USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The old court house : reminiscences and anecdotes of the courts and bar of Cincinnati > Part 21
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
" Mister Prosecuting Attorney, have you summoned any skilled physicians in this case?"
303
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
Prosecuting Attorney-"No. May it please the court, I did not deem it necessary."
fudge Torrence-" How thoughtless and negligent ! (aloud, to the auditory). Are there any experienced physicians within the sound of my voice? If so, please step forward, before the court."
More than a dozen of the best physicians of the city, who were attending the trial because of their exceeding interest in it, obeyed the oral summons of the judge, and advanced from the crowd and stood up before the court.
Fudge Torrence-" Are there any skilful surgeons among you? If so, please designate."
Four excellent surgeons, whom I shall name Dr. John Morehead, Dr. William Smith, Dr. Ramsey and Dr. Drake were designated.
fudge Torrence-" Gentlemen. surgeons, it is the order of the court, that you take these two boys who have just testified before the court, accompanied by the sheriff, into one of the adjoining jury rooms, and there strip them of all their clothing, and make a thorough examination of their naked persons, to find if they have ever been really castrated, and report your doings under solemn oath, to the anxious court. Take the boys, Mister Sheriff, and show the surgeons with them to the jury room, and in the meantime, the court will take a recess for an hour, until the surgeons are quite through with their proper investigation."
The sheriff took the boys as ordered, and the four surgeons accompanied him to the jury room, and were absent for over an hour. The crowd remained within, and without the court house, anxiously and patiently. After the surgeons were through examining the persons of the boys, the sheriff reported, and the court re-convened, and order and silence were enforced, and then :
304
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
Fudge Torrence-" Mister Clerk, swear the four surgeons as witnesses."
The clerk swore the four witnesses.
fudge Torrence-"Well, gentlemen, what is your report under oath? Make it orally as witnesses."
Dr. Drake-(who was put forward). "As surgeon experts, after a most thorough examination of the parts of the persons of these boys, we find that there has been no castration at all, of these boys. In one of the boys, there is deformity, there being but a single development, as sometimes occurs, congenitally. In the other, there is an infirmity in one development, but by extraordinary pressure, its natural place was resumed. So that there has been no mayhem, there has been no crime-no crime at all, committed by these innocent prisoners."
Fudge Torrence-" Is this the testimony of all four of you?"
All the Surgeons-"It is !"
Judge Torrence-" It is as the court unanimously thought, from the beginning. These innocent prisoners are the victims of hate and bigotry. They are harmless, and innocent. They are all now honorably discharged. The boy witnesses will be committed to jail for perjury for the present, until the prosecuting attorney can make due inquiries."
And so it was, the innocent Shakers were discharged, honorably discharged, and amidst applause and huzzas, went from the court house to their peaceful homes ; and the city, and the county and the country, were relieved from the foul consequences of one of the most wicked conspiracies against innocent and harmless men, because of their religion, that ever was known. But the matter, wicked as it was, redounded to the great benefit of the
305
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
Shakers of Whitewater village. Pronounced by the court in full bench, entirely innocent, and honorably dis- charged, on the testimony of the expert surgeons, they were ever after, from sympathy and fellow feeling, taken into the good graces, and warm friendship of the neighbor- hood, and have lived in peace with all mankind, and hope of bliss beyond the grave, ever since their fortunate and deserved escape from conspiracy. They have never since been molested by anybody, from anywhere. May they continue so to live in their goodness and innocence. So mote it be !
THE PSEUDO RAPE CASE .- THE TWO MEXICAN VOLUN- TEERS, AND THE FRIGHTFUL RIOT AT THE JAIL.
A TERRIBLE CASE.
By way of serious and somewhat sorrowful though funny-ending reminiscence of the old days of the old court house, we will add the remarkable story of the two poor Mexican volunteer soldiers, and the dreadful false accusation and charges against them, and the terri- ble jail riot occurring in this city of Cincinnati, in the summer of the year 1848.
