History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 93

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772

USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 93
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 93

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

375

THE PROFESSIONS.

called up to speak. She again rallied, but in her confusion she addressed " this congregation," as if it was a church trial. She spoke with much feeling of her recent loss of a young babe, claiming that she had not since been in her right mind in consequence of her great trouble. She did not expressly deny the crime, but conveyed the impression that she did not feel responsible for anything she might have since done. Here was a rich lead for able attorneys, could there have only been time to work it. She spoke but a few moments,-did not ask that court for mercy, and appeared overcome by emotion as she sank into her seat. The judge then again called upon her to stand up, and de- livered to her a harsh, angry rebuke for the terrible crime of which she had been found guilty. He appeared to abandon himself to an impetuous determination to be as severe and crushing as possible. He was so vindictive and ferocious that his remarks failed to produce the effect de- signed. It afforded her a tempest to brace up against. He closed by pronouncing a sentence to hard labor in the State prison at Jackson during life, forgetting, in his virtuous indignation, to include solitary confinement. The writer, from a feeling of mercy, at once called the attention of the clerk, I. H. Corbin, to the omission. He said he noticed the omission, and should record the sentence in the court journal just as it was uttered, and did so. It was after- wards read in open court and signed by the judge, and a certified copy sent to the prison when the prisoner was taken down, without a correction of the omission. The officers of the prison noticed the omission, and were glad to be permitted to save her from the solitary cell. They as- signed her the position of cook in the female prison. Here she faithfully and skillfully performed her duties for many years and was always well spoken of by the officers, one of whom told the writer afterwards that even if Judge Pratt had sentenced her to solitary confinement they would not have executed the sentence,-that she was too good a woman for such a doom.

Judge Pratt afterwards spoke of his terrific address to the prisoner, remarking that he had intended to say much more to her, but that he cut short his remarks, fearing that he was making a fool of himself.

On the same day of the trial Mr. Van Arman, in reply to a remark by a person that the case was an easy one to gain, owing to the great weight of testimony against the defend- ant, gave it as his deliberate opinion that a defense might have been made which would have acquitted the woman. He said she had been convicted by a few unexplained cir- cumstances, which an ingenious lawyer could have easily explained. Because a neighbor, Mr. Mann, had missed a package of arsenic from a shelf over the door of his house, and which, after being missed a while, was afterwards re- placed by some one, it did not necessarily follow that the defendant took the package, or that she replaced it. There was not sufficient proof to convict her of the larceny of this package if she had been put on trial for that. If this link failed there was not sufficient proof to convict. But admitting that she stole this package of arsenic,-and I would have admitted it as the best part of the defense,- said he, this theft could have been easily explained. It could have been made to appear that a large dog was in the

habit of coming nights and robbing their swill-barrel in the back shed. That Mary, having determined to get rid of him, stole the package of poison, brought it home, gave a dose to the dog, had him buried, and then, fearing a fuss in the neighborhood, sought to replace the arsenic before it had been missed. That while she had it in her possession she carefully laid it on the pantry shelf. That the white medicine which Dr. Fero left for the sick man was very carelessly laid near it. That defendant's mother, an old lady with dim eyesight, performed the duty of giving Simeon his medicine. That she gave him the white powder, as she supposed, which Dr. Fero had left for him, and which lay upon the pantry shelf. That at the time she knew nothing about the package of arsenic. That Mary afterwards told her that she and that young man who lived

with them had poisoned and buried that big dog. It would not have been a very difficult thing to have had that young fellow go and dig up that very dog, and shown, by an analy- sis of his stomach, that it contained arsenic. "Don't you see," said Van Arman, "how easily the circumstance of stealing that arsenic could have been worked in very strongly on the side of the defense ? I am not saying," said he, " that I would have done any such thing. I am only telling what an ingenious lawyer might have done in the way of a defense, and how completely the strong case of the people might have been used up."

Though sentenced for life, this woman was several years ago pardoned out, and is living a quiet and respected life. Her pardon was owing partly to her exemplary conduct in prison, and partly, it is reported, to a dying confession alleged to have been made by another, which greatly tended to relieve her of the load of guilt under which she had so severely suffered.

