James M. Beecher ^{2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9}

   FamilySearch ID: L6KM-J35.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Census in 1850 in District 31, Franklin, MO. ⁶ Samuel Beecher, carpenter, 33, was living with wife Margaret, 30; William, 11; Sam, 8; James, 3; and Edward, 9 months old when the census was recorded on 5 Dec 1850. Samuel was born in Pennsylvania, everyone else in Missouri.

2. Census in 1860 in Boueff Twp., Franklin, MO. ¹⁰ Samuel Beecher, farmer, 45, was living with wife Margaret, 42; William, 21; Adrian, 18; James, 13; Francis, 11; John L., 7; and Mary E, 3. Also in the home was Charles Matthias, 23, laborer, born in Germany. Everyone else was born in Missouri. Judging by the names and birthplaces of neighbors, they were living in a community with German roots. The post office was Dundee.

3. Census in 1870 in Washington, Franklin, MO. ¹¹ The 1870 census recorded Samuel Beecher, 50, farmer, living with wife Margaret, 51; James M., 23, laborer; John L., 17; Lizzey, 13; and Chas. L. Kingsley, 20, laborer. Samuel was born in Maryland, everyone else in Missouri except Chas. in Virginia. Samuel's real estate was worth $10,000 and personal estate $5,000. The post office was Washington, MO.

4. Newspaper: Union Record, 10 Feb 1876, Union, Franklin, MO. ¹² A sleighing party from Washington took wine at Hobleman's last Friday evening. The party consisted of Dr. Griffin and Miss Mattie Crowder, W. S. Stone Esq. and Miss Mamie Burch, Mr. J. M. Beecher and Miss Belle Burch, and they seemed to enjoy themselves hugely.

5. Newspaper: Union Record, 18 May 1876, Union, Franklin, MO. ¹³ Circuit Court Proceedings
Monday, May 15th, 1876
In the matter of the indictment of J. M. Beecher for abstructing public road, the prosecution, after examining several witnesses failed to adduce any evidence that the road in question was a public highway, and upon suggestion from the Court the same was abandoned and the prisoner discharged without delay.

6. Census in 1880 in Washington, Franklin, MO. ¹⁴ James Beecher, revenue agent, 32, was living with wife M. A., 25; Samuel E., 1; and sister-in-law Lori. L. Parker, 23. Everyone and their parents were born in Missouri, except James' father was born in Maryland, and M.A and Lori's father in New Hampshire and mother in Maryland.

7. Newspaper: Union Record, 27 Apr 1882, Union, Franklin, MO. ¹⁵ Dundee, Mo. April 19th, 1882
Editor Record: As I have a pretty full head of steam on I will let a little escape. J. M. Beecher has been hanging around this locality for a week or two and thismorning he made a raid on a couple of lots in the town of Dundee, belonging to Dr. Kesselring, and tore the house and fence down. Word was sent to the Dr. and he, Squire Joe Noelke and constalble William Yates came down, but Beecher saw them and skipped out, and after he thought they were all gone, he came back to the depot to get a ticket, but Squire Noelke was here yet and called on Will Springgate and J. D. Wildfong to help and the gobbled and disarmed him. He had a lot of papers and a 4 shooter and box of No. 32 cartridges. The squire them jumped No. 37 with his man and started for New Haven but some where between Boueff bridge and New Haven as the squire was talking to a couple of tramps, on the hind end of the caboose, Mr. Beecher disappeared and has turned up missing ever since.
But don't you blame Joe, for if those two tramps had not been on, Beecher would not have got away.
Yates is looking for him.

8. Newspaper: Union Record, 25 May 1882, Union, Franklin, MO. ¹⁶ Well, there is now a pair of them in jail. J. M. Beecher has at last come to his own, and very likely to stay. As intimated last week, after being acquitted of carrying concealed weapons in New Haven, he was still held upon the charge of maliciously destroying property, tearing down Dr. Kesselrings house at Newport. For this he was bound over, to be tried by a grand jury and Circuit Court, and in default of bail was sent to jail which, it seems, is only the commencement of his misfortunes. Other escapades of his have come to a head, developed suddenly, which are fatal in their force, and will send him to the penitentiary for a number of years without doubt.
Some years ago Beecher borrowed $300 from Judge Seay, giving his own note, and one for $500 endorsed by his brother, and another $500 note on McNamara, as collaeral security. Some time after, probably a year, he visited the judge, and in some shrewd manner induced that unsuspecting celebrity to temporarily vacate his sanctum, probably for a bottle of wine for the delectation of his affable visitor. However this may have been, from that day those choses in aciton, notes, were missing, and suspicion rested on the wiley Beecher. Mr. Kiskaddon was apprised of the matter, and became as it were, a second shadow of the intrepid Jim. At one time, he visited the Herman Bank, just a few hours after the identically described notes had been take out of deposit. Then there was a logn period of discouragement, but finally a fine desk was advertised for sale by Montier in Union, under a landlords lein for board. Beecher was greatly exercised over this trouble and resorted to all manner of tricks and ruses, even going so far as to sue out an injunction, before Terchluse, County Judge, enjoining the selling, but it was sold and the constable turned it over to Montier, when the latter found it locked; and unable to open it, readily promised that Beecher might have his private papers for the key. The papers were put in a box and deposited at Bruchs. Kiskaddon got wind of it and swooped down on the box with a search warrant, and lo and behold! Those long lost evidences of indebtedness, the identical nots were found, and recognized, and the grand jury have found bills, for grand larceny and forgery of the McNamara note.
This search took place last Thursday, just after Beecher was put in jail, and he was not in long before he called for his box. Mr. Bruch carried it to him, and noticed with what eagerness he ran over the papers, and with what misgiving he inquired, "Has some body been handling me papers?" "Yes, sir," -- said Mr. Bruch in his placid way.
"Has Kiskaddon been at them?" "Yes, sir," -- and his crest fell has though he had been struck inwardly. Verily the way of the transgessor is hard.

