No 1: Rice Against Rice

In my hands I am presently holding a most remarkable piece of paper.  A newspaper article from 1854.  But it’s not the age that makes it notable.  It’s what it reveals.  Small in size, but with just a few words organized in only a few sentences, this article awakes the curiosity button of anyone reading it, at least it did mine.  I mean, a simple statement such as “It is probable taking this as a criterion, that three-fourths of the wives in the community are entitled to a divorce”, surely would encourage one to wonder what this is all about.  And as I delve deeper into this short news item, other phrases hop out to increase the adrenaline of curiosity.   “…a large audience had attended with considerable interest to the trial”, and “The verdict created universal surprise, and since considerable excitement”, or  “…public sentiments seldom as unanimous as it is in the case against the result.”

The article first came into my possession some fifty years ago, and since my first reading I have always wondered about the background for these descriptions. Through years of research, a few details have become available, shedding light on the individuals involved, but not enough to give full explanations. Thus, the article has remained in my archives, waiting to be taken up again and researched anew in an effort to bring alive the individuals who experienced the actual events of the courtroom in 1854.

Without a doubt the most notable aspect of this article is the event which it describes. But nearly as remarkable as the story itself is the path this yellowing news item took in order to come into my possession. This too is a part of the story lending itself to research and speculation, and to some extent wonderment.

The article is entitled “The Circuit Court”.  

It has been cut out from the “Logansport Journal” of Logansport, Indiana. 

The date of printing was May 6 1854.

Someone has written that very same date,  “May 6^th 1854” at the top.   

This is followed by “Tryal”, at least that’s what it looks like to me.

It describes the case of “Rice against Rice”.

 

The article is worn, yellowing, and in some places difficult to read. The following is a transcript:

The Circuit Court

   Adjourned on Sunday morning at 3 o,clock.

                                     …………..

   The Case of Rice against Rice, for divorce, detained the Court to the later hour at which it adjourned.  It was submitted without argument, as there was no time to allow it.  Much disappointment was felt in consequence, as a large audience had attended with considerable interest to the trial.  The verdict created universal surprise, and since, considerable excitement.  We heard but little of the evidence, but public sentiment is seldom as unanimous as it is in this case against the result.  It is probable, taking this as a criterion, that three fourths of the wives in the community are entitled to a divorce, and most of them could claim it upon juster grounds than were presented at this trial.  The jury, doubtless did what they conscienciously believed to be demanded by the facts in the case, but their manner of viewing them certainly magnified or distorted them.

Comments made by the journalist who wrote this little item have awaken a need to pry and poke, a need to follow an adventurous road of questions to see where it leads.  Or, to put it simply, I just need to satisfy my curiosity, it’s a pleasure in itself. 

 

What is meant by “submitted without argument”?
Why did a large audience attend a court case concerning divorce?  What was the reason for the “considerable interest”?
Why was this trial a jury trial?
Why did the verdict create “universal surprise, and since, considerable excitement”?
What were the grounds given for the divorce?
What were the “facts in the case”?
Who cut out this article and kept it?
I received this article from my Grandfather. How did my Grandfather obtain the article?

And so, in June 2013, the opportunity arose for me to set aside six days in Logansport. Sunny days of walking the streets, visiting the cemeteries, searching through archives of newspapers and historical documents, relaxing in parks.  Activities which have given me a sense of the location, insights in our family, and numerous upon numerous documents, all of which should allow us to find answers to some these questions and many more. 

As I pour through the material gathered, I will make this information available through the articles which follow.
The articles will be numbered in order to make them easier to read on this website.