Shoemake, the first witness for the prosecution, had made such a wretched failure that no efforts were made to bring in the other witness from Mississippi of the same character, Bentonville Taylor. The prosecution next introduced two witnesses from Columbus, Miss., and one by the name of G. W. Overall, all to prove an alibi, and that G. Y. Overall was positively residing in another place at the time referred to in Copeland’s confessions. This testimony was satisfactory and unobjectionable; but, as will be shown in further progress of the trial, did not in reality invalidate the confessions in any material point whatever.
The examination and cross examination of the different witnesses, with the arguments of the opposing counsel, occupied the Court for about two days; and had G. Y. Overall’s object been nothing further than the establishing of his own innocence, he might have succeeded commensurate with his own unbounded desire; but what was he doing associated with such men as S. S. Shoemake and Bentonville Taylor? The complete unmasking of the infamous conduct of the former was anything but auspicious for the prosecution, and left a very unfavorable impression on all who heard the proceedings as to the character of the prosecution.
The closing of the testimony was immediately followed by the opening arguments of the solicitor for the prosecution, which continued for a considerable length of time. Next the argument of Hon. Percy Walker, for the defense, which occupied a period of two hours and a half in delivery. Distinguished as he had heretofore been on all occasions, this, as was said by his friends, was one of the greatest and happiest efforts he ever made. At the time the court-room was crowded almost to suffocation, and outside of it thousands were congregated to catch the utterances from his flowing lips. His withering torrents against Shoemake electrified the court; but his main argument went to show that G. Y. Overall had no right to prosecute in the name of G. Overall, and that it was another person referred to in Copeland’s confessions.
The prosecution replied; and now the arguments from both sides being finished, the written notes from each, together with instructions from the Court were furnished to the jury, and it forthwith retired to its room for the purpose of trying to agree on a verdict. But it was soon ascertained that there was a very strong probability of it not coming to any agreement at all. After retirement for about twenty-four hours without any harmonious result, it reported to the Court the almost certainty of not being able to render any verdict on the case pending before it.
Upon the reception of said report, the Judge made some changes in his former charges to the effect that if doubt existed, the Jury must give the defendant the benefit of such doubt; further adding, that he should not discharge until the rendering of its verdict; and at once ordered it to retire again, with additional information that if it required any explanation on any points of law involved in the case before it, to report accordingly to the Court, and it would give the proper instructions sought for. After the Jury had remained some day or two longer in retirement, the Court ordered it to report, on the arrival of which, the Court desired to know the points of disagreement. In answer, one of the jurors, W. L. Young, rose and respectfully addressed the Court, stating that a majority of the Jury entertained doubts; and as for himself, he had conscientious scruples as to the propriety of confounding G. Overall and G. Y. Overall together; while, at the same time, the principal part of the Jury did not believe that when Copeland gave the name that he intended it for G. Y. Overall, and that the latter had no proper authority for accepting the name of G. Overall, as published in the confessions. The presiding Judge appeared to be well pleased with the manly and intelligent conduct of the young gentleman, but informed him at the same time that the Jury must be governed according to the law and evidence before it. To this declaration, Mr. Young made the following reply: “Please your Honor, and suppose we do not believe the evidence in the case before us.” This ready, but profound reply excited, to all appearance, a pleasant smile on the Judge’s countenance, and created no little sensation throughout the court-room among the legal fraternity, some of which were heard to exclaim—“a pretty good lawyer himself.” The Judge, feeling the weight of such an expression, did not attempt any further remarks in reply for this time.
The jury once more retired. The court kept furnishing fresh charges in opposition to the first given; the last of which was so pointedly as to declare in positive terms that according to the law and evidence it, the jury, was compelled to find a verdict for the prosecution! Six long days and nights had this jury remained in confinement. Worn out by it and with excessive loss of rest, together with no hope of immediate relief, as the judge had declared his intention to keep it in strict confinement for an indefinite period, unless a verdict could sooner be returned; all these miseries endured, and in prospect to be endured, forced the jury at last to a verdict against its better judgment by the understanding or impression artfully made that it would be better to get liberty by agreeing to a verdict with a small amount of fine in the way of damages for G. Y. Overall, but had not the most distant idea of any imprisonment resulting. But the judge better knew the law which invested him with power to imprison for six months, but in this instance he sentenced only for three months.
In addition to the torturing process resorted to for the purpose of forcing a verdict from the jury in its last hours of confinement, other shameful means were made use of by outsiders of a tampering nature—such as the conveyance of notes and packages in bottles to that part of the jury in favor of the prosecution—one end of the string tied to the bottle, and the other end, in the form of a ball, thrown through the window to be received by the parties intended. The nature of these notes and packages could only be conjectured—the recipients themselves holding the contents a perfect secret within their own little circles. This information was conveyed to the defendant by eye-witnesses and part of the jury.
After the sentence was announced, Dr. Bevell and others, who formed a part of the jury, openly declared that if they had been aware of the fact that the judge had the power to imprison, suffering as they were, never would they have consented to a verdict in favor of the prosecution. Another distinguished juror, W. L. Young, on the case, on seeing the defendant coming from the court-room, met him with all the warmth of genuine friendship and the most sincere of emotion, sympathy, and contrition, which will be best understood in his own words: “My dear sir, my feelings are deeply wounded, and I feel as though I have committed a very great wrong in giving consent against my better judgment—a wrong even to fine you so much as one single cent, and were the case to be done over again, with the light now before me, I would most assuredly act quite differently, for I now see my great error, though my greatest grief is that this lesson was taught too late to be of any service to you in your present humiliated situation.” The reply was suitable, and in these words: “Permit me, sir, to acknowledge your truly sympathetic manifestations with all the welcomeness and gratitude which are possible to be expressed; and also to further express to you that notwithstanding this heavy stroke of adversity, I will endeavor to bear the same with philosophical fortitude, under the strengthening conviction that this is the most memorable epoch of life, and in spite of malignant persecution, justice will afterwards be done, and time will bring forth its appropriate reward.”
Immediately after the sentence, the citizens of Mobile prepared and sent a petition to His Excellency, Governor Moore, of the State of Alabama, containing the signatures of over six hundred of the best citizens of Mobile, praying for the release of the defendant, but the Governor declined to grant the request because the petition was not signed by the presiding judge.
