The weekly clarion., 1869-07-08
TRIAL OF L. M. YERGER, !,
Before a Military Commission, for
the killing OF Joseph 81. Crane.
EIGHTEENTH HDAY-CoNcId,pKp
wxDxDEsAr, june 30, 1863.


mate relations with him, and I have fire.
quently aided him: when first / came TO
jackson in 'G2, Mr. Ycrger was very diff
ferent man from what he has been for the
past II or IS months; Mt that time he was a
moral and religious man, consistent mem
Der Of the Episcopal Church. and was inYa-
riably regarded a. an exemplary and benev-
olent man; since that he has become avery
irreligious and wicked man; from 1862 to
1865, or probably till 1896, he was a man
that was very much attached To his family
and kins-peOple, as much so any body
he seemed TO desire to aid them AZ much "a
he could; since that time he has had an an
imosity to almost every member Of his fam
lily. or a quarrel or a fuss first with one and
then another; for the past two years be has
had on hand continually some sort of pro-
iect or some great scheme by which nc was
going to amass an immense fortune; IL was
either tnat or some personal difficulty con-
tinuously; it was one or the other; he seem
ed almost constantly to be i'm state of mem
tai excitement. There have been occasions
when his conversation with reference TO his
relatives excited my attention; the time ne
had the difficulty with Mr.. Stewart was one
time. | talked with Mr.. 6ergcr and Mr..
Stewart. and told Col. 1erger that he was
entirely wrong in the matter; that MT
Stewart had done nothing to him that would
Justify him in having a difficulty. and told
Mr.. Stewart not to have adifhculty with Col
Yerger on any pTetext, and that dId not
| at times regard Col. 1eTgcr as beng NOR
| ally responsible for what Inc did ne had an
| idea that his relatives were continually try
inc to nut him down and take sides against
him in matters that he started; that they
did not act with him and give him their in-
| fiuenee in carrying out his ideas. no matter
| what they might be; he was mao with al
| most every man he knew If they didn't take
| sides with him in every quarrel or personal
| difficulty he got into; about three or four
months ago / had been up from New Or
| leans DerhaDs a week j used to see him ev-
| .loxr inn home.
| Yerger, the wife of his uncle, had been here
| from Memphis she had gone that evening:
| we were walking up home; he asked me to
| 90 part of the way with him; he got to talk
| ing about the way his family treated him,
| specially his sisters. and he got into very
| violent rage about it. demonstrated with
/ him and remarked that he had as good sis
ters as any body had. From a violent rage
he was suddenly very sorry TOT what ne had
| done +: he shed tears about it. so much so that
1t excited my greatest sympathy for him /;
! we were standing just opposite the Prcsby-
terian Church, | had hold of the fence and
he leaned his head on my shoulder and said
| "HamiIton. l have no sisters" He was not
| intoxicated at the time; from my observa-
ton of Col Ycrger. do not think he drinks
more than men ordinarily do, probably not
| more than seven out of ten men in this
| country: | did not ascfibe the peculiarities
/ referred to as being the result of i:toxica-
| ton; / never saw Col. Yerger drunk that is
when he could not talk | have seen him un-
der the influence of liquor; | should say
| that he did not drink to such an extent as
| would affect his health; never saw him with
delirium tremens or mania potu. lie told
me about his immigration project. he wanted
| me to come up tO~his house, and wanted to
| explain the whole thing to me; / went up
there two to three times, but he never told
me ANYTHING about it; never took any par
| ticuIar interest in it; never pressed him to
develope his schemes, and he never did lie
seemed to have very eXtravagant idea
q. fIaakf flnorn nv IL
lions of dollars to come out of it; that there
was big fortune for everybody concerned.
Just after the surrender bought out an in
terest in some newspapers with which he
was connected; we ran them separately for
awhile and then consolidated the two; it
was a business | did not know anything
| about: | was induced to go into it by the
representations of some gentlemen here in
town; being located here partially at the
time was in the Office of Judge Sharkey
at the time, when he was Provisional Gov
ernor.
Mr.. Yerger had the management of the
paper; my name was not used in it at all;
furnished the money for the concern; we
did not get along; he advocated things that
did not suit me; we were at variance all the
, | time and | sold out to him; we had three
or four propositions for the trade before we
| consumated it; we would make one to-day
and he would not recognize it tomorrow
finally was induced to have separation
in the matter, and l brought suit to do it,
and he became very much InceHsed with me
about it he came down town about O'Clock
, at night and sent for me and wrote note
| to saw that would see him in the morning
he wrote to say he could not wait, he must
! see me at once, and would see me at Angelo S
Hall l sent him word would see him at
the office he seemed very much exaspera-
; | ted against me on account OF the course
had taken in the matter; he was armed and
had the handle of pistol sticking ont of his
bosom; L told him that made several eff
forts to have that matter adjusted, and it
| didn't seem possible that and he could ceme
~ any settlement and had therefore refer
red the matter to other parties TO settle it
it was done the next day and we parted on
that: in reference to conducting his paper.
he had random and uncertain way, and
you could not make any sort OF calculation
as to what he was going to write, and he
mad disposition to be quarrelling and fTs-
sing with people all the time, and wanted the
whole machine run for his especial glory; it
was sinking money for me every day, aud
: wanted it stopped; l regarded his position
: in reference to public matter as rather ec-
centric: it was the time was with Judge
Sharkey, he (Yerger) sent for me one night
about 9 O'Clock and said that Judge Sharkey
8 was going to issue proclamation requiring
negro evidence TO be admitted in the Courts.
and that he wanted it to be stoppe1; he had
taken a position In his paper, and Governor
Sharkey was going contrary To the position
he had taken; l went to the office. and he
| sent for Judge VIM. 1erger, Judge 1erger
came there and he wanted bim to go and see
Judge Sharkey and get him to withdraw
that proclamation, and If 1t was not wfth-
drawn. he would be compelled to come in
conflict with Judge Sharkey. and should at
tack the measure through his paper: Judge
Yerger demonstrated, and told him Judge
Sharkey was perfectly able to manage his
own business; finally Judge erger said he
, agreed with Judge Sharkey on the measure.
which made the prisoner very angry, and
that ended the matter; l am satisfied that
for two or three years past you could not
have an ordinary business traAsaction with
him without having a difficulty; he would
not understand an agreement as you did,and
l if YOU agreed with him to-day, he would
not recognize it tomorrow; there seemed to
be perfect lack of moral recognition OF an
i agreement or contract.
had conversation with Mr.. Herndon,
on Saturday. previous to the killing of Col
Crane, touching the sanity of the prisoner.
BY the Judge Advocate:
L said that the prisoner was frequently in
| a fuss with somebody; and my experience
is that no body could have business en-
gagement with him without qaarreling; he
, thought that any person who did not agree
with him was an enemy TO him, whether
his brother, a stranger or any one else; this
has been particularly 90 for the last two
wears: the disagreement between us was in
1865: for two years / have considered him
| not morally responsible for his conduct;
was not particularly impressed with it be-
/ fore that time, his condition has been fire.
ouently discussed by members of his family
for at least two years, and his mother said tc
| me that he should be taken charge of and
put into an Asylum; suspected nothing OF
, / the kind when / gave him control of the
, lpaper; / was induced to dissolve copartner-
Ship on account of Mr.. 1erger's course in
conducting the paper; it did not suit me; y
q writer he was generally diinse; he was
: never logical or very profound, at least il
didn't strike me that he was; at that time