USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The old court house : reminiscences and anecdotes of the courts and bar of Cincinnati > Part 30
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Fourth of July came on, and in the afternoon, dinner at the McFarland tavern ; and there were present many patriotic guests, and they ate their stomachs full, and they drunk more than their bellies full. And now came along with the flow of bowl, the flow of soul, and several toasts were given and responded to with approbation and ap- plause ; and at last there was a ringing and a wringing cry, for the major "Major H-, sheriff of the county. A toast from the major-Major H -. "
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With some difficulty, holding on to the back of his chair, the robust and rotund shad-bellied, green-coated, and brass-buttoned, and scarlet-red-cravated, purple-red- faced major arose, and at last, maintaining an erect posi- tion as practicable, he buttoned his brass coat up with his green buttons, and began :
" M-i-ster Chairman and f-e-l-l-o-w c-i-t-i-z-e-n-s : Bachelor as I am-excuse me-if-I-give-you-the- women-of our-country. Mister-Chairman-and- gentlemen-the-the women-the women of our-de- lightful country- I say, Mr. Shairman-the delightful women of our-common country." At this he paused, and ran his hand into his breeches pocket for his bit of manuscript, but could not reach it or find it, and failing in this, again he screamed out-with a turn around, and around !
" Misser Shairman-and gentlemen-the women of our country-may they-may they-may they !"-and stopped again, and rammed both his hands into both his trousers' pockets, and finally drew forth from his right side trouser pocket the coveted paper, and holding it up before his double-seeing and double-looking eyes, he went on : "The women of our country-may they-ah ! I've got it-I've got the d-d thing-may they-by thunder, I can't read-but I remember-may they-al- ways-so-resist-the enemies of our country-that-our enemies-our enemies-will-hollow out-will hollow out," -and now he did look, and look, at the paper to get that Latin word, but he couldn't make it out-and he turned around and around, and danced and stamped, and swore and cursed, and began again : "Misser Shairman and fellow citizens-excuse-me, bachelor as I am-I give you -the-women of-our country-may they always -- so
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resist the enemies of-our-country-that our enemies will call out-will call out," screeching to the top of his voice, and arms and hands extended high aloft "that they will call out-hollow out-yell out-' lend me a quarter! by the living eternal ! ! '"
And just such a roar and a shout as arose and con- tinued around and about that table, never occurred before in the complete history of mankind. There was nothing ever like it, and the toast was lauded and applauded to the echo, and it was unanimously voted that there was noth- ing like that toast of the major's, ever before in the annals of the world! And all united in one great hurrah and huzza, and slammed the table, and broke up the dishes and glassware, and broke up themselves in a general row! Such was this Fourth of July, and such was the major sheriff's toast, and so the bully bachelor toasted- and so, he was toasted, and roasted!
A LAWYER OF THE OLD COURT HOUSE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES-RUTHERFORD B. HAYES-OUR PRESIDENT.
In these reminiscences, it may be permitted to extend the limits of the times of the old court house, to say a word or two about lawyer Rutherford B. Hayes, now (1880) the President of the United States. He was a member of the Cincinnati bar from the year 1849-the year in which there was an end to the old court house by fire- so that he may be said to have belonged to the latter end and finale of the old bar. He was a modest man, and a modest and moderate lawyer-of respectable talents and ability, and some promise, but he never particularly shone at the bar. He was once, in the beginning of his career here, a partner in law of Dick Corwine, and the
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firm was Corwine & Hayes. William K. Rogers, now his private secretary in the White House, coming to our city was let into the firm, and the style was then Corwine, Hayes & Rogers, and a good deal of business was done by this firm. At the breaking out of the rebellion, law- yer Hayes became a major of Ohio volunteers, and went into the war, was wounded and made a brigadier-general, and while yet in the field was elected to Congress for the second district of Hamilton county, and again elected, and afterwards became thrice Governor of the State of Ohio, and while this last, he was " counted in" President of the United States. Shakespeare, in his "Twelfth Night," makes Malvolio read in the trick letter :
" Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."
