Guernsey County, Ohio - Chapter 13: Bah of Guernsey County, 1911

Chapter 13: Bah of Guernsey County

Wherever commerce and true civilization is found, there one will find representatives of the legal profession and courts of justice.. Most of the laws of today are based on the principle of justice and equal rights to all citizens, he they native or foreign-bom and adopted into our national citizenship. If all men were truly informed as to the law of the country in which they reside and transact business, and then possessed an honest, law-abiding spirit, such as is marked out by the Bible picture id" the millennium dawn, there would he little use for lawyers and courts, but as we have not nearly reached that perfected state, hence the rights of one person must be met and justice forced upon another. This requires lawyers w^ell versed in their profession. The legal profession is one of profound principles and it is for this to point out and enforce the rights of one class of citizens as against other men and classes. While the world has no need of the dishonest lawyer, it has great need of the truly honorable attorney, who seeks ever to make peace, rather than encourage litigation among the people of his community. What is needed is the great type of legal advocates found in the Gladstones of England; the Websters. Everetts, Choates, Marshall, the Lincolns and Douglases of our own America and also those of more recent careers, who seek to make plain the fundamental law of our republic and our international relations with all foreign powers. We need, at this date, more of the great minds in law found in former years in a Hamilton, a Jefferson and our earlier supreme judges.

While there still lurks in the minds of the laity the notion that the legal profession is mostly made up of trickery, technicality and trouble-makers, the fact still remains that through them peace and order and good government obtains in this and all countries. The day has long since passed when this profession is looked upon as one of dishonor, but rather as one from which emanates our best and truest type of citizenship and statesmen.

It is regretted by the publisher that a more complete record of the first attorneys in Guernsey county is not available at present, for a chain of interesting sketches which might otherwise appear.

I98 Guernsey County, Ohio The First Colored Jury

"The case of the State of Ohio versus Robert Wright (colored), for shooting with intent to kill William Lucas (colored) at Fairview last spring, is now on trial in this court before a special colored jury. The following is the panel, selected by agreement of counsel and on the order of the court, in the manner prescribed by law :

"We believe this is the second colored jury empaneled in the United States and the first in the state of Ohio; and it is the first time a colored man was ever called to sit upon a jury in this county. This unusual occurrence is a theme of much conversation and interest. Colonel Barnes appears for the state, and William Borton and J. D. Taylor, Esq., for the defendant. The court room was crowded at the opening of the trial. About thirty witnesses are subpoenaed."

Death Sentences

The first death sentence in Guernsey count)- was in 1844, when Judge Kennon sentenced George Weeks to be hanged for the murder of Edward Woods. Later he was sentenced to a term in the state prison, where he finally died.

The next to be sentenced was in 1869, when Thomas D. Carr was tried and convicted for the killing of Louisa C. Fox. his girl lover who refused to marry him. He was hung Friday. August 20, 1869. He confessed at last to the crime and also it was learned that he had in all killed fifteen persons, at one time or another in his life.

We recently published an account of the first term of Court held in Guernsey county. The first grand jury was empaneled and the first criminal business was transacted at the second term, which began on Monday, August 27, 1810, and adjourned on the Tuesday following. The names of the first grand jurors are as follows : Z. A. Beatty, foreman ; John Hanna, Lloyd Tal- bott, Thomas Cooke, John McClennahan, Andrew Marshall, Wyatt Hutchison, John Beham, George J. Jackson, John Moffatt, Isaac Grummond, W. Talbert, Stewart Speer, George Metcalf and Dyson. The grand jury at the present term of court returned twenty-five true hills of indictment against thirty-six persons. The first grand jury of this county returned three true hills - two for retailing liquor without license and one for retailing merchandise without license. Proceedings under the latter indictment were stopped by the defendant coming into court and exhibiting his license. One of the men charged with retailing liquor without a license pleaded guilty and was fined six cents and costs. The other pleaded not guilty and his case was continued. ( )n the affidavit of George Metcalf, one of the grand jurors, an indictment was issued for Peter Wirick, Sr., returnable at the December term, for not answering questions asked him when before the grand jury. The court ordered that the prosecuting attorney be allowed ten dollars for his services at the first term of court, and twenty-live dollars at each term thereafter. Idie prison bounds were fixed by an order of the court. They included all that part of Cambridge between Spruce and Mulberry streets.

