Full text of "The bench and the bar of Illinois : Historical and reminiscent"

'Ll B R.AR.Y

OF THE

U N IVLR.SITY
OF ILLINOIS

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P18

v.2

cop. 2

NOTICE

t :*

AT LEAST ONE OF THE EDGES OF THIS
MAGAZINE HAS BEEN LEFT UNTRIMMED,
BECAUSE OF AN EXTREMELY NARROW
MARGIN .

HERTZBERG-NEW METHOD, INC.

THE

BENCH AND BAR

ILLINOIS.

HISTORICAL AND REMINISCENT.

EDITED BY

JOHN M. PALMER,

WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM A NUMBER OF THE FOREMOST MEMBERS OF THE
LEGAL PROFESSION IN THE STATE.

VOLUME II.

CHICAGO:

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY,
1899.

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY,
Chicago.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE BAR OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.

HE first lawyer who located in Mount Vernon was Daniel E. Clement. He
came from Alton, Illinois, about 1838, but remained only a short time,
as there was but little business for him. Where he went from there the
<5- writer cannot say. What little business there was in the circuit court was trans-
- acted in those days by William J. Gatewood, Albert G. Caldwell, John A. Mc-
Clernand, William A. Stickney, who recently died in Chicago; James M. Warren,
of Elizabethtown; Snowden F. Hayes, afterward of Chicago, and Walter B.
^_ Scates, all of them of Shawneetown, and Hugh B. Montgomery, of Benton.
Walter B. Scates, afterward removed to this place (Mount Vernon), was judge
of the circuit court, a member of the constitutional convention of 1847, an( ^ Judge
of the supreme court. He removed to Chicago, and died there.

Downing Baugh was next to Clement, and had been postmaster as far back,
probably, as 1832, and was also justice of the peace and probate judge of the
county of Jefferson. He was also appointed circuit judge to fill the unexpired
term of the Hon. William A. Downing. About 1858 he moved to McGregor,
Iowa, and was elected judge of what was then called the district court. He died
there a few years ago.

Stephen G. Hicks was a cotemporary of Baugh, was a member of the legis-
lature, and in 1846 was captain of Company H, Third Regiment of Illinois Vol-
unteers from this county, in the war with Mexico. He was discharged in 1847
and returned to Mexico, as lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment of Illi-
' nois, and served until the end of the war. Previous to this service, however, he
was in the war with Black Hawk, from this county, as orderly sergeant of Cap-
tain James Bowman's company, Spy Battalion. In the war of the Rebellion he
was colonel of the Fortieth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was
wounded in the shoulder, while serving therein. He died at Salem, Illinois,
about 1880.

Robert F. Wingate was here as a lawyer from about 1846 to 1859, when he
removed to St. Louis, Missouri, became a member of the legislature of that state
and afterward attorney-general. He died in that state a few years ago.

Richard S. Nelson, a noted chancery lawyer, came here from Metropolis
about 1850, and remained here in active practice till about 1864, when he re-
moved to Centralia, and while attending circuit court here died of apoplexy, in
August, 1865. Tazewell B. Tanner came here from St. Louis about 1846, as a
teacher. He studied law, entered the practice, was elected a member of the
legislature, also of the constitutional convention, became judge of the circuit
court, and died about 1882. James M. Pollock came here from Pennsylvania in

595

596 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

1857, entered the practice, was twice elected circuit judge, and died about 1892.

Thomas S. Casey was a native of Jefferson county, entered the practice here,
was prosecuting attorney for this judicial circuit, a member of both branches of
the legislature and judge of the circuit court. He removed to Springfield, Illi-
nois, about ten years since and died there some five years ago. He was a bril-
liant lawyer and an able jurist. He was also colonel of the One Hundred and
Tenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the war of the Rebellion.

Samuel K. Casey, an older brother of Thomas S., removed to this place from
Joliet about thirty years ago. He was born and reared in Jefferson county, how-
ever. He was warden of the Joliet penitentiary about 1863, a member of the
senate from this district about 1868, and died here about twenty years since.

Lewis F. Casey was a young attorney here about 1846. He was born in
this county, went as first lieutenant in Captain Hicks' company, from this county,
to Mexico, was elected to the legislature from Jefferson county, while there, re-
signed, and came home to take his seat. About 1850 he removed to Texas, en-
gaged in practice and during the late war of the Rebellion held a responsible
civil position in the Confederate government. At the close of the war he re-
turned to Illinois, located at Centralia and associated himself in the practice of
law with the Hon. Samuel L. Dwiglit, now one of the judges of the circuit court.
He died some four years since.

Judge Edmund D. Youngblood, of Mount Vernon, one of the judges in
the second judicial circuit of Illinois, is a native Illinoisan, born in Para-
dise Prairie, Perry county, this state, October 21, 1838, and is a son of
Isaiah and Electa (Jones) Youngblood, the former a native of Georgia and the
latter of Connecticut. They became residents of Illinois in territorial days, and
upon a farm in Perry county they reared their family of ten children, of whom
the judge was the ninth in order of birth. His education was acquired in the
country schools near his home and at an early age he began working as a farm
hand, being thus employed until his marriage.

He continued to reside upon a farm and engaged in the hard manual labor
connected therewith until twenty-seven years of age, when, determining to de-
vote his life to professional duties, he took up the study of law. In 1867, after
thorough preparation, he was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Harris-
burg, Saline county, Illinois, where he remained until 1871, when he moved to
Shawneetown, Illinois. In the latter city he enjoyed a fair practice and held a
number of public offices: first judge of the city court of Shawneetown; after-
ward state's attorney of Gallatin county for four years, master in chancery for
six years, and judge of the county court of Gallatin county for eight years, from
December, 1882, to December, 1890. In 1891 he was elected circuit judge, and
so ably did he fill this position that in 1897 he was re-elected for another term
of six years, thus by hard study and close application, step by step, rising higher
and higher. In 1893 he removed to Mount Vernon, Illinois, in order to have
better access to the supreme court library.

Judge Youngblood administers justice fairly and impartially, fully sustain-
ing the majesty of the law, which is the protector of all human rights and liber-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 597

ties. He has gained distinctive preferment in his chosen calling by reason of his
strong mentality, his close study, his natural and acquired ability and his unas-
sailable devotion to what he believes to be right. His power as a lawyer is dem-
onstrated by the thoroughness of his mastery of the science of law, and the skill
and aptness with which he applies its principles to given cases. Beyond and
above all, he is a student of law, a student of humanity and a student of the
tendencies of the times in which he lives, and is therefore able to temper justice
with that higher and holier quality, mercy.

His prominence as a lawyer and jurist is due in a great part to his won-
derfully retentive memory, as well as his untiring industry and energy. Although
he is a man of the strongest political conviction, while on the bench no distinc-
tion is ever made by him between attorneys, litigants or officers on account of
their political opinions, and nothing makes him more indignant than to get the
impression that any one conceives the idea that politics could or would be con-
sidered by him on the bench, between persons interested in a suit. Judge Young-
blood has been a life-long Democrat, and believes so firmly in the principles of
that party that he never fails to cast a vote for any of its representatives, no mat-
ter how minor the position for which they were candidates. He has been known
to travel seventy-five miles in order to cast his vote for township officers. That
he has the confidence and regard of his party is shown by the fact of his election
to a number of important offices, and his re-election to the circuit bench was an
unmistakable evidence of appreciation of his ability and fidelity to the important
duties entrusted to his care.

His religious views are broad and liberal. Though he is not a member of
any church at this time, he is a firm believer in Christianity, and salvation through
faith in the life, suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is a member of the Masonic fraternity, holding his membership in Warren Lodge
No. 14, at Shawneetown, Illinois, and as a Royal Arch Mason in H. W. Hub-
bard Chapter, No. 160, in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

On the 23d of April, 1857, the Judge was united in marriage to Miss Eunice
M. Kinne, who was by birth a Pennsylvanian, mostly reared, however, and ed-
ucated in Vanderburg and Posey counties, Indiana, and at the time of their mar-
riage was engaged in school-teaching in Horse Prairie, Franklin county, Illinois.
Their only living child is Eva Y., now the wife of Dr. J. F. Barton, of Shawnee-
town, Illinois, and they have two children, Ethel and Edmund Y. The Judge
and his family enjoy the high regard of a large acquaintance and hold that en-
viable position in social circles which is ever accorded genuine worth and mental
culture.

Tazewell B. Tanner, deceased, for many years judge of the twenty-fourth
judicial circuit, was recognized as one of the most eminent and honored laWyers
and jurists of his section of the state. He was born in Danville, Virginia,
November 6, 1821, a son of Allen C. and Martha (Bates) Tanner. His father,
who was a representative of some of the oldest and best families of Virginia, fol-
lowed merchandising in the Old Dominion until 1824, when he emigrated to
Missouri and engaged in frontier trading. Judge Tanner accompanied his

598 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

parents to St. Louis, Missouri, and after completing his education in McKen-
dree College, of Lebanon, Illinois, engaged in teaching school for four years.
On the expiration of that period he went to California in search of gold, and
after remaining for one year on the Pacific slope returned to Illinois. Soon
afterward he was elected clerk of the circuit court of Jefferson county, a posi-
tion which he filled for two years, when he resigned. Subsequently he was
elected to the lower house of the state legislature, and in the following year con-
ducted the Jeffersonian, a journal intended to educate the people upon the ques-
tion as to the propriety of donating swamp lands to aid in the construction of
a railway, a mission which the paper ultimately accomplished.

In the meantime, Judge Tanner studied law under the direction of Will-
iam H. Bissell and Judge Scales, and also practiced while engaged in his jour-
nalistic work. At the expiration of fifteen months, however, he sold his in-
terest in the newspaper and devoted his attention exclusively to his profession,
which made very heavy demands on his time. He had a large and lucrative law
practice and with marked ability handled the interests entrusted to his care. In
1862 he was elected a member of the constitutional convention of the state and
proved one of its most active and efficient members. He served as chairman of
the committee on revision and adjustment, and while officiating in that capacity
elicited the praise and encomiums of all concerned, and was especially compli-
mented for the masterly manner in which bills were revised and adjusted, and
redeemed from bareness by the elegant language in which they were expressed.
In 1873 he was elected judge of the twenty-fourth judicial district, which posi-
tion he filled until his death, which occurred in 1881. He performed the func-
tions of his office with capability and dignity. His skill and judgment as a legal
practitioner and as an expounder and defender of the law were unimpeachable;
he enjoyed the confidence and respect of the entire bar, and was highly com-
mended for the fairness and soundness of his decisions. His political support
was always given the Democracy.

Judge Tanner was married May 22, 1851, to Sarah E. Anderson, daughter
of ex-Governor Anderson of Illinois, and his widow still survives him. At a
meeting called specially to take action on the death of Judge Tanner the follow-
ing resolutions were unanimously adopted:

Whereas, It has pleased the Almighty God to remove from our midst the Hon. Taze-
well B. Tanner, one of the oldest and most distinguished members of the bar of this portion
of the state; and

Whereas, It is meet and proper to commend the virtues and hold up to public view
the bright example of the worthy and illustrious members of the bar of this portion of
the state and of the profession everywhere; therefore be it

Resolved, That in the death of the late lamented Tazewell B. Tanner, the bar of
Jefferson county and the state of Illinois has lost one of its brightest and purest orna-
ments, the state a valuable and intelligent citizen, society one of its most deserving mem-
bers, his family a kind and affectionate husband and an indulgent father, and the com-
munity one who performed his duty and the whole of his duty in life.

Resolved, That we, the members of the bar of the city of Mount Vernon, tender to

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 599

the family of the deceased our heartfelt sympathies in this their sad and irreparable be-
reavement.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to the family of the de-
ceased, and also to the supreme court of the southern grand jurisdiction of this state and
the appellate court in the fourth district of Illinois and to the circuit and county courts,
and that a copy be furnished to the St. Louis and Mount Vernon papers for publication.

Charles H. Patton, the Nestor of the Mount Vernon bar and the leading
corporation lawyer of southern Illinois, has attained to an eminent position in
his chosen calling, and no citizen of the community is more highly respected
or more fully enjoys the confidence of the people and richly deserves the esteem
in which he is held. Honorable in business, loyal in citizenship, charitable in
thought, kindly in action, true to every trust confided to his care, his life is of
the highest type of American manhood.

Mr. Patton was born in Hartford county, Connecticut, near the city of
Hartford, May 9, 1834, and his ancestral history is one of close connection with
the annals of New England, for the family was founded in America by the Pil-
grim fathers who settled in Massachusetts in the early part of the seventeenth
century. The family was represented in the war of the Revolution, and the
grandfather of our subject, Seth W. Patton, served in the war of 1812. By trade
he was a shipbuilder and by the industrious prosecution of his business inter-
ests he accumulated a desirable fortune. A prominent and influential citizen, he
served as selectman of his town and spent his entire life in Connecticut, the ''land
of steady habits," where he died at the advanced age of eighty-three. His wife,
who in her maidenhood was Miss Warner, survived her husband three years and
was also eighty-six years of age at the time of her death.

The father of our subject, Eliphalet W. Patton, was also a shipbuilder and
a man of means. In 1835 he removed to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he set-
tled on a farm and continued to reap a golden harvest from his labors. In 1860
he made a trip to Illinois and purchased land in Jefferson county, near Mount
Vernon, to which he removed and where he spent the remainder of his days.
For many years, while he lived in Ohio, he held the office of justice of the peace
and filled other positions of honor and trust, discharging his duties with marked
fidelity. He was a devoted member of the Christian church, whose life exem-
plified his belief, and in the faith of that denomination he passed to the home be-
yond at the age of seventy-four. He married Miss Ladora Ann Griswold, a native
of Massachusetts and a daughter of Clark Griswold, of Puritan ancestry. They
became the parents of six children, five sons and a daughter, namely : our sub-
ject, the eldest; Albert W., who has been for over twenty years master car-builder
for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad at Mount Vernon, Illinois, and at
Howell, Indiana; Arthur, who is a contractor and builder at Carmi, Illinois;
Byron, who died in Arkansas; Adelaide, deceased wife of Charles Kinney; Frank
E., who served as county treasurer of Jefferson county, and as city treasurer of
Mount Vernon, and is now cashier of the George W. Evans Bank of Mount
Vernon.

Charles H. Patton was reared amid rural scenes, his boyhood days being

600 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

passed on his father's farm, where he early became familiar with all the duties
that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He pursued his education in the Kings-
ville Academy in Ashtabula county, .Ohio, and afterward engaged in teaching
for eight years, both in common and select schools. He entered upon the study
of law under the direction of Judge Milton A. Leonard, of Pierpont, Ohio, and
later spent a year upon his father's farm in Jefferson county, Illinois, after which
he formed a partnership with Judge James M. Pollock, in 1862, for the practice
of law in Mount Vernon. During the war of the Rebellion he accepted the nom-
ination for county clerk and was elected to that office in 1865 for a four-years
term. He brought to the discharge of his official duties a fine business training
and excellent legal education, and during his incumbency completely revolution-
ized the business methods of the office, the reforms and improvements which he
introduced being still in use.

Since his retirement from that position, Mr. Patton has devoted his atten-
tion exclusively to his law practice. He avoids criminal cases and makes a spe-
cialty of chancery practice and corporation law, in which he now ranks as the
leading practitioner in those departments of jurisprudence in southern Illinois.
He is now attorney for the George W. Evans Bank, the Mount Vernon Building
& Loan Association, the general counsel for the Mount Vernon Car Works and
local attorney for the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis Railroad, the Louisville
& Nashville and the Wabash, Chester & Western Railroads. He has had only
three law partners during his long identification with the Mount Vernon bar,
these being Judge James M. Pollock, Judge Thomas S. Casey and Albert Wat-
son, the latter Mr. Patton's first law student. He is thoroughly versed in his
favorite branches of the law, and his knowledge of the science of jurisprudence is
most profound; but his attention, as before stated, is mostly given to chancery
and corporation law, the intricate questions giving ample scope for the exercise
of his peculiarly powerful legal talents. All recognize his ability, his skill as a
practitioner, his knowledge of the law, his sound practical judgment and es-
pecially his absolute integrity. At all times and on all occasions he fully up-
holds the majesty of the law. In the court-room he has that calm demeanor
that arises from thorough familiarity with the points at issue and indicates a
reserve force which nothing can conquer. His love of justice and right is in-
herent, and with the intensity of a strong nature he abhors wrong and dissimu-
lation in the abstract, while possessing the broadest charity for the misguided
one.

In 1854 Mr. Patton was united in marriage, in Ohio, to Miss Charlotte Shave,
an English lady who came to this country when twelve years of age. Mrs. Pat-
ton is a woman of commanding form, of broad and liberal mind; of generous im-
pulses, and while never forgetting the poor she is a born leader in the higher walks
of life. Four children have been born of this union: Dr. Fred W., a graduate of
the Miami Medical College, of Cincinnati, and a leading physician of St. Louis,
Missouri; Lulu L., now the wife of S. G. H. Taylor; Lillie W., wife of James G.
Nugent, of the firm of Nugent Brothers, of St. Louis, and Otto C.

Mr. Patton is a very prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, and has

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 601

been a Knight Templar for more than twenty-five years, holding many import-
ant positions in that order. He was high priest of H. W. Hubbard Chapter,
R. A. M., and is grand captain of the host in the Grand Chapter of Illinois. In
the grand lodge he served for several years on the most important committees,
including that of. Masonic jurisprudence, and has been district deputy grand
master for several terms. Both he and his wife are members of the Eastern Star,
and of the local lodge he is worthy patron, while Mrs. Patton is assistant worthy
patron. He is a charter member of the Knights of Honor, filling various offices
in the order and serving as representative to the grand lodge. For several years
he was trustee of the grand lodge, and is now one of the two representatives of
the Grand Lodge of Illinois in the Supreme Lodge of the United States. Mr.
Patton is a worthy exemplar of these noble fraternities, showing forth in his up-
right life the beneficent and uplifting principles upon which they are based.

CHAPTER XXXII.

*REMINISCENCES OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF CHICAGO.

BY THE LATE JUDGE ELLIOTT ANTHONY.

THE first lawyer that ever came here to reside was Charles Jouett, who was
sent here as Indian agent in 1805. He was a native of Virginia, born in
1772, and the youngest of nine children. His father shared in Brad-
dock's defeat, and two of his brothers fought in the war of independence. He
studied law at Charlottesville, Virginia, and was appointed by Jefferson Indian
agent at Detroit, in 1802. April 2, 1805, he was appointed commissioner to
hold a treaty with the Wyandottes, Ottawas, and other Indians in northwestern
Ohio and what is now southeastern Michigan. The treaty was signed at Fort
Industry, on "the Miami of the Lake," now Maumee, July 4, 1805. The same
year he was appointed as Indian agent at Chicago, and on October 26, 1805,
assumed charge, by direction of the government, of the Sacs, Foxes, and Pot-
tawatomies. He was again appointed Indian agent for Chicago by President
Madison in 1815, and moved here with his family in that year. He is charged
with one thousand dollars salary as such agent on the books of the government
for 1816.

The next lawyer that took up his abode here was Russell E. Heacock.
He arrived in Chicago July 4, 1827. He at first took up his residence inside
of the inclosure of old Fort Dearborn. During the next year he removed to
a log cabin, which he purchased of one Peter Lampslett, situated about the
center of section 32, township 39, range 14, "about three-quarters of a mile
southeast of the lock at Bridgeport and about one mile south of Hardscrabble."
In 1830 he appears to have acted at one time as judge and at another time as a
clerk of election, and in 1831 was selected as one of the two commissioners to lay
out a road from Shelbyville to Chicago. He was licensed to keep a tavern
in his own residence at Hardscrabble, which was, we believe, near the present
site of the rolling mills at Bridgeport, and was one of the seven justices ap-
pointed for Cook county September 10, 1831. Under date of August 5, 1835,
we find him advertised as an attorney, and his name appears in the Chicago
directories as late as 1848. He was one of the four delegates from Cook county
to the constitutional convention of 1847, the others being Francis E. Sher-
man, Patrick Ballingall, and E. F. Colby.

The next lawyer that came here was Richard J. Hamilton, who, it is prob-
able, was the author of the well known phrase that "a public office is a public

* Revised by Charles E. Anthony.

602

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 603

trust," for he had great experience as a public officer, having filled almost every
local office extant in his day. On the organization of Cook county he turned
his eyes northward and was elected by the general assembly as the first probate
judge of Cook county, January 29, 1831. His friend, Judge Richard M. Young,
appointed him clerk of the Cook county circuit court, and Governor Reynolds
commissioned him a notary public and recorder. According to all accounts he
arrived in Chicago in the very early days of March, 1831, and was present at the
organization of the county on the 8th of that month.

The first lawyers who came here to make a living by their profession were
Giles Spring and John Dean Caton, who arrived here about June 18, 1833.
If they did not try the first lawsuit, they were engaged in the first prosecution
for larceny that ever occurred in our midst, which was made memorable by the
discovery of the stolen pelf in the toe of the criminal's stocking, after he had
denied all knowledge of the disappearance of the same, while in the very act of
denying it. Judge Caton was so enraged that he jerked off the culprit's stock-
ing, causing him thereby to disgorge and make profert of the plunder in open
court. It is needless to say that Judge Caton not only earned his fee, but got
it, while Spring, who defended this hapless wight, was left without anything.

Soon after, there came James H. Collins, Justin Butterfield, George Man-
ierre, Alonzo Huntington, Ebenezer Peck, James Grant, E. W. Casey, A. N.
Fullerton, Isaac N. Arnold, Henry Moore, Grant Goodrich, Buckner S. Morris,
William B. and Mahlon D. Ogden, Mark Skinner, Lisle Smith, N. B. Judd,
Thomas Hoyne, William H. Brown, Henry Brown and George B. Meeker. I
have not given the names of these lawyers in the exact order of time of the ar-
rival, but I believe, as just stated, that Spring and Caton came here in 1833;
Grant Goodrich, Buckner S. Morris, James H. Collins in 1834; William B.
Ogden, George Manierre, Alonzo Huntington, Ebenezer Peck, Jonathan Young
Scammon and Justin Butterfield in 1835 ; Isaac N. Arnold, John Wentworth,
Mark Skinner and Henry Brown in 1836; Lisle Smith, Thomas Hoyne, N. B.
Judd and George Meeker and Mahlon D. Ogden in 1837; Edward G. Ryan in
1836; Hugh T. Dickey in 1838. Calvin De Wolf came October 31, 1837;
John Wentworth October 25, 1836. William H. Brown came here in 1835.
In 1834 the number of lawyers was eleven, and their names were : Russell
E. Heacock, R. J. Hamilton, Giles Spring, John Dean Caton, E. W. Casey,
A. N. Fullerton, James H. Collins, James Grant, Grant Goodrich, Henry Moore,
and Buckner S. Morris. Five of these men reached the bench, and all attained
distinction. Judge James Grant removed to Davenport, Iowa, where he at-
tained great distinction, and died a few years since, crowned with honors.

The first meeting of the Chicago bar was held some time in July, 1835, and
was called to pay respect to the memory of Chief Justice Marshall, who died
July 6, 1835. The members present were : A. N. Fullerton, E. W. Casey,
Grant Goodrich, Buckner S. Morris, Henry Moore and Royal Stewart.

From 1834 to 1840 many young men of education and family distinction
came to Chicago to locate and engage in the practice of the law, but all who
thus came did not remain. Among these were Henry Moore; Joseph N.

604 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Balestier, of Brattleboro, Vermont ; George Anson ; Oliver Beaumont ; Fisher
Ames Harding, of Rhode Island ; and Fletcher Webster, the son of Daniel
Webster. While here in 1837 Webster was at the head of the firm of Webster
& Harding. These gentlemen removed to Detroit, and both afterward returned
east. Harding became distinguished as a journalist, and Webster went as
secretary of legation to China. He was killed while in the service of his coun-
try during the late civil war. Edward G. Ryan, one of the most distinguished
lawyers that ever practiced at the Chicago bar, came here in 1836. He after-
ward removed to Racine, then Milwaukee, and was, I believe, at the time of
his death chief justice of the supreme court of the state of Wisconsin. He was
first associated in business with Henry Moore, then with Hugh T. Dickey.
In 1840 he dissolved with Dickey, went into journalism, and became editor of
a paper called the Tribune, the first number of which appeared April 4, 1840.

The celebrated Thomas F. Marshall, after a long public career, came to
Chicago just before the breaking out of the war, and engaged in the practice
for a short time, but not meeting with success, removed to some other state,
Minnesota, I believe, where he died a number of years ago. Joseph Black-
burn, for a long time a member of congress and senator from Kentucky, also
practiced here for a short time, in connection with his brother, just before the
breaking out of the Rebellion, but returned to Kentucky, where he has resided
ever since.

The career of Judge Caton is not only unique in our history, but is some-
thing extraordinary. He arrived in Chicago on the igth of June, 1833. He
was here when Chicago was nothing but a small collection of huts, before it had
been incorporated as a village, and before it had become a oity. No man within
our borders had such a varied experience as he. He prosecuted the first crim-
inal who was ever brought before a court of justice in Chicago, and commenced
and tried the first civil suit in a court of record in this county and was engaged
in the very first jury case ever tried in Will and Kane counties. He served as
a justice of the peace, a circuit judge and a supreme-court judge. In his early
days he traveled the circuit, penetrating into remote regions and meeting with
many and strange adventures.

Among the exciting and thrilling incidents in his early Jife was his defense
of one Pierce, at Hennepin, Putnam county, where he met for the first time
Judge Breese, who presided. Pierce was rather a weak and simple-minded
man with a bad woman for a wife, who had become infatuated with a ruffian
by the name of Thompson, who was known as a desperado, and between them
they formed a plot to get rid of Pierce, and they knew of no better way than
to charge him with a crime and send him to the penitentiary. Thompson
and Pierce's wife broke into a room near which a Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald
were sleeping, and it appears that they heard a disturbance during the night,
got up, and, peeking through a crack in the plastering, saw both Thompson
and Mrs. Pierce break open a box of goods and then take and put some of the
goods in a trunk. When the owner of the store discovered his loss he made
inquiries and was soon informed by Thompson who the culprits were, and

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 605

Mr. and Mrs. Pierce were arrested, and at the examination Pierce's wife per-
suaded the old man that it was his duty to save her and to say that he did it.
This he did and was bound over to the grand jury and sent to jail. Pierce's
wife got all the money the old man had and decamped, but Thompson was on
hand to prosecute and make good his charges. Pierce was indicted, and Caton
and a lawyer by the name of Atwater were appointed to defend. James Grant
of Chicago was at that time state's attorney for that judicial district.

Pierce asserted his innocence, but was without a witness, and he could not
be a witness in his own behalf as the law then stood. How to unravel the
mystery was the problem. Pierce declared he was not anywhere near the store
when the crime was committed, but was sick nigh unto death at his home and
that there. was a doctor and a woman, who was a friend of the family, who at-
tended him. These were hastily hunted up and corroborated everything Pierce
said, and he explained how his wife had besought him to say that he did the
deed in order to save her. The case excited a good deal of attention, but
Thompson was such a desperado that nobody seemed willing to speak out. As
Caton was walking along the street, on his way from his hotel to the court-
house, a man came up to him and, in a rather low tone, asked him if he was
defending Pierce, and Caton said he was. "Then," said the stranger, "there
are a Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald, who live on the other side of the river about a
mile and a half away, who can give you valuable information in regard to that
crime," and then turned and went off.

Caton went back to the tavern and got out his horse, and, without saying a
word to anybody, mounted it and rode off as fast as he could, and was soon at
the Fitzgeralds'. He introduced himself as Pierce's lawyer to Mrs. Fitzgerald,
and asked her about the case, but she was not at first inclined to say anything.
Caton told her that if she knew anything that would clear Pierce she ought,
as a Christian woman and to save her soul, to tell it. This startled her and
she went and called her husband, who was as reticent at first as his wife, for they
were afraid of Thompson. Caton told them he would protect them, and finally
they made a clean breast of it and told all that they knew. Caton then hastened
back, told Atwater of his discovery, and subpcenas were got out for the Fitz-
geralds, and the next morning, when the case was called, all the witnesses were
in court. Neither Grant, the state's attorney, nor anybody else knew anything
about the disclosures, and Grant depended on Pierce's confession and Thomp-
son's testimony and supposed that the case would take but a few minutes, and
said so on the opening of the case, in other words, that the trial would be
a mere form and that the defendant would be shown to be guilty and would, of
course, have to go to the penitentiary.

Caton asked the court to allow him to postpone his opening until the state
had closed, which the court allowed. The owner of the goods gave his testi-
mony, in which he showed that the goods were nailed up in a dry-goods box
in an unfurnished room in the hotel and that they were subsequently found
in a trunk belonging to the prisoner. Thompson was then called, and took the
stand with a swagger and swore positively that he saw Pierce when he took the

606 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

goods from the box and placed them in the trunk. He was cross-examined
at great length and went into all sorts of details and made out the most com-
plete case ever heard of, but there were certain mysterious circumstances about
the case which he did not solve. When the state had closed, Grant, the prose-
cutor, and Judge Breese looked puzzled, and when Caton arose and made his
opening everybody stood aghast. He explained the so-called confession, the
flight of the wife, and then paid his respects to the bully and braggart, Thomp-
son, and said that he would show him to be not only an assassin, but an unmiti-
gated liar.

Caton called his witnesses, and one by one explained every fact and cir-
cumstance in the most satisfactory manner, and finally he put Mr. and Mrs.
Fitzgerald upon the stand, who testified that on the night of the theft they were
sleeping in a room near the head of the stairs and were awakened by a noise
in the room below, when they got up and crept softly down the stairs, on which
they seated themselves and saw plainly, through a crack in the lath, Thompson
and Mrs. Pierce take the goods and put them in the trunk. Piece after piece
the plot was unfolded, and before the defense had finished the excitement had
become intense, and Thompson had been stripped bare and was shown up in
all his wickedness and deformity.

When the evidence was all in the state's attorney was so utterly nonplussed
that he made only a few remarks and told the jury that he should leave the case
to them. Caton had become thoroughly aroused, and as it was the first case
that he had ever tried in Putnam county he conceived it to be his duty to
expound the villainy which had been disclosed fully and completely, and he
went at it with all the vim and vigor that he possessed. Mr. Caton, in describ-
ing the scene in after years, said :

While I was in the midst of this tirade I turned partly around to catch an expression
of the audience, and discovered behind me, and not more than two feet from me, this man
Thompson, with a heavy bludgeon in his hand, the perspiration pouring from his face, his
eye glaring fiercely at me, with a terribly fiendish expression on his countenance. I at
once concluded that he had crept up there in order to make a deadly assault upon me
when my back was to him. To say that this made me terribly angry is to put it mildly.
This was one of the few times in my life when I have been really mad. I felt instantly
inspired with a superhuman strength which would enable me to crush any living man to
the earth in a moment. I glared upon the supreme scoundrel a look of scorn and detesta-
tion and defiance, which I was told later seemed fit to wither a statue. I pointed my finger
in his very face and called upon the court and jury to look at the cowardly assassin, who
had not the courage to attack a child in the face, but must skulk up behind so he could
strike unseen. I then proceeded to pour out upon him denunciations and epithets which
rushed upon me faster than I could utter them. Terrible words of execration seemed to
i:oin themselves, and I poured them out with the rapidity of a tornado, constantly empha-
sizing them by fierce gesticulations right into his face, which was now red and now pale,
like the changing flashes of a boreal light. Some of these anathemas have been ringing
in my ears ever since. Their bare memory makes me shudder. What, then, must have
been their effect when poured out under such excitement?

The culprit stood this for a little while, with a bold, defiant expression, as if looking
for a good time to strike, but soon he began to weaken and show doubt and hesitancy
This expression grew upon him more and more for several minutes, when he backed to-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 607

ward the door through the dense crowd, who shrank from his touch as if he had been a
slimy snake. I called upon the state's attorney to prosecute the perjured thief, now that
he knew who, for a certainty, was the guilty party. I called upon the sheriff to arrest the
scoundrel before he should reach the woods and hide his guilty head in the bushes. I
called on all good citizens to scorn and spit upon so loathsome a wretch. I advised all
decent women, whenever they saw him, to bar their doors and windows as against a leper,
whose very breath was contamination, and I kept shouting after him in this unseemly way
till he was fairly out of sight. I then paused and turned around and was silent for a few
minutes, and then every man in the court room, except the judge, was on his feet and
seemed half bewildered. I at length apologized to the court for the unseemly exhibition
which I made in a presence where dignity and moderation should always reign, and I
hoped he would find in the scene which had provoked me some apology for the breach
of decorum of which I was conscious I had been guilty. After a moment's pause Judge
Breesc remarked: "You can proceed, Mr. Caton." I then turned to the jury and apolo-
gized to them for having for a moment forgotten myself and the presence in which I was,
under a provocation which might have excited an older man. I then said the evidence had
made the prisoner's innocence so manifest that I did not think that his interest required
that I should longer detain them.

The state's attorney closed with a short speech which virtually gave up
the case. The jury retired without any charge from the judge and returned
at once with a verdict of not guilty. The verdict was received with manifesta-
tions of approval, and Caton was immediately surrounded by clients who were
anxious to secure his services, and it resulted in his being retained in several
cases of the greatest importance. Thompson was not heard from for some
time, but made his appearance a year or two after at Ottawa, whither he came,
as he said, for the express purpose of licking Caton, but Caton, being a stal-
wart and a giant in strength, put him to flight in an instant and he was never
heard of afterward.

Caton was engaged in many other cases which brought him into great
notoriety, and he became famous throughout the country, especially in Ken-
dall, Kane, Will, Putnam, and the Rock River counties. It would be inter-
esting to relate more of such incidents, but it is impossible. He prosecuted and
defended criminals of all sorts and conditions and was engaged in many im-
portant actions at law and suits in equity. He once defended one hundred and
twelve citizens of Ogle county who were jointly indicted for lynching some
desperadoes, who had shot and killed a well known citizen by the name of
Campbell. The judicial annals of our state are his monument, but he has left
us precious words of encouragement and an immortal benediction. His
domestic life was happy, and in his autobiography, which he put forth only a
few years before his death, under the title of "The Early Bench and Bar of Illi-
nois," he pays a graceful tribute to the partner of his joys and sorrows.

John Dean Caton was a man who had great strength of character and was
characterized by sound judgment and most excellent common sense. He was
not what would be called a skilled pleader and an adroit practitioner, but his
plain and rugged manner of presenting every question to a jury was something
which was highly commended by the old pioneers and commanded their ad-
miration. He was honest and fair, and despised anything that smacked of

608 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

trickery. He was appointed judge of the supreme bench in 1842, and resigned
in 1864. He possessed a judicial mind, and was inclined to take an enlarged
and comprehensive view of all cases which came before him. It is much to
be regretted that his example has not been followed by his successors.

