After a career in the newspaper industry, Yerger was arrested for the stabbing death of the provisional mayor of Jackson, Mississippi.
Yerger graduated from Oakland College and served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
[7] Yerger was also involved in conflicts with Colonel Manlove of the Vicksburg Times and Major Barksdale of the Jackson Clarion.
[15] Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase concluded that the court had jurisdiction to hear the case, which meant Yerger did not have to be tried by the military commission.
Yerger was never tried for murder, and, after a stint in a Mississippi jail, was released on bail and moved to Baltimore, Maryland.