Edward M. Yerger (1828 – April 22, 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 Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

. His claim of

Habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

after he was arrested by military authorities was appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court in ''

Ex parte Yerger ''Ex parte Yerger'', 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 85 (1869), was a case heard by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the court held that, under the Judiciary Act of 1789, it is authorized to issue writs of habeas corpus. Background In June 1869 ...

,'' a case tried before the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Early life and education

Yerger was born in 1828 in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, the youngest son of

Tennessee Attorney General The Tennessee Attorney General (officially, Attorney General and Reporter) is a position within the Government of Tennessee, Tennessee state government. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer and lawyer for Tennessee. The curren ...

George Shall Yerger. Edward and his family eventually relocated to

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Yerger graduated from Oakland College and served as a colonel in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Career

Yerger edited several newspapers, including the Jackson ''Daily Mississippian'', the ''Jackson Daily News'', the

Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to: * Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States * The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign * The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle Vicksburg is also the name of ...

''Herald'', and the Baltimore ''Evening Journal''. 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''. Yerger was also involved in conflicts with Colonel Manlove of the '' Vicksburg Times'' and Major Barksdale of the ''Jackson Clarion.'' Yerger was later employed by the ''Vicksburg Herald''. He announced his resignation from the staff of the ''Herald'' on January 28, 1868. Yerger was described by a historian as "mentally unsound".

Murder of Joseph G. Crane

In 1869, Major

Joseph G. Crane Joseph G. Crane was a Union Army officer who was appointed mayor of Jackson, Mississippi (the state capitol) in 1869. He was stabbed to death on the capitol steps by Edward M. Yerger, a former Confederate Army officer who edited a newspaper. After ...

became acting mayor of

by military appointment. Yerger, a resident of Jackson, had refused to pay his taxes in 1867 and 1868. In order to collect the money Yerger owed, Crane seized Yerger's piano to sell at auction. 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. Yerger was arrested and set to be tried by a military commission. He was represented by his uncle

William Yerger William Yerger (November 22, 1816 – June 7, 1872) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1851 to 1853.Franklin Lafayette Riley, School History of Mississippi: For Use in Public and Private Schools' (1915), p. 380-82.Thomas H ...

, a former justice on the

Mississippi Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the highest court in the state of Mississippi. It was established in the first constitution of the state following its admission as a State of the Union in 1817 and was known as the High Court of Errors and Appe ...

, who sought a writ of habeas corpus from the circuit court. The resulting case, ''

'', was heard by the

.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. Chief Justice

Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, a ...

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 In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

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 Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Death

Yerger died in

on April 22, 1875.

Early life and education

Career

Murder of Joseph G. Crane

Death

References

Further reading