James H. Collins came to the state in 1833 from Vernon, Oneida county,
New York, and took up a claim to some land at Holdenman's Grove, in Ken-
dall county, and for a short time engaged in farming, but his tastes led him to
the pursuit of the law, which he had studied before coming west, and at the
solicitation of Judge Caton. who knew him while residing in New York, and
who had studied in his office, he abandoned farming and entered into partner-
ship with him in the practice of the law in 1834. This arrangement lasted
but a year, when a partnership was formed between himself and Justin Butter-
field, under the firm name of and style of Butterfield & Collins, which soon took
a very high rank, not only in the city of Chicago, but throughout the state.
They were both well grounded in their profession, and were men of great de-
termination and perseverance. Collins became noted for his skill as a special
pleader and for the great care which he bestowed upon the preparation of all
cases, and he was as much at home on the chancery side as on the common-
law side of a court. Collins died of cholera, after a few hours illness, at Ottawa,
in 1854, while attending the supreme court at that place.

Collins was a man of iron will and of great determination. He was one of
the earliest and most violent abolitionists in the west, and was, as it has often
been said, as tenacious and combative as an English bulldog. He belonged to
that group of men like Dr. Charles V. Dyer, Ichabod Codding, Eastman, Freer,
Farnsworth, George Manierre, Carlos Haven, H. B. Hurd, Chancellor L. Jenks,
and the Lovejoys. He was engaged in the defense of Owen Lovejoy, the
brother of Elijah Lovejoy, who was foully murdered, at Alton, by a pro-slavery
mob in 1837, and who was indicted under a statute of this state for harboring
slaves. The case was tried in Bureau county, and was of the most interesting
and thrilling character. The history of the case, briefly stated, as narrated by
J. C. Conklin, is as follows :

At the May term, 1842, of the Bureau county circuit court, Richard M.
Young presiding, Norman H. Purple, prosecuting attorney pro tern., the grand
jury returned a "true bill" against Owen Lovejoy (then lately a preacher of the
gospel) for that "a certain negro girl named Agnes, then and there being a
fugitive slave, he, the said Lovejoy, knowing her to be such, did harbor, feed,
secrete, and clothe," contrary to the statute, etc.; and the grand jurors did
further present "that the said Lovejoy a certain fugitive slave called Nance did
harbor, feed and aid," contrary to the statute, etc. At the October term, 1842,
the Hon. John Dean Caton, a justice of the supreme court, presiding, the case
came up for trial on a plea of not guilty; Judge Purple and B. F. Fridley,
state's attorney, for the people, and James H. Collins and Lovejoy, in person,
for the defense. The trial lasted for a week, and Lovejoy and Collins fought
the case with a vigor and boldness almost without a parallel. The prosecution
was argued by the enemies of Lovejoy with an energy and vindictiveness with

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 609

which Purple and Fridley could have had little sympathy. When the case was
called for trial a strong pro-slavery man, one of those by whom the indictment
had been procured, said to the state's attorney : "Fridley, we want you to be
sure and convict this preacher and send him to prison." "Prison ! Lovejoy
to prison !" replied Fridley. "Your prosecution will be a damned sight more
likely to send him to congress." Fridley was right. Lovejoy was very soon
after elected to the state legislature and then to congress, where he was soon
heard from by the whole country.

The prosecution was ably conducted, and Messrs. Collins and Lovejoy
not only availed themselves of every technical ground of defense, but denounced
vehemently the laws under which the indictment was drawn as unconstitu-
tional and void, justifying every act charged as criminal. A full report of the
trial would have considerable historic interest. The counsel engaged were
equal to the important legal and constitutional questions discussed. Judge
Purple, for logical ability and wide culture, for a clear, concise style, condensing
the strong points of his case into the fewest words, had rarely an equal. Frid-
ley, for quaint humor, for drollery and apt illustration, expressed in familiar,
plain, colloquial, sometimes vulgar, language, but with a clear, strong common
sense, was a very effective prosecutor. Collins was indefatigable, dogmatic,
never giving up, and if the court decided one point against him he was ready
with another, and, if that was overruled, still others. B. F. Fridley, for fifty-one
years a lawyer of the Illinois bar, died May 29, 1898, over eighty years of age.
He was admitted to the bar November 19, 1841.

Lovejoy always suggested to me a Roundhead of the days of Cromwell.
He was thoroughly in earnest, almost, if not quite, fanatical in his politics.
His courage was unflinching, and he would have died for his principles. He
had a blunt, masculine eloquence rarely equaled and on the slavery question,
as a stump speaker, it would be difficult to name his superior. Collins and
Lovejoy, after a week's conflict, won their cause. Lovejoy himself made a
masterly argument, and Mr. Collins' closing speech extended through two days.
They extorted a verdict from a hostile jury. It is very doubtful, however,
if they could have succeeded with, all their efforts but for the accidental dis-
closure of the alleged owner, on his cross-examination, of a fact unknown to
the defense. He said he was taking the slave girl Nance from Kentucky to
Missouri through Illinois. He was ignorant that by voluntarily bringing his
supposed chattel from a slave state to a free state she became free. Messrs.
Collins and Lovejoy saw the importance of this fact,- indeed, the turning point
in the case. Lovejoy quoted with great effect the lines of Cowper, now so
familiar :

Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free
They touch our country and their shackles fall!

"And," said he, "if this is the glory of England, is it not equally true of
Illinois, her soil consecrated to freedom by the ordinance of 1787 and her own
constitution?" Mr. Collins, in his summing up, read the great and eloquent

6io THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

opinion of Lord Mansfield in the Somerset case, an opinion which Cowper so
beautifully paraphrased in his poem.

Judge Caton's charge, which will be found in the Western Citizen of Octo-
ber 26, 1843, was ver Y fa' 1 "- He laid down the law distinctly that "if a man
voluntarily brings his slave into a free state the slave becomes free."

In February, 1859, at tne capitol in Washington, speaking of the acts which
led to this trial, there is one of the boldest and most effective bursts of elo-
quence from Lovejoy to be found in all the literature of anti-slavery discussion.
He had been taunted and reproached on the floor of congress and stigmatized
as one who, in aiding slaves to escape, had violated the laws and constitution
of his country. He had been denounced as a "nigger stealer," threatened by
the slave holders, and they attempted to intimidate and silence him. They little
knew the man, and his reply silenced them and extorted the admiration of friend
and foe. He closed one of the most radical and impassioned anti-slavery
speeches ever made in congress by unflinchingly declaring: "I do assist fugi-
tive slaves. Proclaim it, then, upon the housetops ; write it on every leaf that
trembles in the forest ; make it blaze from the sun at high noon and shine forth
in the milder radiance of every star that bedecks the firmament of God ; let it
echo through all the arches of heaven and reverberate and bellow along all the
deep gorges of hell, where slave catchers will be very likely to hear of it. Owen
Lovejoy lives at Princeton, Illinois, three-quarters of a mile east of the village,
and he aids every fugitive that comes to his door and asks it. Thou invisible
demon of slavery, dost thou think to cross my humble threshold and forbid me
to give bread to the hungry and shelter to the houseless? I bid you defiance
in the name of God !"

Grant Goodrich, who died March 15, 1889, occupied a high rank among the
pioneer lawyers of Chicago, for he, like Caton, commenced at the "beginning of
time," as reckoned in our calendar, and continued with us until all the proph-
ecies concerning our greatness as a city had been fulfilled. He appeared here
just as the Indians were abandoning their hunting grounds and before their
trails through the country had been obliterated and before roads and highways
had been marked out.

At the age of eighteen years he entered the law office of Dixon & Smith
at Westfield, New York, and in due time was admitted to the bar, and in a
short time after left for the west and became a partner here with Giles Spring
in 1834. No one who engaged in the practice here ever pursued his profession
with greater diligence and success than he, and no one has a better record for
honor and fidelity than he. He was for some time a partner with George Sco-
ville, and in 1854 he entered into partnership with William W. Farwell, who
was afterward elected to the circuit bench, and in 1856 Sidney Smith entered
the firm, and it became Goodrich, Farwell & Smith. In 1857 he went to Europe
and remained there until the spring of 1859. Upon his return he was elected
one of the judges of the superior court of Chicago, which he held for one term.
He established a large business, and was at various times engaged in some
of the most famous cases which were ever brought in our courts. In 1874

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 611

he retired from the practice. In 1847 the constitution of the state of Illinois
was revised and a new judicial system adopted for the state, in and by which the
judiciary was made elective. A county court was established in each county
with probate jurisdiction, to be held by one judge, who was to be elected by
the qualified voters of the county and hold four years. In the general overturn-
ing which took place by the inauguration of a new judicial system and the
election of all the judges, provision was made in the supplement to the new
constitution that "the Cook and Jo Daviess county courts shall continue to
exist, and the judge and other officers of the same remain in office until other-
wise provided for."

By an act of the general assembly, approved November 5, 1849, entitled
"An act to establish the tenth judicial circuit, and to fix the times of holding
courts in the fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh judicial circuits, and for
other purposes," it was provided in the eleventh section as follows : "From and
after the first Monday in January next the circuit court in and for the county
of Cook shall be holden on the first Mondays of May and December in each
year, and that there shall be added to the name and title of the 'Cook county
court,' created by an act of the legislature, approved on the 2ist of February,
1845, ar >d referred to in the twenty-first section of the schedule of the constitu-
tion, the words of 'common pleas,' so that the title and name of said court shall
henceforward be the 'Cook county court of common pleas,' and the regular
terms of said last named court shall hereafter be held on the first Mondays of
February and September in each year, instead of at the time heretofore desig-
nated by law ; and the said Cook county court of common pleas and the said
circuit court of Cook county shall have equal and concurrent jurisdiction in all
cases of misdemeanor arising under the criminal laws of this state and
in all cases of appeals from justices of the peace arising or instituted within said
county of Cook, any law in any wise to the contrary notwithstanding, and all
appeals from justices of the peace within said county of Cook shall be taken and
carried to whichever of said courts the term of which shall be held next after
any such appeal shall have been applied for and taken."

By an act of the general assembly, approved February 6, 1849, it was pro-
vided by the first section "that on the first Monday of April, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, and every fourth year
thereafter, an election shall be held in Cook county, at which election there
shall be chosen one judge of the court created by an act entitled 'An act to
establish the Cook county court,' approved February 21, 1845, a l so a clerk of
said court, and a prosecuting attorney, to perform the duties provided for in
said- act, who shall each hold their respective offices for the term of four years
and until their successors shall be elected and qualified."

The Jo Daviess county court, which by its organization was to be held by
the judge of the county court of Cook county, was repealed February 8, 1849,
and all of its business transferred to the circuit court. By an act passed Feb-
ruary 6, 1849, provision was made for the election of a judge of the county court
on the first Monday of April, 1849, an ^ every fourth year thereafter.

612 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

When the constitution of 1848 went into effect, and the election of the
judges had been transferred from the general assembly to the people, Judge
Hugh T. Dickey, of the Cook county court, was nominated for judge of the
seventh judicial circuit by the Democrats, and was elected without opposition.
Judge Dickey, soon after his election, resigned the office of judge of the county
court of common pleas, and Giles Spring was elected as his successor, and
was commissioned April 14, 1849, and held the office until his premature death,
which took place May 15, 1851.

Spring was, in his way, a character, and has left behind him a name that will
be long remembered for his talents, his keen and cutting intellect, and his eccen-
tricities. Judge Goodrich, who was at one time his partner, in a discourse be-
fore the Historical Society a few years ago, among other things said :

"Spring was a phenomenon, a natural-born lawyer. His education was
quite limited, and he paid little respect to the rules of grammar, yet he could
present a point of law to the court and argue the facts of the case to the jury
with a clearness and force seldom equaled. He seemed sometimes to have an
intuitive knowledge of the law and mastery of its profoundest and most subtle
principles. His brain worked with the rapidity of lightning and with the force
of an engine. In argument he possessed a keenness of analysis, a force of
compact, a crushing logic which bore down all opposition." He studied law in
Ashtabula, in the law office of Giddings & Wade, the historic Benjamin F. Wade
and Joshua R. Giddings, and removed to Chicago in 1833, and sixteen years
after, or in 1849, was elected judge of the Cook county court of common pleas,
but died May 15, 1851. On the death of Spring, in May, 1851, Mark Skin-
ner was elected judge of the Cook county court of common pleas
and held the office for two years, but owing to declining health did not seek a
re-election, and was succeeded by Judge John M. Wilson, one of the most re-
markable jurists, in some respects, that ever held a judicial position in the courts
of this county. He was a classmate of President Pierce at Bowdoin College,
and had had superior advantages in his preparation for the bar. He possessed
great grasp of intellect and strong reasoning powers, and was master of the
common law and the science of pleading, and was equally at home on the chan-
cery side. He presided with great dignity on all trials, ruled with promptness,
and disposed, in the course of a year, of an immense amount of business. When
at the very height of his prosperity he engaged in some unfortunate financial
speculations which involved him in irretrievable disaster, and his old age was
spent in poverty and in distress. He retired from the bench a number of years
before his death, and through the influence of his old friends he received the
appointment of justice of the peace for North Chicago, but the change in his
circumstances was so great that he did not enjoy the position, and it was not
very remunerative or in accordance with his tastes, and he gave up the position
and removed from the north side to Englewood, where he died in 1884, uni-
versally lamented.

He was one of the best trained lawyers who ever sat upon a bench in this
city, and, as the late Judge Arrmgton said, he possessed "an intellect of great

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 613

severity, characterized by continuity of logic. All the evolutions of his mind
appear to run on regular and systematic sequences, so that it would not be a
difficult task to take any of his published or manuscript opinions and throw it
into a series of formal syllogisms by merely supplying the suppressed premises."
The supreme court paid him the compliment of adopting no less than six of his
published opinions as their own. His brother, Solomon, was for a number of
years a member of the well known law firm of King, Scott & Wilson, and he
died many years ago.

Mark Skinner was born at Manchester, Vermont. His father was a lawyer
and a prominent man in that state, as is evidenced by the fact that he held,
at various terms, the offices of prosecuting attorney, probate judge, member of
the legislature, governor, representative in congress, and chief justice of the
state. Mark Skinner spent a year at the New Haven Law School, then entered
the office of Judge Ezek Cowen, at Saratoga Springs, a celebrated lawyer, who
is known the world over as the author of Cowen's Treatise, and finished his
studies under the tutelage of Nicholas Hill, at Albany, who was a master of his
profession, and who perhaps never had his superior in this or any other country
in analyzing a case and making a brief and presenting the law points which it
involved to a court of last resort. Mr. Skinner arrived here in July, 1836. He
was soon after admitted to the bar and formed a partnership with George An-
son Oliver Beaumont, with whom he continued in business until 1844, and in
1847 ne formed a partnership with the late lamented Thomas Hoyne, which
continued until he was elected to the bench.

Mr. Skinner was not only a highly educated man, but one of the best
trained men in the profession. He was identified with almost every public
enterprise and improvement which was projected during his time. He was
city attorney in 1840, school inspector in 1842, United States district attorney
in 1844, was a member of the legislature in. 1846, was chairman of the meeting
called by the citizens of Chicago, in 1846, to make the necessary arrangements
for the great river and harbor convention in 1847. He helped organize the
Young Men's Association and the Chicago Lyceum, and was a member of the
United States sanitary commission and president of the Chicago sanitary com-
mission during the war. He was a trustee of the Illinois Charitable Eye and
Ear Infirmary and was long connected with the Chicago Relief and Aid So-
ciety, the Home of the Friendless and the Reform School. Mr. Skinner led
a busy life, but it closed on the i6th of September, 1887, while on a visit to the
home of his youth, and he sleeps with his fathers, honored and respected by
all who knew him.

Justin Butterfield was without doubt one of the greatest lawyers of his time
and belongs to that early group who attained national distinction. He was
appointed commissioner of the general land office in June, 1849, n ' s rival being
Abraham Lincoln. Daniel Webster was a great friend of Butterfield's and
Butterfield reciprocated the friendship, dressed like him, and imitated to a great
extent his methods. He took part in many noted trials, and many anecdotes
are told of his powers and quaint methods. One of the most remarkable cases

614 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

that he ever was engaged in was that of Joe Smith, the great head of the Mor-
mon church at Nauvoo. An attempt was made to remove Smith from the state
into Missouri on extradition papers charging him with conspiracy against the
life of the governor of that state, and also of being a fugitive from justice, but
as he had never been in Missouri, it was very properly contended that he was
not a fugitive from justice, and accordingly a writ of habeas corpus was sued
out before Judge Pope to liberate him. The case excited great interest and on
the day set for the hearing Smith appeared in court attended by his twelve
apostles, and the court-room was crowded with ladies, who were given seats
alongside of the judge. When Butterfield's turn came to address the court
he arose with great dignity and, turning to the court, said : "May it please the
court, I appear before you to-day under circumstances most novel and peculiar.
I am to address the pope (bowing to the judge), surrounded by angels (bowing
still lower to the ladies), in the presence of the holy apostles on behalf of the
prophet of the Lord." It is needless to say that Judge Pope, after this, was de-
cidedly of the opinion that Smith was not a fugitive from justice and that he
was unjustly restrained of his liberty, and discharged him. Butterfield had a
sharp, decisive and incisive way in presenting a case to a court or jury which
never failed to arrest the attention, and we think that it is the universal opinion
of all who were acquainted with him that he was in many respects the foremost
lawyer of his time in the state of Illinois, if not in the western states.

There are very many anecdotes told of his wit and acumen, but I will refer
to only one or two. Jesse B. Thomas, who was the circuit judge for this
judicial district, was a slow man and when puzzled how to decide a question
sometimes postponed the matter as long as possible. Butterfield was once
interested in a case which Thomas had had under consideration for months,
and became greatly irritated by the delay. Coming into court one morning
while the court was engaged in trying criminal cases, he arose on the call of
motions and said with great gravity : "I believe, if your honor please, this court
is called the over and terminer. I think it ought to be called the oyer sans
terminer," and sat down. The next morning when counsel was called for
motions, Mr. Butterfield called up a pending motion for a new trial in an im-
portant case. "The motion is overruled," said Judge Thomas abruptly. "Yes-
terday you declared this court ought to be called oyer sans terminer," con-
tinued the judge, "and, as I had made up my mind in this case, I thought I
would decide it promptly." Mr. Butterfield seemed for a moment a little dis-
concerted, but directly added: "May it please your honor, yesterday this court
was a court of oyer sans terminer ; to-day your honor has reversed the order ;
it is now terminer sans oyer. But I believe I should prefer the injustice of in-
terminable delay rather than the swift and inevitable blunders your honor is
sure to make, by guessing without hearing argument."

Judge Caton says that very soon after the law was passed taking away the
right of a nisi-prius judge to charge a jury orally and substituting therefor
written instructions, Mr. Butterfield was asked by Judge T. Lisle Dickey, at the
Kendall county court, if he didn't think it was an excellent law, to which he

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 615

replied : "Oh, yes," said Butterfield, "it is a most excellent law. Tie up the
hands of the court and turn loose the pettifoggers and undoubtedly justice will
be done." Judge Caton then adds : "I thought then and still think that this
was a forcible way of stating an undoubted truth. If a judge is worthy of the
seat he occupies he is entitled to confidence and respect and should be entrusted
with the impartial administration of justice in his court. Courts are instituted
to administer impartial justice, according to law, to all suitors before them and
not to sit by and see justice perverted because one lawyer happens to be smarter
than the other, and should not be compelled to act as mere stakeholders be-
tween the advocates."

He was very familiar with the Scriptures, and when he was United States
district attorney Ben Bond was United States marshal, and one or two of his
brothers were deputies, and were quite annoying to Butterfield, whose patience,
at one time, was tried beyond endurance. He remarked to someone, "I would
to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost
and altogether such as I am except these Bonds." Butterfield died in October,
1855. He had two sons who were bred to the law, but who died before he did.
Lewis, born in 1817, and admitted to the bar December 16, 1840, died in
Chicago October 27, 1845. Justin, born in 1819, and admitted to the bar June
10, 1840, died of consumption, in Washington, March 5, 1852. His oldest son,
George, an officer in the navy, died about 1850. His survivors were William,
the first graduate of Rush Medical College ; and three daughters, Mrs. Sidney
Sawyer, Mrs. Frances Getatly and Mrs. William S. Johnston, Jr., who died
January 7, 1875.

Isaac N. Arnold, who was himself a lawyer of great ability, said at the time
of his death, which occurred on October 25, 1855, "that he was one of the ablest,
if not the very ablest, lawyer we have ever had at the Chicago bar. He was
strong, logical, full of vigor and resources. In his style of argument and his
personal appearance he was not unlike Daniel Webster, of whom he was a great
admirer and who was his model."

Thomas Hoyne was one of the most eminent lawyers that ever practiced
at the Chicago bar. He came to Chicago in 1839 to meet the early friend and
companion of his youth, George Manierre, who had preceded him but a few
years. His career is something unique in our history, for, commencing with a
clerkship in the circuit-court clerk's office, he afterward filled the office of city
clerk, probate judge, United States district attorney, United States marshal and
acting mayor of the city of Chicago. He was an intimate friend of the late
Judge Breese and had been engaged in writing an introduction to his work,
entitled the Early History of Illinois, and had completed his task on the 25th
day of July, 1883. The next day he left Chicago to pass his accustomed
vacation at Saratoga and other eastern summer resorts, when he met his
death on the night of July 27th near the village of Carlyon, in the state of New
York, in a railroad collision. I served with him as one of the directors on the
Chicago public-library board for several years and can truly say that his stal-

6i6 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

wart character, unswerving integrity, his generosity and sincerity of conviction
stamped him as one of nature's noblemen.

Among the most enterprising, public-spirited and useful citizens that ever
took up their abode among us was Jonathan Young Scammon. He came here
in 1833 and was appointed reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of
Illinois in 1839 and issued four volumes, which bear the marks of great care and
industry. The first edition of Volume I of his reports was destroyed by fire in
December, 1840, while in the hands of the binder, causing a heavy loss of time
and money. That Mr. Scammon labored under many difficulties in preparing
his reports for publication is evident by what he says in the preface to Volume I
of his series, from which it appears that printed abstracts and briefs were entirely
unknown and he had to prowl through the record and briefs of the appellant and
then sit by and take notes of the points and authorities of the appellee at the
time the case was argued, as no briefs were required to be filed by the appellee.

In many cases counsel neglected to sign their names to the abstracts and
the dockets were so kept that it was often impossible to tell who did appear in
the case. Some of the opinions of the supreme court had been printed by a Mr.
Walters, with marginal notes by a Mr. Forman, and Mr. Scammon says in
regard to them that these are sometimes cited as "printed opinions" and some-
times as "Forman." He closes his remarks and explanations in his preface as
follows :

The references made in the work are those usually found in law books. It is only
necessary to observe that the Revised Laws of 1833 have been uniformly cited as "R. L."
and the edition of the statutes published by Mr. Gale in 1839 as "Gale's Stat." The re-
porter has spared no expense in endeavoring to get the book up in a style not unworthy
of the court and the state. It is due to the court to state that during almost the entire
period included in these reports the supreme court was holden at a great distance from the
residence of the judges, and most of the members of the bar, and at a place but illy pro-
vided with accommodations, and in which a good law library was a desideratum not to be
realized. The court has, consequently, been often obliged to decide cases without that
full argument and consultation of authorities which are afforded to the judicial tribunals
of other states and countries.

The notes and references of the reporter, though not so numerous and full as he de-
sired to make them, he trusts will yet be found convenient to the profession. The continu-
ance of these reports will depend upon the patronage of the profession. The work is
published upon the responsibility of the reporter, and it has cost him a large sum of
money. Should they be continued he hopes that the experience he has had in preparing
this volume will enable him to present to the public and to the profession a more desirable
production.

Mr. Scammon published four volumes of reports and then resigned and
was succeeded by Charles Oilman, who received his appointment on the 3Oth
day of January, 1845. Mr. Scammon was associated in the practice of the law
for many years with E. B. McCagg, who still abides among us, honored and
respected by all who know him. After pursuing the law for a number of years
Mr. Scammon engaged in the banking business. It seemed to be his great
delight to aid and assist every project and enterprise -which would have a

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 617

tendency to develop the city of Chicago and the west, and he lent his assistance
to the building of railroads, the establishment of parks, water-works, churches,
colleges, newspapers and everything else of the kind.

Henry W. Blodgett, who was one of the early pioneers of Cook county,
and who for so many years occupied a seat upon the bench of the United States
district and circuit courts, is entitled to more than a passing notice, for his life
is identified not only with the history of Chicago, but of the country itself. (See
sketch elsewhere.)

Henry Moore came to Chicago in 1834 from Concord, Massachusetts, and
was admitted to the bar the same year. He was a lawyer of fine abilities, a very
attractive and interesting speaker and very soon became prominent. He was
for a short time a partner of E. G. Ryan. His health was not strong, and he
returned east in 1841, and died at his old home during that year.

Henry Brown, who had been a judge of Herkimer county as early as 1816,
came here in 1836 and was soon after elected a justice of the peace, and in 1842
became city attorney. He prepared a history of Illinois in 1844, which was
published in New York in 1844. He was a scholarly man and devoted a great
deal of time to his literary pursuits. He died of cholera in 1849. His son,
Andrew J. Brown, now deceased, resided in Evanston, which he made his
home for many years.

Next to J. Y. Scammon, Paul Cornell may be regarded as among the most
enterprising men ever connected with the Chicago bar. He was born at White
Creek, Washington county, New York, August 5, 1822, and came west when
nine years old. He studied law in the office of William A. Richardson, at Rush-
ville, Schuyler county. He first came to Chicago in 1845, but did not remain
permanently. He went to Joliet and studied for a time in the office of the late
Judge John M. Wilson and Judge Henderson, and, after being admitted to the
practice, came to Chicago on June i, 1847. John M. Wilson had recently re-
moved here and had formed a partnership with L. C. P. Freer, and Cornell
became a clerk in their office. He was afterward employed in the office of
James H. Collins and of Skinner & Hoyne, and when Mr. Hoyne was elected
probate judge he acted as clerk. In 1851 he formed a partnership with William
T. Barren and they did a large business. In 1856 Barron was elected probate
judge, when he became associated with the late Judge John A. Jameison and
Perkins Bass, and after that with H. N. Hibbard, the firm being Cornell,
Jameison & Hibbard.

He always had great faith in the future of Chicago and invested largely in
real estate. He purchased the town site of Hyde Park, laid it out into lots
and sold many of them and improved the rest. He also laid out Grand Cross-
ing, built a hotel there and established a watch factory. He took a great inter-
est in schools and churches and contributed largely to their support. He was
an ardent supporter of the project for establishing parks in the south division of
the city, and was for a number of years one of the park commissioners. He was
one of the organizers of the Oakwoods Cemetery Association and has done
quite as much in building up and improving our city and its suburbs as any-

618 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

one now living. He is a good and valuable citizen and is now, in his old age,
enjoying the fruits of his labors. Such men should not be forgotten.

Lyman Trumbull, now deceased, although not a resident of the city of
Chicago, or a member of the Chicago bar until within the last twenty-five years,
is yet one of the early pioneers of this state and a man of national fame. He
was in Chicago when it was nothing but a bustling frontier town and was
one of the oldest practitioners in this state. He lived for many years at Belle-
ville, and occupied various public positions in this state, such as secretary of
state and judge of the supreme court. He was a member of the United States
senate for three terms and served during the entire period of the civil war. He
was the contemporary of Lincoln, Shields and Douglas and all of the public
men of that time, and was chairman of the judiciary committee while serving in
the senate. He was elected judge of the supreme bench in 1848, his associates
being Samuel H. Treat and John Dean Caton. He resigned in 1853, on his
election to the senate.

Few men that ever lived within our borders have had such a varied ex-
perience in connection with the events which have transpired in this state as he.
He knew the founders of this commonwealth and took part in some of the most
stirring scenes that ever were enacted here. He came among the early pioneers
when they commenced to grow weary and continued on the march ever after-
ward. He was a great lawyer and when he had thoroughly examined any ques-
tion, which it was his habit to do, his judgment was always found sound and
reliable. He occupied a high position at the Chicago bar and vvas a credit to
the profession which he so greatly honored.

The same may be said of the Hon. James R. Doolittle,* who came here
from Wisconsin after a long service upon the bench and in the United States
senate as the associate of Trumbull, and, although advanced in years, he has the
vigor of youth about him in both mind and body, and is to-day a lawyer
capable of performing great things.

Calvin De Wolf is one of our old-timers and looks back with smiles over
the snows of more than eighty winters. He arrived in Chicago October 31,
1837, and in 1838 entered the law office of Spring & Goodrich. He was ad-
mitted to the bar in May, 1843. He was elected a justice of the peace in 1854,
which office he held up to 1879. In '1879 he resumed the practice, but he did
not continue it long, as it was not necessary, and he is now resting on his well
earned laurels, with a competency sufficient to satisfy the largest ambition. In
his early days he was an abolitionist of the most pronounced type and belonged
to that well known school of philosophers and philanthropists of which Dr.
Dyer, George Manierre and Owen Lovejoy were types. He has seen much
of the world, and knew all of the old lawyers when in their prime. His
reminiscences would be valuable.

Harvey B. Kurd belongs to the old regime, although he did not join the
Chicago bar until 1848. In 1847 ne began the study of law in the office of

* James R. Doolittle died July 27, 1897, on the sixtieth anniversary of his wedding day.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 619

Calvin De Wolf and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He commenced practice
with Carlos Haven, who afterward distinguished himself as state's attorney for
the Cook and Lake county circuit. He was also connected in business with
the late Henry Snapp of Joliet, who was for sometime a member of congress,
and also with Andrew J. Brown. He was one of the founders of the flourishing
city of Evanston, and took up his residence there in 1855 and resides there now.
His career has been most honorable and public-spirited and he has done
much first and last to further the best interests of the community. He is a
monument of industry and perseverance.

Ezra B. McCagg is one of the links in the remote past of the Chicago bar.
He is a native of Kinderhook, and was born November 25, 1825. He studied
law in the office of Monell, Hogeboom & Monell of Hudson, at that time one
of the best known firms in all that region, and was admitted to the bar in 1847.
In the summer of that year he came to Chicago and formed a partnership with
J. Y. Scammon, which continued many years. Samuel W. Fuller became a
member of the firm about 1859, which continued until his death. No one now
at the bar has had a more varied experience than Mr. McCagg. He has seen
not only the city grow from a great overgrown frontier town to a metropolis,
but he has seen the number of lawyers grow from fifty to that of over four
thousand three hundred. No lawyer at the Chicago bar has traveled so much
as he, and none have had such opportunities to make themselves well informed
and well read as he. He was not at the start pinched for money, like many
others, but he supplied himself with whatever law books were needed and when
I came here in 1852 the law library of Scammon & McCagg was by far the best
of any of the lawyers in the city. There is not a spot or place in Europe but
what he has visited, some of them many times, and if he were to write out his
adventures and give a history of his travels it would be not only very interesting,
but thrilling.

Mr. McCagg is, in every sense, not only an accomplished lawyer, but an
accomplished gentleman. He is a great lover of art and of books, and at the
time of the fire in 1871 had one of the finest private libraries in the west. I
lived within a very short distance from him, and having a fine library myself,
which was doomed to destruction by the remorseless conflagration, watched
to see if it would treat Mr. McCagg's belongings the same way. This was not
anticipated, for his house, like that of his brother-in-law (Mahlon D. Ogden),
stood nearly in the center of a large block, without any buildings near it, and
no one had an idea that the flames would attack it, much less destroy it, but they
did. This was the result of the cowardice, panic, fright or utter stupidity of the
servants, who never lifted a finger to sweep off the burning coals and fire
brands from the porches or around the dwelling, but allowed the fire to come in
contact with the house and set it on fire., Mr. McCagg was at that time in
Europe, and it made my heart sink when I saw the smoke begin to curl above
the roof and knew that all the priceless treasures therein contained, the re-
sult of years of collecting in every part of the world, were to be devoured. I
could not myself render any assistance, for the wailings of a terrified household

620 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

were clinging to me, and everything that I had was at that moment being con-
sumed with "fervent heat" amid the roar of the elements like that of the last
day.

When I first came to the city I used to hear a great deal about Colonel
James M. Strode, who was at one time state's attorney of the fifteen northern
counties of the state in the time of Judge Young, and who rode the circuit with
Judge Young, Ben Mills and others. He came from Kentucky and resided for
some time in southern Illinois, and then struck north to the lead mines at
Galena, where he prospered and flourished to his heart's content for a consider-
able period. He was our state senator from 1832 to 1836, as well as from a num-
ber of the other northern counties, with his residence at Galena. He was register
of the land office here from 1836 to 1840. He was a member of the Chicago
bar and prosecuting attorney from about 1844 to 1848. He was identified with
the bar of Jo Daviess, Cook and McHenry counties, and died within our time, if
I mistake not, while residing in McHenry county. His name is attached to a let-
ter signed by the leading citizens of Chicago addressed to Alexander McKinzie,
dated October 3, 1838, in which they express their high appreciation of Mr.
McKinzie's efforts to entertain the people by a series of theatrical performances
and trusted that before he left the city he would allow them to testify their
regard for him "by appointing an evening for a benefit for himself." Mr.
McKinzie replied to this highly complimentary letter on the nth of October,
1838, which is addressed to H. L. Rucker, J. M. Strode, Buckner S. Morris and
others, acknowledging the receipt of the communication and naming Thursday
evening, the i8th, as the benefit night. I mention this to show that the
Colonel was not only a devotee of the law, but a patron of the drama.

He seems to have formed, at an early day, a very exaggerated idea of the
prowess of the Indians, and among the earliest things mentioned of him was in
1832, when he accompanied Judge Young to this city from Galena to hold court,
that he and Ben Mills brought the first intelligence of the atrocities of the
Indians on Rock river, and most of the anecdotes extant of him relate in some
way to his connection with the aborigines. Thomas Hoyne says that about a
year after his arrival in Chicago :

I was standing upon Lake street opposite the old Tremont House, a three-story
frame building, or tavern, standing diagonally across from where the present house of
that name now is. It was then on the northwest corner of Lake and Dearborn streets,
instead of the southeast corner, where it now stands.

