CONTRECOUP FRACTURES

When I wrote The Almanac Trial I questioned the testimony of one of the witnesses, a Doctor Charles Parker. I just didn’t see how what he said could be true, and I let my skepticism show through. Because I’m now writing a book discussing all of Lincoln’s murder trials, I have revisited the Almanac Trial, and discovered that Parker’s testimony was not wholly without substance. The victim, Pres Metzker, died from two blows to the head, one to the front and one to the back, either one being sufficient to kill him. The blow to the front of the head hit his eye and drove part of the skull into the brain. Metzker got into two skirmishes the night he was fatally injured, the first skirmish being with Lincoln’s client Duff Armstrong. Armstrong hit Metzker a mighty blow in the face, which the prosecution blamed for the broken bones in Metzker’s face. Armstrong said he used his fist, the prosecution said he used a slungshot. Later that evening James H. Norris bushwhacked Metzker, striking him in the back of the head with a neck yoke—which would be the equivalent of hitting him with a baseball bat.

Lincoln wanted to blame the murder completely on Norris, and to do so, he had to have some evidence that Metzker’s face was broken by something other than Armstrong’s fist or slungshot. Enter Dr. Parker. Dr. Parker testified that the fracture to Metzker’s face could be a contrecoup fracture—something I had never heard of. I thought he was trying to blow smoke on the jury with some fast talk, and trying to transform a contrecoup brain injury into a fracture.

I’m now going to try to explain contrecoup brain injury, and it’s going to sound nothing like what you’d hear if a brain surgeon described it for you: The brain floats in a cavity filled with liquid. When something hits the head hard enough, the skull moves toward the brain and the brain hits the skull. The injury caused by the brain striking the skull where the blunt object hits it on the outside is called a coup trauma. Now, the brain acts like a rubber ball. It compresses, and then bounces across the skull cavity and hits the skull on the opposite side of the head. The injury caused when the brain hits the opposite side of the head is called a contrecoup trauma. You see a lot of that type of injury in severe child abuse cases and child murders. It seemed ridiculous to me to think that the brain would bounce across the skull cavity and hit the opposite side of the skull hard enough to cause a fracture.

Researching this second book, I decided to dig deeper into the issue and was surprised to learn that there actually is an injury to the skull called a contrecoup fracture, and it happens in the fragile orbital bones around the eyes. Maybe Doctor Parker wasn’t blowing smoke after all. I dug deeper, and this is what I learned (once again, my description is NOT going to be given with medical precision): If a large enough area of the back of the head is hit hard enough, it won’t break, but the force of the blow will be transferred through the skull to the front where it will break the orbital bones. It’s kind of like the karate guy who lays five board one on top of the other, hits them, and breaks only the bottom board.

Doctor Parker’s explanation for Metzker’s facial fracture was less unlikely than I thought it was, but there were still some problems with it:

1] The trauma to the back of the head has to cover a large enough area to keep the skull from breaking. If the skull breaks and caves into the braincase, the energy is dissipated in the back of the head and won’t transfer to the front. A neck yoke isn’t likely to cause a contrecoup fracture. Parker tried to remedy this by suggesting that Metzker could have fallen off his horse while riding home.

2] Contrecoup fractures are rare. Rare enough to call into question Doctor Parker’s testimony that he had treated three contrecoup fractures in his practice. An E.R. doctor in a large metropolitan area, maybe; a prairie doctor on a sparsely populated frontier, not likely.

3] Contrecoup fractures are never compressed. It’s against the laws of physics. the force is going in one direction, the broken bones are not going to swim against the tide of the blow and penetrate the brain going in the other direction. In Metzker’s eye injury, the broken bones were driven into the skull; therefore the eye injury was not a contrecoup fracture.

THE TRAILOR MURDER CASE

In addition to being a successful trial lawyer, Lincoln had a gift for writing. Duff Armstrong wasn't the only person he defended on a murder charge. Although he never talked about the Armstrong case, he once wrote an account of one of his early murder cases, a mysterious affair which never had a satisfactory resolution. He wrote the article anonymously for publication in a newspaper called the Quincy Whig. The paper published Lincoln's story with this preface:

 

``The following narrative has been handed us for publication by a member of the bar. There is no doubt of the truth of every fact stated; and the whole affair is of so extraordinary a character as to entitle it to publication, and commend it to the attention of those at present engaged in discussing reforms in criminal jurisprudence, and the abolition of capital punishment. ED. WHIG.''

It is hoped that Lincoln earned some money from the publication of his story. His clients never paid him for representing them and he wound up filing an unsuccessful lawsuit to recover his fee.

Here, then, in his own words, is the story of what he called a

 

REMARKABLE CASE OF ARREST FOR MURDER. 

