A Secret Life_ The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland - Charles Lachman [154]
Then Milburn put everything on the line. He was not interested in a compromise verdict, he told the jurors. It was all or nothing. Either his client was guilty or Ball was not entitled to a single dollar bill in damages.
Two hours after he had begun, Milburn completed his closing arguments. He had put forth a masterful performance.
It was now Adelbert Moot’s turn to face the jury. How strange, Moot said, that two-thirds of John Milburn’s closing address had been about a man who was not on trial and who had not taken the witness stand. That man, of course, was President Cleveland, now a private citizen and qualified to defend himself—“if he chose.” Fear had kept Cleveland away from the trial, Moot said. “If he did, he might speak of the boy who could never have the same chance as other boys, and of the mother who was disgraced by her motherhood.”
The case boiled down to this, said Moot. Could a newspaper use the language aimed at Ball and “go unpunished”? What had George Ball done that had been so egregious? He had come into possession of certain facts concerning Grover Cleveland “as would prevent you or me from introducing this man to a wife or daughter.” He had communicated the information to the editors of several newspapers. Was he not entitled? Moot alluded to the illegitimate birth of Oscar Folsom Cleveland—“the boy who had no right to use his father’s name.” Moot pointed out that Cleveland was nearly forty years old when his son was born out of wedlock, so his conduct could not be excused by the irresponsibility of youth. Moot said he had not intended to raise the specter of Oscar’s birth during the trial, and only did so when the other side kept bringing it up. Why, he wondered, had the defense not called to the stand Mrs. Baker, who was still alive and could speak as a witness with firsthand knowledge of Cleveland’s illegitimate son and of the woman who had been “wrongfully” locked up in an insane asylum?
“I told you that we were not trying Governor Cleveland’s libel suit. He can do that himself. But if these stories had been lies, Dr. Ball and the others who told them could have been thrown into prison and punished.”
The question before the jury was this: “May a minister of the gospel think? May he say whether the chief magistrate of the nation shall be clean? The defendants should be made to sweat. I submit you ought to find a verdict that would teach a substantial lesson.”
A strange thing happened when Moot finished his summation. John Milburn’s law partner, Franklin Locke, announced that a surprise witness, James C. Fullerton, had come forward during a break in closing summations with evidence concerning George Ball.
“If it pleases Your Honor, we desire to reopen our side of the case for the purpose of placing James C. Fullerton upon the stand.”
Judge Daniels looked down from the bench. “What is the nature of the testimony you purpose to introduce?”
“We expect to prove by Mr. Fullerton that Dr. Ball applied to him for money during the campaign of 1881.”
The judge pondered. With so much on the line, he was inclined to give the lawyers on both sides plenty of latitude. Besides, Adelbert Moot was raising no objection to reopening the case. “I think we will hear the testimony of Mr. Fullerton,” the judge said.
James Fullerton was sworn in. He looked as if he definitely did not want to be there.
Fullerton testified that in 1881, he had considered running for city attorney of Buffalo. George Ball had come to his law office and offered to put Fullerton’s name on the ballot of the independent party that Ball controlled—if Fullerton handed over a $250 donation. If he did so, Fullerton claimed, Ball was willing to replace the lawyer who was already on the ballot with Fullerton.
“Did you give it to him?” Locke asked.
“I did not,” Fullerton answered. “I was a poor boy and did not have much money.”
“Did your name go on Dr. Ball’s ticket?”
“It did not.”
It