prison. It does not appear by whom he was committed.
On Sunday morning (the 14th Sept.) the prisoners who had been taken
to Lancaster, were again brought before Alderman Reigart, but were
remanded until Tuesday the 16th.
Before the 16th, it was thought advisable by those in authority, to
change the nature of the charge against the prisoners. They had been
arrested as offenders against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Now
they were to be considered as culprits, to be punished by the laws of
the General Government, and were to be accused as traitors. It was
probably with a view to prepare for this, that, when they were brought
to the appointed place on the 16th, they were again remanded for one
week, until Tuesday the 23d of September.
It is generally considered that a man is safe from prison walls until
it has appeared to a magistrate that there is probable cause for
believing he has committed some offence that should be inquired into
by a jury of his country. Such was the common law of England, and many
believe it to be the common law of this country. The magistrate has
the right, in the exercise of a sound discretion, to detain suspected
parties a _reasonable_ time, while he hears the charges and decides
whether there is necessity for his making a formal commitment. In these
extraordinary cases, however, the operation of the law seemed to be
inconvenient to those who had its initiatory administration, and the
rule was not observed.
Before the appointed time, the company in the prison had been
increased. On the 18th September, Jacob Moore was arrested on process
issued by Squire Pownall.
The prisoners were brought up to Lancaster County Court House about 10
A. M., and the examination began before Alderman Reigart.
Thomas E. Franklin, Esq., John L. Thompson, Esq., District Attorney
for the County of Lancaster, John W. Ashmead, Esq., District Attorney
of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and
R. J. Brent, Esq., Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Maryland,
appeared as counsel to sustain the charges against the prisoners. On
their behalf appeared the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, George M. Kline,
George Ford and O. J. Dickey, Esqrs.
Twelve witnesses were examined on the part of the United States, and
about the same number on the part of the defence. After two days
deliberation, the Alderman felt it his “duty to commit Castner Hanway,
Elijah Lewis, John Morgan, Henry Simms, Jacob Moore, Lewis Clarkson,
Charles Hunter, Lewis Gales, George Williams, Alson Parnsley, George
Wells, Nelson Carter and Jacob Woods, into the custody of the Marshal
of the U. S. for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to answer at the
next session of the U. S. Circuit Court, the charge of having committed
Treason against the United States and aiding and abetting in the murder
of Edward Gorsuch, a worthy citizen of the State of Maryland.” They
were accordingly brought down to the Moyamensing Prison on the 25th of
September.
H. Clemens, A. Clinch, W. Harris, J. Phillips, L. Stewart and C.
Valentine were discharged, having been detained in prison from the
12th to the 25th of September to await their examination. Jacob Woods,
the man last mentioned, does not appear to have been arrested. He
was, towards the close of the examination, upon the witness stand,
virtually, though not formally, as state’s evidence. It appearing that
his testimony implicated himself more than any one else, was probably
the cause of his detention as prisoner instead of witness.
On Monday the 29th of September, “in consequence of the determination
of the District Attorney to send bills to the Grand Jury indicting for
Treason those accused of participation in the Christiana riot,” Judge
Kane charged that body at length upon the law which should govern them
in their inquiries. This course was required of the Judge by his duties
as a public officer; yet many were surprised that he should have taken
as the basis of his charge statements which many persons knew to be
purely imaginative.
He stated briefly the occurrences at Parker’s house on the morning
of the 11th September as he had heard them, and that “it was said
that the time and manner of these outrages evinced a combined purpose
forcibly to resist and make nugatory a constitutional provision; and in
confirmation of this, it is added, that for some months past gatherings
of people, strangers as well as citizens, have been held from time to
time in the vicinity of the place of the recent outbreak, at which
exhortations were made and pledges were interchanged to hold the law
for the recovery of fugitive slaves as of no validity, and to defy
its execution.” Personally, however, the learned Judge said he knew
nothing of the facts, and had attempted to preserve his mind free and
unprejudiced, being one of the members of the tribunal before which the
accused might be tried.