The late Governor Ford, then a judge (in 1838) was holding a term of the court
which the mob would have suppressed but for the action of the lawyers, in 1837. He had
been to dinner and stood picking his teeth on the front stoop. He smiled significantly
as a coarsely-clad country stranger inquired of him and others standing by if he could
tell him of a place in this state called "Stillman's Run or Defeat." Ford said: "There
(pointing) is a gentleman crossing the street. Colonel Strode is just the man that knows
?.I1 about that defeat. Quick, hail him." He did so. Strode turned and saw Ford look-
ing at him and watching' him. The Colonel, suspecting the trick, abruptly answered the
countryman by saying that if there was such a place as "Stillman's Defeat" he could not
prove it by him. The point of the inquiry related to an incident of the Black Hawk war

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 621

which Ford has preserved in his history of the state, where, at a place now known as Still-
man's Run, a small detachment of militia or volunteers, under the command of Colonel
Strode, became panic-stricken and ran away. Ford knew that Strode was mortally sensi-
tive about this matter, although he had himself immortalized it by 'describing it in the
most picturesque and graphic manner. The Indians, it appeared, came into view in the
offing, and perhaps some shots were interchanged, when the whole detachment (under
Strode) took to their horses and rode away at full speed. They all went upon the principle
of each man for himself and the devil take the hindmost. They made for headquarters
at Dixon and each one supposed that he was the only survivor of a most terrible massacre.
The accounts they brought were of the most blood-curdling nature, and they each averred
that the force under Black Hawk could not be less (from appearances) than twenty
thousand warriors. It was, according to these stricken and frightened fugitives, a sort of
Custer massacre of a later age, and Ford declares that Strode, who arrived promptly on time
at headquarters from the seat of war, asserted that all of his companions fell, bravely
fighting hand to hand with the savage enemy, and he alone was left upon the field of battle
to tell the story. And then he continues: ''The gallant Colonel said that at the time he
discovered a body of horsemen to his left in tolerable order: 'I immediately deployed to the
left, when, leaning down and placing my body in a recumbent position upon the mane of
my horse, so as to bring the heads of the horsemen between the eye and the horizon, I
discovered by' the light of the moon that the whole body were gentlemen without hats and
then I knew by all the gods they were no friends of mine. I therefore made a retrograde
movement and recovered my former position, where I remained meditating what further
I could do in the service of my country, when a random ball came whistling by my ear
and plainly whispered to me: "Stranger, you have no further business here;" upon which
I followed the example of my companions in arms and broke for tall timber, and the way
I ran and the horse ran was never equaled in Spain or at Waterloo.' "

Colonel Strode gives another account of what happened to him while on
his way from Fort Clarke, now Peoria, to Galena at the time of Black Hawk's
appearance with his savage troops on Rock river. The Colonel said : "I was
on horseback, having my linen in one side of my saddle bags and Chitty's Plead-
ings and Blackstone's Commentaries on the other. As I approached Dixon's
Ferry, where we usually crossed the river, I espied the advancing host. When
I saw they were gentlemen without hats I knew that they were no friends of
mine and I whirled and turned my horse's head to the rear and put my stirrups
into his flanks. He stumbled and fell, but I did not wait for him to rise or to
secure my saddle bags. I was in great haste, and at once escaped to the thicket.
But what do you suppose happened the next day? Upon my word, old Black
Hawk was seen strutting up and down the banks of Rock river with one of my
ruffled shirts drawn over his deer skin, with Chitty's Pleadings under one arm
and Blackstone's Commentaries under the other."

Colonel Strode was tall and straight and prided himself upon his Kentucky
ancestry. He always wore ruffled shirts, as in the olden times, and was some-
what pompous and grandiloquent. He had resided in the southern portion of
the state, and possessed a great fund of information regarding the early history
of this state. He was kind and genial in his way and hospitable to a fault. He
was in many respects a typical southern pioneer.

William H. Brown was a native of Connecticut, but his father was a native
of Rhode Island and his profession was the law, which he practiced for some

622 THE BENCH AND BAR GF ILLINOIS.

twenty-five years at Auburn, New York, and then removed to the city of New
York, where he died. His son, William, studied law in his office and on his
admission practiced with him for some time. About the year 1817 glowing
accounts began to be circulated through the interior of New York of the
fertility and future prospects of Illinois, and the great probability of its soon
being admitted into the Union as a state. Brown was well acquainted with
Samuel D. Lockwood, and he and some other young men resolved that they
would go out and explore the country and ascertain the facts for themselves.

Accordingly a party of ten was made up, among whom were Brown, Lock-
wood, David E. Cuyler, Daniel Curtis and John C. Rochester. They pro-
posed to make the journey by flat-boat down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers.
The place of rendezvous was Olean Point and the time of starting was some
day in October, 1818, but the exact date I am unable to ascertain. On leaving
Auburn the party changed most of their funds, at the suggestion of a bank presi-
dent, into new bills of his bank, just from the engraver. At Olean Point pay-
ments for a flat-boat for the party and other purchases were made in these bills.
When everything was ready for the trip down the river the party spent the
night in their cabin, expecting to start early the next morning, but their
slumbers were disturbed by the arrival of the sheriff with a posse, who arrested
the whole company as a band of counterfeiters. The storm of indignation that
arose can be imagined but not described. The young lawyers had a chance to
show their oratory, but the sheriff resolved that he must perform his duty. The
whole party was marched off to the justice's office. A brief explanation opened
the eyes of the justice, and the parties were discharged without trial, but their
indignation did not subside and Olean Point never lingered on their memory
as a thing of beauty or a fitting location for a summer resort.

Lockwood had been admitted to the bar and so had several others of the
party. After this episode they proceeded on their voyage, and without many
startling incidents, except passing the first steamboat they ever saw, which was
aground in the Ohio, they finally reached Shawneetown, where the party
broke up. I do not know what became of any of them except Brown and
Lockwood and Rochester. Rochester, after his tour had ended, returned to
New York and became a prominent citizen, a member of congress and was a
candidate for governor, losing the election by only a few votes.

The arrest for "counterfeiting" had probably passed out of mind of all the
persons concerned in it, when Judge Lockwood was in after years reminded of
it in this way. He was holding court in Edwards county when a man was
brought up for trial before him, who, to the surprise of his counsel and against
their advice, insisted upon a change of venue on the ground that the judge was
prejudiced against him. When assured by the counsel that this could not be
and pressed for the reason for his feeling in the case, he told the story of the
arrest of the counterfeiters ; that he was the sheriff that made the arrest and was
afraid that the judge would recognize him, and if he did, would lay it up
against him. The story was, when told, regarded as a good joke, but the
venue was changed.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 623

Lockwood and Brown made the trip from Shawneetown to Kaskaskia, at
that time the state capital, on foot, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles,
expecting to reach their destination on Christmas, but being wholly unaccus-
tomed to that mode of travel, the progress was slower than calculated, and they
did not enter the village of log cabins until the 26th of December. On Christ-
mas day Brown and Lockwood were overtaken by two young men in some sort
of a vehicle, which was probably a cross between a prairie schooner and a
buckboard, who, like themselves, were on their way to the capital, to settle and
grow up with the country. They stopped and held quite a conversation with
them and then passed on, regretting that their rig was of such a nature as to
prevent their sharing it with them. These young men were Thoman Mather
and Sidney Breese, who afterward became prominent in the history of our
state, and in the wayside chat that ensued it was ascertained that these four
young men were all from New York and were born and brought up not many
miles from each other.

In the spring of 1819 Brown was appointed clerk of the United States court,
which office he held for the period of sixteen years. The seat of government
being removed to Vandalia, and the law requiring the clerk cf the court to keep
his office at the capital of the state, Mr. Brown followed it thither in December,
1820. He was innately and conscientiously opposed to slavery, and the consti-
tution of the state had not been in force four years before the pro-slavery poli-
ticians began the agitation for calling a convention to revise the constitution and
establish slavery. Southern Illinois was at that time just about as much a slave
state as Kentucky and Tennessee and most all the prominent men in it were in
favor of making the state a slave state. Elias Kent Kane, United States Sen-
ator McLean, Judge Phillips, Theophilus W. Smith, Judge Samuel McRoberts,
afterward United States senator, A. P. Field, Governor Bond, McKinney, R. M.
Young, the Reynolds and many others were all in favor of it ; while the oppo-
sition was headed by Governor Coles, William H. Brown, Rev. J. M. Peck,
Judge Lockwood, Daniel P. Cook, Judge Pope, Morris Birbeck, George
Flower, David Blackwell, Hooper Warren, Henry Eddy, George Forquer,
George Churchill and others.

The vote in the legislature, submitting the question to the people for call-
ing a convention so as to make it a slave state, was carried by a single vote, that
is, the two-thirds majority was carried by a single vote, and that vote was
obtained by unseating a member and putting another in his place in the most
outrageous and unscrupulous manner. The people, when they heard of this,
took fire, and, as the question of calling the convention had to be submitted
to a vote of the people, they rose to the exigencies of the occasion and resolved
if possible, by the aid of Almighty God, to prevent it. Each anti-convention
member of the general assembly contributed fifty dollars to a common fund.
Governor Coles gave his whole four years' salary, amounting to four thousand
dollars, to the work. Lockwood resigned his office as secretary of state, with its
meager fees, and accepted the office of receiver of public moneys in order to earn
money to carry on the work, and William H. Brown became the proprietor and

624 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

editor of a newspaper and devoted his very soul to the task of averting the
awful calamity which threatened our state. Rev. John M. Peck of St. Clair,
county proceeded to organize every county and every community into a holy
alliance ; and men, women and children entered into the campaign. There
never was such a campaign before or since, but, thanks to God, when the votes
were counted, the convention party was beaten by a handsome majority, the
vote standing 4,950 for a convention and 6,822 against, being a majority of
1,872 in a total vote of 11,772. Mr. Brown, having accomplished a great work
in southern Illinois, was appointed the cashier of a branch of the State Bank of
Illinois, at Chicago, and removed here in 1835 and took the management of the
same. The bank went out of business in 1837, and from that time on Mr.
Brown did more or less law business, and when I came to the city was asso-
ciated in business with Mather & Taft, but not as a partner. Mr. Brown was
in business for many years with Alfred Cowles, an old pioneer lawyer, who went
to California in 1853, an ^ di e d there a few years ago. The firm of Cowles &
Brown appears in the city directory of 1846 under the name of Cowles &
Brown, with an office over the old State Bank, at the southwest corner of
La Salle street and South Water.

Mr. Brown was for many years school agent, and managed its affairs with
great skill and fidelity. In 1846 he, in connection with some others, purchased
the original charter of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company from
the estate of E. K. Hubbard, and measures were immediately taken to build
that road. Mr. Brown invested a considerable amount in the same and be-
came one of its largest stockholders and finally its president.

I was associated with him for several years in the capacity of general
solicitor of the road and was greatly impressed with his executive ability and the
attention which he gave to every department of the road, even to the utmost
details. Frequent applications were made to him at that time for passes and for
various favors such as are common to railroad managers. Some he granted and
some he refused. I said to him one day: "Mr. Brown, you are the only man
I ever knew who can say no as easy as you can say yes." Mr. Brown laughed
and said that it was perhaps an acquired habit, for when he was cashier of the
old State Bank he was applied to constantly for loans which if he had granted
would have bankrupted the institution in a week, and that was how he had
acquired the habit.

Mr. Brown was one of the most upright and conscientious men that I ever
knew. He devoted much of his later years to the establishment of charitable
institutions. He was a leading member of the Second Presbyterian church and
a life-long friend of the late Dr. R. W. Patterson, the pastor of that church, with
whom he was acquainted before coming to Chicago. In the summer of 1860
Mr. Brown and his wife left Chicago on a tour of Europe and, after traveling
through Great Britain and some of the countries on the continent, reached
Amsterdam, where he was taken down with the smallpox and died at the Bible
Hotel, a leading hotel in that city, on the I7th of June, 1867, aged seventy-
two years. He was one of the most useful citizens that Chicago ever had, and

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 625

the bar may well be proud of his exemplary character. He was one of the most
garefnl and trustworthy lawyers that ever advised a client or tried a case. His
business was strictly an office business, and in his later years he did nothing but
attend to his own affairs.

I have spoken at length of Mr. Jotiett, the first lawyer who ever took up his
abode in Chicago, and who did for a time act as Indian agent. He was suc-
ceeded by Dr. Alexander Wolcott. He was born at East Windsor, Connecti-
cut, February 14, 1790. His father graduated from Yale College in 1778 and
became a distinguished attorney. Alexander Wolcott, Jr., graduated from the
same institution in 1809. He was the third of four children. His eldest sister
was married twice, her second husband being Arthur W. Magill of Middletown,
Connecticut. Henry, the second' child, removed to Chicago in 1836, and died
here April, 1846. Henry was the father of the late Alexander Wolcott, who was
for many years city and county surveyor. Alexander and Mary Ann were the
third and fourth children.

^ Dr. Alexander Wolcott, Indian agent, was married to Ellen Marion Kinzie,
daughter of John and Eleanor Kinzie, on the 2oth of July, 1823, by John Ham-
lin, a justice of the peace of Fulton county, in which county Chicago then was.
In 1820 he accompanied Governor Cass in his famous expedition to the upper
lakes, Major Robert Forsythe and Henry L. Schoolcraft being of the party.
He was appointed justice of the peace for Peoria county December 26, 1827, in
which Chicago then was, and was a judge of election and voter at a special elec-
tion called to elect a justice, which was held at the house of John Kinzie in the
Chicago precinct of l*eoria county. He died late in the fall of 1830, and his
widow married the well-known orator and old-time lawyer, George C. Bates, of
Detroit, who removed to Chicago sometime in the '6os, and was for a time very
conspicuous. Mrs. Bates died at Detroit August i, 1860, leaving one son,
Kinzie Bates, who was connected with the United States Army. Mr. Bates
was a very handsome man, dressed faultlessly, was courtly in his manners and
polished in all of his address. He had been much in Washington before he came
"here and was well acquainted with all of the public men of his time. After he
had practiced here for some years he was appointed United States district attor-
ney for the territory of Utah and took up his abode at Denver, Colorado, where
he died a few years ago, well advanced in years. He was one of the most kind-
hearted of men. His life was filled with the most striking vicissitudes and his
reminiscences of the men at Washington in the days of Webster, Cass, Clay and
Calhoun were of the most interesting character. Peace to his memory.

Edward W. Casey of New Hampshire was the fifth lawyer to take up his
abode here, in 1833, and was for a time deputy clerk of Richard J. Hamilton,
clerk of the circuit court. He practiced for some time in partnership with
Buckner S. Morris, the firm name being Morris & Casey. He returned to New
Hampshire and died there a number of years ago. He was a strong and vigor-
ous lawyer and able advocate.

James Grant, the sixth member of the Chicago bar, was admitted to prac-
tice in this state Alarch 26. 1836. In 1836 he represented Arthur Bronson in

626 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

making sales of some seven thousand acres of land at the terminus of the Illi-
nois and Michigan canal. In 1836 he formed a partnership with Francis Pey-
ton, which continued until about 1839, when he removed to Davenport, Iowa,
where he rose to distinction, and where he died a few years ago.

A. N. Fullerton of Vermont came here in 1833 and was for a time a partner
of Grant Goodrich. He drifted into commercial pursuits, and died September
29, 1880, possessed of a very large fortune.

The names of Royal Stewart, William Stuart and Hans Crocker appear on
the records as lawyers at a very early period, but I do not know much about
them. Hans Crocker removed from here to Milwaukee and became prominent
in business circles. He took an active part in the great river and harbor con-
vention which was held in Chicago in 1847.

James Curtis came here early, and was a shrewd lawyer and man of ability,
but very much inclined to be a demagogue. He was, as the common expression
is nowadays, just "built that way." He set himself up as the champion of the
people and was more inclined to talk politics than practice law. He had many
good traits in his character and drew around him many friends and adherents.
He was elected mayor of the city in 1847 an d again in 1850. He was appointed
by Judge Hugh T. Dickey the first clerk of the old Cook county court, now the
superior court of Cook county. In 1837, when the panic came, he was in favor
of all the courts suspending, so that the poor debtors could have a chance to re-
cuperate, and at a public meeting called to consider this question he said that
he had, out of regard to the unfortunate condition of the people, who were fast
going into bankruptcy, ceased to resort to the courts to oppress them, at which
E. G. Ryan said that that might be so, but it had long been a question whether
he had left the profession of the law or the law had left him, but he rather
thought it was the latter. Thomas Hoyne, in his reminiscences, gives a some-
what different version of this matter and, as it is a matter of considerable inter-
est, we transcribe it in full :

One of the scenes which took place in the fall of 1837 I have never seen referred to
by anyone. Hon. Thomas Ford (afterward governor) had just been appointed judge of
the municipal court of this city, which had been created by the first charter. It was a
court of superior or general jurisdiction within the city. It was to be held that winter for
the first time. It was a time of great pecuniary distress and all obligations created during
the speculative times were just maturing and unpaid and there was no money to pay them.
The dockets were crowded in both the circuit court and municipal court, and something
must be done. Some of the debtors resolved that no court should be held; a public meet-
ing was called to prevent it. It was held at the New York House, a frame building on
the north side of Lake street, near Wells. It was held at evening, in a long, 16w dining-
rootn. lighted only by tallow candles. The chair was occupied by a state senator, the
late Peter Pruyne. James Curtis, nominally a lawyer, but more of a Democratic politician,
who had practically abandoned his profession, was active. But the principal advocate of
suspension of the courts was a judge of the supreme court of the state. Theophilus W.
Smith. Upon the other side were Butterfield, Collins, Ryan, Scammon, Spring, Good-
rich, M. D. Ogden. Arnold and others. And among them was Hon. William B. Ogden.
the mayor of the city, who was subsequently admitted to the bar of the state. We will
count him in, for he did manly service at the meeting in sustaining the law and its regular

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 627

administration and in repudiating and denouncing any interference with the courts. He
was a noble, generous man, whose hand was seen in all public works. The battle was
bitterly fought. It was shown by the opponents of courts that it meant ruin if they
should be held and judgments rendered against the debtors, that twenty million dollars
were then in suit against citizens, which was equivalent to a sum of five hundred dollars
against every man, woman and child in Chicago. What was to be done? "No one was to
be benefited," Curtis said, "but the lawyers, and he had left that profession some time
before." Then Ryan, a man of large muscular frame, eyes large, wide open, as great
lights in his luminous intellect, great as he ever was in debate, but then active, and in his
wrath, like Mirabeau, "fierce as ten furies and terrible as hell," when he rose to the full
height of his great argument, pointing to Curtis, asked that body of debtors if that was
the kind of a lawyer they expected to save them. If so, it had long been a question
whether he had left the profession of the law or the law had left him; but of one thing
they could be sure, that if he succeeded in his present unlawful attempt he (Ryan) would
guarantee them justice, and the sooner the law discharged that obligation the better it
would be for the community. Butterfield, tall in stature, stern of countenance, denounced
the judge of the supreme court who could descend from that lofty seat of a sovereign
people, majestic as the law, to take a seat with an assassin and murderer of the law like
Judge Lynch. Others followed, but the good sense of the meeting laid the resolutions on
the table, and the courts were held, as they have been ever since.

One of the most brilliant men ever connected with the Chicago bar and who
is numbered among the pioneers is James A. McDougall. He was attorney
general of Illinois in 1842. The exact date of his arrival here I do not know,
but he rode the circuit with the other Chicago lawyers in early days and was
identified with them in all of their acts and doings. When the gold craze broke
out he went to California, and had a terrible time in getting there. He lost his
way and wandered long among the mountains, barely escaping starvation, and
when he finally reached San Francisco was clothed in skins and rags. He went
to the best hotel in the city and was at first refused admission. He sent for
Hiram Pearsons, once a resident of Chicago, and at that time a California mil-
lionaire, and formerly a client of McDougall's, and he furnished him a wardrobe
and everything that he required. He was soon after given a number of cases in
court and was in a short time elected to congress and in due time a senator.
Charles Sumner once said of him that he spoke better English than any man m
the senate. It is sad to think that this man, who was gifted as an orator and as
a statesman, should have closed his career groveling with sots and borne down
with the demon drink.

Ebenezer Peck filled for a considerable period a large place in the public
affairs of this state. He was born in Portland, Maine, May 22, 1808, but his
parents removed with him to Montreal at a very early age, where he was edu-
cated and where he was admitted to the bar. He rose to the position of king's
counsel and was elected a member of the provincial parliament of Canada East.
He came here in 1835 and soon showed his forcible manner. In 1837 he en-
gaged for a short time in the iron trade. He was elected to the state senate in
1838, to fill the unexpired term of Peter Pruyne, deceased. He was elected to
the house in 1840, then chosen clerk of the supreme court. In 1846 he formed
a partnership with the celebrated James A. McDougall, who was at one time

628 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

attorney general of the state. The partnership was McDougall & Peck, and so
continued until McDougall went to California, where he became United States
senator, as already stated.

Charles Oilman, state reporter, died July 24, 1849, an< i was succeeded by
Mr. Peck. Sidney Breese had published one volume of reports, Scammon four
and Oilman five, so when the first volume of Peck's reports appeared, in 1850, it
was termed the Eleventh Illinois. His series closed with Volume XXX, in
1863. In 1853 ne was associated in business with Charles B. Hosmer and his
son-in-law, Edward Wright, under the firm name of Peck, Hosmer & Wright.
He was elected to the twenty-first general assembly, resigned his office of re-
porter in 1863, and was appointed by President Lincoln one of the judges of the
court of claims. He died May 25, 1881.

George W. Meeker, who was for some time a partner of George Manierre,
was in many respects a very brilliant man. He was born in Elizabethtown, New
Jersey, in 1817, and from infancy one of his limbs was paralyzed, so that he
always had to use crutches. He was well educated and possessed a good knowl-
edge of the French and the Greek and Latin. He came to Chicago in 1837,
studied with Spring & Goodrich, and was admitted to the bar in 1839, and
soon afterward formed a partnership with Mr. Manierre. He was for a time
clerk of the United States court and was for many years United States court
commissioner. He was considered a very fine office lawyer; was well versed
in the statute law of the state and especially the statutes of the United States,
and was an authority on all points of practice arising in the federal courts. He
died suddenly, in April, 1856.

Thomas Shirley started out in life as Thomas Fleishman, and some time
after he had taken up his residence in Chicago, which was in 1849, changed his
name from Fleishman to Shirley for domestic reasons. The family names of his
grandparents were Shirley and Fleishman. He was born in Virginia, graduated
from Washington College, Lexington, Virginia. He afterward studied law at
the U/niversity of Virginia and graduated from that in 1848, and then came to
Chicago. Mr. Shirley was an able lawyer and a fine orator. He was a pro-
found student of Shakespeare and could repeat many of his best thoughts and
sayings with great effect. In his youth he was devoted to military tactics and
was for a time captain of the crack company of the city known as the Chicago
Light Guards. He was formed like a giant and graceful as Apollo. His
military bearing was superb and commanded the admiration of all who ever saw
him in uniform. Mr. Shirley was a very popular man and a lawyer of fine
talents. He died a number of years ago, and he is gratefully remembered by
all old-timers who knew him.

Mason Brayman was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1813, and was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1836. He then went to Louisville, where he edited a paper
and practiced law. He came to this state about 1842 and was admitted to the
bar on March 8th of that year, and was for a number of years the editor of the
State Journal, at Springfield. He revised the statutes of this state in 1845, a d
such was 'the skill that he displayed and the care that he bestowed upon it, that

.THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 629

it was regarded as a masterpiece. He took a prominent part in the Mormon
war, when Ford was governor, and when the civil war broke out, in 1861, he en-
listed as major in the Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry and was promoted to
brigadier general, and finally brevetted major general March 13, 1865, for his
faithful services. General Brayman, very soon after the Illinois Central Rail-
road was chartered, was selected as its general solicitor, and from 1852 up to the
breaking out of the war had charge of the legal department of that corporation.
He obtained the right of way into the city of Chicago and drew the ordinance,
I believe, that gave it permission to reach the down-town region and exercise
its privileges within our city. He was a most careful, painstaking lawyer, and
understood real-estate law and our statutes relating to the same as well as any
man I ever knew.

He was always very much interested in the history of this state and was one
of the charter members of the Chicago Historical Society of this city. In 1894
as chairman of a committee on historical matters of the Illinois State Bar Asso-
ciation, I made a report to that body which, among other things, recommended
that "someone be selected to write a sketch of the constitutional convention of
1818 and another of 1847." This attracted the attention of the General, who
was at that time living in Kansas City, and on the 7th of February, 1894, he
wrote a letter in which he said : "When the writer is selected to write an account
of the convention of 1847 I ma y be able to furnish able material in aid of his
work. The convention sat eighty-five days, June /th to August 3ist, inclusive.
I was employed to write each day a letter to the St. Louis Union. I sat in the con-
vention, writing seventy-six letters, intended to be discursive and popular,
rather than dry and formal reports of the proceedings. I have these letters
preserved in a blank book. My unabated interest in- all that relates to Illinois
leads to this suggestion."

This was a matter of great surprise to me and a most valuable discovery of
historic worth, and, having in the meantime been elected president of the bar
association, I lost no time in extending an invitation to him to prepare a sketch
of the constitutional convention of 1847 and to read it before the association at
its next annual meeting in January, 1895. He accepted the invitation, but said
at the same time (July 19, 1894) : "For more than a year I have been an invalid,
confined to the house a portion of the time, unable to write. This, with my
many years, eighty-one, must qualify my acceptance. But you may expect a
paper in compliance with your wish. If unable to be present I can forward it to
be read. To attend will afford great pleasure, to be presented by the reminis-
cences I can furnish will be gratifying."

As time wore on we became anxious to know how he was getting along
and whether he would be able to attend the meeting. His reply is dated Kan-
sas City, January 21, 1895, only a few days before the appointed time for the
annual meeting of the bar association, and is as follows :

President of the Illinois State Bar Association:

Dear Sir: On the nth I informed you by letter of my inability to attend your annual
meeting. It is with deep regret and many apologies that I have now to advise you that

630 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS,

I cannot forward my promised address to be read in my behalf. Compelled by the condition
of my health to write at intervals and slowly, I have not found the end of it.

The subject had deeper interest and required wider investigation than was anticipated.
I respect the Bar Association (and myself) too much to present the matter in a crude and
careless form. I will, as I am able to, complete the paper to be read at your next meeting.
Your programme is so ample and your men of such ability that the absence of that which
I would present will cause no embarrassment. With kind regards,

MASON BRAYMAN.

Alas ! for him there was to be no next meeting, and he was destined never
to appear before that association, which would have welcomed him with open
arms and listened with rapt attention to every word that he might utter, for he
had, like many others whose life work was incomplete, passed away. He died,
as we have said, on February 27, 1895, and the reminiscences which he was to
furnish us were left untold.

James B. Bradwell has long filled a large space in public estimation, and,
although he can hardly be classed with the lawyers of the old regime, yet he
properly belongs among the old settlers and pioneers, as he has passed almost
his entire lifetime among us.

Elijah M. Haines, although he cannot be classed among the pioneer law-
yers, was among the very early settlers in this region and was identified with
Chicago to a great extent most of his life. He was born in Oneida county,
New York, April 21, 1822, and came west in the month of May, 1835. He did
not join the Chicago bar until after 1851. His residence was at Waukegan,
where he died on the 29th of April, 1889, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.
His early life was a struggle, and without any extrinsic aids he set about acquir-
ing an education. He read extensively and stored his mind with a mass of in-
formation which in after years made him a man of great resources. When the
country was new he took up the study of surveying and made some of the
earliest surveys in Lake county. He mastered the laws of congress relating to
the public domain and the land-office regulations relating to the same, and be-
came an authority upon them. He early developed a genius for debate, and be-
came greatly interested in parliamentary law and the rules governing deliber-
ative assemblies, and his work upon parliamentary rules is a most interesting
book. He was several times a member of the legislature, and twice speaker of
the lower house. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1870
and took a leading part in its deliberations. He wrote and completed several
books relating to justices of the peace and township organization that have be-
come standards throughout the country. He was a keen and sharp lawyer and
no mean adversary for the strongest advocate before a jury. He passed through
some of the most trying times in our country's history, and was loyal and true.
He was always a friend of the oppressed and downtrodden. For years before
his death his health was frail, and he frequently labored when suffering intense
pain. He was a man of great industry and an indefatigable worker.

His book upon the American Indian (Uh-Nish-In Na-Ba) is one of the
most complete works upon this interesting portion of the human race ever

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 631

oublished. It comprises the whole Indian subject in complete and compre-
hensive form and abounds in varied information regarding the barbarous Indian
nations and tribes, their language, and their history, and their relations to the
United States government. It gives an account of the meaning and significa-
tion of many of the Indian geographical names, and is especially interesting
to the ethnologist and those who desire to study the customs and habits of the
aborigines. It was the crowning work of his life and was the result of years
of study and research.

The oldest lawyer who is now living among us is William H. Stickney.* He
was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 9, 1809. He was admitted to
the bar in Cincinnati in 1831 and became the partner of Hon. Robert T. Lytle,
then a member of congress. He was admitted to the bar of Illinois February
17, 1834. He was elected state's attorney by the legislature 111 1839, for the
circuit which was composed of Marion, Jefferson, Perry, Franklin, Jackson,
Union, Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Gallatin and Ham-
ilton counties. Judge Scales was elected judge of the circuit at the same time
and they rode the same together. He was a great friend of Henry Eddy, and
rode on horseback with him from Shawneetown to Vandalia to obtain his license
to practice law. He was for a short time the editor of the Gallatin Democrat
and Illinois Advertiser, in 1835-6, at Shawneetown, and was elected to the
legislature in 1846. He came to Chicago some time in 1848. He was elected
an alderman from the eighteenth ward, in 1854, police justice in 1860, and held
that office for thirteen year's. Mr. Stickney is a man of a very high sense of
honor and of the strictest integrity. In order to show this we will cite one
instance which is worth remembering.

In 1854 a system of police magistrates was established for the whole state.
At the municipal election in 1855 police justices were voted for under an old act
relating to Chicago, without any regard to the new act, although there were
very many who believed that by the law as it then existed police magistrates
alone should be voted for. The consequence was that both police magistrates
and police justices were voted for. The police justices received an overwhelm-
ing vote. Mr. Stickney, Calvin De Wolf, and Nathan Allen received a few
votes, having been voted for as police magistrates. A case was taken to the
supreme court, and it was decided that under the circumstances either title
would comply with the true intent and meaning of the law, and Mr. Stickney
was offered a certificate of election and a commission, but he said that the
citizens having so unmistakably indicated their preferences, he would not take
advantage of any technicality, and therefore refused the commission offered
to him. Mr. Stickney was elected to the legislature in 1875-6 and served his
constituents well. He is about the only survivor of the old regime in this
part of the state, and forms the connecting link between the remote past and
the present. He is still living, at a ripe old age, in North Chicago in full pos-

* William H. Stickney died in Chicago, February 14, 1898, and at the time of his
death was the oldest lawyer in commission in the state.

632 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

session of his faculties. He is a man possessed of many sterling qualities, and,
although he may not have reached the highest rounds in the ladder of fame,
he is justly entitled to our profound respect.

CRIMINAL LAWYERS.

The criminal law was, from the time that Illinois was admitted into the
Union as a state, most assiduously cultivated, and there is scarcely one of the
old pioneer lawyers but what had more or less to do with the trial of criminal
cases, and many of the foremost men at the bar obtained their start in life by
either acting in the capacity of public prosecutor or defending persons charged
with the commission of criminal offenses.

In our city this was emphatically the case, and as this class of business in-
creased a separate court was established, in 1852, called the recorder's court,
with Robert S. Wilson judge, who was engaged almost entirely in trying crim-
inal cases, and this continued up to 1870, when our new constitution went into
effect, and the then existing court ha'd its powers and jurisdiction enlarged so
as to embrace every kind of a criminal and quasi-criminal case throughout the
county. The first murder trial which ever took place in Cook county, accord-
ing to the late Judge Caton, occurred in 1834.

The next murder trial, which, in the ordinary course of affairs would have
taken place in Cook county, had not a change of venue been granted to Iroquois
county, took place September 28, 1835. The murder was committed in Cook
county in the month of May, 1835, when a man was found dead on the prairie
near the roadside between what was then known as Lawton's Ford, on the
Desplaines, and Elijah Wentworth's, near Buckhorn's tavern, seventeen or
eighteen miles southwest from Chicago, on the traveled trail to Ottawa. A
knife wound on the body showed that the man had been stabbed to death.

Stephen Forbes, the sheriff of Cook county, lived on the west side of the
Desplaines at Lawton's Ford, and between his house and Wentworth's, a dis-
tance of about six miles, there was no dwelling. James Grant, then in his
twenty-second year and just from North Carolina, had succeeded Ford as prose-
cuting attorney of the fifth judicial circuit, and Thomas Ford was elected judge
of the new circuit. Grant went to the scene of the murder, and he and Forbes
immediately commenced an investigation, and in a few days had ascertained
facts and circumstances sufficient to implicate a man calling himself Joseph F.
Morris, or Norris, and he was indicted by the grand jury of Cook county at
the June term of the circuit court. On his being arraigned, being without
counsel, Henry Moore, a very bright and promising young lawyer, was ap-
pointed to act for him, and upon his investigating the case he thought that the
prejudice of the people of the county was so great against him that he moved
for a change of venue, which was granted, and the case was sent to Iroquois.
He was tried, convicted and executed. James Grant on this occasion exhib-
ited great energy as a prosecutor, and Henry Moore literally astonished every-
body by the skillful and' brilliant defense which he interposed, but the facts were
against him.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 633

The trial took place before Stephen T. Logan, who had exchanged, for the
time being, circuits with Ford, and, it is needless to say, was conducted in the
most decorous and dignified manner. The criminal is described as a large,
fine-looking man of great determination. He refused to disclose who he was
or what his history was. The sheriff was much in fear of him, and, as there
was no jail in which to confine him, he was ironed and confined in one of the
houses near by until the day of his execution. Morris was taken to the black-
smith's shop to have irons riveted on him, and while it was being done he
picked up some kind of a missile and threw it into the crowd at the door of the
shop, and it struck Mr. Edward Mulford, the jeweler, in the face. With the
utmost diligence he came near escaping. He managed to weaken his fetters
and would have escaped if the noise which he made had not attracted
attention. Among the accounts given of his execution it is said : "A large
crowd of people came from long distances to witness his execution. The day
was one of rain and storm. The place selected was a walnut tree just across the
bridge, north of Bunkum, and the rope was attached to a limb of the tree about
thirty or forty feet from the ground. The criminal walked part of the way
smoking his cigar with great fortitude. When mounted on the box in the
wagon which served for a scaffold he made a short speech in which he justified
his past life, saying that he had stolen from the rich and given to the poor,
etc., etc. When the sheriff adjusted the noose he said : "That rope would
hang a steamboat." When life was extinct the body was taken down and
buried at a point a little southeast of Bunkum, but was afterward taken up and
used for anatomical purposes.

Among the early public prosecutors in Cook county was Alonzo Hunting-
ton, who came to Chicago as early as 1835 from Vermont, became state's at-
torney in 1837, and served in that capacity until 1841. He prosecuted John
Stone for the murder of Lucretia Thompson, which was tried at the April term
of the circuit court of Cook county, 1840, before Hon. John Pearson, who pre-
sided. Stone was defended by Justin Butterfield and S. Lisle Smith, and from
beginning to end the trial was attended by many dramatic incidents. Stone
was convicted and finally executed. The case was, however, taken to the
supreme court, and is reported in full in the second volume of Scammon, com-
mencing on page 326. The opinion in the case was written by Theophilus W.
Smith, and is a leading case in this state upon several points, especially in regard
to bills of exceptions in criminal cases and the inherent powers of circuit judges
in discharging jurors who were not qualified to serve, on account of alienage,
after they had been accepted and sworn to try the case. This case is also very
important in treating of the common-law powers of all circuit judges, and shows
that they are commensurate with the performance of judicial duties, and in the
furtherance of public justice they should not only be recognized, but exercised.

In 1851-2 Daniel McElroy and Patrick BallingaU were the leading criminal
lawyers, and Mr. McElroy was at that time state's attorney and prosecuted
George W. Green for poisoning his wife with strychnine. He was succeeded
by Carlos Haven, who proved to be one of the most successful prosecutors

634 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

that we ever had. He was the very embodiment of honesty and integrity, and
never insisted upon a conviction when he became convinced that there ought
not to be one, but he was the terror of the wicked and they fled before him.
His sudden demise was universally regretted, as he was considered one of our
best citizens. He died from an attack of typhoid fever, May 3, 1862.

