History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 42

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 42
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 42

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In the intervening time he devoted himself wholly to criminal law, and at the ensuing term of court, upon entering his office, the new State's attorney, who al- ways led in his own cases, met with a decidedly brilliant success. He received convictions in several important cases, losing but one verdict, and was compli- mented by Judge Willey from the bench as the youngest and ablest prosecuting attorney. in his circuit. At this time quite all the practice before justices of the peace in Geauga County was in the hands of the "irregulars," among whom David T. Bruce and Dr. Thrasher were most famous. At the commencement of his law studies young Riddle was called to try cases before the magistrates, and in a few months his. practice in these courts was quite extensive; it increased until his admission to the bar, and was not limited to Geauga County. Popular estimate of him was flattering and rapidly extending, and the region often rung with, stories of his contests with Bruce and Thrasher.

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At this time also all the business of the counties of Geauga and Lake was in the hands of the Painesville lawyers. Mr. Riddle now formed, in Chardon, a partnership with the late Alfred Phelps, a good lawyer, a man of fine culture, but of exclusive manners, and without confidence in himself as an advocate. His business was exclusively on the chancery and probate sides of the court. Into the new firm Mr. Riddle could bring little save his ability and determination to succeed. He had not a law-book, not a dollar of money, hardly a decent outfit of clothing. He was twice re-elected prosecuting attorney, serving a term of six years, at the end of which time he was engaged in nearly every case tried at Chardon, and had quite a practice in Lake County. Among the prosecutions conducted by him with much credit were the cases of Britton for murder, and Dr. Meyers for horse-stealing. Mr. Riddle was an ardent Whig of the Giddings class. Long before 1848 he was noted for bitter philippics against slavery. Upon the nomination of General Taylor he issued the first call for a mass-meeting at Chardon, which inaugurated the " Free-Soil" party of Ohio. Leading men came from the surrounding counties; they were timid and hesitating, and at- tempted to control the large gathering in the interest of conservatism. After two or three hours of cold counsel Mr. Riddle took the floor, and ere he left it, at the end of a half-hour, the tide which was to overwhelm the Whig party of Ohio had swept in. The convention unanimously declared against Taylor, and was immediately followed by similar conventions in all the Reserve counties. The Whig party did not disappear, even on the Reserve. It bolted in a mass. Geauga and Trumbull counties at that time comprised a legislative district, and the Whig conventions of both counties nominated Mr. Riddle for the House, with Isaac Lee, of Trumbull, as his colleague. These nominations were followed by others from the new Free-Soil party.

That was a memorable year in the history of Ohio, for the revolutionary attempt on the part of the Democracy to overturn the existing government and seize the State. The immediate pretext was the effort of the Whigs to divide Hamilton county, thereby gaining from a part of it a Whig district with two representatives and a senator. To prevent the passage of the bill, the Demo- cratic senators seceded, whereupon the Whigs managed to pass the bill in the House by resolution, and declared it a law. The Democrats then called a State convention, declared the law void, appointed a committee of safety, and perpe- trated an unusual amount of other folly. The election was close. The presence of the Free-Soil party prevented either of the old ones from securing a majority in either House. At the opening of the ensuing session the Democrats mustered their forces, entered the hall of the House at an early hour, swore in all their members, and organized themselves as a House. The Whigs also made their way in, and extemporized a House of their own. Of the eight Free-Soil mem- bers, three joined the Whigs and three allied themselves with the Democrats, thus at once losing the force of a separate body large enough to control. In this state of confusion, Mr. Riddle entered the hall with Mr. Lee; they addressed the Democratic speaker, and were sworn in. Upon application, Mr. Riddle also was enrolled in the Whig House, and in the confusion and disorganization which pre- vailed during the following five weeks he was the only member recognized by both sides, and he alone was permitted to address the fragments of Houses. After a day or two of excitement, the Free-Soilers were enabled to harmonize, and Mr. Riddle presented to the two Houses their propositions for reorganization. It was received with yells, hisses, and groans by the Democrats, and with applause by the Whigs. Mr. Riddle attempted to address the mobs, and the Democrats tried to prevent it by renewed uproar. They soon came to a better understanding of the spirit and temper of the man before them. He delivered his speech, which has been accredited as among the first efforts of the kind made in the Ohio House, and which familiarized the State and country with his name. The House was finally organized on the basis of the Free-Soil proposition, and in' all matters where the Whigs and Free-Soiler's acted together during that session Mr. Riddle was their acknowledged leader. It was through his efforts that while there was elected a Democratic speaker and a Free-Soil clerk, the Whigs were awarded the sergeant-at-arms; while the judges elected accorded with the polit- ical majority of the counties and circuits for which they were chosen. Among the speeches delivered by Mr. Riddle during the session, those on the repeal of the division of Hamilton county, and the so-called " Balance of Power," com- manded much attention.

