USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol II > Part 32
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 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
Considering the eleven counties as a unit we find a total of eleven dailies : five in our Vermont divisions and six in New York. In Essex, Washington, Addison and Grand Isle counties no dailies exist. At Bennington we find the "Banner"; at St. Albans the "Messenger"; and at Rutland the "Herald." Chittenden is the only Vermont county supporting two dailies : the "Free Press" and the "News," both pub- lished at Burlington; but there are two also in Clinton County ("Plattsburgh Press" and "Plattsburgh Republican") ; two in Sara- toga County (the "Saratogian" and the "Ballston Spa Journal") ; and two in Warren County (the "Glens Falls Post-Star" and "Glens Falls Times.")
There are eighteen weeklies in our five New York counties, six of them being established in Washington, where no daily exists. In our six Vermont counties there are sixteen such papers, four of them being in Addison County and four in Franklin. The oldest weekly on the New York side is the Cambridge paper already referred to, while the oldest in western Vermont is the "Vergennes Enterprise and Vermonter," begun in 1824.
In this area there are at present five monthlies and two quarter- lies. Three of the first group are agricultural, consisting of papers printed at Warrensburg, Plattsburgh and Brandon. A fourth is an
(Courtesy of the Rutland Chamber of Commerce)
CITY OF RUTLAND, VERMONT, AND BACKBONE OF THE GREEN MOUNTAINS, PICO, KILLINGTON, AND SHREWSBURY
754
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
anti-saloon publication known as the "Vermont Issue," published at Burlington; while finally we have at St. Albans one dealing with con- servation and recreation. This is the "Canadian Forest and Out- doors," with a circulation of 19,395. Actually it is a Canadian publi- cation printed in Montreal, but since it is also dated at St. Albans it is included here. The two quarterlies are collegiate in character and are the "Saxonian," at Middlebury and "The Michaelman," Winooski. They were established in 1921 and 1935, respectively.
Considering all publications as a whole we find twenty-six in our New York counties and twenty-six on the Vermont side, counting but once the "Vergennes Enterprise and Vermonter," which prints edi- tions under various names in four other communities, and the "Bur- lington Suburban List" which, from Essex Junction, appears in eight separate towns with different titles. Notwithstanding the fact that this area is predominantly Republican we are surprised to find only three papers listed as Democratic and three as Independent Demo- cratic out of a total of fifty-two. All of these are located in the New York counties, there not existing one professedly representing the minority group in all of western Vermont. The one Democratic daily is the historically important "Plattsburgh Republican"; while the only daily newspaper listed as an Independent Democratic is the "Glens Falls Post-Star." The four weeklies are located at Ausable Forks, Schuylerville, Whitehall and Lake George. The last-named is pri- marily a resort sheet. Six Vermont newspapers are classified as inde- pendent, as compared with two in New York. The bulk of the press in both states is, of course, Republican and Independent Republican, there being eight of the first and four of the second, in western Ver- mont as compared with ten and three in northeastern New York. One New York weekly is classed as non-partisan, while another's preference is not listed. Collegiate publications, in addition to the two quarterlies, include the "Vermont Alumni Monthly" and the "Ver- mont Cynic," both published at Burlington; the "Middlebury Cam- pus," with a history dating back to 1830; and finally the lone New York entry, the "Skidmore News," published at Saratoga Springs. The five remaining publications, three of which are agricultural, have all been mentioned previously.
There are many interesting facts relating to the development of the press in this area that shed some light on past decades, although
755
THE PRESS
they provide no connected story. As has been remarked, of all forms of advertising the legal was the most remunerative. It was only natu- ral then that printers should quarrel over this form of political patronage. Thus in 1827 we find a printer at Sandy Hill (now Hud- son Falls) writing to the Attorney-General of New York State com- plaining of inaccuracies in notices published in the paper of his rival at Glens Falls, thus seeking to obtain the advertising for himself. Some- times publishers resigned themselves to waiting hopefully for the pass- ing of competitors. Once, in 1810, the "Northern Post" at Salem was filled about three-fourths full with legal notices. It was not unusual to find lawyers acting as editors of papers, generally for political reasons. In addition to the usual variety of newspaper, there occurred in the 1820s a wave of religious publications. Printers also attempted at times to bolster up their farm subscriptions by including agricultural news and posing as farm papers. In this group we find the "Saratoga Farmer," of Ballston Spa, and the "Waterford Agri- culturist." When the "Salem Axiom" was first published the outside pages were printed in New York, while the inside pages were printed by hand press.