9. Newspaper: Republican Tribune: Deputy Sheriff George W. Link and several witnesses went to Fulton in the case of James M. Beecher. The case was continued., 4 May 1883, Union, Franklin, MO. ¹⁷

10. Newspaper: Union Record, 21 Jun 1883, Union, Franklin, MO. ¹⁸ We arrived hom from Fulton yesterday in time to give this condensed report, in regard to the Beecher case. There are three indictments, as most of our readers know -- blackmail, larceny and forgery. Continued on the first indictment, on attachment for Baudissin, B. F. Scott and Tarlton W. Childes.
The indictment for stealing was continued on account of an erroneous date in the transcript of the indictment. The other charge was continued at last term.
Beecher's bond was reduced to $1000 on each charge. It is though that he will be released under bond and that his sponsors will then suffer him to leave the State.

11. Newspaper: Union Record, 8 Nov 1883, Union, Franklin, MO. ¹⁹ -----
The Beecher Trial
-----
We are authorized to say that Kiskaddon has made a flank movement on old Boulware, Jim Beecher's attorney, at Fulton, and nolle prossed the suits, and had Beecher re-arrested and brought back to Franklin County, and will now have the defence to dance to the law, instead of having the citizens of Franklin County dance to the tune of two cranks.
Beecher is now in jail in Union.

12. Newspaper: Republican Tribune: Circuit Court November 14th: State of Mo. Vs. James M. Beecher, defendent discharged at the request of Ashley Clover, prosecuting attorney of the city of St. Louis, 18 Nov 1892, Union, Franklin, MO. ²⁰

13. Newspaper: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: J. M. Beecher Appeals from Insane Asylum to Judge Edmunds, 8 Apr 1893, Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO. ²¹ FROM HIS CELL

An Inmate of the Insane Asylum Appeals to Judge Edmunds.

J. M. Beecher Claims His Confinement Is Due to Spite Work.

GRAVE ACCUSATIONS MADE AGAINST HOSPITAL SUPERINTENDENT MARKS.

Beecher Makes an Affidavit That Dr. Marks Became Incensed at Him for Sending a Communication to the Post-Dispatch Complaining About the Hospital Management and Sent Him to the Asylum Out of Revenge.

When the Grand-Jury came Into the Criminal Court this afternoon the foreman. Mr. Ben Yon Phul, handed Judge Edmunds two communications which caused the Judge to assume a very grave air when he had read sufficient to become acquainted with their nature. They were from J. M. Beecher, an inmate of the St. Louis Insane Asylum, who charges that his incarceration is unjustified and due solely to the enmity of the Superintendent of the City Hospital. The first communication was a note from Beecher to Judge Edmunds. It was as follows:

BEECHER'S PLEA.

Judge H. L. Edmunds:

Dear Sir -- I am not a lawyer, and bare no statute or form to guide me in writing my petition for habeas corpus.

I think, however, that it fills all requirements of the law in my case, except that it is that sworn to by me for the reason that Dr. Ernst Mueller, Superintendent of the Asylum, will not allow a notary or attorney, or any of my friends to see me.

One section of the habeas corpus act authorizes you to issue a writ of your own motion when you have knowledge that any person is illegally deprived of his liberty. That section is about 5401, I think.

In the writ command Dr. Mueller to produce the papers showing by what authority he holds me.

Please issue the writ at once, so I can get out of this hell hole. Yours truly, J. M. Beecher.

The communication is written in ink, but on the top of the letter is written in lead pencil: 'I have to smuggle this out." This communication was handed to Mr. Von Phul by Beecher at the Insane Asylum during the visit of the Grand Jury to the institution one day this week. It was accompanied by an affidavit made by Beecher before a notary public certifying to the truth of the statements made by him. The affidavit is as follows:

To the Hon. Henry L. Edmunds, Judge of the St. Louis Criminal Court:

Your petitioner, James M. Beecher, being duly sworn, says that on the 2d day of February, 1833, he was taken by force in the City Hospital in the city of St. Louis, that he was deprived of his liberty without due process of law and that he was taken and incarcerated in the St. Louis Insane Asylum and that he is now illegally held and confined in said asylum and deprived of his liberty by Dr. K. Mueller, the Superintendent of said asylum, and that he is so deprived of his liberty in direct violation of the law of the State.

Your petitioner says that he was not insane at the time when he was taken and incarcerated in said asylum, that he is not insane now and that he has never been insane at any time or place.

Your petitioner says that on the 26th day of January, 1893, he was a patient in the City Hospital in the City of St. Louis; that he was utterly helpless and unable to defend himself by reason of being dangerously wounded in the right leg; that he had been a patient in said hospital since the 1st day of January, 1893; that he was shamefully and greatly neglected and that his wounds were not examined or treated, or inquired about for the period of eight days (from Jan. 16 to Jan. 24) by Dr. Heine Marks, superintendent of the City Hospital, or by any other physician or person connected with the management of said hospital.

Your petitioner saw other patients in said hospital greatly neglected and abused, and that the management of said hospital was corrupt and that the food given to the patients was unfit for human beings to eat and insufficient in quantity.

To get relief from such abuse, neglect, mistreatment and mismanagement your petitioner on the 26th day of January, 1893, wrote a statement of facts in regard to said hospital and the treatment of patients there and sent said statement and samples of food which had been given him to eat (and which was unfit for human food) to the city editor of the Post-Dispatch, a newspaper published in St. Louis, and requested said editor to send said statement and samples of food to the Grand-Jury then in session in the city of St. Louis.

A part of said statement was published in the Post-Dispatch on the 30th day of January, 1893, and was seen and read by Dr. Heine Marks, Superintendent of the City Hospital. Said Dr.. Marks knew that your petitioner wrote said statement and said Dr. Marks became very angry at your petitioner and said he would send him down and lock him up in a criminal cell in the basement of the hospital and not allow him to send another letter out, and that he would send him to the "bug-house" (meaning the insane asylum), for writing such an article about the hospital, and confine him where he could not write any more articles for newspapers. Said Dr. Marks knew that every word of said article was true, and that your petitioner could and would expose said Dr. Marks and his corrupt and dishonest management of said hospital, and the abuse and neglect of the patients in said hospital.

