Lewis, the plaintiff, had complained about the outcome of the trial: "...suggesting to us that manifest Error had intervened in the record and process, and also in the giving of Judgment of the plea which was before you by our Writ between the said...
Judge Callahan oversaw the trials of the "Scottsboro Boys" after Judge James E. Horton was removed from the case. In the letter Callahan explains that troops will not be needed to protect the prisoners and maintain order in the town: "I do not...
This article discusses a message sent by the International Labor Defense, demanding the release of the recently convicted "Scottsboro Boys." The nine young men were falsely charged with the "criminal assault" of two white women on a train, and...
In the letter Ellis discusses the case of Adam Lowry, who was tried and convicted twice, first for stealing a hog and then for stealing a horse. After the second offense Lowry's right hand was branded with the letter "T" and he was put in jail. The...
In the letter Gray discusses the case of Adam Lowry, who was tried and convicted twice, first for stealing a hog and then for stealing a horse. He explains that Lowry "is an object of Executive Clemency" and asks that he be pardoned from serving...
Citizens of the county had asked the governor to excuse Lowry from the remaining part of his punishment: "That he is poor, appears penitent - and that...so far as example or reformation may be considered the objects of punishment, these have...had...
In the letter Nininger explains that president has ordered that Semmes not be allowed "to hold or exercise the functions of Probate Judge of Mobile County, or any other civil or political office of trust while you remain unpardoned by him." Semmes...
In the letter Knox discusses the difficulty in granting Semmes his commission as probate judge of Mobile County: "While the Governor does not refuse to issue the commission, he advises that you will not insist upon its issuance just now. Last...
In the letter the men discuss the recent election of Raphael Semmes to the position of county probate judge. The U.S. authorities have prevented him from taking office, and the bar association now asks the president to allow Semmes to assume his...
In the first letter, written August 26, Semmes complains that he has not been allowed to take his position as probate judge of Mobile County: "Do I read the President's proclamation of the 20th. inst., declaring that peace prevails throughout the...
Wallace, judge of the Third Judicial Circuit Court, had been ordered to surrender the records by Frank M. Johnson, judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. In his statement Wallace describes a secret, late-night...
This section gives information from Judge A. F. Hopkins, "relating to his civil & political services in this state." Also included is a biographical sketch of John Williams Walker, written by Richard Henry Wilde of Georgia.
In his introduction, Tait reminds the men of the jury that they are performing a vital civic duty: "We should never forget that true patriotism consists in devotion to our constitutions and the laws emanating from them - that there is no true...
Jones had been appointed as a judge to the U.S. district court in 1858, but he resigned that post when Alabama succeeded. In the letter he asks to be a judge in the "new federal courts" that will be established by the Confederate government.