Showing posts with label Edmund J Ellis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edmund J Ellis. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Trial of Edmund J. Ellis, editor, for violating the laws of war by publishing intelligence to the enemy, etc., February 25, 1862

COLUMBIA, Mo., Tuesday, February 25, 1862.

The commission proceeded to the trial of Edmund J. Ellis, a citizen of Boone County, Mo., who being called into court had the above order* read in his hearing and was asked if he objected to be tried by any member named in detail, to which he replied in the negative.

The commission was then duly sworn in the presence of the accused and the judge-advocate duly sworn by the president also in the presence of the accused.

The prisoner was then arraigned on the following charges and specifications:

CHARGE 1: The publication of information for the benefit of the enemy and encouraging resistance to the Government and laws of the United States,

Specification 1. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone, State of Missouri, called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor on the 15th day of November, A.D. 1861, the said Edmund J. Ellis permitted and caused to be printed and published an article, entitled “Letters from Our Army,” design and object of which publication was to encourage and further rebellion against the existing Government of the United States.

Specification 2. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia county of Boone and State of Missouri styled and called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 15th day of November, A.D. 1861, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published an article entitled “To the Civil Officers of Boone County,” which said article contained treasonable matter and was designed and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

Specification 3. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of Missouri styled and called The Boone County Standard of which ]paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 22d day of November, A, D. 1861, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “Root, Abe, or Die,” which said article was designed and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

Specification 4. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of Missouri styled and called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 13th day of December, A.D. 1861, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “The U. S. Flag — Rebellion,” which said article contained treasonable matter and was designed and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

Specification 5. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of Missouri, styled and called The Boone County Standard, of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 3d day of January, A.D. 1862, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “Carrier's Address,” which said article contained treasonable matter and was designed and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

Specification 6. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of Missouri, styled and called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 7th day of February, A.D. 1862, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “News from General Price,” the design and object of which article was to give information to the enemies of the Government and to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

CHARGE 2: Violation of the laws of war by the publication within the lines of the troops of the United States in a public newspaper of articles and information intended and designed to comfort the enemy and incite persons to rebellion against the Government of the United States.

Specification 1. — In this, that in a public newspaper printed and published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone, State of Missouri, styled and called The Boone County Standard of which said newspaper the said Edmund J. Ellis was the editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 29th day of November, 1861, at Columbia did publish and cause to be published a certain treasonable and seditious communication, viz, a letter addressed to the people of Kentucky and signed by J. C. Breckinridge, by which publication the said Edmund J. Ellis designed and intended to comfort the enemy and incite to rebellion against the Government of the United States persons within the lines of the troops of the United States.

Specification 2. — In this, that the said Edmund J. Ellis did print and publish and cause to be printed and published and circulated within the lines of the United States a certain pamphlet styled “To the Patriot Army of Missouri,” which pamphlet was calculated and designed to give aid to the enemy and to encourage and incite to acts of insurrection the people living within these said lines of troops; which pamphlet is hereto appended and marked. All this at or near Columbia, Mo., on or about the first day of October, 1861.

Specification 3. — That in a public newspaper printed and published in the town of Columbia, Boone County, Mo., known and styled as The Boone County Standard of which said newspaper the said Edmund J. Ellis was the editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis did on the 6th day of December, 1861, at Columbia publish and cause to be published certain articles, viz, a treasonable and seditious article styled “Proclamation to the people of Central and North Missouri” and signed “Sterling Price, major-general commanding,” and a certain other treasonable and seditious article entitled “Convention between the State of Missouri and the Government of the Confederate States,” and signed “E. C. Cabell, Thomas L. Snead and R. M. T. Hunter,” also a certain other treasonable and seditious article entitled “Message of President Jefferson Davis to the Congress of the Confederate States” and signed “Jefferson Davis, Richmond, November 18, 1861.” All of which articles were published with the intent and design of giving comfort to the enemy and of inciting to rebellion against the Government of the United States persons within the lines of the troops of the United States.

To which several charges and specifications the accused interposed his plea to the jurisdiction of the court as follows, viz:

The accused, Edmund J. Ellis, objects and excepts to the jurisdiction of the court or military commission on all the matters and things stated in the two charges and the various specifications thereunder on the grounds following, viz: That the matters and things therein stated and charged (admitting them to be true, the truth of which, however, he controverts) are wholly and exclusively of civil cognizance.

Second. Because there is no supervision of the arm of civil power, no obstruction to judicial process and hence no sudden and extraordinary necessity (so far as the present case is concerned) for the intervention of a summary military commission or any military authority whatever.

Third. Because the matters and things stated in the said charges and specifications if criminal at all are violations of the Constitution and civil law of the land for the punishment of which tribunals of justice are provided, military commissions being unknown to the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Whereupon the court having been cleared proceeded to consider said plea and after mature deliberation overruled the said plea.

Whereupon the court having been again opened and the decision announced to the prisoner the prisoner pleaded as follows, viz:

To the specifications, not guilty, and to the charges, not guilty.

The court then adjourned at 6 p.m. until 10 o'clock Wednesday morning, February 26, 1862.

LEWIS MERRILL,
Colonel Regiment Merrill's Horse, President Military Commission.

