Isaac N. Arnold, a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln, wrote an article comparing Lincoln and Stephen Douglas as lawyers that was published in a chapter of the ponderous 1881 tome, History of Sangamon County, Illinois.
In the article, Arnold mentioned that unlike Douglas, Lincoln’s moral philosophy often determined his advocacy.
‘Lincoln on the right side, and especially when injustice or fraud were to be exposed, was the strongest advocate.’ [1]
That said, however, Lincoln was also a strong proponent of following the law – even bad laws. Here’s what he said to the Young Men’s Lyceum,
But I do mean to say, that, although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they continue in force, for the sake of example, they should be religiously observed. [2]
These days, illegal immigration round-up issues (like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program -better known as D.A.C.A.) present legal vs. moral dilemmas – especially for attorneys. Given his almost fanatical devotion to law and order, what would Lincoln do today if the wrong side legally was the right side morally?
Thanks to the Melissa Goings case, we know the answer.
On October 4, 1858, during his now famous debates with Stephen Douglas across the state of Illinois, Lincoln made a campaign stop in the small town of Metamora in Woodford County.
But the reason for the stop wasn’t all politics.
While he was in town, Lincoln met with state’s attorney Hugh Fullerton, and after some protracted conversation, Fullerton agreed to strike a murder charge from the court docket against a former client of Lincoln’s, and to dismiss the prosecution of two local bail bondsmen whose customer skipped town.
Both cases were related.
The client who faced the murder charge was Melissa Goings. The year before, on April 14, 1857, the seventy-year-old woman “not having the fear of God before her eyes but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil” took “a certain stick of wood in her right hand” and struck her seventy-seven year-old husband, Roswell Goings, repeatedly on the back, shoulders, and head. He died four days later. [3 and 3**]
Mr. Goings was a local well-to-do farmer, who had a reputation as a heavy drinker and known wife-beater. Apparently he was drunk that day and attempted to strangle Mrs. Goings. But she’d had enough. [4]
At her preliminary hearing in August, witnesses were heard, and Goings was ordered to appear at an indictment hearing to be held at the next term of the circuit court in October. The court set the bail at $1,000. Her son, Armstrong, and a neighbor Samuel W. Beck posted a percentage of the bail, and the court released Goings until the hearing. [5]
On the appointed day, Goings appeared, accompanied by her lawyer Henry Grove and his new co-counsel, Abraham Lincoln. On advice of her attorneys, Goings plead not guilty to the charges. Judge James Harriott ordered the trial to begin immediately.
It soon became apparent to everyone in the courtroom that the judge and a few of the male members of the community were set on making an example of this elderly woman.
After listening to some testimony, as the story goes, Lincoln asked Harriott for a delay in order to become more familiar with the case. His request was denied, but he was granted a short recess. Lincoln and Goings (without Grove, her other attorney) then either left the court house or went to a vacant room downstairs [versions differ on this point].
Just before the end of the recess, Lincoln returned to the courtroom – alone. When the judge called the court to order and Goings failed to appear, Harriott became angry and supposedly accused Lincoln of encouraging Goings to flee.
Lincoln – a master of both the law and the rule of law – explicitly denied that he told her to flee or aided in her escape. According to legend, he carefully offered: “She said she was thirsty and wanted to know where she could get a good drink of water. I said that Tennessee has mighty fine drinkin’ water.” [4*]
The court forfeited her recognizance and issued a warrant for her arrest. Later, the state also brought a suit against her son and the neighbor to recover the entire bail amount.
Melissa Goings was never found. And a year later, on the Monday after Lincoln’s visit, the state’s attorney moved that the case be stricken from the court docket and the case against her son and neighbor dismissed. [6]
According to Woodford County records, Goings settled in California, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Abraham Lincoln, three years later, became the President of a divided nation, and ultimately a murder victim himself at the end of that struggle.
However, when faced with the injustice of “true justice” that fall afternoon in 1857, Lincoln, without hesitation, risked jail, disbarment, and a ruined political reputation and encouraged Melissa Goings to flee that small Illinois town.
As his contemporary said, ‘when injustice or fraud were to be exposed, [Lincoln] was the strongest advocate.’ But in this case, ‘his actions spoke louder than his words.’
Food for thought.
Mac
[1] “The Bar of Sangamon County.” History of Sangamon County, Illinois. (1881) Chicago, Illinois: Interstate Publishing Co. p.94-96.
[3] The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln Blogsite Retrieved September 21, 2018 from http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137143
[3**] The Devil and God appear as part of the legal phraseology in many murder indictments in central Illinois during this time period – not just Melissa Goings’. However, I thought this wording presented a bizarre – if not chilling – image of any defendant, especially when read to a jury. (Talk about ‘guilty until proven innocent‘!)
[4*] There’s no documentary evidence, beyond hearsay, that corroborates this remark. Myers, Jean. “Justice Served: Abraham Lincoln and the Melissa Goings Case.” Peoria Magazines – March/April 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from https://peoriamagazines.com/as/2009/mar-apr/justice-served
[5] Deckle Sr., George R. “People v Melissa Goings: Transcript of a Murder Case Defended By Lincoln.” Abraham Lincoln’s Almanac Trial Blogsite. Retrieved on September 21, 2018 from http://almanac-trial.blogspot.com/search/label/Melissa%20Goings (I highly recommend this site AND his book Prairie Defender: The Murder Trials of Abraham Lincoln. Excellent reading! Here’s his main blog site: https://plus.google.com/+BobDekle)
[6] The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved September 29, 2018 from http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=basicSearch&terms=goings&r=L1NlYXJjaC5hc3B4
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