During my dance with ink and paper I have met Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, Governors, statesmen, scholars, moon-walking astronauts, government and law enforcement officials, criminals, Hall of Fame athletes, stars of stage, screen, radio and TV and a vast assortment of celebrities from all fields of endeavor. Yet, I cannot recall feeling more nervous than the day I met with an Indiana legend named Forrest Bowman, Jr. So nervous, in fact, that I rewrote this story five times and missed my deadline, much to the dismay of my editor. The article was intended to be a book review; it turned into an ode to an unlikely Hoosier hero.
Forrest Bowman is a certified Indiana “Super Lawyer” and the last link to one of this state’s most famous tragedies: the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens. The sad details of the crime are well known to most Hoosiers. Loyal readers of my column will recall that I have written about poor Sylvia many times before. When Kathleen Angelone of Irvington’s Bookmamas bookstore initially told me about Mr. Bowman’s latest book documenting his role in the trial, I was intrigued to say the least. However, having never met the man, I was unsure of what to expect and even more wary of the anticipated result.
Mr. Bowman was the defense lawyer for 16-year-old Coy Hubbard and 13-year-old John Baniszewski, both of whom were charged as active participants in the crime. At the time I set up the interview, the book had not yet been released and I had no idea what to expect. Many times, retrospective accounts written by participants in historic events tend to be sugar coated, overly sensationalized or self-aggrandizing. In the case of this book, “Sylvia. The Likens Story” from Legis Fabulae Publishing, nothing could be further from the truth. Wait, perhaps I should say that no volume could be closer to the truth. Well, buy the book and you’ll see what I mean.
Forrest Bowman, Jr. was born to set the record straight. Although an accomplished and much acclaimed lawyer, Mr. Bowman may soon eclipse that designation as a writer. On January 1, 2007 Bowman made a New Year’s resolution for himself. He resolved that every Friday after lunch, he would put away his daily duties, go home and write. Thank goodness for useful New Year’s resolutions.
I met Mr. Bowman and his lovely wife Beth at Bookmamas during the waning moments of this year’s Irvington Halloween Festival. The couple was seated in the sunshine of Johnson Avenue watching the costumed attendees stroll past on their way to the start of the costume parade. As I approached, he arose from his chair with a friendly smile and a welcoming handshake, immediately putting me at ease. We retired to the studio beneath the bookstore and arranged ourselves among the old theatre seating. Mr. Bowman turned sideways in his seat to face me, flinging his leg up and over the arm of the chair in a lithesome fashion that belied his 52 years of legal practice. I knew immediately that this was going to be a fun interview.
Forrest Bowman began sharing his recollections about the Sylvia Likens case as if he had just walked out of the courtroom the day before. He spoke in soft tones that beckon the listener to lean forward to catch every word — obviously a skill that served him well during his decades spent defending his clients. Every word was carefully chosen to be wise, insightful, humorous, or impactful. No wasted syllables or phrases, Forrest Bowman gets straight to the point. Above all else, he speaks with pure honesty.
We spoke about the value of bookstores like Bookmamas and when I observed that we are slowly becoming a nation of bloggers, he remarked, “I think blogging is helping the reading.” When asked why he wrote the new book on a crime nearly a half a century past, Bowman said, “If I didn’t write it, there would be no one else to do it.” He noted that he is the last of the lawyers left to tell the story. “They’re all gone” Bowman says plainly. It is easy to recognize the importance of setting the record straight to this man. He is driven by a sense of duty.
Mr. Bowman spent a quarter century as a criminal defense attorney and despite the often self-serving, sensationalist nature of today’s defense attorneys, Forrest is a public servant with a strong sense of serving the law and justice. I felt as though I were talking to a real life Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. His passion, although delivered in the dulcet tones of the finest cello, is obvious to even the most casual observer. When this man talks, you want to listen.
His recollections on this savage crime are still fresh in his mind. I asked how, as a young attorney, he was able to deal with the brutality of the facts as each horrific detail emerged during the trial. He measured his response carefully and replied that “Children of indifferent appearance are in terrible peril.” I asked if it were possible to show sympathy for the accused during the proceedings, particularly for the main antagonist Gertrude Baniszewski, he replied “not sympathy, but empathy.”
I explained that I believed he had written one of the greatest lines I had ever read and it appeared within the first ten pages of his book. In the passage, he described his courtroom relationship with presiding Judge Saul Isaac Rabb, a man whom Bowman knew well and would eventually form a lifetime friendship with, as “At that point his only friend was the law.” Forrest laughed and thanked me for noticing but also noted, “There are better lines in the book”.
When I apologized for not having had the time to read the entire book before our meeting, Forrest explained that he had done something with this book that he had never done before. He committed to a deadline (the initial book signing on October 10th) before he had completed the project. “I finished it October 3rd” he replied with a chuckle. Showing amazing grace and humility, he joked about the photo he chose of himself for the back cover and noted that his name is misspelled on the binding. “We’ll fix that in the second printing” he remarked. I feel sure that those first edition books are destined to become collector’s items.
The book is the result of nearly two years of research and writing. He began by meticulously pouring over the Indiana Supreme Court transcripts of the trial filed during one of the appeals. It was a tedious process to retrace the emotional steps he had taken back in January of 1966 when he was first asked to participate in the defense of the accused. Mr. Bowman had made a concerted effort not to speak about the crime for 40 years, now he was revisiting the crime scene and trial with renewed vigor and the steely resolve to set the record straight.
The process was not without emotion though. Among the first details he recounts in his book is the shock that ran through his body when chief investigator Bill Kaiser asked if he wanted to see the photos of Sylvia taken as she lay prone on the steel table in the morgue at the Marion County Hospital. I asked Mr. Bowman how he prepared for a moment like that. He replied that, although he had seen similar photos during the six previous criminal trials he had acted as counsel for, nobody is ever prepared for a moment like that. He described it with a quiver in his voice and a moistened eye by simply saying, “Well, it was a struggle.”
Forrest Bowman, Jr. makes me proud to be a Hoosier. He is a sage of the Indiana legal landscape. I urge you to buy this book and make plans to meet the author in person on Tuesday, November 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Irvington Branch library. I assure you there will be a Part II of this article in the form of a book review. Get to Bookmamas, buy the book and we’ll compare notes down the line. But first take time out of your autumn schedule to meet and speak with Forrest Bowman and see an Indiana legend up close and personal.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest book is “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on facebook.