Soon after the Mexican war, two soldiers who had done good service in the war, returned to this city,-and having procured honorable discharges from the service,- procured their land warrants for one hundred and sixty acres of land, and had them in their possession. Being Germans, they took up their quarters with a German and his wife and his daughter, in their home near the Brighton House, situated in the extreme north part of, or quite out of the city at that time ;- and got work to sup- port themselves in some one of the factories of the city. They had lived with this German and his wife and his
20
306
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
little daughter for some time, when one day the whole pop- ulation of the city were startled with the horrible tidings -that these two discharged Mexican volunteers had com- mitted a horrible rape upon the little girl-the details of which crime were indeed too horrible for contemplation even. The old German at whose house and home they lived, had sworn out a warrant before 'Squire E. V. Brooks against these two men for rape upon his child, and they were arrested, and taken to his office on Court street in the vicinity of the court house for a preliminary examination. But the crowd of people was so great, that the justice of the peace removed the hearing of the case, to the old court room of the old court house,-having first obtained permission of the County Commissioners, and there being a vacation of the courts. The examina- tion taking place there, the excitement throughout the city became greater and greater, and not only were the large court room and gallery crowded and crammed with people, but the court house yard, and the streets were filled with thousands of excited citizens. The examina- tion proceeded-and both the parents and the little girl swore to the perpetration of the rape by the soldiers,- and bloody clothes were exhibited,-bed clothes and the under garments of the little girl,-and the evidence was conclusive, and the justice committed the two soldiers to jail without bail. It was with the most extreme difficulty that the prisoners were got to the jail. The constable took a great posse with him to keep off the crowd on the way out Court street and up Sycamore street-but the yelling crowd pursued them and the prisoners, and the air was filled with missiles thrown at them. They finally, however, succeeded in lodging the prisoners in the old jail ;- and now they were under the protection of the
3º7
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
sheriff of the county, who, at that time was Thomas J. Weaver.
The examination at the court house consuming all the morning and part of the afternoon, it was late in the afternoon, when the prisoners were lodged in jail. In the meantime an angry crowd about the jail remained, and continually demanded the possession of the prisoners to lynch and hang them. But the sheriff knew his duty, and dared maintain it. He procured the services of the two crack military companies of the city, the Citizens Guards and the Cincinnati Greys-to guard the jail and keep off the mob. But as the shades of evening began to prevail, men coming from their work, joined the crowd at the jail ;- and now, the whole great jail yard before the jail, and Sycamore, and Hunt streets were filled with an excited populace. Sheriff Weaver again and again, expostulated with the crowd, and by all means in his power, and at his command, kept them from moving on to the jail. But the crowd grew larger and larger, and at length a rush was made for the doors and windows of the jail ;- and at this time, in the performance of his duty, it became necessary for the sheriff to order the soldiers to fire, and this they did at first with blank car- tridges, but it was of no avail. The vast crowd not scared a whit, grew more excited, and pushed on to the jail with more strength and power, and absolutely the leaders got within the front doors of the jail. Armed resistance with cartridge and ball was now necessary-and the sheriff was compelled to repeat his order to fire. The soldiers fired, and eleven persons in and out of the crowd fell to the ground, to rise no more. This effective volley of the musketry created a panic in the unarmed crowd, and dispersed and scattered them far and wide ;- and
.
308
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
proper precautions being taken, there was no more mob, or mob attack and onslaught. That night's dreadful experience cost eleven lives, and, as is always the case when there is a mob-the innocent bystanders suffered with the guilty leaders. There was next day, mourning over the whole city, and this continued until the corpses which had been taken from the jail yard, and the streets, were buried in their graves ;- and then the people began to question, and question the proceedings of the sheriff, but all were compelled from the facts finally, to conclude, and to say-that, under the circumstances the fatality could not have been avoided-it was the duty of the sheriff and the soldiers to do as they did-notwithstand- ing the great loss of life of citizens, and soon the people of our peaceful city settled down in their old ways again.