Then, said Dr. Heine Marks entered into a conspiracy and agreement with Dr. Louis Hough, one of the assistant physicians of said hospital, and with Dr. Warren G. Priest and with other persons who are connected with what is commonly known as the "Push" in St. Louis, and in pursuance of such agreement and conspiracy they caused your petitioner to be taken by force and without due process of law and to be incarcerated in the Insane Asylum in the city of St. Louis.

That he was so incarcerated to prevent him from giving evidence against said ''push doctors" and exposing their dishonest and corrupt management of the city institutions under their control and management. Your petitioner says that on the 20th day of February, 1893, he made a legal demand on Dr. E. Mueller for a true and correct copy of the order, process, warrant, commitment papers or authority by virtue of which Dr. K. Mueller held and deprived your petitioner of his liberty in said Asylum but said Dr. E. Mueller has wholly failed and refused to give your petitioner such copy as required by law (vide sec. 5405 R. S. of Mo.) and for that reason your petitioner cannot accompany his petition with a copy of the process by virtue of which he is confined and deprived of his liberty. Your petitioner says that the said Dr. E. Mueller knows that your" petitioner was not insane at the time when he was incarcerated in said asylum; that he has not been insane at any time since he was incarcerated in said asylum, and that he is not insane now, and that said Dr. Mueller is a party to and in collusion with the other conspirators -- Dr. H. Marks, Dr. Louis Hough and Dir. Warren G. Priest, to keep your petitioner confined in said asylum. Your petitioner says that neither Dr. K. Mueller nor any other person has any legal process or authority to confine your petitioner in said asylum or any other place, and that said Dr. E. Mueller is now confining him in said asylum illegally and depriving him of his liberty in direct violation of the law of this State. Wherefore your petitioner asks your honor to issue a writ of habeas corpus forthwith, commanding said Dr. E. Mueller to bring your petitioner before your honor so that this cause may be heard and your petitioner granted his liberty. No petition or application for relief sought has been made to any other court.

James M. Beecher.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 17th day of March, 1893.

Beecher being duly sworn says that he believes the foregoing statement of James M. Beecher to be true, and that he is now illegally confined and deprived of his liberty, as stated by him.

Here follow the names and addresses of several witnesses, amongst whom appear (he names of several persons discharged from the hospital and several newspaper men.

WHO BEECHER IS.

Beecher has a Four Courts' record. In January, 1892, he was indicted by the Grand-Jury charged with obtaining about $90 worth of furniture from the Tyler Desk Co. under false pretenses. Beecher secured several continuances. He would change lawyers and the new attorney would ask for time to prepare the case. Finally Beecher on April 19, 1892, took a change of venue to Franklin County. The Tyler Desk Co. dropped the case, as it did not want to go to the expense of sending witnesses to Union, the place where the case was to be tried and Beecher got clear. He was regarded while his case was pending at the Four Courts as being very sharp.

Beecher received his injuries referred to in his communication in a difficulty with his brother-in-law, who shot him in the leg. The shooting occurred at Washington, Mo., and Beecher was brought to this city and sent to the City Hospital. Mr. Von Phul was inclined to regard the matter as the act of an insane person, as it is well known that insane persons sometimes perform acts which are perfectly rational on their face. Judge Edmunds, however, did not altogether take that view, and stated that for a crazy person Beecher was very accurate in his figures. He may have the matter inquired into although he has not yet made up his mind what to do regarding it.

Beecher was charged with having represented himself as a representative of the firm of Beecher & Co. of Chicago, and buying a set of office furniture on credit an then selling the furniture.

14. Newspaper: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: J. M. Beecher Says He Is Sane, 9 Apr 1893, Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO. ²² SAYS HE IS SANE.

J. M. Beecher, an Inmate of the Asylum, Petitions Judge Edmunds.

DR. HEINE MARKS TELLS WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT THE MAN.

The Hospital Superintendent Accused by Beecher of Having Had Him Incarcerated Through Enmity -- Dr. Marks Says That the Man ls Not Only Mad but Dangerous.

A curious case, which so puzzled Judge Edmunds that he postponed action upon it pending further investigation, cropped up yesterday afternoon when Foreman Ben Von Phul of the Grand-Jury handed the court two communications from J. M. Beecher, an inmate of the St. Louis Insane Asylum. They were handed by Beecher to the foreman while the latter was passing through the asylum. The first was a letter to Judge Edmunds in which the writer stated that he inclosed with it a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. "It is not sworn to by me," wrote Beecher, "for the reason that Dr. Ernst Mueller, Superintendent of the asylum, will not allow a notary or attorney, or any of my parents to see me." Beecher called attention to the section of the' 'habeas corpus act" which authorized the Judge to issue a writ of his own motion when he bad knowledge that any person was restrained of his liberty illegally. " The petition, which certainly does not 6eem to be the composition of an insane man, was as follows:

BEECHER'S APPEAL.

State or Missouri,
City of St. Louis

To the Hon. Henry L. Edmunds, Judge of the St. Louis Criminal Court:

Your petitioner, James M. Beecher, being duly sworn, says that on the 2d day of February, 1833, he was taken by force in the City Hospital in the city of St. Louis, that he was deprived of his liberty without due process of law and that he was taken and incarcerated in the St. Louis Insane Asylum and that he is now illegally held and confined in said asylum and deprived of his liberty by Dr. K. Mueller, the Superintendent of said asylum, and that he is so deprived of his liberty in direct violation of the law of the State.

Your petitioner says that he was not insane at the time when he was taken and incarcerated in said asylum, that he is not insane now and that he has never been insane at any time or place.

Your petitioner says that on the 26th day of January, 1893, he was a patient in the City Hospital in the City of St. Louis; that he was utterly helpless and unable to defend himself by reason of being dangerously wounded in the right leg; that he had been a patient in said hospital since the 1st day of January, 1893; that he was shamefully and greatly neglected and that his wounds were not examined or treated, or inquired about for the period of eight days (from Jan. 16 to Jan. 24) by Dr. Heine Marks, superintendent of the City Hospital, or by any other physician or person connected with the management of said hospital.