Patrick Ballingall was a man of unusual acumen and shrewdness, and, con-
sidering the great disadvantages that he labored under in his youth, it is quite
wonderful what success he had and what a reputation he established. He was
not a man of very much education, and commenced his career as a bartender.
He left that to engage in study and, as he declared, to become a lawyer, and he
succeeded. That he attained distinction is evidenced by the fact that he was
more than once elected to the office of state's attorney, and was one of the dele-
gates from this county to the constitutional convention in 1847. His death
was sudden, and the manner in which it was announced to the bar was dramatic.
Elisha W. Tracey, to whom we have already referred, was one of his bosom
friends, and on his being informed of the death of Ballingall proceeded to the
court-house in a somewhat maudlin condition.

Judge Manierre was holding court, and the bar in attendance was quite
numerous. Tracey entered the court-room, and, walking forward a little dis-
tance from the door, steadied himself by placing his hand upon the back of a
chair, and, without regard to what was going on, lifted up his voice and said :
"May it please the court, Patrick Ballingall is dead." Then, pausing a moment
and looking around, said : "Patrick Ballingall, who has been so long among us
and who is so well known by everybody, is dead. He was an officer of this
court and a member of this bar. In the midst 9f life we are in death. I move
that this court do now adjourn." All was silence for a moment, and not a
word was spoken. Judge Manierre looked at Tracey and then around to the
bar, and, rising from his seat, stood for a moment, and in slow but solemn tones
said : "This court is now adjourned until to-morrow morning at nine o'clock."
The manner in which all this was done and the circumstances attending it made
a scene long to be remembered.

Daniel McElroy was a native of Tyrone county, Ireland. He was highly
educated, and when he came to Boston kept school for two or three years, then
entered Cambridge University, and afterward studied law with Judge Story.
He came to Chicago in 1844, and was twice elected state's attorney. He died
August 25, 1862.

Among those who figured conspicuously in criminal matters at an early
day was Robert S. Wilson, to whom we have already referred. He had been
bred to the bar in Michigan, and came to Chicago in 1850 and was of the law
firm of Wilson & Frink for a few years, when he was elected judge of the newly
created recorder's court in March, 1853. His eligibility to the office was ques-
tioned, he not having resided here five years before his election, and quo-war-
ranto proceedings were commenced against him, and on the relation of the late
William T. Burgess, a very keen and able lawyer, but the question was, after
quite a long contest, decided by the supreme court in his favor. He was a man

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 635

who was possessed of great energy and ability, but was not what might be
termed a well trained lawyer, but was at times very boisterous and imperious
in his manner. He lacked equipoise and was very capricious, and whenever he
took a like or dislike to any lawyer, or to anybody else, he carried his favors or
hatred to extremes. At times he was revengeful and acted like Scroggs or
Jeffreys, and again he was as mild and considerate as it was possible for the
most humane judge to be that ever sat on a bench. He was not a very high
type of a man, and it is but the truth of history to say that his example was
not one to be followed. He died in the month of February, 1883.

Carlos Haven was succeeded by Joseph Knox, Charles H. Reed (now
deceased), Luther Laflin Mills, Julius H. Grinnell, and Joel Longenecker as
public prosecutors.

George C. Ingham, who was the assistant prosecutor under Mills, was pos-
sessed of the most wonderful gifts, and his earnestness and directness always
attracted attention. He died February 26, 1891. Charles G. Neely, who is
at the present time on the bench and who was an assistant under Longenecker,
also achieved a wide reputation while acting on behalf of the state.

Joseph Knox was appointed state's attorney by Governor Yates to fill the
unexpired term of Carlos Haven, deceased, and acted from May, 1862, to De-
cember, 1864. He was born in Blanford, Massachusetts, in 1805, and was
admitted to the practice in 1828. He came west and settled at Rock Island
and entered into partnership with Hon. John Wilson Drury, and for years the
firm of Knox & Drury was one of the leading firms in western Illinois. Knox
was a natural-born lawyer and was one of the most effective jury lawyers that
ever practiced in the Rock river valley. He was very direct and at times very
dramatic in his presentation of a case, and was for years engaged in the trial
of more cases than any other lawyer of his time. He was great as a prosecutor,
and equally so when on the defense. He prosecuted and convicted the mur-
derers of Colonel Davenport, at Rock Island, in 1845. He died a number of
years ago.

My first introduction to Mr. Knox was under the following circumstances :
I came west a very short time after I was admitted to the bar, in 1851, and for
the time being took up my residence at Sterling, at that time the county-seat
of Whiteside county, where I had a brother residing who was a physician. I
arrived there somewhere about the middle of June, and the next day after my
arrival was called upon by an old man by the name of Cantrell, who had the
day before engaged in a fight with a young man by the name of Adams, the son
of a well known and influential citizen by the name of Van J. Adams, who was
afterward a member of the general assembly, and had whaled him with a hoop-
pole and had been arrested, and Adams had retained about all the lawyers in
town to prosecute him. He had expected to have Hugh Wallace, a lawyer of
considerable distinction in that community, to aid and assist him, but he was
not at home. He said he had no money to pay me, but would give me a
yearling steer if I would help him. I told him I could do nothing with the steer,
but would assist him all I could and he could pay me when he got ready. We

636 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

went before the magistrate and procured a continuance until Wallace returned,
which was, I think, the next day, when the examination came off. He was
prosecuted by Henry B. Stillman, the state's attorney, the son of General Still-
man (who is so well known in Illinois history in connection with Stillman's
Run), and Miles S. Henry, at that time one of the foremost lawyers in the
country. Cantrell was bound over to the grand jury, and as Adams threatened
to make it so costly to the old man as to make him lose his farm, he thought it
advisable to immediately retain Joe Knox of the firm of Knox & Drury, and did
so. The circuit court was held a few weeks after, and Judge Ira O. Wilkin-
son presided.

The grand jury promptly found an indictment against Cantrell, and I ob-
tained a copy of it and proceeded to examine it in the most thorough manner
before Knox and Drury appeared on the scene of action. Knox was then in
his prime, and had a reputation of being the greatest trial lawyer and orator
in the Rock river valley. When Knox arrived I was introduced to him and his
partner, and was treated in the most courteous manner. He asked me where
I was from, and where I was educated, and how long I had been admitted to
the bar, etc., which I answered. He then asked me what I knew about the
Cantrell case and if I had examined the indictment against the old man. I
told him what I knew of the case and informed him' that I had examined the
indictment, and that in my judgment it was fatally defective.

The indictment was based upon the statute, and was for an assault with a
deadly weapon with intent to commit a bodily injury, and it utterly failed to
allege in it that the hooppole was a deadly weapon, and I produced a recent
decision of the supreme court which held that such an' averment was absolutely
essential. Knox & Drury examined the case and declared it was exactly in
point, and they decided to make a motion to quash the indictment, and gave
notice to the state's attorney that they would call it up the next morning. Knox
then turned to me and said : "Now, young man, as you have discovered this
point you shall have the credit of it, and you must argue the motion." I pro-
tested that I had never appeared in a court of record and that he must do it,
but he said: "No, for it will redound greatly to your credit." The next morn-
ing, on the opening of court, Mr. Knox arose and stated that they had made a
motion to quash the indictment in the Cantrell case; that they would rely upon
a single point, and as that point had been discovered by his young friend then
in court, who had just come among us to practice his profession, that he would
present it.

I read the indictment to the court, then the decision of the supreme court,
and submitted that in accordance with that case the indictment was fatally de-
fective. The court took the case, and after examining it asked the state's at-
torney if he had anything to say, and he said that the case knocked him out
and that all he could say was nolo contendere, and sat down. The court
quashed the indictment, and instead of the old man Cantrell losing his farm
he went out of court with flying colors, and I achieved considerable renown.
Mr. .Knox and his partner had to go to another circuit before the court

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS, 637

closed, and he entrusted to my care a number of cases, and I was soon on the
highway to a fair practice, when I resolved to go to Chicago. I always felt
deeply grateful to Mr. Knox for his kindness and never forgot it of him.

Charles H. Reed was born in Wyoming county, New York, October 27,
1834, came west and was admitted to the bar in 1859, and soon after became
a partner of Joseph Knox. He removed with Knox & Drury from Rock Island
to Chicago in 1860, and in 1864 was elected state's attorney, and was re-elected
two successive terms. In the winter of 1882 he was associated in the defense
of Charles Guiteau for the murder of Garfield.

He was a man of great natural abilities, and was considered a great Greek
scholar. He was a most efficient state's attorney, and had he possessed those
moral qualities which lift men above temptation he would have approached
greatness and could have filled almost any office of public trust, but unfor-
tunately he \vas subject to the law of human depravity, and committed many-
errors that brought him into disrepute and ruined his prospects.

The success of Julius H. Grinnell* in modern times as state's attorney is
something phenomenal. Durjng his term of office he was called upon tc prose-
cute a number of the most remarkable criminal cases that ever have occurred
in this country. He prosecuted with success the anarchist cases and what are
known as the boodle cases, which involved a number of the county commis-
sioners in Cook county in corrupt practices, and was triumphant in all of them.
He is a man of great shrewdness and foresight, and above all is a man of won-
derful judgment and common sense. On his retirement from the office of
state's attorney he was elected a judge of the circuit court of Cook county,
from which position he resigned to become the general counsel of the Chicago
City Railroad.

John Van Arnam, one of the most noted criminal lawyers of the country,
came to Chicago from Michigan in 1859, anc ^ practiced with distinction here for
many years. He died at San Diego, California, on the 6th of April, 1890, at the
age of seventy. He obtained great notoriety by his exposure of the celebrated
conspiracy against the Michigan Central Railroad to wreck its trains. He
was employed by the railroad company to ferret out the conspiracy, and in doing
so exhibited detective powers of the very highest order. In order to get at the
facts in the case he pretended to be against the railroad and joined the organiza-
tion which had been formed by the conspirators to destroy the railroad, shared
in its councils and plans, and in this way possessed himself of the secrets. Wil-
liam H. Seward acted as leading counsel for the defendants. He took part in
many of the most celebrated criminal trials in Chicago, but his health became
impaired, and he went to the Pacific coast, where he died as above stated.

We think that John Van Arnam was one of the most ingenious and effective
men to unravel and explain the intricacies of a complicated criminal case that we
ever knew. He did not ordinarily undertake to play upon the passions of a
jury, but appealed directly to their reason and common sense, and his presenta-

June 8, I

* Julius H. Grinnell was admitted to the bar December 21, 1870, and died suddenly

8 TSnS '

638 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

tion of the case was so plausible that it did not seem possible that there could be
any other side to it. He won his cases not alone by eloquence, but his powers
of reasoning. Emery A N Storrs was a great criminal lawyer, but he did not
make it a specialty.

William O'Brien was another great criminal lawyer. He was a man of
great natural abilities and brain power, but was at times very aggressive and
overbearing, and was almost always in a row with the court or counsel. His
great effort seemed to be to have the jury believe that he had arrayed against
him the prosecuting officer, the court, and the whole power of the state, and
that he was fighting for his rights. At times these tactics succeeded, while at
others they did not. In every encounter he dealt smashing blows, and at times
his oratory rose to sublime heights. He was undoubtedly a great criminal
lawyer, but he was not the equal of Van Arnam, although wonderfully success-
ful.

E. G. Asay, for a considerable period antedating the fire, did a large crim-
inal business, and was very successful. He had received a very fine education
in his youth, and was a polished speaker and fine trial lawyer. His tastes were
highly cultivated, and he at one time collected one of the very finest private
libraries in the west. He has been for a number of years retired from the prac-
tice, and is now living on a farm bordering upon Rock river, in Ogle county.
Augustus H. Van Buren, his father, Evert Van Buren, A. S. Trude, and Charles
M. Hardy have all attained celebrity in the management of criminal cases, but
there is one man of the very highest type who in some respects was a model
criminal lawyer, and that man was Leonard Swett. He was a man who pur-
sued a lofty ideal and was above trickery and chicanery. He was in appearance
almost the counterpart of Abraham Lincoln, and was his intimate friend and
practiced with him on the circuit long before his removal to Chicago. Mr.
Swett lived for many years at Bloomington, in this state, and acquired a great
reputation as a criminal lawyer.

In addition to the above there are now on the stage of action William S.
Forrest, Russell M. Wing, Daniel Donahue, William J. Hynes, Kickham Scan-
Ian, Daniel Munn, and William S. Elliott, who have all attained distinction in
the practice of the criminal law. Mr. Forrest has made criminal jurisprudence
a specialty, and has studied the subject scientifically, and the same may be said
of Mr. Wing and several others who are referred to.

There is no branch of law so much neglected and so illy understood as that
of the criminal law. In cities like Chicago the office of state's attorney has
risen to the importance of the home department in England and should be
filled by not only a learned and experienced lawyer, but one of the greatest in-
tegrity and well versed in public affairs.

The administration of the criminal law during the pioneer period was at-
tended with far more certainty than at the present time, and there was far less
nonsense and trifling indulged in than characterizes the trial of cases of this
character in our courts at the present time. If we are to judge of the manner
in which criminal cases are disposed of by an examination of the reports of this

THE BENCH AND JBAR OF ILLINOIS. 639

state, it would appear that all criminal cases are determined by an equation of
errors instead of on their merits, and that we have made no progress at all since
Judge Lockwood made his celebrated decision in the case of McKinney versus
People (2 Gil., 248) in 1845. The criminal law at the present time is the least
studied and the least understood of any branch of the law, and our courts seem
to have but one idea about it, and that is to be guided solely by the technical rules
of the seventeenth century, to rule everything against the state and to not only
give the defendant the benefit of every doubt, both reasonable and unreasonable,
but also every possibility of a doubt. In the pioneer period penitentiaries were
not regarded as summer resorts which were to be run on the European plan,
but a place of penance, and persons when convicted were sent there to do some-
thing besides sit around and calculate their chances of being set at liberty by those
who are "in the push" or be pardoned outright by a sympathetic governor.

PRACTICE IN THE UNITED STATES COURTS.

The holding of the important terms of the United States circuit court here
by Judge John McLean, of the United States supreme court, was always an
event of transcendent interest, and many cases were tried before him which
excited great attention. Among the first important cases which I recollect
was one involving the right of bridging the Mississippi river at Rock Island
by the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad Company, which first came up on an
application for an injunction, which he refused, and in doing so rendered a
memorable opinion in which he said that there was such a thing as ''land com-
merce as well as water commerce," and that one could not be protected to the
exclusion of the other. This opinion, when announced, was considered as the
harbinger of a new era, and from that time we can date the progress of our
railroad system, which now recognizes no obstacle, whether mountain, plain or
river. Another great case, which was participated in by John A. Wills and a
son of Judge McLean for the plaintiff and James F. Joy, of Detroit, for the
defendant, was the case which involved the title to certain lands near the mouth
of the Chicago river, owned either by the Michigan Central Railroad Company
or the Illinois Central Railroad Company and which were claimed by outside
parties, who were represented by John A. Wills and a son of Judge John Mc-
Lean. It was in this case that Joy created a sensation of large dimensions. He
took exceptions to the presence of young McLean in the case, and one morning,
when somewhat exasperated, arose, and, addressing the court, said that he
regarded it highly improper for his son to be employed in that case, and that it
looked as if he had been so employed for one purpose, and that was to either in-
fluence his honor to make rulings favorable to the plaintiffs or that the court
might be held in restraint in expressing its full and unbiased opinions upon the
various questions which might arise in the case, and he protested against it.
Mr. Joy said that he felt that he was obliged to make these observations, for,
knowing &s he did the high character of the court, he wanted nothing to occur
which would embarrass the court in a fearless discharge of his duties, and he

640 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

felt that the parties which he represented were not only entitled to this, but they
ought to feel that this was the case, and he thought if his son had a proper ap-
preciation of the proprieties of the case he would instantly retire from the case
and relieve the court from all embarrassment. This announcement, when made,
was like the shock of an earthquake, not only upon the court, but upon the son,
and the whole legal fraternity, and for the time being produced not only a sens-
ation, but a scene of confusion and consternation never before known in legal
circles or in our legal annals. The judge was for the moment astonished and
crushed, and the son squelched. John McLean was at that time an old man
and one of the most learned and respected jurists of the age. His reputation
for honesty and integrity was beyond all question, but it was evident to all that
the court was in a most embarrassing situation. The court soon .rallied and
explained that he had nothing to do with his son's employment and that it was
very embarrassing to him to find himself in such a situation, and although such
a matter was, to a certain extent, beyond his control, he would try to perform
his duties fairly and impartially to the best of his ability and with due regard
to the rights of all. Mr. McLean's son was an able lawyer and had been re-
tained in the case, it was said, by Wills, who was something of an adventurer,
but an able, daring man, and who had promised young McLean great wealth
if they won.

Young McLean had in the course of the trial, which had proceeded several
days when the episode we are narrating occurred, very injudiciously taken a
very active part in the proceedings, and had incurred the hostility of Joy when
Joy broke on him and the family. From that moment fell disaster overtook the
plaintiffs, and it is needless to say that the plaintiff was discomfited, beaten, and
overthrown completely and entirely. It was a case which was engineered by
Wills, and was one of that series of cases which have from time to time been
commenced and carried forward for no other purpose than to steal the lake front
or the riparian rights by some one who had the audacity to trump up a claim
founded on the claims of the Beaubiens or the claim of some squatter or that of
some one who had located on the same by the use of Valentine scrip.

If any one wants to know who James F. Joy* is he need only refer to any
history of Michigan, whether legal or otherwise, for he was one of the fore-
most lawyers of that state for over fifty years. His career was remarkable.
He was repeatedly mentioned for one of the justices of the supreme court of the
United States, filled all manner of local offices, and was the leader of the bar
in Michigan, if not the northwest. He nominated James G. Elaine for president
in the national Republican convention of 1880.

The district court of the United States for the state of Illinois was estab-
lished March 3, 1819, and Nathaniel Pope was appointed district judge. He
died in 1850, 'and was succeeded by Thomas Drummond, who continued to fill
that office until he was appointed circuit judge, in December, 1869. The dis-
trict court of the United States had and exercised circuit-court jurisdiction, and
the district judge held the circuit court for a long period, although Judge Mc-

* Died September 24, 1896.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 641

Lean of the United States supreme court was the judge of this circuit, which
was called the seventh, from 1837 down to the time of his death in 1861.

Judge Nathaniel Pope is identified with perhaps one of the most important
measures ever adopted as an act of successful statesmanship ; and although it
has been often told it is worth telling again, as it is to his efforts and through
his influence that Chicago is now the great city of Illinois instead of a part of
Wisconsin. Judge Pope was first secretary of Illinois territory in 1818, and as
such received the petition from the inhabitants to enter the Union as a state.
By the ordinance of 1787 it will be remembered that it was provided in the fifth
article that there should be formed in the said territory not less than three nor
more than five states, and the ordinance defines the boundaries of the three
states of Illinois, Ohio and Indiana. But there is a proviso which declares that
if congress at any time shall find it expedient "they may form one or two states
in that part of said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn
through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan."

It became evident to Judge Pope that, as Wisconsin was to be erected north
of that line, Illinois would be excluded from any port on Lake Michigan, and
the port of Chicago being north of the line, Chicago would be in Wisconsin,
and the Illinois and Michigan canal (which then had become a near certainty)
would be partly in and partly outside of the state of Illinois unless the line of the
latter state could be extended further north. He at once consulted with sen-
ators and representatives and induced them to agree to the ordinance which he
had drawn for the admission of this state into the Union with a new northern
boundary line, which he located at 42 30' north latitude, the present northern
line of our state. Could he, or could others, have looked into the future, even
twenty-five years, there might have been many objectors found, as there have
been since, but no prescience could have supposed that in seventy years the
part of Illinois included by that change of boundary would have given her the
second largest city of the Union, and that in the fifteen counties organized out
of the territory then taken from Wisconsin there would be a majority of the
population of this state, by the census of 1880, while three-fourths or four-
fifths of all the wealth of the state would be found north of the southern bend
of Lake Michigan.

Before the state was divided into two circuits we used to have in attendance
upon the various terms of the United States court, held by Judge Drummond,
many of the leading lawyers in the central and southern 'portion of the state,
such as Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Edwards, Archibald Williams, O. H.
Browning, H. M. Wead, and Charles Ballance, of Peoria. Mr. Ballance had for
a number of years pending in the United States courts a series of cases involving
the title of a large quantity of land and town lots at Peoria which required an
investigation into all the old French claims and conveyances, and they took up
a great deal of time, but he became such an expert in the trial of these cases
that scarcely anyone could cope with him without having taken a regular course
of study in these matters. He very frequently made use of the American state
papers, and sometimes filled the court with witnesses to prove the condition of
41

642 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

things at an early date at Peoria. His adversary was one Forsythe, who had,
when we saw him, become bronzed in the war which he had waged for years in
these matters. Ballance and Judge Drummond came frequently into collision
over law points, but in the final round-up Ballance most always came out ahead.

Nathaniel Pope was the first judge to hold a federal court in Chicago,
which was in 1837, over George W. Meeker's store, on Lake street, between
Clark and Dearborn. Judge Drummond also held court for a short time in the
same place, but very soon after Judge Drummond removed from Galena to
Chicago, and perhaps before, the United States courts were held in what was
known as the Saloon building, at the southeast corner of Clark and Lake streets.
In 1857 the United States courts were removed to the Larmon building, corner
of Clark and Washington. Immediately after the fire the courts, with the
custom house, were removed to Congress Hall, at the corner of Michigan avenue
and Congress street, then they were transferred to the Republic Life building,
on La Salle street, and finally to the government building, at the corner of Dear-
born and Monroe streets.

Thomas Drummond, who succeeded Pope, was one of the most industrious,
painstaking and laborious judges who ever sat on a bench. He died May 15,
1890, at his country home at \\heaton, a suburb of Chicago, at the age of eighty
years. For over thirty years he sat on the federal bench and administered
justice in a firm and impartial manner. He was born in Maine in 1809. His
father was a farmer of Scotch descent. He graduated from Bowdoin College in
1830, studied law in the office of William '1. Dwight, a son of President Dwight
of Yale College, in Philadelphia, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. in 1835
he removed to Galena and there entered upon the practice of his profession,
which he continued for about nineteen years. In 1850 he was appointed by
President Taylor judge of the district court of the United States for the district
of Illinois. In 1856 he removed to Chicago. In 1869, when the federal circuit
courts were created, he was appointed by General Grant to the office of circuit
judge, which office he filled to the time of his death.

Abraham Lincoln, prior to 1860, tried many cases here in the United States
district courts. I had made his acquaintance as early as .1856, and had, as a
young and ardent Republican, frequently occasion to consult with him in regard
to political matters while acting as secretary of one of our young Republican
clubs. I recollect that one time while Judge Drummond was holding court in
the old Saloon building, Norman B. Judd and myself were sitting chatting to-
gether on one of the front benches in the-court-room, and Lincoln was walking
backward and forward across the court-room, waiting for the call of a case
in which he was interested. Robert S. Blackwell was making a most elaborate
address to a jury, and was, it seemed to us, at times rather incoherent, as he
talked of many things entirely foreign to the subject,, and to illustrate some point
in his discourse proceeded to narrate at great length the habits of the storks in
Holland, which lived, he said, among the dykes and destroyed insects, which
would, if not disposed "of, eat through and destroy the same. Lincoln stopped
and listened for a few moments to what Blackwell was saying, and, coming

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 643

to 'where we were sitting, hit Judd on the knee with h'is hand and said: "That
beats me ! Blackwell can concentrate more words into the fewest ideas of any
man I ever knew. The storks of Holland ! Why, they would eat him up before
he began to get half through telling that story about them."

The last case that Mr. Lincoln ever tried in any of the courts in Cook
county that we remember anything about was what is known as the "Sand-bar"
case, which involved title to a large amount of "shore" property on Lake Michi-
gan, north of the Chicago river. It had been tried three several times previ-
ously, and came on for the fourth time before Judge Drummond and a jury in
the Larmon block, northeast corner of Clark and Washington streets, on March
19, 1860, two months prior to the great Chicago convention. Lincoln stopped
at the Tremont House, and he never was in Chicago but twice afterward ; once
on November 24, when, as president elect, he came to meet the vice-president
elect ; and again in May, 1865, when all that was mortal of him lay in state in the
court-house. The title of the case was William S. Johnson versus William
Jones and Sylvester Marsh. The counsel for the plaintiff were Buckner S.
Morris, Isaac X. Arnold and John A. Wills. The counsel for defendant were
Abraham Lincoln, Samuel W. Fuller, Van H. Higgins and John Van Arnam.
The trial closed April 4, by a verdict for defendants, and it is a most curious
thing that everyone who was concerned in that case or had anything whatever
to do with it, the judge on the bench, the clerk of the court, the parties, and
every lawyer engaged in it, are all dead and in their graves.

There have been very many elaborate attempts made to analyze and expound
Mr. Lincoln's character as a lawyer, but for myself, having both seen and heard
him try a number of cases in the United States courts, I think Judge Drum-
mond has succeeded in making plain his true status at the bar better than any-
body, for he says : "With a voice by no means pleasant, and, indeed, when
excited, in its shrill tones sometimes almost disagreeable; without any of the
personal graces of the orator ; without much in the outer man indicating
superiority of intellect ; without great quickness of perception, still his mind
was so vigorous, his comprehension so exact and clear, and his judgment so sure
that he easily mastered the intricacies of his profession and became one of the
ablest reasoners and most impressive speakers at our bar. With a probity of
character known by all ; with an intuitive insight into the human heart ; with a
clearness of statement which was itself an argument ; with uncommon power and
felicity of illustration, often, it is true, of a plain and homely kind, and with
that sincerity and earnestness of manner which carried conviction, he was per-
haps one of the most successful jury lawyers we have ever had in the state."

One great source of litigation at that time was tax title litigation over lands
situated in the military tract, and in this species of litigation Archibald Williams,
Robert S. Blackwell, O. H. Browning and Bushnell, of Quincy, were experts.
The well known treatise on tax titles by Robert S. Blackwell is quoted as author-
ity upon the subject to this day. The admiralty law was assiduously cultivated
commencing about the year 1852, and Robert Rae and A. W. Arrington were
the leading proctors and settled many interesting questions relating to inland

644 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

navigation, although Grant Goodrich and Joseph N. Barker did a large business
in that line. All of the lawyers of that time took admiralty cases or any other
cases which were brought to them, and scarcely one but what was at home in
any department of the law. From this time dates the growth and development
of the great subject of corporation law, but it is unnecessary to pursue this sub-
ject further.

We have deemed it proper, in giving a sketch of the early bench and bar,
to refer to these matters in order to show the great progress which has been
made since that time in every direction and in every department of the law, for
at that time interstate law, municipal law and railroad law were almost un-
known.

THE LAWYERS OF A LATER AGE.

For a number of years immediately succeeding the great panic of 1837 the
Chicago bar increased slowly, and we may safely say that it was not until about
1851 or 1852 that a simultaneous movement seemed to commence which re-
sulted in the location here of a large number of lawyers of the very highest men-
tal endowments and training in their profession. These men, by all the stand-
ards, must be classed with the early bench and bar, although not present at the
founding of the city.

The business directory which was published by J. W. Norris in January,
1846, contains the following list of attorneys, with their place oj business :

Abell, Sidney, 37 Clark street; Arnold (Isaac N.) & Ogden (Mahlon D.),
123 Lake street; Brown, Henry and Andrew J., 126 Lake street; Brown, John,
90^ Lake street; Butterfield, Justin and J., Jr., 70 Lake street; Clarke, Henry
W., southwest corner Clark and Lake streets ; Cowles (Alfred) & Brown (Wil-
liam H.), State Bank building, southwest corner La Salle and South Water
streets ; Curtis, James, court-house, southwest corner Randolph and Clark
streets; De Wolf, Calvin, 71 Lake street; Dickey, Hugh T., 102^ Lake street;
Freer, Lemuel Covell Paine, 53 Clark street, opposite City Hotel; Gardiner,
Charles, 71 Lake street; Gregg, David L., United States attorney, 65 Lake
street ; Hamilton (Richard Jones) & Moore (Thomas C.), 59 Clark street ; Hoyne,
Thomas, 51 Clark street, opposite postoffice; Huntington, Alonzo, 98 Lake
street; Leary, Albert Green, 53 Clark street; Lee, David, 103^ Lake street;
McDougall, James A., 118 Lake street; Mcllroy, Daniel, court-house basement;
Manierre (George) & Meeker (George W.), 100 Lake street; Morris (Buckner
S.) & Greenwood (George W.), 59 Lake street; Phelps, Pallas, Clinton between
Madison and Washington streets ; Scammon (Jonathan Y.) & Judd (Norman
B.), 23 Lake street; Skinner, Mark, 92 Lake street; Spring (Giles) & Goodrich
(Grant), 124 Lake street; Stuart (William) & Larrabee (Charles R.), 59 Clark
street; Thomas (Jesse Burgess) & Ballingall (Patrick), 92 Lake street; Tracey,
Elisha Winslow, 123 Lake street; Wright, Walter, 94 Lake street.

Soon after 1846 business revived and days of prosperity came. The west
began to attract great attention, and the fertility of the prairies of Illinois and
the comparative ease with which the soil could be subdued and cultivated be-
came noised abroad, and the farmers of New York and New England turned

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 645

their steps hitherward in great numbers. Soon the merchants followed, and the
lawyers of the country were not backward. They had all heeded the advice of
that great philosopher who said : "Go west, young man, and grow up with
the country." Chicago became in a very short time the great objective point,
and among the "sooners" were such men as Melville W. Fuller, S. K. Dow,
Samuel W. Fuller, A. W. Arrington, B. F. Ayer, Cyrus Bentley, William C.
Goudy, M. F. Tuley, Lambert Tree, Robert Hervey, Richard Merrick, Joseph
P. Clarkson, E. W. Tracey, John Van Arnam, Emery A. Storrs, Wirt Dexter,
James M. Walker, Charles Hitchcock, B. F. Gallup, John A. and George W.
Thompson, Thomas F. Withrow, John P. Wilson, E. W. Evans, H. T. Helm,
Alexander S. Prentiss, B. F. Strother, Sidney Smith, William W. Farewell,
James L. High,* William K. McAllister, Corydon Beckwith, H. G. Miller, Pen-
over L. Sherman, William H. King, Ira W. Scott, George Payson, Joseph E.
Gary, Henry M. Shepard, Van H. Higgins, John X. Jewett, John M. Douglass,
James P. Root, A. M. Pence, D. L. Shorey, John A. Jamieson, Homer N. Hib-
bard, Robert S. Blackwell, Henry Frink, Henry S. Monroe, and many others.

Richard Merrick came here from Maryland, and was for a time a partner
with Corydon Beckwith, but left here and took up his abode in the city of Wash-
ington, where he died a few years ago. He possessed great oratorical powers
and attained great distinction at the bar in the District of Columbia.

Corydon Beckwith was, without any question, one of the greatest lawyers
that ever practiced at the Chicago bar, and he had as worthy compeers such
men as William C. Goudy, Wirt Dexter, B. F. Ayer, Henry G. Miller, John A.
Jewett, Melville W. Fuller, Emery A. Storrs, Sidney Smith, William K. Mc-
Allister, A. W. Arrington, William H. King, Charles Hitchcock, John A.
Jamieson, Robert Hervey, Joseph E. Gary, Van H. Higgins, and many others
who would compare favorably with the members of any other bar in the United
States. We have not singled these out as being all those who have achieved
eminence, because there were many who devoted themselves more or less to
special branches of the law, such as real-estate, insurance, admiralty, and cor-
poration law, who became distinguished, and they would, if it were possible,
receive at our hands particular attention for their knowledge, skill and ability
in the profession. On other pages of this work will be found the individual
biographies, however, of very many who are not referred to here at all and who
are justly entitled to be classed with the early bench and bar, but it is not pos-
sible to go into details in regard to them.

H. F. Waite,f long at the head of the well known firm of Waite & Towne,
was in full tide of practice in 1851, and so were Paul Cornell and William T.
Barron. Barren met a sudden and tragic death in January, 1862, in a railroad
collision in Hyde Park by having his head severed from his body, dying in-
stantly. I made the acquaintance of John H. Kedzie on board the old steamer
Ocean on a voyage from Buffalo to Detroit in 1852, and my first meeting with

* James L. High died October 3, 1898.
t Horace F. Waite died April 30, 1898.

U. OF ILL UB.

646 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

George Manierre was on a steamer, during the same year, while going from
Chicago to Milwaukee, as we were setting out on a reconnoitering expedition
through the west. Arno Voss, Joshua Marsh, Henry E. Seeley, John W.
Waughop, O. R. W. Lull and George Scoville had, I believe, commenced prac-
tice here before the year 1850.

H. G. Miller came to the city in 1851, and very early became known as a
powerful advocate and strong trial lawyer. He graduated from Hamilton Col-
lege in 1849, an d studied law with Ward Hunt, who was for a number of years
an associate justice of the United States supreme court. He first opened an
office with Alexander S. Prentiss, a sort of the well known John Prenliss, at one
time a member of congress from Otsego county, New York, but soon afterward
went into partnership with Thomas Hoyne. Alexander S. Prentiss possessed
every qualification for a successful lawyer, but was cut off in his prime, by an at-
tack of cholera, in 1854.

Penoyer L. Sherman, who came here from central New York soon after
Miller & Prentiss, had a very fine training as a lawyer, having graduated from
Hamilton College in 1851, and having studied law under that well known lawyer
and able advocate, Daniel Gott, of Syracuse, New York, and after coming here
studied for some time in the office of Collins & Williams. Mr. Sherman was for
some time associated in business with Francis Kales. He has long made chan-
cery practice a specialty, and is among the very best posted men in that depart-
ment of the law of anyone at the bar. He has been for many years master in
chancery of the superior court of Chicago, and has discharged the duties of that
office with eminent ability. Arthur W. Windette, the late William T. Burgess,
John Woodbridge and Edward Roby have always been noted for their skill in
chancery and have all done a large business in that line.

Sidney Smith (now deceased) and William K. McAllister were not only
great lawyers, but men of force and brain, who came here from New York and
very soon made their presence felt. They very early became noted as trial
lawyers, and were also especially strong in arguing cases before the court.

I knew Melville W. Fuller well almost from the day when he arrived here
until he left us for that higher sphere of usefulness which he is now filling with
such honor and satisfaction. I have tried many cases against him, and I can
truly say that he was always fair and always prepared to maintain his side of the
case as becomes a lawyer, a gentleman and a scholar. He was both adroit and
resourceful. His arguments before a jury were bright and sparkling, and at
times very interesting and instructive. He was not an orator who could deal
out tropes and figures and imagery by the yard, but was very .direct, and often
didactic. He did not gleam and glitter like the scimiter of Saladin nor crash
and demolish like the battle-ax of Richard, but dealt with all questions like
Melville W. Fuller, of Augusta, Maine.

