The Hampshire County Bar Association presents
Historic Court Cases of Hampshire County
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Presenter:
Date: Location: Details: Fee: |
Mike Ryan, Retired Judge and Trustee of Historic Northampton
Tuesday, September 17, 2019 | 6 pm Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA. Limited to 35. Pre-registration strongly recommended. Register with the Hampshire County Bar Association at [email protected] or call Rebecca at 413-586-8729. $10 |
Join Mike Ryan, former Hampshire County District Attorney and retired judge, for a review of some of the most significant cases in Hampshire County's 400-year history--from witch trials and executions to historic cases involving fashion, frauds, civil rights and protests.
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Hampshire County Courthouse
Detail of the Model of Main Street, Northampton, 1847, by the Amherst Railway Society on exhibit at Historic Northampton.* |
Hampshire County Courthouse
Photograph of the Hampshire County Courthouse built in 1813 (rebuilt in 1823 after a fire). It was replaced by the current Hampshire County Courthouse built 1886-1887. |
* Detail of the Model of Main Street, Northampton, 1847, by the Amherst Railway Society, depicting the Hampshire County Courthouse and a procession to a court session. The procession is based upon a description of "The Court Sessions" by Henry S. Gere in Reminiscences of Old Northampton, 1840-1850 (1902), p. 110.
The Court Sessions
from Reminiscences of Old Northampton, 1840-1850 (1902) by Henry S. Gere, p. 110.
from Reminiscences of Old Northampton, 1840-1850 (1902) by Henry S. Gere, p. 110.
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In the old days the sessions of the courts were made more of than they are in these later times. Many of the lawyers came here from other counties and remained a long time awaiting their turn to try their cases. They could not return home at night, as they can now. Usually they stopped at the Mansion House, where the Catholic church now stands, kept by Capt. Jonathan Brewster. The evenings were spent together at the hotel, or by invitation at the home of one of the local lawyers. It was an interesting sight to see the judges and the lawyers, each with his green bag containing the papers relating to the cases he had for trial, headed by the high sheriff, with his long staff of office, and cockade on his hat, wending their way down to the court house. When the procession was in sight, the court house bell was rung. This was the signal for a general drift toward the old temple of justice, and from every direction jurors, deputy sheriffs, witnesses, and spectators were seen wending their way thitherward. This procession of judges and lawyers with its attending features gave a dignity to the court sittings which is lacking in these modern times.
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