' It will all rub off when it gets dry,' and the old gentleman said : ' There had greater accidents happened at sea.' But it was all over with me. I saw that all was lost. Not a word more was spoken. I saw nothing more of Sally. The clock struck ten. 'Mr. Boone, wont you wash your feet aud go to bed?' said the old lady. 'Yes ma'am.' 'Here is an iron pot-all I have suitable.' I took the pot and found it so small that I could only get my feet into it by sliding them in sideways; but I got them in, and soon found them swelling tighter and tighter, until the pain was so great that the sweat rolled off my chin. The clock struck eleven. 'Mr. Boone, are you not done washing your feet ?' said the old lady. 'What did this pot cost ? I must break the infernal thing.' 'A dollar.' 'Bring me the ax.' ' Here it is.' I took the ax, broke the pot to pieces, handed the old lady the dollar, opened the door, and never saw her afterward. I met Sally at a husking several years afterward, and as we met she roared out laughing."
A FIGHT IN THE SENATE.
BUT the end of George was not yet. He grew up to be a man and a colonel, and, like Saul of old, was chosen to lead the people. He became a State Senator and an able debater. His figure was so tall and commanding, his voice so strong, loud and clear, his manner so
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plain and unassuming, his coolness and known courage such, that he was both respected and dreaded as an opponent. While he was in the Senate a warmly contested question came up for debate, Ratcliff Boone, Lieutenant Governor, in the chair. The Colonel was the leader of one side of the question, and a Senator, about four feet ten, limbs in proportion, with a voice like a " katydid," lead the other side. The chamber was crowded. The Colonel rose with his eye upon the Chair, and was speaking at the top of his voice. "That's a lie," squeaked out the little opposition Senator. " As I was saying, Mr. President-" " That's a lie." " As I was saying-" "That's a lie," in the same squeaking voice." " As I was saying-" The little Senator could stand it no longer ; sprang over the railing, ran round to where the Colonel was standing, and struck him with all his might on the back. " As I was saying Mr. President -; " the blows repeated several times, while the Colonel, without taking the least notice of it, continued to address the Senate until he closed his speech ; then turn- ing his eye upon his opponent, " What are you doing?" " What am I doing ; I'm fighting." " Who are you fighting?" "I'm fighting you." " Me ! I had no knowledge of it whatever." The sergeant-at- arms stepped up and carried the little Senator away in a state of exhaustion. A glass of wine and the friendly hand of the Colonel soon put all things to rights, and the debate procceded.
A SLAVE CASE-"DRED SCOTT" DECISION ANTICIPATED.
IN the summer of the year 1822, a gentleman from Georgia called on me, late one night, to get my aid in securing a fugitive from labor by the name of William Trail. He was a light mulatto, had left his master with leave to go where he pleased, paying the one-half he could earn annually for the privilege of working from home and trav- eling. He had always paid up, but had come to a free State, and his master now wished to reelaim him. Trail was considered in the neighborhood a quiet, inoffensive, industrious man. He was arrested, and a writ of habeas corpus sued out, returnable next day. The excitement was very great through the night, and in the morning I learned that my client had taken the alarm and left, forgetting to pay my fee. Trail was discharged, and afterward married a colored woman and settled east of Connersville, joined the Baptist church, bought and paid for a small piece of land, and was raising and edu- cating his children-when about midnight the large barn of James Smith, the preacher at the church to which Trail belonged, was seen in full blaze, and soon burned down. Smith openly charged Trail
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with the arson, but there was no evidence whatever of his guilt, and very few believed the charge.