Your petitioner saw other patients in said hospital greatly neglected and abused, and that the management of said hospital was corrupt and that the food given to the patients was unfit for human beings to eat and insufficient in quantity.

To get relief from such abuse, neglect, mistreatment and mismanagement your petitioner on the 26th day of January, 1893, wrote a statement of facts in regard to said hospital and the treatment of patients there and sent said statement and samples of food which had been given him to eat (and which was unfit for human food) to the city editor of the Post-Dispatch, a newspaper published in St. Louis, and requested said editor to send said statement and samples of food to the Grand-Jury then in session in the city of St. Louis.

A part of said statement was published in the Post-Dispatch on the 30th day of January, 1893, and was seen and read by Dr. Heine Marks, Superintendent of the City Hospital. Said Dr.. Marks knew that your petitioner wrote said statement and said Dr. Marks became very angry at your petitioner and said he would send him down and lock him up in a criminal cell in the basement of the hospital and not allow him to send another letter out, and that he would send him to the "bug-house" (meaning the insane asylum), for writing such an article about the hospital, and confine him where he could not write any more articles for newspapers. Said Dr. Marks knew that every word of said article was true, and that your petitioner could and would expose said Dr. Marks and his corrupt and dishonest management of said hospital, and the abuse and neglect of the patients in said hospital.

Then, said Dr. Heine Marks entered into a conspiracy and agreement with Dr. Louis Hough, one of the assistant physicians of said hospital, and with Dr. Warren G. Priest and with other persons who are connected with what is commonly known as the "Push" in St. Louis, and in pursuance of such agreement and conspiracy they caused your petitioner to be taken by force and without due process of law and to be incarcerated in the Insane Asylum in the city of St. Louis.

That he was so incarcerated to prevent him from giving evidence against said ''push doctors" and exposing their dishonest and corrupt management of the city institutions under their control and management. Your petitioner says that on the 20th day of February, 1893, he made a legal demand on Dr. E. Mueller for a true and correct copy of the order, process, warrant, commitment papers or authority by virtue of which Dr. K. Mueller held and deprived your petitioner of his liberty in said Asylum but said Dr. E. Mueller has wholly failed and refused to give your petitioner such copy as required by law (vide sec. 5405 R. S. of Mo.) and for that reason your petitioner cannot accompany his petition with a copy of the process by virtue of which he is confined and deprived of his liberty. Your petitioner says that the said Dr. E. Mueller knows that your" petitioner was not insane at the time when he was incarcerated in said asylum; that he has not been insane at any time since he was incarcerated in said asylum, and that he is not insane now, and that said Dr. Mueller is a party to and in collusion with the other conspirators -- Dr. H. Marks, Dr. Louis Hough and Dir. Warren G. Priest, to keep your petitioner confined in said asylum. Your petitioner says that neither Dr. K. Mueller nor any other person has any legal process or authority to confine your petitioner in said asylum or any other place, and that said Dr. E. Mueller is now confining him in said asylum illegally and depriving him of his liberty in direct violation of the law of this State. Wherefore your petitioner asks your honor to issue a writ of habeas corpus forthwith, commanding said Dr. E. Mueller to bring your petitioner before your honor so that this cause may be heard and your petitioner granted his liberty. No petition or application for relief sought has been made to any other court.

James M. Beecher.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 17th day of March, 1893.

Beecher being duly sworn says that he believes the foregoing statement of James M. Beecher to be true, and that he is now illegally confined and deprived of his liberty, as stated by him.

Following the petition are a number of names and addresses of witnesses, among them several newspaper men and persons discharged from the hospital. This petition, bearing as it does all the evidences of the sanity of the writer, is the more remarkable from the fact that it comes from a man, who, according to the statements of physicians and his own relatives, is violently insane.

Beecher has been arrested several times and is well known at the Four Courts. He was or fancied he was the representative of Beecher & Co. of Chicago and in January, 1892, fitted up an office in this city, securing the furniture, $90 worth, from the Tyler Desk Co. He got furniture on credit and immediately sold it and pocketed the proceeds. He was arrested, and in the courts took a change of venue to Union, Franklin Co., where the case was dropped, because the Desk company did not care to incur the expense of taking witnesses there.

Last December Beecher was shot in the leg at Washington, Mo., by his brother-in-law, whose life he had threatened to take on sight. He was brought to this city and taken to the City Hospital, whence he was removed to the asylum.

DR. MARKS' STATEMENT.

Dr. Heine Marks, when asked last evening about Beecher's allegations, said that if there was ever an insane man it was the writer of the habeas corpus petition to to Judge Edmunds. "Why," said he, "from the time the man was brought here on the 1st of last January he was violent. He tore the bandages from his wound just after it had been dressed and swore he had never received attention. He railed at the nurse and the doctors as they passed through the ward and vowed he would kill me as soon as he could get at me. His wife came here from Washington, Mo., a day or two after his admission and told us that he was insane and dangerous. She said that his mania was to have revenge on any and everybody who had ever incurred his displeasure and that if he ever got out he would commit some crime. His brother, John L. Beecher, employed by the Dozier Cracker Co., sixteenth and Morgan streets, told us the same thing and, in substantiation, showed us a letter from their sister, Maggie, addressed to John L. Beecher, and urging that every precaution be taken against the release of the patient, as he had threatened to kill them all. The sister wrote that Beecher was certainly insane."

Dr. Marks showed this letter and also on from John L. Beecher requesting that his brother be sent to an asylum. He also exhibited a number of Beecher's compositions written when he was in the hospital. This is a specimen:

I exposed the Four Courts den of thieves last May and am not done with them yet. I will get revenge that will be more satisfactory than sending them to the pen. I will force Tylers to prosecute me and then Conant can serve a term for perjury. He will be arrested when he leaves the witness stand. I never saw a thing in human shape who parted his hair in the middle who was not either a knave or a fool. He is both. We have got the secretary fast in Oklahoma for land frauds and will settle his dough in the United States courts. J. M. B.