But the sequel. I was prosecuting attorney of the county at the time, and I speak what I know. At the assembling of the grand jury at the next term of the court, a bill of indictment against these poor volunteer soldiers was unanimously ignored, on the plain and simple ground that they were plainly and simply inno- cent, and guiltless of any rape, or any other kind of crime. They had served their adopted country, and were hard-working, industrious, diligent, and honest men. They had been the victims of these Germans --- a man and a woman with whom they lived, who, because they could not induce them to give up their land war- rants to them, had conspired with their little daughter to get up and maintain this awful charge against them-and their whole conspiracy was a fraud, and their whole story a bald concocted lie. I officially discharged the inno- cent prisoners from jail ;- and after this there was much talk of lynching their guilty persecutors-but when they
309
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
were hunted for, it was found that father, mother and daughter had fled to parts unknown, and have never been heard of since. What became of the two soldiers I never afterwards learned,-but it is hoped they went out West, and located their land warrants, and became good, sub- stantial western farmers.
What-what a lesson in all this ? What mischief a lie-a base fabricated lie can do! Lives must pay for it. What, what an infuriated mob can do,-excited, o'erstrung and o'ermastering, until death itself must come to create a panic, and scatter and dissipate their masses? Cincinnati has had the lesson more than once !
PARSON BROWN, AND THE PROSECUTOR, CALLING NAMES, AND PLAYING UPON THEM !
Henry B. Brown-a native Kentuckian, and for the remainder of his life, a Cincinnatian-was a member of the bar of the old regime about the latter days thereof. He was a good lawyer of fair standing ; he had been an editor, and was much devoted to literature generally ; he was also a wit and a punster sometimes, and was accepted and acceptable in society on account of his winning ways and bright scintillations every once in a while. He was eccentric, and his serious and sombre pecu- liarities-together with the perennial spectacles on his nose-gave him among the legal fraternity the sobriquet of Parson, and he was known far and wide as 'Parson Brown'-not however to be mistaken for Parson Brown- low, for he was never low, but ever exalted in his own estimation, and that of others. He was tall and slim, gaunt and thin, and dressed in finest black, as he always was, with a bright white neck-tie, he looked every inch a par- son, and well deserved his nickname.
310
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
Well-the parson was one day engaged in defend- ing a prisoner at the bar for robbery, and the evidence as to the identity of the accused-the crime having been committed in the illy-lighted street at night, was somewhat thin and doubtful, and the parson in his speech to the jury took great advantage of this, and des- canted eloquently and learnedly upon the subject, and read from all the law books, and referred the court and jury to very excellent authorities-but he devoted unac- countably the greater part of his eloquence to a direct attack upon the State's attorney, who was the humble and modest official, by name, Alfred Carter, and called him names, and played upon his name. "This prose- cutor and persecutor for the State," said he, "thinks to have it all his own way, and would convict innocent men of crime, as he now prosecutes and persecutes, and would convict, my innocent client before you, gentlemen of the jury-I would have this learned prosecutor to know, that because he is a carter, he cannot carry away everything with him in this way. He may, once in a while, get the cart before the horse, as ·he has done, and is doing, in this case-and, I would have you gentlemen of the jury, to take advantage of this pause and stop in his career, and unload his cart for him, and acquit my client, who is no more guilty of this crime than the carter himself."
Good for the parson, but the prosecuting attorney had the reply on him, and he made it the retort courteous, and he said, "gentlemen of the jury, in the parson's con- struction, it appears that I am on trial, and not the prisoner, and the parson, forgetting his sacred calling, calls me bad names-for this, I forgive and forget him- knowing as I well do, that in your opinion, and your ver-
3II
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
dict, the case of his client will be done brown,-and the parson will have a brown study over it,-and he will ever after this, have cause to remember, that in defending a criminal he had better attend particularly and exclu- sively to that duty, and not engage in heaping obloquy upon the name of the poor prosecutor, who does his duty for the State. No-Mr. Brown, it will never do- it will never do to give or take it up so, Mister Brown. No, Parson Brown-the good book says,-" Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor"-and this should be browned in the brain of the parson Brown !" The verdict was ' guilty ' !
VERDICTS OF JURIES ! TOM CORWIN'S SAYING !
" Do not your juries give their verdict As if they felt the cause-not heard it?"