The injustice in this case was on the part of the court, in forcing the defendant so suddenly to trial without giving her attorneys an opportunity to prepare for such a defense as should have been made in the case. The testimony which led to her indictment had all been taken secretly by Mr. Van Arman before the grand jury, while under the present improved practice every word of it would have been taken publicly before an examining magistrate, reduced to writing, signed by the witnesses, filed in the clerk's office as a public record, and thoroughly understood and sifted by the attorneys on both sides. The more humane tendency now is to give the defendant a full opportunity to confront and hear his accusers, and to have every facility for making his defense.

MARTIN S. BRACKETT was born in Elbridge, Onondaga Co., N. Y., Dec. 19, 1810, and died in Bellevue, Feb. 7, 1877. In his boyhood he worked upon his father's farm and in his brick-yard, attending school only during the winter. He afterwards attended the Onondaga Academy three terms, and was subsequently engaged in civil engineer- ing upon several canals in New Jersey. He studied law two years at Onondaga Hollow, in the law office of James L. Lawrence. In the spring of 1838-the spring when the first court was held in the county-he came to Bellevue. At the fall term of that year he officiated as deputy clerk. I see by the old records that he must have been of great service to the various newly-elected officers. That same

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HISTORY OF EATON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

year he entered the law-office of Gibbs & Bradley, at Mar- shall, and in 1839 he was admitted to practice. In the fall of the same year he was elected county clerk, which office he held for three consecutive terms. At the end of the third term he was elected prosecuting attorney, and held this position three years. He was defeated in 1842 as the Whig candidate for the State Senate. In 1848 he left the Whig and joined the Democratic party, by which party he was nominated, in 1856, for the office of State senator, and in 1864 for the office of lieutenant-governor, and was both times defeated.

Mr. Brackett, while giving close attention to his prae- tice, ranked high as a lawyer ; having the best library at that time in the county, he carefully studied and prepared his cases. He afterwards engaged in the building of the Peninsula Railway, now the Chicago and Grand Trunk, and gradually drew off from active court practice. He was an able, determined, and energetic man in whatever he undertook. He became an enthusiastic geologist and min- eralogist and collector of rare and precious stones. His proximity to the Bellevue limestone quarries appears to have first enlisted him in this pursuit. IIe became more and more devotedly attached to this science, and collected a cabinet which for a private one is large and valuable. It yet belongs to his estate.

HOMER CLARK came to Charlotte and went into the practice of the law about the year 1854, and died here with consumption shortly previous to 1860. He had occupied the pulpit in Massachusetts, but for some reason had gone from that into the law, to which he was better adapted than preaching. He possessed some noteworthy and striking traits. He was scholarly and highly culti- vated, both in appearance and reality. Strength of lungs and physical endurance were all that he needed to render him a fine, even'a famous, public speaker. He had studied literature and oratory with an ambition to excel, and had a fair smattering of theology and law. He earnestly es- poused the Republican cause when the party was organ- izing, and had at his command several highly-finished, closely - studied orations against the encroachments of slavery, which were well designed to fire the popular heart. He spoke whenever his failing health permitted, but soon gave out and became an invalid. He was at one time a partner of John C. Spencer, occupying the east wing of the court-house. This copartnership culminated in a bitter quarrel, in which each tried to embroil the county upon his side. Finally, Clark, having obtained leave of the Circuit Court to amend a declaration, instead of filing an amended declaration, he took the old one from the files, erased, interlined, and added to suit his purpose, and refiled it. He doubtless supposed that was the way to amend a publie record. It was boldly and innocently done. His mortal enemy, John C. Spencer, then prosecuting attorney, had a grand jury impaneled and procured an indictment against Clark for altering public records. Clark afterwards had Spencer indicted for perjury for what he had sworn to in procuring the indictment against himself. They never succeeded in bringing each other to trial, and probably both relented.