But the sheriff of the city, Hon. James T. Shelton, must not be overlooked. His conduct in behalf of the defendant was noble and magnanimous in the extreme. All that one man could do to alleviate the rust and monotony of confinement, was gracefully and cheerfully done by him. His friendship—his whole-souled treatment reached to an extent not to be surpassed by any. Hospitalities at his own mansion in profusion, a separate parlor well furnished with books of every description, and in everything else well fitted up in the utmost order of elegance and taste; no restraint whatever, beyond what the law required—having the whole limits, for exercise and recreation, of the prison boundaries; all such conveniences and comforts were freely and lavishly bestowed; and for which a lasting gratitude is due to the memory of the departed James T. Shelton.
Numerous other visitors, of both sexes, came to render all the comfort which humanity could afford. These visits were sincere, friendly, and consoling, indeed; in short, everything which could be done to remove dullness and make the time glide away agreeably, was done with cheerfulness and with truly natural fervor of heart. Time did not hang heavily; but passed away briefly—a time which can now be referred to with pride and satisfaction.
The defendant, at the time of his arrest, was engaged to be married on the 22d of March following, to Miss Julia Pauline Bowen, daughter of Rev. P. P. Bowen, of Ocean Springs, Miss., but having become entangled in severe law difficulties, the appointed time for the consummation of this engagement was, from necessity, indefinitely prolonged. During this time, and more especially while confined in prison, the fact of such engagement became generally known. Malicious propensities could not be gratified enough by what had already been done, and by the little persecution then enduring, but the baneful malignity even extended to private and domestic arrangements. Some one in Mobile, over the signature of Amogene Colfax, addressed quite a lengthy communication to Miss Bowen. This communication pretended to have emanated from a female friend, the real object of which was evidently to poison and prejudice the mind to an extent sufficient to mar the existing engagement, and finally to break up all further considerations of the matter with a view to bring on a reaction of public prejudice to take the place of public sympathy, which was then running in favor of the defendant. But few have any adequate conception of the heights and depths of infamy which the clan could reach for the accomplishment of its infernal designs. But in this instance all such designs proved signally abortive, as will be satisfactorily understood by reading Miss Bowen’s reply to a communication from the defendant while in prison.
It is very much to be regretted that the letter with the fictitious signature of Amogene Colfax has been misplaced or lost. Its appearance in this work would be valuable by the way of giving some idea of the clan’s complicated machinations; however, Miss Bowen’s reply will afford information enough to satisfy that she was far beyond the reach of influences which contemplated the ruin of both. Piety, firmness and devoted sincerity are conspicuous in every line of the reply. Let the reader now judge for himself:
Ocean Springs, Miss., March 16, 1859.
J. R. S. Pitts, Esq., Mobile, Ala.:
Esteemed Friend—Happy indeed am I to have the pleasure of acknowledging the reception of your kind favor bearing date 12th instant, the contents of which are so consoling and interesting that I feel entirely inadequate to the task of making the properly deserving reply.
This is the first intelligence I have had from you by letter since I heard of the last unfortunate results of your trial. Ever since the reception of this sad news my mind has been a complete wreck. Both mental and physical strength have visibly declined under the pressure of contemplated burdens which you had to bear; but the relief which this, your last letter, has afforded is beyond the powers of description.
In the first stages every effort was made to conceal a wounded heart, but in vain; the countenance of sorrow was too plainly depicted to be mistaken by those around who are acquainted with former cheerfulness. Laboring under pungent affliction from the silent meditation of your melancholy situation, none but myself can have any correct idea of the internal struggles with which I was contending. Under such a compression of the vital powers, earthly scenes had no charms for me; but the wings of last night’s mail bore the glad tidings from you that all is well, leaving you comfortably situated and cared for in every respect, which affords me the most exquisite relief. From gloom and despair to joy and hope, the transition was rapid and sudden. The following from your pen affords a satisfaction which words are incapable of representing:
“You will please give yourself no uneasiness of mind so far as regards my comfort and well-being. My friends here have situated me as agreeably in every respect as I could possibly have desired. Perfectly composed and resigned myself, I want you to share the same, if possible, in a still higher degree.”
All of us, well knowing your entire innocence, deeply sympathize with you; and, as for my own part, this ordeal has only been a trial of my devotion—not knowing before the real depth of affection, which is now more strengthened and indelibly fixed on thee. Fictitious signatures cannot avail, nor indeed any other cunningly devised schemes for the interruption of the peaceful concord which has so long been maintained between us.
Even a brief narration of little ordinary simplicities may sometimes be enjoyed by minds accustomed to higher ranges of thought, and which frequently soar to loftier spheres of the grander contemplations of nature’s wonderful works. Accordingly you will be disposed to pardon anything which you may here find apparently of a light and frivolous character.
There is nothing new in our village that could, I presume, be of interest to you, unless accounts of frequent marriages would have this effect. In affairs of this sort there has been almost an epidemic. We have had quite an inclement change in the weather for this season of the year. It is just now very cold, lowering, and quite unpleasant indeed; but the joyous cheerfulness manifested by the little birds indicate the early dawn of spring.
There is a charming lovely little mocking bird that makes frequent visits near my window—sings so sweetly, and seems to enjoy life with the utmost fulness of felicity, so much so that I am, in a doleful hour, sometimes inclined to envy the happiness which I cannot at all times share myself. Its warbling melodies echoing as they are wafted along on the zephyrs of the morning and renewed again toward the evening shades, sometimes excite peculiar reflections, which are very wrong to indulge in. I ought to be content with my lot, though it may seem rather hard, yet, perhaps, all for the best. The dispensations of Providence cannot be otherwise; and it is vain to repine against what we do not understand sufficiently. It is true my pathway has been interspersed with many difficulties and heart-rending trials from my earliest childhood; and they seem to still follow me up to the present day. But of what use to murmur? He who has blessed me with innumerable favors will do all things well. “He who has been with and comforted in the sixth trouble, will not forsake in the seventh.”
I fear you will think me enthusiastic on the subject of religion, but hope not. All written has been sincerely felt; and were it not for the comfort of religion hardly one happy moment would I enjoy. Oppressed and fatigued, I can go to Him who hath said, “Come unto me and find rest for your wearied soul.”
The family desire a united remembrance to you. Pardon error, and believe as ever,
Yours, etc., Pauline.
This is, perhaps, the proper place for the insertion of Dr. Bevell’s letter to Miss Bowen. It contains important matter of a public nature, which will again have to be referred to in the subsequent comments which are to follow. Let it be carefully read:
April 12, 1859.
