The day his actions spoke louder than his words: Abe Lincoln and the Melissa Goings murder case

 

On October 4, 1858, in the midst of his now famous debates with Stephen Douglas across the state of Illinois, Abraham Lincoln made a campaign stop in the small town of Metamora in Woodford County.

But the reason for the stop wasn’t all politics – part of it had to do with murder.

Apparently, in April of the previous year, a seventy-year-old woman, Melissa Goings took a piece of wood and struck her seventy-seven-year-old husband, Roswell Goings, repeatedly on the back, shoulders, and head. He died four days later. [2]

Mr. Goings, a local, well-to-do farmer, had a reputation as a heavy drinker and a wife-beater. That particular day, he grabbed Mrs. Goings and attempted to strangle her in their home. She managed to get away from him and grabbed the piece of wood. [3]

Most of the town was sympathetic to her cause. However, a few men in the community evidently felt threatened by the example they believed Goings was setting for the other wives – Get mad at the hubby, take a stick of wood to his head, and afterwards accuse him of abuse to get away with it - and they wanted her punished for it.

So, despite being an open and shut case for self-defense, conflicting testimony was given at her preliminary hearing in August. As a result, Goings was ordered to re-appear for an indictment hearing October 10, 1857, during the next term of the circuit court.

Bail was set at $1,000. Her son, Armstrong, and a neighbor, Samuel W. Beck, posted a percentage of the bail, and she was released until the hearing.[4]

On the appointed date, Goings returned, accompanied by her attorney, Henry Grove and another lawyer whom Grove asked to be his co-counsel on the case – Abraham Lincoln.

On the advice of her attorneys, Goings pleaded not guilty. Her trial began immediately. After listening to some testimony – as the story goes – Lincoln asked Judge James Harriott for more time to become familiar with the case. His request was denied, but Lincoln was granted a short recess.

Lincoln and Melissa Goings either left the court or went to a vacant room downstairs [versions differ on this point]. But when Lincoln returned to the courtroom later, he was alone. By the time Judge Harriott called the court to order, Goings failed to appear.

Angry, Harriott supposedly accused Lincoln of encouraging Goings to flee. Lincoln, a master of both the law and the rule of law, explicitly denied that he "aided" in her escape.

According to legend, Lincoln only 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.” (There’s no documentary evidence, beyond hearsay, that corroborates his remark.)[3]

Lincoln, however, was never sanctioned.

The court then forfeited her recognizance and issued a scire facias [Latin for ‘to make known’] for her arrest. Later, the state also brought a lawsuit against her son and neighbor to recover the entire bail amount.

Melissa Goings was never found.

During that campaign stop a year later in October 1858, Lincoln met with the state’s attorney, Hugh Fullerton. After a protracted back and forth, Lincoln got Fullerton to agree to strike the murder charge against Goings from the court docket, and to dismiss the prosecution of her son and neighbor for the bond money.[5]

According to Woodford County records, Melissa Goings settled in California where she lived for the remainder of her life. Her attorney, Abraham Lincoln, moved on to become President of a war-torn nation, and ultimately, a murder victim himself at the end of that struggle.

By encouraging Goings to escape the the injustice of true justice in that small, Illinois town in 1857, Lincoln risked jail, disbarment, and a ruined political reputation because of his actions. However, the Melissa Goings case demonstrates the depth of character of that circuit-riding, country lawyer who, four years later, stepped up to save the nation from utter destruction.

Given Lincoln’s reverence for the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and all laws – good or bad, his actions that day in that small town courtroom stand as his VERY LOUD comments about abuse, as well as his respects for the rights of women. (And it also stands as his silent commentary on the fate of abusers.)

This is another anecdote from Abe Lincoln, Storyteller.

Mac

[An afterword: In 2009, the Woodford County Historical Society raised more than $100,000 for statues of Lincoln and Goings (shown at the beginning of this post) to memorialize this event. These statues, by John McClarey, were placed in the town square, across the street from that Metamora Courthouse - now a State Historic Site.]

Works Cited

[1] Keneally, Meghan. “Rep. Ralph Norman jokes about Ruth Bader Ginsburg being ‘groped’ by Abe Lincoln.” ABC News – September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from https://abcnews.go.com/US/rep-ralph-norman-jokes-ruth-bader-ginsburgs-groped/story?id=57986316

[2] The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln Blogsite Retrieved September 21, 2018 from  http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=137143

[2**] The Devil and God appear as part of the legal phraseology in many murder indictments in central Illinois during this time – not just Melissa Goings’. However, I thought this wording presented a bizarre – if not chilling – image of a defendant – especially when read to a jury.

[3] 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

[4] 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) [5] 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