JOHN C. SPENCER, having studied and been admitted,

I think, in Jackson County, moved to Charlotte and entered practice about the year 1850 or 1851. He died in Janu- ary, 1877, in Cass County, and was buried in Bellevue. He was elected prosecuting attorney by the combined Know-Nothing and Republican strength at the time of the dissolution of the Whig party. He was for some time associated as partner of John H. Kimball. It was often remarked of Spencer that no other man in the county pos- sessed a larger fund of native ability, if he only had the energy to use it. He was large in person and of com- manding presence; weighed about two hundred and twenty pounds ; was of sanguine, lymphatic temperament ; had a massive, high, and apparently well-developed brain, a deep chest, and brawny shoulders. His auburn hair was thrown back behind his ears in a heavy shock of curls, reminding one of the mane of a lion. He walked very erect, as if full of confidence and courage. A stranger would have selected him from among his associates as the champion of the bar, but upon acquaintance he proved to be a castle of indo- lence, a large reservoir of inert power. The possibilities which slumbered within were sometimes fitfully aroused when he had been driven into a corner or thrown into hot water by his negligence and indolence. This unwonted activity rendered him an object of interest for a few days, but he would soon subside. Conscious of his slumbering ability, he was always promising aud leading friends to ex- peet enormous achievements. From sheer laziness he dodged and avoided contests in court as long as possible ; hut when one was forced upon him, instead of fighting it out himself, he would employ his brother-in-law, Mr. Hughes, and sit idly by. "If we could only get him woke up," people would say, " old John would be enough for any of them." He often promised political friends to stump the entire county, and then would not give even one school- house speech during a campaign. While prosecuting at torney he put over or settled nearly all of the people's business.

He finally dropped out of practice here, and after living on another man's farm for about two years, moved into Cass County. There, for a short time, the people imag- incd that a second Daniel Webster had been sent to them. Ile tried a few suits in a masterly manner, and won them with much applause. But this could not last. He soon relapsed into his wonted torpor. The clients who had at first thronged his office soon left him, and he became so impoverished that his family-a remarkably fine one-had to have aid from friends to keep the gaunt wolf, famine, from their door. He never again rallied his forces. Several years after, I saw him in court for the last time. It was a case in which he, with others, was person- ally interested. But even this failed to arouse him. He made no opposition, and was perfectly inoffensive. All of that splendid check, confidence, and audacity which we used to admire, and which once carried him through so many difficulties, had entirely left him. He had also become rusty in his law. I am told that when he died his phy- sicians said it was for the want of self-propelling power sufficient to enable him to live and breathe,-that any one else might have lived through the ailment that was sufficient to check his almost stagnant life-current.

377

THE PROFESSIONS.

HENRY A. SHAW, yet practicing at Eaton Rapids, was admitted in this county Sept. 30, 1846. In " The Bio- graphical History of the Eminent Self-Made Men of Mich- igan," I fail to find a word devoted to Hon. Henry A. Shaw. He is as worthy of a place in that book as any man in the county. But even Henry A. Shaw has not entirely made good the promise of his better days. IIe has been at the bar longer than any other member now living in the county. He was at one time considered the bold- est and most invincible attorney to be found in this part of the State, but his practice was never as remunera- tive as its extent would indicate. His brother attorneys accuse him of working too cheaply and of neglecting to look after his pay. At times he would come into court very carefully read np and prepared for close contest, but oftener went to trial relying upon general principles and his general experience. It was in such cases that he often by his readiness of resource gained the victory over opponents who were much better prepared. He has not confined himself closely to his profession. He has devoted much of his time to politics ; has been sent twice or three times to the Legislature by the Republicans. Was speaker of the House in 1859. He was twice chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which shows much respect for his legal ability. He took an active part in much important legislation, and was often spoken of by newspaper correspondents as one of the ablest members of the Legislature. He has filled the office of judge of Probate for eight years, and is now the candidate for the same position on the " Greenback" ticket. I have tried in vain to have him furnish somc data which would render this record more reliable. He promised well enough, but the data did not come. While president of the agricultural society he delivered a very able address in favor of good roads. He has been a strong advocate of the ship- canal across the State. In early days he was an ardent Free-Soil man, and did as much good service for the Re- publican party as any man in the county, and at one time wielded much influence in the councils of the party. As a lawyer, his handling of cases was more remarkable for fear- less dash and energy than for preparatory industry over the books. Yet those who know him more intimately say he always studied and read much more than he had credit for. When out of court he was usually engaged in politics, looking after his farming interests, or hunting and fish- · ing. He has always been an ardent lover of field sports and of dogs and horses, and has very thoroughly explored the inland lakes and hunting-grounds of the " north woods." He was always devotedly true to the interests of poor clients.