Continuing Dr. Marks said: "The man was brought here by the police and was put in a cell down stairs; When the Chief of Police notified us that there was no charge against him we removed him up-stairs. We stood his abuse and ravings for some time, when I called in Dr. Fry for a consultation, and he said Beecher was insane and dangerous. Dr. Vaughan was afraid to go into the ward and notified me that Beecher had declared he would kill me. I then ordered the attendants to bind him and made out the papers. When they went to him to carry out my instructions he had a knife in the bosom of his vest. I am ready for any investigation into the case."

Beecher imagines that he owns lands and is very rich, and he has got himself into trouble Several times by ordering goods and being unable to pay for them.

15. Newspaper: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Will Investigate Beecher's Case, 10 Apr 1893, Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO. ²³ WILL INVESTIGATE BEECHER'S CASE.

Judge Edmunds Appoints John M. Glover Attorney for the Man.

Judge Edmunds of the Criminal Court has decided to inquire into the case of James M. Beecher, who Is confined in the Insane Asylum, whose communication to Judge Edmunds, alleging that he Is not insane, was published in the Post-Dispatch last Saturday. To-day Judge Edmunds appointed ex-Congressman John M. Glover to take charge of the case and present a writ of habeas corpus to the court.

Mr. Glover said to-day to a Post-Dispatch reporter that the point involved was whether a citizen could be taken and upon the certificate of a couple of physicians placed in the Insane Asylum. The manner in which I came to have anything to do with the case," said Mr. Glover, "was this: I remarked to the court that the matter ought to be inquired into, Judge Edmunds said, 'If you take interest enough in the matter to inquire into it, I will appoint you to draw up a writ of habeas corpus and present it to the Court.

"The court will have to first ascertain whether it can act of itself, or not. If it cannot then I will present a writ of habeas corpus."

16. Newspaper: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Beecher Is Insane, 12 Apr 1893, Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO. ^{21 24} BEECHER IS INSANE.

The Conclusion Attorney Glover Reached After Conversing With the Man.

The writ of habeas corpus presented to Judge Edmunds in the Criminal Court last Tuesday for the release of James M. Beecher, who is confined in the Insane Asylum, was withdrawn to-day on recommendation of ex-Congressman John M. Glover, who was appointed by Judge Edmunds to investigate the case. Mr. Glover's reasons for recommending the withdrawal of the writ are contained in the following communication addressed to Judge Edmunds to-day:

St. Louis, April 12, 1893.
Hon. Henry L. Edmunds, Judge Criminal Court:

SIR -- In the matter of the application of John H. Kiley for a writ of habeas corpus for James M. Beecher, based on the petition of the latter to the Judge or this court through the foreman of the Grand-jury I recommend the dismissal of the proceedings and recall of the writ.

I find that in the commitment proceedings all the forms required by the law were complied with and that there is no ground for impeaching the good faith of any physician concerned.

On yesterday I had an exhaustive private interview with Beecher about his case and an exceptional opportunity to form an unbiased opinion as to his mental condition.

I formed the opinion that at least for the immediate present I could not reasonably hope to procure the judicial discharge of Mr. Beecher. I say nothing further because I do not wish to prejudice any future application that may be made in his behalf.

I assumed that the court desired me to investigate the matter impartially and not to put the State to the expense of a hearing unless from personal investigation I became convinced that my professional opinion justified me in doing so.

John M. Glover

The following letter, addressed to the Clerk of the Criminal Court, accompanied Mr. Glover's communication to Judge Edmunds:

Mr. Joseph N. Judge:

Please hand this paper to Judge Edmunds. If he desires a hearing I will be on hand. If not please file the paper and dismiss the proceedings and have the Asylum Superintendent notified by telephone of the writ. Please say to Judge Edmunds privately that Beecher is under a number of insane delusions of the most kind, as for instance, that he communicates with Nebraska and Jefferson City by subterranean means known only to himself, and that he learns events at a distance before they happen; that he has two friends, Sanders and Wilson, who constantly communicate with him by underground means, through gas pipes, etc., are in many places at once, etc. etc. He has the eye and manner of an insane man and nothing could be more illusory than the impression created as to his mental condition by his extraordinary letter to the Judge.

As the time is short and I find it impossible to present this in person, please make my excuses for not doing so, and send me the Judge's action by bearer.

GLOVER.

Judge Edmunds on receipt of Mr. Glover's communication ordered the withdrawal of the writ. The Beecher matter came to the knowledge of Judge Edmunds through Mr. Ben Von Phul, foreman of the Grand-jury. When the Grand-jury visited the Insane Asylum last week on its tour of the city institutions, Beecher handed a communication to Mr. Von Phul addressed to Judge Edmunds asking for his release and stating that he was not insane and and had not been properly committed. Judge Edmunds decided to inquire into the matter, and appointed Mr. Glover to investigate the case. Beecher had been indicted in St. Louis on a charge of fraud about a year ago but got clear by taking a change of venue. He was shot afterwards in a difficulty, and sent to the City Hospital, from which he was sent to the Insane Asylum.

17. Newspaper: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4 Dec 1895, Saint Louis Crossing, Bartholomew, IN. ²⁵ APPEALS TO LAW FOR LIBERTY.

J.M. Beecher to Come Before Judge Rassieur om Habeas Corpus

NOW IN THE INSANE ASYLUM.

The Doctors Declare That He Has Paranoia, But He Has Been Fighting for Freedom Five Years.

James M. Beecher, now in the St. Louis Insane Asylum, will be given opportunity on Dec. 10 next to prove the assertions that created a sensation when made by him a year ago. He is the individual who on the occasion of a visit of Grand-jurors to the Insane Asylum handed one of them a letter, setting forth his alleged wrongful incarceration. It was so cleverly drawn up that the Grand-jury was impressed with his sanity. The letter was presented to Judge Edmunds, who appointed Lawyer John M. Glover to investigate. Beecher is still in the asylum, because Lawyer Glover was convinced of his insanity.