In the year 1841,   there resided, at different points in the State of Illinois, three brothers by the name of Trailor. Their Christian names were William, Henry and Archibald. Archibald resided at Springfield, then as now the Seat of Government of the State. He was a sober, retiring and industrious man, of about thirty years of age; a carpenter by trade, and a bachelor, boarding with his partner in business---a Mr. Myers. Henry, a year or two older, was a man of like retiring and industrious habits; had a family and resided with it on a farm at Clary's Grove, about twenty miles distant from Springfield in a North-westerly direction. William, still older, and with similar habits, resided on a farm in Warren county, distant from Springfield something more than a hundred miles in the same North-westerly direction. He was a widower, with several children. In the neighborhood of William's residence, there was, and had been for several years, a man by the name of Fisher, who was somewhat above the age of fifty; had no family, and no settled home; but who boarded and lodged a while here, and a while there, with the persons for whom he did little jobs of work. His habits were remarkably economical, so that an impression got about that he had accumulated a considerable amount of money.

In the latter part of May in the year mentioned, William formed the purpose of visiting his brothers at Clary's Grove, and Springfield; and Fisher, at the time having his temporary residence at his house, resolved to accompany him. They set out together in a buggy with a single horse. On Sunday Evening they reached Henry's residence, and staid overnight. On Monday Morning, being the first Monday of June, they started on to Springfield, Henry accompanying them on horseback. They reached town about noon, met Archibald, went with him to his boarding house, and there took up their lodgings for the time they should remain. After dinner, the three Trailors and Fisher left the boarding house in company, for the avowed purpose of spending the evening together in looking about the town. At supper, the Trailors had all returned, but Fisher was missing, and some inquiry was made about him. After supper, the Trailors went out professedly in search of him. One by one they returned, the last coming in after late tea time, and each stating that he had been unable to discover anything of Fisher. The next day, both before and after breakfast, they went professedly in search again, and returned at noon, still unsuccessful.

Dinner again being had, William and Henry expressed a determination to give up the search and start for their homes. This was remonstrated against by some of the boarders about the house, on the ground that Fisher was somewhere in the vicinity, and would be left without any conveyance, as he and William had come in the same buggy. The remonstrance was disregarded, and they departed for their homes respectively. Up to this time, the knowledge of Fisher's mysterious disappearance, had spread very little beyond the few boarders at Myers', and excited no considerable interest.

After the lapse of three or four days, Henry returned to Springfield, for the ostensible purpose of making further search for Fisher. Procuring some of the boarders, he, together with them and Archibald, spent another day in ineffectual search, when it was again abandoned, and he returned home. No general interest was yet excited.

On the Friday, week after Fisher's disappearance, the Postmaster at Springfield received a letter from the Postmaster nearest William's residence in Warren county, stating that William had returned home without Fisher, and was saying, rather boastfully, that Fisher was dead, and had willed him his money, and that he had got about fifteen hundred dollars by it. The letter further stated that William's story and conduct seemed strange; and desired the Postmaster at Springfield to ascertain and write what was the truth in the matter. The Postmaster at Springfield made the letter public, and at once, excitement became universal and intense.

Springfield, at that time had a population of about 3500, with a city organization. The Attorney General of the State resided there. A purpose was forthwith formed to ferret out the mystery, in putting which into execution, the Mayor of the city, and the Attorney General took the lead. To make search for, and, if possible, find the body of the man supposed to be murdered, was resolved on as the first step. In pursuance of this, men were formed into large parties, and marched abreast, in all directions, so as to let no inch of ground in the vicinity, remain unsearched. Examinations were made of cellars, wells, and pits of all descriptions, where it was thought possible the body might be concealed. All the fresh, or tolerably fresh graves at the grave-yard were pried into, and dead horses and dead dogs were disinterred, where, in some instances, they had been buried by their partial masters.

This search, as has appeared, commenced on Friday. It continued until Saturday afternoon without success, when it was determined to dispatch officers to arrest William and Henry at their residences respectively. The officers started on Sunday Morning, meanwhile, the search for the body was continued, and rumors got afloat of the Trailors having passed, at different times and places, several gold pieces, which were readily supposed to have belonged to Fisher. On Monday, the officers sent for Henry, having arrested him, arrived with him. The Mayor and Attorney General took charge of him, and set their wits to work to elicit a discovery from him. He denied, and denied, and persisted in denying.

They still plied him in every conceivable way, till Wednesday, when, protesting his own innocence, he stated that his brothers, William and Archibald had murdered Fisher; that they had killed him, without his (Henry's) knowledge at the time, and made a temporary concealment of his body; that immediately preceding his and William's departure from Springfield for home, on Tuesday, the day after Fisher's disappearance, William and Archibald communicated the fact to him, and engaged his assistance in making a permanent concealment of the body; that at the time he and William left professedly for home, they did not take the road directly, but meandering their way through the streets, entered the woods at the North West of the city, two or three hundred yards to the right of where the road where they should have travelled entered them; that penetrating the woods some few hundred yards, they halted and Archibald came a somewhat different route, on foot, and joined them; that William and Archibald then stationed him (Henry) on an old and disused road that ran nearby, as a sentinel, to give warning of the approach of any intruder; that William and Archibald then removed the buggy to the edge of a dense brush thicket, about forty yards distant from his (Henry's) position, where, leaving the buggy, they entered the thicket, and in a few minutes returned with the body and placed it in the buggy; that from his station, he could and did distinctly see that the object placed in the buggy was a dead man, of the general appearance and size of Fisher; that William and Archibald then moved off with the buggy in the direction of Hickox's mill pond, and after an absence of half an hour returned, saying they had put him in a safe place; that Archibald then left for town, and he and William found their way to the road, and made for their homes.