At one time or another there have existed in this section almost all known types of printing presses operated by a great variety of individuals ranging from the poorest specimens to men of national reputation. Papers have varied tremendously as to composition, form, size, circulation and purpose. Such a wide field cannot be cov- ered adequately in one short chapter. Enough has been said, how- ever, to indicate the leading part printers played in moulding the development of this area and to demonstrate that by and large they played their part well. The newspapers of the present day follow the best traditions and their owners are generally guided by the proper ideals of community service.
CHAPTER XXI
The Legal Profession
When the first settlers drifted into the Champlain Valley there was no law as we understand the term today. In accordance with the cruel and inexorable rules of nature the strong became stronger, while the weak grew weaker, except where conduct was influenced by conscience or the will of the Infinite. The struggle for survival was fierce and deadly. Too frequently the arbiter of life and death was a painted savage waving a scalping knife. We are taught that might does not make right; but to the early frontiersman such a theory would have been only of academic interest because, whether it was right or wrong, might ruled nevertheless.
Out on this early frontier there was freedom of a certain sort- escape from the harsh conventions of the aristocratic society of the seacoast, exemption from religious restrictions, and complete political equality. In the absence of law, however, much of this freedom was somewhat meaningless, for nature ruled with an iron hand and a cold heart. With life itself in jeopardy, these privileges were at first more apparent than real. In this day and age when we feel hemmed in by a multiplicity of laws and regulations, national, state and local, we tend to think of law mainly as restrictive, rather than as a protec- tion against injustice. Yet we have to examine the early frontier but casually to determine how mistaken is such a conception. Real liberty came with law and order. It is true that the legal code restricted the activities of the greedy, the lawless, the abnormal and the strong, but it vastly increased the liberty possessed by the major portion of the population. The transition from nature's cruel laws to those of civil- ized society was particularly important because the newer order was based on the democratic English common law, rather than on the codes of the French, the Dutch or the Iroquois.
757
THE LEGAL PROFESSION
Law as practiced in early times seems very strange to the twen- tieth century. In all respects the contrast with present-day standards is very great. Law schools did not attain maturity until the second half of the nineteenth century, while at first these did not exist at all. Those who wished to be lawyers simply entered law offices as clerks, where they gradually became familiar with legal phraseology and forms of conveyances. Finally, after an indefinite length of clerk- ship, during which time the neophyte was exposed to the law in a more or less desultory fashion, he was admitted to the bar and allowed to practice. As a rule his knowledge of the philosophy of the law was extremely limited and he understood little of the historical background of statutes and the reasons for various legal procedures.
It is not surprising then that the early lawyer did not command much respect. In more than one instance a young lawyer who sought to open an office in a frontier community was advised by a deputation of citizens to move on to some other place on the theory that lawyers in general were "destructive of the peace and order of the people." The emphasis was more on oratory and lung power than upon knowl- edge of the law, and the appeal of the lawyer was directed more to the emotions than to the intellect of his listeners.
Judges often knew less of law than the lawyers. They had fully as much difficulty gaining access to law books, while many of them had never even studied or practiced law themselves. Sometimes laymen without any knowledge of the law whatever were appointed to the highest courts. The early judge was, as a rule, a man of broad expe- rience and known integrity whose chief rôle was to see that justice was done, rather than that legal requirements were fulfilled. He was more comparable to a referee than to a judge of the present day. In Essex County approximately a century ago there occurred an impor- tant trial and one that was hotly disputed. Under these circumstances it was essential that the judge should have summed up and analyzed the evidence for the benefit of the jurors. Instead, however, Judge Tyrrell simply said: "Gentlemen of the Jury! You have heard all of this case and the talk of the lawyers. You know your duty better than I can tell you. Go out and do your duty." At least this glim- mering legal light cannot be accused of judicial arrogance. He seems to have conceived his duties to be confined to insuring a hearing to both parties in the dispute and preventing tampering with the jury.