Though detesting Mr. Chase, the Whigs preferred that the Democrats should elect him to the senate to helping the Free-Soilers elect Mr. Giddings; accord- ingly, Mr. Chase became a senator. Notwithstanding Mr. Riddle had obtained for the Whigs what they could not for themselves, and though certain it was that by his personal influence with the Free-Soilers was secured the small majority which made his old tutor and friend governor of Ohio, the Whigs of Geauga were completely alienated from him. Peter Hitchcock, Jr., was nominated for the House, and Governor Ford made speeches in the canvass against Mr. Riddle.

Personally, Mr. Riddle was popular with the Democrats, and during this year their conventions nominated him for the House. Mr. Riddle was the only Free- Soiler re-elected, and by a majority largely in excess of the entire Democratic vote. When the Legislature reassembled, the parties were found to be nearly balanced again. The Free-Soilers presented Mr. Riddle's name for speaker : the Whigs withdrew their candidate in his favor, but he was defeated by the treachery of Spelman, Free-Soiler from Summit county, who voted for the Democratic can- didate, Leiter, so as to secure the election of Stanley Matthews as clerk of the House. Mr. Riddle was defeated by one vote; Mr. Stanley Matthews by a large majority.

During the session the office of secretary of state was offered to Mr. Riddle, which he declined. He introduced and carried through a bill for a constitutional convention, and on his return home was pressed to accept a seat in the convention irrespective of party ; this, also, he declined: It is not too much to say that at this time he was regarded as quite the most promising man of his age in the State, and was thought to possess talents and address of the kind needed to in- sure success. Seemingly, the inclination of his mind was not in the direction of politics. He began life with a resolve to owe no distinction which he might achieve to mere official positions. Whatever might be the estimate of friends of his ability to win popular place, he had learned by a short and unpleasant experi- ence that he was unfitted to enjoy it. His health had been for many years greatly impaired, and it was feared that it would be unequal to the severe strain he imposed upon himself.

In January, 1845, he married Caroline, eldest daughter of the late Judge Avery, of Chardon, a young lady of rare grace of figure and of strong, sweet traits of character. With his wife and children he took up his residence in Cleveland in the spring of 1850, where he formed a partnership with Samuel Williamson, a lawyer of position and acknowledged ability, and determined to dedicate himself purely to his profession. It may be admitted that the branch of the law to which Mr. Riddle most devoted himself, though not from choice, is better calculated to win a paragraph in a newspaper, than to command the attention of a banker, commission merchant, or railroad king with an important commercial case. The criminal lawyer may find it pleasant to have a reputation for making eloquent, witty, or pathetic addresses ; men of business sometimes go to hear such performances, but they seldom give general or even special retainers to such advocates, unless they happen on the wrong side of a desperate case. Upon his removal to Cleveland, Mr. Riddle took Mr. A. H. Thrasher into the Chardon firm, extended engage- ments into Lorain and other counties, and made his first appearance in the crim- inal court at Cleveland for lack of civil business, where he was soon largely engaged. His most important case of this date was the trial of Brooks, a man who placed obstructions upon the track of the Cleveland & Pittsburg railroad, which led to the death of the engineer and injury to several others. Mr. Riddle defended Brooks, who after a protracted trial was convicted of murder in the second degree. The prosecution was conducted by the late F. T. Backus. Mr. Riddle's defense placed him among the best criminal lawyers and advocates of Ohio. His partner, Mr. Williamson, a very able man, was of singularly retiring manners and habits. A year or two later he was elected prosecuting attorney, that the county might have the services of his partner as prosecutor; the prep- aration of indictments and trial of cases mainly devolving upon Mr. Riddle, who succeeded Mr. Williamson at the end of his term. Mr. Riddle declined re- election. He adopted as rules of official conduct never to prosecute a doubtful case, and never to prosecute a man of whose guilt he himself had doubt, even though certain of convicting him. Such was the public confidence in him that no complaint was ever made of his conduct of the State's cases under these rules.