If the circumstances mentioned had taken place, the Judge was correct
in saying the highest crime known to the laws of the United States had
been committed at Christiana. He cited many authorities, and concluded
by stating with what misdemeanors the prisoners could be charged, under
the acts of Congress, if the Grand Jury were of opinion that treason
had not been committed.
On Friday of the same week (Oct. 13) the Grand Jury returned true bills
charging the following men with Treason.
(White). C. Hanway, E. Lewis, J. Scarlett, and James Jackson.
(Colored). J. Moore, G. Reed, B. Johnson, D. Caulsberry, A. Parnsley,
W. Brown, (2nd), H. Green, E. Clark, J. Holladay, W. Williams, B.
Pendergrast, J. Morgan, E. Thompson, T. Butler, C. Wilson, J. Jackson,
W. Brown, J. Clarkson, H. Sims, C. Hunter, L. Gales, P. Woods, L.
Clarkson, N. Carter, W. Parker, J. Berry, W. Berry and G. Williams.
One charging George Wells (colored) with the same offence, was ignored.
On the next day, like bills were returned against S. Williams, J.
Hammond, H. Curtis, W. Williams, W. Thomas and N. Ferd.
The bill against Noah Buley was ignored.
On the following Monday, the 6th of October, the U. S. Circuit Court,
in which the prisoners were to be tried, held its session. The District
Attorney moved for a special venire to issue to the Marshal to summon
108 Jurors, 12 of whom were to be from Lancaster County, “to try the
charges against Elijah Lewis and 37 others who had been committed for
treason against the United States growing out of the murderous outrage
at Christiana.” He announced that he would move for the arraignment of
the prisoners on the following Thursday, and that the fourth Monday of
November had been fixed for the trials. Judge Grier said that such a
motion was strictly proper, and he directed the Marshal “to summon men
of the highest respectability of character, for intelligence, integrity
and conscientiousness, in the community, and to inform them that their
attendance will be enforced by the Court, and that no excuse but
sickness would be received for non-attendance.”
The arraignment did not take place the next Thursday, for reasons best
known to the District Attorney. No further public proceedings were had
until the trial. In the mean time the Traitors were made as comfortable
by the attentions of their friends as the rules of the prison
permitted. Though the building was erected at an enormous expense, it
is badly ventilated and miserably heated. Yet the rules did not permit
any of the prisoners to have fire in their cells, which at that season
of the year was absolutely essential to their comfort. Some of them,
predisposed to pulmonary complaints, suffered severely on account
of this privation. Before the termination of the trial the Court
ordered the Marshal to provide more suitable quarters for two of them,
representations having been made by their counsel that this precaution
was necessary to preserve their health and probably their lives.
On Sunday morning, Nov. 9, about 4 o’clock, two of the witnesses for
the prosecution, who had been detained in the Debtors apartment of the
Moyamensing Prison, made their escape, by means of the shutters of
their cells and their blankets. A white man who was under confinement
on another charge went with them.
On Tuesday morning, in the District Court, the District Attorney, after
stating the facts, asked for a writ of Habeas Corpus directed to the
keeper of the Debtor’s apartment, returnable on the following Friday,
directing him to bring forth the runaways. On Friday, the keeper asked
for more time to make answer, and the following Monday was appointed.
On Monday, it appeared by the statements of some of the counsel for
the defence that the truant witnesses were more important for the cause
of the prisoners than for the prosecution, and they came into court
to complain of the escape as prejudicing their clients. The District
Attorney undertook to controvert this position, and argued that because
these witnesses were receiving $1.25 per day from the United States
while in confinement, more than they could have earned if at liberty,
their escape was not their own act and deed. A strange and novel
doctrine! Most men, whatever their complexion, would prefer the light
and air of heaven at 50 cents per day, to a cell 8 by 12, in a prison
notorious for its poor ventilation, at $1.25. This was, however, the
only evidence of “assistance from without,” which the U. S. Counsel
so frequently insinuated, and upon which Mr. Brent, in his official
report, rings such doleful changes, charging treachery on the part of
some officer _within_ the walls of the prison. The public was therefore
informed by one official dignitary, that these witnesses were assisted
_from without_; another tells us assistance came _from within_.