By thus dividing his attention and dissipating his energy among several pursuits, he has not obtained the standing in law, or politics, or wealth which concentration would have insured him. A French writer says, " Concentrate or die." Field sports and recreation are necessary to health and vigor, and need not interfere with a man's success in any one great pursuit. Mr. Hughes is a great a lover of the woods and lakes as Mr. Shaw, but he has kept out of politics. Although Mr. Shaw has not won the position that he might in his profession, yet all who know him admit that he is a large-souled, brave, energetic man, and an attorney whose

ideas are broad and well grounded in the great principles of right.

Mr. Shaw was for a time in the military service during the Rebellion, holding the rank of major. He developed many good soldierly qualities, such as great courage, cool- ness, and foresight in danger ; but he nearly spoiled it all by his independence. His superiors held him in high respect. Gen. Granger tried hard to win him under, but he could not learn to obey, and resigned, returned home, and resumed law and politics.

CHESTER C. CHATFIELD'S name is the first one subscribed to our roll of attorneys. The date of his admission is March 26, 1845. His death occurred between the years 1857 and 1860. His residence and law office was at Eaton Rapids. He was prosecuting attorney of the county, elected by the Democrats, and was also elected by the same party to the Legislature in 1854. As a practicing attorney he attained a very respectable standing in the county, and had a grow- ing practice. But his attention was also divided between politics and his profession. During his day the Democrats held this county by a small majority against the Whigs, the Free-Soil party holding the balance of power between the two. As a Democrat and a good lawyer Mr. Chatfield held an influential position in his party. His genial, gen- tlemanly manner made him quite a favorite with the people. Although somewhat tinctured with Free-Soilism, he remained with his party through the warm contest which gave the county to the newly-organized Republican party. He worked earnestly as speaker and newspaper-writer to stay the rising flood of Free-Soil and Abolition sentiment, and no one felt more deeply than he the loss of the county by the Democracy. He took an active part in the Know-Nothing or " dark-lantern" movement which suddenly swept like a cyclone over the political field. This movement estranged for a time some of his former political adherents. But his belief was that the Native American sentiment would divert the attention of the people from the evils of slavery, and enable the Democratic politicians, through means of the secret Know-Nothing lodges, to keep wavering Democrats from joining the Republicans. Mr. Chatfield was principal founder and editor of an ostensibly Know-Nothing newspaper published at Eaton Rapids. But the Know-Nothing bubble burst as suddenly as it had formed, and left slavery encroachment the only issue.

Mr. Chatfield was a mild but persuasive speaker, one whom an opponent could listen to with much interest. About the time of his death it was supposed he would receive an appointment from the Buchanan administration. He died much lamented by his many friends.

ISAAC E. C. HICKOK was born in Bellevue, Sept. 7, 1836, and died with paralysis and congestion of the brain Jan. 30, 1879. He was the son of Capt. James H. Hickok, and the first white male child born in this county. He worked upon his father's farm in Walton until seven- teen years of age, and spent five years at the Olivet Insti- tute and two years at the State University. He taught school in Walton, until, in 1863, he was chosen, from six competing applicants, principal of the Charlotte Union school. In 1864 he was elected clerk of the county, which position he held for eight years,-four terms. As clerk of