Miss J. P. Bowen, Ocean Springs, Miss.:
Excuse me, an entire stranger to you, for the liberty and freedom I take in addressing you. Although, personally, we are unacquainted yet my sympathies are with you and your unfortunate intended. I formed his acquaintance in Augusta, Miss., while he was engaged in writing the confessions of Copeland—the cause of his present unjust imprisonment. Although he is in prison, and redeeming an unjust sentence, his friends have not deserted him, as is too often the case, but visit him regularly and inquire after his welfare with the greatest anxiety, and endeavor to administer to his every want and comfort. His friends, though numerous previous to his trial, have greatly increased in number since. We have made an effort to limit his imprisonment through the pardoning power of Governor Moore, by an article addressed to him in the shape of a petition, with about six hundred signatures of the most responsible citizens of Mobile; but in this we have failed, and, to my deepest regret, he will have to serve his time out.
We first drew up a petition to Judge McKinstry, signed by a respectable number of the jury, but hearing of his negative declarations on the street, we declined honoring him with the request.
Although we have failed in these efforts, the conduct of all the opposing clique strongly indicate to my mind that the principal stringent ruling is to gratify, and sustain, and retain political influence. The opposing party have by no means sustained itself to the world, notwithstanding the obtaining of a forced verdict and fine in the pitiful sum of fifty dollars, which the jurors are determined shall not come out of Colonel Pitts’ pocket. The Colonel has the sympathy of the principal citizens of Mobile; and, among that number, almost, if not quite, the entire portion of the gentler sex; and as long as he has those amiable creatures advocating his cause he is free from all censure and harm. He was extremely unfortunate in not being able to prove certain facts on his trial that have since almost revealed themselves. I think myself they have seriously regretted the past and present daily expositions. Colonel Pitts is as comfortably situated as possible under the circumstances. He has the entire liberty of the prison bounds, with no restraint whatever on his person or actions—sharing freely the hospitality of our inestimable Sheriff and family. He has an excellent little parlor, well fitted up for convenience and comfort.
I was one of the unfortunate jurors who tried the case, and from my observations prior to, and during the progress of the trial, in my humble opinion he met with strenuous ruling and injustice. Yet he bore all with that fortitude and patience that ever characterizes a truly good man; and, since his confinement, appears to be composed and resigned to his fate. This has had a tendency to influence a favorable impression in his behalf among the citizens of Mobile. His friends in Mississippi, who are very numerous, are very much incensed against the Court, and manifested their indignation by public declarations in their public newspapers. His greatest grief and mortification are in your behalf. He suffers more on your account than he does on his own. He has daily the fullest assurance and confirmation of the kindest feelings of our best people. And what more could he want? It is looked on as one of those misfortunes incident in life that sometimes cannot be avoided honorably, and the only chance is to brave the storm fearlessly until a more congenial sun will burst forth to his advantage, which will be better appreciated and enjoyed had he never been in prison. I do hope you have firmness and decision enough to fast adhere in adversity—spurning the advice of those who would attempt to prejudice you against him. Sympathizing with him under the clouds of misfortune, rejoicing with him in prosperity, and yet be happy together; and may you both live, not to exult, but witness the repentance of your enemies, is the desire of your well wisher.
Very respectfully, yours,
John A. Bevell.
Miss Bowen availed herself of the very earliest opportunity to acknowledge and to reply to this valuable communication, in which will be found some statements well worthy of record.
Ocean Springs, Miss., April 16, 1859.
Dr. John A. Bevell, Mobile, Ala.:
Sir:—I am in receipt of yours, bearing date 12th inst., and sensibly feel the loss of suitable language for a correct expression of what is due for your inestimable favor. It has been read with intense interest. It came at the opportune moment when most needed, and contains matter which to me is of the highest earthly treasure, and for which the ordinary returns of gratitude are but a faint expression of the true estimation entertained in my own mind.
To learn from one so competent to furnish correct information of the easy and comfortable situation of my much esteemed friend, Mr. P., is gratifying in the extreme. At first, imagination had drawn pictures too darkly of him being immured in solitary confinement where the cheering rays of solid friendship could not penetrate. How agreeably I have been disappointed. Your communication has completely dispelled for the future all such illusory apprehensions. Friends numerous, and sympathy not confined to narrow limits, with an abundant plenty of everything else calculated to alleviate the misfortunes of a temporary exile.
But allow me to confess to you that the recent trial, with its apparently sad results, has with me in no wise made the slightest change deleterious to the future interest and happiness of my friend. Previous to this memorable event in his life, with him I had pledged for an early approach to the hymeneal altar, and was fully satisfied then that he was, in every respect, worthy of such a pledge of confidence; and if his merit were deserving the same in that day, they are certainly, in my opinion, more so to day.
As yet I have not heard a single word uttered that does not fully justify Mr. P’s action in giving publicity to the history of Copeland. The public good of his country demanded such action from him. Bearing in mind such circumstances, I could not, with any degree of consistency, suffer myself for a moment to be biased or influenced by out-siders, and, more especially, by those who are violently antagonist against the author for doing that which ought to be received by the public generally as a great blessing to society.
You will please do me the kindness at your earliest convenience to inform Mr. P. not to suffer himself to be in the least troubled on my account, nor to entertain any doubt of my unswerving constancy. In this respect, perhaps I am endowed with as much stability as any, and as much as he can desire.
Although heretofore strangers, nevertheless, I hold to be much indebted for the warm interest you have taken in behalf of my friend, and indeed mutually so of both.
Very respectfully, etc.,
J. P. Bowen.
From every creditable source, profuse attentions had entered through all avenues of the prison wall; and now the defendant’s time for which he had been sentenced was about to expire, preparations were immediately made to honor him with a “reception committee” to greet him from the narrow limits to the realms of liberty, where dwells the broad expanse of earth and sky. Confinement had not corroded the soul’s finer parts; and to show how devoid his mind was of every semblance of prejudice or malignity, a brief extract from his address delivered on that occasion when emerging from his sentence bounds, will be read with some degree of interest.
“Gentlemen, at this proud moment, the breath of liberty is refreshing. From an incarceration so unjust, you welcome me back to freedom with as much joy as I can possibly experience myself at this instant of time. Rather as a very much persecuted individual than a criminal do you this day consider me. For this demonstration of your kindly sentiments, as well as on all other occasions, my gratitude is tendered in profusion. What is it that can not be endured while being surrounded with friends so devoted and sincere? The reception you have seen proper to give me, removes all doubts as to the manner I will be met by other circles of my fellow beings. Well do I know how hastily judgment is often pronounced without sufficiently discriminating betwixt guilt and innocence. This morning I leave the precincts of prison unconscious of any wrong by me committed, but, on the contrary, am strongly impressed with the convictions that I have materially served my country by giving publicity to the career of a band of men who, for years, held whole States in absolute terror. For this I have suffered, but do not repine, because time, the great friend of truth, must eventually triumph. From prison I come not forth burning with vindictive or revengeful feelings against any. Notwithstanding the wrongs endured, I have passed in my own heart an act of amnesty so far as private considerations are concerned, and whatever course may be marked out for the future, only the public good will, in this respect, afford me any interest for subsequent pursuit. To you, and to other large bodies of respectable citizens of Mobile, for petitioning the Governor for pardon, although a failure, yet equally do I return thanks for the best of intentions as though they had been perfectly successful.”
