The second trial opened on May 18, 1874, with both Judge Woods, and Associate Justice Joseph P. Bradley of the U.S Supreme Court, who was "riding circuit" sitting on the bench. The lawyers were the same. But this time, each side presented many more witnesses than at the first trial, totaling almost a hundred each. Justice Bradley left the bench shortly after the trial began.
On the evening of June 9, the jury retired to deliberate. On the evening of June 10, they had a verdict: Cruikshank, Hadnot, and Irwin were guilty; the Lemoines, Gibbons, Kickman, and Penn were not.
Justice Bradley returned to New Orleans on June 26, to enter his opinion on a defense motion on jurisdiction that had been made prior to trial. He went through each count of the indictment, explained why he thought it was improper, and threw it out. No valid charges meant no valid convictions.
The white residents celebrated.
The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. The final opinion followed Justice Bradley's reasoning at the trial court level. The Enforcement Acts were now basically worthless.
Courtesy Historic New Orleans Collection