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HISTORY OF EATON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

the Circuit Court he was brought into the atmosphere of the law, and devoted to its study much of his leisure dur- ing his clerkship. He was admitted to practice at the Sep- tember term, 1869. From 1873 until his death he was engaged in an active and select practice. His intention was to fix his undivided attention upon real-estate law, and his practice in that direction was becoming valuable. He was the most constant and laborious student of the law we ever had among us. He was slow and close, accurately noting and annotating, classifying and arranging the results of his study for ready reference and use. Ilis memory of page and volume was becoming a marvel to his associates. He loved to take important but almost hopeless cases and make them his study mouth after month. Every point that could possibly arise either of fact or law would be anticipated and thoroughly mastered. He worked up the facts with the quietness and shrewdness of a practiced de- tective, and when he got into court his side of the case would move slowly along on its well-laid track like a tri- umphal car. Not naturally an orator, his mastery of his case gave him great power of argument and fixed the at- tention of the hearer. He inherited a good brain from his father, but one which his body was insufficient to sustain. Ancestral dissipation told fearfully upon his physical make- up; not in the way of appetite, for he intensely hated the use of strong drink, but in a tendency to paralysis. His " teeth were set on edge" whenever he thought or spoke of the great curse, of which he was, probably, a hereditary victim. Strong in bias and prejudice, he was often a warm friend of those with whom he differed in opinion, but never compromising. No one who knew him ever doubted his honor in the least.

AN ALIBI.

There was a criminal case tried here before Judge Graves in which the unreliability of the alibi, sometimes called the rogne's defense, was well illustrated. The defendant was charged with stealing an ox in Ionia County and bring- ing it into this county. Messrs. John Van Arman and Henry A. Shaw defended. The prosecuting attorney, S. W. Fowler, was assisted by M. S. Brackett on the part of the people. Quite a strong case was made against the de- fondant by showing the theft of the ox, and by proof that the defendant was afterwards seen with the ox, driving it towards this county. He was well described by the wit- nesses who claimed to have seen him, even to a plain ear- ring in one of his ears. The same witnesses also gave a very close description of the stolen ox which the defendant was driving. The people had two other witnesses who had also seen the defendant driving the ox on the same route. But these witnesses did not reach the court-room in time to testify. It was subsequently charged that they had been intentionally kept back. The prosecution, believing their case was strong enough for conviction, rested, and the defense opened. They first brought on a witness who established the date of a barn-raising in Chester, at which a large number of people were present. This barn-raising was upon the day on which the defendant, according to the testimony, was seen driving the ox towards Eaton County. Another witness was then put on the stand, who

fixed the date of the barn-raising the same as the first. A number of witnesses were then called one after the other, who, although they could not remember the precise date of the barn-raising, remembered that it was some time during a certain month. But these witnesses were all clear and positive that the defendant was present all the time during this raising, and related incidents which placed it beyond doubt. The people had no testimony with which to meet this defense. They went on with the argument to the jury. Mr. Fowler spoke first. He argued that although the people's witnesses might be in error as to the precise date on which they saw the defendant driving the ox, yet there could be no doubt but that they saw him on some day driving this stolen ox ; and as the day was not material, the jury, if satisfied that the defendant was seen at all driving the ox, ought to convict. Mr. Van Arman then made a humorons attack upon Mr. Fowler, and tried him as a prosecuting attorney for not properly preparing and trying his case. That he had not even fixed upon the date of a recent offense; that his witnesses had sworn to the date, and that they were as reliable upon that point as upon anything else; that they undoubtedly saw the iden- tical ox and a man driving him upon the day they had stated; that by the light of the evidence introduced by the defense they were only mistaken as to the identity of the man. He advised Mr. Fowler to devote less of his attention to rhetoric and oratory, and more of it to the careful preparation of his cases as public prosecutor.

As Mr. Brackett had the closing argument, Mr. Fowler had no opportunity to reply to Van Arman's attack, which he much regretted, as he had great confidence in his ability to take care of himself even against such an antagonist as Mr. Van Arman. He thought the entire programme was prearranged among the attorneys, Mr. Brackett included, to give Van Arman a chance to go for him and to cut him off from a reply. Mr. Fowler's great confidence in himself and his oratory was probably what led the members of the bar and the audience, and possibly Judge Graves, to enjoy with such zest seeing him brought over the coals upon Van Arman's gridiron. It was impossible for the sheriff to keep silence. Attention was diverted from the real defendant in the case to the prosecutor who had come before the court with such a badly-prepared casc merely for the purpose of an elocutionary display.

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 93

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co. Number of Pages: 772

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772