Juries in old and modern times were, and are, sworn to find a true verdict on the issue joined between the parties to a case, according to the law, and the testi- mony, and how often, think you, have they, and do they obey that oath ? Why we should use the tautological phrase, ' true verdict,' in the formal language of the oath, is hard to tell ; the word verdict comes from the two Latin words, verum, dictum, meaning a true say- ing, and one would be apt to think, that the contracted, derived word ' verdict' was explicit and sufficiently defi- nite ; but perhaps our old common law-givers wanted to emphasize and give force, and create, and therefore, put in the oath a 'true, true saying,' or a 'true verdict.' But it is a bad phrase ; - true verdict is an ill phrase," as old Polonius would have undoubtedly thought, had he heard it from the mouth of the actor, or from the mouths of the clerks of our courts.
312
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
The conundrum part in reference to juries obeying their oaths, must be given up. Verdicts of juries are certainly the most uncertain of all things, and in a given case, you cannot tell what the verdict will be. You may guess, as do the juries themselves, perhaps, in most cases, -and in their oath-a 'true guess' might be substituted for a ' true verdict' with much pertinency and propriety. On one occasion, lawyer Tom Corwin remarked in his speech to the court-that "there were two things that it was impossible to predict, what they would turn out to be. One was, what a woman could, would, or might do in an emergency or exigency, and the other was, the verdict of a jury. But of the two, the verdict of the jury was the more cloudy and uncertain, and he very much doubted, and he spoke from a very-very long experience, whether any person on earth below, or in heaven above, could tell what the verdict of a jury would be, in any case, but God Almighty Himself."
QUID NUNC? ET, NUNC PRO TUNC! "TWA DOGS."
There were two lawyers, and in their wrangles, and quarrels, and barking, biting, and bites of each other over their case, quite resembled the "twa dogs" of Bobbie Burns' memory. They should have remembered the concluding verse of
" Let dogs' delight, to bark and bite For God has made them so."
but they did not, and seemed to remember only the first verse, and acted, and conducted themselves accordingly. One of them was somewhat acquainted with Latin, and knew the apt meaning of some phrases; the other knew scarcely a word of Latin, or the meaning of a Latin phrase.
313
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
Shaking his fist, or his paw, at the other, and pawing and pausing for a while in striking attitude, the Latin dog yelled out-" Quid nunc ? tu canis ?" " or, tu brute!' The other un-Latin canis-not knowing what his Latin oppo- nent meant, struck-not the opponent, but a grim, gaunt attitude-and screamed out-"you needn't shake your glorious or gory locks, or your hog Latin, or your dog Latin at me, you brute! I know what nunc means, and I know what nunc pro tunc means, and if you don't look out I will give you quid tunc, pro nunc, and make you yell out, quid chunk, (at the same moment taking from his mouth, and throwing a quid of tobacco at his adversary) instead of quid nunc-you puppy.
Court .- Counselors-you are getting entirely too personally pertinent, or pertinently personal; and the court must personally and pertinently interpose. You seem to make earnest endeavor to make the court be of decided opinion, that you are really and genuinely two dogs -- ' or twa dogs,' as Burns has it. You must imme- diately quit your barking and biting, or the court will be obliged to send both of you to the-kennel !
" Quid nunc ?" repeated one, and " nunc pro tunc," replied the other, and they shook hands! 'Bark now,' to the jury-added the court, and they did so-they embarked their bark upon the uncertain-jury to the safest haven, or heaven for one of them !
ADMITTANCE TO THE BAR. ADMISSION INTO THE PROFESSION. LEGAL LEARNING AND LAW PRACTICE.