In this last sum, friend Hayes must be counted, and accounted for,-' counted in'-for he has literally had greatness thrust upon him. He was never known to seek or ask for position or office, in his whole eventful career of life. He did not ask, though it was given him ; he did not seek, but it was found for him-indeed he is the rarest example in history, of the rarest luck. It is said, " a fool for luck," but Mr. Hayes never was a fool. He appeared always prudent, wise, and sagacious enough and undoubtedly was so, throughout all his life, but never brightly, luminously, or conspicuously so. He was never greatly distinguished for any thing, but he always did his duty-did well whatever was in his way or before him, to do. He always acted well his part or parts in life, and nobody has ever had anything to say, or any occasion to say, anything against him. He always was himself, in every situation, and every emergency, and exigency. He was always Hayes, but never hazy. Equal and even
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has been his whole life, and equal and even has he ever been himself. His equanimity has always attracted ad- miration, and even the Presidency of the United States did not, and has never, and does not now disturb his serenity. He is emphatically and perhaps preëminently, a serene President. He told me himself in the White House some time ago, that since he had been President of the United States, he had never lost a moment's sleep. How conscience-safe-how serene indeed ! He permits nothing to ruffle him in any way, day or night. But after all, it may, with much fitness and propriety, be said that President Hayes is the strongest, or weakest illustration of the modest and simple verity of the school-boy poetic line : "Tall oaks from little acorns grow."
The first law case of importance and of great noto- riety, and which made the name of "Hayes" well known to the public, was the criminal case of the State of Onio against the woman Nancy Farrer, indicted for murder in the first degree-the penalty of which was death. The case was one of poisoning to death, and was most re- markable in its character, features, and incidents. The young lawyer of the Cincinnati bar, Rutherford B. Hayes, was appointed by the court to defend the poisoner-pris- oner, and he did it well, as he did everything well. The facts about this were so interesting and noteworthy, that I take the liberty of inserting a concise summing up of them from the columns of the daily Commercial of this city, of July 19th, 1878. It is almost verbatim :-
THE NANCY FARRER POISONING CASE.
Thirty years have come and gone, and yet the first and greatest case that President Hayes ever was engaged in transpired in this city, and while as the lawyers say it
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was the most remarkable criminal case of American record, its rehearsal at the present time is pertinent and newsy for two reasons. It was the case of Nancy Farrer, the female poisoner, whose name was a bug-a-boo to the children, and whose acts were a marvel to the world. First, R. B. Hayes, then a young lawyer, cleared her at last. Secondly, the court permitted evidence to be introduced in her behalf that was an anomaly in criminal jurisprudence.
Nancy Farrer was a peculiar woman. Though only a serving maid, she exhibited a tact or talent that baffled lawyers and juries, despite the great crimes she was the center of. In August, 1851, she was working as assistant nurse in the family of a Mrs. Greene. An Italian woman, named Mrs. Brazilli, was the chief nurse. Mrs. Greene died suddenly. October, 1851, found Nancy ensconced in the home of Mr. Elisha Forrest, a well-to-do merchant in Fulton. The family consisted of five persons-Mr. Forrest, Cassandra, his wife, and three children. She soon made herself at home, and, despite the ugliness of her appearance, made friends, and the children became attached to her. Mrs. Forrest soon sickened, had spasms, and died in violent agony a short time after Nancy had entered the family. In a few days the youngest son was attacked with symptoms similar to the fatal ones that carried off his mother, and on the last day of November, James Wesley Forrest, another son, was similarly attacked, and speedily died, despite all the medical aid that could be brought to his assistance. Mr. Forrest and his only remaining child remained and they too were attacked. Yet they recovered. Such astounding mortality in a single family, who were in apparent good health when attacked, was the comment of the neighbors
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and unaccountable even to the physicians. Was it a judg- ment of God, or was there foul play? Mr. Forrest on his recovery, though not a man of a suspicious nature, had reasons to be extremely suspicious now. He believed that he and his family had been poisoned, but who had done it? Who had access to the family? No one but Nancy, and in her, his suspicions centered and lingered until the most damning proofs of her guilt were established.