Attorneys Hopkins, Nicholson & Steinwender, retained by Beecher, now assert that they will secure their client's release by habeas corpus proceedings in the Probate Court. They say they have evidence to refute representations made by the man's family relatives to his previous history, and also to prove his present sanity. Beecher's story, is of a character usually encountered only in the penny dreadfuls. Two years in a madhouse to accomplish a relative's revenge, is the gist of it. The physicians at the Insane Asylum and others, who have examined the man, pronounce his story the offspring of a mind that presents the most interesting case of paranoia they have ever observed. They state that he has systematized delusions of grandeur, connected with delusions of persecution, which, could they have been paralleled in the Duestrow case, would have insured a verdict of insanity as a matter of course.

The man is said by his attorneys to have been a relative of the late Henry Ward Beecher. He is a native of Washington, Franklin County, Mo. His brother, John L. Beecher, is manager of the Dozier Bakery. His wife and brother-in-law are in Washington, Mo. Beecher's wife and brother requested his confinement, and signed his commitment, which was issued by Dr. Heine Marks, while the latter was Superintendent of the City Hospital.

According to Dr. Marks, the man was brought to the City Hospital in February, 1893, from the City Dispensary suffering with buckshot wounds in one of his legs. He had been taken to the Dispensary from Union Station, where he had arrived direct from Washington, Mo. Dr. Marks states that Beecher had trouble with his brother-in-law over some property and had threatened to kill him on sight. Meeting his brother-in-law in a hotel at Washington, Mo., he began abusing him and was shot in the leg. Then he was placed on the train for St. Louis. Dr. Marks states that Beecher had been at the City Hospital but a short time when he became violent and gave every evidence of insanity. Six months before, he had been arrested in St. Louis, according to Dr. Marks, for obtaining money under false pretenses. Dr. Marks believes his offense was due to hallucinations of wealth.

The date of Beecher's commitment to the Insane Asylum was Feb. 3, 1893, and Attorney James L. Hopkins lays great stress upon the fact that, ever since then Beecher has been applying to judge after judge of the St. Louis courts for a writ of habeas corpus with no attention paid to his importunities until a week ago, save in the instance in which Attorney Glover was directed to investigate the matter. Mr. Hopkins says he wishes it understood that he implies no criticism of the courts in this assertion. He expects merely to make a point of this at the hearing in view of the fact that the writ of habeas corpus should issue merely upon the sworn application of the petitioner.

On Sept. 21 last Beecher directed to Judge Edmunds of the Criminal Court another application for a writ of habeas corpus without avail. He applied by letter to Judge David Murphy of the Court of Criminal Correction on Oct. 2, without response. Oct. 26 Judge Adams of the United States District Court was addressed by letter to the same effect by Beecher, and on Nov. 17 the latter wrote to Judge Thomas B. Harvey. Finally he applied to Judge Leo Rassieur of the Probate Court, and the latter determined to take the matter up. Beecher retained Mr. Hopkins' law firm by letter last week and the latter arranged for a hearing on the date mentioned.

Lawyer Hopkins also lays stress upon the manner of Beecher's commitment, as emphasizing the defects of the Missouri law governing imprisonment in insane asylums. Beecher was committed solely by Dr. Marks authority and by reason of his belief that the man was insane, reinforced by the affidavits of his wife and brother. Mr. Hopkins points out that in some cases imposition may be practiced by relatives of an individual desiring to get him out of the way, and the physician misled in such a way that he might mistake for insanity a condition that might exist in a perfectly healthy mind. Mr. Hopkins believes the laws should be made more stringent, for, as they are at present, the abuses deplcted in Charles Reade' s "Very Hard Cash" could as well exist in Missouri.

"According to Dr. Marks commitment," said Lawyer Hopkins, "Beecher is afflicted with paranoia. The reasons for this conclusion assigned by Dr. Marks in the commitment were the constant delusions of the man that he was going to make a brilliant success of various schemes he had. If the conception of schemes and a belief in their possibility is proof of insanity, the various insane asylums should contain twice their present number of inmates.

"Dr. Marks also states that Beecher received a blow upon the head two years before his commitment. This Beecher denies, and I think we can refute it in court by sworn testimony. I have secured and turned over to an eminent neurologist of St. Louis the applications made by Beecher for a writ of habeas corpus, together with Dr. Marks' commitment, and all other papers in the case, for an opinion as to the sanity of the man who drew up the applications. The latter are models, and their only defect is that they are not sworn to. Beecher remedied this before presenting them by accompanying them with a request that a deputy be sent to the Insane Asylum to take his affidavit. We can prove that there was never insanity in Beecher's family, that he had always enjoyed perfect health of mind and body, and never used tobacco or stimulants in any form."

Beecher's personal production in court has been insisted upon by Mr. Hopkins and Judge Rassieur will compel it. He is a man about 45 years and has one or two children.

At the Insane Asylum permission to talk with Beecher was denied a Post-Dispatch reporter, and Health Commissioner Starkloff declined to issue an order for the purpose, on the ground that it would work harm to innocent persons. Dr. Starkloff is convinced of Beecher's insanity, as is Dr. C. H. Hughes, who was questioned by a Post-Dispatch reporter. Dr. Hughes has lectured on Beecher's case and considers that the man presents a perfect type of paranoia. Dr. Starkloff stated, too, that Beecher is a private patient, his way being paid at the asylum.

Dr. L. J. Oatman, Acting Superintendent at the St. Louis Insane Asylum, told the Post-Dispatch reporter that Beecher has the delusion that he is an agent for the Tax-Payers' League and is at the Insane Asylum to investigate the institution.

"Beecher's insanity is of such a nature, " said Dr. Oatman, "that I do not believe a jury would consider him insane. I think that a jury will order his release if the matter is taken into court. This, I think, would prove calamitous. He is of a vindictive temperament, and has the delusion that those who signed his commitment did so for revenge. Once at liberty I do not believe he would stop until he had done them injury."

