Several newspaper articles from the New York Times, 1885-1986:

The New York Times, May 26, 1885

COMPLICATING A DIVORCE SUIT.; A QUESTION OF ALLEGED PERJURY IN THE SHERMAN LITIGATION.

In February last the suit of Kate M. Sherman for an absolute divorce from Walter R. Sherman was tried before Judge Beach in the Supreme Court. Judge Beach gave her a decree of divorce and awarded her the custody of her son, Walter M. Sherman, 9 years of age. One of the main witnesses against Sherman was Robert Robertson, formerly a partner of his brother, Roger M. Sherman. Soon after the trial Robertson was arrested on a charge of perjury, and was committed by a Police Justice for trial, Roger M. Sherman and Charles W. Brooke having appeared against him as the representatives of the District Attorney. Charles W. Brooke is counsel for Roger M. Sherman in his divorce litigation with Florence M. Sherman, a daughter of ex-Gov. John J. Bagley, of Michigan. Robertson having been stigmatized as a perjurer, Messrs. Sherman and Brooke, as counsels for Walter R. Sherman, moved to have the decree of divorce against him vacated and for a new trial.

The motion was heard by Judge Van Vorst yesterday. In their affidavits the Shermans declared that one James Annette swore falsely on the trial as well as Robertson. Walter Sherman swore that the charges of infidelity against him were untrue, and he was supported by his brother in the averment that his wife had treated him badly. One of the instances of ill-treatment was that she struck him in the face with a glass vase, which cut him deeply when it shivered to bits.

Mrs. Sherman made a long affidavit in response to the moving papers. She averred that her husband had inserted matters of malicious slander in his affidavits respecting her, and that his brother had joined him in slandering her under cover of his privilege speaking in court, as well as in an affidavit. She asserted that Robertson and Annette had told the truth, and that the proceedings in the Police Court against Robertson were a mockery. Next she told how she had eloped from Ithaca, when she was only 15 years old, with Walter R. Sherman, who had been a student at Cornell. They were married here, and very soon after their marriage he began to ill-treat her. She was compelled to leave him, but she returned to him at his earnest solicitation. Finally, in 1882, he left her, she said, because the proof of his infidelity was at hand. He took her child from her, and afterward put him in boarding schools, but failed to pay for his tuition, and she had to pay for it out of her small store. In February last she got possession of the boy after the burning of a school he was in at Chappaqua, and she has since retained him under the decree of the court. Affidavits made by Robertson and Annette, repeating the testimony given by them on the trial, and insisting that Walter R. Sherman was utterly immoral, were also read by ex-Judge Richard Busteed [see the short bio of Richard Busteed below], who appeared for Mrs. Sherman. At the conclusion of the reading of the affidavits of Robertson and Annette Mr. Brooke moved that they be stricken out as scandalous, because they contained matter reflecting on Mr. Roger M. Sherman. Judge Van Vorst reserved his decision on that question and will hear more on the motion for a new trial on Thursday.

• * *

The New York Times, May 29, 1885, page 8

SHARP TALK IN COURT.; LIVELY PROCEEDINGS IN THE SHERMAN DIVORCE CASE.

Liveliness was the feature of the proceedings before Judge Van Vorst, in Supreme Court, Special Term, yesterday, on the motion for a new trial of the suit of Kate M. Sherman for an absolute divorce from Walter R. Sherman. Gen. Richard Busteed [see the short bio of Richard Busteed below] had recalled some of the fire of his youth, and, as the champion of Mrs. Sherman, revealed the qualities that made "Dick" Busteed famous at the bar 30 years ago. In his argument against a new trial poetical quotations jostled law points, and occasionally he stopped to shake the finger of scorn at Roger M. Sherman, who appears, with Charles W. Brooke, as counsel for his brother Walter.

The proceedings were opened with the striking-out by Judge Van Vorst of some passages in the affidavits presented last Monday on behalf of Mrs. Sherman that scandalized Roger M. Sherman. Then an affidavit made by Walter R. Sherman was read by Mr. Brooke. In it Walter denied that he had treated his wife with violence more than once. That one time he pushed her violently because she was playing a tattoo on his face with her boot heel. He denied that the allegations of infidelity made against him were true, renewed his former charges of unfaithfulness against his wife, and declared that his sister-in-law, Annie Lavelle, had sworn falsely.

Then Gen. Busteed referred to Walter R. Sherman as a "travesty of a dude," to whom it was more natural to lie than to tell the truth, and who had fed recently on a diet of perjury administered to him recently by his brother and counsel, Roger M. Sherman.

""Beast and blackguard!" hissed Roger M.

"You are both beast and blackguard," retorted Busteed, "and a ruffian and a liar to boot."

Roger answered in kind, and added that it was well for the former Brigadier-General of volunteers that he was talking under the protection of the court. Judge Van Vorst having chided both, Gen. Busteed went on to glorify his fair client, and dropped into poetry to such an extent as to rouse the disgust of Roger M. Sherman, who said:

"Pshaw! I used to do that when I was but 16 years old."

"Oh, wretch, without a fear, without a thought

Save joy above the ruin thou hast wrought!"

This was the metrical answer of the orator, with his fist upraised toward his calm interrupter.

