The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-19
lChicago Dailr Newsl


More than once in my career I have
made hard fight TO save a mans life
without thought of payment" said
Lawyer Lawrence Harmon. "One Of
the hardest of them was made more
than thirty years ago.
There lived at Chillicothe, Ills, a
poor shoemaker named Henry McNul-
~. He had been married a few years
before and lived with his wife and
grOwn-up stepdaughter in little
house in a back street, inclosed by a
common five-bOar fence. with a va
cant lot on each side of it. McNulty
had no blood relations in this country
except one brother, then living in New
York.
"One day in the summer Of 1872 the
wife of McNulty was found lying dead
/ In her room. Upon investigation il
was ascertained that MeNulty had
been drinking hard the night before,
and that IN drunken condition he
quilted saloon at IL o'clock: that his
stepdaughter was not at home so that
the only occupants of the house mus
have been McNulty and his wife. y
post-mOrtem examination showed thac
two or three of the woman's ribs were
broken. as II by violence. and that the
broken ends had penetrated certain
organs, causing death. 1t was wen
influence OF liquor was in the habit Of
abusing and assaulting his wife. He
WAS. therefore. arrested. charged with
murder. His lawyer produced no tes-
timOny in his favor before the jury.
AS the circumstantial evidence was all
apparently against the prisoner, the
jury convicted him and fixed the penal
ty at death by hanging.
"Efnn 1lvr MpNnlfx cant for mo told
me his life story. called God to witness
that he was wholly innocent and ignor-
ant as to the manner of his wife's
death, and begged me to make an effort
TO save his life. Impressed by the
story Of this unfortunate man, / con-
sidered it my duty to make an effort
in his behalf
Finding that the jury that tried
McNulty had been allowed to separate
after court each day and mingle with
the public. and that one or more of the
jurymen had been present in an auc-
ton room where McNulty was de-
nounced as a murderer and his hang
ing demanded. I had affidavits of this
fact made by several of the persons
present. With these as a basis went
before the judge who had tried the
case and applied for the setting aside
of the sentence and the ordering of a
new trial He refused. but permitted
the filing Of a bill of exceptions
My next move was to present a GER
titled copy OF the records to Justice
Scott of the supreme court. then re-
siding at Bloomington. with an appli-
cation for a writ of error and a super
sedeas until the supreme court could
pass on the case in the following Jan
Uary. He said that owing to the popu
lar excitement over the matter, he did
not like to take the sole responsibility.
but asked me to. get another judge of
the supreme court to act with him. I
applied to Judge Lawrence Of Gales
burg. He refused.
ITO the late General John NJ. Palmer.
then ending his term as governor Of
Illinois. 1 appealed for intervention.
Although oppressed with work. he
spent half a night carefully going over
the records of the case. and then he
said TO me:
" Mr.. Harmon. if there was any pos
sible chance for me TO intervene and
save the mans life. any peg in the
records upon which to hang my action,