758
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
He was apparently unconcerned about the intricacies of the law and evidently felt certain that this jury would be just and fair in its decision.
According to Judge Palmer: "In olden times the administration of the laws was attended with more ceremony and parade than at the present day. The presiding judge was escorted from his rooms to the courthouse by the sheriff and his officers, the attending deputies and constables bearing long white wands, or white staves tipped with black."
An order entered on the minutes of a court under date of 1805 not only throws some light on early procedure but is also interesting from other angles: "The defendant having been committed on sus- picion of stealing a horse, was, on appearances of favorable circum- stances, admitted to bail, and found sureties in $50 for his appearance at this court; but being afterwards threatened in consequence of an amour, he was forced to fly. The court thereupon discharge the sure- ties from their recognizance, but ordered it continued against the principal. Court then rose till two o'clock in the afternoon."
The life of Reuben H. Walworth is extremely interesting because it shows the condition of the bench and bar a century ago. He was brought up as a farmer until seventeen years of age and had no oppor- tunities of a classical education. After a limited acquaintance with the law he practiced at Plattsburgh, but soon moved to Saratoga Springs in 1823, where he became a circuit judge. In 1828 he became the last Chancellor of New York State, serving in that capacity until 1847, a period of twenty years. When he thus became head of all the justices of the State he was but thirty-eight years of age and readily admitted his lack of ability and experience. It has been said that the Chancellorship was offered to and refused by each and every judge of the Supreme Court before it was offered to Walworth, and it is known that during the twenty years he was in office his decrees were frequently reversed by the Court of Errors. Yet, in spite of all this, Story pronounced him "the greatest equity jurist liv- ing"; and a biographer called him the "Bentham of America," assert- ing that "what Bentham did in removing defects in English juris- prudence, Walworth did in renovating and simplifying the equity laws of the United States." It is not our mission to perform judgment on Reuben Walworth. Although he must have possessed considerable
759
THE LEGAL PROFESSION
native ability and common sense, we are primarily interested in the fact that a man of his meager training and lack of experience with the law could possibly have risen so far in the profession. In this day and age such a story would be utterly preposterous.
Accustomed as we are to tardy trials, constant appeals to higher and still higher courts, and in general to long intervals between the committing of a crime and its punishment, we are also surprised at the rapidity of our legal machinery of the early days. It was not
(Courtesy of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce)
FLEMING MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
unusual to attend a trial, hear the sentence and witness its execution all in one day.
Naturally the early jails and courthouses were primitive affairs. The first jail used in Clinton County was a rude blockhouse, while in Warren County the first court was held at the Lake George Coffee House. The possession of the county building was eagerly sought after on both sides of the Champlain Valley because of the ensuing economic benefit to the victor. The fight was particularly bitter in
760
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
Washington County, as has been related in detail elsewhere, and continued until the honor was divided between two towns. A town- ship thus selected not only had a battle to win the honor but had some- times to wage an unceasing fight to retain it.
The most interesting and dramatic incidents dealing with the admin- istration of law in this area were concerned with the conflict between New Yorkers and Vermonters over their land claims. From the Ver- mont hillsides settlers were summoned from their new farms to New York courts of law where their cases were tried in a highly partisan atmosphere before unfriendly judges supported by hostile juries. More often than not the Green Mountain Boys disregarded or openly resisted all efforts to drag them into the clutches of New York laws. The Vermont version of justice in land disputes was not so one-sided but was more dramatic. New York claimants that were chastised with "twigs of the wilderness" or were hauled aloft at the sign of the stuffed catamount at Bennington provided ample evidence for this statement. When New York warned the Vermont settlers to yield and pointed out that might often prevails against right, it was our old friend Ethan Allen who made the famous response : "The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills." Although short, this answer contains several implications which do not clearly show themselves and we can pardon a New York lawyer for asking him what he meant. Allen said : "Come up to Bennington and we'll show you." Knowing the leader of the Green Mountain Boys I do not doubt but that he would have kept his promise. Fortunately or unfortunately-depend- ing on one's point of view-this opportunity never presented itself to Allen. So far as law and order were concerned this was, of course, an exceedingly riotous era. Its genesis and ramifications have been discussed in detail elsewhere, however, and further repetition here is undesirable.