And thus the discussion went on until Judge Van Vorst wearily said that the papers could be handed to him for consideration.
---------------------------
Notes: Article regarding Richard Busteed, downloaded 2010 from Wikipedia:

Richard Busteed (February 16, 1822 – September 14, 1898) was an attorney and soldier who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. [photo of him in uniform] He was a lawyer before and after the war, and also served as the U.S. District Judge of Alabama from 1863 – 1874. He became highly controversial in that position, and resigned to avoid likely impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Civil War
• 3 Post Civil War
• 4 Family
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Early life

Busteed was born in Cavan, Ireland. His family relocated to London, Ontario, sometime after his father, George Washington Busteed, was removed as chief secretary of Saint Lucia in 1829. After moving to Canada, the elder Busteed began publishing The True Patriot on which Richard worked as a type-setter. He accompanied his father to Cincinnati, Ohio; Hartford, Connecticut; and finally settled in New York City where he worked on the Commercial Advertiser.

Along with working as a journalist, Busteed was licensed as a Methodist preacher. He visited Ireland for health reasons in 1840. Upon returning to New York he began to study the law and was admitted to the bar in 1846. He was elected corporation counsel of New York City in 1856 and held that office until 1859. In the presidential election of 1860 he was a strong supporter of Stephen A. Douglas, and a bitter opponent of Abraham Lincoln.

Civil War

Once the war erupted, Busteed became a strong Union man. He was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers on August 7, 1862, by President Lincoln and assigned duty first in New York and then in Washington, D.C.. On December 15, 1862, he was given command of an independent brigade detached from the VII Corps. The brigade was assigned to the peninsula near Yorktown, Virginia. Even though the five colonels in his brigade sent a joint letter to the Senate urging his confirmation, the Senate did not confirm the appointment. Busteed not only had enemies from the election of 1860, he had made new ones for his strong support of the administration and his stance on the slavery question. His appointment expired on March 4, 1863, and, relieved of his command, he resigned less than a week later on the 10th, ending his military career.

On September 17, 1863, Lincoln appointed Busteed as United States District Judge for the Alabama. (Although Alabama comprised three judicial districts at the time, they shared a single judgeship.) This time his enemies in the Senate did not fight his confirmation and the appointment was confirmed unanimously on January 20, 1864. The confirmation may have gone so smoothly because Alabama was still mostly controlled by the Confederacy.

Post Civil War

It was only after the war ended that Busteed was able to take his seat on the bench. He immediately came into disfavor with those pushing for harsh Reconstruction when he decided that the test-oath prescribed by Congress was unconstitutional, so far as it applied to attorneys practicing before United States courts. Judges in other states and eventually the United States Supreme Court would deliver similar opinions. In November 1865 Busteed clashed with the U.S. military authorities in Alabama over the suspension of habeas corpus.

Despite these opinions, Alabamans generally considered him corrupt and pro-Northern.[1] In December 1867, he was shot on the street in Mobile by U.S. District Attorney Lucien V. B. Martin,[2] who fired two more shots into him after he fell. Martin went to Texas and was never prosecuted, while Judge Busteed recovered rapidly.

In 1873, President Grant nominated Busteed to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.[3] At the same time, Grant nominated Judge David Campbell Humphreys, an Alabama native serving on the District of Columbia court, to assume Busteed's seat, each nomination made contingent on the other's resignation. The Senate, however, viewed these nominations as improper and refused to act on them.

Also in 1873, Busteed was the subject of an impeachment inquiry by the House Judiciary Committee. The Committee recommended his impeachment on charges of failing to maintain a residence in his judicial district, failing to hold scheduled terms of court, and using his official position to promote his personal interests (specifically, by remitting a fine due to the Federal government in order to obtain release from a personal judgment against him in a State court).[4] Busteed resigned in 1874 before the full House could vote on the recommendation.

He returned to New York City and the practice of law. He died there on September 14, 1898.
---------------------------
The New York Times, January 21, 1887

AN EXPENSIVE SOVEREIGN.

H.R. Williams, of Brooklyn, who arrived on the [ship] Umbria on Tuesday, gave Walter R. Sherman, Custom House Inspector, a sovereign, desiring to get his baggage with the least possible delay. Collector Magone heard of the performance, which is not novel, and determined to break up the fee practice. Yesterday he sent his complaint to the United States District Attorney. He intends to prosecute Mr. Wiliams under Section 5.451 of the Revised Statutes, which imposes for the offense of bribing an officer of the United States a fine equal to three times the amount of the bribe and three years' imprisonment, and for the further offense of perjury, implied in the officer's violation of his oath, which carries a further penalty of two years' imprisonment. Mr. Sherman is a brother of Roger Sherman, the lawyer, who claims to be lineally descended from the signer of the Declaration of Independence of that name.

• * *

The New York Times, September 11, 1894

Must Bring Her Child to Court

Justice Cullen, in the Supreme Court, Brooklyn, yesterday, issued a writ of habeas corpus, directing Mrs. Isabella M. Sherman to produce her daughter, Tottie, in court. This was done at the request of her former husband, Walter K. [sic, should have been R. for Rothschild] Sherman, who complained that the child was being estranged from him, and that he was not permitted to see her.

Mrs. Sherman procured a divorce in Sioux Falls, S. D., last February, on the ground of cruel treatment. Mr. Sherman is related to Roger M. Sherman, and is a nephew of William M. Evarts.

Mrs. Sherman and her daughter live at West Brighton, Staten Island.

= < = > = = < = > = = < = > = - - - - - - - - - - - - - - = < = > = = < = > = = < = > =