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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1980)
Page 8 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1980 Percy Foreman—killers are hiss United Press International HOUSTON — Percy Foreman has forgotten why hired guns Eddie Morse and Jeff Cothron decided not to shoot after jumping him at noon in the Schlitz Bar 48 years ago. He gave them every chance, showing up despite knowing they had a contract on his life. He even invited friend Ace Jacobs along to “watch a lawyer get shot.” What has survived in Foreman’s memory about that 1933 incident, typical in the front-page life of the millionaire Texas lawyer, was the business generated that day. “One of those men who tried to kill me, I had in the pen by noon the next day. Both of them eventually be came clients of mine. More than that, the men who hired them to kill me eventually became clients.” Thugs hired Foreman to defend them because he was above being bought while twice serving as an assistant district attorney in the 1920s and ’30s, he claimed. “That was a pure business princi ple,” he said. “I wanted the courts to decide the cases. Who was going to hire a criminal lawyer if he could hire the district attorney or the judge?” Foreman, 77, has slowed down lit tle since busting and then defending gamblers, since keeping an active file of “an average of 2,200 divorce cases” during the 1940s and since taking on the highly publicized mur- Beer city in ISOO’s described United Press International MILWAUKEE — A working man’s breakfast consisted of coffee and bread, beefsteak or some other roasted meat, potatoes, eggs and butter. It was served at 6 a.m. A steamship ride on Lake Michi gan with accompanying regimental music was 25 cents. Porterhouse steak was 10 cents a pound. A man’s suit — wool and quality made — went for $15 to $20. Heinrich Engelhart, 30, first fore man at the Miller Brewing Co., was earning an annual salary of $1,300. That included free living quarters, wood and light. The year was 1879, and Frederic Miller detailed his life in Milwaukee and America in a lOng. Tamblhig let-' ter to relatives in Germany. Written in German slightly more than a century ago, the letter was found recently by Miller officials. Miller had established the brew ery in 1855, and now — despite the loss of “seven children and a wife in the flower of their youth” — things were going well. He wrote of his present wife, and his children, Ernst, Friz, Clara and Emil, and of his growing business. “I cannot complain, for in spite of the 55 years upon my back — bom November 24, 1824 — I look healthy and strong.” In the summer, he wrote, he got up between 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning, toured the brewery and wrote a few letters before a 7 a.m. breakfast. Bedtime was 9 o’clock in the sum mer and 8 o’clock in the winter. In the Milwaukee of a century ago, Miller wrote, “At times after the day’s work and efforts, we ride along Spring Street, which is a street bor dered by beautiful landscaping such as gardens and springs. We drink glasses of fresh beer while we sit in our buggy parked in front of our cus tomers’ cafes or restaurants. “On Sundays, much of our time is spent in nearby beer gardens. We listen to concert music or enjoy other pleasures such, as remaining at home or some light travel.” He outlined his brewery’s opera tions — “Altogether there are 25 men, in addition to 16 horses plus a branch office in Chicago which has 3 men and 4 horses” — and said he found the business world satisfying. “Today machinery is used every where, whereas in earlier times everyone had to use their hands and feet,” Miller wrote. He said many Milwaukeeans were making good wages and had savings. “Socialism has no reason for exist ence in a country where the average worker can save such amounts of money if they do desire. The lazy Berlin windbags and big mouths and their associates should stay at home.” He recalled his “wonderful youth” in Germany, but said he was happy in America. “I too have expanded my business as my means permit, and I will rely upon my sons to carry on and expand the business that their father started and established.” We’ve Got THE TOUCH I See what’s in thursday’s Focus der cases of James Earl Ray, Jack Ruby and Melvin Lane Powers in his career. “I don’t get involved in a 12- to 14-week case anymore,” he said, preferring to leave them to his two law partners. “Ever since I was 40, I looked for ward to retiring,” Foreman said. “Up to about 6 (years ago), I still thought I would retire in the next five years. But I know now I won’t because I would go to seed.” The 6-4, 250-pound barrister re mains a formidable courtroom foe. He has lost only one defendant to a death sentence in about 2,000 mur der cases. He never kept score, but in 1957 a reporter counted 700 mur der cases he had handled in Harris County alone. During a recent lunch, Foreman looked back at a career which formed the basis for at least one television series. “I’d rather try a murder case than any other type criminal case,” he said. “There’s one less witness. Plus, the defendant in a murder case is a superior type person to the average thief or dope peddler. “Murder is a crime of passion. It is not usually a deliberate crime like systematic hot check writing or swindling. Most people charged with murder are charged but once. And most of them have more re deeming qualities than other cri minals.” One of eight children, Foreman first felt the excitement of a cour troom in the Polk County Court house in Livingston, 8 miles from his Bold Springs home. “I was always on the front seat (of that courtroom). My father was sher iff,” he said. “Big trials of train rob bers and murderers were the prim ary form of drama then. That and revival meetings. “When there wasn’t anything in town, why, all the kids would play revival. I remember one time preaching to an old cat and five or six or seven kittens. I converted all of them. And I didn’t have any trouble baptizing the kittens, either. But that old cat, she scratched and clawed and spit. I finally told her, ‘Well, we ll just sprinkle you and let you go to hell.” Foreman has a compassion gained partly from a time he served county prisoners their meals for his father. He said he remembered them as ordinary individuals caught in a tra gic web of emotion and circumst ance. “The death penalty,” he said, “be nefits nobody but lawyers.” But he also developed a tough ness, even with clients, which drove some like Jack Ruby away. Foreman dropped the appeal of the convicted murderer of Lee Har vey Oswald, who was accused of assassinating President John F. Ken nedy, one week after taking it, be cause Ruby’s family started dictating to him. His defense stategy is simple; anyone but the defendant on Ir, A Florida woman accuseddu dering her husband became; abused woman in the eyesoftfe the courtroom and was acquittec 1964 after Foreman litterei; counselors’ table with whips si® to the ones the woman’s husbanii owned. In another case, the lovej socialite Candace Mossier win': quitted in a 1966 trial ofachai killed Mossler’s millionairebml) after Foreman described theik as a debased pervert. 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