Dr. Marks is somewhat alarmed over the possibility of Beecher's release.

"I have no doubt that Beecher will attempt to kill me, and Dr. Warren G. Priest as well, if released," said Dr. Marks. "I have right here a knife with which he tried to kill me while in the City Hospital. Had it not been for Nigthwatchman Tom Gartland I should have been killed. When brought to the City Hospital he soon manifested his delusions, stating he was a United States detective in pursuit of mail robbers and real estate sharks.

"One night I was passing through the ward where he lay and he called me to him.

" 'Doctor, I'm going to kill you,' he announced.

"I asked him what was the matter.

" 'You need ask no questions,' he replied. I am going to kill you. '

"Then he sprang on me with a caseknife he had procured from the dining-room. After that, I put him in a cell, and called Dr. Priest over. The latter would have nothing to do with the case, because of his experience with the fellow while the latter was in jail. I laid the matter before Dr. Brennan, then Health Commissioner, and having secured affidavits from Beecher's wife and brother, committed him to the asylum. They told me he had given them trouble for 20 years, having on one occasion attempted to sell a graveyard in Washington, Mo., which he claimed as his own."

While at the Insane Asylum Beecher put a stop to the opening of the mail of inmates by the Superintendent. He complained to the Postmaster, who referred the matter to the Attorney General. The latter rendered the opinion that the Superintendent had no right to open the letters.

In connection with the method in vogue of committing persons to insane asylums, Acting Superintendent Oatman told the Post-Dispatch reporter that Beecher was theoretically sent to the Insane Asylum for observation and as a temporary inmate. Although there two and a half rears he is not regarded as a regular inmate, and will not be unless committed after a court inquiry.

18. Newspaper: St. Louis Post Dispatcth, 1 Feb 1898, Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO. ²⁶ (drawing of James M. Beecher)

James Beecher Wants His Insanity Investigated.

IS AN INMATE OF THE ASYLUM.

DREW UP A PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS -- HAD A GUARD TAKE HIM TO COURT.

HAS PROGRESSIVE PARANOIA.

Asylum Doctors Say He Has Been Insane for Twenty-Eight Years, Though Rational and Intelligent on Many Topics.
The most remarkable person in the St. Louis Insane Asylum appeared unannounced in the Circuit Clerk's office Monday evening and filed application for a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the continuance of his restraint and confinement.

The man was James M. Beecher, known to physicians as a case of paranoia that was unrecognized tor nearly thirty years. He is of distinguished appearance, 6 feet tall, straight and soldierly in his bearing, has a gray beard, large brown eyes, black hair tinged with gray, straight nose, well shaped head and weighs about 175 pounds.

In his application, which was a perfectly prepared legal document, Beecher asserts he is unlawfully restrained of his liberty; that he has been confined in the Asylum without the slightest Authority since February 2nd 1893 and that under the Constitution and laws of the state he is entitled to an inquiry into his sanity. The man was accompanied by a guard from the Asylum, and the paper was received and assigned to Judge Talty's division.

"The incident of Beecher's appearance at the courthouse," says Dr. Edward C. Range, superintendent of the asylum, "happened in this way. It is my custom to permit some of the patients to make an occasional trip downtown, to visit relatives or attend to private business. Beecher's son had asked me to let his father come down and look at a patent he had just obtained for a mechanical contrivance. Yesterday I told the man he might go and in his presence called the guard and instructed him to accompany Beecher wherever he desired. To an old guard the order would have been understood, but he was a new one. I intended to privately limit the permission to the one errand, but Beecher and the attendant got away before I could finish my directions.

"It seems the man had already prepared his application for habeas corpus and took advantage of his liberty to file it.

"Beecher's is rather a famous case. He is afflicted with progressive paranoia and his disease has attracted much attention. He was regularly examined by the Probate Court in January, 1893, and pronounced insane. The man is absolutely irresponsible and has been for thirty years.

"His intellectual faculties and habits are quite remarkable. His memory is phenomenal for names, dates and faces. he is met particle and hardly an event in his daily life is too insignificant for Perpetuation in a notebook. In fact, he writes continuously and well, and although never a lawyer, his legal documents have been pronounced marvel's of correctness."

Beecher was sent for and came down quickly to Dr. Range's office. He gazed steadily at the reporter for a second, with just a lightning flash of unreason in his big brown eyes, then smiled and said softly:

"Yes, I remember you. Your name is so-and-so and I met with you in January, 1893, at Jefferson City." The memory was given with startling accuracy and the reporter was in the capital on that date.

"I don't presume," said Beecher, "that anything will ever come of my application for a writ of habeas corpus. I filed it, though, and although they tried to make me pay a filing fee of $3, I stood on my rights and got them."

The patient spoke at length of the men he had known in Missouri, describing their several characteristics of speech and conduct and giving sketches of incidents in their public career.

The record show that Beecher came of a distinguished family. As a young man he was the pride of his father on account of his intellectual achievements. When 28 years of age he fell from a railway train, and sustained a serious injury to his head. After that his disposition changed almost imperceptibly until he came to be considered an adventurer, a never-do-well, given to exaggeration on and prying into people's private affairs as a serious duty.

Beecher solemnly denies that he ever received an accident or that he was ever unconscious, but the affidavits of all his family prove the fact.

Early in his career of irresponsibility he can see the idea that he was in the secret service of an organization known as the Taxpayer's League and this was constituted his excuse for all the infractions of law which have characterized his irresponsible life.

The trouble was that society took him seriously and for 28 years hounded the man from pillar to post, piling up against him a long record of crimes, when it was discovered at last that he had scarcely a gleam of sanity.

He was reared within forty miles of St. Louis, and he carries in his face and leg the marks of gunshot wounds inflicted by a relative he had threatened to kill and who did not know he was insane. His principal diversion was forgery. He has run the gamut of every court in St. Louis and the adjacent territories, his principal hobby being changes of venue, which he got with dexterity that startled his lawyers, who acknowledged the superiority of his tactics.

