education and considerable experience and ability as a lawyer he had the majority of the attorneys who practiced before him at a distinct advantage, and those whom he could not unhorse with legal learning he cowed and silenced with jocular or brutal tyranny, as best suited his humor. But perhaps his gravest offense was political activity with which he never allowed his judicial duties to interfere, and he had not been long upon the circuit before angry outcries were raised against his aggressive Federal partisanship. Opposition of this character, however, merely excited his belligerency, and he never made the slightest effort to conceal his political opinions, either on or off the bench. Indeed, when the Sedition Act became a law, he had openly rejoiced at the opportunity it afforded for silencing critics of the administration and his actions were soon to speak louder than words. During the trial of Fries,10 his arbitrary rulings practically forced the prisoner's counsel to retire from the case in disgust, and when Thomas Cooper, member of the Pennsylvania bar, convicted of libeling the President, was arraigned for sentence, he announced in open court that if he could discover that the Democratic party was behind the prisoner, he would inflict the severest penalties known to the law.11 Then we have a description of the people and the bar assembling at the old court house to hear and take part in the trial. The threatened clash between the bench and bar was of course particularly interesting to lawyers, but there were many laymen among those gathered before the courthouse on the morning of the trial, for the country was thoroughly aroused over the attempt to enforce the Sedition Law within a state whose legislature had officially condemned it, and the conflict between the Federal and State authorities was far more important to the average Virginian than the settlement of any professional differences. Not all the horsemen who came trailing across the Common were present from choice, however, for the marshal had invaded the most distant plantations in his search for jurors and some of the victims had ridden ten, fifteen and even twenty miles in obedience to his summons, spreading the news of the impending event through the outlying districts, until the rapidly gathering crowd promised to surpass that of any previous court day in Richmond. Nevertheless, no one of the waiting throng seemed to be in any haste to move in-doors, and jurors, witnesses, spectators and laywers remained clustered about the entrance or scattered along the edge of the Common discussing 10 See 11 Am. St. Tr. 11 Post, p. 774. the case until nearly ten o'clock, when they slowly moved towards the scene of action, and a few minutes later filled the courtroom to overflowing. At a table beside the judicial desk sat William Marshall, clerk of the court and brother of the future Chief-Justice, and near him stood Mr. Nelson, the District Attorney, with David Robertson the shorthand reporter, whose notes were to prove an invaluable exhibit in the subsequent impeachment of the judge. The attention of the audience, however, was mainly directed to the prisoner, his bondsman, Meriwether Jones and his counsel, Messrs, Hay, Wirt and Nicholas, a formidable array for any hostile judge, and a trio with whom the bar of Richmond were well content to trust their dignity and honor. Indeed, these champions had already given Chase a taste of their quality by virtually forcing him to grant adjournments on two previous occasions, and it was whispered that they intended to manoeuvre him out of the case altogether by continuing their dilatory tactics until the term expired. In fact the word passed from lip to lip across the crowded chamber that the judge had walked into a very neat trap at the last hearing by granting an adjournment to procure the attendance of a certain witness named Giles. This, it was claimed, was a fatal concession, for if the non-appearance of this witness justified a postponement on Monday, it equally demanded it on Tuesday, for he was still missing, and the case could not, therefore, be tried until he was produced, which would be the day after never. The audience chuckled approvingly as this story went the rounds, gleefully anticipating the discomfiture of the judge, and the general opinion was that, for once, at least, Chase had met his match-a result particularly agreeable to local pride. Judicial tyrants might bully and awe the Pennsylvania or Maryland bar, but the profession in Virginia knew a trick or two which would Now enter the judges; The chatter and laughter suddenly ceased as the door opened, disclosing the not too heroic figure of the District Judge, Cyrus Griffin, a rather futile, colorless and timid personage who appeared to be propelled into the room by a burly, bustling, red-faced man who strode rapidly to the bench, nodding an ungracious salutation at the assemblage, while the court crier bellowed his familiar announcement. The individual whose arrival had had the effect of a schoolmaster entering a noisy classroom, was a man of about sixty years of age, huge of bulk, coarse of feature, masterful in manner. his massive head sat an ill-made wig and his garments were those of the ordinary citizen with no particular regard for appearances, but there was no mistaking his authoritative bearing as he loomed up behind the judicial desk and glowered at the silent audience. To On most of those who returned his scrutiny he was an entire stranger, for until the present term of the court he had never set foot in Richmond, and doubtless many of the spectators were prepared to find him a fiend in human shape. But though his expression was somewhat forbidding, his large, strong, clean-shaven face was not uncomely, and his giant frame suggested strength rather than brutality. Nevertheless his small, snappy, shifty eyes had a dangerous glint and there were ominous lines about the corners of his mouth, betraying possibilities of an ugly droop and other indications of a quarrelsome disposition were not wanting. The whole aspect of the man, however, suggested energy and determination rather than intellectual power, and contrasted with the group of lawyers who faced him, he appeared at a disadvantage. But the moment the proceedings opened this impression faded and as he leaned over the desk and listened to Mr. Hay's long and not too ingenious plea for an adjournment, his gaze was so uncomfortably intelligent that the speaker, obviously embarrassed, made poor work of his argument. The trial of Judge Samuel Chase before the Senate of the United States-the first impeachment case reported in this series-for his unfair and partisan rulings and conduct, in the Callender and other trials, will be found in Vol. XI American State Trials. TABLE OF TRIALS PAGE The Trial of EDWARD D. WORRELL for the Murder of 1-162 The Trial of JOHN HODGES for Treason, Baltimore, Maryland, 1815 163-181 The Trial of LEO M. FRANK for the Murder of MARY 182-414 The Trial of WILLIAM WEEMS and Seven other British The Trial of CAPTAIN THOMAS PRESTON for the Mur- The Trial of EDWARD MANWARING, JOHN MUNRO, 415-508 509-510 511 The Trial of JACOB LEISLER for High Treason, New York 512-517 The Trial of NICHOLAS BAYARD for High Treason, New 518-539 The Trial of ORRIN DE WOLF for the Murder of WIL- 540-566 . The Trial of ALEXANDER WHISTELO for Bastardy, New 567-600 The Trial of ROBERT MCCONAGHY for the Murder of The Trial of W. J. COOK for Blackmail, Atlanta, Georgia, 1918 601-623 The Trial of MRS. HERMAN H. HIRSCH for Blackmail, PAGE 655-698 The Trial of PEDRO GIBERT, BERNARDO DE SOTO, 774-812 The Trial of JAMES THOMAS CALLENDER for Seditious 813-876 Index 877-902 |