A Charge Never Easily Made

The Meaning of Respectability and Women’s Work in the Trial of The Reverend William Hogan, 1822

Bibliographic Data

ID16769202
AuthorsKathleen Kennedy, Kathleen E Kennedy (Schlumberger (Ireland), corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume7
Issue1
Pages29-62
Publication date2006-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Nineteenth Century History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1466-4658 • E-ISSN: 1743-7903
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14664650600616320
OpenAlexW1982896388
LanguageEN
References cited29

This article examines the early nineteenth century trial of William Hogan, a popular yet controversial Catholic priest, for assault on Mary Connell, a domestic servant and former member of Hogan’s parish. This article is less interested in the facts surrounding Hogan’s alleged assault on Connell as the available evidence is insufficient to evaluate Hogan’s guilt or innocence. Still, the detailed trial transcript that emerges from this case allows us to do two things at once. It enables us to explore the social history of the most important division within the American Catholic church and of the complex relationships between clergymen and working class women. Secondly, the case reveals how anti‐catholic narratives of sexual violence found expression in the courtroom. The Hogan case provides a rare case study of how the discourses of religious conflict, nativism, class, and gender came together to define the specific conditions under which a woman could be raped and a man convicted of rape, in the antebellum courtroom. Keywords: William HoganMary ConnellCatholicismSexual Violence Acknowledgements I would like to thank Susan Branson for initially suggesting that I look at this case and for reading an earlier draft of this essay. I also wish to thank Diana Wright and two anonymous reviewers (one of whom provided an especially thoughtful seven‐page single spaced report) for their comments on an early draft. Notes [1] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan. See also, The Democratic Press (April 15, 1822); and A Listener, ‘A Compendious Trial of the Rev. William Hogan.’ [2] Steinberg, The Transformation of Criminal Justice in Philadelphia, 18–22. [3] The Trial of the Rev.William Hogan. [4] For an explanation of the workings of Mayor’s Court, see Steinberg, The Transformation of Criminal Justice in Philadelphia, 2–17. [5] For information on the ‘Hogan Schism,’ see Carey, ‘Arguments for Lay Participation in Philadelphia Catholicism,’ 43–58; Light, Rome and the New Republic, 90–180; and Tourscher, The Hogan Schism. [6] Steinberg, The Transformation of Criminal Law in Philadelphia, 58. [7] Hoeber, ‘Drama in the Courtroom’, 198. [8] Duggan, Sapphic Slashers, 64. [9] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 82. [10] For a similar argument, see Cohen, ‘The Respectability of Rebecca Reed,’ 419–22 [11] Cohen, ‘Ministerial Misdeeds,’ 38. [12] See, Cohen, ‘Ministerial Misdeeds,’ 34–57; Fox, Trials of Intimacy; Hodges, ‘The Pastor and the Prostitute,’ 60–67; Kasserman, Fall River Outrage; Mclouglin, ‘Untangling the Riverton Tragedy,’ 75–84; and Waller, Reverand Beecher and Mrs. Tilton. [13] Cohen, ‘Ministerial Misdeeds,’ 38. [14] Pagliarini, ‘The Pure American Woman and the Wicked Catholic Priest,’ 97–128. [15] Tourscher, The Hogan Schism, xi. [16] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 274. [17] Cohen, ‘Ministerial Misdeeds.’ [18] Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett; Gonda, ‘Strumpets and Angels,’ 99; Srebnick, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers; and Stansell, City of Women. The middle class men, who ran the courtroom, increasingly defined working women as devoid of virtue and as the harbingers of an illicit and dangerous sexuality; thereby, legitimizing a construction of male sexuality in which violence and force was an essential part. According to historian Susan Gonda, middle class men ‘believed [that] lower class women invited sexual contact – even forced sex.’ [19] Cohen, ‘Ministerial Misdeeds,’ 34–57; and Kasserman, Fall River Outrage, 2. Kasserman argues that the defense in this case ‘deserve[s] the distinction of, if not discovering, at least bringing a high degree of perfection to the now classic defense strategy that depends on proving the female victim of a sexually based crime was of such bad character that her assailant could not be culpable.’ Hogan’s case demonstrates that this defense strategy was well established before Ephraim Kingsbury Avery’s trial for the murder of Sarah Cornell. [20] For literature on gender and anti‐Catholicism, see Billington, The Protestant Crusade; Byrd, ‘The Madhouse, The Whorehouse, and the Convent,’ 268–78; Cohen, ‘Miss Reed and Her Superiors,’ 5–17; ‘The Respectability of Rebecca Reed,’ 419–61; Fessenden, ‘The Convent, The Brothel and Protestant Woman’s Sphere,’ 451–78; Fessenden, ‘From Romanism to Race,’ 229–68; Franchot, Roads to Rome; Griffen, ‘Awful Disclosures: Women’s Evidence in the Escaped Nun’s Tale,’ 93–107; Lewis, ‘Mind Forged Manacles,’ 149–67; McCarthy, ‘The Rescue of True Womanhood’; Pagliarini, ‘The Pure American Woman and the Wicked Catholic Priest,’ 97–128; Regan, ‘Runaway Nuns, Runaway Bestsellers’; Regan, ‘There Are No Ranks Among Us,’ 93–104; Schultz, Fire and Roses; Schultz, ‘Introduction’; Schultz, ‘A Severe and Proud Dame She Was’; Sullivan, ‘Wayward From the Wilderness’; 201–22; and Welter, ‘From Maria Monk to Paul Balanshard’. For a very good study of gender and anti‐Catholicism in early modern England, see Dolan, Whores of Babylon. [21] The exceptions are Cohen, ‘The Respectability of Rebecca Reed,’ 419–61; and Regan, ‘Runaway Nuns, Runaway Bestsellers.’ [22] Cohen, ‘The Respectability of Rebecca Reed,’ 422. It may be appropriate to read Connell’s actions in the controversies at St. Mary’s as historian Daniel Cohen reads those of Rebecca Reed, whose fictionalized expose of the Charlestown Convent some historians suggest contributed to its burning in 1835. According to Cohen, the sectarian controversies of the mid‐nineteenth century gave some women the opportunity to ‘enhance their own social status and prospect by exploiting religious rivalries.’ [23] Alexander, Render them Submissive; and Newman, Embodied History. [24] McAleer, ‘Civil Strangers: The Irish in Philadelphia During the Early National Period.’ [25] Carey, ‘Arguments for Lay Participation in Philadelphia Catholicism,’ 43–58; Carey, ‘The Layities Understanding of the Trustee System,’ 357–76; Light, Rome and the New Republic, 97–152; and Tourscher, The Hogan Schism. The exception is, McAleer, ‘Civil Strangers,’ 333–51. [26] Carey, ‘The Layities Understanding of the Trustee System,’ 362. [27] Hogan quoted in Carey, ‘Arguments for Lay Participation in Philadelphia Catholicism,’ 44. [28] Carey, ‘Arguments for Lay Participation in Philadelphia Catholicism,’45. [29] McAleer, ‘Civil Strangers,’ 345–9. [30] Light, Rome and the New Republic, 72. [31] Light, Rome and the New Republic; and Tourscher, The Hogan Schism, ix. [32] Light, Rome and the New Republic, 98–106. [33] Light, Rome and the New Republic, 97–219; and Tourscher, The Hogan Schism. [34] Tourscher, The Hogan Schism, X. For Hogan’s anti‐Catholic writings, see Hogan, High and Low Mass in the Roman Catholic Church with Comments; and Hogan, A Synopsis of Popery, as it was and as it is. [35] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 12–18; the quote is from page 16. Hannan was charged with Hogan but left town before the trial. His disappearance was cause for speculation among the prosecution. The court had ruled that Connell could not testify to the treatment she received from O. A. Hannan as he was not on trial. Throughout her testimony, Connell refused to leave out such testimony, claiming that ‘I will tell you about Mr. Hannan because I want you to know how shameful he behaved to me.’ [36] Ibid., 13. [37] Ibid. [38] Ibid., 35. [39] Ibid. [40] Ibid. [41] Ibid., 19. [42] Ibid., 19–22. [43] Gonda, ‘Strumpets and Angels,’ 63. [44] These conditions are often referred to by feminist scholars as rape scripts. My understanding of rape scripts comes from, Marcus, ‘Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words: A Theory and Politics of Rape Prevention,’ 385–403. For an earlier treatment of sexual scripts and their relationship to violence against women, see Jackson, ‘The Social Context of Rape: Sexual Scripts and Motivation,’ 27–38. For an application of Marcus’ ideas, see Rosen, ‘The Gender of Reconstruction: Rape, Race, and Citizenship in the Post‐emancipation South.’ For a critique of Marcus’ solution to the problem of rape, see Mardorossian, ‘Toward a New Feminist Theory of Rape.’ [45] Billington, The Protestant Crusade; and Franchot, Roads to Rome. For studies on anti‐Catholicism in Philadelphia, see Crosby, ‘A Christian Nation’; and Hunter, ‘Before Pluralism.’ [46] See note 20 for this literature. [47] Newman, Embodied History, 32. [48] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 23. [49] Ibid., 28. [50] Ibid., 69. [51] Ibid. [52] Ibid, 52–3. [53] Ibid., 63–5. [54] Tourscher, The Hogan Schism, 18–22. Bazely was a strong advocate of trusteeism and ran a school for women. [55] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 127. [56] Ibid., 120. [57] Ibid., 131. [58] Ibid., 123. [59] Ibid., 208. [60] Ibid., 212. [61] Ibid., 127. [62] Ibid., 185. [63] Steinberg, The Transformation of the Criminal Justice System of Philadelphia, 59–60. [64] Hoeber, ‘Drama in the Courtroom,’ 212; ‘Charles Jared Ingersoll,’ Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress. Available from http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=I000015; Jared Ingersoll, Recollections, Historical, Political, Biographical, and Social, of Charles J. Ingersoll; ‘Joseph Reed Ingersoll.’ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Available from http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodislplya.pl?index‐I000019; and Meigs, The Life of Charles Jared Ingersoll. [65] A Timothy Desmond signed documents in support of Hogan’s cause, see for example, ‘Trustees Committee to the Archbishop of Baltimore – St. Mary’s 1821, March 12,’ reprinted in Tourscher, Hogan Schism, 199–202. [66] Steinberg, The Transformation of Criminal Justice in Philadelphia, 22; Brown, The Forum, 175–7. Brown described King as ‘perhaps the best judge that ever occupied the bench,’ but he also noted his ‘defective’ literary education. King was noted for his informal mannerism but respected as a tough and smart judge. [67] Ambacher, ‘George Mifflin Dallas: Leader of the ‘Family’ Party’; Anonymous, A Brief Memoir of George Mifflin Dallas of Philadelphia; and Belohlavek, George Mifflin Dallas. [68] Bric, ‘The Irish Immigrant and the Broadening of the Polity in Philadelphia,’ 176; and Hoeber, ‘Drama in the Courtroom.’ [69] For specific examples, see The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 55, 63, 113, 133, and 166–7. [70] Ibid., 101. [71] Ibid., 217. [72] Light, Rome and the New Republic, 127–38. [73] See note 20. [74] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 227. [75] For an analysis between anti‐catholic rhetoric and charges of prostitution, see Fessenden, ‘The Convent, The Brothel and Protestant Women’s Sphere,’ 45–478. [76] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 218. [77] Ibid., 199. [78] Cohen, The Murder of Helen Jewett, 226–7. [79] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 204. [80] Ibid., 111–12. [81] Ibid. [82] Ibid., 218. [83] Ibid., 74–7. [84] Ibid., 111. [85] Ibid., 214. [86] Ibid., 199. [87] Ibid., 200. [88] See for example, the testimony of Lydia McDowell and Sarah Carver, ibid., 159. [89] For a discussion of efforts to control the urban poor in Philadelphia, see Alexander, Render them Submissive; and Newman, Embodied History. [90] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 223. See also, ‘A Summary of the Prosecutions of the Reverand William Hogan,’ 9. [91] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 104, 106, and 108. [92] Connell apparently had four children, two of whom lived in Ireland with an uncle and one with her mother‐in‐law. She brought her daughter with her and probably boarded her out to Lydia McDowell. Connell testified that she and her husband had planned to send for her other children once they had settled in the U.S. See, The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 42 and 159. [93] Ibid., 215. It was not uncommon for working class Irish women to immigrate to the United States alone, nor was it uncommon for Irish families to apprentice their children or leave them with relatives, while they sought work. Such strategies were necessary to their economic survival and customary among the Irish who used apprenticeships to teach young women appropriate domestic tasks. For information on post‐famine Irish immigrant women, see Groneman, ‘Working‐Class Immigrant Women in Mid‐Nineteenth Century New York,’ 255–73. [94] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 90. [95] Ibid. [96] Ibid., 96. [97] Ibid., 97–8. [98] Ibid., 6. The recorder’s comments appear at the end of Hogan’s trial transcript under the heading, ‘The Charge.’ [99] A Listener, ‘A Compendious Trial of the Rev. William Hogan.’ [100] Harris, ‘From Abolitionist Amalgamators to “Rulers of the Five Points”’; Hodges, ‘“Desirable Companions and Lovers,”’ 107–24; Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White; Nash, Forging Freedom; and Newman, Embodied History. For information on African American membership in the Catholic Churches of Philadelphia, see Branson and Patrick, ‘Etrangers dan un pays Etrange,’ 193–208. [101] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 101. [102] Ibid. [103] For changes in perceptions of rape, see Block, ‘Rape without Women,’ 849–68; Dayton, Women Before the Bar; Gonda, ‘Strumpets and Angels’; Sielke, Reading Rape; 12–32; and Stansell, City of Women. Historians argue that the early nineteenth century witnessed important changes in the meaning of rape and in women’s ability to prosecute the men who had assaulted them. As English common law replaced Puritan law, women’s word was no longer sufficient to convict men of rape. Male court officials were concerned with protecting men from ‘an accusation to be easily made, hard to be proved, and harder to be defended by the party accused.’ Increasingly, court officials determined women’s rapability by referencing the property relationships of middle class domesticity. Even when they acknowledged forced sex, court officials defined the harm done as negligible as she had previously surrendered her chastity. The specific quote is from, P. C. Hale quoted by George Sullivan in Report of the Trials of Stephen Murphy and John Doyle, 8. [104] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 198. [105] Screbnick, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rodgers, 51–5. [106] Gonda, ‘Strumpets and Angels.’ [107] Here Brown is paraphrasing Sullivan. The actual quote to which he refers reads, ‘Prostitutes must entertain such a shameless disregard of all religion and morality, that no obligation, however solemn, can afterwards bind them.’ See, Report of the Trials of Stephen Murphy and John Doyle, 32. [108] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 101. [109] Report of the Trials of Stephen Murphy and John Doyle, 28. [110] Ibid., 23. [111] Of course this tactic was not new, see Report of the Trial of Henry Bedlow, for Committing a Rape on Lanah Sawyer and Christine Stansell’s discussion of that trial in City of Women, 20–30. Both are reprinted in part in Peiss, ed., Major Problems in the History of American Sexuality, 109–12; 120–31. [112] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 188, 195. [113] Newman, Embodied History. [114] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 154. [115] Ibid., 157. [116] Ibid., 159. [117] Ibid., 181. [118] Ibid. [119] Ibid. [120] Ibid., 182. [121] Ibid., 229. [122] Ibid., 265. [123] Ibid. [124] Ibid., 198. [125] Ibid., 265. [126] Ibid., 268. [127] Steinberg, The Transformation of the Criminal System of Philadelphia, 59. [128] Ibid., 2. [129] Ibid. [130] See also the testimony of Dennis W. Daley, who criticized Connell for participating in the dispute. ‘I did not think it was consistent with female delicacy, for her to be so active.’ Ibid., 107. [131] Ibid., 5. [132] Ibid., 3. [133] Ibid., 7. [134] Ibid., 6. [135] Ibid. [136] Ibid., 8. [137] Ibid. [138] The Democratic Press (15 April 1822). [139] The Trial of the Rev. William Hogan, 52–3. [140] Cohen, ‘The Respectability of Rebecca Reed,’ 422 & 60. [141] Hogan, A Synopsis of Popery, as it was and as it is, 136 and 170–81. [142] Ibid., 22 & 37. [143] Ibid., 46–7. [144] Ibid., 118–23. [145] Tourscher, The Hogan Schism. Additional informationNotes on contributorsKathleen Kennedy Kathleen Kennedy is Professor of History at Western Washington University

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