Beecher's last escapade was hardly up to his usual cunning and exemplified the growth of his disease. He went to Chicago and actually persuaded a big stationery house to employ him as its St. Louis agent. He fitted out magnificent general offices on credit near Fourth and Washington avenue and for weeks employed himself writing letters to the people in behalf of his business. But his creditors began to press him for rent and for furnishings, and one day he sold the outfit of his office.

The creditors had him arrested and then he fell back upon his old delusion that they were criminals that as an officer in the secret service of the Taxpayer's League it was his duty to catch them by any artifice in his power. He fought every step of his prosecution with consummate skill until an inquiry into his sanity was instituted. Then his house of cards fell to pieces and those who had known him for a lifetime were astounded to learn he had been actually insane for nearly 30 years.

Since his incarceration his letter writing has been largely directed to the several superintendents. Each succeeding physician he hails as coming into power by reason of the favoritism of the Taxpayer's League. He conceives it his duty, as a retainer of the league, to keep incessant watch and guard upon the new superintendent, to see that he does not transcend the rules of the organization. Before a year passed he reaches the inevitable conclusion that the chief officer of the asylum has followed his predecessor into official corruption and tyranny, and that the league is preparing to have him dismissed.

One of the saddest incidents of Beecher's career is that his devoted and affectionate wife did not know of his insanity. She was aware of his eccentricities and of his inability to make a living. For years they were aided by Mr. Beecher's relatives, who were sorely tried by the trouble into which he was continually plunging them and him by his forgeries, his assaults and his threatening letters. His sons are in business in this city and are competent to take any action that may be necessary for his care and keeping. They visit him frequently and occasionally he comes downtown under guard to see them. It was on one of these trips with a new attendant the he got to the Courthouse and filed his legal papers.

Beecher's petition, which is on file in Judge Talty's division of the Circuit Court awaiting someone to present it, is written in his own hand and is a scholarly paper, well written, and accurately spelled and temperate. Not until the end of his letter of explanation does he grow at all excited. He says:

"Your petitioner, James M. Beecher, of lawful age, being duly sworn, says that on the 2d day of February, 1893, he was taken by force, taken without any cause, taken without any legal process and incarcerated and imprisoned in the St. Louis City Insane Asylum in the State of Missouri, and that he is now unlawfully confined in said insane asylum and deprived of his liberty by Dr. Edward C. Runge, the superintendent of said insane asylum."

Then, after setting forth that he is not and has never been insane, he says:

"Your petitioner prays, Your Honor, to issue a writ of habeas corpus forthwith and have him brought before Your Honor and have this cause heard and determined without delay and grant him his liberty.

"James M. Beecher"

He swore to the petition before Chief Clark Jeffery of the Circuit Clerk's office.

Accompanying his petition is a letter to Judge Valliant, quoting a number of sections of the statues and concluding with this paragraph:

"I have been more 'incommunicado' than if I had been in one of Butcher Weyler's prisons and this is the boasted 'Land of Liberty and Justice,' 'Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.' I am a Democrat 'because I want a government by the people, for the people, with equal and exact justice to all men.' I am an American first, last and all the time. Yours truly,

"James M. Beecher."

19. Census in 1900 in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO. ²⁷ The 1900 census recorded James M. Beecher, 51, married, as in inmate in the County Poor House. His occupate is "none - insane." He was born in Missouri and his parents in Ireland.

20. Death Certificate: 28 Feb 1907, Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO. ²⁸ Death certificate filed 3/1/1907 with the State of Missouri: Beecher, James M., 58 years old, married, died on 2/28/1907 at the Poor House of lobar pneumonia and was buried at Concordia.

21. Newspaper: Washington Missourian: James M. Beecher, Insurance, 19 Oct 1928, Washington, Franklin, MO. Business Estalbishments Buying the First Franklin County Classic in Washington in 1878.
Citizen readers in large numbers will be pleased to read an outline record of the persons doing business with the public in and about Washington in 1878 or fifty years ago when they with less than a dozen exceptions, aided other friends of Franklin County in the distribution of the Atlas Map of 1878, the first great county book published.
The list is as follows...
James M. Beecher, Insurance.

22. Newspaper: Washington Missourian, 20 Nov 1952, Washington, Franklin, MO. ²⁹ Hams Sold For 15 Cents A Pound In Washington Back In 1867

There was a time right here in Washington when hams sold for 15 cents a pound, shoulders for 11 cents and beef for 10 cents.
Dr. E. B. Trail brought invoices to The Missourian office last Thursday, showing purchase and sales made by Washington merchants.
He has many old records and papers and some day will turn them over to the state historical society.
Dr. Trail also had an ad from James M. Beecher, who was the agent here then for the Franklin Fire Insurance company of Philadelphia, dated January 1, 1876, and showing assets of $3,308,824.86.

23. Newspaper: Washington Missourian, 4 Jun 2008, Washington, Franklin, MO. ³⁰ (C) 2008 Emissourian.com

James Owens Jr. was the grandson of Lucinda Owens who founded the city of Washington, Missouri.

James Owens Jr. also appears to have the hot temper of his father and grandfather.

The Die Post, a Washington newspaper, reported on Jan. 6, 1893, that James Owens, on Dec. 31, 1892, shot with a shotgun at the head and later into the legs of his brother-in-law James M. Beecher who barely escaped with his life to St. Louis. Beecher had been in jail in Union some months in 1892 charged with a swindle in St. Louis and was released when no witness appeared. He had written Owens and other kin threatening letters and thereupon Owens responded as he did.

James married Margaret Ann Parker, daughter of Edward Nelson Parker and Louisa Moore Lackland, on 2 May 1878 in Washington, Franklin, MO.^{1 2 3} (Margaret Ann Parker was born on 31 Aug 1854 in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO,^{2 3 14 31 32 33} died on 21 Apr 1935 in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO ^{32 33 34} and was cremated on 23 Apr 1935 in Saint Louis: Valhalla Cemetery, St. Louis (City), MO ^{32 33}.)