 William "Duff" Armstrong had been charged along with his friend
James Norris in the murder of James Preston Metzker in an outside
altercation around 11 o'clock on the night of Aug. 29, 1857 -- all
three being reported to have been under the influence of liquor
following a religious meeting on the outskirts of a camp in Mason
County.In an earlier trial, Norris had been accused and found
guilty of murdering Metzker with a lethal blow to the back of the
head. Armstrong was now on trial, being accused of hitting Metzker
on his forehead with a "slung-shot" -- a weight tied to a leather
thong.
Morris, the guest speaker, related that the last wish of Duff's
dying father was for Duff's mother to contact his old friend Abraham
Lincoln to take the case -- which had changed venues to the
Beardstown Courthouse in Cass County due to the previous conviction
of Norris in the volatile community of Mason County.
The speaker acknowledged that he has done much research on this
particular trial over the years, as evidenced by his quoting several
sources throughout his talk. He reported that Lincoln used not just
one, but four clever but sound tactics to aid his case. Morris said
that certainly, as a package of tactics, this was not typical of
trials of the mid-1800s. Actually, as he further explained, three of
these four tactics were not typical of any mid-1800s trials in this
area. Nevertheless, all excellent trial lawyers, then as now,
usually produce more than one piece of evidence or testimony to aid
their case. Thus, said Morris, this trial "illustrates once again
the superb abilities of Abraham Lincoln as a trial lawyer." (Note:
Lincoln worked on very few murder trials during his lawyer days --
about 20 years.)
For his first strategy, Lincoln produced several copies of an
almanac, which he passed out to the judge and jury, illustrating
that the moon was not full, not three-quarters, not half, but only
one-quarter on that night, and that it was very low in the sky at
that point, setting three minutes after midnight. Obviously, this
refuted the testimony of the star witness, Charles Allen -- who had
testified just a few minutes before Lincoln's sudden introduction of
the almanac -- that he saw Armstrong from about 150 feet away and
clearly saw him swinging the slung-shot, by the "light of the moon."
Lincoln also noted to the jury that at this particular scene,
there was a clump of trees between the altercation and the setting
of the moon in the western sky. As suggested by a "roar of laughter"
in the courtroom, this may have been enough to get the acquittal of
his client.
However, Lincoln proceeded to introduce more evidence for his
client's exoneration.
He requested Dr. Charles Parker to the stand. Parker testified
that the blow to the back of the head was not only severe and lethal
enough to cause the fatality, but also probably caused the frontal
contusion. This testimony appeared to explain, then, that the
previously convicted Norris had indeed been the murderer. More
important, the doctor was stating that there was neither hard
evidence nor need of a frontal blow to the forehead as purportedly
done by Armstrong.
For a third stratagem, Lincoln called upon the owner of the
slung-shot, who testified that it was indeed his device and it was
not used by him nor anyone else that night. (This may have been a
bit tricky -- a chance that Lincoln took, since a redirect by the
prosecution may have revealed that this slung-shot owner did indeed
witness the killing by both Norris and Armstrong, using their bare
hands or other instruments. There was no redirect.)
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Lastly, according to Morris -- perhaps most significantly and
certainly out of character -- Lincoln became very emotional as he
pleaded to the jury that Armstrong's loving family had taken him
into their home on several occasions to feed and comfort him back in
the days of struggles to make ends meet.
Morris then reviewed what many of us already knew: Duff's father,
Jack, had once challenged Lincoln to a wrestling match in New Salem,
and it was widely known that Jack was the strongest man around. When
Lincoln stood up to him and did not waver nor suffer defeat -- it
was reportedly a draw -- then the entire community and countryside
accepted young Lincoln ever after. It was common knowledge then as
it is today that Abraham Lincoln and Jack Armstrong became lifelong
friends from that time henceforth.
The speaker then posed a question: "Did Abraham Lincoln choose
friendship over justice? Did his lifelong friendship with Jack
Armstrong give Lincoln enough motivation to 'go to bat' for his son,
guilty or not guilty?"
Morris answered his rhetorical question with his personal view --
now widely held -- that in this drunken brawl, both tipsy men beat
up on the belligerent, combative and drunken Metzker, resulting in
his death. Nevertheless, everyone in that Beardstown courtroom,
including the jury and the prosecution lawyer, digesting all of
Lincoln's support data and testimony, came to the conclusion that it
was only Norris' blow to the back of Metzker's skull that caused the
death. Finally, everyone including Lincoln now thought that one
convicted assailant was enough in this rowdy brawl. Indeed, during
the course of this trial, lawyer Lincoln may have convinced himself
of his friend son's acquittal.
A few years later, President Lincoln had a hand in commuting
Norris' sentence.
As a sidelight, the speaker pointed out that Lincoln wore a white
suit that day of the trial -- something that he never reportedly did
before nor ever again. Further, Morris said that on the same day,
following the trial theatrics, Lincoln was asked to walk over to the
nearby studio of a young 22-year-old Abraham Byers for a photograph
(ambrotype -- negative on glass). Morris lamented that while there
is a copy of this photograph in the Beardstown museum, the original
ambrotype glass negative is on display in a museum in Lincoln, Neb.
In parting, Morris informed the group that the Beardstown
Courthouse is the only existing courthouse in which Abraham Lincoln
worked as a lawyer and which still continues today as an active city
courtroom (Cass County seat was long ago moved from Beardstown to
nearby Virginia, Ill.). The Beardstown courtroom remains on the
second floor of the old courthouse, with the museum on the first
floor.
[By PHIL BERTONI, member and webmaster for the
Logan County Genealogical &
Historical Society] |