Immediately after his release, letters of condolence and congratulations, from distant parts, and almost from every direction poured in. One in particular from a friend in Gonzales, Texas, will also be read with more than ordinary interest. Its spirit and intention were to impel him forward to higher achievements of fame and utility.
Gonzales, Texas, Dec. 30, 1859.
Dr. J. R. S. Pitts, Medical College, Ala.:
“Dear Sir:—In the sunshine of prosperity, friends will crowd around like bees on the honey-comb, but when the lowering clouds of adversity appear, there are but few who will not be found among the ranks of deserters, your case, however, forms an exception to the general rule. You have been favored by the benign and exhilarating influences of fortune; and you have also experienced the dark and bitter reverses with which humanity is so often saturated. At one time, she has thrown around you a joyous halo of felicity—at another time she has forsaken you with a treacherous inconstancy; but amid all her various phases of change which you have endured, the sympathy and good-will of every honest heart has beat high in your behalf. Your vile prosecutors succeeded by miserable subterfuges of law, which involved you in serious pecuniary embarrassments, and consigned you within the dreary walls of confinement, but time is now doing justice both to you and to them. You are mounting up into a brighter—a purer atmosphere of public estimation, while they are descending as rapidly into the dark abodes of eternal execration.
No one can feel more elated, or more disposed to congratulate you on anything pertaining to your interest, happiness, and success than myself; and certainly none more willing to contribute at every opportunity all within the power of one individual to your permanent gratification: how could it be otherwise? I have known you long; a chain of unbroken friendship has ever continued betwixt us; and more than all, I am proud in the contemplation that I have had some share in your early education.
Your attention is now directed towards the medical profession; and here I can express a few words of encouragement without acting derogatory to the principles of rectitude or sincerity; for if thinking otherwise, most certainly would I prefer the task of assisting at the risk of displeasing you.
The medical profession affords a fine scope for the developement of every faculty belonging to the human soul. Man, “the image of God,” is the most wonderful and complicated machine in the universe. Here is the noblest of all subjects—vast, boundless, and inexhaustible. Here is a theme on which the finest geniuses of the world have been engaged: a theme in connection with which the accumulation of intellectual wealth and constant progression have been marching onward with giant strides from the commencement of man’s mundane existence; yet but little hope—but little prospect of ever reaching perfection; hence the encouragement for onward acquisition for further triumphs of science.
Knowledge is valuable only in proportion to its applicability for preventing or alleviating the sufferings of humanity; then where is the avocation more adapted to better accord with this sentiment than the medical profession? Of course, I exclude all consideration in reference to the many quacks, empirics and murderers, who assume the medical garb without the least sign of internal qualification.
There is nothing in all the wide diversified forms of creation that can give you such lofty conceptions of the attributes of the Deity as the study of man: Life’s warm stream which ramifies and circulates in processes so wonderful; the numerous heterogeneous fluids which are secreted from it to answer all the astounding purposes of systematical economy with the nicest of all exactness; and all this by a “vital principle” which none can define, but which serves very well to represent our ignorance; the almost countless numbers of self-acting—self-propelling powers, with multitudes of valves, hinges, joints, all working in the grandest of earthly harmony; these are mechanical operations which belong to the Deity, and mock the proudest of all efforts in vain imitation. But what are these in comparison to the human mind—this noble prerogative of man? It is this which makes him the “lord of creation,” and draws the broad line of distinction betwixt himself and the lower order of creation. It is to this we are indebted for the manifold wheels, springs and levers which carry society along; in short the moral transactions of this revolving globe owe their origin and continuance to its agency. The science of medicine comprises a considerable knowledge of the whole. To understand any one business well, we must have much information on the relation of many. The study of causes and effects of physical phenomena, as well as the faculties, sentiments, and propensities of the human soul, are all within your province. But without enlarging, enough has been written to urge and animate you on in the work you have so well begun.”
The most remarkable action of any executive was that of the Governor of Mississippi in giving assistance to the “clan” in its expiring throes, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is not material now to enquire. From this action alone, but few are incapable of understanding, to some extent, the influence which wealth and distinction can exercise in cases, no matter how depraved they may be. This is only one instance from incalculable numbers which might be adduced where even the highest departments of State can be made subservient to vitiated purposes.
The following was published in the True Democrat, from the pen of one of the ablest Judges in the eastern part of Mississippi, shortly after the liberation of the defendant:
Mr. Editor—We heartily sympathize with J. R. S. Pitts, Sheriff of Perry county, and are deeply mortified at the yielding course of our Governor in rendering him up a prisoner in obedience to a requisition from the State of Alabama. We look on this whole affair as being preposterous in the extreme. To have the Sheriff of one of our counties forced to vacate his office, temporarily, and to be taken like a common felon, and carried to another State, and there be tried as a malefactor, and for what? Why, for simply writing and publishing the confessions of a notorious “land pirate,” one of a gang of banditti that has till recently been a terror to the whole country for a great many years. Such a course betrays a feebleness of nerve on the part of his Excellency perfectly unpardonable in the Executive.
The “Wages and Copeland Clan” have become as notorious in portions of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, as was the pirate and robber, John A. Murrell, and his clan. It is well for Mr. Pitts that his friends volunteered to guard him and protect him until he reached the city of Mobile in safety.
Talk about rendering him up on a requisition that claimed him as a “fugitive from justice,” when the offence, if any, was committed in this State, when he was a citizen of Perry county, and Sheriff of the county at the time, and quietly at home discharging the duties of his office. “Oh! shame, where is thy blush?”
But we rejoice to learn that his prosecutors have failed to hurt him. They may have forced him to draw heavily on his purse to fee lawyers, pay tavern expenses, etc., but they have not hurt his character. He stands to-day proudly vindicated as a bold and efficient officer before an impartial and unprejudiced public. Mr. Pitts is too well known in Mississippi for the tongue of slander or the hand of the bitter persecutor to injure him seriously. He is a native of Georgia—“to the manner born.” He was reared and principally educated in Mississippi. And right in the county where he was principally raised, he was selected by a large majority of the citizens of the county to serve them and the State in the high and responsible office of Sheriff of the county; and that too when he had barely reached his majority of years. The intelligent citizens of Perry county elected him by their spontaneous suffrage solely on account of his great moral worth and his superior business qualifications.