Whipping was not only common punishment for New York claim- ants to land in the Green Mountain State, but it was used habitually for a wide assortment of crimes. In Chittenden County, for example, a culprit received thirty-nine stripes at the whipping post for blas- phemy. At Rutland the whipping post was used as late as 1808 to punish a counterfeiter. There was unusually widespread public inter- est in this case at the time because of the great amount of counter- feiting going on. In spite of the fact that the snow was deep and
761
THE LEGAL PROFESSION
the cold was bitter, nearly a hundred sleighs were drawn up around the post to see the whipping take place. The pillory was also used in this area. An important criminal case in Chittenden County was con- cerned with the trial of Mott, Dean and other smugglers for the murder of three revenue officers on the Winooski River. Dean was hanged in 1808, but Mott escaped this punishment on technical grounds. His penalty consisted of three parts : standing in a pillory for one hour, receiving fifty lashes, and then being given ten years at hard labor. In Washington County, in addition to the pillory and whipping post, the branding iron was also used. Punishment every- where was very severe. On the other hand, the early settlers do not seem to have been particularly lawless. For example, in the first hun- dred years of Clinton County there were but six public executions : five from the civil courts, and one as a result of court-martial. Imprison- ment for debt was at one time rather common, but has long since been outlawed, having been abolished in Vermont in 1835.
There are certain cases that stand out in our history either because of peculiar circumstances or because of their connection with impor- tant public figures. One of the earliest of these was the trial, previously referred to, of David Redding at Bennington in 1778. He was a Tory and accused of treasonable activities. Tried by a jury of six he was found guilty and sentenced, but the Governor and his Council granted a reprieve. There seems to have been little doubt about Redding's guilt, and when the citizens of Bennington learned of the reprieve they appar- ently believed that he might go free. They became angry and men- acing and a mob began to collect, threatening to take the law into its own hands. Redding probably would have been lynched but for Ethan Allen, who argued with the crowd in behalf of law and order and persuaded it to abandon the lynching party. In a new trial Redding was again convicted, this time with twelve jurors, and ulti- mately hanged.
Another unusual case developed in the same county as the result of the disappearance of Russell Colvin in 1812. It seems that a dog was discovered digging up some unusual bones, and the residents for some reason or other decided that they were parts of Colvin's anat- omy. Talk of murder went the rounds of the countryside, and a brother-in-law named Jesse Boorn was arrested. Jesse implicated his own brother Stephen in the murder, with the result that both were
762
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
finally convicted. The climax came in 1819, however, a few days before Stephen's scheduled hanging when Colvin suddenly reappeared in the flesh. The bones which had produced all the excitement belonged to sheep and not to a human body. Undoubtedly it was a long time before another suspected murderer was convicted here on circumstantial evidence. Certainly the harmless digging for bones on the part of one dog nearly proved fatal to Stephen.
In Saratoga County, Martin Foy, Jr., was convicted for the mur- der of Henrietta Wilson. While in jail he overpowered the jailer and made his escape. Traveling by way of British Columbia he eventually reached San Francisco. Here he secured passage to Aus- tralia on a boat which was scheduled to sail the next day. If he had kept under cover all would undoubtedly have been well for him, but he could not resist the temptation to attend a horse race. Here he was recognized by a turfman and arrested. Once more he found him- self back in Saratoga County, but again he escaped, this time with a dummy revolver. He was speedily recaptured on this occasion, however, and was eventually executed.
