Strange True Stories of Louisiana
Page 34
XII.
BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT.
Once more it was May, when in the populous but silent court-room the clerkannounced the case of Miller _versus_ Louis Belmonti, and John F. Miller,warrantor. Well-nigh a year had gone by since the appeal was taken. Twofull years had passed since Madame Karl had found Salome in Belmonti'scabaret. It was now 1845; Grymes was still at the head of one group ofcounsel, and Roselius of the other. There again were Eva and Salome,looking like an elder and a younger sister. On the bench sat at the righttwo and at the left two associate judges, and between them in the middlethe learned and aged historian of the State, Chief-Justice Martin.
The attorneys had known from the first that the final contest would behere, and had saved their forces for this; and when on the 19th of May thedeep, rugged voice of Roselius resounded through the old Cabildo, anine-days' contest of learning, eloquence, and legal tactics had begun.Roselius may have filed a brief, but I have sought it in vain, and hiswords in Salome's behalf are lost. Yet we know one part in the defensewhich he must have retained to himself; for Francis Upton was waiting inreserve to close the argument on the last day of the trial, and soimportant a matter as this that we shall mention would hardly have beentrusted in any but the strongest hands. It was this: Roselius, in themiddle of his argument upon the evidence, proposed to read a certaincertified copy of a registry of birth. Grymes and his colleagues instantlyobjected. It was their own best gun captured and turned upon them. Theycould not tolerate it. It was no part of the record, they stoutlymaintained, and must not be introduced nor read nor commented upon. Thepoint was vigorously argued on both sides; but when Roselius appealed toan earlier decision of the same court the bench decided that, as then, sonow, "in suits for freedom, and _in favorem_ libertatis_, they wouldnotice facts which come credibly before them, even though they be _dehors_the record."[29] And so Roselius thundered it out. The consul for Baden atNew Orleans had gone to Europe some time before, and was now newlyreturned. He had brought an official copy, from the records of the prefectof Salome's native village, of the registered date of her birth. This iswhat was now heard, and by it Salome and her friends knew to their joy,and Belmonti to his chagrin, that she was two years older than herkinsfolk had thought her to be.
Who followed Roselius is not known, but by and by men were bending the earto the soft persuasive tones and finished subtleties of the polished andcourted Grymes. He left, we are told, no point unguarded, no weaponunused, no vantage-ground unoccupied. The high social standing andreputation of his client were set forth at their best. Every slenderestdiscrepancy of statement between Salome's witnesses was ingeniouslyexpanded. By learned citation and adroit appliance of the old Spanish lawsconcerning slaves, he sought to ward off as with a Toledo blade the heavyblows by which Roselius and his colleagues endeavored to lay upon thedefendants the burden of proof which the lower court had laid upon Salome.He admitted generously the entire sincerity of Salome's kinspeople inbelieving plaintiff to be the lost child; but reminded the court of thecredulity of ill-trained minds, the contagiousness of fanciful delusions,and especially of what he somehow found room to call the inflammableimagination of the German temperament. He appealed to history; to thescholarship of the bench; citing the stories of Martin Guerre, the RussianDemetrius, Perkin Warbeck, and all the other wonderful cases of mistakenor counterfeited identity. Thus he and his associates pleaded for thecontinuance in bondage of a woman whom their own fellow-citizens werewilling to take into their houses after twenty years of degradation andinfamy, make their oath to her identity, and pledge their fortunes to herprotection as their kinswoman.
Day after day the argument continued. At length the Sabbath broke itscontinuity, but on Monday it was resumed, and on Tuesday Francis Uptonrose to make the closing argument for the plaintiff. His daughter, MissUpton, now of Washington, once did me the honor to lend me a miniature ofhim made about the time of Salome's suit for freedom. It is a pleasingevidence of his modesty in the domestic circle--where masculine modestyis rarest--that his daughter had never heard him tell the story of thiscase, in which, it is said, he put the first strong luster on his fame. Inthe picture he is a very David--"ruddy and of a fair countenance"; acountenance at once gentle and valiant, vigorous and pure. Lifting thisface upon the wrinkled chief-justice and associate judges, he began to setforth the points of law, in an argument which, we are told, "was regardedby those who heard it as one of the happiest forensic efforts ever madebefore the court."