Conviction was generally looked for when he put a man on trial, unless, as sometimes happened, the evidence induced him to abandon the case. Of the fifty last cases for various felonies tried by him, the record shows forty-seven convic- tions. Among the much talked of cases prosecuted by him, were Parks, for the murder of Beatson, removed from Summit to Cuyahoga county ; of Cameron, Stead, and others, for the purchase of property and payment for it in counterfeit money.

Mrs. Stead, disguised as a man, made the purchase, paid the money, and sold the property to a third person. Mr. Riddle prosecuted the whole party, though long baffled by the disguise of Mrs. Stead, who was called Brown, and could not be found, of course.

· The public were much shocked at Cameron's arrest, as he was not present at either sale. He was a young lawyer, was on pleasant terms with the State's attorney; and but a little while before had borrowed from the latter "Story on Sales." When the book was returned, it was discovered that a certain leaf had been turned down and a certain passage marked, which to a quick eye revealed his complicity in the matter by discovering the law relied on, and the lawyer who advised the mode of purchase and transfer. The scheme was to rob the owner

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of his property and place it in the hands of the third party in such a way as to make his title legal, although he actually paid nothing for it. When Mr. Riddle penetrated the disguise of the person who made the purchase, discovering Came- ron's mistress in Mrs. Stead, the evidence was complete. The Cleveland bar generally, including Andrews & Spaulding, volunteered in Cameron's defense. All the accused were convicted, however, though Cameron managed to escape out of the country. Later, Mr. Riddle secured the pardon of Mrs. Stead, whose career was one of sad romance. Another case of note in these years was the Cole seduction and breach of promise case, at Painesville, -a strange, tragic affair, which Mr. Riddle closed for the plaintiff, in reply to Mason, of Cleveland, and Sherman, of Ashtabula. Also the case of Chamberlin us. Sherman,-a breach of promise trial in Geauga County. Chamberlin, a designing man, arranged a marriage between his daughter of nineteen and Sherman, a well-to-do farmer of seventy. On the morning of the wedding-day, Sherman's friends rescued and carried him from Parkman to Claridon, where the same day they married him to a respectable middle-aged widow. Honorable John Hutchins and others were for the plaintiff, Riddle & Thrasher for the defense. It was legally a question of damages, and the old man was rich. The promise and breach of it were confessed. The case seemed to have been invented for Mr. Riddle, its conditions being so exactly to his liking and capacity. While addressing the jury, Hitchcock, on the berich, strove in vain to stem or break the tide of sarcasm, ridicule, and wit that overwhelmed the plaintiff's case. The girl was out of court; the father, the de- fendant, and his wife were present ; the old man propped up in an armn-chair. Hutchins and the judge did what they might, but a general verdict was returned for the defendant. The court offered to set it aside, but the plaintiff would not go to another jury.

The justly-celebrated " Oberlin Rescue Case," before the United States circuit court for the northern district of Ohio, occurred in the latter of these years. John, one of the most abject of the black race, fled from his master in Kentucky, and, as many of his race before had done, found refuge in Oberlin. Armed with a power of attorney, one Jennings, of Kentucky, secured a United States marshal in Ohio with a warrant under the slave act for John's apprehension. Instead of openly arresting him, they stole into the neighborhood, had John decoyed and betrayed into their hands, and fled with him to Willington. The alarm was given, and Oberlin rushed to the rescue. John was re-captured and sent to Can- ada. Professor Peck, Ralph Plumb, and some twenty others were indicted and put on trial at Cleveland, in April, 1859. The indicted put the case entirely in Mr. Riddle's care, with authority to take to his aid any of the bar whom he might choose. The parties were tried separately. The district attorney, George W. Belden, was assisted by Hon. George Bliss, both prominent Democratic lawyers. In the first trial, that of Mr. Bushnell, Mr. Riddle was assisted by R. P. Spauld- ing, F. T. Backus, and S. O. Griswold. The trial produced great excitement in Ohio, and through the north generally. Mr. Riddle's argument occupied two days. Portions of it provoked great applause, the district attorney demanding that the court-room be cleared. Dan Rhodes, a cousin of S. A. Douglas, himself a promi- nent Democrat and wit, wept profusely during portions of the speech, and excused his emotion by saying " that it was all he could do for Riddle." There were none but Democrats on the jury ; they of course convicted the prisoner, the verdict surprising nobody. . Bushnell's conviction was followed by that of Charles Lang- ston. Both prisoners were sentenced, and the court adjourned. Their advo- cate took the case to the State Supreme Court, and Judge Scott allowed a writ of habeas corpus in the cases of Bushnell and Langston; the marshal attached the record of conviction to his returns, and thus the whole case was under review. It was heard before the whole bench, and argued at length by Mr. Riddle and Attorney-General Wolcutt for the relators, Judge Swayne, now of the United States Supreme Court, appearing with Mr. Belden for the United States. The court decided, two for a discharge and three for upholding the law. The defense now changed its tactics. The grand jury of Lorain county indicted the Ken- tuckians, marshal, and posse for kidnapping, under the Ohio statute, and they were arrested. This changed the complexion of affairs. Able counsel from Ken- tucky held an interview at Cleveland with Mr. Riddle and his associates to learn their purpose. They were frankly told that it was designed to force the United States to abandon further prosecution of the "rescuers," and to liberate those already convicted. "Don't you know," demanded Mr. Stanton, of Kentucky, " that .John was a slave, and that his pursuers had a right, under the United States laws, to take him by any means they chose ?" " I know all that," was the answer; " but don't you know that although John was a slave, you can't identify the man you captured. He is beyond your reach now, and you have not a wit- ness in the world by whom you can prove that he was a slave. Your gang, instead of executing their warrant like men, kidnapped the boy as thieves; and as kidnappers they shall be tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary, unless these men are liberated."