At this disclosure, all lingering credulity was broken down, and excitement rose to an almost inconceivable height. Up to this time, the well-known character of Archibald had repelled and put down all suspicions as to him. Till then, those who were ready to swear that a murder had been committed, were almost as confident that Archibald had had no part in it. But now, he was seized and thrown into jail; and, indeed, his personal security rendered it by no means objectionable to him.

And now came the search for the brush thicket, and the search of the mill pond. The thicket was found, and the buggy tracks at the point indicated. At a point within the thicket the signs of a struggle were discovered, and a trail from thence to the buggy track was traced. In attempting to follow the track of the buggy from the thicket, it was found to proceed in the direction of the mill pond, but could not be traced all the way. At the pond, however, it was found that a buggy had been backed down to, and partially into the water's edge. Search was now to be made in the pond; and it was made in every imaginable way. Hundreds and hundreds were engaged in raking, fishing, and draining. After much fruitless effort in this way, on Thursday Morning, the mill dam was cut down, and the water of the pond partially drawn off, and the same processes of search again gone through with.

About noon of this day, the officer sent for William, returned having him in custody; and a man calling himself Dr. Gilmore, came in company with them. It seems that the officer arrested William at his own house early in the day on Tuesday, and started to Springfield with him; that after dark awhile, they reached Lewiston in Fulton county, where they stopped for the night; that late in the night this Dr. Gilmore arrived, stating that Fisher was alive at his house; and that he had followed on to give the information, so that William might be released without further trouble; that the officer, distrusting Dr. Gilmore, refused to release William, but brought him on to Springfield, and the Dr. accompanied them.

On reaching Springfield, the Dr. re-asserted that Fisher was alive, and at his house. At this the multitude for a time, were utterly confounded. Gilmore's story was communicated to Henry Trailor, who, without faltering, reaffirmed his own story about Fisher's murder. Henry's adherence to his own story was communicated to the crowd, and at once the idea started, and became nearly, if not quite universal that Gilmore was a confederate of the Trailors, and had invented the tale he was telling, to secure their release and escape. Excitement was again at its zenith.

About 3 o'clock the same evening, Myers, Archibald's partner, started with a two horse carriage, for the purpose of ascertaining whether Fisher was alive, as stated by Gilmore, and if so, of bringing him back to Springfield with him. On Friday a legal examination was gone into before two Justices, on the charge of murder against William and Archibald. Henry was introduced as a witness by the prosecution, and on oath, re-affirmed his statements, as heretofore detailed; and, at the end of which, he bore a thorough and rigid cross-examination without faltering or exposure.

The prosecution also proved by a respectable lady, that on the Monday evening of Fisher's disappearance, she saw Archibald whom she well knew, and another man whom she did not then know, but whom she believed at the time of testifying to be William, (then present;) and still another, answering the description of Fisher, all enter the timber at the North West of town, (the point indicated by Henry,) and after one or two hours, saw William and Archibald return without Fisher.

Several other witnesses testified, that on Tuesday, at the time William and Henry professedly gave up the search for Fisher's body and started for home, they did not take the road directly, but did go into the woods as stated by Henry. By others also, it was proved, that since Fisher's disappearance, William and Archibald had passed rather an unusual number of gold pieces. The statements heretofore made about the thicket, the signs of a struggle, the buggy tracks, &c., were fully proven by numerous witnesses. At this the prosecution rested.

Dr. Gilmore was then introduced by the defendants. He stated that he resided in Warren county about seven miles distant from William's residence; that on the morning of William's arrest, he was out from home and heard of the arrest, and of its being on a charge of the murder of Fisher; that on returning to his own house, he found Fisher there; that Fisher was in very feeble health, and could give no rational account as to where he had been during his absence; that he (Gilmore) then started in pursuit of the officer as before stated, and that he should have taken Fisher with him only that the state of his health did not permit. Gilmore also stated that he had known Fisher for several years, and that he had understood he was subject to temporary derangement of mind, owing to an injury about his head received in early life.

There was about Dr. Gilmore so much of the air and manner of truth, that his statement prevailed in the minds of the audience and of the court, and the Trailors were discharged; although they attempted no explanation of the circumstances proven by the other witnesses. On the next Monday, Myers arrived in Springfield, bringing with him the now famed Fisher, in full life and proper person. Thus ended this strange affair; and while it is readily conceived that a writer of novels could bring a story to a more perfect climax, it may well be doubted, whether a stranger affair ever really occurred.

Much of the matter remains in mystery to this day. The going into the woods with Fisher, and returning without him, by the Trailors; their going into the woods at the same place the next day, after they professed to have given up the search; the signs of a struggle in the thicket, the buggy tracks at the edge of it; and the location of the thicket and the signs about it, corresponding precisely with Henry's story, are circumstances that have never been explained.