He set his reliance mainly upon two points: one, that, it being obviousand admitted that plaintiff was not entirely of African race, thepresumption of law was in favor of liberty and with the plaintiff, andtherefore that the whole burden of proof was upon the defendants, Belmontiand Miller; and the other point, that the presumption of freedom in such acase could be rebutted only by proof that she was descended from a slavemother. These points the young attorney had to maintain as best he couldwithout precedents fortifying them beyond attack; but "Adele _versus_Beauregard" he insisted firmly established the first point and implied thecourt's assent to the second, while as legal doctrines "Wheeler onSlavery" upheld them both. When he was done Salome's fate was in the handsof her judges.
Almost a month goes by before their judgment is rendered. But at length,on the 21st of June, the gathering with which our imagination has becomefamiliar appears for the last time. The chief-justice is to read thedecision from which there can be no appeal. As the judges take theirplaces one seat is left void; it is by reason of sickness. Order iscalled, silence falls, and all eyes are on the chief-justice.
He reads. To one holding the court's official copy of judgment in hand, asI do at this moment, following down the lines as the justice's eyes oncefollowed them, passing from paragraph to paragraph, and turning the leavesas his hand that day turned them, the scene lifts itself before the mind'seye despite every effort to hold it to the cold letter of the time-stainedfiles of the court. In a single clear, well-compacted paragraph the courtstates Salome's claim and Belmonti's denial; in another, the warrantorMiller's denial and defense; and in two lines more, the decision of thelower court. And now--
"The first inquiry," so reads the chief-justice--"the first inquiry thatengages our attention is, What is the color of the plaintiff?"
But this is far from bringing dismay to Salome and her friends. For hearwhat follows:
"Persons of color"--meaning of mixed blood, not pure negro--"are presumedto be free.... The burden of proof is upon him who claims the coloredperson as a slave.... In the highest courts of the State of Virginia ... aperson of the complexion of the plaintiff, without evidence of descentfrom a slave mother, would be released even on _habeas corpus_.... Notonly is there no evidence of her [plaintiff] being descended from a slavemother, or even a mother of the African race, but no witness has ventureda positive opinion that she is of that race."
Glad words for Salome and her kindred. The reading proceeds: "Thepresumption is clearly in favor of the plaintiff." But suspense returns,for--"It is next proper," the reading still goes on, "to inquire how farthat presumption has been weakened or justified or repelled by thetestimony of numerous witnesses in the record.... If a number of witnesseshad sworn"--here the justice turns the fourth page; now he is in themiddle of it, yet all goes well; he is making a comparison of testimonyfor and against, unfavorable to that which is against. And now--"But theproof does not stop at mere family resemblance." He is coming to thematter of the birth-marks. He calls them "evidence which is notimpeached."
He turns the page again, and begins at the top to meet the argument ofGrymes from the old Spanish Partidas. But as his utterance follows his eyedown the page he sets that argument aside as not good to establish such atitle as that by which Miller received the plaintiff. He _exonerates_Miller, but accuses the absent Williams of imposture and fraud. One maywell fear the verdict after that. But now he turns a page which every onecan see is the last:
"It has been said that the German witnesses are imaginativ
e and enthusiastic, and their confidence ought to be distrusted. That kind of enthusiasm is at least of a quiet sort, evidently the result of profound conviction and certainly free from any taint of worldly interest, and is by no means incompatible with the most perfect conscientiousness. If they are mistaken as to the identity of the plaintiff; if there be in truth two persons about the same age bearing a strong resemblance to the family of Miller [Mueller] and having the same identical marks from their birth, and the plaintiff is not the real lost child who arrived here with hundreds of others in 1818, it is certainly one of the most extraordinary things in history. If she be not, then nobody has told who she is. After the most mature consideration of the case, we are of opinion the plaintiff is free, and it is our duty to declare her so.
"It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed, that the judgment of the District Court be reversed; and ours is that the plaintiff be released from the bonds of slavery, that the defendants pay the costs of the appeal, and that the case be remanded for further proceedings as between the defendant and his warrantor."
So ends the record of the court. "The question of damage," says the "LawReporter," "is the subject-matter of another suit now pending against Jno.F. Miller and Mrs. Canby." But I have it verbally from Salome's relativesthat the claim was lightly and early dismissed. Salome being free, hersons were, by law, free also. But they could only be free mulattoes, wentto Tennessee and Kentucky, were heard of once or twice as stable-boys tofamous horses, and disappeared. A Mississippi River pilot, John Given byname, met Salome among her relatives, and courted and married her. Asmight readily be supposed, this alliance was only another misfortune toSalome, and the pair separated. Salome went to California. Her cousin,Henry Schuber, tells me he saw her in 1855 in Sacramento City, living atlast a respected and comfortable life.
FOOTNOTES:[29] Marie Louise _vs._ Marot, 8 La. R.