Introduction

This letter from Dorr to George Turner shows his considerable obsession with the Luther case. He once again urges Turner to work towards a continuance if a full slate of nine justices on Court cannot be achieved. Dorr had a tremendous amount of time on his hands in the late 1840s after his release from prison and he spent his days master-minding legal arguments to be presented in front of the nation’s highest court. His months in prison ruined his already fragile health, forcing him to move in with his parents on Benefit Street in Providence. A once prominent lawyer with a lucrative practice in Providence, the stigma of his 1844 conviction prevented him from reopening his legal practice. His conviction also prevented him from voting or holding public office. Unlike Dorr, who likely received a monthly allowance from his wealthy father, George Turner had a law practice to maintain and was probably getting a little bit annoyed at his friend’s constant badering over the Luther case and repeated trips to Washington.

Letter

I briefly replied to yours of the 20th
(recd. 24th) by return of mail; and have since received yours postmarked
25th. You may be well assured that your zeal and
activity in the case of Luther, which stood so much in need
of service like yours, are justly and highly appreciated by all our
friends here, who are acquainted with the progress of the case.

When it shall be called again which, you intimate,
will be about the first of March, if the whole court, the nine
judges, be not on the bench, we all say, let a motion be made
for a continuance. Such a motion in a case of this vast importance
cannot be well denied. It will be best to wait till the last moment
until it shall be certain that the bench will not be full, before making
the motion; otherwise the enemy, who know that the present is
the best time for them, will exult over what they will call a want of
courage to face the court, and a desire for unreasonable delay.

It is also agreed & understood that you must stand
by the case till the last. Should you return home, it must
be with the expectation of going back as soon as possible to Washington,
so as [to] be on hand for the motion, or for the trial in chief, if the
court should refuse a continuance. It will not take you
long to arrange your law matters at Newport; and you can then
be off again to train the case at Washington. As they say
in China, this is a special edict; and I do not see how
you can get rid of a compliance with it.

I thank you for a printed copy of the record, &

I am surprised to have you say that Senator
Allen denies having received any letter from me at this
session. I have sent to him 3. Pray call and inquire
if he has not mislaid them. The post office here is not in fault.
There is nothing new here. The weather is mild like spring.
But winter is lying back, I suspect, for one more deadly blast
upon us.

Questions

Do you think Dorr had more hope in the appeal of his treason conviction or the Luther trespass suit?