He served a term in the legislature, was a thoroughbred Democrat in poli-
tics, and a follower of Douglas. I served with him in the constitutional con-
vention at Springfield in 1862, and it was there that he delivered his great eulogy
upon Douglas at the same time that John Wentworth paid his tribute to that

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 647

departed statesman. These eulogies, though differing in style and in the
methods adopted, were masterpieces. Wentworth's was not as polished as that
of Fuller, but it was more interesting, because he narrated his personal recol-
lections of Douglas' early career, with which he was conversant, and indulged
in many reminiscences relating to men and to things which had occurred, which
were very interesting. It has always been a wonder to me that these two
speeches have never been published by those who have undertaken to write a
biography of Douglas, for Fuller's speech was the result of many weeks', if not
months', preparation, while Wentworth's was the result of personal knowledge
of Douglas' life and times which few then living possessed.

S. K. Dow, who was for many years the partner in business with Chief
Justice Fuller, but now stricken with almost total blindness, is not only a most
worthy citizen, but is a well trained lawyer and highly cultured gentleman. He
was born in Hollis, Maine, in 1831, entered the Dane Law School, at Harvard,
Massachusetts, in 1852, and graduated in 1854. He was soon after admitted to
the Suffolk bar, Boston, on motion of the late Rufus Choate. Chief Justice Shaw
presiding. He removed to Chicago very soon after and commenced practice
here in 1855 and entered into partnership with Melville W. Fuller, the firm
being Dow & Fuller, and they did a large business. In 1872 he was elected to
the state senate. At the expiration of his term of office he continued steadily
in the practice. The firm of Dow & Fuller was dissolved and other connections
were formed, but he has continued right on the even tenor of his way. He is a
great lover of horses and for a time took a great interest in the gentleman's sport
'of owning and driving fast trotters. He was for some time president of the
Chicago Driving Park and his connection with it was a guarantee that every-
thing would be conducted honestly, and it established through his influence a
fine reputation throughout the country. Mr. Dow has been engaged in many
celebrated cases and acquired a great reputation as a cross-examiner of wit-
nesses. He was stricken with blindness while on a visit to the city of Mexico
a few years ago and, while his sight has been partially restored, his eyes are yet
deprived of their full power and he will never be able to make use of them as
before. Mr. Dow is a most genial companion and is universally beloved and
respected by all who know him.

William C. Goudy was one of the great lawyers of this state and in many
respects had no superior. ' He was one of the best "all-around" lawyers that I
ever knew, for he seemed to be at home in every department, whether civil or
criminal, common law or chancery, real-estate or corporation law.

Samuel Snowden Hayes came to this city in 1850 and was, very soon after
his arrival, employed as city solicitor. He had been prominent in politics long
before his arrival, had been a member of the general assembly, a member
of the constitutional convention of 1848, and was prominent in advocating
reforms in the law and pushing forward public improvements. He was born in
Nashville, Tennessee, December 25, 1820. He married a daughter of Colonel
E. D. Taylor, who claimed that he was the author of the greenbacks. Mr. Hayes
was a Democrat of the Douglas school and was a very high-toned, patriotic gen-

648 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

tleman. He was city comptroller in 1862 and again in 1873. I served with
him in the constitutional convention of 1870 and he was regarded as a useful
member and safe counselor. He was a man of unimpeachable integrity and a
model type of those early lawyers that followed close upon that early group who
were beginning to grow tired when he appeared. He died but a few years since,
honored and universally respected.

Van H. Higgins, who died suddenly in 1893 at Darien, Wisconsin, although
not one of the pioneer lawyers of Chicago, was one of the early settlers in the
state and became identified with our city and a member of our bar in 1852. He
was born in 1821, came west when a very young man, taught a district school,
studied law and began practice in St. Louis in 1844, but removed to Galena in
1845, where he distinguished himself for his great industry and wonderful knowl-
edge of decided cases. He soon took a prominent part at our bar, was elected
a member of the general assembly of 1857-8, and in 1859 was elected a judge
of the superior court, which he resigned in 1865 and went into the practice with
Leonard Swett and Colonel David Quigg. In 1872 he left that firm and became
president of the Babcock Manufacturing Company. He then became the finan-
cial agent of the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company, then president of the
National Life Insurance Company of the United States of America, and at the
time of his death was senior member of the law firm of Higgins & Furber.
He had a genius for money-making, and died possessed of a large fortune.

Henry S. Monroe was born in Baltimore, Maryland, February 9, 1829. grad-
uated at Geneva College, studied law with Henry R. Mygat at Oxford, Chenango
county, New York, and was admitted to the bar in 1853, and came directly to Chi-
cago, where he has been pounding away ever since. He is an excellent trial
lawyer, strong and vigorous, and has been engaged in many celebrated cases.

Chancellor L. Jenks, who is now enjoying the fruits of a most successful
practice and of judicious investments in real estate made at an early day, came
to Chicago in 1850.

Joseph N. Barker was born in Augusta, Bracken county, Kentucky, in 1824.
He came to Chicago in 1845 and studied law in the office of B. S. Morris and
John J. Brown, and was admitted to the bar March 4, 1848. He took the census
of Chicago in 1850, entirely alone, when the city was found to contain 28,250
inhabitants. He established a very large admiralty practice and from 1854 to
1860 was the leading lawyer in that department. He was at one time associated
with George A. Meech, then with L. H. Hyatt, and then with Judge Tuley, after-
ward with H. F. Wait and Ira W. Buel. Both he and his partners were most
worthy men, and no better man than Ira W. Buel ever lived. I have known
him since he came among us in the '505, and he has always maintained a high
position at the bar and in the community.

John M. Douglass, a great lawyer and advocate, was born at Plattsburg,
Clinton county, New York, August 22, 1819. He was admitted to the bar at
Springfield in 1841 and opened an office at Galena, where he distinguished him-
self in mining cases. He joined the exodus from that city for Chicago in 1856,
became the general solicitor of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and after-
ward its president. The Hon. Robert H. McClelland says that he was the deep-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 649

est thinker and the profoundest lawyer of his time. "He was a powerful and
successful advocate and his earnestness when aroused was something terrible.
In criminal cases his defenses were exceedingly able and ingenious and he sel-
dom failed to acquit his clients." He died only a few years since.

Benjamin F. Ayer, who is now and has been for many years the general
solicitor of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, belongs to the old regime and
is one of the most accomplished lawyers that ever practiced at the Chicago bar.
(See elsewhere.)

Charles Hitchcock, who was president of the constitutional convention of
1870, which framed the present constitution, was, in some respects, one of the
ablest lawyers who ever practiced at our bar. He was born at Hanson, Plymouth
county, Massachusetts, April 4, 1827, graduated from Dartmouth College and
from the Dane Law School, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, taught for two years
Latin and Greek and gave lectures on scientific subjects in one of the academies
at Washington city; came here in 1854 and was for a number of years a mem-
ber of the firm of Gallup & Hitchcock. He possessed a wonderfully compre-
hensive mind, and weighed every question presented him with judicial fairness
and impartiality. His grasp of legal principles was great and he could enforce
his views in the most luminous and logical manner. He was always calm and
self-poised in his way, yet he possessed great force. He was a model presiding
officer and he displayed great knowledge of parliamentary law. He attained a
very high place at the Chicago bar and when he died great honors were be-
stowed upon his memory. He died at his home in Kenwood, a suburb of Chi-
cago, May 6, 1881.

Benjamin D. Magruder has attained a well earned position in this state as a
judge and jurist. He was born on a plantation in Jefferson county, Mississippi,
September 27, 1838. (See elsewhere.) His ideas are those of the nineteenth
century, rather than those of the seventeenth century, as may be discovered by
his dissenting opinion in the well known Sykes case, and especially in the
Coughlin case (144 111.), where the majority of the judges went back upon al-
most everything that they had ruled in the Spies case in regard to the force and
effect of the statute relating to the competency of jurors, who had formed and
expressed opinions based upon rumor and from reading the newspapers. Mr.
Magruder has dissented in several other criminal cases where technicalities were
exalted above the merits of the case, but his opinion in the Sykes case and in the
Coughlin case are masterpieces of logic and good sense.

Kirk Hawes is another gentleman who was not only well and favorably
known as a lawyer of distinction, but as an orator of great power. He was born
in Worcester county, Massachusetts, in 1838, and spent his early years as a sailor
in the East India trade. He went into the war first with the Fifty-fourth Massa-
chusetts and was afterward in the Forty-second. He graduated from Wil-
liams College in 1864, studied law in the office of Bacon & Aldrich at Worcester,
came west soon after, and went into partnership with H. T. Helm, was elected
one of the judges of the superior court in 1880 and re-elected in 1886, but was

650 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

defeated by the Democratic cyclone which swept over the country in 1892, and
is now engaged in private practice.

Henry T. Helm belongs on the list of the old regime. He is a native of
Tennessee, born in Carter county May 4, 1830; lived there till he was five years
of age, then removed with his parents to Ohio ; graduated from Miami Univer-
sity in 1853, studied law with Hon. John U. Pettit, and came to Chicago in 1854,
when he was admitted to the Illinois bar. He entered into partnership with
George K. Clarke, and soon established a large business. Mr. Clarke died some
years since. After that he became in turn a partner of Kirk Hawes, E. S. Tay-
lor. John L. Manning, A. M. Pence and Walter Rowland. He is a strong and
well grounded lawyer and has a large experience in many directions. He is a
good mining expert and an authority upon trotting horses, having written one
of the best books upon the Trotting Horse in America that has ever been
brought out. He has been an agriculturist, a raiser of blooded stock of the trot-
ting variety, and was candidate for congress on the Democratic ticket. Having
completed his ventures and experiments in all these departments of learning, he
has settled down to the law and is now attending strictly to that and the church,
which are ordinarily enough to engage most, if not all, the powers of the human
mind. Mr. Helm is not only a "thoroughbred" himself, but is a gentleman and
a scholar. He stands high at the bar, and that, too, deservedly so.

H. M. Shepard, who has been for many years on the superior-court bench,
and who is now a member of the appellate court of the first district of Illinois,
is an accomplished jurist and very able lawyer. He was born December 12, 1839,
at Athens, Bradford county, Pennsylvania ; was a partner of Melville W. Fuller
and Charles H. Ham from 1864 to 1868; studied law first with General Divens,
at Elmira, New York, and afterward with John K. Porter, of Albany. He is
regarded as a very fine chancery lawyer, and his decisions are characterized by
being broad and well considered. His associates on the bench are A. N. Water-
man and Joseph E. Gary, both well known to the profession and practitioners of
long standing, and whose biographies abound in the most interesting incidents.

Judge Gary was elected to the superior-court bench in 1863 and has con-
tinued without a break from that day to this. He succeeded Judge Grant Good-
rich. I was the president of the Republican convention at the time of his
nomination and was an eye witness of the contest which ensued and which
resulted in the defeat of Judge Goodrich and the success of Gary. It is much to
be regretted that both could not have had seats upon the bench, for both were
able men and in every way fitted to adorn the ermine. Judge Goodrich fell a
victim to a most unworthy prejudice which had been created against him by
releasing from custody a United States officer who had killed a private under pe-
culiar circumstances at the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad depot preparatory
to the departure of a company of United States Infantry to the far west, to which
company the private belonged. The nationality of the soldier and race prejudice
were invoked and the delegates to the convention, partaking of this feeling, sacri-
ficed the judge and selected Judge Gary as his successor. Judge Gary has not
only proved himself a great judge, but one of the best posted men in his pro-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 651

fession. He presided at the celebrated trial of the anarchists and in accordance
with the verdict of the jury condemned them to death. No judge ever worked
harder or has performed greater services on the bench than Judge Gary. The
weight of years has not borne him down, and all of his powers are. unabated.
He is well known throughout the United States, and on a recent visit to the city
of Mexico was entertained by President Diaz with distinguished honors.

. Henry E. Seelye is another old-timer. He is the brother of the late Julius
Seelye, so long the president of Amherst College. He was born at Bethel, in
the state of Connecticut, June 20, 1829. In 1850 he removed to Chicago and
commenced reading law in the office of Morris & Goodrich and was admitted to
the bar in 1852, and from that time to this has pursued the even tenor of his way,
without startling the world by. any remarkable discoveries or any wonderful
achievements except such as enter into the life of one who is devoted to his pro-
fession and who tries to make the world better and mankind happier. He was
for a long time the secretary of the Chicago Orphan Asylum and a trustee of
Lake Forest University, and during the war was connected with the sanitary
commission. He is a man of kind heart, of noble instincts and a most worthy
citizen. He has had to go through what few have ever been called upon to en-
dure, and that is to sacrifice a fortune to pay the debts of others whom he had
befriended, but he has borne up with fortitude, although his trials have been
mingled not only with misfortunes but ingratitude.

Robert Rae has made insurance and admiralty law a specialty and at one
time did a larger business than any other lawyer at the bar. In 1882 he went to
London and argued a case in the English court of commissions involving a
large amount of money, and was successful. He was employed by the American
Board of Underwriters and was the first American lawyer that ever appeared in
any case in that court. He has in his lifetime settled some very interesting com-
mercial questions and questions of admiralty, and has by his researches con-
tributed much to settle the admiralty practice in matters pertaining to our inland
seas. He has, by long and faithful services, earned his right to be classed with
the old regime.

William T. Burgess, who passed away only a few years ago, was among
our oldest practitioners. He was a native of Canada, but studied law in Buffalo
and came west and was admitted to the bar in this state in 1844. He lived for a
number of years at Belvidere, in Boone county, but came here in the '505, and
never wasted a day, hour or minute upon anything except the law. He was dili-
gence itself, and was one of the best posted all-around lawyers that ever lived
among us. He was skilled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and black-letter
lore, and was one of the very best practitioners on either the common-law or
equity side.

Another lawyer who was somewhat like him, although personally "at dag-
gers drawn," is Arthur W. Windett. He is not only a fine lawyer in every way,
but is a great chancery lawyer. His knowledge of equity jurisprudence is pro-
found and he has pursued that branch of the profession for many years. I
found him here when I came, and, although he has grown gray and somewhat

652 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

grizzled, he still keeps up the fight, although fortune has not favored him as his
merits deserve. In attempting to build up Chicago he fell into the hands of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company, and in the contest which ensued New England
thrift triumphed over the debtor and he not only sacrificed much wealth, but
much valuable real-estate holdings in the very heart of our city. Moral, in times
of need keep out of the hands of money-lenders or else provide for indefinite
extensions in advance, with a moderate rate of interest.

Cyrus Bentley is another lawyer of great merit and of the most exemplary
character who deserves recognition and the most kindly remembrance. He
came here in the '505 and established a fine practice, and was not only a gentleman
of the highest type, but was a jurist fit to adorn the bench or any other position.
He passed away many years ago.

Frederick Hampden Winston became very early, through his connections,
interested in railroad law and railroad business and prospered finely. He has
been prominent in Democratic circles and is one of the very best type of American
citizens. He is a high-minded and honorable man in all the walks of life. In
later years he has traveled much in Europe and was at one time United States
minister to Persia, but the place and position were not to his liking and he
resigned long before his term expired. With an abundance of this world's goods
at his command, he is now enjoying the fruits of his labors, and as President
Taylor once said, "At peace with all the world and the rest of mankind."

Some of the most prominent lawyers who died from 1858 to 1867 were:
Bolton F. Strother, 1862; Andrew Harvie, 1863; Lorenzo D. Wilkinson, 1863;
George W. Roberts, killed at the battle of Murfreesboro, January, 1863; John
A. Bross, July 30, 1864; Charles M. Willard, 1866; Edward P. Towne, 1866;
Henry L. Rucker, 1867; Solomon M. Wilson, 1867.

THE FIRE PERIOD.

The great Chicago fire of October 9, 1871, forms a most important epoch
in the history of our city and of the country, for its effects were far-reaching
and ramified. The lawyers, like the great mass of their fellow-citizens, suffered
immensely, but they never murmured, nor lost heart. Their courage never failed
them. The world was appalled at the disaster, but never did mankind exhibit
such noble qualities and such heartfelt sympathy for a stricken people as did the
entire civilized portion of it exhibit toward us in the hour of our distress. The
people of our country came to our rescue at once, and special trains loaded with
supplies were given the right of way and came speeding to our relief. The Eng-
lish-speaking people proved to us that blood was thicker than water, and the
noble Thomas Hughes of Rugby, the well known author of "Tom Brown at
Rugby" and "Tom Brown at Oxford," made an appeal to English authors for
books to supply our libraries, which received a ready response and which led to
the organization and establishment of our Chicago public library. The English
government sent us many valuable works, printed at its expense, and those con-
nected with our own profession contributed many law books to help build up

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 653

again the Law Institute. Governor Hoffman of New York sent us nearly a
complete set of all their reports, and Indiana sent us, I believe, nearly a complete
set of her reports, while many other states and many individuals remembered
us. To go into details would be impossible, for "the world will little note nor
long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what we did here."

"Here from the trackless slough its structures started,

And one by one in splendor rose to view:
The white ships went and came, the years departed,

And still she grandly grew.

"Till one wild night a night each man remembers
When round her homes the red fire leaped and curled

The sky was wild with flame and flying embers
That swept them from the world.

"Men said: 'Chicago's bright career is ended,'

As by her smoldering stores they chanced to go,
While the wide world its love and pity blended

To help us in our woe.

"Oh, where was ever human goodness greater?

Man's love for man was never more sublime;
On the eternal scroll of our Creator

'Tis written for all time.

"Chicago lives, and many a lofty steeple

Looks down to-day upon this western plain;
The tireless hands of her unconquered people

Have reared her walls again.

"Long may she live, and grow in wealth and beauty,

And may her children be, in coming years,
True to their trust, and faithful to their duty,

As her brave pioneers."

THE ORATORS OF THE BAR

Every bar has a number of natural-born leaders of men, great advocates,
skilled trial lawyers, successful verdict-getters and brilliant orators, and the
Chicago bar forms no exception to this rule. If anyone wanted to know in
olden times what form of action to adopt or what pleas to put in in any
common-law case he would be told without hesitancy to go for advice to
James H. Collins, to George W. Lay (the partner of Arnold), to Ezra B. Mc-
Cagg, to Grant Goodrich, to J. Y. Scammon, or John M. Wilson; or, if it
should be a complicated matter, coming within the chancery jurisdiction, it would
be Collins, or Goodrich, Mark Skinner, George Manierre, Hugh T. Dickey,
Erastus S. Williams, John Woodbridge, George Meeker, or N. B. Judd; but if a
case was to be tried and it required skill, shrewdness, adroitness, a knowledge of
the rules of evidence and eloquence, then it was Justin Butterfield, Thomas*
Hoyne, E. W. Tracey, E. G. Ryan, Isaac N. Arnold, E. C. Larned, Buckner S.
Morris, or Grant Goodrich, or J. Y. Scammon. There were others who were
great in their way, but these men were strong and tried every case with the
most wonderful skill and power. They were at the head of the bar as it existed

654 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

under the old regime and most worthily filled the positions universally awarded
them, and they could be relied upon in any emergency.

John M. Wilson and Norman B. Judd were always regarded as not only
first-class lawyers, but among the very best trial lawyers, although they did not
plume themselves on their powers of advocacy or rhetoric. Justin Butterfield,
E. G. Ryan, Thomas Hoyne, Isaac N. Arnold and E. C. Larned were not
only great lawyers, but were great orators, and could at times carry all be-
fore them. Isaac N. Arnold was, in my judgment, one of the finest trial and
jury lawyers we ever had, and for many years his success was phenomenal.
He was possessed of polished manners, was courteous to court and counsel
and never failed to get on the right side of the jury. Corydon Beckwith, al-
though not in one sense an orator, was a great trial lawyer and his presentation
of any case and argument made in regard to it was as effective as the most
powerful advocacy. Robert Hervey was, in his prime, I think, the equal of
Arnold in almost every respect, and he had this advantage over him, he was a
Scotchman, highly educated, with a great knowledge of English and Scotch
literature at his command, and when he could not bring down the house with
"Tarn O'Shanter" he was sure to do so with Walter Scott. He had at his com-
mand a great fund of quaint stories and ludicrous incidents which he could readily
refer to on an instant, and in this way was sometimes very effective.

Tradition has invested the name of Samuel Lisle Smith with a halo of glory.
It is claimed that he was possessed of the most extraordinary mental endowments
and the highest oratorical powers. At first he was likened to Curran or Grattan,
but that claim has been surrendered, and it is now asserted that he was the S. S.
Prentiss of the Chicago bar and was without a peer. I would not detract one
iota from his well earned fame now that he has gone, but it is evident that a good
deal of extravagance has been indulged in in regard to him and that if I were
now to pass upon his capabilities, his accomplishments and his achievements a
juster estimate would probably be arrived at, which would reduce somewhat the
claims of those who have declared that he never had his equal in the forum or
on the platform, and was positively without a peer. He arose at a time when
effusive speaking, or what is known as stump oratory, was at its height ; when
Tom Corwin, Tom Marshall, Ed. Baker and Henry Clay had been exalted to the
very highest places in the pantheon of fame, and a great wave of eloquence was
sweeping over the land. The competitors for public favor were numerous and
no one would be long listened to who could not thrill them with delight or hold
them spellbound in his grasp. The style for all popular assemblies was florid
and an unlimited command of words indispensable. Mr. Smith's style was florid,
and he knew how to touch the fancy of an audience as well as Paderewski does
the piano or as Ole Bull did the violin. Naturally of an imaginative and poetic
'turn of mind, his thoughts were clothed in the most beautiful imagery. He
was a word-painter before he was an orator. Everything that he read was treas-
ured up for a purpose and that purpose was to construct beautiful and striking
sentences. His stock of words was great and his command of language won-
derful. His. manner was charming and he was often enchanting, but he lacked

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 655

the power of expressing great thoughts or of making a great argument. He
dazzled and hypnotized his audiences and then held them spellbound. He was
in no sense either a Choate or a Webster, and he could not be ponderous if he
had tried never so hard. He dealt with complicated questions somewhat after
the manner that Michael Angelo painted the walls and ceilings of the Sistine
chapel, and when the painter's brush had passed over them, covering them with
"the shadowed livery of the burnished sun," they became like the floors of heaven,
"thick inlaid with patines of bright gold" with "angels quiring to the young-eyed
cherubim." He was gorgeous in perspective and sometimes rose to sublime
heights, caroling as he rose. Knowledge, to him, "her ample page rich with the
spoils of time, did ne'er unroll" without there was spread out before him the
changing pictures of the starry heavens and visions like those which John the
Revelator saw in his last hours at Patmos or sounds of heavenly music ravished
the ear like those

"Where, through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault.
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise."

He possessed, it is said, a marvelous power of memorizing, and, like S. S.
Prentiss, sometimes made use unconsciously of the words and sentences of others
without knowing where they came from, but this was not strange, for he had
been an extensive reader, and anything that took his fancy became imbedded in
his memory. His perceptions were quick and his flow of language great. In
stature Mr. Smith was about medium size, with a slightly florid complexion,
rather light hair, active in his movements, rapid in speech and graceful in his
gestures. His imagery was fine and he was capable of holding an audience spell-
bound by his pathos. None of his speeches have, to my knowledge, been pre-
served, but it is said that he made one at Springfield, before a political convention,
of surpassing eloquence, and the one that he made at the great "harbor and
river convention" has always been referred to as something wonderful, taking
precedence over that of Edward Bates, of Missouri. Some have gone so far as
to affirm that Henry Clay once said that Smith was the best orator he had ever
heard, but I think that is doubtful. Ordinary litigation of suits at law was not
to his taste and the trial of lawsuits was evidently out of his jurisdiction. I
never heard him say anything in court but once, and that was upon a motion to
quash an indictment when his wings were folded. It was altogether too dry a
subject to excite his fancy, for it was treated in the most commonplace and per-
functory manner and attracted no attention whatever. He delivered one lecture
in the old Warner's hall, I think (on Randolph street between Clark and Dear-
born, on the south side of the street), on the escape of Kinkel, the revolutionist,
from a German prison, which excited a good deal of admiration. But his days for
oratorical display were about over in 1853, and he did not figure much in public
after that date. He died suddenly, of the cholera, in 1854. He was naturally very
polite and polished and was generous to a fault. It is no wonder that tradition
should have invested him with almost supernatural powers, and that his memory
is cherished with such affection bv all who knew him.

656 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

John J. Brown was, in some respects, as noted as S. Lisle Smith and possessed
oratorical powers of the very highest order. He was a Virginian by birth and
originally settled at Danville, as early as 1839. He was the opponent of William
Fithian for state senator, but was defeated by a most despicable trick on Fithian's
part, but was elected to the same general assembly. He removed to Chicago
about 1846 and for a time taught a law school. He was regarded as a well
trained lawyer and capable of great things, but life with him was not cheerful,
but was always clothed in a dark and somber robe. He was naturally a retiring,
misanthropic man,and,as one who knew him well, said, "the lenses through which
he looked at life seemed to be ever clouded, the glimpses of sunshine rare." In
all of his forensic efforts, when mounting to the very highest flights of fancy, his
golden wings were mottled with dark and somber colors. His countenance was
leonine and his hair tawny. His eyes, when excited, burnt like coals of fire. His
tongue was keen like a razor. His sarcasm was withering and his irony remorse-
less. His gestures were sometimes vehement and his powers of denunciation tre-
mendous. Had his natural temperament been different life would have undoubt-
edly been more roseate and he might have made for himself a highly honored
name. We know not the particulars of his death.

Usher F. Linder was one of the most unique characters that have ever figured
in public affairs in this state. He was a natural-born orator, having a great fund
of wit and humor, and was one of the greatest trial lawyers of his time. He was
born March 20, 1809, at Elizabethtown, Hardin county, Kentucky, not far from
the birthplace of Lincoln. He came to Illinois in 1835, when the population did
not much exceed one hundred and fifty thousand, settled in a little village called
Greenup, in Coles county, named after Col. William C. Greenup, the secretary of
the constitutional convention of 1818, and knew personally most all of the leading
men of that day. He served several terms in the legislature with Abraham Lincoln,
Stephen A. Douglas, James Shields, Archy Williams, Ninian Edwards, John J.
Hardin and Sidney Breese, and was elected attorney general in 1836. Mr. Linder
was attorney general of the state at the time of the Lovejoy riots, and at the time
when Elijah P. Lovejoy was killed by a pro-slavery mob at Alton, on the night of
November 7, 1837, and the course that he pursued on that occasion subjected
him to the gravest criticism and censure. Lovejoy was a man of education and
a clergyman of the Presbyterian denomination. He had most decided convic-
tions upon the subject of human slavery and had established a paper at Alton
called the Alton Observer, in which he expressed his opinions freely, but tem-
perately, as he had a right to. Three presses had been destroyed in succession,
and a fourth having been procured, public meetings were called to determine
whether Mr. Lovejoy should be permitted to set up that press and re-establish
his paper and pursue his business like that of any other citizen. Linder sympa-
thized with the pro-slavery element, which was not only low and mean, but des-
perately wicked and revengeful. He was a fluent speaker, and in one of his
addresses to the people he, among other things, said that "it was a question
whether the interest and feelings of the citizens of Alton should be consulted or
whether we were to be dictated to by foreigners, who cared nothing but for the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 657

gratification of their own inclinations and the establishment of certain abstract
principles, which no one, as a general thing, ever thought of questioning," and
concluded by offering the following resolution :

Resolved, That the discussion of the doctrines of immediate abolitionism, as they have
been discussed in the columns of Alton Observer, would be destructive of the peace and
harmony of the citizens of Alton, and that, therefore, we cannot recommend the re-estab-
lishment of that paper or any other of a similar character and constructed with a like
spirit

This resolution was adopted by the pro-slavery citizens, who had obtained
control of the meeting, and either that night or the next night after, the ware-
house where the printing press was stored was broken into and while Mr. Love-
joy was protecting his property he was shot and killed. Not long after this a
grand jury, composed wholly of pro-slavery men, was organized and a judge,
who, from all accounts, was rightly named, known as Judge Lawless, harangued
the jury, and they proceeded to indict the owner of the warehouse and eleven
others who were with Lovejoy in the building, or who were associated with him,
and when they were arraigned Linder appeared to prosecute them, in connection
with the prosecuting officer of the local municipal court of Alton. George T. M.
Davis, Esq., and Alfred Cowles appeared for the defense and demanded a separate
trial for Winthrop S. Oilman, the owner of the warehouse, which, after consider-
able trouble, was granted, and, after a long and tedious trial, he was acquitted,
when the prosecuting officer, becoming convinced that nothing would result from
prosecuting the others, entered a nolle prosequi on their indictments and the
matter was then dropped ; but the infamy of the whole proceeding, from beginning
to end, was in strict accord with that which characterized the persecution and
assassination of Lovejoy, and was disgraceful in the extreme to all concerned
and to everybody who had anything whatever to do with it. This occurrence
proved to be a most disastrous thing for the prosperity of Alton, but was the
beginning of one of the greatest conflicts that the world ever saw.

Owen Lovejoy went to his brother's grave and, kneeling down by it, lifted up
his voice to Almighty God and cried for vengeance upon his murderers. A wave
of indignation swept over the land, and a great meeting was held in Faneuil Hall
to denounce the outrage, but the "dough-faces" and southern sympathizers
obtained control of the meeting, and the attorney general of the state not only
apologized for those who had destroyed Lovejoy's printing press, but claimed
that if men would become agitators they must take the consequences. Then it
was that the voice of Wendell Phillips was for the first time heard, and he
denounced the pusillanimous course of the attorney general in such language as
had never before been heard within the walls of that grand old cradle of liberty.
Then it was that John Quincy Adams declared that if this country was to be pre-
served in its integrity that the essential principles of the Declaration of Independ-
ence must be upheld, and from that day to the close of the late civil war the
agitation against slavery was kept up and never ceased until that accursed insti-
tution was annihilated and swept from the face of the earth. Mr. Linder was a
42

658 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

well trained lawyer. He rode the circuit and tried cases in many of the southern
counties of the state and was probably the most renowned advocate that ever
appeared in that region. His experiences on the circuit and during his life would,
if written out, fill volumes. He was a great stump orator and was in many
respects more like Thomas Corwin of Ohio than any man that I ever met. He
removed to Chicago in 1860 and died here on the 5th day of June, 1876. His
"Reminiscences of the Early Bench and Bar of Illinois," which relate prin-
cipally to those who flourished in the southern portion of the state, abound in the
most interesting incidents and are a valuable contribution to our early history.
The late Joseph Gillespie says in his introduction to "Linder's Reminiscences"
that he was "a man of transcendent abilities in the forum and at the hustings.
He had his failings and he was his own worst enemy, but he was a good citizen,
a kind friend and an affectionate husband and father. He filled a large place in
public estimation and rendered an important service to the country, which will
be better known and appreciate^ hereafter than it is now or has been during his
life."

Mr. Linder made one of the most thrilling and remarkable speeches at the
bar meeting of the Chicago bar (which was called to give expression to their
feelings at the time of the assassination of President Lincoln) that I ever listened
to. He knew Lincoln well and had been at various times engaged in public ser-
vice with him, and his references to those whom he had known and had passed
away, and of the great kindness that he had at various times received from Mr.
Lincoln, were very interesting. It abounded in pathos and was a masterpiece
of eloquence. It was the speech of the occasion and no other compared with it.

E. W. Tracey was another man who was possessed of great natural endow-
ments, but he neither husbanded his resources nor applied himself diligently to
business, but gave way to drink, and in this manner threw away both fame and
fortune, which only awaited his stretching forth his hand and grasping them.
He was highly educated, of commanding presence, and Websterian in his com-
mand of language and reasoning powers. He had a wonderful capacity as a
reasoner and expounder of the law. I recollect one incident in his career which
I think has never been related. In 1853 or 1854 Mr. Tracey had an office
42 or 44 Clark street, with the late Charles S. Cameron, while I was located in
the Davidson block, at the northwest corner of Lake and Clark streets. The
telegraph office was at that time in an office next to mine and the next one to
the corner office. Emory Cobb was the manager. Jules Lumbard and Bob
Rankin were operators. A contest had arisen among the stockholders as to the
right of control over the line and, if I mistake not, Judge Caton was interested
in the same.

Ezra Cornell, after whom Cornell University is named, and an old gentle-
man by the name of Stone undertook to obtain possession of the telegraph line
and the office one day while Mr. Cobb was at dinner. He was surprised on his
return to find Cornell and Stone in complete occupation and control of the same
and doing a flourishing business. Cobb consulted me, and as Tracey was a man
of large experience and had a level head, he was called in to advise what should

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 659

be done in the emergency. Cobb was a man of nerve and Lumbard a stalwart,
and it was resolved, after due deliberation, that the correct thing to do was to go
in and throw them out. Cobb assembled his forces in my office and it was ar-
ranged that Cobb should go in and engage in an argument with the "marauders,"
and at a given signal that Lumbard, Rankin and one or two others should rush in
and overpower them and put them out bodily at any and all hazards. Cobb went
in and it was not long before he raised a warwhoop. The reserves were ordered
up ; Tracey and myself advised moderation in the onset and not to resort to
physical violence, but to seize Cornell and Stone around the waist and carry
them out. This programme was followed to the letter and in five minutes the
cruel war was over, and Cornell and Stone, with hats off and hair disheveled, stood
panting outside of the office, while Cobb and his cohorts were in full and com-
plete possession. This action led to serious litigation, but it was settled and
compromised, and Mr. Cornell afterward became a millionaire and a philan-
thropist, and is so known to this day.

Mr. Tracey was in his time a very sharp practitioner and at one time was
pitted against Isaac N. Arnold in a trespass case which had been taken by change
of venue for some reason to Naperville. In the course of the trial it became neces-
sary to introduce a certified copy of a summons or writ of capias with the
sheriff's return upon the same, and Mr. Arnold argued that it was defective and
that something had been omitted, and that the only thing that could be done
was to introduce the original, and that was not there, so that it seemed that the
case would be thrown out of court. 'The court sustained Mr. Arnold's objection,
and when that was done business ceased for a moment, and the court very
blandly asked Mr. Tracey what he proposed to do next. Mr. Tracey said that he
proposed to proceed by "due course of mail," and, reaching his hand around to
the pocket in his swallow-tailed coat, remarked that he was not accustomed to go
to sea without his sailing papers, and that he would now introduce the original
which Mr. Arnold was so desirous of obtaining. This was, after some sparring
and bantering, admitted and the case proceeded and he obtained a verdict.
Tracey was a man not easily taken aback and could he have controlled his appe-
tite might have achieved great things, but he could not, and so died miserably.

Henry Frink, Robert S. Blackwell and Andrew Harvie, of a later period,
were men of a somewhat similar cast of mind and for a time commanded great
attention, but finally yielded to temptation and laid down their lives without
having reached the goal of their ambition. Wirt Dexter and Leonard Swett
were fine trial lawyers and men of great resources and would rank high any-
where. Edwin C. Larned was not only a very fine lawyer, but a most cultivated
and scholarly man, and at times rivaled Wendell Phillips in his presentation of
any popular question of a philanthropic or patriotic character. He did great
service in arousing public opinion against slavery prior to the breaking out of
the rebellion, and when the war came devoted all of his energies in upholding the
government.

