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Wilkes October 7, 2022 Richard Sidden On Trial On Tuesday, September 15, 1857, Richard
Sidden found himself standing before the Wilkes County court charged with
counterfeiting. After deliberation,
the 12-member jury found him guilty as charged. The judge ordered that the he be taken by
the sheriff to the public whipping post where he would receive 39 lashes on
his bare back. He would then remain in
jail until the following day at 2 o’clock when he would be put in the pillory
for one hour outside the courthouse for all to see. Richard Sidden was born about 1828. In 1852 he married Catherine Casey, and
they lived on top of Greenstreet Mountain near her family. The first mention of Richard’s legal
troubles is in 1856, exactly one year before his sentencing. The entry in the Superior Court Docket
simply states that his witness John Harris failed to show. His crime isn’t given.
On September 15, 1856,
Richard Sidden was charged in Superior Court. Perhaps he and his legal counsel were
given extra time to prepare their case in the absence of his witness. It was one year later when he was sentenced
to public lashings and an hour in the pillory. The pillory was that medieval-looking frame
with a hole for the prisoner’s head and two more holes for their wrists. He would be held there, bent over in the stocks,
in full view of the public where he could be ridiculed and mocked.
On September 15, 1857,
Richard Sidden was sentenced to 39 lashes and one hour in the pillory. While that was the end of his punishment,
apparently it was not the end of his suffering. On August 1, 1860, a petition was filed by
his friends and neighbors “to restore Richard Sidden to credit”. The fact that this petition was necessary
suggests, perhaps, that he was unable to buy land or make other purchases
because he was labeled as someone who could not be trusted. His reputation and his credit were damaged. The petition says that Richard appears to
be a peacable and honest citizen, “and we think he was induced to commit the
crime of passing counterfeit money by being in bad company”. The petition was signed by at least 102
people! There might have been more,
but the papers are folded at the edges.
Below are the three pages of signatures.
Page 1 of the signatures in
the petition. The list is transcribed
below as best as possible.
Page 2 of the signatures in
the petition, with the transcription below.
Page 3 of the signatures in
the petition, with the transcription below.
That seems to be most of the men in
Traphill Township who could write their own name. The fact that there were so many signatures
shows that the community truly believed that Richard Sidden was an honest
citizen who was somehow tricked into the crime of counterfeiting. Unfortunately these records don’t explain
exactly what crime was committed.
Perhaps there are additional pages on file at the State Archives in
Raleigh that would provide more details. The petition was presented to the court
at the Fall term of 1860. It says that
“four years before the filing of this petition, he was convicted and punished
for the crime of passing counterfeit money, at that time he was about 20
years old, and was led into the commission of said offense by an old and
experienced man who worked upon him and induced him to commit the offense for
which he was indicted, convicted, and punished.” It goes on to say that, since then, “he
has lived in Wilkes County an honest life and has sustained a good character
since that time. He therefore prays,
your Honor, to return him to the rights of citizenship”. The full text is below.
Petition to the court to
return Richard Sidden to full citizenship. The petition was successful. A simple note was the last entry at the
Fall term of court in 1861. It reads “Richard
Sidden. Petition to be restored to
rights of citizen. Ordered by the
court that the petitioner be restored to rights of citizenship. See decree filed.”
Court order restoring the
citizenship rights of Richard Sidden. Just a few months after he had his
citizenship restored, Richard Sidden enlisted in the Confederate Army on
March 31, 1862. This wasn’t
necessarily a voluntary enlistment because within three months he was listed
as a deserter within his regiment.
Like so many men in rural areas, the war wasn’t his fight. He chose, instead, to hide out in the
mountains. Family stories tell of him
eventually being captured by the Home Guard, staked to the ground, and left
to die. Somehow he survived. Then in 1864 he was courtmartialed, perhaps
for the same offense. He survived that,
too. After the war, Richard Sidden bought
several tracts of land along Garden Creek near Stone Mountain. He built a cabin near the creek, and had a
very large and extended family. After
his first wife died, he married Cynthia Caudill in 1899. The picture below was taken on his wedding
day.
Richard Sidden on his
wedding day in 1899. Richard Sidden had an eventful life, and
the counterfeiting incident was only the beginning. He must have been well-liked by his neighbors
because they all came to his defense when he needed their support.
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