Early Lawyers

Among the early lawyers who practiced at the Guernse) county bar were Samuel Culbertson and Gen. C. B. Goddard. They were able lawyers, and traveled from county to county on horseback, with their books and papers in saddle-bags. Many anecdotes are told of these two. mostly opposing counsels in the cases thev engaged in. Samuel Culbertson was tall, bony and wiry, and quick to make a point against his opponent. They were the opposing counsel in a case where one party had sued another for befouling a well in the construction of a dam, rendering the water impure. General Goddard. in his speech to the jury, exhibited a glass of the water, and spoke of its purity and clearness, and making the point that such clear, sparkling water ( shaking the glass ) could not be impure, and seemed to be carrying the jury with him. Culbertson, when he arose to reply, picked up the glass, and reminded the jury of what Goddard had said, placed the glass on the table before Goddard, and holding up a silver dollar, said, "Gentlemen of the jury, I'll give General Goddard this dollar if he will drink that glass of pure water." Culbertson knew that General Goddard was too dignified to accept such an offer, and his refusal had its effect on the jury, and he won the case for his client. This occurred later than the Chandlersville hoax, and was a game of hocus pocus between two lawyers. General Goddard was a man of great dignity and pride of character, in his profession, and made it a point only to do business in his office. A deputy sheriff of Muskingum county, having a writ of execution to serve, met General Goddard, who was the prosecuting lawyer in the case, on the street, and said to him, "What shall I do if some one else claims the property?" He replied, "I don't do business in the street." A day or two afterwards the General met the deputy sheriff at the postoffice, and asked the result of his business. The deputy said, "You will have to call at the sheriff's office; I don't do business in the postoffice." Goddard called at the sheriff's office, and was told what was done. I well remember of seeing the tall, commanding figures of Henry Stanbury and "Wilson Shannon, who were occasional practitioners at the Cambridge bar, three score years ago; of Chauncey Dewey, of Cadiz; the Hon. Edwin AT. Stanton, the great war secretary, who began his practice in partnership with Dewey, and also Hon. Benjamin Tappan. He was cross-eyed, and called "Old Gimblet Eyes." It was said of Judge Tappan that he was engaged in the trial of a case in the early days, when there were a "thousand judges on the bench, one and three naughts." Judge Hallock was the presiding judge. One of the associate judges lived three miles in the country, and was in the habit of coming in on court days on horseback with his saddlebags, his dinner in one bag, and oats for the horse in the other. After the noon recess, Judge Tappan was to begin his argument to the jury. Tappan arose, addressed the court, and began. Judge Hallock interrupted him, saying. "Brother Tappan, there is no quorum ; you will wait for Brother ."

By the Guernsey Times of 1826-48 one learns the names of many of the legal practitioners of those early days. Among them were \Y. \Y. Tracey, whose card frequently appears in the Times from 1826 on, and who was later a justice of the peace and a prominent editor of the Tillies beginning with December. [834, and Isaac I'arrish, later a member of the noted firm of Parrish & Gaston, attorneys and counsellors at law. Among noted lawyers of the county may be mentioned :

Another List Of Attorxf.Vs

Samuel Herrick, Cambridge, and all of the following at Cambridge: Alexander Harper, Isaac Parish, William W. Tracey, Zaccheus Beatty, Thomas W. Peacock, Nathan Evans, Ezra Evans, John Ferguson, Jacob J. Grimes, John Morton, Cyrus Linn, Anthony Tennis (of Birmingham), Robert Titneck, William B. Abbott, Mathew Gaston; Joseph Johnston, Fairview; James Rheinhart, Fairview; Samuel Armstrong, Fairview; Joseph Ferrel. Washington; John B. Longley, Washington; James Reinhart, Senecaville; Erastus Scott, Cumberland; James Casey, Cumberland; Francis Creighton, and the following, all of Cambridge: James O. Grimes, Vincent Haines, William Wall, George W. Phillips.

Present Court Officers

The present (1910) officials of the Guernsey county court are as follows : Hon. William H. Johnson, presiding judge, Zanesville, Ohio; Hon. A. A. Frazier, judge, Zanesville, Ohio; Hon. J. M. McGinnis, judge, Caldwell, Ohio; Charles S. Sheppard, prosecuting attorney; H. K. Moore, sheriff; John S. Berry, deputy sheriff (after January, 1911); Elza D. Trott, clerk; Clara Linn, deputy clerk, and Orrin B. Booth, stenographer.