Leaving out of the question the universal preference for the _outside_
of prison walls, there are two circumstances to be considered in
relation to this escape, which, when told, the public will be as well
able to surmise the truth as any attornies, whether in or out of
office. These fugitives were confined as witnesses, not as defendants
upon _any_ charge. Their friends, or the friends of emancipation,
had not the same access to them the law gave to the prisoners. Being
detained to testify on behalf of the United States, they were under the
strict and especial charge of the government officers.
Besides, the Moyamensing prison is notoriously insecure. Scarcely
a month passes by that there are not escapes. The iron bars in the
windows of each cell are merely let into the mortar, which a prisoner
has only to remove with his knife. The bar can then easily be
displaced; and if a little management is used to escape the observation
of the keepers, a defendant need not wait for the verdict of a jury to
restore him to liberty.
On the investigation of the law relating to the matter, it was found
that the keeper of the debtor’s apartment was not amenable to the
United States District Court. The inquiry was accordingly dropped,
informally.
On the same morning, at the instance of the District Attorney, it was
ordered that the bills against the prisoners be certified to the U. S.
Circuit Court, and he announced that Castner Hanway would be tried on
the following Monday. John Jackson, it was also said, would be tried
immediately after Hanway.
During the week, the preparations made on both sides were conducted
in private; but one or two matters that excited some attention were
permitted to make their way into the public prints. The entire
private history of the difficulty which required the umpirage of the
authorities at Washington, would be peculiarly _piquant_. But we have
undertaken only an epitome of such matters as were made public, and
would be digressing from the course marked out, were we to go “behind
the scenes.”
It appears that as soon as the preliminary examinations were concluded,
and it was determined to try the offenders upon the charge of treason
against the United States, intimation was received from Washington by
the authorities in Philadelphia, that the Administration desired no
pains should be spared in conducting the trials with energy, and in
a style worthy the occasion. The learned District Attorney for the
United States obeyed these instructions to the very letter. Counsel
were retained to assist him. The country was searched to procure the
necessary evidence. Arguments were prepared beforehand, and briefs
drawn by skilful hands to be used at the proper time. Before these
preliminaries were quite concluded, letters were received from the
Attorney-General of a neighboring State, which, by their tone, plainly
showed that the writer considered himself entitled to the management of
the whole matter, and offers, it is said, were made to the authorities
here and their colleagues, to take the control of such portions of
the trials as this professional usurper chose to assign them? No
proposition like this could be entertained. The _dramatis personæ_ had
all been assigned their parts, and had studied their speeches. The
machinery had been adjusted for a certain number of wheels, and more
than these would clog the movement. Answer was made that there were
no vacancies to be supplied; but if the Attorney-General chose to be
present, some alteration might, perhaps, be made in the programme.
The chief Executive of the State he represented, would not permit
his officer to be thus rebuffed. Complaint was formally lodged at
Washington, the result of which was, that the whole management of the
case was altered. The then Secretary of State wished to _compromise_;
and when the District Attorney of the United States for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania arrived from Philadelphia, he was told that
the affair was unfortunate indeed, but an alteration was unavoidable.
The Attorney-General must be allowed to have his own way; and those who
had expended their time and talents in making the proper preparations
of the case, were to acknowledge him as their leader.
The effect of this misunderstanding was manifest upon the trial, and to
it is solely attributable the fact that, professionally speaking, the
management of the prosecution in Hanway’s case was, in many respects,
a complete blunder. Had the original intentions been pursued to
completion, the Bar of Philadelphia would not have been surprised by
the imbecile efforts that were made from time to time to bolster up the
mistakes and omissions constantly resulting from a misapprehension of
both the law and the facts of the case, on the part of those who had
assumed its management.