Trail employed me to bring suit against Smith for slander. The snit was brought, and eame on to be tried before the Fayette Circuit Court, Judge Eggleston presiding. Gen. Noble and Daniel J. Caswell appeared for the defendant. The trial lasted three days, and was one of unusual excitement. I was threatened, and indeed, I lost a good many votes for the Legislature, for which I was then a candidate, on account of my employment. The able counsel for defendant, without denying the speaking of the words, or attempting a justification, took the ground that my client could not sustain the action ; that he was a slave, and that by the laws of Georgia no slave ean sue ; that he could not be a citizen of Indiana and at the same time a slave of Georgia ; that he brought with him to Indiana the laws of Georgia, by which he was a slave; that the color of his skin would be prima facie proof of his being a slave, if he were in Georgia, and as he brought the constitution and laws of Georgia with him, the same consequences followed here. In brief, the arguments at that early day of these able men, in the defense, assumed all the grounds of the recent decision of the majority of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Dred Scott ease, except that of the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts. I replied for the plaintiff, that slavery was a local institution, confined to the States whose constitutions and laws upheld it; that this was not. a contract where the lex loci contractus would govern, and where the laws became a part of the contract ; that the laws of Georgia eould not operate beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the State; that the state and condition of Trail, as a slave, eeased whenever he passed the line of the slave States, except for the single purpose of reelama- tion under the Constitution of the United States ; that the general pass, without restriction as to time or place, was obligatory on the master; and the day that Trail set his foot on the free territory of Indiana, he was a free man ; that no State in the Union, and especially no State admitted before 1816-the date of the admission of Indiana -could interfere with or deny the provisions of our State Con- stitution, " that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi- tude within this State, otherwise than for the punishment of erimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted ; " that our consti- tution containing that provision, was ratified by the people and sub- mitted to the other States in Congress assembled, upon an application on our part to join the Union, was unanimously accepted, and we became one of the United States upon the same footing as the original States ; the compaet became complete, and from theneeforth, neither
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the United States, nor any one State, nor any human power, except the people of the State by convention or resolution, could say that slavery or involuntary servitude could legally exist a single day in the State of Indiana, had the Constitution of the United States been silent ; and under that instrument only where the slave had escaped. without the assent of his master, into our State, can the relation exist for a moment, and then for the purpose of reclamation and no other ; that neither the United States in their united or several departments, excentive, representative, or judicial have any control over the ques- tion, any more than they have to say that slavery shall not exist in States admitted into the Union, with constitutions authorizing it.
I retained no copy of the able opinion of Judge Eggleston, in which he covered the whole ground, and I was gratified to hear him sustain each of my positions, and especially as he was a Virginian, and an able expounder of the Constitution and laws of the country. The jury found a verdict for twenty-five dollars for the plaintiff. Judgment according.
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INAUGURATION OF VAN BUREN.
INAUGURATION OF VAN BUREN.
ABOUT the middle of February, 1837, I left Connersville for Wash- ington City, to attend the Executive Session of the incoming Admin- istration, upon the summons of President Jackson. The Ohio river was frozen over at Cincinnati, and the traveled route was by land through Ohio. At Wheeling, we found the ice broken up between Zane's Island and the city of Wheeling, and were detained two days before we could cross. The eve of the second of March, we arrived at Washington City, found the hotels and private boarding-houses all full, and were compelled to go to Georgetown, where we obtained accommodations. The City of Washington was crowded from all parts of the United States. Martin Van Buren was to be inaugurated on the fourth, as the successor of Gen. Jackson. The fourth of March, twelve o'clock, came. The Senate met. Richard M. Johnson, Vice President, took the Chair. The new Senators were qualified, and the body stood organized, every Senator in his seat, when the side doors of the Senate chamber were thrown open by the sergeant-at-arms, and I saw approaching down the wide aisle of the Senate chamber, the stately form of Gen. Jackson, and the smaller figure of Martin Van Buren, the outgoing and incoming Presidents arm-in-arm. Gen. Jack- son looked much older than when I saw him inaugurated, eight years before, on the eastern portico of the Capitol before thousands. His hight was full six feet, his person spare, rather stooping, his eyes sunken, covered by glasses, his hair as white as snow, thrown back in front, as he always wore it ; his cheeks furrowed, his brow marked with care, his step faltering with age. As he took his seat, he placed his hands on his knees to steady himself down where he sat, until the procession retired from the chamber. Mr. Van Buren presented a great contrast to the old hero. He was a small man, some five feet six inches in hight, light complexion, sandy hair and whiskers, mixed with white, eyes gray, head bald to the ears. He stepped with all the elasticity of youth to the chair, and seated himself by the side of Gen. Jackson with the ease and grace of a miss of sixteen.