He watched her every movement ; came upon her suddenly ; in her absence examined her room ; and used every detective means in his power, to corroborate the terrible idea that haunted him. Nor were his efforts in vain. On a pair of back stairs leading to her quarters, he found one day a piece of brown paper, on which was a lable marked, "Dr. Salter, druggist. Arsenic. Poison." And what would Dr. Salter say? The paper and label were shown to the doctor, who then was keep- ing a drug store, at No. 60 Broadway.
" Oh, yes," he said ; "certainly, I sold that arsenic to your girl Nancy to poison rats."
Now he had her.
One step more was needed to weave around the head of the serving maid conclusive evidence of her guilt. That was to hold a post mortem examination on the stomachs of the victims. This was at once done, and with fatal result, for in the stomach of all them great quantities of arsenic were found. When the post mortem of James Wesley Forrest was held, Nancy was present, but neither her countenance nor her manner, not a glance, not a wink, gave indication of her guilt.
She was arrested at once, and at a preliminary examination held before Mayor Spencer, committed to
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appear before the grand jury on a charge of murder. The grand jury lost no time in finding four indictments against her for the murder by poisoning with white arsenic the three members of the Forrest family, and jointly she was indicted with Mrs. Brazilli, the Italian woman, for the murder of Mrs. Greene. Being without means, the court assigned counsel for her defense, and they were R. B. Hayes and John F. Hoy. They were assigned by Judge Warden, and their appointment was confirmed by Judge A. G. W. Carter, upon his entry into office as one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the county, Judge Carter having been assigned to the criminal side of the court.
The trial was a memorable one, perhaps the most so of any held in this city. It was in the court house on the north side of Court street, between Walnut and Main. It began on the 19th of February, and dragged its weary length along through ten days. The jury was out nearly three days, and finally brought in a verdict of murder in the first degree. They could do nothing else. Not only the great interest manifested in the case, the absence of any motive for the offense, the extraordinary and repul- sive appearance of the prisoner, the introduction of anthropologists and phrenologists, who made a personal examination of the prisoner in the presence of the court and jury, rendered it a noteworthy case even then, but the extraordinary charge of Judge Carter to the jury, said by the late Hon. Jacob Burnet, ex-United States Senator, who was present, "to have been the finest charge ever delivered from the bench of a Criminal Court," served to make the case a remarkable one.
To lawyers the case presents extraordinary interest from the fact that this expert testimony of Dr. E. Z.
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Freeman and Dr. J. R. Buchanan was admitted. The learned judge ruled that any evidence going to show the mental condition of the prisoner was admissible. Had the State asked for the introduction of such evidence, how would he have ruled? So the doctors examined the the various bumps of her head and her person before the jury and the gaping auditors of the court room. They could not pronounce her insane, though her moral faculties were imperfectly developed. Neither her pre- vious good character, or every day conduct, indicated. mental aberration.
Pronounced in death-like stillness, with faltering voice, Judge Carter's sentence is worthy of reproduction here :
"The sentence of the court is that you, Nancy Farrer, be conveyed from this place to the jail of Hamilton county, there to remain in confinement until Friday, the twenty-fifth day of June, next, thence to be conveyed to the place of execution in the yard of said jail, and there, between the hours of eleven in the forenoon and three in the afternoon be hanged by the neck until you shall be dead, and may God have mercy on your soul." Says a daily paper of the period : "During the pronouncing of the sentence the most deathly and painful silence prevailed in the crowded court room ; at the concluding words the judge's voice faltered, and tears stood in his eyes. It was indeed the most painful and solemn ceremony at which we have ever seen a judge preside, and must. have deeply impressed those who are wont to sneer at the majesty of the law."
Nancy's doom was now sealed, yet a queer and unaccountable sort of good luck seemed to be bound to. follow in her wake. While the jury were in consultation
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some meddlesome fellow threw them in a paper contain- ing a portion of the Judge's charge and some other equally officious chap held conversation with members of the jury, on matters not pretaining to the case, however. Still these facts gave a loophole by which to crawl up to the Supreme Court. Mr. Hayes was not slow to avail himself of it. Though refused a new trial, yet he was granted a bill of exceptions, while the case was pending on a writ of de lunatico inquirendo. Nancy was brought before the Probate Court, and pronounced of unsound mind, and ordered to be sent to Lick Run Asylum, and afterwards was transferred to Longview. At the asylum she was accounted a genuine treasure. Her nursing qualities were brought into immediate requisition. The patients that were ailing and sick learned to love her. The managers reposed every confidence in her, and even allowed her to take the patients out on excursions in the woods and vicinage of the grounds.