William and Archibald have both died since---William in less than a year, and Archibald in about two years after the supposed murder. Henry is still living, but never speaks of the subject. It is not the object of the writer of this, to enter into the many curious speculations that might be indulged upon the facts of this narrative; yet he can scarcely forbear a remark upon what would, almost certainly have been the fate of William and Archibald, had Fisher not been found alive. It seems he had wandered away in mental derangement, and, had he died in this condition, and his body been found in the vicinity, it is difficult to conceive what could have saved the Trailors from the consequence of having murdered him. Or, if he had died, and his body never found, the case against them, would have been quite as bad, for, although it is a principle of law that a conviction for murder shall not be had, unless the body of the deceased be discovered, it is to be remembered, that Henry testified he saw Fisher's dead body.

Lincoln, Abraham. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume1. Roy Baisler, ed. New Brunswick, NJ: 1953, 371-376

DUFF ARMSTRONG'S BAIL HEARING

In writing the book on the Almanac Trial I tried to present my conclusions and to show the line of reasoning I took to arrive at them. I recognized that other people could look at the same evidence and draw different conclusions, and that suited me fine. I wanted readers to be able to decide for themselves what happened, a task which is made harder when they’re reading the facts filtered through someone else’s conclusions. I therefore included two appendices which set forth the statements of the major witnesses to the trial and the court record. Considerations of space prevented me from including everything I wanted in the appendices, but I’m satisfied that what I omitted was of lesser importance. Space considerations also prevented me from dealing with all the details of other works which I believed to be mistaken.

Some errors were caused by the authors not having all the relevant information. When an author like Sandberg, Beveridge, or Tarbell is writing a multivolume work about the entire life of Lincoln, the author isn’t going to be conversant with the minute details of every aspect of Lincoln’s life. Other errors resulted because the authors, not being criminal trial lawyers, were not familiar with the ins and outs of prosecuting and defending criminal cases and hence misunderstood the significance of some evidence. Others came about because when the authors looked at the evidence, they looked at it from the vantage point of preconception. Often you fail to see what is there because your preconceptions have conditioned you to see what you expect. As Sherlock Holmes once complained to Dr. Watson, they saw but they did not observe.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. The idea has become current that when Lincoln moved to have Duff Armstrong released on bail, the motion was really a motion to reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter. The Illinois constitution at the time denied bail as a matter of right to those accused of murder where the proof of guilt was evident or the presumption great. Nonlawyers looking at the situation used this chain of reasoning: (1) Murder defendants could not be to bail. (2) Duff Armstrong was charged with murder. (3) Duff Armstrong could not be released on bail. (4) Lincoln asked that Armstrong be released on bail. (5) Armstrong could only be released on bail if he were charged with manslaughter. (6) Therefore, Lincoln was asking that the charge be reduced to manslaughter. A good, tight line of reasoning leading to an inescapable conclusion if premise (1) were correct. Unfortunately for the soundness of the argument, it is not correct. It was possible for murder defendants to get out on bail regardless of whether they were legally entitled to bail.

Bail as a matter of right was denied to murder defendants  only if the proof of guilt was not evident nor the presumption great. This meant that if the evidence against the defendant was strong, he had no right to bail, but if the defendant could show that the evidence against him wasn’t strong he was entitled to bail as a matter of right. Lincoln may have been arguing that the evidence was weak enough to allow for the defendant to be entitled to bail as a matter of right.  I don’t think that was the case for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that apparently the court did not hear testimony on the motion for bail. At least there is no record of witnesses having testified. I think it is more likely that Lincoln made another argument to the judge. A capital defendant had no right to bail, but that doesn’t mean that the judge can’t grant bail as a matter of judicial discretion.

THE DRAMATIS PERSONAE OF THE ALMANAC TRIAL

Readers of my forthcoming book, Abraham Lincoln's Most Famous Case: The Almanac Trial, might like a who's who of the major figures in the Almanac Trial. Here it is:

Allen, Charles—Eyewitness who testified that he saw Duff Armstrong strike Preston Metzker with a slungshot.

Apolitical Observer, The—The anonymous informant whose version of the trial saw print in the newspaper article “A Sensation Story Spoilt.”

Arenz, Probate Judge—Provided the second almanac which was compared to Lincoln’s almanac during the trial.

Armstrong, Hannah—Widowed mother of Duff Armstrong who recruited Lincoln for the defense.

Armstrong, William Duff—Accused murderer of Preston Metzker.

Bergen, Abram—Attended the trial to study Lincoln's performance as a trial lawyer.

Brady, John T.—Member of the jury.

Byers, Abraham—Photographer who made an ambrotype of Lincoln on the afternoon of the Almanac Trial.

Cartwright, Peter--Keynote speaker at the camp meeting where Metzker was killed.

Dick, Sheriff James—Bailiff at Armstrong trial. 

