The Marshall County Historical Society will meet Sunday afternoon, Aug. 4, at 2 p.m. at the museum in the Hardison Office Annex, 230 College Street.

Historian Catherine Handford will present a fascinating program on the jury trial, conviction, and pardon of Judge W. J. Leonard, who was, in the 1890s, the County Judge and head of the County Commission.

Judge Leonard was accused of larceny for reissuing county bonds that had already matured.

Handford stumbled onto the documents, petitions, and personal letters written both pro and con concerning Leonard’s pardon while researching the official papers of Governor Robert Love Taylor.

These documents, which are housed in the Tennessee State Library and Archives, include 36 petitions with signatures of 1,800 people and numerous personal letters stating the wishes of the county residents in this jury case.

The petitions read like an unofficial census of the day. This is very helpful to local historians since the federal census records for that period were mostly destroyed by fire in 1921.

Handford and a paid assistant spent months researching every name on each petition to verify residency in the county. The citizens of the county were divided on the outcome of this trial.

Handford says it is interesting to note that even though women and most persons of color were not allowed to vote in elections, these groups were encouraged to sign the petition and voice their opinions by writing to Governor Taylor.

The whole saga of Judge Leonard’s trial, conviction, eventual pardon, and expulsion from Tennessee have been lost in history because copies of the local newspapers of that era did not survive and court records seemed to have disappeared.

In fact, no photograph of Judge Leonard has ever been produced. If anyone reading this article knows the whereabouts of such a picture, please contact the historical society.

The public is invited to attend this free and open meeting