One day Judge Carter was riding in the neighbor- hood of Lick Run, and the ugly mug of Nancy was soon before him.
" Hello, Judge, how are you? I'm glad to see you. Well you didn't hang me after all?"
The judge could not help smiling at the salutation and nonchalant manner of Nancy. "Oh no, Nancy, I should hate terribly to be the means of hanging a woman, no matter how much she deserved it. But what are you doing here?"
" What am I doing? Well, I'm one of the keepers at the asylum. I takes out the patients and airs them. See, yonder, my pets," and she pointed to a group of poor imbeciles in the woods adjoining, some of whom were singing songs, some culling flowers, some lying down on
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the green grass, and others suspiciously walking about, yet in the minds of all, the lamp of reason was forever extinct.
"Yes," said Nancy, "these are my pets; I take care of 'em."
One day Nancy went out and her memory failed her ; that is, she forgot to return, and that memory has never come back, for to this day no one knows where she went, or whether she was murdered, whether dead or alive, who knows? At any rate, her incognito is well preserved. It has always been supposed, however, that she went to Salt Lake City, as her father and mother were both Mormons, and she professed the same faith. The family had lived in Nauvoo. The mother claimed she was a prophetess of the order, and Nancy, in her vagaries, said the same thing of herself. Her father, however, died in the Cin- cinnati Hospital, of delirium tremens. It is not probable that any very great efforts were ever made to find Nancy. No rewards were offered. Few knew of her escape, and the fact that she was allowed to go scot free is a sad com- mentary on justice.
The personal appearance of Nancy was remarkable. No woman, before or since, was ever made like her. Her countenance was actually repulsive. Her mouth hide- ously large, almost running from ear to ear. It was called a catfish mouth. When the case was being tried, Judge Johnson, the great jury lawyer of those days, stepped up to the judge and whispered : "That woman, why, she's the product of the god Jupiter and a Missis- sippi catfish." The breadth between her eyes was fully four inches, and they were small, deep-set, and malignant looking. Her eyebrows were shaggy and bushy. Her form was voluptuous, or buxom, yet the repulsiveness of
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the face marred it all. Her walk was a waddle, some- what like the pedestrian efforts of a Muscovy duck. But her nose! Such a nose! What was it made for? It resembled two noses. The two ridges were distinctly marked, and when the organ reached the upper lip, it flattened out like the nasal organ of a Congo negro. The wonder always was that with such a hideous physiognomy, she fancied children, was so motherly in her apparent treatment of them, and they became so attached to her, as the evidence produced beyond question, proved.
The most singular part of this singular case is yet to be told. Nancy became, on one occasion, quite confiden- tial with her young counsel, Mr. Hayes. Said she, " I did not poison Mrs. Greene, the Italian woman did it. She showed me how to do it. She taught me."
"Will you swear this, Nancy?" said the young attorney.
"I will, for it is God's truth."
Mrs. Anne Brazilli was indicted. The case came up for trial, and Nancy was the main witness for the State. Mr. Hayes was extremely anxious she should testify, in order to show the public how she, an ignorant serving maid, had acquired her knowledge in reference to white arsenic. The day of trial, Nancy was placed upon the stand, and her conduct confounded everybody. Not a word would she say against Mrs. Brazilli. Neither the threats of the sheriff, the fear of her impending doom, for her sentence had been passed, nor the persuasive words of her counsel, nor the dignified manner of the judge, nor the imposing solemnity of the crowded and expectant court could make her say a word. There was no re- course but to instruct the jury to acquit, and they did. But Mrs. Brazilli did not expect it, and fainted dead
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away in the crowded court room. She afterwards moved to Illinois with her husband, where she may now live.
Nancy was afterwards asked by Mr. Hayes for some explanation of her conduct, since she had most grossly broken faith with him. "Oh, well," she naively replied, one woman is enough to hang for murder, and I didn't mean to hang Mrs. Brazilli.
