Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-13
SAVANNAH FIFTY YEARS AGO.
The Bench and the Bar-Some of the
Men who Figured ConspicuOusIy in
the History of the Forest City in the
Long AgO-A Famous Criminal Case.


the History of the Forest City in tn,
Long AgO-A Famous Criminal Case.
Correspondence Of the Morning Eeaos.
ATLANTA, GA, April 10.-The Law
courts, the court house and its appurte
nances, the Judges, lawyers and thu
county officers OF fifty years ago should
be interesting subjects for letter. Ny
first remembrance Of a court house wal
huge piles Of bricks, in 1881, on tle To-
where your present county court house
stands, which was said to have
been the bricks of the old court house
torn down to build a new one. That new
one is the present old one between Presi
dent and York streets, having it.
front on Wright square and its
rear on DraytOn street. II was moi
ready for occupation until sometime dur
ing the next year, but in fact my remem
brance OF such only dates from January
1888. The jail then stood and for MANY
years later on the commons and would
have been on or nearly on DraytOn street
had 1t been built upon that far The CITY
proper then did not extend beyond the
north side of Liberty street. This period
ante-dated the present United States bar
racks. All beyond Liberty street, from
its intersection by DraytOn, was an ODen
pam ~ JLlG lOICSb SIOWlu On Iue OUTSKIRTS.
except as it was broken by the grim old
Jail, surrounded by high, thick walls on
all sides, which presented lonely and
desOlate appearance.
To the right oblique, away beyond from
the same point, to be seen through the
! small pines, was the old wooden barracks
OF the United States, and about the same
distance, to the left ODlique, 'tFair Lawn
! the home of Major w. p. Bowen. Both
of these structures relieved the view
| made by the monOtOny of the commons.
and the horror OF the Jail, with the shining
Wh1teneSs of the building and fences,
| through the interstices of the evergreen
trees. The site of the old Jail as in
| formed lis now occupied with the mansions
! erected by Octavus Cohen and Andrew
/ Low. The present jail, and possibly a pOr-
/ ton of Forsyth Park, are where the old bar
racks stood. These barracks soon became
untenantable, which was at least partly
/ the cause for erecting the new one at the
/ junction of Liberty and DraytOn. For a
| time during the transition the troops Oc-
! cupied the theatre. Mai. Bowen resided
! for many years at Fair Lawn. and there
reared an interesting family of sons and
! daughters. One of then was Gen. Bowen,
/ West Point graduate, who, during the
/ late war, Gen. PembertOn dispatched with
six thousand men to Port Gibson. Miss,
| to dispute the landing of Grant. 1t
/ proved disastrous and caused the loss of
! Bowen's life and that of Gen. Tracy.
DRAYTON STREET WAS THE SAVANNAH
'BRIDGE OF SIGNS"
! from the prison to the place of trial. the
/ court house. When little boy | often
saw the disagreeable sight of prisoner
! passing along there in charge of the off
Ger, and possibly with ''gyves upon his
wrists" One l remember and always
shall, who was being carried to be tried
for his life. The officer was mounted. and
! while they were engaged in conversation
| the prisoner looked up into the officers
/ face and smiled. To my childish mind it
was astonishing how one so situated
/ could smile, but even | could dis
cover there was sadness in that
/ smile, which | can now see as wildly
as then, and it ''haunts me still" There
was a phase of prison life then that long
| since has ceased to exist, and very few
/ now living have ever seen. 1t was that
! Of prisoners confined for debt. In my
! bOyhOOd there was generally some one so
| imprisoned, II for only short time, but
! there were one or two instances that
/ lasted for one or more years, and there
was tradition of prisoners who had en-
| dured many years of imprisonment. Per-
/ haps even some of your young people
1 have seen at intervals on your streets
/ stones that might have served for mile
] d. ID
! j. b. meant Jail bounds" and that was
! the limit of debtor prisoners walk, who
! had given bond and surety not to 90 be-
yOnd the limits. If he did, his bond be-
! came forfeited to the creditor. and tn e
| debt was collected out of the surety.
/ Abolishing Imprisonment for debthas rem
! dered such as that now impossible, but
! before its abolition imprisonment for debt
| had practically ceased. During the build
fr,fr OF A1,C. ~
| held in the Exchange Long Room.
| The first court l was ever at was
in that room. 1t was in the
month of February, 1882. L had not
reached my eighth year. Then there was
I proceeding there a criminal trial of ex-
trdordinary interest. One of the most
prominent merchants of the city had COM
mitted homicide, and he was upon trial
for it. Alter tea my father went and
took me with him. l we'll remember the
scene. The Judge was presiding and the
prisoner was sitting in the dock, but
otherwise there was nothing to indicate
an exciting trial, and there were but few
persons i'll the court room. The Judge
was seated at the eastern end of the
room. Since, infer atsthat time, the jury
must have been taken cut for supper or
other purpose, because | learned the case
was submitted to the jury at a late hour
thai night, and resulted in an acquittal.
THE LEADING COUNSEL FOR THE
PRISONER
was Mathew Hall MacAllister, who dis
tinguIshed himself by a great effort, and
when the verdict was received the friends
Of the prisoner took MacA. on their
shoulders and bore him down to where
they could celebrate the victory. This
case established MacAllister's reputation
as the first criminal lawyer of the city,
which he held to the time he changed his
residence, but it must not be inferred that
his reputation as a lawyer was limited to
this branch of the practice.
The Judge who presided in this case
was a man whose useful, virtuOus and
pleasant life was spared up to modern
date, and, therefore, it is superfluOus to
say more. He was the Hon. William
Law. Judge Laws first commission was
in Nav, 1929. His immediate predecessor
was Judge William Davies. AS never
saw Judge Davies it is to be presumed
that just before this he either died or re-
moved from the city. / think he resided
at some time of his life at MIlledgeYille,
or the vicinity. Judge Law remained
the Judge of the Eastern Circuit until
November, 1884, but it so CHANGED | was
seldom in his court. He was succeeded
by Hon. John G. Nicoll. During Judge
Nicoll's short tenure on the bench
of the State Court, though yet a small
DOy was quite OlIe0 III MS court, D0Il
in Chatham and bingham counties. He
was a serious, stern looking man with a
strong voice, and l was afraid of him.
When got to be a man and lawyer this
awe of him to some extent still remain
! ed. During his official career as Judge of
the United States District Court, | had
occasion to appear in his court as sole
counsel for the plaintiff in case of some
! Importance. The defendants counsel was
! sure of gaining the case, and TWO or three
| friends at the bar Of ability and
experience had given me their Opin-
! ion that that must be the
result. l found a case to sustain
me in the 18th Johnson's n. Y. reports,
and felt very confident l ought to win,
but felt uncertain as to the impression
L would make upon the Judge. The
parties in the case 1 cited were Erastus
Root, gentleman, VS.. Elijah Beardsley,
gentleman. 1t was decided as far back
as 1911, and in these democratic times
such statement of the parties would lie
entirely out of order. 1t gave me an
opportunity for getting off a little humOr,
but how would so rigid man as Judge
Nicoll take it? Should l be fined or re-
primanded, or both? But I could not
resist the temptation, and so l said your
Honor will perceive this case sus-
tains my suit, and it is no
common case, but was a contest between
gentlemen. In such a case the Judges
must have given the legal questions in
al