The bar, from the time that memory runneth not to the contrary-has been an exclusive institution-a sort of learned cabinet or pen affair, and some say, a soulless
314
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
corporation, and some say, "a knavish piece of busi- ness." Be that as it may, it seems that the time has well nigh run out, for making rigid rules and regulations, or positive statute law for the admission of lawyers to practice. Why not leave the whole matter free, in these enlightened times? Why not admit any person to the bar who is capable, in ability, and learning? Why admit to the bar, at all? Why not permit any person to practice law, as any person is permitted to engage in any other business, save that of doctoring and preaching, and the rules and regulations, and law in reference to them could. be readily and profitably dispensed with in these improved times, or better still, the business done away with altogether. Oh! we want the three learned professions, Law, medicine and preaching! Why professions, and why do we want them? Why called professions forsooth? Is it because the business of them is superior, or in any sense, any better than any other business. Noah Webster defines in his second definition, 'profession' to be "the business which one professes to understand, and to follow for subsistence ; calling ; vocation ; employment, as the learned professions." Do not all men engaged in any sort of business profess to understand their business, and in this way, are not all businesses professions ! Why should the lawyer, the doctor, or the preacher claim, that this word be- longs exclusively to their business? Is there any truthful and rational reason, or cause for it. It is very questionable, this arrogance, this aristocracy, this autocracy among a free and enlightened people, to say the least. But it has been, and it will be perhaps, for awhile, until the masses of the people fully understand and appreciate, as they are about doing, more and more, every day, from the sayings and doings of lawyers and doctors, and particularly preachers,
315
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
that this matter of professions-learned or otherwise-is a matter of pure and unadulterated humbug, and should no longer be allowed to exist, or subsist among men and women created equal. But we are talking about lawyers, and we feel sure that their business should no longer exist as a profession, and should be made at once free to all, and unincumbered by limitation or definition of law, statute, or rules of court. The profession of the law should be no longer exclusive, and therefore privileged and arrogant, but in all respects, and in every regard should be placed upon a platform of equality with all other callings and vocations. 'Learned profession '-again forsooth ! What-the Law? Does it require more ability or talent, or learning than any other respectable business? We know it has all along been thought so, but it is not so, and if the people willed it in the legislation that is done for them, there would soon be an end to all this stuff and humbuggery. No, lawyers are indeed no better or no worse than other people, and they should have no more or better rights and privileges than other people, and above all, they should not be by any law, statute, rules and regulations of courts, admitted to the bar. It may be thought remarkable and singular, and anomalous and abnormal for a lawyer to talk or write thus; but a long and useful experience has satisfied the author, that courts, and all their appertainings, lawyers and their practice, and the people themselves, would be bettered and much improved and progressed by doing away with the law as a profession, and lawyers as an exclusive class, and particularly with all admittance or admission to the bar.
This admission to the bar by limitation of time and study, does not make better lawyers. Why look at the
316
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
members of any bar, anywhere, and they are all pretty much like other men. Those among them succeed the best-who are the best men. As Daniel Webster had it, among lawyers, however numerous or crowded they may be in any given place, there is always room for those who occupy the upper story. Genius, ability and talent, and common sense particularly, command success among lawyers, as among other sorts of people; and why not give genius, ability, and talent, and common sense, full and free sway, without saying how long, and how much such genius, ability and talent and common sense, should be confined over the books and things in a law office, or in a law school. We decidedly go for reform in this matter, and say with Hamlet, " Reform it, altogether."
WHICH HAND OF THE LAWYER?
A distinguished lawyer was addressing the associate judges in the probate department of the old court, and in his right hand he held a written document which he was making profert of, to the court-while his left hand was thrust clean down in his left side-pocket of his pantaloons. In his earnestness, holding forth the interesting legal paper before the eyes of the associates, he exclaimed, "May it please the court. I hold in my hand the very instrument for the protection and comfort of this widow."
The lawyer on the other side, arising from his seat, immediately remarked, with a twinkle in his eye, “I respectfully suggest to my learned brother, that in ad- dressing the court-he should be careful to keep his hand out of his pocket-for his remark might raise-a conundrum in the view of the court."
317
THE OLD COURT HOUSE.
THE CROOKED STRAIGHT LAWYER OR STRAIT, THE CROOKED LAWYER.
A witty, punning lawyer was contesting in a trouble- some case with lawyer Strait. The latter had con- siderably bothered the former, and had so far as the law of the case was concerned, brought him quite to his wit's end. At last he indignantly exclaimed, upon a fine legal point made by lawyer Strait, " Mr. Strait, how do you make that out? Certainly not from the case! You go outside of the case, Mr. Strait, entirely outside of the case ! You, Mister Strait, follow curious, devious and crooked ways-there is nothing really straight about you -nothing but in name, and a strait by any other name would be as fluent and smell just as you do you smell of fraud, Mister Strait. You are crooked, Mister Strait. You are decidedly Strait crooked-or crooked Strait- my learned, able, and distinguished and straight crooked friend."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.