What was Nancy's motive has ever been a conundrum, in legal circles, that no man has yet answered. It was not gain, for the victims she killed were the means of her support and subsistence. It was not a grudge, for they were her friends, her benefactors. What was it? The only plausible theory ever offered was, that it was a brute love of power. She learned the power of arsenic, the little white powders that for a few cents she could buy. Why, she could send people to their long homes, put them in indescribable torments; she, the poor, ugly servant girl. It was a power, a great power ; she felt it, she used it-alas too fatally.
THE BENCH AND BAR OF THE CITY OF CINCINNATI. CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.
There are many members of the old bar of the old court house whom we have not mentioned beyond their mere names. This is because we have no particular or peculiar anecdotes about them. They who are omitted were not witty or humorous in themselves, or the cause of wit or humor in others, perhaps they were not the sub- ject or object of facetiousness in any way, and, there- fore, in presenting the funny or sunny side of the old court house, we have nothing to say about them. Of course if we were disposed at all to be sober and serious, we would have a great deal to say about some of them,
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and a great deal more to add about those we have par- ticularly referred and alluded to, in these our reminis- cences and anecdotes. There may be some opportunity or occasion hereafter to present the serious and solemn side of the old court house-and when that presents itself -we will take solemn pleasure in picturing the members of the old bar in sober colors and hues, and thus revive their memories for the instruction and edification of readers, but as it is, we have only revived, and only pro- fessed to revive, pleasant and facetious memories ; and after all, these are our best memories that hang around the old court house, and in reference to them we might with propriety say with an old English poet, of those times
" When at our eyes our souls Kindled their mutual fires, their equal beams Shot and return'd 'till link'd and twin'd in one, They chain'd our hearts together.
From the few of the old bar of the old court house, the Cincinnati bar has increased much in numbers, but I cannot well say in corresponding individual legal ability, and talent, or in forensic eloquence ; the days of this, and for its necessity indeed, seem almost to have gone by. But we have still a great deal of legal ability and talent, it may be, as much as in days agone, but now it is more scattered, and diffused, and distributed around among greater numbers, and, therefore, not so prominent, or pre- ëminent in any particular individuals, not so concentrated, therefore, or so electric-bright and luminous ; and we have in general something quite to boast of in the Cincin- nati bar, from its beginnings even until now. Besides so many and so great lawyers, it has furnished for public duty, many high and lesser officials of the National Gov- ernment, and of the State Government.
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It has furnished two Presidents of the United States, -Harrison and Hayes.
It has furnished two Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States,-McLean and Chase, and one of them Chief Justice.
It has furnished two Attorneys-General of the United States,-Stanberry and Taft.
It has furnished Burnet, Hayward, Wright, Goode- now, Read, Caldwell, Warden, Gholson, and Okey, and Wright as Supreme Judges of our own State, and quite a great number of the judges of our own numerous courts at home. It would make a big catalogue to name them !
It has furnished, I believe, one Judge of the Superior Court of the city of New York, even.
It has furnished two secretaries of the Treasury of the United States,-Corwin and Chase.
It has furnished several governors of our State,- Corwin, Bebb, Dennison, Brough, Hayes, Anderson, and Young.
It has furnished several United States Senators, and and any quantity of congressmen, and legislators innum- erable.
We have had, too, from our bar, divers ministers and consuls abroad, and we have now a minister at the court of France.
We have furnished other officials of importance and consequence.
So that we have been, off and on, a bar of some consideration after all, and Cincinnati may feel somewhat proud, and may boast a little of her lawyers-those of the older time and some of those of the present time, albeit they may have not been or be altogether the wisest and the best of men, and albeit they may have done and do
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many things to be laughed at and make and have fun over, and all that, and more, too. And our judges ! they have all along been pretty good ones, though not infallible, but very fallible, and that is proper enough ; and they have done things, too, to laugh at and make us grow fat,-as well as most serious, and solemn, and sad, and sorrowful things, sometimes. Between the lawyers and the judges, most men and women of this city and county have had pretty fair justice and law dealt out to them, no doubt ; though, sometimes, it may be, the poetic and facetious story of Pope has been applicable and apropos to the do- ings of our bench and bar, as it is to very many others in this land, and elsewhere :
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