Dilworth, Caleb—Attorney hired by Hannah Armstrong to defend her son.

Douglas, William A.—First witness called in the Almanac Trial. Pulled Metzker off of Allen.

Dowell, George—Witness to the fight. Helped William Douglas pulled Metzker off of Allen.

Edwards, Thomas S.—A Clary’s Grove Boy who pleaded with Lincoln to take Duff Armstrong’s case.

Fullerton, Hugh—Elected state’s attorney who prosecuted Norris and Armstrong.

Harriott, Judge James—Presided over the trials of both Duff Armstrong and James H. Norris.

Havinghorst, John H.—Foreman of the grand jury which indicted Armstrong and Norris.

Husted, John—Deputy Sheriff who arrested Charles Allen for failure to answer his subpoena.

Lacey, Lyman—Law partner of William Walker who assisted in the defense of Norris and Armstrong.

Logan, Milton—Foreman of the Almanac Trial jury.

Metzker, James Preston—Victim of the killing which was charged in the Almanac Trial indictment.

Norris, James H.—Co-defendant of William Duff Armstrong who was convicted of manslaughter and later pardoned.

Parker, Dr. Charles—Defense witness at the Almanac Trial.

Randle, George—Circuit riding preacher who organized the camp meeting at which Metzker was killed.

Shaw, J. Henry—Assisted Hugh Fullerton in the prosecution of Armstrong.

Stephenson, Dr. Benjamin F.—Testified for the prosecution in the Almanac Trial.

Walker, William—Attorney for John H. Norris who also assisted the defense in the trial of Duff Armstrong.

Watkins, Nelson—Witness for the defense who admitted making the slungshot alleged to have killed Metzker.

Western Republican, The—Anonymous informant whose account of the trial was first told in the newspaper article “Thrilling Episode from the Life of Lincoln.”

Yates, Governor Richard—Pardoned James H. Norris for the murder of Metzker.

NEARING THE FINISH LINE

I have had a very busy Christmas break. An over large class last semester, coupled with an overly ambitious final project assignment contributed to me spending most of my free time grading papers. I had expected around 20 students in my class, and I got 49. The final project was too long for even a class of 20. I finally got all the papers graded, though, and I'm going to turn the grades in on Monday. It's odd, I think, that when I was an ASA I could easily stand up in court and urge a judge to send someone to prison for the rest of his natural life, but now as an instructor I have difficulty giving a student the low grade that the student unquestionably earned. 

Right in the middle of all grading all those finals I got the final page proofs for The Almanac Trial. I have to proofread and  index the pages and get it all back to the publisher by February 3. I could hardly wait to finish grading papers so that I could jump on proofreading. With previous books, proofreading has always been a gigantic chore, but it seems I never get tired of re-reading The Almanac Trial. Every time I read through something I have written, I feel an almost overpowering urge to tinker with the text in an effort to improve it. Apparently lots of authors have this problem, because whenever the publisher sends out the final page proofs, they are always accompanied by a dire warning to leave the text alone and simply look for typographical errors. As I started reading through the proofs,  I found many things I wanted to rewrite, but so far I have resisted the temptation. I'm about half through with the process of proofing, and I'm sure that I can make it through the rest of the book without succumbing to the temptation of trying to do a major rewrite of some part of the book.

 

Nobody else may be pleased with the final product, but I am. I weigh the evidence and make what I feel are reasonable findings. Some of the finding may not be popular, and some readers are bound to disagree, but as Ricky Nelson said, you can't please everyone. One thing that I really like about the book is the fact I put in the Appendices. In Appendices A and B, I set out the statements of the major witnesses and the more important documents from the court file. This gives readers the chance to look at the evidence for themselves without any editorial comment and draw their own conclusions about the trial. Appendix C traces the Armstrong family's largely overlooked oral tradition of the trial, much of which bears very little resemblance to the written history. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in most of these stories, but I think there may be some wheat in the chaff of the family's legends.

 

 

Title Page

 



I think the book is well designed, and any problems with the layout are not attributable to the publisher, but are the result of the author's amateurish work with the graphics which he provided.  

LINCOLN CROSS-EXAMINES STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS

When Abraham Lincoln defended Duff Armstrong in the Almanac Trial he was preparing to run for the United States Senate against Stephen A. Douglas. During the debates both Lincoln and Douglas gave speeches in the park across the street from the Almanac Trial courthouse. The speeches they gave in the park were not technically a part of the debates because they gave them on different days. It is not the speeches they gave in Beardstown that I want to talk about, but rather an exchange between the two candidates during the official debates.

Modern presidential debates are really quite laughable affairs when compared to the prototypical series of campaign debates. The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 were actual debates and not carefully stage-managed opportunities to disgorge prefabricated talking points. The two men made arguments to their audiences in courtroom fashion with one party getting to open and close the argument. The format of the debates allowed for the candidates to ask each other questions about the positions taken on various issues. Allowing the candidates to ask each other questions gave Lincoln a chance to exercise his considerable skills as a cross-examiner, and he used them to good effect in the debates.