The most amusing circumstance in the whole affair is, the report industriously circulated that Mr. Pitts did not write the book—that he is not scholar enough to write such a book. The report refutes itself by its own palpable absurdity. Everybody who is acquainted with Mr. Pitts knows that he is a fair English scholar, and a very good writer. The book is a valuable book; and it has done, and will do more to rid the country of the clan it exposes than even the killing and hanging has done.
Mr. Pitts may congratulate himself as having done more with his pen as an author than he did with the rope and gallows as Sheriff. Much more might be said in vindication of this persecuted gentleman, but this is deemed sufficient. Mr. Pitts is a young man, and will, if he lives many years, work out a character in high social position, and official position, too, if he seeks it. From his beginning, I predict for him a brilliant career in the future.
Very respectfully,
Vindex.
The vile character of the prosecution is not yet sufficiently understood. There is yet more to be developed. Enough has already been brought to light to give some idea of Shoemake, one of the main witnesses in the struggle to crush truth. Earth was never trod by a more dangerous and despicable wretch than this. He was the embodiment of all that was mean, cruel, bloody and horrible. How much superior the other agent and intended witness, Bentonville Taylor is, the reader will judge for himself from the following authentic testimony.
The statement will be remembered in the commencing part of the proceedings of the trial that no ordinary amount of astonishment was experienced by the defendant when Bentonville Taylor was called into court as one of the principal witnesses for the prosecution. The defendant well knowing the character of this man, he lost no time for getting the most substantial of testimony touching his notorious reputation. This testimony has been held in reserve up to the present period for reasons which will be given presently.
In Shoemake’s evidence, the prosecution sustained such an overwhelming defeat that it refrained from calling up another of the same type for that time. As before stated, Bentonville Taylor was brought from Williamsburg, Covington county, Miss. The nature of his testimony, intended to be given in court, was immediately learned afterward by his card published in one of the Mobile newspapers. The substance of this card was to the effect that the names given in the confessions were forged by the defendant, and that Copeland himself was insane at the time he made the confessions, and the same entirely unworthy of any credit whatever either in public or private. It was thought at the time that Bentonville Taylor was to be used in the other two cases of Moulton and Cleaveland against the defendant to be afterward tried. This is one reason why the documents pertaining to Bentonville Taylor have so long been withheld. Another is, it is always painful, in the absence of imperative necessity, to make public such considerations as, under other circumstances, might be better enveloped in silence; but when charges of forgery have been made, and that the whole confessions are entirely unworthy of credit, then it becomes an absolute necessity to know something of the man who has had the audacity to make such charges.
First will be given some extracts from a letter which was intended for publication at the time, but on more mature thought was decided to be suppressed for the same reasons as just given. This letter is now in the hands of the defendant, the severer parts of which will still be suppressed for humanity’s sake:
“Who is this Bentonville Taylor, where did he come from, and what his character as established by himself? It seems he came to Ellisville, Jones county, Miss., about the time or shortly after Copeland was brought from the Alabama penitentiary to Mississippi to be tried for the murder of Harvey—pretending then to be a Yankee school master seeking employment—having with him a woman whom he introduced to that community as his sister and assistant teacher. They obtained a school; he and his sister took board in a respectable family located in Ellisville, Mr. Parker’s. They had not been there long before reports got out in this family of such a nature that is perhaps improper to publish. However, Mr. Parker ordered them to leave his house. The trustees of the school forthwith called a meeting, which resulted in the discharge of both. They were promptly paid off; the woman left for parts unknown, while he has been loitering around in the adjoining counties in a way anything but satisfactory, ever since. He got out a license to plead law, defended Copeland in his last trial, and then was brought from Williamsburg, Covington county, by the Mobile prosecutors, to there serve their purposes, in the most reduced of external condition and centless, but returned in the finest suit of attire, with plenty of money in his pocket—the rewards of his services in Mobile for falsehood and attempted deception. And this is the respectable lawyer from Mississippi, as represented by one of the prosecutors. A cheaper and more degraded instrument could not have been found in all Eastern Mississippi. A poor subterfuge to resort to such a man to lie men out of deserving censure. How readily it seems the prosecution knew where to place its fingers to subserve the purpose. A few more such licks will nail the truth of Copeland’s confessions to the cross forever.”
But read the documents now in possession, from the best and most respectable citizens of Jones county, about this man:
| The State of Mississippi, | } |
| Perry County. |
This day personally appeared before me, A. L. Fairly, a Justice of the Peace, in and for the said county and State aforesaid, Franklin J. Mixon, who makes oath in due form of law, and on oath says that Bentonville Taylor stole from this affiant a bridle and girth, while this affiant resided in Jones county, Mississpipi, at, or near, Hoskin’s ferry in said Jones county, in the month of March or April, 1858.
Sworn to, and subscribed before me this twelfth day of April, 1859.
A. L. Fairly, J. P., P. C.
Signed, F. J. Mixon.
| State of Mississippi, | } |
| Perry County. |
I, James Carpenter, Clerk of the Probate Court of said county, certify that A. L. Fairly, whose name is signed to the above affidavit, was at the time of signing the same, a Justice of the Peace, in and for said county, and that full faith and credit are due all his official acts as such.
Given under my hand and seal of said court, this sixteenth day of April, 1859.
James Carpenter,
Clerk Probate Court, Perry Co., Miss.
| Ellisville, Jones County, | } |
| Mississippi. |
We, the undersigned citizens of said county and State aforesaid, do hereby certify that we are well acquainted with Bentonville Taylor, and know him to be a man of no moral worth as a citizen, no character as a lawyer, nor school teacher, and a man to whose word we could not give any credence for truth and veracity.
J. L. Owen, Att’y at Law, Ellisville, Miss.
J. A. Easterling.
Norval Cooper.
S. E. Nettles, Treas. of Jones county.
F. K. Willoughby, Justice of the Peace.
Hiram Mathas.
Isaac Anderson.
M. H. Owen.
Amos J. Spears.
Richmond Anderson.
Thos. D. Dyess.
John H. Walters.
H. D. Dossett, Ex-Sheriff of said county.
| State of Mississippi, | } |
| Jones County. |
I, D. M. Shows, Clerk of the Circuit and Probate Courts of said county, do hereby certify that I believe the men whose names appear to the foregoing annexed certificate, are men of truth and veracity.
Given under my hand and seal of office this second day of April, 1859.
