The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-27
GOFF, A HARSH TRIAL JUDGE.
TEE RECORDER AND WALTER
LANGERMAN TRIAL.

witness Had Retra tel He bitterly
Attacked Defendant "A MelOdramA
Made 20 Suit Recorders own Whims.
Recorder John W. Con, who is a Hearst
nominee for the Supreme Court bench on
the Murphy-Hearst Judiciary ticket, has
not only been criticised for the number of
capital and other cases or which he has
been reversed by the higher courts but he
has been severely oensured at times for
his conduct on the bench.
A notable example OF this was his con-
duct at the trial Of Walter Lothair Stanley
Langerman late in 1895. Recorder GofH pre-
sided at this trial and his OF
treating the defendant and his manifestly
unfair charge 10 the jury drew forth much
adverse criticism which was expressed in
editorials and letters to newspapers. But
all these " are mild compared to the bower
Of criticisms that followed the sensational
ending Of the case, when after Langerman
had beer convicted and arraigned for sem
tence the Recorder abruptly announced that
Barbara Aub, who had made the charge OF
criminal assault against him. had confessed
that he had not committed the crime.
II the Recorder had arranged his speech
to the man at the bar for a dramatic effect
/ he could not have done better. There was
q vast crowd in the court who had listened
in painful silence to the terrific lashing
the Judge had given the convicted
When the climax came the audience, court
clerks and even policemen we're paralyzed
with surprise.
Langerman had been arrested in May,
1896, and indicted on Barbara Aub's charge.
He admitted his relations with the girl
but denied that he had assaulted her. IL
was shown that he was a man of bad char
acter generally and the Recorder acted
at times as though he were both Judge and
prosecutor. The Recorders charge sounded
to many who were without pref udice like
a direction to the Jury to convict.
The defence sought to show that the
crime could not have been committed
in the manner described by the woman on
the stand. Langerman lived in an or
binary iathouse on theu upper West Side.
This was the scene Of the alleged crime
and iE was supposed to have occurred in
the morning. when Barbara had come
around to sell LangermRn a book.
h swore she had screamed and strug-
gled to repel Langerman. The defence held
that il would lave been impossible for her
to scream in that house in the manner she
described without being heard by one or
more OF the tenants No one could be
found who heard the screams. Yet in his
charge TO the jury the Recorder said:
You have seen Barbara Aub on the wit
ness stand for five hours undergoing a
long and severe crosS-exa mination and
you have observed her apparently I'M
rufled demeanor. and l particularly charge
you to consider her acts, her conduct and
her motive. Why should she publish her
self as befouled and d~ebauChed.
1T is also proper for the jury to ask
and answer this question: If what the
defendant says is true and Barbara Aub
consented to his embraces. how did these
bruises come upon her bodyP'.
The doctor who had made the first ex-
animation when the Aub woman made the
complaint is dead and a statement from
him was not admitted. The evidence Of a
] police surgeon who examined her some
time after was admitted, however. In
spite Of the contrary evidence and the many
out an hour when it returned with a verdict
Of guilty, which meant hat the prisoner
could get twenty years in Sing Sing. He
was remanded for sentence.
According to Gof himself his conscience
began to prick him shortly after the oon-
viotion. Something seemed to whisper to
him, he said, that he had done wrong and
that he was responsible for an unjust YER
dict. This inner voice was so persistent
in its accusations that Goh, as he related,
could not sleep for several nights. He had
no rest or peace and life was a burden to
him, he declared.
The woman's confession was made to
him at midnight in his own home, and then,
he said, his overweight feelings first found
rep Sc in dreaInless sleep.
The Recorder guarded closely the secret
Of the confession. The prisoner was not in
formed Of the radical turn in the case and
he was described as spending his time In his
cell in the Tombs in profound despair over
the fate that had o~Vertaken an innocent
man. He was kept in ignorance OF the true
state OF the case Until he was arrai gned,
haggard and shaking. before the Court for
sentence to what he expected would be a
long term in prison. He said afterward
that he could see no hope anywhere and
that he expected no mercy.
The Recorder allowed the prisoners
sci to make a motion for a new trial just as
IL he were preparing to pronounce the sem
tenOe in the usual manner He denied the
motion and then he began to lash the pris-
oner numerically. He pictured the shame
full life that Langerman had led and prac-
tically accused him Of being a disgrace to
society.
After delivering this TRADE the Recorder
paused a moment and hen said abruptly:
Blu Notwithstanding that, Langerman,
no matter what you have been and no
matter what you may be, you are entitled
TO strict Justice and impartial justice and
Justice demands that you shall not be
punished under this verdict. The girl
has confessed to me that she consented to
the act Of intercourse with her.
Spectators and court officials who were
there declared hat IL was like a play on
the stage instead Of a case of felony in the
criminal courts. Up to that moment there
was probably not a soul in court who knew
that LanRerman was innocent except the
Recorder and the prisoner himself. Goff
then granted the motion for a new trial,
but Langerman was never tried again or
restrained from his liberty. h Aub
was not tried. She said afterward that she
must nave been dru9ged when she made
the confession, because she did not remem-
Der anything about it.