One of the hotly contested issues of the Lincoln-Douglas debates was the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott opinion. Douglas correctly believed Lincoln’s opposition to slavery would render him vulnerable on this issue. Douglas therefore composed seven questions which he challenged Lincoln to answer. When Douglas asked these questions at the first debate held in Ottawa Lincoln ignored them, and Douglas made political hay from Lincoln’s silence. Lincoln decided to take up Douglas’s challenge at the debate held in Freeport, and Lincoln’s response changed the course of American history. Frederick Trevor Hill, in his book Lincoln the Lawyer, gives a concise account of the Freeport debate:

“I will answer these interrogatories” announced Lincoln, *** “upon condition that he [Judge Douglas] will answer questions from me not exceeding the same number. I give him an opportunity to respond.”

No reply came from his adversary, and the vast audience at Freeport waited the outcome with a breathless interest which the keen jury lawyer instantly interpreted. “The judge remains silent,” continued Lincoln, impressively. “I now say I will answer his interrogatories whether he answers mine or not; but after I have done so, I shall propound mine to him.” Another breathless pause greeted this resistless challenge.*** 

[H]aving shown that he could in this way technically defeat his opponent's object, he instantly waived the form of the questions and replied to [the questions] one after the other as fairly and frankly as anyone could desire; and, having done so, he propounded four counter-questions which proved to be the most fatal “cross-examination” or counter-questioning in history. All the inquiries were adroit, but it was the second which displayed Lincoln as a master of interrogation.

“Can the people of the United States Territory” he asked, “in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State constitution?”

The answer to this question required Douglas to interpret the Dred Scott decision. If he replied in the negative, the people of Illinois would repudiate him, because they would not countenance the idea that the mischief had been done and that slavery had already been forced upon the Territories. If, on the other hand, he answered that the Territories were still free to choose or reject slavery, he would have to explain away the Dred Scott decision, which guaranteed protection to slave property in the Territories as a constitutional right; and this would displease the Southern Democracy which was then listening to his every word to determine whether he was or was not a safe Presidential candidate.

Hill reports that Lincoln and his handlers had a spirited debate about whether Lincoln should take this tack. Loosely worded or not, Douglas’s questions were deadly. If Lincoln honestly answered Douglas’s questions and Douglas gave plausible answers to Lincoln’s, Lincoln’s campaign for the Senate was dead.

The Republican politicians of Illinois were not so astute as Douglas; still they foresaw that he would give a plausible answer to the question which would satisfy the local voters, and they begged Lincoln to withdraw the inquiry. But the far-sighted lawyer who framed it was deaf to their entreaties. “Then you will never be senator!” was the angry warning of one of his advisers. “If Douglas answers,” responded Lincoln calmly, “he will never be President.”

Things turned out precisely as the far-sighted Lincoln and his near-sighted handlers predicted. Hill tells us:

The fatal question was therefore left as Lincoln had phrased it, and at the first opportunity Douglas answered by stating that the Territories were still free agents. They could exclude slavery despite the Dred Scott decision, he explained, simply by adopting local police regulations so hostile to slavery that no slave-owner could enjoy his property within their boundaries.

As soon as he had uttered it, Douglas must have seen that his answer involved a gross blunder in law; but if he had any doubt on the matter, Lincoln speedily dispelled it [in his reply speech]. How could the constitutional right of peaceful enjoyment of slave property guaranteed in the Dred Scott case be canceled by police or any other hostile legislation? he demanded. Any such ordinance or law would be contrary to the constitution and absolutely void. Either Judge Douglas's answer or the doctrine of the Supreme Court was bad law, for the one was inconsistent with the other.

But, illogical as it was, this fallacy caught the popular fancy, and Douglas, seeing that it satisfied his constituents, held to it and was elected to the Senate. Nevertheless, as Lincoln anticipated, his blunder in law cost him the Presidency, and not long afterward Judah Benjamin, one of the most ardent and able representatives of the South, arraigned him as a renegade and traitor.

“We accuse him for this,” he thundered: “that having bargained with us upon a point upon which we were at issue, that it should be considered a judicial point; that he would abide the decision; that he would act under the decision, and consider it a doctrine of the party; that having said that to us here in the Senate, he went home, and, under the stress of a local election, his knees gave way; his whole person trembled. His adversary stood upon principle and was beaten; and lo, he is the candidate of a mighty party for the Presidency of the United States. The senator from Illinois faltered. He got the prize for which he faltered; but the grand prize of his ambition to-day slips from his grasp because of his faltering in his former contest, and his success in the canvass for the Senate, purchased for an ignoble price, has cost him the loss of the Presidency of the United States!”

Thus two years after Lincoln's question was put and answered Douglas was repudiated by his Southern friends, the Democratic party was split, three candidates instead of one were nominated against the Republicans, and the lawyer whose skill had precipitated this result was triumphantly elected at the polls.

