www.gagenweb.org Electronic Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved. assassin, ran out into the night for a physician. Within a few hours John C. Forsyth was dead, and the immediate object of a great conspiracy had been accomplished. The identity of the murderers for a time remained a mystery. A month passed, when a relative of one of them casually and unwit- tingly divulged the details of the conspiracy and the names of the assassins to one whom he thought knew much of the murder and was in sympathy with its purpose. After consulting his father and his friend, Judge W. L. Grice, this man communicated the informa- tion to R. Oberly, the agent of Dodge, although in so doing he ran counter to his business interest and imperiled his personal safety. The first man arrested was taken to the office of the District At- torney in Macon. Overcome by remorse, this man confessed his part and told all about the plot, naming those who had taken part in it. True bills were returned by the grand jury of the United States circuit court against ten. A large reward was offered for Rich Lowery, who had fired the fatal shot, but he could not be found. Marion Erwin, in his account of the conspiracy trial, says that after the murder Rich Lowery went to Montgomery County, deposited two hundred dollars with an old colored man, and "sport- ing a new suit of clothes and a fine gold watch, he cut quite a swell among his'fellows," that he was engaged to carry a raft down the river, and returning stopped at Jesup where, in a barber shop, he saw a copy of the Macon Telegraph giving an account of the arrest of the men involved in the conspiracy, that he made his way back to the colored man in Montgomery County, received his money, and "plunging into the thicket he disappeared, and that is the last au- thentic account we have of Lowery." Indictments framed under 5508, Rev. Stat.; charged that a con- spiracy had been formed by the defendants to injure, threaten, op- press and intirnidate'.~ormanW. Dodge who had succeeded George E. Dodge as owner of the lands in question, because he had exercised and was exercising his right to prosecute in the United States court rules for contempt for violation of the injunction granted by the final decree in Dodge vs. Briggs, Hall and Sleeper. It was further charged that in pursuance of the conspiracy Lowery had murdered Dodge's agent, Forsyth, and that the other defendants were acces- Visit us - http://www.gagenweb.org www.gagenweb.org Electronic Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved. sories before the fact to the murder. (See U. S. vs. Lancaster, 44 Fed. 885.) The defendants at once moved in the Supreme Court of the United States for permission to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that the matters charged in the indictment did not make an offense cognizable by the circuit court. The motion was denied. (137 U. S. 393.) The trial began at Macon on December 8, 1890. The court room was crowded. One hundred and forty witnesses were in attendance. Four hundred jurors had been summoned. Friends of the prisoners from five counties struggled for a look at the trial or a word of the proceedings. The prisoners were in a group. Near them were their attorneys, A. 0. Bacon, Washington Dessau, Charles L. Bartlett and C. C. Smith. Hugh V. Washington represented the one who accompanied Lowery a part of the way when he went on his murderous mission. At the desk of the District Attorney was Marion Erwin. On the second day of the trial he was joined by the special counsel of the Government, Fleming G. duBignon, who had just completed his service as President of the Senate and shortly before had ended a brilliant term as Solicitor-General of the Eastern Circuit. The gravity of the offense charged, the novelty of the jurisdic- tional questions involved, and the widespread public interest the case had aroused, were to stir to the highest pitch of effort, all these eminent counsel engaged. Not attorneys in the case, but represent- ing Norman W. Dodge, were Walter B. Hill, later to become Chan- cellor of the State University, and his law partner, N. E. Harris, a future Governor of Georgia. Judge Emory Speer was on the bench. Distinguished as a lawyer and speaker, as a prosecuting officer in both the State and Federal courts, and as Congressman, now in the prime of his splendid mental and physical vigor, for five years he had been District Judge. All preliminaries disposed of, the fight now centered on the jury. The first important witness was young Nellie Forsyth, whose de- scription of her father's death was calculated to give to the prosecu- tion's case from the outset a tone of tragedy. Coming into the court room she was somewhat confused by the gaze of so many men, and Visit us - http://www.gagenweb.org www.gagenweb.org Electronic Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved. seeing two girls, she took her seat beside them. They were the motherless daughters of one of the prisoners. This accidental asso- ciation of the innocent victim of the crime and the equally innocent victims of its consequences perhaps diminished the dramatic effect of her appearance as a witness. But on the stand, her modest demeanor and the simple story of her awful experience created a profound impression, and as she walked away there seemed to follow a wave of sympathy that so winsome a girl should have been or- phaned in so tragic a manner. Witness after witness was called during a period of sixteen days. The attorneys were constantly on the alert and no vantage point escaped them. Always an interested audience keenly followed the proceedings. Three days were consumed in arguments to the jury. Marion Erwin opened for the prosecution. Hugh V. Washington, Charles L. Bartlett, C. C. ,Cmith and A. 0.Bacon followed for the defense, and Fleming duBignon closed. The facts and circulnstances were variously assembled and presented according to the genius and skill of each of these masters of forensic oratory and fused by the fire of eloquence into an image of the truth as he beheld it. The concluding argument of duBignon has been termkd the most eloquent jury speech of his career. As he marshaled the evidence and went from one flight of oratory to another, it was easy to perceive that he was fast brushing from the minds of the jury all lingering doubts of the guilt of the accused. He was interrupted. An attorney for the defense, after squirming under the onslaught, arose and made .some objection. The courtly duBignon, turning toward the ruffled attorney, raised his hand and, as he let it slowly fall with a move- ment of graceful agitation, said, "The wounded pigeon flutters." The angry scene and the subsequent apology have been forgotten, but duBignon7s cameo-like profile, exquisite poise and elegance of gesture have converted that trifling incident into an enduring memory. In concluding his able and comprehensive charge, Judge Speer .deprecated those ad captandam observations of counsel which "drop the poison of prejudice into the mind of the unsuspecting juror and thus palsy and paralyze his best and most honorable efforts in the direction of a stern and inflexible performance of duty." (44 Fed. 896. ) Visit us - http://www.gagenweb.org www.gagenweb.org Electronic Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved. All the defendants on trial were convicted except one, and all those convicted were sentenced to imprisonment in the Ohio State Penitentiary. One was given ten years, three were sentenced to, imprisonment for life, and one received a sentence of six years. It was commonly believed that Rich Lowery would never suffer for the crime he had committed, but years later the truth became known that, far from escaping punishment, he had been the first of the guilty to meet his doom. Some of the conspirators, mistrusting and fearing the hired assassin, had again turned murderers. This time they did their own work and under the black water of a stagnant pool deep in a cypress swamp they left the body of the Scuffletonian. The criminal cases having been disposed of, attention was again directed to the many civil cases pending in the courts. The easy current of that litigation in the State courts however was obstructed in 1894 and diverted to the Federal court'. On the 29th of August of that year the Supreme Court of Georgia, in Bussey et al. vs. Dodge, 94 Ga. 5M, argued at the October term, 1893, in effect overruled its former decision in Dodge vs. Spiers, and virtually sustained the contention made in the latter case by Luther A. Hall, on the occasion of perhaps his last appearance as- counsel in Georgia's highest court. Dodge had filed in the Superior Court of Dodge County a suit against Bussey et al. and relied upon his title traced through Colby, Chase and Crocker and the decree of the Federal court. The de- fendants were represented by E. A. Smith. There was a judgment in favor of Dodge. This was reversed by the Supreme Court, and it was held: "If the case of Dodge vs. Spiers was correctly decided, it was because the defendant therein, by introducing and relying on the deed to Colby, Chase and Crocker subjected himself to be treated as in privity with their heirs, who were parties to the decree and against whom the decree itself established a perfect equity by requiring them to convey to plaintiff.