Wirt Dexter died in the month of June, 1892, while yet in his prime, in the
midst of his life work, from heart disease. The shock to the community was

660 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

great, for no warning had been given and no one suspected that such a massive
and compact form could be shaken and fall without a struggle, but death came
unheralded and stole noiselessly into his apartments and beckoned him away.
It was my fortune to become acquainted with Mr. Dexter almost from the day
of his arrival in our city, and our friendship remained unabated until his life was
closed. He was the son of Judge Samuel Dexter, a pioneer jurist of Michigan,
and was born at a town in that state bearing his father's name. now somewhat
over sixty years ago. His grandfather was Samuel Dexter, of Boston, secretary
of the treasury during the administration of John Adams, and he was distin-
guished both as a lawyer and statesman.

Wirt Dexter studied law, and was admitted to the bar in his native state by
the time he had attained his majority. He had spent some time in the lumber
camps and was interested in the lumber business, but however engaging that
business might have been to him, he was fascinated with the law. His taste was
for the law and he sought a wider field and for a location more favorable to his
tastes than the small town where he was born, in order that he might exercise his
talent and make his influence felt. He came to Chicago in 1853 an d, joining the
firm of Walker, Van Arnam & Dexter, soon became prominent. I was very
early thrown into his company by being associated with him in the defense of
Devine, an iron foundryman, who had shot one of his employes in an alterca-
tion, and was struck with his great powers as a lawyer and an orator. The case
referred to was one that excited a great deal of attention in the community,
and was brought to my partner and myself, owing to the fact that the parties were
Scotch and my partner, Robert Hervey, was the leading Scotch lawyer in the
city of Chicago and the northwest. His speech at the trial was one of great
power and excellence, and carried all before it and gave him great eclat. He was
next engaged with Van Arnam in the celebrated Jumpertz case and distinguished
himself in that case, and then in the Hopps case, which is the leading case in-
volving the doctrine of insanity and the rule relating to the burden of proof.

As time wore on he was engaged in several civil cases of great importance,
notably Ward's will case at Detroit and the Newberry will case in this city. His
partners, J. M. Walker and Mr. Van Arnam, had been in the employ of the
Michigan Central Railroad before coming here, and he soon drifted into rail-
road and corporation law. Mr. Walker was chosen the general solicitor for the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, and he succeeded him upon
his death. But Mr. Dexter did not confine himself strictly to law business, but
took part in almost all of the great public movements, educational, charitable
and religious, that engaged the attention of our people. He was liberal in his
views and was one of Professor Swing's mainstays and backers, when he with-
drew from the Presbyterian church and set up an independent church, with ser-
vices at Central Music Hall.

He became president of the Relief and Aid Society at the time of the great
Chicago fire, in 1871, and performed invaluable services in ameliorating the con-
dition of the people, who suffered the untold miseries arising from that great
calamity.' He possessed not only a kind heart, but a great heart, and, as one of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS." 66 1

his biographers has said, "No great work for the upbuilding of Chicago or for the
establishment of her libraries, schools or her hospitals during the last thirty
years has progressed without his helping hand and persuasive tongue." He
read much and enriched his stores of knowledge by extensive foreign travel, but
what was the most wonderful thing about him was his steady growth as an orator
and public speaker. He was endowed by nature with a fine physique, a com-
manding and noble presence and a magnificent voice, which could penetrate
easily into the farthest recesses of our largest halls, and when he spoke he not only
arrested the attention, but impressed everyone by his power. He resembled
more nearly Edmund Burke in the wealth and exuberance of his fancy and the
majesty of his oratory than any man which history describes, and had he lived he
would unquestionably have achieved a national reputation. He sometimes spoke
as if inspired, and rose to sublime heights. The last time that I heard him was in
Battery D, soon after his return from abroad and soon after he had made a visit
to Ireland, when he spoke with great power on the wrongs inflicted by England
upon that unfortunate and unhappy country. It was in this speech that he quoted
with such telling effect, "John Anderson, my Joe John, what have you been
about?" and then turning suddenly spoke of the great power which the public
press exerted upon the opinions of the people in keeping them informed upon
the current events taking place in the world, and said that its position here was
entirely unlike what it was in Europe, for with us it had long been settled that :

"Here shall the press the people's right maintain,
Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain;
Here Patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw,
Pledged to religion, liberty and law."

He was the foe of corruption in every form, and all of his gifts and influence
and power were enlisted in behalf of public virtue and the public good. He was,
in short, a model citizen and in many respects one of the greatest orators that
ever arose in our midst. He differed essentially and entirely from the versatile
Storrs and was much more Websterian in his manner and in his utterances.
I doubt whether he ever had a superior as a debater in this state, and I fur-
ther doubt whether many men have arisen among us who possessed such natural
gifts of oratory and such magnificent intellectual powers. Every aspiration of
his nature was for a higher life and a nobler existence. His integrity was never
questioned and when he died he left a memory without a stain.

James A. Mulligan, who enlisted at the very opening of the war and did
such signal service in behalf of his country, and who fell mortally wounded at
the battle of Kenstown, near Worchester, on the 24th of July, 1864, also was an
orator of great power, and distinguished himself on many occasions.

Thomas B. Bryan and Luther Laflin Mills have always been regarded as
among the most polished and able public speakers in the country, and Captain
W. P. Black and his brother, General Black, until recently United States district
attorney ; William J. Hynes, William E. Mason, and Kirk Hawes, now and for
some years members of the Chicago bar, are not easily outclassed ; neither is

662 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

E. B. Mason or James S; Norton, both most excellent types of university men
and university oratory. Mr. Norton died June 25, 1896.

General Israel Newton Stiles was another lawyer who was a master of per-
suasive and inspiring eloquence, as well as of logic, humor and irony. He began
practice in 1854 at Lafayette, Indiana, but when the war broke out enlisted in the
Union service and fought on the peninsula, before Richmond, but was taken
prisoner and spent some six months in Libby prison. He came to Chicago in
1869 and entered into partnership with Judge Tuley and Mr. Lewis, which con-
tinued until Tuley was elected to the bench, in 1879, when- the firm became Stiles
& Lewis. He was one of the truest, most appreciative and public-spirited citizens
that ever took up abode among us, and the community owes much to his ex-
ample. He hated vice and dishonesty in every form and his denunciations of
faithlessness in public servants were unceasing. He was engaged in behalf of
the public in many very noted public trials and his eloquence was always em-
ployed in behalf of the public. His success was great, but, being suddenly
stricken with blindness, he passed the closing years of his life in total eclipse, yet
cheerful and patient to the last.

A. W. Arrington was another lawyer who was not only profoundly versed
in his profession, but possessed of oratorical powers of the very highest order.
He was also a poet of no mean ability, and some of his poems abound in descrip-
tions of great beauty and pathos. His career was not only unique, but pictur-
esque. He was born in Iredell county, North Carolina, September 10, 1810, but
his father moved from there to Arkansas, and when he was eighteen years of age
he entered upon the life of an itinerant Methodist preacher, which for a time
enabled him to employ his imaginative powers in gorgeous word-painting and
poetic imagery. Tiring of this, he gave it up and commenced the study of law,
and was admitted to the bar in Missouri in 1835. For the next twelve years he
practiced in Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. He then came north and spent some
two years in literary pursuits in New York and Boston, at which time he wrote
"Sketches of the South and Southwest," "The Mathematical Harmonies of the
Universe," and that celebrated "Apostrophe to Water" which John Gough was
accustomed to declaim with such power and effect in his temperance addresses.
He returned to Texas in 1849 ar >d became a circuit-court judge.

He came north in 1852 or 1853 and wrote a novel entitled "The Rangers and
Regulators of Tanaha," and finally took up his abode here in 1856 and entered
into partnership with Thomas Dent, the partnership being known as Arrington
& Dent. He soon achieved a great reputation as lawyer and orator, and some of
his efforts were of the most pronounced success. I call to mind several occasions
when he surpassed all expectations. He was engaged in many very noted cases
and, although sometimes eccentric, yet his briefs were models and his arguments
convincing. He died December 31, 1867, greatly lamented. The bar meeting
which was held in his honor was one of the most remarkable and fully attended of
any one ever held. It was presided over by Corydon Beckwith, and elaborate
eulogies were pronounced over him by Judge John M. Wilson, Judge Drum-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 663

mond, Edwin C. Larned, Thomas Hoyne, Thomas Dent, Melville W. Fuller and
others.

But of all those who have been distinguished for oratory at the Chicago
bar none perhaps can compare in brilliancy and versatility with Emery A. Storrs.
No one whom I ever knew was so ready on all occasions to respond to the popu-
lar demand as he, and no one ever surpassed him in his ability to adapt himself to
any occasion or any emergency, however sudden and unexpected it might
have occurred. Nature had endowed him with gifts of the very highest order
and he had a genius for eloquence as marked as Cicero himself. His memory
was tenacious and his powers of description were wonderful. He was as great
in the forum as he was 'on the stump. As a political speaker he was not only
effective, but fascinating. As a jury lawyer he stood without a rival. He was
one of the readiest men at repartee I ever knew, and his witticisms would fill a
volume. He was once employed in a case which involved the question of a law-
yer's fee, and, being asked if his own charges were not apt to be rather large, he
turned to the court and said: "I do not propose that the inadequacy of my charges
shall ever be a disgrace to my profession." Again, someone remarked in his pres-
ence that our climate was very changeable, when he said that he thought that
was a mistake, for, so far, he had never observed but three seasons, "July, August
and winter." He was engaged in some of the most exciting and celebrated cases
which were tried in our courts or in the west. The last time that I ever saw him I
met him in the street and remarked to him that it was very strange that we had not
seen him before for months. "Ah, me," said he, "there is nothing strange about
that, for don't you know that we are all moving on parallel lines ?"

In the elaborate memorial which was drawn up and adopted by the Chicago
bar at the time of his death, Judge Henry W. Blodgett presiding, it is stated that
in their judgment Mr. Storrs occupied the very front rank as an advocate at the
American bar.

Upon the foundation of a native talent for advocacy, amounting to genius itself, he
added the elements of a varied and extensive culture, a copious diction, a memory which
treasured all that he ever heard or read, a keen and incisive wit, a severe logic, a marvelous
fertility in anecdote and illustration, and a power of persuasion perhaps unsurpassed
among his contemporaries. In him were blended also many of the characteristics of the
great advocates.- English and American, whose names have become household words in
the profession. He had the courteous presence, the elegant diction and the wonderful
mastery of pure English which were displayed in Erskine in his best days. He possessed,
too. in a marked degree, the dauntless courage so often shown by Erskine in asserting
the rights of a client against a hostile court or in defending an unpopular cause. He had
that unswerving devotion to his client of which Brougham perhaps affords the finest ex-
ample at the English bar, and which was so well displayed by that great advocate in his
defense of Queen Caroline. He possessed the tireless capa.city in preparation, the nervous,
magnetic energy in execution and the fertility of resources in trying emergencies which
were displayed in Choate, and he had the rare powers of analysis, of generalization and of
persuasion which were combined in Carpenter.

But while familiar with the great advocates who had preceded him, he built upon
no model but his own; he needed no other, and while we saw in his best efforts at the
bar some or all of the characteristics of those great leaders, we saw also an indefinable

664 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

something which, for want of a better name, we still call genius! an indescribable blend-
ing of wit and wisdom, of fancy and of persuasion, of pathos and of invective which were all
his own, distinct, individual, inimitable, at once the admiration and the wonder of all who
heard him. It is related of Erskine that when taunted with his lack of attainments as a
lawyer, he replied: "No one can be a great advocate without being a good lawyer; the
thing is impossible." What was true of Erskine was true of Storrs. He was an able
lawyer, as well as a brilliant advocate, or, rather, he was a great advocate because he was
a thorough lawyer. He died in a few hours after he had made one of the finest efforts of
his life, in an argument before the supreme court. The awful summons came to him al-
most in the very presence of the court in which his eloquent voice had just been heard.
Summoned,, without a moment's warning, from the bar of human to that of Divine justice,
we invoke for all his faults that merciful charity which soon or late we must crave for our
own short-comings. May it be our grateful duty to cherish with just and lasting pride the
memory of his brilliant achievements in the profession which he so long adorned.

DISADVANTAGES AND DEVELOPMENT.

Hon. James C. Conkling, of Springfield, himself a veteran, in an address
before the Chicago Bar Association January 12, 1881, said:

Forty years ago the wants and necessities of the profession did not afford an oppor-
tunity for a minute investigation into the recor'ds of the past or a profound study of
legal principles. There were but few libraries of a respectable size, either public or
private, in this state. In Springfield there were not more than two or three that con-
tained over fifty volumes. In Peoria, Quincy. and Belleville the profession was not
better supplied. In Chicago not more than half a dozen libraries contained over one
hundred volumes. The Revised Statutes, the Illinois form book, and a few elementary
treatises constituted the usual outfit in the smaller towns. Fortunate was the attorney
who could boast of a few English reports or those of New York, Massachusetts, or Ken-
tucky, which were then considered of standard authority. There were but few cases in
the courts that required an extraordinary amount of learning to manage. There was
no necessity for the application of the rule, stare decisis, for there were few or no
decisions to stand upon. Good, sound common sense, the gift of speech, a mixture of
natural shrewdness with politics, and a regular attendance upon the courts in the circuit
were the principal requisites for success. Forty years ago business was not so great
in extent as to occupy the full time of the lawyer. Suits were not so numerous or so
important as to afford a support for himself and his family. He engaged in political life
as an employment, and solicited office to improve his slender income. A much larger
number of the prominent members of the legal profession then became members of the
state legislature or congress than at present. The people demanded their political serv-
ices, and they were happy and anxioHis to accommodate the people. A political contest
gave them notoriety among the masses and afforded them an opportunity to display their
abilities. A reputation for eloquence and skill in debate was a recommendation as lawyers
in the practice of their profession. Hence we find the names of Reynolds, Edwards,
Cook, Casey,. Breese, Browning, Hardin, Baker, Williams, Shields, Douglas, Trumbull,
Lincoln, McClernand, and numerous others almost as frequently in the political annals
of our state as upon the records of our courts. As lawyers they were eminent. As
statesmen many of them became illustrious. Forty years ago the suits that were . insti-
tuted were generally simple in their character. The terrible crash of 1837 had left the
country in .a state of bankruptcy. The vast system of internal improvements which had
been projected in this state had been left unfinished. Contractors were unable to per-
form their obligations. Merchants found it impossible to collect their claims and could
not satisfy their own creditors. The masses of the people were poor and deeply involved

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 665

in debt. The two-thirds law was invented for their protection, and the bankruptcy law
became a refuge for those who were hopelessly insolvent. A very large proportion of
suits was for the collection of debts and to set aside fraudulent conveyances. Actions
of slander and trespass, for assault and battery, engendered by the state of feeling inci-
dent to pecuniary embarrassments, were frequent. The records of our courts and the
earlier volumes of our reports were not burdened with many cases of a very serious or
complicated character. The history of the law, as included in these reports, affords a
striking illustration of the remarkable -growth of our state in population and wealth.
The rapid publication of the former has been commensurate with the enormous develop- 1
ment of the latter. The sums involved in the earlier actions were small and trifling
when compared with those of recent years, which have frequently been colossal in size,
amounting to millions of dollars, while the questions to be decided have been of the most
difficult and intricate character.

Almost an ^ntirely new system of law has been developed, which has required
the exercise of sound judgment, clear perception, profound study, and extensive
research by our legal tribunals. The rapid increase of municipal corporations
has required the establishment of discriminating rules by which to regulate their
complicated interests and determine their relative rights and duties. Questions
concerning the validity of bonds involving many millions of dollars had to be
decided in such a manner as to protect the people against the imprudence or the
villainy of their public agents upon the one hand, and maintain the rights of
innocent purchasers upon the other.

The vast increase of life and fire insurance institutions has occasioned investi-
gations of the most complicated kind, while our commercial transactions have
multiplied to an almost infinite extent, affecting every department of industry and
enterprise and continually presenting novel questions for settlement by the courts.
The enormous expansion of our railroad system has also demanded the utmost
prudence in determining how far the right of condemnation, founded upon the
doctrine of eminent domain, should be exercised, and how far the power of the
legislature extends in establishing a system of rates and freights, and when it
may become necessary and proper to curb the fearful demands and exactions of
these overgrown monopolies upon the rights and interests of the masses.

Within my time the law relating to both municipal, railroad, manufacturing,
and all corporations for profit has been developed, expanded, and expounded to
an extent unheard of in the history of the world. Our courts have gone to ex-
tremes in holding municipalities responsible for accidents, and great frauds are
being perpetrated in getting up cases against them. The law of admiralty has
been extended from salt to fresh water, and interstate commerce has been placed
upon an equal footing with that of commerce carried on upon the high seas and
the lakes. The law of negligence as applicable to railroad and municipal corpora-
tions is of comparatively recent origin, and the same may be said in regard to the
liability of telegraph companies and of horse, cable, and electrical railroad com-
panies. The law in relation to conspiracies, strikes, and boycotts and the pre-
ventive remedies which courts of equity have been called upon to exercise are of
very recent origin, although the principles applicable to them are old.

Fifty years ago there was no necessity for resorting to the courts or to the

666 THE BENCH AND BAR. OF ILLINOIS.

general government to protect property against strikes and boycotts such as the
public have become familiar with in these modern times, for none such took place.
It is now held that whenever a strike takes place which involves public transporta-
tion of either freight or passengers, then public interests become affected, and
the power of the United States can be invoked to prevent interference with the
transportation of the mails or with any interference with interstate commerce,
for the reason that railroads which reach -from state to state become national
highways, and the United States is bound to protect them.

Many of the strikes in modern times have many of the features of insurrec-
tions, and have never yet taken place without they have been accompanied by
the wanton destruction of property and with physical violence. Under these
circumstances the supreme court says : "We hold it to be an incontrovertible
principle that the government of the United States may, by means of physical
force, exercised through its official agents, execute on every foot of American
soil the powers and functions that belong to it. The government must exercise
its powers or it is no government." (Ex parte Seibold, 108 U. S., 371-95.)

So far as the mails and commerce are concerned, Chief Justice Waite said, in
the case of Pensacola Telegraph Company versus Western Telegraph Company
(92 U. S., 1-9) : "They (the powers of government over mails and commerce)
extend from the horse with its rider to the stage coach, from the sailing vessel
to the steamboat, from the coach and the steamboat to the railroad, and from the
railroad to the telegraph, as these new agencies are successively brought into use
to meet the demands of increasing population and wealth. They were intended
for the government of the business to which they relate at all times and under
all circumstances."

The law relating to patents has grown into mammoth proportions and ab-
sorbs a great deal of time in all of the United States courts throughout the coun-
try. The law of trusts and the creation of monopolies by the combination of
capital and artificial means is something new in this country, although instances
of monopolies created and sanctioned by the governments of Europe are not
rare. The rise and development of equity law and equity jurisprudence is one
of the marvels of the century, but it only shows that every age will devise such
methods as are necessary to transact the business of our courts, however slow or
however cumbersome.

The number of volumes which is showered upon the profession each year is
something appalling, and the number and kinds of cases which are decided by
our courts of last resort during each and every year correspond with the vastness
of our country and the variety and complication of its business. In the olden
time, when books were few, they were thoroughly studied and mastered. The
old common-law reports and treatises were, when within reach, at the fingers'
end of all lawyers, and such works as Chitty's Pleadings, Saunders on Pleading
and Evidence, Phillips on Evidence, Tidd's Practice, Viners', Rolls', Bacon's,
and Gilbert's Abridgment and Chief Baron Cormyn's Digest and Coke's In-
stitutes were the standards, and when anyone had these and the English com-
mon-law and chancery reports they were "rich beyond the dreams of avarice."

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 667

The practice of the law is now fast becoming, if not a trade or commercial
agency, a great business organized into bureaus, and those who are the most
successful and who attain the greatest renown in it are not those who alone
try cases in court, but they are the negotiators, the legal advisers, of the mana-
gers and directors and the promoters of great enterprises and who take care
of the legal aspects of the same and pass upon the legal questions which arise
in carrying them out. Such things as these require not only great learning and
ability, but an extensive knowledge of the laws of trade and commerce, both
in this country and in Europe, and of the powers of the government under both
the United States and the various state constitutions, and the decisions which
have been rendered in regard to them.

The schoolmaster is everywhere abroad, and almost every citizen has be-
come a constitutional lawyer, and there are more John Marshalls and Daniel
Websters found on the hustings, and at every political headquarters, and at pri-
mary meetings and ward caucuses, than were ever before known in the history
of the world. The relation of the lawyer to the community and the state ought
to be one of great responsibility, and he should be able not only to advise but to
direct in every good work which relates to the upholding and maintaining of our
institutions. We live at a somewhat -advanced age of the world's history, when
the requirements of the people are such as to not only demand careful consid-
eration but enlightened treatment, and there never was in the annals of the
world such a demand for wise and able counselors as at the present.

REMUNERATION AND ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER OF EARLY LAWYERS.

The remuneration which the lawyers received for their services in important
matters in the olden times would hardly pay for meal tickets from day to day
at the present time. Before the fire the records of Chicago as a village and Chi-
cago as a city were pretty complete, and from the records as a village it appears
that on the i6th day of August, 1834, Mr. Collins was applied to, to give his
opinion as to the right of the village to lease certain water lots, and that after
due deliberation he gave an opinion, for which he charged and received the
sum of five dollars; that on the 7th of October, 1835, John Dean Caton rendered
a bill against the corporation for counsel fees and other services during the
years 1833-4 for the amount of seventy-five dollars, which was paid. Times
were hard, and the services rendered were real and were not estimated at fancy
prices. Every case was examined and investigated in the most thorough manner,
and, when heard, was used for all that there was in it. Lawyers were at that time,
as a general rule, economical, and lived within their means.

Many of those who engaged in the practice of the law at an early day ac-
quired large fortunes, which were the result of their industry and foresight and
judicious investments in real estate. Among those who were thus fortunate
may be mentioned Justin Butterfield, John D. Caton, George Manierre, Mark
Skinner, Isaac N. Arnold, Thomas Hoyne, Grant Goodrich, Hugh T. Dickey,
L. C. Paine Freer, John H. Kedzie, E. B. McCagg, W. C. Goudy, and a num-

668 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

her of others. J. Y. Scammon was at one time possessed of a colossal fortune,
but met with many and severe reverses toward the close of his life and at the
time of the great fire, so that at the time of his death he had only a moderate
competency. John Dean Caton was, at the time of his death, a millionaire,
and the same, I think, may be said of Hugh T. Dickey. Among those who be-
long to a later age and who acquired great wealth may be mentioned Lambert
Tree, Wirt Dexter, Melville W. Fuller, J. M. Walker, Perkins Bass, Arthur
Ryerson, Van H. Higgins, Charles J. Hull and Chancellor L. Jenks.

Charles J. Hull was a unique character. He was born near Hartford, Con-
necticut, March 18, 1820, and died at Houston, Texas, February 12, 1889. He
first studied medicine, graduating from Rush Medical College in 1851. He then
went to Cambridge and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1853. During
the same year he was admitted to the United States supreme court, on motion
of Hon. Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore. His success was phenomenal, and by
investing his earnings in real estate in this and other cities, and building tene-
ment houses and selling them on time he amassed a colossal fortune. He, Chan-
cellor L. Jenks and Van H. Higgins each seem to have had a genius for money-
making. They all dealt largely in real estate, and the rise in value made them
rich beyond the dreams of avarice.

The city of Chicago has been quite as much indebted to the legal profession
for its progress and its advancement as to any other class of citizens which can
be named. It is quite true that whenever any great public measure has been
proposed, the people, after due deliberation and consideration, have worked to-
gether for the public good, and we have always, I think, been more united than
the people of any other great city in this country, and in carrying forward these
enterprises the legal profession has always led or been at the front. We regard,
it as something to the credit of our profession that this should be so, and we
think that it is no more than right and proper that this record should be made
before the present generation shall have passed away and been forgotten.

Many of our pioneer lawyers have achieved national fame, and such men
as John Dean Caton, Henry W. Blodgett, Jonathan Young Scammon, Justin
Butterfield, Norman B. Judd, Isaac N. Arnold, Thomas Hoyne, Hugh T. Dickey.
Mark Skinner, E. B. McCagg, Edwin C. Larned, Grant Goodrich, James H.
Collins, George Manierre, Giles Spring, and many others of that era, will take
rank with the most renowned who have figured in the annals of our profession.
John Wentworth, William B. Ogden, and his brother, Mahlon D., were lawyers,
and while Wentworth and William B. Ogden did not follow the profession to
any extent, they both attained great eminence. Mahlon D. Ogden was for a
number of years the probate judge of this county. Thomas Drummond and E.
B. Washburne spent their early years in the practice of the law at Galena and
removed here later in life, but they both became eminent. This is true also of
John M. Douglass, who removed from that city and became first the general
solicitor of the Illinois Central Railroad and then its president. Van Higgins,
John N. Jewett and Edwin A. Small were also immigrants from Galena and have

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 669

sustained to the fullest extent the reputation of the Galena bar, which at one
time was second to none in this state.

The early bar of Chicago was composed of a class of strong-minded, able
men, who utterly despised meanness and trickery. They were men of honor,
and when they had passed their word you could always depend upon it. I came
among the pioneers when they were yet in their prime, and joined them when
they were in full and complete possession of the field, but I always received fair
and courteous treatment at their hands ; and now, after the lapse of years, I wish
to enter up this verdict, that they were not only wise and honorable men, but
men who are entitled to be remembered as long as our history endures.

Thomas Hoyne said, in an address before the Chicago Bar Association on
February 10, 1881: "It has been my lot, after enjoying their friendship person-
ally, to stand at the graves of many who have passed away. I studied my profes-
sion among them, and never wanted for encouragement in my needs, nor in the
instruction which they taught did I miss the very highest motives of honorable
ambition in the struggle upon which, alone and unfriended, I was entering.
Whatever ambition they entertained and whatever worldly objects they aspired
to master, they seemed to have remembered what Judge Henry Brown was ac-
customed to write in his lectures : 'They were just and feared not, and all the
ends they aimed at were their country's, their God's, and truth's.' While the
weather-scarred tombs and headstones of many of them have been removed from
the old cemetery to plant Lincoln Park on the spot where their virtues were com-
memorated, their memories live in the hearts of all who knew them. I sincerely
trust they may ever be cherished by the profession which they honored and the
city which their lives adorned." This tribute to the memory of the pioneer
lawyers who composed the early bench and bar is not only well deserved, but
is just and true, and I indorse every word of it.

It is now several hundred years since Jack Cade arose and announced to the
world that as soon as he and his followers got into power they would kill all the
lawyers. Jack was doubtless a great reformer, but that threat proved his ruin,
for instead of killing all the lawyers he got killed himself, so that the race sur-
vives and flourishes in undiminished splendor. We have now about one lawyer
to every one hundred of the inhabitants of this state, and yet they are not happy.
If those who constitute the profession were properly educated and entertained
correct ideas of their relation to the community and the state, they could, if
united, not only advance the science of jurisprudence, but promote the adminis-
tration of justice in the most enlightened manner. But do they or will they?
The late Judge Jameison, in a discourse before the State Bar Association in
1879, said that he "could not recall any important change, either in the common
or the statute law, which had ever been brought about by the united efforts of the
bar, and that it alone has never combined for any useful purpose, moral, benevo-
lent, or scientific." This was a somewhat drastic criticism, but yet it is too true
that lawyers are apt to be the conservators of ancient barbarous usages rather
than advocates of those more enlightened methods which are demanded by an
enlightened age. Maine says :

670 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

It is indisputable 'that much the greatest part of mankind has never shown a par-
ticle of desire that its civil institutions should be improved since the moment when ex-
ternal completeness was first given to them by permanent record. One set of usages has
occasionally been violently overthrown and superseded by another; here and there a
primitive code pretending to a supernatural origin has been greatly extended and dis-
torted into the most surprising forms; but, except in a small section of the world, there
has been nothing like the gradual amelioration of a legal system. There has been
material civilization, but instead of the civilization expanding the law the law has limited
civilization.

The world is filled with charlatans, and very many things are proposed for
the amelioration of the wants of the people which are not only impracticable but
if adopted would prove deleterious to the best interests of those whom it is sought
to benefit. There never was a time when there was such a need of good, sound
lawyers as there is to-day, and if the profession is to maintain its high and exalted
position in the state it must keep pace with the requirements of the age and be
well grounded not only in the science of jurisprudence in its broadest and most
comprehensive sense, but in the science of government and in the science of
legislation.

It is often said that this is a country of law, and that in the complex affairs
of life involving the duties and obligations of citizenship and the intercourse of
man with man in a civilized state, differences and contentions must unavoidably
arise, and when they do, then lawyers are called upon for advice and counsel, and
are often intrusted with the most valuable and important interests, and become
repositories of the most sacred and confidential trusts. Under such circum-
stances a perpetual obligation rests upon them to not only perform their duties
with fidelity, but to see to it that the administration of the law itself shall be so
improved as to produce substantial results. Who is there who knows the wants
of the community any better than the members of our profession, and who knows
so well the defects in our laws and in their administration as we? Why should
not we join with our fellow citizens in altering, enlarging, and adopting the
processes of the law to the changing condition of things, and why should not this
state become the model state in its practical methods of administering justice
and in the attainment of the same?

The practice of the law ought not to be reduced to a simple trade or an
ordinary collecting agency, but those who engage in it should regard them-
selves ministers of state, and in all the storms and stress of social agitation teach
their fellow citizens reverence for law, and so conduct themselves as to make it
worthy of their reverence. Under our system of government we have dispensed
with almost every guard against danger or ruin except the intelligence and virtue
of the people themselves. Here every citizen is himself in some measure in-
trusted with the public safety, and acts an important part for its weal or woe. In
the days that have passed and gone the legal profession have always been the
leaders of men, and the great majority of those who have occupied the presi-
dential chair and who have done yeoman service in the senate and house of
representatives have been lawyers.

"We. belong to a learned and noble profession which has held in its ranks

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 671

some of the greatest men in all time, from Cicero to Bacon, from Bacon to
Mansfield, from Marshall to Story, to the great judges and lawyers of our day.
Let us show ourselves worthy of them. Let us act as becomes their brethren
and do all that we can to elevate the profession which is our pride and boast,
and make it a means of beneficence to all the people of the land."

We may ignore the past and disregard its teachings ; but "in that unceasing
march of things which calls forward the successive generations of men to per-
form their part on the stage of life we at length are summoned to appear. Our
fathers have passed the hour of visitation ; how worthily let the growth and
prosperity of our happy land and security of our firesides attest."

In looking over a legal directory of this city which was issued in 1857, out
of some three hundred and five names only about forty remain, and but few of
those are now in practice. Of those who came here in the '305 and who lived
beyond 1850 scarcely one survives. Those who have passed away have, we are
proud to say, left us the legacy of a good name and the splendid example of
honest men.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MADISON COUNTY BAR.

JOHN GORDON IRWIN, Edwardsville The names Irwin, Irvin, Irving
and Irvine, when first known to written records, were spelled "Erevine."
That name is first found in Ayrshire, Scotland, among the descendants of
the original Scots of history. A man of note among them was Crine Erewine,
who married a daughter of King Malcolm II, and who was the father of Duncan
I, also king of Scotland. He is the accredited progenitor of the Dumfriesshire
Irvines, who at a later period were known as the Irvines of Bonshaw. Rev. Dr.
Christopher Irvine, of Mountjoy, Omagh, Ireland, a man of letters, is authority
for the following account of the origin of the family in Ireland : "The Irvines,
Irvings or Irwins were one of the ancient original families or clans of Dumfries-
shire, Scotland. They were located in Annandale, Evisdale, Eskdale and Wan-
chopdale, on the coast of this shire. They developed into five separate divisions
or sub-clans by the year 1500, or the sixteenth century, and from the year 1600
became widely spread through England and Ireland. Between 1610 and 1668
the chief exodus to Ireland took place. Members of the different sub-clans set-
tled in Ulster, in the northern counties of that province. The Irvings of Bon-
shaw were the first or chief sub-clan, and the Laird of Bonshaw was recognized
as the chieftain of the whole Dumfriesshire clan or name. King Robert Bruce
made one of this family, Sir William Irvine, his secretary, and gave him the
forest of Drum, in Aberdeenshire, and thus the various branches of the name
were derived in the north of Scotland. The Irvines of Drum, the lineal descend-
ants of Sir William, still retain the possessions granted to him by Robert Bruce."
From the same authority we learn that Edward Irving of Bonshaw was a "tur-
bulent chieftain" whose son Christopher married a Johnston. Clan alliances
resulted from, this marriage strong enough to compel the king to make peace
with them and appoint a Johnston his head warden. The descendants of this
Chistopher still reside at Bonshaw. The writer just mentioned says : "Though
it may be hard to trace the several families of the Irvines who settled in Ireland,
yet they mostly all belonged to the Dumfriesshire clan, though some may have
come from Aberdeen and the north of Scotland." Edward Irving had a brother
Christopher who was known by the border name of "Black Christie." He was
a zealous adherent of Mary, Queen of Scots, and made himself offensive to the
Reformers by the part he took in the turbulence of his times, and they gave him
his nickname. His son John had a son Christopher who obtained a grant from
James I and settled in the county Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1613. This Chris-
topher, was a lawyer, bred at the Temple, in London, and his descendants still

672

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 673

occupy the estate granted to him. The arms of this branch of the family are
identical with those described below.

John Gordon Irwin, whose name heads this review, is of the fifth generation
of the descendants of James Irwin, of Acres, Ballybay, county Monaghan, Ire-
land. This ancestor settled at Acres more than two hundred years ago. The
circumstance which is said to have driven him to that locality implies that it
must have been about 1641, as the tradition is that it was for safety at the time
of an uprising against the Protestants of Ulster. How long he or his ancestors
had been in Ireland before his removal to Acres is uncertain, but before that he
resided in the vicinity of Rockcurry, in the county Cavan. The proximity of
Acres and Rockcurry to the locality of the grant made to Christopher Irwin
suggests, but does not certainly prove, him to have been the first of the family
to settle in Ulster. It is impossible to trace the connection between the different
branches of the family in this country, or between them and the parent
stocks in the old country ; but such facts as are certainly known
all tend to prove the descent of all of them from the Bonshaw clan. The first
migrations to this country were to Pennsylvania, about 1729, whence the first
comers spread into Virginia. The next generation spread through the south,
into Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky, and doubtless into other
states. The Mecklenburg colony in North Carolina was the radiating center
of other branches whose ancestors came from Ulster a few years later than the
coming of the first pioneers of the family to Pennsylvania and Virginia. One
Christopher Irwin, a son of William Irwin, of Virginia, settled in Wilkes county,
Georgia, at the close of the Revolutionary war. He was a captain in the Con-
tinental army, and his youngest son, David Irwin, attained distinction in Georgia
as a district judge, and as one of the compilers of the first code of that state,
which he afterward revised and which became known as the "Irwin Code."
Jared Irwin, twice governor of Georgia, and otherwise very conspicuously identi-
fied with the pioneer history of that state, civil and military, was the son of an
Ulster colonist who settled in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, about
thirty years before the beginning of the Revolutionary war. He had two
brothers, whose names were William and John. All three of them went with
their father to Burke county, Georgia, when Jared was seven years old. The
families of Jared and David acknowledged kinship, but their descendants of the
present generation do not know who the common ancestor was. Another kins-
man of Jared Irwin's father was Robert Irwin, one of the signers of the Mecklen-
burg declaration of independence, and afterward colonel of a regiment of Meck-
lenburg militia, who fought with great distinction under General Sumter at
Hanging Rock. The descendants of these branches of the family are numer-
ous in the south. Three of those we have named and others of the family found
opportunity to gain honorable distinction in support of the cause for which the
fathers of the republic pledged life, fortune and sacred honor. Others of later
generations have occupied positions of honor and trust in public and profes-
sional life, and many of them made enviable records for their patriotic support
of state and country in connection with the military history of the south, in-
43

674 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

elusive of all the Indian campaigns of that part of the country, the war for in-
dependence, the war of 1812, and the Confederate side in the civil war.