ROBERT A. HOWARD,
First Lieutenant, Merrill's Horse, Recorder Military Commission.
_______________

* Special Orders, No. 160, p. 448, convening and making detail for the commission.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series II, Volume 1 (Serial No. 114), p. 453-5

Trial of Edmund J. Ellis, editor, for violating the laws of war by publishing intelligence to the enemy, etc., February 26, 1862

WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1862.

The court met pursuant to adjournment, all the members present.

EDWARD REYNOLDS, a witness for the prosecution, being duly sworn testified as follows:

By the JUDGE-ADVOCATE:

Question. What is your age, place of residence and occupation?

Answer. I am nineteen years old; reside in Columbia; I am a printer by trade.

Question. Are you acquainted with the accused, Edmund J. Ellis? If yes, state how long you have known the said Ellis and what is his occupation or business.

Answer. I know the accused. Have known him about ten months. He (Ellis) is a printer by trade and has been ever since I have known him the editor of The Boone County Standard.

(Here the witness was handed copies of the newspaper styled The Boone County Standard for the following dates, respectively, viz: Friday, November 15, 1861; Friday, November 22, 1861; Friday, November 29, 1861; Friday, December 6, 1861; Friday, December 13, 1861; Friday, January 3, 1862; Friday, February 7, 1862.)

Question. Examine the papers shown to you and state whether or not they are copies of the paper you have just referred to and whatever you know with regard to their publication with your means of knowledge.

Answer. These are copies of The Boone County Standard that I have worked upon for the last nine months. Mr. Ellis, the accused, was the only editor I ever knew for the paper.

(The papers thus referred to were then offered in evidence and no objection being made accepted, and are hereto attached, marked respectively exhibits B, C, D, E, F, G and H and made part of the testimony for the prosecution in this case.)

Question. Examine the articles styled “Letter from our Army” and “To the Civil Officers of Boone County” in the paper now shown you and state what if anything you know of their authorship.

(Here the witness was handed newspaper marked Exhibit B.)

Answer. Both articles are communications. I do not know who wrote them. The first I know to be communication; the other I believe to be.

Question. Examine the paper now shown to you and state what if anything you know of the authorship of the article entitled “The U. S. Flag — Rebellion.”

(Here the witness was handed newspaper marked Exhibit F.)

Answer. I do not recollect the author of that if I know him. I suppose it to be editorial.

Question. Examine the paper now shown to you and state what if anything you know of the authorship of the article entitled “Carrier's Address.”

(Here the witness was handed newspaper marked Exhibit G.)

Answer. I believe the man's name who wrote it was Dysen.

Question. Examine the pamphlet now shown to you and state what if anything you know of its publication; where it was printed, by whom, how many copies were printed, by whom circulated, by whom written. State all you know connected with it.

(Here the witness was handed pamphlet “To the Patriot Army of Missouri.”)

Answer. It was printed in The Boone County Standard office. I think 300 copies were printed. Don't know who wrote it. Don't know who circulated it. Don't know who it was printed for.

The pamphlet was here offered in evidence and no objection having been made accepted, and is hereto attached, marked Exhibit A and made part of the testimony for the prosecution in this case.


By a MEMBER:

Question. What became of the copies of the pamphlet marked A of which you say some 300 copies were printed

Answer. They were taken from the office. Don't know who by or where.

The prosecution here rested and the prisoner produced the following evidence:

EDWARD REYNOLDS, a witness for the defense having been duly sworn testified as follows:


By the PRISONER:

Question. Do you know of any copies of said pamphlet having been circulated by Edmund J. Ellis, or by anyone else at his instance?

Answer. I do not.

Question. Was your position as an employé such that you had a good opportunity of knowing whether it was so circulated?

Answer. Yes.

The defense here rested, and the prisoner declining to make any statement or address submitted the case to the court.

The court was then cleared and after mature deliberation upon the testimony adduced find the prisoner, Edmund J. Ellis, as follows, viz:

Of the first specification of the first charge, guilty.

Of the second specification of the first charge, guilty.

Of the third specification of the first charge, guilty.

Of the fourth specification of the first charge, guilty.

Of the fifth specification of the first charge, guilty.

Of the sixth specification of the first charge, guilty.

Of the first charge, guilty.

Of the first specification of the second charge, guilty.

Of the second specification of the second charge, guilty.

Of the third specification of second charge, guilty.

Of the second charge, guilty.

And the commission does therefore sentence him, the said Edmund J. Ellis, to be placed and kept outside the lines of the State of Missouri during the war and that the press, types, furniture and material of the printing office of The Boone County Standard be confiscated and sold for the use of the United States.

LEWIS MERRILL,
Colonel Regiment Merrill's Horse, President Military Commission.

ROBERT A. HOWARD,
First Lieutenant, Merrill's Horse, Recorder Military Commission.


Finding and sentence approved. The press, types, furniture and material of the printing office of The Boone County Standard will remain in charge of the quartermaster's department till further orders. The proper commanding officer will see that the prisoner, Edmund J. Ellis, is placed outside of the State of Missouri. Should he return within the lines of this State during the war without proper permission he will be arrested and placed in close confinement in the Alton military prison.

H. W. HALLECK,
Major-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series II, Volume 1 (Serial No. 114), p. 455-7