From the Darkness Cometh the Light | Page 7

was elected
representative to congress as an anti-Democrat, and served one term.
For the following twenty-five years, he devoted himself to his
profession, in which he was a shining light. His probity and uprightness
attracted to him a class of people who were in the right and only sought
justice, while he repelled, by his virtues, those who traffic in the
miseries or mistakes of unfortunate people, for they dared not come to
him and seek counsel to aid them in their villainy.
In 1847, Mr. Bates was delegate to the Convention for Internal
Improvement, held in Chicago, and by his action he came prominently
before the whole country. In 1850, President Fillmore offered him the
portfolio of Secretary of War, which he declined. Three years later, he
accepted the office of Judge of St. Louis Land Court.
When the question of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was
agitated, he earnestly opposed it, and thus became identified with the
"free labor" party in Missouri, and united with it, in opposition to the
admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution. He afterwards
became a prominent anti-slavery man, and in 1859 was mentioned as a
candidate for the presidency. He was warmly supported by his own
State, and for a time it seemed that the opposition to Governor Seward
might concentrate on him. In the National Republican Convention,
1860, he received forty-eight votes on the first ballot, but when it
became apparent that Abraham Lincoln was the favorite, Mr. Bates
withdrew his name. Mr. Lincoln appointed Judge Bates Attorney
General, and while in the Cabinet he acted a dignified, safe and faithful
part. In 1864, he resigned his office and returned to his home in St.
Louis, where he died in 1869, surrounded by his weeping family.
"----loved at home, revered abroad. Princes and lords are but the breath
of kings, 'An honest man's the noblest work of God.'"
On the 7th of February, 1844, the suit for my freedom began. A bright,
sunny day, a day which the happy and care-free would drink in with a
keen sense of enjoyment. But my heart was full of bitterness; I could

see only gloom which seemed to deepen and gather closer to me as I
neared the courtroom. The jailer's sister-in-law, Mrs. Lacy, spoke to me
of submission and patience; but I could not feel anything but rebellion
against my lot. I could not see one gleam of brightness in my future, as
I was hurried on to hear my fate decided.
Among the most important witnesses were Judge Robert Wash and Mr.
Harry Douglas, who had been an overseer on Judge Wash's farm, and
also Mr. MacKeon, who bought my mother from H. S. Cox, just
previous to her running away.
Judge Wash testified that "the defendant, Lucy A. Berry, was a mere
infant when he came in possession of Mrs. Fannie Berry's estate, and
that he often saw the child in the care of its reputed mother, Polly, and
to his best knowledge and belief, he thought Lucy A. Berry was Polly's
own child."
Mr. Douglas and Mr. MacKeon corroborated Judge Wash's statement.
After the evidence from both sides was all in, Mr. Mitchell's lawyer,
Thomas Hutchinson, commenced to plead. For one hour, he talked so
bitterly against me and against my being in possession of my liberty
that I was trembling, as if with ague, for I certainly thought everybody
must believe him; indeed I almost believed the dreadful things he said,
myself, and as I listened I closed my eyes with sickening dread, for I
could just see myself floating down the river, and my heart-throbs
seemed to be the throbs of the mighty engine which propelled me from
my mother and freedom forever!
Oh! what a relief it was to me when he finally finished his harangue
and resumed his seat! As I never heard anyone plead before, I was very
much alarmed, although I knew in my heart that every word he uttered
was a lie! Yet, how was I to make people believe? It seemed a puzzling
question!
Judge Bates arose, and his soulful eloquence and earnest pleading made
such an impression on my sore heart, I listened with renewed hope. I
felt the black storm clouds of doubt and despair were fading away, and
that I was drifting into the safe harbor of the realms of truth. I felt as if

everybody must believe him, for he clung to the truth, and I wondered
how Mr. Hutchinson could so lie about a poor defenseless girl like me.
Judge Bates chained his hearers with the graphic history of my mother's
life, from the time she played on Illinois banks, through her trials in
slavery, her separation from her husband, her efforts to become free,
her voluntary return