A digression at -this point to bring out the historic antecedents of the
Scotch-Irish will be pertinent to many of the sketches this work contains. The
legal profession is perhaps as largely made up of this element as of men of
different lineage. Those of this stock who came to this country in colonial times
took no pains to register their descent, or transmit an account of themselves
or their ancestors to their posterity. If they had any ancestral pride it was not so
much the pride of family lineage as in the achievements of Wallace at Stirling,
of Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn, of the Earl of Alar at Harlaw, of Knox
and the Reformers during and following the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and
of William of Orange at the Boyne. The memory of these great events, which
successively contributed greatly to the glory of Scotland, in the overthrow of
medisevalism and the establishment of civil and religious liberty, they cherished
as the proudest distinction of all classes of their native land. They cared far less
for family antecedents than for the perpetuation of the principles for which their
countrymen fought on battle-field and rostrum until their supremacy was con-
ceded. Family and tribal and clan supremacy were mile-posts which they had
left behind them on the way toward republicanism, the goal of civilization.
These mile-posts were but reminders of the putrescent remains of feudalism,
which they remembered with no feelings of pride. Experience in the school of
adversity had developed in them hatred of caste and class, and of everything
which savored of aristocracy, and had molded them into a homogeneous body
of compatriots of strongly republican principles and tendencies long before
any of them emigrated to this country. As an illustration of the sort of pro-
vincialism generally cultivated by them, it is current tradition in Virginia that
the father of President Tyler boasted that he cared nothing for any of his an-
cestors except Wat Tyler, the blacksmith, who had asserted the rights of op-
pressed humanity, and that the device on his shield should be a sledge hammer
raised in the act of striking. Another Virginian of literary distinction said he
could not help looking with contempt upon the miserable figment which sought
to trace the distinguishing points of Virginia character to the butterflies of the
English aristocracy. Such expressions as these, coming from such men, no
doubt exerted a wholesome influence in favor of republicanism at a time when
it was by no means certain that republican principles could gain ascendancy
in this country. But it is not to be inferred from them that all of the English
aristocracy who became pioneer settlers in Virginia were of the butterfly order
of creatures, or were so considered by their fellow citizens of other classes.
Neither socially or politically was there ever a sharply drawn line between the
upper and middle classes, or between the latter and their countrymen of lower
station, in either England or Scotland. Marriages between the children of fam-
ilies with titles and those of families without titles were not infrequent. As a
class peers enjoyed no exemptions from public burdens and no civil immunities.
All the peerages were not hereditary, and many of those that were, lapsed by
attainders and forfeitures, and by extinction of the line of succession. Only

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 675

the eldest son of a lord could succeed him in a peerage when it was hereditary.
The younger sons of noble families were on a political level with commoners,
and in the honorable pursuits had no advantage over them. If they wanted
seats in the house of commons, they had to compete with commoners to get
them. In the towns and cities tradesmen and craftsmen were organized into
guilds, in which commoners, gentlemen and lords mingled on terms of indus-
trial equality. Members, regardless of rank, had to serve an apprenticeship
to obtain the advantages to be derived from them, and commoners were often
the superior of lords and gentlemen while they were learning their trade. A
great many upper-class men entered guilds as apprentices during the period's of
the migrations to this country, to fit themselves for usefulness and success in
the new world. The consequence of the mingling of gentlemen and yeomen
in rural pursuits, and of the upper and middle classes in trades and crafts and
in professional vocations, was that there never existed in England or Scotland
a public sentiment like that which separated the aristocratic and industrial classes
in the south during the slave regime in this country. There was no pernicious
discrimination between gentility and industry. Such a sentiment as that was
condemned. It was not in accord with the predominant spirit of Anglo-Saxon
civilization, and is a sort of provincialism for which slavery must be held ac-
countable. It is not yet extinct either north or south of the old color line.
But for the intermingling of the blood of the middle and lower classes with that
of the aristocracy the latter would long ago have shared in. the inanition which
has overtaken all the royal families of Europe. Their best blood is not that
derived from baronial ancestors, but has come from the bone and sinew of the
land.

All lawyers and all students of history know what the fruits and conse-
quences of feudalism were. It developed abuses of power on the part of the
crown and great barons and tenants in capite, which resulted in making multi-
tudes of men of noble and gentle blood, and many a knight, who was but a
commoner in rank, too poor to hold the estates or titles of their ancestors.
Revolt against these abuses had a leveling influence upon the masses: The
religious reformation of the sixteenth century, and progressive changes in in-
dustrial conditions co-operated to the same end. Finally industrial
achievement took precedence over feudal honors and advantages, and the
principles of civil and political equality gained ascendancy. The Scotch-Irish
element of our population is the product of the agitation and conflict, and race
and class fusion in Scotland and Ireland out of which these principles came.
Industrial ambition and enterprise and religious zeal led their forefathers to
Ireland, whence they were driven to this country by industrial as well as religi-
ous tyranny and oppression and the biting poverty resulting from these causes.
They transformed Ulster from fens and bogs into fruitful fields and built up
wealth-producing industries in manufacturing lines, only to be deprived of the
benefits of their thrift and toil and enterprise by rapacious landlords, and the
greedy and unscrupulous commercial policy of England. These were the ex-
periences which taught them to hate aristocracies and made them ardent re-

676 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

publicans at heart before coming to this country. They were poor, but had
none of the spif it of serfs or underlings in them. Their contempt for aristocracy
of the butterfly variety inspired the pen of Burns when he wrote "For a' that
and a' that." The man who hung his head because of "honest poverty" was
but a "coward slave" in their estimation. Rank worthily gained was but the
"guinea's stamp," "The man's the gowd for a' that."

Ye see yon birkie ca'd a lord,

Wha struts and stares, and a' that:

Though hundreds worship at his word

He's but a Coof for a' that;

For a' that and a' that;

His riband, star and a' that;

The man of independent mind,

He looks and laughs at a' that.

Then let us pray that come it may

As come it will for a' that

That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth,

May bear the gree for a' that;

For a' that and a' that;

It's coming yet for a' that,

When man to man the wide warld o'er,

Shall brothers be for a' that.

The spirit which inspired these lines was abroad in all lands where Scotchmen
dwelt before it broke forth from the pen of Burns. Only recently have writers
of history begun to trace its influence in the early history of our country.

John Fiske, in his latest historical work, speaks of the Ulster colonists as
"picked men and women of the most excellent sort." As an evidence of their
exceptional intelligence he mentions that a document, signed in 1718 by a mis-
cellaneous group of three hundred and nineteen men, contained the genuine
autographs of three hundred and six of them, and that only thirteen made their
mark. "Nothing like that," writes Fiske, "could have happened at that time
in any other part of Great Britain, hardly even in New England." But as early
as 1650 the Scotch Reformers .had adopted measures for the establishment of a
school, in every parish, and requiring the schoolmaster of every burg and popu-
lous village to be qualified to teach Latin. They further proposed that in every
considerable town there should be a college. After a college course of six or
eight years, students were considered fitted to enter the Scotch universities.
These plans were not at once carried out, but in 1653 every village had its school,
and in most of the country all the children of age could read. These are his-
toric facts which account for the document of 1718, which to a man of wide
historical knowledge denote a remarkable diffusion of the benefits of education
for that early period.

This brief outline of the antecedents of the Scotch-Irish accounts for their
influence in early times in this country. The author we have referred to says
it "affected all the colonies south of Pennsylvania most profoundly, and did
more than anything else to determine the character of all the states afterward
formed west of the Alleghanies and south of the latitude of middle Illinois."
He speaks of the exodus from Ulster to America as "an event of scarcely less

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 677

importance than the exodus of the English Puritans to New England, and of
the Cavaliers to Virginia." Their advent in Virginia was the beginning of an
agitation which continued through two generations and finally resulted in the
separation of church and state, complete religious toleration, the abolition of
primogeniture and entails, and other important reforms, all in the direction of
the self-evident truths enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. Fiske
says that "without the aid of the Valley population" these reforms would not
'have been accomplished; that if Jefferson was the father of Democracy, the
Shenandoah valley and adjacent regions was its cradle ; and that the beginnings
of Jeffersonian Democracy can nowhere else be so well studied as in the records
of the Presbyterian population of the eighteenth century, in the region of the
Appalachian mountains. He attributes the facts that Kentucky did not secede
in 1861 and that A'irginia was split in two by secession agitation, and that a
large portion of Tennessee was loyal to the flag during the civil war, to the in-
fluence and power of this element of the population of those states. In the
border states it was a bulwark of strength to the Union, but in the cotton states
was untrue to the teachings of the fathers, and of Jackson, the greatest expon-
ent of Democratic doctrines after Jefferson's time. But while the region pointed
out above was the chief seat of this influence, wherever it was felt it left inefface-
able impressions which others beside Fiske mention.

In Butler's Book, the Londonderry settlement in New Hampshire is said
to have been a "remarkable accession to its population, and the one which has
had the best effect on the character of the people ;" and that "the many great
men who have stood out before the country as representative of New Hamp-
shire, were descendants, lineally or collaterally, from these progenitors." To
these testimonials may be added a list of distinguished names connected with our
history. Among them are Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, James Buchanan,
Andrew Johnson and U. S. Grant, presidents of the United States ; and the
Breckinridges, Alexanders, Prestons, Stuarts, McDowells, Calhouns, Pickens
and others of the south ; and Anthony Wayne, General Sumter, John Stark,
George Rogers Clark, Thomas Benton, Sam Houston, Daniel Boone and
hosts of others no less creditable to the ancestry from which they sprang.

Returning to the history of the Irwin family, Andrew Irwin, a grandson
of James, returned to Scotland. His descendants resided in the vicinity of Kil-
birnie and Irvine in the west of Scotland as late as 1871. A letter written by
Andrew's son David, July 21, 1829, to Francis Irwin, of Ballybay, Ireland,
was accompanied by a sketch of the armorial device of the first Scotch ancestor
of the Ulster pioneer known to the family. The writer of the letter signed his
name "Irvine," but addressed it to "Francis Irwin :" they were cousins. Speak-
ing of the sketch, the writer said: "It was the badge of my father; and as you
(Francis) are an Irvine by father, I believe you will think more of the Irvines
'on that account." Francis was the grandson of the James of Acres, who had
a son named Samuel, who also had a son Samuel, who was the father of John
and the grandfather of John G. Irwin. These fragments of evidence, corrob-
orated by family tradition, connect the Irwin family, remotely, with the Irvine

678 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

to whom the Bruce granted the forest of Drum in Aberdeenshire. Sir George
Mackenzie, in his Science of Heraldry, says : "The Bruce had for his badge
and device three such leaves (holly) which he gave for arms with the forest of
Drum to one Irvine, who sprang from a very ancient and principal family, and
from whom spring the Irvines in the west of Scotland ; who carried fesse, gules,
between three hollin leaves, vert. Crest : a gauntlet issuing out of a cloud,
holding a thistle aloft. Motto : Dum memor, ipse mei." The antiquity of
the family in Scotland is further attested by the river and town and castle ruins
in Ayrshire named Irvine.

The genealogical data contained in this sketch is taken more largely from
letters written by Thomas Irwin, of Annanice, Ballybay, Ireland, than from any
other source. He still resides upon a "townland" contiguous to the one which
James Irwin occupied, which Thomas fell heir to and owned until a few years
ago. He is the only lineal descendant of the Samuel Irwin branch of the fam-
ily, or perhaps we should say male descendant, now remaining in Ireland. His
brothers and sisters, and the descendants of the four brothers of the first Samuel,
are scattered all over the United States and Canada. The researches of south-
ern members of the family have resulted in the gathering up of quite a volume
of evidence confirmatory of the genealogy above outlined.

The Irvine to whom the forest of Drum was granted was a valiant sup-
porter of the Bruce in his struggle for the crown and for the independence of
Scotland. A century after Bannockburn, lacking three years, Sir Alexander
Irvine of Drum was the most conspicuous of the slain knights whose blood was
shed on the "sair field of Harlaw,"- a battle which historians say "made a deep
impression on the national mind." It lives yet in the ballads of Scotland, and in
The Antiquary. It was one of the fiercest of the battles between the Highlanders
and lowlanders, the former led by Donald, Lord of the Isles, the latter by Sir
Alexander Stuart, Earl of Mar. Sir Alexander Irvine followed the Stuart ban-
ner. Harlaw was the decisive battle for national union under Saxon supremacy,
though the immediate cause of the invasion of the lowlands at that time was a
dispute as to the right of succession to the earldom of Ross.

On both sides of the family line Judge John G. Irwin is Scotch-Irish. His
paternal grandmother was a Gordon, and all his maternal ancestors were of the
same stock. The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Powers, and her
mother was Hester Thompson. All his grandparents came from Ireland to
this country excepting his father's father, who died in Ireland when a young
man.

John Irwin, father of Judge John G. Irwin, was a weaver. When eighteen
years of age he came to this country, where he followed his trade, first in New
York city, then in Philadelphia. In 1836 he came to Edwardsville, Illinois,
where for several years he was a partner of Erastus Wheeler in the manufacture
of fanning-mills, then a new and useful invention. In July, 1849, while away
from home on a business trip he died of cholera, then epidemic in this part of
the country. He was a Whig and took an active interest in politics, while in
religious belief he was a Presbyterian. He married Elizabeth Thompson Pow-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 679

ers, of Scotch-Irish parentage and a native of Baltimore, Maryland. She sur-
vived him, and afterward married Daniel A. Lanterman, of Eclwardsville, whom
she also survived. She died in 1874, leaving four children, the others besides
our subject being Samuel P., a resident of Los Angeles, California ; Mary D.,
wife of H. C. Lanterman, of Edwardsville ; and Joseph F., who died in October,
1874, leaving two children, Frank and Clara, of Lincoln, Nebraska. The mother,
Mrs. Elizabeth Irwin, was a woman of great moral strength of character, which
she never failed, to exert upon her family and friends when she thought its use
called for. She was reared in New York and Philadelphia, where she acquired
a good education in public and parochial schools. She always took a keen
interest in all matters of general public concern, and in the controversies which
divided the church of her choice into two denominational bodies in her time.
She had the privilege of attending all the sittings of the general assembly whose
angry debates resulted in the formation of the old and new school branches of the
Presbyterian church. She adhered to the old-school branch, but was not averse
to the most cordial fellowship with the adherents of the new-school branch, or
with members of other evangelical churches. The agitation of doctrinal differ-
ences and of slavery in church assemblies in her day were of great educational
value to those who took the interest in them which she did. She often remarked
that the debate of the Philadelphia assembly was enough to persuade any one
"that ministers were but men ;" but she always held the clergy in high esteem
and found particular pleasure in showing them hospitality that she might enjoy
conversation with them on topics associated with church progress and history,
and listen to and relate reminiscences of its prominent preachers and teachers.
Judge Irwin was born in Edwardsville, Illinois, January 21, 1842, and his
early boyhood antedates the introduction of free schools in Madison county.
He spent several years in attendance upon private and parochial schools, and in
them obtained a thorough rudimentary education. He also attended the old
Edwardsville Academy, similar to the graded public schools of to-day, and
formulated plans for attending college ; but the war came on and like many
other young men of that time he concluded to take a three-years course of study
in a practical military school. On the igth of August, 1861, he enlisted in Com-
pany I, Ninth Illinois Infantry, and remained in the service until August 20,
1864, when he was mustered out, at Springfield, Illinois. His company and
regiment entered the service at Cairo, thence went to Paclucah, Kentucky, and
with Grant's forces participated in the campaign which resulted in the capture of
Forts Henry and Donelson and Pittsburg Landing, the Ninth Illinois taking an
active part in the fore-front of these battles. Its losses in killed and wounded
were among the greatest known to the annals of war. It also participated in the
second battle of Corinth, where it was again in the front of the lines during
the two days occupied by the attack on that place. That was one of the most
important stategic points of the seat of the war,, and the defense was both tri-
umphant and sanguinary. This battle resulted in a disastrous repulse of the
enemy, who greatly outnumbered the Union forces. The Ninth Illinois was
afterward mounted and served until the close of the war as mounted infantry.

68o THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

During the spring and summer of 1863 the members of this regiment were oc-
cupied in scouting and raiding service in western Tennessee, northern Missis-
sippi and in Alabama, with headquarters at Pocahontas, Tennessee. In the
fall of that year they were transferred to Athens, Alabama, where they remained
through the following winter, and from Athens crossed the Tennessee river in
flatboats and captured Decatur, Alabama, a fortified post of the enemy, remain-
ing there until the opening of the Atlanta campaign. From that time until the
close of the war they were with Sherman's army, taking an active and conspicu-
ous part in the marches, battles and skirmishes of that great movement which
resulted in the fall of Atlanta, followed by the march to the sea, the campaign
of the Carolinas and the final collapse of the Confederacy. Judge Irwin never
missed a duty on account of illness during his three years of service. He was in
all the marches, raids, skirmishes, battles and sieges in which his regiment was
engaged with the exception of the battle of Shiloh, the cavalry engagement at
Salem, Mississippi, and at Moultonville, Alabama. Disabling wounds, received
at Donelson, prevented his participation at Shiloh. When he heard of the bat-
tle, however, and before his furlough had expired, he returned to his regiment
to do what he could for his brother and other comrades of his company, and
relieve the anxiety of friends at home about them. The siege of Corinth fol-
lowed the battle, and in that he participated, resuming his duties as soon as he
arrived upon the field. The engagement at Moultonville occurred while he
was at home on a recruiting furlough in the winter of 1864, and the engagement
of Salem was in progress at a time when he was bearing dispatches of great im-
portance from Colonel Phillips to Grand Junction, Tennessee, the object being
to obtain reinforcements to rescue his regiment, which was in imminent peril of
being captured by a force of the enemy that greatly outnumbered them and was
threatening an attack. This episode illustrates the kind of service in which the
Ninth Illinois Regiment was engaged after it was mounted. Judge Irwin en-
listed when he was only nineteen years of age. He was promoted to the rank of
sergeant and was honored by his superior officers by being chosen for import-
ant confidential service on a number of occasions. Twice was he offered a com-
mission, but both times declined.

In December, 1864, Judge Irwin began the study of law under the tutelage
of Judge David Gillespie. Two years later he was examined for admission to
the bar and on the 3Oth of January, 1867, he was licensed by the supreme court.
During the first year of his practice he was in partnership with Hon. A. W.
Metcalf. He then became a partner of William H. Krome, under the firm name
of Irwin & Krome, which connection continued until April, 1874. In March of
that year a vacancy in the office of county judge of Madison county occurred,
caused by the tragic death of Judge William T. Brown. No nominations were
made to fill this vacancy, but Judge M. G. Dale, a former incumbent of the
office, Judge A. H. Gambrill, of the city court, of Alton, and John G. Irwin,
all became candidates for the office. The last named was elected by two votes,
Judge Dale being second in the race according to the returns. The latter con-
tested the 'election, and in the circuit court the contest was decided in favor of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 68 1

Irwin, but on an appeal to the supreme court this judgment was reversed and
Judge Dale was declared to be entitled to the office. The contest turned upon the
question of the right of certain students of Shurtleff College, in Upper Alton, to
vote. The fallibility of human judgment, and even of men who would fain be con-
sidered sages and statesmen, is well illustrated by the fact that by the opinion of
Judge Breese in this case men who were married and resided with their families in
Upper Alton, and who after graduating continued to live there, and some of
whom have since died there, and who were born citizens of the United States,
and were over twenty-one years old, were disfranchised for the purpose of that
election, for the sole reason that they were students ; and this regardless of their
sworn declaration that Upper Alton was their home, and of other facts and cir-
cumstances which should have controlled the decision of the court.

While Judge Irwin was the incumbent of the office he gave his time dili-
gently to the settlement of a number of quite complicated estates. Previous to
that the county judge had been not only the judge of the probate court, but pre-
siding judge of the county commissioners' court, to the duties of which posi-
tion more attention had been given than to probate matters. Among the im-
portant cases upon which he was called to pass judgment was the settlement of
the estate of his predecessor, against which the county had filed a large claim
for public funds for which he had not previously accounted. The case was under
investigation for nearly two years, and resulted in a judgment for the claimant
for upward of thirty-nine thousand dollars. Being a case in which the public
interests were involved, a few of the partisan friends of the deceased were at
first disposed to criticise the amount of the judgment, but the law gave an ap-
peal and the right of a trial de novo. An appeal was taken, not on the ground
that the amount of the judgment was excessive, but because of the classification
of the claim, giving it preference on the theory that the claim was for trust
funds. The judgment was affirmed by the circuit court and this ended the case.
A written opinion was filed by Judge Irwin, an examination of which will show
that the estate got the benefit of all contested items of doubtful credits, and that
the judgment could not have been smaller without doing violence to well settled
rules of law. There was no contention as to the amount of money and funds
which had gone into the hands of the deceased, and the burden of proof was
upon his administrators to show what had been done with it. The judgment
represents what they were unable to account for after a long investigation, in
which the representatives of the estate had the best of counsel, who were favored
by the court with all the time they asked in which to do their work, and they
did it as faithfully as it could be done.

Upon his retirement from office the political opponents of Judge Irwin pub-
licly acknowledged that his administration had been impartial and fair in a judi-
cial sense, and his record highly creditable to him in point of ability and integrity.
He passed upon many important cases and there were few appeals from his de-
cisions, none of which were reversed. On leaving the bench Judge Irwin re-
sumed the practice of law, entering into partnership with E. C. Springer, under
the firm name of Irwin & Springer. That connection was continued until 1882,

682 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

since which time he has been alone in business. He has had a select practice
and a clientele who show their faith in him by the long terms for which he has
been in charge of their litigated interests. He confines his practice to civil
cases, having an aversion to criminal practice. With this exception he is an
"all-round'' lawyer, and is considered an expert corporation attorney. He has
been one of the most successful practitioners of his district and is wholly devoted
to his profession.

In youth Judge Irwin became an ardent Republican, and voted for Abraham
Lincoln. Until 1872 he considered it unpatriotic and disloyal to his country to
vote any other ticket, but since then has been more liberal in his political views,
although he still believes in the fundamental principles of the government which
gave rise to the Republican party, and is in hearty accord with its record upon
financial and economic questions.

On the 3Oth of March, 1869, Judge Irwin married Miss Nancy M., daughter
of Bezaleel and Hulda M. (Baldwin) Day. She was born in New York, of which
state her mother was also a native. Her father was born in Connecticut, and
her ancestors on both sides came to this country long before the Revolutionary
war. Her parents came to Edwardsville in 1867, three years after she had
taken up her residence here. She had a younger sister, who also resided in
Edwardsville, and died in 1877. The members of the family have all passed
away, but are remembered in this city as devoted Christian people whose exem-
plary lives caused them to be sincerely mourned when they were called to the
home beyond. Mrs. Irwin died in March, 1893, and on the gih of October,
1895, the Judge married Miss Luella Nichols, a daughter of W. H. H. and
Sallie (Nichols) Nichols. Judge Irwin is a member of the Knights of Honor,
the Masonic fraternity and the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a man of
dignified presence, of genial, social nature, fond of good books and old friends,
a successful lawyer and an able judge, and as a citizen is much esteemed and
highly respected.

Hon. Levi Davis was a native of Cecil county, Maryland. He was born
July 20, 1808. His father was a Pennsylvanian of Welsh descent, his mother
a native of Scotland and a descendant of Scotch ancestors. From infancy to
manhood he was a fatherless orphan whose training and development was wholly
under the guidance of his mother. He was educated at Newark Academy, Dela-
ware, and Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. He obtained the degree of B. A.
at graduation, when he was but twenty years old, and immediately began the
study of law under Levine Gale, at Elkton, Maryland. Two years later he was
examined and licensed to practice law, at Baltimore, Maryland, and the follow-
ing spring began his professional career at Vandalia, Illinois, then the capital of
the state. An incident of his life while there was a short period of service as a
volunteer in the Black Hawk war. In 1832 he was married to Miss Lucy Ann
Staph, who died in 1860. Eight children were born to them, but three of whom
survive the father. In 1835 a vacancy occurred in the office of auditor of public
accounts. Governor Duncan appointed Mr. Davis to fill it, and he was twice
elected to'the same office by the general assembly. Upon removal of the cap-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 683

ital to Springfield he became a resident of that place, and continued to reside
there until 1846, when he removed to Alton, which was ever after that his home.

Before going to Springfield he had gained an enviable reputation as a law-
yer. When he was succeeded in office by General James Shields he engaged
in the practice of law in the state and United States courts, at Springfield. At
that time Lincoln, Browning, Butterfield, Norman B. Judd, David J. Baker,
Stephen T. Logan, E. D. Baker and others of equal eminence as lawyers, prac-
ticed in the same courts. Levi Davis was in intimate relations with them as
long as he practiced law in Springfield. He was often associated with them,
and as often their opponents in the trial of cases, and was the peer of any of
them as a lawyer. After his removal to Alton he was for several years the at-
torney of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, and was also attorney of the
St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Company, and was for a long time
a director of the last named company. His connection with these roads brought
him into intimate relations with business men, lawyers and capitalists who were
among the foremost men of their times in business and political circles.

In one respect he may justly be accorded pre-eminence among all his fel-
lows, and that is for unselfishness, rectitude of purpose, and fidelity to all that
is highest and best in the ethical standards of the legal profession. This dis-
position made him a peacemaker. He probably made more amicable settle-
ments of law suits than any of his contemporaries, and this was especially true
of suits against the railroads which he represented. He could not tolerate, much
less countenance or encourage trickery, deceit, meanness or corruption in the
practice of law, or in the rivalries of business or politics. Though born and
reared in a slave state, until the defeat of Henry Clay as a candidate for presi-
dent, he was an ardent supporter of all public measures which looked to the
immediate restriction and ultimate extinction of slavery. When Clay was de-
feated he foreswore active participation in party politics for the rest of his days,
and kept the vow. While Levi Davis held the office of United States com-
missioner, a fugitive slave was brought before him on an application to have her
restored to her master. The case stirred up abolition sentiment in Alton to
a frenzy of excitement. The woman had lived in Illinois for years, and pub-
lic clamor against sending her back to her owner became furious. Judge Davis
was himself at heart an abolitionist, but he knew that when acting officially
he was the mere agent of the law. His oath required obedience to the will of
the law-maker, and did not permit him to make his own will the law. Odious
as the fugitive-slave law was to him, it was clearly and plainly his official duty
to enforce it in case the evidence proved the woman to be a fugitive slave.
Though every impulse of his nature revolted, though friends importuned him
and a mob threatened him in behalf of the fugitive, he was unyielding in the
discharge of his official duty. Tradition says that nothing more dramatic than
the delivery of his opinion in that case ever occurred in any court. He re-
viewed the evidence and found that it made out a case clearly within the pro-
visions of the law. He then gave indignant expression to his abhorrence of
slavery, and his detestation of laws that deprived human beings of God-given

684 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

rights, and compelled the enemies of slave power to become their instruments
for enforcing them.

The death of Judge Davis occurred when he had reached the age of eighty-
nine, in the fullness of years and well earned honors.

Joseph Gillespie, an historic figure in the annals of Illinois, was one of the
heroic band of pioneers who in the formative period of the state, as well as in its
later progress and advancement, left the impress of his strong and upright
character upon the public life of the commonwealth. Only a year after the
admission of Illinois to the Union he took up his residence within her borders
and for sixty-six years he exerted an influence in public affairs that largely
shaped her destiny. In legislative halls, at the bar and upon the bench he won
high honors and his name is inscribed high on the roll of eminent men who
made Illinois one of the brightest stars in fair Columbia's crown. Therefore
an enumeration of those men who have won honor and public recognition for
themselves, and at the same time have honored the state to which they be-
long, would be incomplete were there failure to make prominent reference to
the one whose name initiates this paragraph. He held distinguished pre-
cedence as an eminent lawyer and statesman, a man of scholarly attainments,
a valiant and patriotic soldier, and as one who occupied a trying position dur-
ing one of the most important epochs in our political history, in which con-
nection he bore himself with such signal dignity and honor as to gain him the
respect of all. He was distinctively a man of affairs and one who wielded a
wide influence. A strong mentality, an invincible courage, a most determined
individuality rendered him a natural leader of men and a director of opinion.

His life was noble, and the elements so mixed in him
That Nature might stand up and say to all the world,
"This was a Man."

Judge Gillespie was born in the city of New York, August 22, 1809. His
parents had emigrated from Ireland to America two years previously, and in
1819 they came to Illinois, locating in Edwardsville, Madison county. Their
son Joseph was then a lad of only ten summers, and Illinois had been a mem-
ber of the Union for only one year. Its vast prairies were largely unculti-
vated, its rich natural resources were undeveloped, and even the most far-
sighted could not have dreamed, much less realized, the wonderful changes
which were so soon to transform it, making it the leader of the nation in many
of the most important interests of the entire country. In Madison county
schools were the exception, rather than the rule, and the teachers were largely
unprepared for their responsible task of training the young minds. For this
reason, and also because of the cramped financial condition of his parents, Judge
Gillespie completed his education within the walls of a school-room when in his
eleventh year. He was, however, an earnest student throughout his entire life,
and his extensive reading, quick observation and wonderful power to assim-
ilate what he read made him one of the scholarly men of the state. Like Lin-
coln, of whom he was a warm personal friend, his youth was one of poverty,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 685

but in the school of experience they learned the lessons which fitted them for
duties that made the one the deliverer and preserver of his nation, the other
a most important factor in framing the policy of his state. Judge Gillespie
always ascribed to his mother the credit of giving his mind a literary turn,
and by her encouragement a thirst for knowledge was awakened in him. At
the same time she laid the foundation of his moral character, without which
all his subsequent acquisitions in the field of knowledge would have been in-
jurious rather than a blessing to his country and to society.

Thus engaged at labors which enabled him to provide for his own main-
tenance the childhood and youth of Judge Gillespie passed, but his earnest pur-
pose and upright life attracted the attention of Hon. Cyrus Edwards, who in
1831 became his benefactor and warm personal friend. Mr. Edwards was a
lawyer whose reputation extended far beyond the confines of this state and was
a ripe scholar and a polished gentleman of the highest social and political con-
nections. For two years he directed Judge Gillespie in a course of law read-
ing, and at the same time our subject pursued two terms of lectures in Transyl-
vania University, of Kentucky, acquiring a ready familiarity with the elemental
principles of the law, upon which in after years, at the bar, and on the bench,
he was wont to rely. In no instance had Mr. Edwards cause to feel other-
wise than gratified with the course of his protege. From the time he entered
the lists of the profession, his conduct, his ambition and purpose were a pro-
tracted vindication of the good opinion formed of the inexperienced and un-
educated lad. They sat together in the state legislature in 1840, and their
mutual confidence, friendship and esteem, begun so early, was maintained dur-
ing their respective lives, and in 1877, when Mr. Edwards died, at an advanced
age, and his will was probated in the county court of Madison county, it was
found to contain a parting testimonial of continued confidence in his early
pupil by nominating Joseph Gillespie as one of the executors of said instru-
ment.

On the 6th of December, 1836, Joseph Gillespie was admitted to the bar.
At that time but one of the one hundred and eighty volumes of Illinois re-
ports had been published, and it was six years before the second volume ap-
peared, containing decisions of the supreme court up to 1840. This indeed
was a slender foundation for a case lawyer, one depending upon precedent for
his legal opinion. It is needless to say that no lawyer in that early day could
possibly have been successful in his profession except by a thorough familiarity
with the text-books, and Mr. Linder, himself a most prominent attorney, said of
Judge Gillespie : "He had read Coke's Commentaries on Lyttleton, and had
made himself familiar with the black-letter law of England. He had studied
Chitty on Pleadings with passionate fondness and was perfectly at home in the
science of pleading." Immediately after his admission to the bar Judge Gillespie
opened an office in Edwardsville and continued in active practice save when
official duties claimed his attention. The year following his admission he qual-
ified as probate judge of Madison county, which position he occupied for two
years, and then became an active practitioner in those early days when the

686 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

lawyers and the judge rode the circuit, necessitating an absence from home of
several months.

There were no railroads in those days and court was held in various centers
to which the lawyers would travel, sometimes in buggies, but more frequently
on horseback, a pair of saddlebags containing all the needed law books, and
their clothing as well. Judge Gillespie once very forcibly contrasted the older
mode of travel with what we now enjoy. He said he remembered the time
when, in going to Springfield to attend sessions of the legislature and supreme
court, he was as long on the road as Jonah was in the whale's belly ; and all the
time he would gladly have exchanged places with Jonah ! "Now," he would add,
"I can leave home after breakfast, get to Springfield in time for dinner, and all
the while be quite as comfortable as I would have been in my own parlor."
But aside from the discomforts of travel those were very pleasant days, for the
lawyers made the journeys together, stopped at the same hotel or tavern, ate
together, and often slept in .the same bed, and, of necessity, were more social
and better acquainted with each other than lawyers at the present day. Their
mutual hardships begot a brotherly attachment for each other akin to that which
the soldier feels for his comrade. This is borne out in the statement made by
General U. F. Linder, mentioned above, who said : "We formed an acquaint-
ance and friendship which lasted through many years and has grown with our
age ; and if there is any man in Illinois who is not a blood relation of mine, whom
I love and esteem more than Joe, I cannot call him to mind at this moment.
Joe and I were more like brothers than any two men who ever lived who were
not brothers."

Judge Gillespie early attained eminence as a practitioner by reason of his
comprehensive and accurate knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence and his
ability to apply them to the points in litigation. For many years he was con-
nected with the most important suits heard in his section of the state and in the
supreme court, and in the Illinois Reports his name frequently appears in con-
nection with those of Abraham Lincoln, S. T. Logan, Lyman Trumbull, O. H.
Browning, William H. Bissell, David J. Baker, W. H. Underwood, Gustavus
Koerner, U. F. Linder and others whose distinguished ability made the bar of
Illinois famous even in the first half of the century. That his legal ability was
recognized by the greatest man this century has produced is shown by the fol-
lowing letter :

Springfield, January 19, 1858.
Hon. Joseph Gillespie:

My Dear Sir: This morning Colonel McClernand showed me a petition for a man-
damus against the secretary of state to compel him to certify the apportionment act of
last session, and he says it will be presented to the court to-morrow. We shall be
allowed three or four days to get up a return, and I, for one, want the benefit of con-
sultation with you. Please come right up. Yours as ever,

A. LINCOLN.

He had a high sense of his duties and obligations as a lawyer and never
hesitated to discourage litigation when there was a chance of settling the matter
in dispute .outside the court-room. He attached more importance to the honor

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 687

and dignity of his profession and its instrumentality for good than he did to the
fees he could make. Had he practiced law for the money there was in it he
would have left his loved family as rich as his memory is honored ; but they are
richer in the possession of that which wealth cannot buy, the inheritance of an
honored and untarnished name. On the occasion of the meeting of the Illinois
Bar Association in 1884, the Illinois Register, of Springfield, said: "The most
prominent of the lawyers in attendance at the present session of the Illinois
Bar Association is the honored pioneer, Judge Gillespie."