The full text of the Freeport debate can be read in Chapter Six of the Illinois Historical Society’s volume, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

PETER CARTWRIGHT--THE BACKWOODS PREACHER

The killing which led to the prosecution of Duff Armstrong in the Almanac Trial occurred just outside a camp meeting held at a place which is sometimes called Walnut Grove. The grove, which also went by other names, was a 400 acre stand of trees along the Salt Creek in rural Illinois not far from Springfield. The camp meeting was a 19th century American phenomenon somewhat analogous to the early 20th century tent revival. It was a multi-day revival meeting, but it was held under the open sky. People came to the meeting in wagons, circled the wagons around the meeting ground, and camped for the duration of the meeting. The attendees needs were supplied by suttlers who camped on the outskirts of the camps. Some of these suttlers sold alcohol, and some of the worshippers overindulged. This led to such disturbances at the camp meeting that the Illinois legislature passed a law requiring that alcoholic beverages could not be sold within a mile of a camp meeting.

Purveyors of alcohol set up camps a mile distance from the camp meeting, and in addition to attracting thirsty worshippers it attracted riffraff. There would be gambling, horse racing, brawling, and other scandalous behavior at the whiskey camps. The commotion at the whiskey camps would sometimes spill over into the camp meetings. The campers responded to this by either forming security teams of armed men to keep order arranging for a law enforcement presence at the meetings. It was during such a brawl at the whiskey camp outside the Salt Creek meeting grounds that Preston Metzker, the Almanac Trial victim, received his fatal injuries.

There was one revivalist who, in his youth, was not averse to leaving his pulpit to fight with those who would disturb his sermons. This preacher was Peter Cartwright, one of the most famous of the camp meeting evangelists and a bitter political enemy of Abraham Lincoln. The two men argued before Lincoln entered politics, and they opposed each other the first time Lincoln ran for office (Cartwright won the election). Afterward, Cartwright opposed Lincoln every time Lincoln ran for office. During Lincoln’s presidency, however, Cartwright defended him against criticism.

 

Signed Frontispiece of Peter Cartwright's Autobiography

 

Cartwright was a towering figure in Illinois religion and politics. When I was in Illinois searching for the scene of the camp meeting, I saw a historical marker which showed the way to Cartwright’s grave. It was down a side road from the one I was traveling, and I resolved that when I returned down that same road to Springfield where I was staying I would visit his grave. I missed the sign on the return trip and consequently didn’t see the actual grave.

Cartwright was the featured speaker at the camp meeting where Metzker got killed, and there is a small amount of evidence that Metzker and Armstrong actually attended one of Cartwright’s sermons. As I said, the evidence for this is small. It is also weak. If Metzker and Armstrong did hear Cartwright speak, it is unfortunate that they did not heed his message. You might say that their refusal to repent was one of the few failures at the camp meeting, which the organizer declared to have been very successful.

As I said earlier, Cartwright went from bitter enemy of Lincoln the politician to defender of Lincoln the president. This may be attributed to the fact that after Lincoln lost his bid for the Senate, he defended Cartwright’s grandson on a charge of murder and got him off. How Lincoln accomplished this feat is a story in itself and will be dealt with at length in a future post.

If you are interested in learning more about Peter Cartwright, you can obtain a free copy of The Autobiography of Peter Cartwright: The Backwoods Preacher at the Internet Archive.

DUFF ARMSTRONG'S GRAVE

It was Sunday, and most places were closed, so I decided to try to find the scene of the killing which resulted in Duff Armstrong's prosecution for murder. I knew two things about the scene: (1) It was somewhere near Salt Creek, and (2) it was in a place called either Walnut Grove, Walker's Grove, or Virgin's Grove. I had been told the approximate location of the place by one of the locals, and I felt I could find it. I was wrong. I found Salt Creek, which we in North Florida would call a river, but when I got to the place where Walnut Grove was supposed to be, all I found was a cornfield and a cemetery, and it was nowhere near Salt Creek. It was something of an Oddysey.

Salt Creek

Lane was very patient with me as I drove aimlessly through cornfields and small villages looking for Walnut Grove. It was something like going into a time warp back to the 1950's. We could have been in early twentieth century rural North Florida except that Florida corn cannot hold a candle to Illinois corn. Comparing the corn on the farm where I grew up to Illinois corn would be like comparing wild quail to farm-raised quail. Finally, I decided to give up and go back to the hotel. We needed gas, so I stopped at a gas station in a small town.

When I got out to put my credit card into the gas pump, I found further evidence that we had gone into a time warp back to the 1950's. There was no slot for a credit card. A quick check of the price displayed on the pump reassured me that we were still in the twenty first century, so I went inside the store to prepay. "Oh, you don't have to prepay," said the lady behind the counter, "Just pump the gas and come back and tell me how much it was." I did so. As I was paying, I asked her if she knew where Walnut Grove was. She didn't know, but she knew where I could go to find out. She directed me to a neighboring village and told me to check at the bar on the main street there.

We drove through more cornfields until we came to the small town, and then couldn't find the sign for the bar. I guess the locals knew where the bar was, so there was no sense in spending money on useless extravagances like signs. Using my finely honed detective skills, I deduced that the bar was the only building on the street which had cars parked in front of it. I pulled up and parked and asked Lane if she wanted to come in with me. She didn't.