The representatives of foreign nations followed in the procession, and as they entered the main door in single file, and passed down the main aisle, they defiled to the right of the seat of the president of the Senate, and took the seats prepared for them in a row in the order of the admitted grade of the nation they represented ; Mr. Fox, the British Minister, at the head, then followed the French, Spanish, Rus- sian, Prussian, Austrian and down to the representatives of the little powers accredited by our Government. The faet struck me forcibly
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as these distinguished foreigners sat before me, that the grade of the government they represented, might be easily distinguished by the dress of their Minister. The highest, the British Minister, was dressed in plain black cloth, with nothing to distinguish him from any other gentleman. The French Minister wore a blue frock coat, with only a golden star on the collar. As the grade fell the splendor of the dress increased, until the smaller powers were reached,-their representatives were covered with gold lace from head to foot, splendid side-arms and the most gaudy apparel; their attaches by their sides in similar court dresses. It reminded me of the character of the men who govern the world. It is not those of the most outside show, but the men of com- mon sense and plain dress, who look upon the external covering of the man as the least part of him, and not as the Indian, who values his horse by the splendid saddle and trappings with which he is cov- ered. I may be pointed to William Pinckney as an exception to this remark ; if so, upon the general rule I suggest the names of Dr. Frank- ยท lin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madi- son, James Monroe, John Q. Adams, Andrew Jackson and a host of other American statesmen.
After being seated for a few minutes, Gen. Jackson and Mr. Van Buren rose and proceeded to the east portico of the Capitol, followed by the forcign Ministers, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Vice President of the United States, the Senators and Representatives, and were seated. Mr. Van Buren then arose, stepped between the two large columns, and proceeded at once in a low tone of voice to read his inaugural address. He closed, when Chief Justice Marshall administered the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and the oath of office, before the immense crowd that filled the steps and grounds east. The President and Gen. Jackson left for the Exec- utive mansion in an open barouche; the Senators returned to their chamber, the judges to their room, and the crowd dispersed. Such a body of men as composed the Senate at that time, I have no hesitation in saying, were never associated together before. Such was my opin- ion of them when I took my seat in the body, and a close and intimate acquaintance with them afterward, only tended to increase my admira- tion. The strong men of the nation were there. I name, IIenry Hubbard, Franklin Pierce, Daniel Webster, John Davis, Samuel Pren- tiss, Benjamin Swift, Nehemiah Knight, Asher Robbins, John M. Niles, Perry Smith, Silas Wright, Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, Garret D. Wall, Samuel L. Sonthard, Richard H. Bayard, Thomas Clayton, James Buchanan, Samuel Mckean, Joseph Kent, John S. Spence, William C. Rives, William H. Roan, Robert Strange, Bedford Brown,
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INAUGURATION OF VAN BUREN.
John C. Calhoun, William C. Preston, John P. King, Albert Cuthert, William R. King, Clement C. Clay, Robert J. Walker, John Black, Alexander Mouton, Robert C. Nicholas, IIugh Lawson White, Felix Grundy, Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, William S. Fulton, Ambrose H. Sevier, Lucius Lyon, John Norval, Thomas H. Benton, Lewis F. Linn, William Allen, Thomas Morris, Richard M. Young, John M. Robinson, John Tipton, Ruel Williams, Benjamin Ruggles.
Of these great men two were Presidents of the United States, two Vice Presidents, fourteen Governors of States, nine Cabinet officers, five first-class foreign Ministers. Twenty years have passed away, and how have the mighty fallen ! Of the fifty-two Senators that formed the body, thirty-five are no more with us; and of the other seventeen there is not one, save John J. Crittenden, at this time a member of the body.
Mr. Van Buren nominated for the new Cabinet, John Forsyth, of Georgia, Secretary of State; Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire, Secretary of the Treasury ; Joel R. Poinsett, of South Carolina, Secre- . tary of War; Mahlon Dickerson, of New Jersey, Secretary of the Navy ; Amos Kendall, of Kentucky, Post Master General. The Sen- ate went into executive session, the first I had ever been in, with closed doors. The nominations were taken up and all confirmed, with my vote in the affirmative. The rule I adopted for my action, and by which I was governed on executive nominations, was to take the nom- ination as prima facie correct, and not to vote against it unless I was satisfied the public interest required a rejection, which was not the case in these Cabinet appointments. There was little business before the Senate, and we adjourned in a few days, with the understanding, however, that the President would call an extra session of Congress, to replenish the Treasury, by a loan of money direct, or the issue of Treasury notes. Our State was represented in the House that year, by Ratcliff Boone, John Ewing, William Graham, George H. Dunn, James Rariden, William Herrod and Albert S. White.
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