AS I WANDERED #67 BARRA FOR THE DEFENSE

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C B F BArra, Irish Immigrants, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, John Jay Sealy Library

Between 1905 and 1921 a lawyer by the name of C. B. F. Barra was quite a busy fellow with some involvement in high-stakes property.

It looks like he was a young fellow just getting established.

However, his skills must have increased with the skills of his clients. He appears to be on a path to destiny.

Most of Esquire C. B. F. Barra’s early clients, between 1905 and 1912, were petty criminals charged with receiving stolen goods, a little arson here and there, an occasional assault, and concealing a weapon or two.
 
After that his clients were engaged in grand larceny and murder.

And he had a lot of clients; somewhere in the neighborhood of sixty; not counting the ones that were settled out of court or squashed by Tammany Hall.

Now you may be asking yourself “Now where did he get that from? He lived in the era of the Civil War.”

You forgot; I am dead and have been dead for some time.

This allows me to look into the past as well as the future.

And the future does not bode well for Mr. James Mulcahey.

After the proper swearing in of the jury – – – oh! excuse me – – –

After “Voir Dire” has been completed:

After the jury returns from lunch Assistant District Attorney Brothers  opens the case.

Now, you must remember that most of the witnesses are Irish.

Nothing against the Irish; I am just establishing a point which will become clear as the case of C. B. F. Barra moves along.

So we finally come to what this is all about. It is not about
James Mulcahey; although I should tell you he went to the slammer.

What this case is about is C. B. F. Barra and the clients he defended in the years after 1905.

Well, as you can imagine, the cases go on and on, nearing somewhere close to sixty.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to describe him.

It was not only  the Italians that he represented in the courtroom.

It was all the immigrants that he was defending; his Motivus Operandi.

My thanks, once again, to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the John Jay Sealy Library for the transcripts.

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©W. Tomosky♠