About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 [Trial of Abner Baker for the Murder of Daniel Bates] 1845

handle is hein.trials/acae0001 and id is 1 raw text is: P RE L ECTIo N. In the Spring of the year, 1844, Dr. Abner Baker-a graduate of the Louisville Medical College, and born in Clay county, Ky., 26th March, 1813-was married to a daughter of James White, of said county, and who was a brother of John White, once speaker of the House of Repre-- sentatives of the United States. Baker and hi8 wife lived with Daniel Bates; whose wife was Baker's sister. Shortly after the marriage, he charged Bates, and her own father, and others, with .illicit intercourse with her, (Baker'swife) and sometimes in his own presence. And, appre- hending also that Bates was seeking his life, he killed him by a pistol shot, and went immediately to James White's, and proclaimed and ex- ulted in the act! He was tried by an examining court, and acquitted on the ground of insanity. He then was taken to Cuba for health, under the advice of medical and other friends. Bates, not dying immediately after the shot, published a will, by which he bequeathed $10,000, to be expended in the conviction of Baker. The executors procured from Gov. Owsley a proclamation offering a high reward for the apprehension of Baker during his absence in the South. On being advised of the proclamation, Baker's family brought him back to Clay county, and sur- rendered him to the custody of the law, to answer an indictment for mur- der. Though the prosecuting party, composed of influential and wealthy men, had a decided sway in that small and frontier county, Baker's counsel and friends, feeling confident that he could not be convicted de- clined to move for a change of venue, and went into the trial in July, 1845. The executors employed W. H. Caperton, Silas Woodson, and Caldwell, to aid the official attorney for the commonwealth, W. B. Moore. The jury (under duress, as many believed) returned a verdict of guilty, and Judge Quarles overruled a motion for a new trial. The following appeals to the Governor were then made for a pardon. In ad- dition to which, petitions signed by numerous multitudes of.citizens of several counties, and by lawyers, among the most eminent of Ken- tucky, were also laid before the Governor, baeked by strong and' thrilling addresses to him by Baker's father, and brothers, and sister, (Mrs. Cozier) none of which will be herein republished. To prevent escape the Governor had the jail, in which Baker was confined, guarded by about 200 men, under the command of Gen. Peter Dudley, of Frankfort. On the 18th of September, 1845--the 3rd of Oc- tober being the day fixed for execution--Baker's father and his brother, H. Baker, believing that the Governor, who had not then intimated to them any decision on the petitions for a pardon, had the power to direct an inquisition, and that Gen. Dudley's troops would not obey a writ of habeas corpuv. from a Circuit Judge, submitted to him a petition for an in- quest as to the then state of Baker's mind, on the ground, verified by affi- davits, that he was then a maniac, and could not therefore, in that con- dition, be lawfully executed. The Governor requested Mr. Crittenden, Secretary of State, to request from 11r. Robertson, as counsel for Baker, a statement of the reasons why he thought that the power to do what

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most