The papers of Saturday, the 22d of November, announced that the trials
would begin on Monday, and added, that “Such conveniences as the
limited room in which the trials are to take place (would allow) have
been prepared; but they are totally inadequate to the occasion, and we
shall not be surprised to hear of _hundreds_ being disappointed who
would like to hear the evidence and the arguments of counsel.”
This alone would be a sufficient answer to the absurdity of the
statements made by Mr. Brent in his official report, in regard to the
favors shown by the Marshal to the male and female members of the
Anti-Slavery Society, and to free negroes. The extract is made from
“Cummings’ Evening Bulletin,”--the authority Mr. Brent cites in support
of his allegations. It was penned before the commencement of the trial,
and may be considered as the testimony of an unbiassed witness.
If, however, the Governor of Maryland, to whom Mr. Brent’s report
is made, had taken the trouble to examine the files of the paper in
question, he would have found that on the first day of the trial, the
reporter says: “Long before the hour arrived for the Court to meet,
the seats were occupied by _white_ men, and _not a female_ made her
appearance. We did not see a colored man in the room.” In the account
of the second day, he says: “A very few members of the Society of
Friends were present; and these few were probably the personal friends
of Hanway.” In the report of the third day, no remark is made about
persons present. The reporter, however, says: “The seating of every
person who desires to be present cannot, of course, be accomplished.”
On the fourth day, it is said: “The same absence of colored persons is
visible.” Throughout the whole trial, no mention is made of colored
persons _in the Court room_, except those brought up from prison to be
identified by the witness Kline.
The exclusion of “a respectable gentleman from Maryland,” one of the
witnesses,--mentioned by Mr. B., is not a case of extremity. During
the examination of the witnesses who were called to testify to Kline’s
good character, a gentleman of Philadelphia, a member of the Bar, and
consequently an _officer of the Court_, who had been subpoenaed,
when called to the stand, before he answered the questions asked him,
complained to the Judges that he had been denied admission to the
Court room. Towards the close of the trial another member of the Bar
complained to the Court of the same thing. In both cases the Marshal
was called to account, and justified the conduct of his deputies by
saying the room was too small to admit all who desired to be present.
The Judge told him to do the best he could, and that all members of the
Bar _must_ be admitted.
The writer of this went away more than a dozen times because it was
impossible to get near the door, and saw hundreds do the same thing.
He was personally known to every officer of the Court, and could have
gained admission had there been standing room.
Those who wished to hear and see, secured their places betimes. If Mr.
Brent had read his favorite authority more closely, he would have seen
that the reporter remarks jocosely upon the perseverance and patience
of those who “secured their seats by seven o’clock A. M., and waited
till ten for the opening of the Court.” Had the “respectable gentleman
from Maryland” been out of bed in time, he might have secured a front
seat.
On Monday, the twenty-fourth of November, the Trial was commenced at
eleven o’clock A. M., in the United States Court room, at Philadelphia.
The entire second floor of the building, known as Independence Hall,
is leased by the General Government for the sittings of the Circuit
and District Courts. The eastern portion, immediately over the room in
which Congress held its sessions when Independence was declared, is
divided into the offices of the Clerk and Marshal, Jury and Witness
rooms, &c. The western portion is the Court room, and is probably one
of the most elegantly furnished, for court purposes, in the country.
The learned Judge of the District Court takes great pride in having
everything about him conducted in the most polished style, and few
Courts can boast of more urbane and polite attendants than the Circuit
and District Courts of the United States for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.
For all ordinary purposes, for admiralty causes, the hearing of patent
cases, and other business usually transacted in these Courts, the room
is sufficiently large. But on occasions attracting much of public
attention, great inconvenience is felt by all whose duties compel them
to be in attendance; and during the trial of Castner Hanway, as has
just been seen, complaints were loud and frequent.