The Kentuckians went on to Lorain, where. by the temper of the people, they found that this threat would certainly be executed, and humiliating as it was to Slaveocracy, the terms were acceded to, and further prosecution of the cases was abandoned. The " Rescuers," who for months had been in jail, returned home to hold a grand ovation, at which it is fair to imagine their chosen advocate as the principal figure. The well-known judge, Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, was at the time United States attorney-general, and in the event of a decision by the Ohio Supreme Court adverse to the fugitive slave act, there was great peril of a collision between the two governments. Salmon P. Chase was then governor of Ohio, and, at his request, the attorney-general of the State appeared with Mr. Riddle. Had the " Rescuers" been liberated by the Supreme Court of Ohio, the ultimate result was beyond human forecast. Some years afterwards Judge Black and Mr. Riddle sat face to face at a dinner-table, in Washington. Judge Black was indulging in reminiscences of that time, and with his usual force was setting forth the peril, and the means which he had prepared to meet it. He went on to speak of a lawyer of Ohio, by the name of Riddle, who, he said, had been in- strumental in bringing about this dangerous state of things, and whom he would like to see, and hear what he had to say for himself. A gentleman at Judge Black's side told him that the author of that mischief was the person who then sat before him. The judge looked in amazement at the smiling and still youthful face opposite him. " What did you intend to do by your course ?" he asked. "To secure the acquittal of my clients," was the reply. " Did you not know that you were imperiling the peace and integrity of the government ?" " If the Supreme Court had decided your slave law to be unconstitutional," said Mr. Riddle in reply, "it would not have been the law of Ohio. If then you should have sought to enforce as law that which was not law, the responsibility would have rested with you. I confess, judge, that the idea of precipitating over that act of Congress a collision between Ohio under Chase, and the United States under Buchanan and his attorney-general, did occur to me as a thing not to be shunned. It might have hastened the present war, when the south would have been as little pre- pared as the north was." A spirited discussion followed, which was the begin- ning of a warm friendship,-Judge Black had already seen an argument of Mr. Riddle's in the case of " Ohio vs. Cole," of which he expressed much admiration. A year after their encounter he wrote to Mr. Riddle to form a law partnership with himself in Washington, which would have been accepted but for the fact that Judge Black did not then intend to reside in Washington. His declared wish was that his young son, Chauncy, might be trained to jury practice by Mr. Riddle.

