Historical Trials Blog

A Case of Piracy Historical Trial Series by Eric Fryar Part 1: Appointment to Represent Pirates Two sailors are charged with piracy and murder in 1812 Boston. The most talked-about trial of its day. A surprise ending. This is an excerpt from a forthcoming book by Eric Fryar Appointment to Defend Pirates  On Friday morning, October 16, 1812, twenty-eight-year-old lawyer James Austin was busy at work in his office at No. 5 Court Street in Boston where he served as the Suffolk County Attorney. He received an urgent message to come to the home of federal judge John Davis. James hurried over to 17 South Street to the Judge’s “chambers.” The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts had no facilities of its own. The United States District Judge kept his chambers in his home. Waiting for James when he reached Judge Davis’s home was Peter Thacher, another well-known Boston lawyer, eight years older and more experienced in the law than James. Judge Davis got straight to the

The Wreck of the William Brown by Tom Koch Book Review by Eric Fryar On March 18, 1841, the William Brown under the command of Captain George Harris sailed from Liverpool, England for Philadelphia, with a crew of 17, a cargo primarily of salt, and 66 passengers, mostly poor Scottish and Irish emigrants in steerage. At about 10pm on April 19, the ship plowed into an iceberg in the North Atlantic, about 250 miles southeast of Newfoundland—the same waters where the Titanic would go down for the same reason 71 years later.  Captain Harris, who had ordered the ship to sail at full speed without a lookout posted, did not go down with the ship. He and eight sailors and one passenger got into the jolly boat. The first mate with eight sailors and 36 passengers got into the longboat. They left 29 passengers, many of them children, to die on the sinking vessel. None of the crew was lost. The next morning, Captain Harris abandoned the longboat and made for Newfoundland. The jolly boat was not ove

  Mutiny on the Ulysses Historical Trial Series by Eric Fryar Part 3: Trial of the  Ulysses Mutineers In 1800, federal authorities tried five sailors for mutiny in one of the most famous trials of its day. In a virtual replay of the Mutiny on the Bounty, the sailors claimed that they had acted in self-defense against the abuse and murderous threats by the captain. On both sides of this high-profile case were the best lawyers in the county. Would the sailors hang?  This is an excerpt from a forthcoming book by Eric Fryar. Opening Statement for the Prosecution The government then proceeded with its opening statement. The official case report says nothing of the opening statements for either side, but these would also have been short and simple. Attorneys were not permitted to argue their case in opening or to go into great detail about the facts. The purpose of the opening was to give the jury a short roadmap of what was expected to be proven and what evidence would be presented. It was