The inside of the bar looked like the typical inside of a rural bar. I've visited many bars just like it, but when I visited most of those bars, it was in connection with a criminal investigation. I bellied up to the bar next to one of the patrons and the barmaid came over and asked me what I wanted. I told her, and she asked one of the patrons if he knew where Walnut Grove was. They told me that Duff Armstrong was buried in the Walnut Grove Cemetery and they knew where it was. Receiving my directions, I exited the bar, got back into the truck, and we were off to find Walnut Grove.

We found the cemetery, and there were some trees in the distance which could have been Walnut Grove, but there was mostly cornfields.

Walnut Grove (?) Cemetery

I put the question mark in the caption above because I'm not certain that the cemetery had anything to do with Walnut Grove. It did have Duff Armstrong's grave, though.

Duff Armstrong's Grave

The picture above doesn't do justice to the lush fields of corn surrounding the cemetery. Duff's grave marker did not bear his date of birth or date of death. It did give the military unit he served in during the Civil War.

WM. ARMSTRONG

CO.C.

85 ILL.INF.

By all the evidence I have been able to muster, Duff died a pauper. The headstone is  a generic headstone given to Civil War veterans. We tried to take a rubbing of the tombstone, but didn't have the proper equipment. Beside the headstone is plastic plaque which is somewhat more legible.

 

WILLIAM DUFF ARMSTRONG

Accused Slayer Of

Preston Metzker

May 7, 1858

Freed By Lincoln In

Almanac Trial

Before we left, we found another headstone that I thought was worthy of a photograph. The gentleman buried beneath this headstone certainly had a nice sense of humor.

PARDON ME FOR NOT STANDING UP

THE BEARDSTOWN COURTHOUSE

When Lane (my wife) and I arrived at the courthouse in Beardstown, it was a Saturday and the courthouse was closed. I was disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to see the courtroom, because we had a busy schedule during our time in Illinois and weren't going to be able to come back. I decided that I could at least take a photo of the plaque that the Beardstown Woman's Club had put on the front of the building.

 

Plaque commemorating the Almanac Trial

 
The plaque reads "The Beardstown Woman's Club erected this Tablet February 12, 1909, In Memory of ABRAHAM LINCOLN Who for the sake of a mother in distress, cleared her son, Duff Armstrong, of the charge of murder, in this Hall of Justice, May 7, 1858."

We were getting ready to leave when Lane suggested that she take  photo of me standing at the front door of the courthouse.

 

Me in Front of the Cass County Courthouse

I am a compulsive reader, so while I was at the front door, I read the signs taped inside the window. I learned that the courthouse museum was open on Saturdays, but that we were just too early. We waited for the museum to open. Around 9:00 a gentleman by the name of Corky Kinstle soon arrived to unlock the door and we followed him in. He gave us the full tour of all the exhibits in the museum, most of which dealt with the history of Beardstown. It was interesting, but I couldn't help becoming impatient to go ahead and get upstairs to the courtroom.

Then he took us down and showed us the jail, which was a dungeon-like room at the rear of the courthouse. It was here that Duff Armstrong was housed from November 1857 until May 1858 awaiting trial. Mr. Kinstle told us that Armstrong didn't spend all his time in the cage. The sheriff granted him trustee status and let him out to go work doing odd jobs at the sheriff's home. It is likely that this helped Duff get acquitted. The people of Beardstown, twelve of whom would eventually serve on Duff's jury, likely became familiar with him and decided that he couldn't be that desperate a criminal if the sheriff was letting him out to do odd jobs.

Mr. Kinstle said that an effigy of Duff was on the bed in his cell. The dummy of Duff had been there for many years, and scores, if not hundreds, of visitors to the museum had gotten their pictures taken with "Duff." I declined to get my picture taken with him, but I did take a photograph of him lying on his jail bunk bed.

 

The Beardstown Courthouse Jail Cells

As you can see from the photograph, accommodations for prisoners have improved in the last century and a half. It is said that while Duff was in jail there was also a school teacher serving time there, and that he taught Duff to read. After looking at the jail, our guide decided it was time for us to go upstairs and see what they had up there.

One room of the upstairs was called the "Black Museum," which made me think of Scotland Yard's Black Museum in London. The Beardstown Black Museum was nothing like the one in London. London's Black Museum, which is not open to the public, contains evidentiary exhibits from various criminal investigations over the years. Back in the heyday of old time radio, Orson Welles narrated a radio show called "The Black Museum." At the beginning of each episode, Welles would describe one of the evidentiary exhibits from the museum, and then you would  hear a dramatization of the case in which the exhibit was collected. The Beardstown Black Museum was a collection of antiques and curios donated by a man named Black. Outside the courtroom and the jail cell, this was my favorite part of the courthouse museum. Mr. Black collected antique firearms, and the display of guns was quite interesting.

After looking at the Black Museum, it was time to go into the courtroom itself. I will save a description of the courtroom for a future post.