D. M. Shows, Clerk of C & P. C.
| Ellisville, Mississippi, | } |
| Jones County. |
I, E. M. Devall, Sheriff of said county and State aforesaid, do certify that I believe that the men whose names appear to the foregoing annexed certificate are men of truth and veracity.
Given under my hand and seal this 2d day of April, 1859.
E. M. Devall, Sheriff Jones county.
After Bentonville Taylor returned from Mobile, I saw him and told him of the rumor that was in circulation relative to his going to Mobile as a witness against Col. J. R. S. Pitts, and he denied emphatically to me of having any share in the transaction, and also stated that the aforesaid rumor was false.
[Signed.] Edward W. Goff.
The next question to be dealt with is the miserable plea of insanity, and forged names in the confessions.
First, let the report from the inquisition jury be read, which will be found on page 113 of this work. Again, it is well known by those who visited Copeland in person, that there was a keenness and shrewdness about him which distinguished him from ordinary men; and all the promptings given to feign insanity did not amount to anything but deserving failure. And as to the gratuitous charge of forging names, the defendant did not know anything about them previous to being given by Copeland. He did not know that such names were in existence before, and of course could not forge in the absence of all knowledge appertaining; but the conduct of the prosecution, with hundreds of living witnesses, go, as quoted from the letter just referred to, “to nail to the cross forever the truth of Copeland’s confessions.”
So much for the trial in Mobile in the first case, and now for the necessary comments to further enable the reader to comprehend the whole.
There were two other cases on the same docket of precisely a similar nature to the first against the defendant. For two or three years afterward he was in regular attendance, and always ready for trial; but the prosecution would not allow either case to come on until known that his presence was required in the army during the war; and then it had the cases called up, and the bonds declared forfeited. The two cases were ordered dismissed, and, some several years afterward, the bondsmen were finally released by the “Commissioners of Revenue” without injury.
Nothing is plainer than of the prosecution being glad of any plausible pretext for dismissing the cases—anything in the shape of a convenient opportunity for relief in the awkward situation in which it stood. Why so determined and successful to bring on instanter the first case in spite of the most powerful reasons for a temporary continuance? And why, when this was over, was it equally determined and successful to ward off the two remaining cases? Is it not evident, notwithstanding all the prostituted forces at command, that it was unwilling to make a second experiment? But how stands the presiding Judge affected in this slimy affair? In the first case, in defiance of the most powerful cause assigned in favor, he would not allow one hour of continuance of the case; but from term to term, from year to year, he allowed the prosecution all it wanted, regardless of all the urgent efforts of the defendant for the remaining trials to be proceeded with to save entire ruin from excessive and repeated expenses. But when the defendant’s absence was compelled by demands made from the War Department, then did this Judge allow the case to be pressed forward by the prosecution, and the bonds declared forfeited! If this junta, or combination of Judge with the prosecution did not exist, the plainest of all circumstantial demonstrations are not worthy of any notice whatever. But this is only one instance out of a number, which will be given of this Judge’s partiality—of his palpable efforts to do violence to justice.
Again, mark his conduct in endeavoring to obtain a forced and unnatural verdict. After twenty-four hours of close confinement, the jury returned with the report that there was no earthly chance of coming to an agreement. The Judge bid them, contrary to all custom, to again retire, with a declaration that he would hold it in confinement until the verdict could be made up, even though an indefinite period were required to accomplish the object.
Had he before been in consultation with the prosecution? Did he know the whole arrangement? Did he know that some one or more, perhaps influenced by gold, were resolved to hold out to the bitter end? And that one by one of the opposition, under the tortures of long confinement, must keep falling in to avoid further suffering, and more especially when the cunning device was resorted to for the purpose of deceiving the opposition by inducements to the effect that it was hardly worth while holding out when all could be so easily avoided by a few dollars of fine in the way of damages, which would not at all hurt the defendant? What was the meaning of the sham in his appearing, in the first part of his instructions, to lean to the defendant by telling the jury that if there was a doubt existing with it, the defendant was entitled to the benefit of said doubt; and then, in the last hours of worn out confinement, came squarely out in conflict, and positively told the jury that it was bound to find a verdict of guilty from the law and evidence before it? What was the meaning of packages and writing being conveyed to the jury by outsiders during the latter part of its retirement, or, at least, to that part of it in favor of the prosecution?
Notwithstanding the most justifiable and potent of all reasons in favor of the petition got up and signed by six hundred of the best and most respectable citizens of Mobile to be forwarded to the Governor for the release of the defendant, the Judge hearing of the same, emphatically declared, before being asked, that he would not sign it; and the Governor, because of this omission, refused to grant the prayer. Did the prosecution influence both Governor and Judge, so that the whole formed one compact ring to defeat justice? What says the learned Dr. Bevell on this subject—the very man who sat on this jury and witnessed all:
“We have made an effort to limit his imprisonment through the pardoning power of Governor Moore, by an article addressed him in the shape of a petition, with about six hundred signatures of the most respectable citizens of Mobile; but in this we have failed, and, to my deepest regret, he will have to serve his time out. We first drew up a petition to Judge McKinstry, signed by a respectable number of the jury, but hearing of his negative declarations on the street, we declined honoring him with the request.
“Although we have failed in these efforts, the conduct of all the opposing clique strongly indicate to my mind that the principal stringent ruling and opposition are to gratify, and sustain, and retain political influence.”
But the abuses committed by Judge McKinstry do not close here. A verbal copy of Shoemake’s affidavit has just been received, the insertion of which cannot be omitted, as it will add new light on what has already been advanced on this subject in the commencing part of the trial, and will go still further to demonstrate the deeply sullied conduct of the prosecution and Judge. Let this copy be read with attention:
[COPY.]
| State of Alabama, | } |
| Mobile County. |
Before ——, personally came S. S. Sheumack, who on oath saith that one J. R. S. Pitts did, within the last six months, in the county aforesaid, unlawfully, wickedly and maliciously, with intent to injure, defame, villify, and prejudice this deponent, and to bring him into contempt, scandal, and disgrace, publish and circulate in said county a printed pamphlet entitled, “The Life and Career of James Copeland, the Great Southern Land Pirate, who was executed at Augusta, Mississippi, October 30th, 1857; together with the exploits of the Wages’ clan in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.”
In said pamphlet, said Copeland is described as one of the leaders of a gang of robbers, murderers, highwaymen, and the deponent is represented therein by the name of “S. S. Shonesmak,” as a member of said clan, or gang of robbers, murderers, and thieves; which pamphlet containing the aforesaid statement, referring to this deponent, is a defamatory libel, and is utterly and wholly false.
