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.
BON
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