The case of Cole just alluded to was one of much temporary notoriety, both for the atrocity of the murder, if murder it was, of a wife to make way for a mistress, and for the ability of the counsel employed in the trials. The first was in Geauga ; the court, believing in the defendant's innocence, changed the venue to Ashtabula, where a capital conviction was: never obtained. R. P. Ranney, Sherman, and Thrasher made the defense, Mr. Riddle conducting the prosecution. His reply following the arguments of Sherman and Ranney was conceded to be the most brilliant ever delivered in that region, was reported at length, and widely read. Although the jury acquitted Cole the people condemned him, and he fled the country in fear of an execution of the popular judgment. In 1858, Mr. Riddle had been talked of for Congress, but he declined to canvass in opposi- tion to his personal friend, Edward Wade. In 1860 the popular manifestations for a change were so decided that he made an active canvass. The contest was for the nomination. ' His most formidable competitor was Hon. F. T. Backus. He was a few years Mr. Riddle's senior, was able and popular, was sustained by the powerful and wealthy conservative wing of the Republican party, and by the open partisanship of the Cleveland Herald, the Leader remaining neutral. A more high-minded and honorable canvass could not have been made where all parties were so warmly interested, and, though Mr. Riddle was the successful can- didate, both gentlemen remained, as they had before been, warm personal friends. Mr. Riddle's district was then composed of Cuyahoga, Lake, and Geauga coun- ties. In July, 1861, he took his seat at the extra session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, called to meet and devise measures to overcome the Rebellion. It may be observed that in American history no time has ever occurred when it was so impossible for a new man to make a reputation as during the Thirty-seventh Con- gress. The executive was the whole government. The legislative merely met to swell the arms and augment its force and power. Fame crowned the brows of the soldiers ; the legislator was not named. Had there been peace, the time was past when a name could be made by a single speech, or a reputation in one Congress. Mr. Riddle was one of the few who early predicted that the rebels would fight. He was among the first to enlist, though his exceedingly delicate health unfitted him for a soldier's life; but he would have gone forward had his company and regiment been sent to the field before the convening of the House. Much of his time and all of his spare means were devoted towards equipping and caring for the

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soldiers, and in Washington he was conspicuous for his faithful attention to them and their wants. Of six nephews old enough to bear arms all entered; one lost his life and four fought the war through.

Mr. Riddle was largely instrumental in raising the Seventh and Forty-first Ohio Regiments, and in securing General Hazen to command the latter. He also procured an order for a battery, and aided in raising it, which went with the Forty-first to the field. The first Union flag raised over the capitol at Nashville was that presented to the Forty-first Regiment by one of his young daughters. Of Mr. Riddle's congressional career, it may be said that he was most fortunate in winning the respect and confidence of his fellows. He made it a rule to be always in his seat, and there to do nothing but attend to the business of the House. His chair fell in the midst of the leaders, who, in the pressure of numerous calls, were wont to refer to him to know the state of the pending question. At the assem- bling of this Congress there was but one party in fact or name, and in the House there were not more than thirty members who may be said to have had decided convictions. There was no caucus and no nomination for speaker or other officers of the House. Mr. Riddle, with many of the radical Republicans, voted for Frank Blair for speaker. Galusha A. Grow was elected, and rewarded Mr. Riddle with the tail-end of two unimportant committees, although they became fast friends. At the extra session Mr. Crittenden, who had been trans- ferred to the House from the Senate, introduced his famous slavery-saving joint resolution, which became at once, and so long remained, a stumbling-block. It specifically declared the objects of the war, which were in no event to subvert slavery. On that proposition, will it now be believed that there were but tico votes in the negative ? John F. Potter, of Wisconsin, and A. G. Riddle, of Ohio. Their isolation upon this important matter led to a fast friendship between them. Afterwards, when it was intimated to Mr. Riddle from the State department that he might be appointed consul-general to Canada,-an office which would then, in 1864, have been very acceptable to him,-upon ascertaining that Mr. Potter very much desired the place, Mr. Riddle promptly withdrew, and urged the appoint- ment of his friend, to whom it was given. Mr. Riddle first attracted the atten- tion of the House in the somewhat celebrated election case of Butler us. Lehman. Both men were from Philadelphia. Lehman, a Democrat, was the sitting mein- ber. Butler, a leading Republican, contested his seat. The majority of the com- mittee reported in Butler's favor, one Republican uniting with the Democrats in a minority report. Mr. Riddle made a thorough study of the case, and became convinced that Butler's claim rested in pure, but ingenious, fraud. The case was opened by Dawes, chairman of the committee, and but feebly replied to on the part of Lehman. The Democrats had no hope of his retaining his seat, and made but a slender effort for him. It was a case for an advocate, and Mr. Riddle came to Lehman's rescue. His first words took the ear of the House. Members gathered about him, among others the venerable Crittenden, and Wickliffe, of Kentucky, and Lehman, who had never remarked his advocate save as one of a common herd, stood before and as near as possible, with tears running unheeded from his eyes. This speech of forty minutes presented a totally new aspect of the case. Sedgewick, a noted Republican lawyer of New York, followed in a speech on the same side.

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 42

Author: Williams Brothers Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 443

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443