S. S. Sheumack.
Subscribed and sworn to, this 17th day of January, 1859, before me,
Alex. McKinstry, Judge.
To any Sheriff of the State of Alabama:
You are hereby commanded to arrest the body of J. R. S. Pitts, charged by affidavit made with the offense of “Libel,” by one S. S. Sheumack, and hold him in custody until discharged by due course of law, which may be done by any examining magistrate.
Witness my hand and seal,
Mobile, January 17, 1859. Alex. McKinstry, Judge.
Received January 17, 1859, and on the same day I executed the within writ on J. R. S. Pitts, and have now in jail.
James T. Shelton, Sheriff. M. C.
| The State of Alabama, | } |
| Mobile County. |
I, P. LaVergy, Clerk of the City Court of Mobile, hereby certify, that the foregoing is a true copy of the affidavit signed by S. S. Sheumack, as also of the writ of arrest, and Sheriff’s return, in a case of the State vs. J. R. S. Pitts, as the same on file in my office.
Witness my hand, this 19th day of July, A. D., 1874.
P. LaVergy, Clerk.
Scheumack or Shoemake, all the while a citizen of Mississippi, the defendant a citizen of Mississippi, yet, he goes to the City of Mobile, in another State, among his friends and brethren, for process of law. This was changing of venue with a vengeance. With equal propriety, as far as law is concerned, might he not have gone to New York—not one whit more unnatural.
Sheumack, the “big dog” among the clan; the man, above all others, steeped the deepest in blood, and crime, and dissimulation; the man who brought counterfeit documents pretending to come from the Probate Judge of Kemper county; the man who denied writing the John R. Garland letter on the witness stand, and whose oath was there invalidated to the satisfaction of all; the man who bore the requisition from the Governor of Alabama to the Governor of Mississippi for the arrest of the defendant; this is the man to whom Judge McKinstry granted his writ to serve the purposes as specified in the affidavit.
This affidavit charges with “unlawfully, wickedly, and maliciously, with intent to injury, defame, villify, and prejudice the deponent:” and again “this deponent is represented by the name of Shonesmak, as a member of a clan or gang of robbers, murderers, and thieves, which statement, referring to the deponent, is a defamatory libel, and utterly and wholly untrue.”
In answer, will any one deny that such a “clan” existed? Will any one deny that its whole object was robbery, murder, and theft? It is presumed that none will have the effrontery to make such a denial in the face of such overwhelming testimony almost everywhere to be found.
The next thing to be considered is, did the defendant publish and circulate, with an intent to defame, villify, and prejudice, etc., one represented by the name of Shouesmack, as belonging to the said clan?
Is there one disinterested and unprejudiced being in existence who can believe that the defendant could have any motive for “wickedly, maliciously.” etc., assailing somebody he before knew nothing about, either good or bad—not even before knowing that such a creature was in existence? Up to that time, unacquainted with a single act of his life, can any one believe that the defendant published and circulated with a wicked and malicious intent to defame and prejudice somebody he neither knew by person or reputation before? Maliciousness can not exist while unconscious of any cause for the same. So much then for the unlawful, wicked and malicious attempt to injure the fair fame of Scheumack.
The same arguments will apply with equal force to the other names as published being the same as given by Copeland to the defendant; for to suppose otherwise would be the height of absurdity. The next subject for inquiry is, did Copeland, in his list of names, include Scheumack rightfully or wrongfully?
Shonesmack, and not Scheumack, was given in the published list in consequence of a typographical error. But Scheumack declared that the published name must mean him, and the same publication was “having a very deleterious effect against him in his own county, Kemper.” Why was Scheumack so very sensitive? Why did he take on himself the published name of Shonesmack? Why was the publication having a very deleterious effect against him in his county, Kemper? An innocent man by the name of Scheumack would hardly have troubled himself much about Shonesmak. A man living honestly, honorably, and respectfully in his own county would not have taken any umbrage at all from the publication. Around here, there are quite a number by the same, or very similar, name, yet none of these complained against the publication having a very deleterious effect against them. Those who foam, and rave, and curse the hardest, are generally the object on whom suspicion falls the heaviest.
But this is not all, immediately after the publication of the pamphlet complained of, he wrote his John R. Garland letter, in which he described himself with the most perfect of accuracy as being occasionally absent for some time, and then returning with horses and mules, and other sorts of property which nobody besides himself could account for, etc. Let it be borne in mind that he denied writing this letter on oath on the witness stand, when the conclusive proof came next that he undoubtedly was the author of it. The counterfeit papers, with feigned authority from the Probate Judge of Kemper county, his several designs on the life of the defendant, with many other of his actions which are more than suspicious, all go to establish the fact that Copeland made no mistake when he gave his name and designated him as a “big dog” among the clan.
Ye, Governors, Judges and prosecutors, learn from the old adage: “Tell me the company you keep, and I will tell you who you are.”
But there is something left behind of a still darker and more enigmatical character as to the mockery in processes of law belonging to the case.
Scheumack, a resident of another State, goes to Mobile to prosecute for libel, and Judge McKinstry grants him the writ accordingly. The Sheriff is represented as returning the same to the effect that the writ had been executed, and the defendant in jail on the 17th of January, 1859. Again, the trial docket and the records show that four bills were got against the defendant from the Grand Jury the November term, 1858, marked cases numbers 61, 62, 63, 64, corresponding to which are given the names of G. Y. Overall, C. F. Moulton, G. A. Cleaveland, and S. S. Scheumack; and that the name of Scheumack disappeared subsequently without any order being made or without any cause being assigned for the same; and furthermore four appearance bonds given by the defendant are found on file in the office. In these cases, there is no record of any action being taken by either Governor of Alabama or Mississippi, the reason for which, perhaps, may be accounted for by the innovation and wrong being too great for Governors’ names to be associated with on record.
Now, it is evident, from the affidavit of Scheumack, that he did not get a bill at the time the other three did from the Grand Jury of 1858, and it is equally evident that he never afterward got one; then why was his case associated on the trial docket with the other three?
The writ executed and returned asserts the defendant to be in jail on the 17th of January, 1859. What a farce! If the defendant was in jail at that time, it so mysteriously happened that he never knew it. A bond is found on file in the office given by the defendant to answer the charge preferred by Scheumak. What a farce! If the defendant gave such a bond, he never knew it—was never called on to sign it—never went before any examining magistrate, nor never knew, until a few days ago, that Scheumack had ever succeeded in any action of law against him.