For this occasion the room had been refitted. Gas fixtures of the
chastest designs had been erected, in anticipation of evening sessions.
Ventilators of the most appropriate patterns had been placed in the
ceiling, controlled by cords terminating at the bench of the Judges, so
that a uniform temperature could be preserved. Nothing was wanting but
space to promote the ease and comfort of those who were to figure in
the solemn investigation about to take place.
Long before the appointed hour, the Court room was filled with persons
anxious to witness the opening ceremonies. Officers were in attendance
to see that the spectators were seated, and no more were admitted
than the room would contain comfortably. In the lobbies and on the
stair-way, policemen were stationed to prevent the crowd from rushing
up, to allow those to pass who had been called thither by duty, and
to preserve order below. For the first ten days they were retained on
duty, their number being diminished by degrees until public curiosity
had subsided.
At eleven o’clock, Judges Grier and Kane took their seats, and the
Court was opened by the usual proclamation. The clerk called the names
of one hundred and sixteen persons who had been summoned by the Marshal
to attend as Jurors. Among them were some of the oldest and best known
citizens of the eastern part of the State of Pennsylvania,--men whose
lives were a guaranty that they were above all petty influences and
vulgar prejudices,--who could safely take the oath prescribed by law
for a juror.
Eighty-one answered to their names. Several of the absent had sent
excuses, and nineteen of those present were released either absolutely
or temporarily on account of sickness or other causes. Preliminary
arrangements were made for reporting the proceedings phonographically
for the use of the Court and the counsel. Some conversation was had as
to the propriety of restraining the publication of the testimony, &c.,
of the trial in the newspapers, for fear that, upon a second trial, an
unprejudiced panel of jurors could not be found. But no order was made
by the Court, and during the whole trial, the papers of this and the
adjoining cities contained full accounts of everything that transpired.
The District Attorney then gave notice that “as at present advised, he
would in the morning move for the arraignment of Castner Hanway,”--and
the Court adjourned for the day.
On Tuesday morning, before ten o’clock, the Court room was again
filled. After a few more excuses of jurors had been heard, the District
Attorney for the United States, moved for the arraignment of the
defendant, Castner Hanway. Mr. John M. Read, one of the counsel who
afterwards appeared for the prisoner, made some remarks in regard to
the informality in the summoning of the panel of jurors, and cited
several cases to sustain the objections which he informally made to
the whole array. The District Attorney in reply alleged that the
return to the _venire_ was perfectly proper, but intimated that if the
counsel for defence would move to quash the array, there would be no
opposition on the part of the Government. This was the first intimation
given to the public that the jurymen returned were unsatisfactory
to the prosecution. There had been rumors that the District
Attorney himself intended making a motion to quash, but no official
dissatisfaction had been previously known. To such a proposition,
however, the defendant could not agree. He had been in a felon’s cell
for more than two months, and his health and strength were fast giving
way to the confinement. He and his friends had spared neither pains
nor expense to procure the attendance of witnesses, and were as well
prepared then for trial as they ever could be. Any panel of impartial
men was all he asked, and this he had no reason to doubt were then
summoned, as by law, he was entitled to have them. Yet to give the
Government as fair an opportunity as its officers desired, another of
his counsel, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, offered to make the motion to quash,
on condition that the prisoner be admitted to “_ample_ bail,” and the
trial be ordered to take place in the county of Lancaster. The District
Attorney refused to agree to this, and the clerk read to the defendant
the Indictment.
This paper, containing five counts, charged him with wickedly and
traitorously intending to levy war upon the United States. It embraced
the usual amount of legal nonsense, and recited as much of the
transactions at Christiana on the morning of the 11th September, as
were necessary.
After the reading had concluded, the clerk asked him--
How say you, Castner Hanway, are you guilty or not guilty?
_Hanway._ Not guilty.
_Clerk._ How will you be tried?
_Hanway._ By God and my country.
_Clerk._ God send you a good deliverance.