Edward M. Yerger

Edward M. Yerger (1828 – 1875) was an American newspaper editor and military officer. After a career in the newspaper industry, Yerger was arrested for the stabbing death of the provisional mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, and was the defendant in Ex parte Yerger, a case tried before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Edward M. Yerger
Born1828
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedApril 22, 1875
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Allegiance Confederate States of America
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War
Alma materOakland College

Early life and education

Yerger was born in 1828 in Nashville, Tennessee, the youngest son of Tennessee Attorney General George Shall Yerger.[1] Edward and his family eventually relocated to Mississippi. Yerger graduated from Oakland College and served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.[2][3]

Career

Yerger edited several newspapers, including the Jackson Daily Mississippian, the Jackson Daily News, the Vicksburg Herald, and the Baltimore Evening Journal.[4][5][6] On April 6, 1867, while on the staff of Daily Mississippian, he engaged in a duel with I.M. Patridge of the Herald. Yerger had taken offense to an article that appeared in the latter paper, disparaging the Mississippian.[7] Yerger was also involved in conflicts with Colonel Manlove of the Vicksburg Times and Major Barksdale of the Jackson Clarion.[8] Yerger was later employed by the Vicksburg Herald. He announced his resignation from the staff of the Herald on January 28, 1868.[9] Yerger was described by a historian as "mentally unsound".[10]

Murder of Joseph G. Crane

In 1869, Major Joseph G. Crane became acting mayor of Jackson, Mississippi by military appointment. Yerger, a resident of Jackson, had refused to pay his taxes in 1867 and 1868.[5] In order to collect the money Yerger owed, Crane seized Yerger's piano to sell at auction.[4] At the time. Yerger was out of town and unable to prevent the seizure. He returned home on June 8, and confronted Crane the next day. An argument ensued and Yerger stabbed Crane to death.[11] Yerger was arrested and set to be tried by a military commission.[12][13] He was represented by his uncle William Yerger, who sought a writ of habeas corpus from the circuit court.[14] The resulting case, Ex parte Yerger, was heard by the Supreme Court of the United States.[15] Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase concluded that the court had jurisdiction to hear the case, which meant Yerger did not have to be tried by the military commission. The attorney general and William Yerger agreed that Yerger be turned over to civilian authorities for prosecution.

Yerger was never tried for murder, and, after a stint in a Mississippi jail, was released on bail and moved to Baltimore, Maryland.

Death

Yerger died in Baltimore, Maryland on April 22, 1875.[6]

References
  1. Miller, Mary Carol (1996). Lost Mansions of Mississippi. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-61703-421-3.
  2. Howell, Kenneth Wayne (2012). Still the Arena of Civil War: Violence and Turmoil in Reconstruction Texas, 1865-1874. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-57441-449-3.
  3. Davis, Jefferson (2008-11-15). The Papers of Jefferson Davis: June 1865–December 1870. LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-5895-1.
  4. Nossiter, Adam (2009). Of Long Memory: Mississippi and the Murder of Medgar Evers. Da Capo Press. p. 113. ISBN 9780786748488. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  5. Ward, Francis McRae. "Chapter 7: The Killing Of Colonel Crane, Military Mayor Of Jackson, Mississippi". "Vignettes" of the Civil War. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  6. "Death of E.M. Yerger". Public ledger. (Memphis, Tenn.). 23 April 1875. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  7. "Duel Between two Mississippi Editors". The Charleston daily news. (Charleston, S.C.). 6 April 1867. p. 4. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  8. "The Duello in the South". The evening telegraph. (Philadelphia [Pa.]). 13 April 1867. p. 1. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  9. "Mississippi Items". Memphis daily appeal. (Memphis, Tenn.). 2 February 1868. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  10. Nossiter, Adam (2009-06-16). Of Long Memory: Mississippi And The Murder Of Medgar Evers. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0-7867-4848-8.
  11. "Terrible Tragedy". Public ledger (Memphis, Tenn.). 9 June 1869. p. 3. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  12. Wiecek, William M. (October 1969). "The Reconstruction of Federal Judicial Power, 1863-1875". The American Journal of Legal History. 13 (4): 333–359. doi:10.2307/844183. JSTOR 844183.
  13. Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. II. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Company. 1891. p. 29. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  14. Kutler, Stanley I. (April 1967). "Ex parte McCardle: Judicial Impotency? The Supreme Court and Reconstruction Reconsidered". The American Historical Review. 72 (3): 835–851. doi:10.2307/1846658. JSTOR 1846658.
  15. PAUL FINKELMAN & MELVIN I. UROFSKY, Ex parte Yerger, in LANDMARK DECISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT (2003), available in CQ ELECTRONIC LIBRARY, CQ Supreme Court Collection, http://library.cqpress.com/scc/lndmrk03-113-6430-338597 (last visited April 4, 2007). Document ID: lndmrk03-113-6430-338597.

Further reading
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