Ye prosecutors, answer, if you can, how the records are made to show that Scheumack got a bill from the Grand Jury of the November term, 1858, when his affidavit of January 17, 1859, shows conclusively that he never got any such bill at all. Answer, if you can, how his name so mysteriously disappeared from the trial docket without any order being made, or without any cause being assigned for the same. Answer, if you can, how the appearance bond relative to him and the defendant is found on file in the office, when no such bond could possibly have been given. Answer, if you can, how the defendant came to be in jail on the 17th of January, 1859, when thousands positively know that such was not the case. If “something rotten in Denmark” is not found here, it is vain to seek from any other quarter.
Not in populous cities—not in the centres of accumulated wealth and misdirected intelligence that integrity and the administration of justice can be found. The highest functionaries of States have to bend to these rings and cliques. Honor scorned, justice mocked, and shame departed, what is there left to purify the national streams? Clans who live by plunder and murder can, with their ill-gotten gains, find plenty of law protection. Above all things, the Bench should be kept pure and independent, so that the criminal, though rich, cannot escape; and the poor and humble, if honest, can receive protection. Not as now, when judicial decisions are measured according to political numbers and the varied influences of wealth. If mercy is shown at all, let it be on the side of the unfortunate and those who have had few opportunities for improvement; and never on the side of those who have had all the advantages of wealth and education, and who should set an example to the subordinate classes of the community. Let the lessons cease to be taught and children cease to learn that because a man is rich no crime can hurt him; and if poor, though honest, he can be victimized by a snap of the finger from some influential person at any time. Is it any wonder at the increasing centralization of power? It is a necessary consequence under present circumstances. The corruptions and abominations have nearly reached the maximum height, and are at present of such a frightful magnitude that some remedy, ere long, must be adopted. Liberty abused must bring on reaction, sometimes for the better, but oftener for evils as great as those desired to be remedied.
And now, in concluding this sketch of the trial, which was carried on with so much absorbing interest and excitement, a brief recapitulation of its paramount features may be of some utility in bringing within our immediate view those incidents of it which are the most pregnant of meaning as to the future consequences.
In reviewing the conduct of the then Governor of Mississippi, McWillie, it is not charity, nor warranted by correct inductive reasoning, to suppose that he intended to assist the Wages and Copeland Clan by giving his approval for the rendition of the defendant as a “fugitive from justice,” at the time he was an acting Sheriff for one of the counties of the State. It is, perhaps, better to suspect the Governor’s ignorance or want of the proper information, than to charge him with evil designs. Had he known at the time the desperate character of Shoemake, one of the clan, and the authorized agent to make the arrest; had he known that the defendant knew nothing of the names prior to the confessions, and, of course, could have had no interest nor malicious motive to misrepresent, with the fact of locating the Three Distinguished at the risk of protracted trouble and a ruinous expense, furnishing a strong inference of the truth of all as to the names inserted; had he known that Copeland himself, on the scaffold in the last moments of earthly existence, acknowledged publicly and before living witnesses the truth of the whole of his confessions; had he known and reflected that the full publication of them must have, not only a direct and powerful tendency to disorganize the remnant of the clan, but also to prevent future associations of a similar character; had he known the full extent of the horrors, for years, perpetrated by this clan, and that numbers still living, from experience, can vouch for many of the facts as narrated in the confessions; had he known that an offense committed in one State or county, and the injury sustained inflicted in another State or county, the case may be tried in either, which gave him the right to use his discretion; had he known and reflected that the conflict must be between prosecutors—revengeful and experienced, wealthy and powerful, from another State, against youth—against an humble but honest citizen of his own State; had he known all these circumstances and maturely considered them, censure could not be too severely applied for his approving the rendition of the defendant as “a fugitive from justice.” Who ever before heard of any person being dragged from one State to another as a malefactor on a charge of libel?
However, if he, without design, gave assistance to the clan in the shape of an unmerited expense and injury to the defendant, it is nevertheless true that he also, without design, was instrumental in laying the foundation for a more distant triumph in behalf of justice.
Many of the last observations are strictly applicable to the presiding Judge, McKinstry. We cannot believe that he had any affiliation with the clan, nor any sympathy for its continuance; but his reprehensible conduct on the trial can be better accounted for in the language of the competent gentleman who sat on the jury, and who had an opportunity of seeing and hearing and witnessing all, thus: “His strenuous ruling, strongly indicated to my mind, was to retain and maintain political influence with powerful cliques.”
The changing of this Judge’s charges, the veering about first from one side to the other, his expressed determination to force a verdict against the better informed and more respectable of those who formed a great majority of the jury, if it required an indefinite period of confinement to do it; and then, in the last hours of torture, came squarely out and told the jury it was bound, from the law and evidence before it, to find a verdict of guilty; and all this while knowing the awful character of Shoemake, one of the main witnesses, as proven on the trial; and while knowing that G. Y. Overall had no right to prosecute in the name of G. Overall, when there were more of the same name in the place, and to which the jury believed the confessions applied as intended by Copeland; and more, after conviction, anticipating something righteously in favor of the defendant, this partial Judge declared his intention before hand not to sign any petition for the release of the defendant from the prison; all these incidents taken together are too strongly stamped to be explained away. The refusal of the defendant’s application against the strongest of reasons in contrast with his unreasonable granting the prosecution all it wanted for several years afterwards, is also something which will not soon be forgotten.
But it may be said that Judge McKinstry did no more than is fashionable in the present day—that of consulting political interest in preference to the eternal laws of justice. This is but too true. It is a deplorable fact that, from the most inferior to the highest of courts and officers, measures are gauged according to political considerations and wealthy favorites. Truth is sometimes very disagreeable, but it is nevertheless indisputable that when the progress is rapidly onward to idolize vast possessions under a system which rather favors than checks the spread of those evils which sap the very foundations of strength and national vitality, and at the same time, and in the same ratio, to dishonor the real sources of wealth—honest labor—the nation’s decline and fall will follow in the wake of consequences under excessive government, no matter whether of Republican or Democratic. The baneful effects from either will be pretty much the same, as long as there are lacking the will and the power to restrain or repress excesses as they spring up. When general means of subsistence are easy, with plenty everywhere abounding, there is not much danger of convulsive change; but a prodigious increase of population with proportionally narrower resources to command, together with extensive disaffection and oppressive burdens from previous wars, then is the time for the exercise of prudence and a strict administration of justice in every department to maintain the life of the nation.
Granted that G. Y. Overall proved satisfactorily enough an alibi, that is, that he was not present at the time referred to; but it is again asked what was he doing associated with such men as Shoemake and Bentonville Taylor? Was he the tool of more designing men? What right—what necessity had he to turn prosecutor, when, as plainly elicited on trial, it was another Overall that Copeland referred to in his confessions?