There is also an interesting angle to the trial of Peter Curley, of Troy, in 1873, for the robbery of the Saratoga County Bank at Water- ford. He seemed to be hopelessly involved in the affair and his chances of freedom were apparently very slim but the jurors did the unexpected and found him not guilty. Two years later he became involved in another bank robbery at Barre, Vermont, but this time he did not escape the law. The interesting part of this trial was not con- cerned with the court scenes or the aftermath, however, but with the fact that a man charged with robbing a bank and against whom most of the evidence seemed to point was idolized by the young ladies of Saratoga County. The unpredictable representatives of the fair sex daily carried flowers to him in jail, and showered other attentions upon him. In more recent decades this might not arouse comment, but it sounds strange for 1873. Our young burglar must have been an unusually glamorous and attractive figure, to say the least. That alone must explain why the maidens wasted their attentions on this battered and bruised violet while they allowed much nobler men to blush unseen and neglected, like Thomas Gray's famous flowers.
One famous case attracted the attention of the entire Nation to Saratoga County, primarily because of the well-known characters it
763
THE LEGAL PROFESSION
involved. It consisted of a libel suit brought by James Fenimore Cooper against Horace Greeley and Thomas McElrath of the "Tri- bune." Because of the famous books written by Cooper, particularly the "Last of the Mohicans," this author had a large following, while Greeley also had acquired a fine reputation. Cooper asked damages of ten thousand dollars. The case was transferred here from Otsego County and was tried in December, 1842. Cooper was a lawyer as well as an author and both he and Greeley argued their own cases, a development which added to the popular interest in the proceedings. In the end, Cooper was awarded damages to the extent of two hun- dred dollars and six cents costs.
When our Nation, filled with sectional hatred because of the slave controversy, was headed toward civil war, Theophilus Herrington, of Clarendon, seems to have been a confirmed Abolitionist. On one occasion he was asked to issue a warrant for the extradition of a Negro who was claimed as a slave. He absolutely refused to do so, declar- ing that to prove title he would require "a bill of sale, sir, from God Almighty." As a result he became known throughout the Nation, and his attitude was bitterly resented in the South. During Congressional debate, Southern Representatives cited his decision to show the need for more stringent laws dealing with the return of runaway slaves.
Judge Joseph Potter was born in Easton, Washington County, in 1820. On one occasion while holding a term of court in New York City he became involved in an interesting controversy between the press and the judiciary. The particular case involved was that of Jacob Sharpe, convicted of bribery. An application was then made for a stay of proceedings, and usually such an application was granted without opposition. Some newspapers, however, had been active in working for Sharpe's conviction and they now demanded that the stay should not be granted, taking a stand against an appeal to higher courts on question of law and evidence. The press threatened the judiciary but Potter stood his ground. Which was right I do not know, but this case dramatized the conflict that sometimes exists between a zealous press and a court of law. The attitude of Potter and other judges has been summed up by a contemporary: "Shall the newspapers invade the sanctity of courts of justice and assail litigants, intimidate witnesses and dictate the verdicts of juries and the judgments of courts ? . . .. They pour into every home their opinion of an undetermined case.
764
LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
They condemn the accused before the evidence is heard, name the amount the verdict ought to be, the day the jury will decide."
To many lawyers, the profession has been a springboard for a leap into the political arena, and some of them have attained considerable success in this field. At the present time lawyers comprise the large majority of our political leaders. As such they have not only rep- resented and interpreted the popular will but have also exerted con- siderable influence on the moulding of public opinion. There is no inclination here to overlook this influence, but it is primarily political rather than legal and comes but indirectly within the scope of this chapter. So far as the profession itself is concerned, it is interesting to note that the statutes regulating our entire judicial system and legal procedure are, on the whole, framed by lawyers assembled in legis- latures. This is a unique distinction not enjoyed by other groups. Laws referring to health and sanitation are framed not by doctors but by lawyers; statutes dealing with fish and game are made not by sportsmen but by lawyers; bills referring to banking are introduced by, and voted on by, not financiers but lawyers; yet regulations of the law itself are not framed by doctors, sportsmen or financiers but by lawyers. On the other hand this is but natural and there is no evi- dence to indicate undue favoritism to the legal profession. After all, laws are to the lawyer what surgical equipment is to the physician, what gun and rod and reel are to the sportsman, and what money is to the banker. It is not compulsory that so many legislators should be lawyers. If the people are dissatisfied with them they have the right to displace them with doctors, sportsmen and bankers. The fact that so many legislators are lawyers is complimentary to the profession and indicates that the public feels that they make good public servants.
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.