In 1840 he was elected a member of the twelfth general assembly of Illinois,
and in 1846 was elected to represent Madison county in the state senate. In
1849 the constitutional convention redistricted the state, adding Clinton county
to the district, which he represented in the senate of the sixteenth, seventeenth
and eighteenth general assemblies. The apportionment of 1854 added Mont-
gomery county, and the new district re-elected Judge Gillespie to the senate of
the nineteenth and twentieth assemblies. He therefore had fourteen years' ex-
perience as a legislator, extending over the most important period in the history
of the state, the period when the laws were molded and crystallized into per-
manent form ; the period when her railroads and colleges were chartered and
built, and her charitable institutions created. His ten years' service in the senate
began at a time when Illinois was almost bankrupt. She had undertaken to
carry on the most expensive system of internal improvements, which had, in the
end, to be abandoned in a most incomplete condition, but not until the state was
eighteen million dollars in debt, and having a population less than the present
population of Chicago. To institute measures, pass laws and execute them so
as to relieve the state from her embarrassment was a matter calling for the
highest financial wisdom and patriotism. Prior to 1857 there was no measure
originated bearing directly upon the payment of the internal-improvement debt,
but in that year, while Judge Gillespie was a member of the senate, measures
were passed which proved of great benefit to the state in this regard, and he was
an important factor in support of the same. He was also prominently concerned
in the construction of railroads in the state, and while the majority of people were
bitterly opposed thereto he stood firm in their support, believing that commer-
cial, agricultural and industrial interests would thereby be greatly advanced and
that large districts, hitherto unsettled, would become populous communities.
Time has proved the wisdom of his foresight. In 1850 the charter for the Illi-
nois Central Railroad was granted, and it was therein provided that the road
should pay into the state treasury every year five per cent of its gross earnings,
and as state taxes, at the rate of seventy-five cents per hundred dollars ; and if
that did not equal two per cent of the gross earnings the company should pay
such additional sum as would insure the state not less than seven per cent of the
gross earnings. Judge Gillespie was very zealous in support of that measure in
the state legislature and active in causing it to be grafted into the charter,
against the wishes of the railroad company. With several others he stood firm
in its support, and the state has since had a splendid source of income in the
percentage of the gross earnings of that road. Other important railroad charters

688 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

were also granted about that time and he was ever active in support of railroad
building, realizing fully how beneficial it was to the state, although personally he
never owned a dollar's worth of railroad property. He was also one of the strong
supporters of the plan to compel railroads crossing the state to terminate at such
points as would build up large cities in her own border. He thus wished to
build up Alton at the expense of St. Louis, or rather prevent St. Louis from
ruining Alton as a commercial center, and ably did he stand by the interests of
the latter city. In his devotion to what he conceived to be his duty, he faced
without flinching the opposition at his own home, where his pecuniary interests
were, and other parts of his district that were more interested in getting a rail-
road for themselves, though it led to St. Louis, than they were in building up
Alton.

In his official relations as a member of the legislature he was also actively
interested in the formation and adoption of the present school system of the
state, to which interest, more than any other, Illinois owes her present proud
position. To have been one among that array of noble sons of Illinois who were
most instrumental in relieving her of her enormous debt, preserving our financial
integrity, developing our material resources, giving to her the school system we
enjoy, and to have lived to witness the splendid fruition that followed those labors,
was a source of great happiness to Judge Gillespie.

In 1861 he was elected to the bench of the twenty-fourth judicial circuit,
and by re-election held that office for twelve years. As a judge he was industri-
ous, honest and upright, never lost sight of the grave responsibilities that rested
upon him, endeavored to hold the scales of justice evenly balanced, and if he
made erroneous decisions they were on virtue's side. He believed that there
were instances wherein mercy bore richer fruits than strict justice. He pos-
sessed another notable characteristic as a judge, the ability to rise above the
influence of popular clamor. He did not in his decisions stop to consider what
effect they would have upon his own popularity or his chances of re-election.
His judicial opinions were marked by great clearness, exhibiting great research,
careful analysis, a sound knowledge of elementary law and great erudition in his
chosen profession, as shown by the limited number of reversals by the highest
courts during the twelve years of his administration on the bench. He was
always very helpful to young men in the profession and extended to them the
hand of assistance instead of taking advantage of their mistakes and unpro-
fessional acts, even in trial at the bar.

As a citizen Judge Gillespie was always progressive and public-spirited. He
took a lively interest in all scientific discoveries and labor-saving inventions, and
was not only a student of law but also pursued a wide and liberal course of study,
being very conversant with the histories of other countries and people, ancient
.as well as modern. He was perfectly familiar with our own political history.
He loved his country with a fervent and patriotic devotion that was not con-
fined to Illinois, but extended to the whole nation. In March, 1880, he read a
paper before the Chicago Historical Society entitled Recollections of Early
Illinois and Her Noted Men, and from a historical point of view there was never

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 689

a more valuable and interesting paper read before that organization. He was
familiar with the entire history of the state from personal experience, had worked
in the lead mines at the time of their earliest development, had participated in
the Black Hawk war when the Indians had taken this vigorous means of protest
against the settlement of the state by the "pale faces," and had not only noted the
.marvelous changes which have occurred since that day but had also borne an
important part therein.

Judge Gillespie was married in 1845, in Greenville, Illinois, to Miss Mary E.
Smith, who, with five children, survives him. Their home life was ideal. In the
family circle he put aside the cares of his profession, and was a genial, jovial and
kindly man, who was friend and companion as well as husband and father in his
home. He made friends wherever he went and had the happy faculty of drawing
them closer-to him as the years passed by. His tender, sympathetic nature and
the uprightness and honesty of his motives could only be fully appreciated by
his intimate friends. He passed away January 7, 1885, at the age of seventy-six
years, and at his death memorial services were held in the county and circuit
courts of his district and in the state senate, and resolutions of respect were
placed upon the records of those bodies, one tribute closing with these words :
"He died without spot or blemish upon either his private or public life. Many
have attained greater eminence, but few have made more of their opportunities,
none ever left a more unsullied name. May the example of his life exert upon
us an ennobling influence !" A portrait of Judge Gillespie appears on another
page of this work.

Henry S. Baker was a distinguished factor in the political history of the
state during the period when the question of slavery agitated the country and
gave rise to the Republican party. He was also a lawyer and judge of unusual
ability and his life record forms an essential part of the annals of the state.

He was born in Kaskaskia, Illinois, November 10, 1824, and died in his
seventy-third year. His father, David J. Baker, was an eminent man of his time,
attaining prominence at the early bar of Illinois. He came to the state in 1818
and died in Alton in 1869.

The son, Henry S. Baker, having laid the foundation for an education in the
public schools, attended Shurtleff College, and later was a student in Brown
University, at Providence, Rhode Island, where he spent four years and was
graduated in 1847. Taking up the study of law under the direction of his
father, he was admitted to the bar in 1849 an ^ at once entered upon practice.
His fitness for leadership, his splendid oratorical ability and his close study of the
questions of the day naturally called him into political prominence, and in 1854
he was elected to the state legislature. He acted with the "anti-Nebraska"
Democrats in the assembly, and was one of five members whose influence in
that body defeated Abraham Lincoln and elected Lyman Trumbull to the United
States senate. The Whig friends of Lincoln never became reconciled to the
course taken by Trumbull and his friends in that contest, but Lincoln himself
said of it that "subsequent events greatly tended to prove the wisdom, politically,
of his defeat at that time :" that the election of Judge Trumbull strongly tended
44

690 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

to sustain the position of that portion of the Democrats who condemned the
repeal of the Missouri compromise and left them in a position to join in forming
the Republican party, as was done at Bloomington in 1856. Judge Baker was
secretary of that now famous Bloomington convention. It was the first Repub-
lican convention ever held in Illinois, and to it is ascribed the birth of the national
Republican party. Lincoln made the most impassioned speech of his life to that
body, a speech that was considered- too radical and too full of passion for publi-
cation at that time, but which has since been produced and would now strike
no one as incendiary in tone or expression. The same convention nominated
Colonel William H. Bissell for governor of Illinois, and accomplished the over-
whelming defeat of the Democrats in this state and put the reins of power in the
hands of a party that retained them for more than thirty years. In 1864 Judge
Baker was chosen as one of the presidential electors of this state, and in 1876
he was a delegate to the national convention that nominated Rutherford B. Hayes
for president of the United States, and the same year ran for congress in this
district as the nominee of the Republican party, but was defeated. In 1864 he
also presided over the Republican state convention of Illinois, which met at
Springfield.

With these exceptions Mr. Baker's career was that of a lawyer and judge.
He was elected judge of the city court of Alton and held the position continu-
ously for sixteen years from the first election in 1835. A fact that attests his
popularity is, that although an avowed Republican he was elected four times con-
secutively in a city which always gave Democratic majorities at political elec-
tions. Judge Baker had oratorical gifts of a high order, and was an irresistible
pleader before a jury, always gaining a good case and often winning the verdict
in cases of doubtful legal merit. But he was also a learned lawyer, sound in
judgment, and a persuasive and convincing advocate in the trial of cases even
before the court without a jury. He made a record as a judge so highly credit-
able and satisfactory that clients and lawyers and the general public, after the
first term, accorded the juclgeship to him without opposition.

His last appearance in public was at the unveiling of the statue of Pierre
Menard at the state capitol, when he was chosen by the governor as the orator
of the occasion, which was one that recalled youthful memories and the time
when Kaskaskia was the center of gaiety, fashion and commerce and the scene
of much that was memorable in the early history of Illinois. No man was better
fitted to enter into the spirit of the occasion than Judge Baker, and it inspired him
to make one of the best oratorical efforts of his life. At his death resolutions of
respect were passed by the members of the bar, in which was the following : "We
shall ever remember him as a man of the highest worth, whose record will always
reflect credit upon his memory and be a legacy of great value to his family."

He was twice married and was the father of eleven children.

William Pitt Bradshaw, for twenty-five years a member of the bar of Ed-
wardsville, is one of the native sons of Illinois who have attained distinguished
success in the law and is deserving of recognition among those who have won
high honors for the bench and bar of the state. He was born April 7, 1846, about

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 691

four miles north of Fairfield, Wayne county, and is a son of Greenup and Mar-
garet (Bose) Bradshaw. His grandfather, Thomas Bradshaw, was a slave-
holder of Kentucky, but becoming convinced that the influences of slavery were
pernicious and against the uplifting of humanity, he liberated his bondsmen and
removed to Illinois in 1812. He located near Fairfield and there, throughout
the remainder of his life, devoted his energies to farming. The father of our
subject was a prosperous agriculturist, and lived and died within a quarter of a
mile from where his father first settled on coming to Illinois.

In his early boyhood W. P. Bradshaw, of this review, conned his lessons in
a log school-house, and when a youth of sixteen years he went to the war as a
news-carrier for the Union army. He remained in the service for about fourteen
months as news-carrier and scout, performing some very important duty, and
then returned to his home. Through the following year he worked on the farm,
after which he continued his education as a student in McKendree College, in
which institution he was graduated in the class of 1869. While there he began
reading law under the direction of Professor H. H. Homer, and then came to
Edwarclsville, where he continued his law studies in the office of Dale & Burnett,
one of the ablest law firms in southern Illinois. After a thorough preparatory
training he was admitted to the bar and in the courts put his theoretical knowl-
edge to the practical test. He entered upon his professional career in Decem-
ber, 1872, and in 1874 formed a partnership with A. W. Metcalfe. Subsequently
he became a partner of his former preceptor, Judge M. G. Dale, the firm of Dak
& Bradshaw holding marked prestige at the bar until the death of the Judge in
1896. Since that time Mr. Bradshaw has been alone in practice. He has a dis-
tinctively representative clientage, and is regarded as one of the most eloquent
and able practitioners in Edwardsville. His arguments are forceful, his reason-
ing clear and cogent and his deductions follow in logical sequence. He has been
connected with the most important litigation of the courts of his district through
the past twenty-five years, and has defended in twenty-one murder cases, and
acquitted all except three, which he succeeded in sendihg to the penitentiary
instead of the gallows.

On the 1 4th of July, 1876, occurred the marriage of Mr. Bradshaw and Miss
Sallie H. Harrison, and their union has been blessed with two sons, Ernest W.
and Courtlandt. They are widely and favorably known in Edwardsville and Mr.
Bradshaw is regarded as one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens, with-
holding his support from no enterprise intended for the public good. For fifteen
years he has been connected with the school board, is now serving as its presi-
dent and as in former years is doing effective service in behalf of the cause of
education. He was a member of the state central committee of the Republican
party, and is an influential factor in political circles, although not an aspirant for
office.

Judge \Villiam Henry Krome, of Edwarclsville, is known as one of the fore-
most lawyers of his section of the state, a fact which indicates his worth in this
particular, and the honors and successes he has won are rightfully his. Pre-em-
inence in any calling indicates that the individual has reached a position to which

692 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

the majority has not attained, and to do this he must possess not exceptional qual-
ities, but exceptional force and concentration in applying these. In the law it re-
quires diligence, knowledge of legal principles and precedents, devotion to clients'
interests, fidelity to the true purpose and spirit of the law and unremitting energy ;
and the degree in which these qualities are manifest determines the standing of
the individual at the bar. It is therefore a question of personal merit, for the
favors of the law are not bestowed through wealth or influence.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Judge Krome was born July i, 1842, and is
a son of Charles William and Anna (Wesseler) Krome, who were natives of the
kingdom of Hanover, Germany. Both came to America in 1835, the former at
the age of twenty-one years, the latter at the age of fourteen. The father en-
gaged in merchandising in Louisville until 1851, and then removed to Madison
county, Illinois, where he conducted a farm until his death, which occurred in
December, 1876. His wife died in 1885.

The Judge acquired his early education in the common schools and in 1858
entered McKendree College, of Lebanon, Illinois, where he was graduated in
June, 1863, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1868 the degree of Master
of Arts was conferred upon him by his alma mater. In early life he formed
a resolution that the practice of law should be his life-work, and as far as possible
he shaped all things to this end. On leaving college he worked upon a farm in
the summer months and taught school in the winter seasons in order to pursue
his law studies in the university. He first read law in the office and under the
instruction of Judge M. G. Dale, and in 1866 entered the law department of the
University of Michigan, wherein he was graduated in 1868, with the degree of
Bachelor of Law. He had attained such proficiency in 1867, however, that he
successfully passed an examination before the supreme court of Illinois and was
admitted to the bar in May of that year.

Immediately after his graduation he formed a partnership with John G.
Irwin, under the firm name of Irwin & Krome and thus continued in the prac-
tice of law in Edwardsville until the senior partner was elected county judge, in
1874, when Mr. Krome became a partner of W. F. L. Hadley, under the style of
Krome & Hadley. This partnership was dissolved in 1890, when Judge Krome
was elevated to the bench of the county court, where he served for a term of four
years. On his retirement from office he was joined by C. W. Terry in the forma-
tion of the present firm of Krome & Terry, which ranks among the most prom-
inent and successful law firms in this part of the state. The zeal with which
Judge Krome has devoted his energies to his profession, the careful regard
evinced for the interest of his clients, and an assiduous and unrelaxing attention to
all the details of his cases, have brought him a large business and made him very
successful in its conduct. He is a very able writer, his briefs always show wide
research, careful thought and the best and strongest reasons which can be urged
for his contention, presented in cogent and logical form, and illustrated by a
style unusually lucid and clear. In connection with his law practice, Judg-e
Krome is president of the Madison County State Bank, which position he has

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 693

filled since 1897, in which year it was organized, following the failure of the
private banking house of J. A. Prickett & Son.

In politics Judge Krome has always been a Democrat and has served on the
state and county committees of his party. He was elected mayor of Edwards-
ville in April, 1873, an d served one term. In November, 1874, he was elected to
the state senate from the forty-first district and served until 1878, taking an active
and influential part in framing the legislation of the state. He served on the
judiciary committee in 1875 and again in 1877 and was also a member of other
important committees. In 1877 ne took P art m the contest which resulted in the
election of David Davis as United States senator over General Logan. He was
also chairman of the joint senate and house committee that framed the law under
which our appellate court was created. In 1893, upon the death of Judge
Scholfield, he was a candidate before the Democratic convention for the nomina-
tion to fill the vacancy. The convention met at Effingham and after several
hundred ballots had been cast adjourned without accomplishing the result of the
meeting. Another convention was later held in Vandalia and Hon. Jesse J.
Phillips was nominated, but Judge Krome received the support of the entire
Madison county bar, every member thereof signing a petition requesting his
nomination.

Judge Krome was married May 4, 1874, to Miss Medora L. Gillham, of
Madison county. She was a daughter of S. B. Gillham and her grandfather
was the first sheriff of Madison county, filling that office before the organization
of Illinois as a state. Seven children have been born of this marriage : William
J., who was born February 14, 1875, and was educated in Cornell University, of
New York; Clara G., who was born August 30, 1876, and was educated in
Lasell Seminary, of Auburndale, Massachusetts ; Minna M., who was born in
September, 1878, and was educated in Wells College, of Aurora, New York;
Belle, born in October, 1883; Nora, born in November, 1886; Anna, who was
born in October, 1888, and Mary, who was born in November, 1890. The
family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of death and the Krome house-
hold is one of the hospitable homes of Edwardsville. The Judge is connected
with but one civic society. He is a charter member of Caractacus Lodge, No.
72, K. of P., in which he has held the offices of chancellor commander and past
commander, and has been representative to the grand lodge. Religiously he
was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church, but is now a communicant of no
religious organization. His public and private life is above reproach, and
whether in the office, in the court, or in his home he is the same courteous, high-
minded gentleman, whose fidelity to principle is one of his most marked char-
acteristics.

William Flavius Leicester Hadley, a worthy representative of a prominent
pioneer family of southern Illinois, was born on a farm near Collinsville, Madison
county, on the I5th of June, 1847, and is a son of William and Diadama
(McKinney) Hadley. On the paternal side he is of English lineage, the family-
having been founded in America in 1760 by the great-grandfather, who with his
family came from England to the United States. He first located in Mary-

694 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

land, but subsequently removed to Virginia and thence to Kentucky. He was of
an adventurous spirit, fond of the experiences of pioneer life. His son, the grand-
father of our subject, became one of the early settlers of Madison county; but
William Hadley, the father, was born ere the removal of the family to this state.
His wife was born near Edwardsville in 1809, and was of a Scotch-Irish descent,
her family coming from North Carolina to Illinois.

The boyhood and youth of W. F. L. Hadley quietly passed, his energies
being devoted to the labors of the farm through the summer months, while in
the winter season he pursued his education in the common schools until sixteen
years of age, when he became a student in McKendree College, of Lebanon,
Illinois, being graduated in that institution in the class of 1867. Through the
three succeeding years he was employed as manager of a fruit farm in Jackson
county, Illinois, but desiring to devote his life to professional labors he began
the study of law, and in 1870 matriculated in the law department of the Michigan
University, at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated in 1871. Returning then to
the county of his nativity he took up his residence in Edwardsville, where he
opened an office and entered upon the practice of law, being alone in business
until 1874, when he formed a partnership with Judge W. H. Krome, under the
firm name of Krome & Hadley. This connection was continued until 1890,
when the senior member of the firm was elected county judge. In 1892 Mr.
Hadley entered into partnership with Charles H. Burton, and this relation has
since been maintained under the present style of Hadley & Burton. This firm
has a large clientage and ranks deservedly high in the profession. Mr. Hadley
conforms his practice to a very high standard of professional ethics, and his
marked ability in the prosecution of a case is largely due to his comprehensive
understanding of the principles of jurisprudence and his keen discrimination in
determining what points of law apply to the litigated questions.

Mr. Hadley's strong intellectuality and marked fitness for leadership have
made him the standard-bearer of his party in a number of political contests. In
1886 he was nominated and elected to the state senate for a term of four years,
and on the expiration of that period was unanimously renominated, but owing to
the illness of his wife he declined to enter the campaign. While in the assembly
he served on a number of important committees and took a prominent part in
the proceedings. In November, 1895, he was elected to represent the eighteenth
district in congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Frederick Remann.
Judge Cyrus L. Cook was nominated by the convention, but his death occurred
shortly before the election and Mr. Hadley was placed on the ticket. He had
only two weeks in which to make a canvass, but was elected by nearly thirty-
three hundred plurality, a fact which indicated his personal popularity and the
confidence reposed in his ability. On the expiration of his term he was renom-
inated, but the Democrats and Populists combined their forces and he met
defeat. He has served as president of the school board of Edwardsville, and is
deeply interested in educational matters, while to all movements and enterprises
for the public good he gives a generous and hearty support.

On the 15th of June, 1875, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hadley and

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 695

Miss Mary J. West, daughter of Edward M. and Julia A. (Atwater) West. Their
children are Julia W T ., William L., Winifred W., Edward W., Douglas McK.
and Flavia D. Socially Mr. Hadley is connected with the Masonic, Odd Fellows
and Knights of Pythias fraternities, and has the esteem of his brethren of those
orders, as well as of the legal profession. His talent and industry, together with
his unblemished character, have placed him in the rank of distinguished attorneys
of Illinois.

Judge Benjamin J. Burroughs, of Edwardsville, is a native of Maryland,
born in Charles county, May 20, 1849, an d acquired a classical education in
Charlotte Hall, Saint Mary's county, that state. After his graduation at that
institution he came to the west, locating in Edwardsville, Illinois, in 1867, where
he engaged in teaching school for two terms and later conducted a hardware and
agricultural-implement business, which brought to him good financial returns ;
but he considered this merely a means to an end, for through all these years
it was his intention to engage in the practice of law. In 1873 he began his
preparatory reading in the office of Krome & Hadley, of Edwardsville, and sub-
sequently attended the Union Law School, of Chicago, where he was graduated
in 1876.

Returning to Edwardsville, Judge Burroughs then opened an office. He
was favorably known and had the confidence of his friends so completely that he
soon found himself with a remunerative practice. He proved himself a forcible
and persuasive speaker and an excellent jury lawyer, and this, with an unblem-
ished personal character and strict observance of professional ethics, won for him
a distinguished position among the fraternity. From 1877 until 1879 ne filled the
position of city attorney of Edwardsville and was for several years a member of
the board of education. In January, 1889, he was elected to the circuit bench
to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge Amos Watts, his opponent for the
office being Judge Benjamin Canby. That he discharged the duties satisfactorily
was attested by his renomination at a convention at Centralia, March 12, 1891,
which unanimously nominated him on the first ballot. In June of that year he
was re-elected and again in June, 1897, receiving a majority of over two thou-
sand. In the same month he was appointed by the supreme court of the state
one of the justices of the appellate court of the third district, and is now serving
in that capacity. He is a judge of great ability, unchallenged fairness, and ener-
getic, prompt and reliable in the discharge of his duties on the bench. He has
always been a believer in the principles of the Democracy.

Judge Burroughs was married January 26, 1873, to Miss Mary Judy, and
they maintain their residence in Edwardsville.

Judge David Gillespie was one of the lawyers who attained distinction at the
bar of southern Illinois and by his courteous bearing and profound knowledge
of jurisprudence fully sustained the majesty of the law and added new luster
to the judicial history of the state. This record would be incomplete without a
memoir of this most respected man, and can it better be given than in the words
of his old-time friend, Judge H. S. Baker v who when the bar of Madison county

696 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

had assembled to pay tribute of respect to the member who had been taken from
them by 'death, said :

"May it please the court : I have been requested by the members of the
Madison county bar to suggest unto your Honor the death of David Gillespie,
one of the ablest and oldest of our lawyers. He died at his home in Edwards-
ville, on the ist day of August, 1881, after a brief illness. The shock with which
the announcement of his death was received pervades our entire community and
could not have been greater had the announcement been that he came to his
death by violence.

"David Gillespie was born on the 291)1 of September, 1828, in the town of
Edwardsville, Illinois. He was the son of the late Mathew Gillespie, and his
wife, Nancy Gillespie. Her maiden name was Gordon and she was the daughter
of Robert Gordon. Both of David Gillespie's grandparents emigrated from
Monaghan county, Ireland, as early as 1819, and settled in Illinois. David
Gillespie, in his youth, like the rest of us who were born and reared in Illinois
contemporaneous with him, had but few advantages for acquiring an education.
As a rule we had to pick up as best we could the rudiments of knowledge from
that class of itinerant school-teachers who at that period traveled around from
one settlement to another, dispensing their own small fund of information. The
log cabin and Webster's spelling-book of 1828 have given place to stately
school-houses of 1881, which sit like castles upon our elevated hills, and that vast
and attractive course of learning embraced in our modern school-books. After
being taught by our itinerant teachers more than the teachers could teach, Mr.
Gillespie for a short period attended school at Shurtleff College in Upper Alton,
Illinois, where under the tuition of learned and refined teachers he laid the
foundation of that knowledge upon which he afterward raised the superstructure
of his professional success.

"After leaving college Mr. Gillespie at once entered the office of his uncle,
Judge Joseph Gillespie, and commenced the study of law. As an evidence of the
avidity with which he pushed the study of his profession, it may be said that, sev-
eral years before he arrived at the age of manhood and could be admitted as an
attorney at law, he had mastered the entire course of reading allotted to him
and -had graduated at the law school of Hamilton, Ohio, with high and deserved
honors. It was not for him to drag his weary thought through the pages of
Coke, of Blackstone, of Kent, of Chitty and of Story. To him those pages were
enchanted ground illuminated by that knowledge which he had made up his mind
to master.

"After completing his course of study and upon arriving at the age of twenty-
one years, he was admitted to practice as an attorney at law, in 1848, and at once
formed a copartnership with Judge Joseph Gillespie in the practice of his pro-
fession in this city. Judge Joseph Gillespie even at that time was ranked among
the leading lawyers of Illinois and had a practice coextensive with his reputation ;
and I am informed that during the time of their copartnership, David Gillespie
attended to almost the entire office business of the firm, arranging the pleadings
and preparing the cases. In 1861, upon the election of Joseph Gillespie as judge

Bft-f.u'.-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 697

of our circuit court, David Gillespie formed a partnership in his profession with
Charles F. Springer, which continued until the death of Mr. Springer in 1871.
He then entered into partnership with Mr. Cyrus Happy, which was dissolved
only a short time previous to his death.

"David Gillespie was married October 8, 1855, to Miss Minna Barmback,
of Madison county, Illinois, by whom he had six children, four of whom, with his
widow, survive him.

"In his home, in social and professional circles, Mr. Gillespie was ever kind
and courteous and in his death the community lost one of its best citizens. He
achieved high distinction at the bar and he deserved it, for he was ever careful
to conform his practice to a high standard of commercial ethics and had a com-
prehensive knowledge of law and was masterful in its application to litigated
questions. As he won success and prominence in his professional career, so he
in private life endeared himself to all who knew him by the simple nobility of
his character."

Judge Michael G. Dale was among the important characters who have left
the impress of their individuality upon the judicial history of the state, and for al-
most half a century was prominently connected with the bar of southern Illinois.
He was one of the great lawyers of this section of the state and yet lives in the
memories of his contemporaries, encircled with the halo of a gracious presence,
charming personality, profound legal wisdom, purity of public and private life
and the quiet dignity of an ideal follower of his calling. No citizen of the com-
munity was ever more respected and no man ever more fully enjoyed the con-
fidence of the people or more richly deserved the regard in which he was held.

A native of Pennsylvania, he was born in Lancaster, November 30, 1814, and
died in Edwardsville, on the 1st of April, 1896. His grandfather, Samuel Dale,
was a native of the Emerald Isle, and crossing the Atlantic to America took up
his residence in Pennsylvania, in 1766. He espoused the cause of the colonists
during the war of the Revolution and was a worthy citizen of the newly estab-
lished republic. His son Samuel, a native of Pennsylvania, served in the war
of 1812 and rose to prominence in civic life. He was a member of the state legis-
lature and served as judge of the court of common pleas and of the court of oyer
and terminer of Lancaster county. His wife was a daughter of Michael Gun-
daker, an early resident and successful merchant of Lancaster county.

Judge Dale received exceptionally good educational advantages for his day
and made good use of them. He attended school in Lancaster and also received
private instruction in Latin and French. For one year he was a student in the
West Chester Academy, and in 1832 entered Pennsylvania College, where he
was graduated in September, 1835, with the second class to complete the pre-
scribed course in that institution. He won high honors, and at the commence-
ment exercises delivered the salutatory in Latin. Immediately after the com-
pletion of his collegiate course he took up the study of law as a student in the
office of Judge Ben Champney, where he read law until September, 1837, when
he was admitted to the bar.

The following year Judge Dale visited Bond county, Illinois, where he was

698 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

retained in a lawsuit, and before it was concluded he was solicited to become
the counsel for other parties interested in litigations and who, witnessing his
superior handling of his first case, desired his services in their behalf. This led
him to locate in Illinois and for almost fifty years he was a conspicuous figure at
her bar. He was connected with much of the most important litigation heard
in the state and federal courts of the southern part of Illinois and such was his
demeanor that he won the highest respect of his professional associates, while his
superior ability enabled him to gain high prestige and excellent financial returns
for his services. Judge Irwin said of him : "He was a man of most excellent
mind. On special occasions in the argument of chancery causes and compli-
cated cases on the civil side of the docket, he displayed mental qualities which
showed great clearness and apprehension of the intricacies of the law." His
fitness for leadership in civic affairs often led to his selection for public office,
and in the discharge of his duties he honored the state which had thus honored
him. In the year of his arrival in Bond county he was chosen school treasurer
of Greenville, and in August, 1839, he was elected probate or county judge of
Bond county, being continued in that office by successive re-elections until May,
I 853> when he resigned, having sat upon that bench for fourteen years. In 1844
he was elected and commissioned major of a battalion of state militia and was
a member of a military board which sat in Alton, in 1847. He was also chosen
a member of the constitutional convention the same year, and his knowledge of
constitutional law made him an able factor in preparing that important docu-
ment for the state. He served as a member of the legislative and internal im-
provement committees, and when the labors of the convention were ended he was
appointed a member of the committee to prepare the address of that body to the
people. In June, 1852, he served as a delegate to the Democratic national con-
vention which nominated Franklin Pierce for the presidency.

I' 1 T 853 Judge Dale removed to Edwardsville, having been appointed regis-
ter of the United States land office, and in that capacity served from May, 1853,
until 1857, when the office was removed to Springfield. From December, 1857,
until December, 1865, he served as county judge of Madison county, and after
an interval of eleven years he was again elected, serving from January, 1876, until
December, 1886, making his incumbency in that office over a period of nineteen
years. He was master in chancery from 1855 until May, 1863. first by appoint-
ment of Judge Sidney Breese and afterward by appointment of Judge William H.
Snyder. He was at various times in his law practice associated with able part-
ners, and from December, 1865, until January, 1876, was thus connected with
George B. Burnett as a member of the firm of Dale & Burnett. In December,
1886, he entered into partnership with William P. Bradshaw, under the firm style
of Dale & Bradshaw, and later they were joined by C. W. Terry, who later with-
drew to form a partnership with Judge W. H. Krome, when the old name was
resumed. The periods of these partnerships cover the time when Judge Dale
was not on the bench. Judge Krome said of him: "In 1865 'I began reading
law in his office under his direction. He was in many respects a remarkable
man. He was never idle, on the contrary was industry personified, and as a legal

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 699

adviser he was cautious, but safe, never advising clients into unnecessary litiga-
tion." One of his last public services was the delivery of the address at the
unveiling of the monument erected by the state at Fort Gage to the memory of
the pioneers of Kaskaskia, the ancient and now extinct capital of the state.

"In my recollection of the lawyers of Edwardsville," said W. F. L. Hadley,
"Judge Dale stands out most prominent;" and C. N. Travous gave utterance to
the following words : "No lawyer was held in higher esteem by the younger
members of the bar than Judge Dale, because of his uniform courtesy and kind-
ness. His helpfulness to the young men in the profession was certainly one of
his marked characteristics, and at all times he showed the utmost consideration
for the members of the bar. In his practice he was absolutely fair, never in-
dulged in artifice or concealment, never dealt in indirect methods, but won his
victories, which were many, and suffered his defeats, which were few, in the open
field, face to face with the foe. He treated the court with the studied courtesy
which is its due, and indulged in no malicious criticism because it arrived at a
conclusion, in the decision of a case, different from that which he hoped to hear.
Calm, dignified, self-controlled, free from passion or prejudice and overflowing
with kindness, he gave to his client the service of great talent, unwearied industry
and great learning, but he never forgot there were certain things due to the court,
to his own self-respect, and above all to justice and a righteous administration
of the law, which neither the zeal of an advocate nor the pleasure of success
would permit him to disregard. He was an able, faithful and conscientious
minister in the temple of justice. On the bench his career was above reproach.
What higher tribute can be paid his judicial ability than the approval of a critical
public which demonstrated its trust in him by continuing him in office for two
decades?"

Judge Dale was married in Vandalia, Illinois, on the 24th of May, 1849, to
Margaret M. Ewing, a daughter of General W. L. D. Ewing, auditor of state
and for a time acting governor. They had eight children, of whom Ewing, the
eldest, died in 1873 while practicing medicine in Kansas; and three daughters,
Emma, Annie and Carrie, died in early life. The living sons are James B.,
Charles S., Lee and Samuel. In his home Judge Dale was a devoted and con-
siderate husband and father, a faithful friend and a genial host. He was
especially interested in young people and their welfare, and Hon. A. D. Met-
calfe said of him: "He had a personal interest in every child trying to get an edu-
cation. No young man who has grown up in Edwardsville but feels that he is
indebted to Judge Dale for kindness and the work he has done for the schools.
He was a man of whom the state of Illinois might be proud." He certainly
achieved high distinction and he deserved it. He was eminent as a lawyer and as
a 'member of the convention which framed the organic law of the state. His
spotless and exalted reputation will be long remembered by the profession and the
community, and his memory be held precious by his friends, while that which he
accomplished will live long after his name is dimmed by the mists of years.

Elliott Breese Glass, a practicing attorney of Edwardsville, was born April
16, 1845, and is a son of Cornelius and Elizabeth Jane (Pulse) Glass. The great-

/oo THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

grandfather, George Glass, was a native of the Emerald Isle, and was of Scotch-
Irish descent. James Glass, the grandfather, was a farmer by occupation, and
emigrating to Illinois in 1817 took up his residence in St. Clair county, where he
died in February, 1863. Cornelius Glass was born in Fleming county, Ken-
tucky, in 1815, and was also a farmer at Millstadt, St. Clair county, Illinois. H;s
death occurred October 29, 1862, and like his father he gave his political support
to the Democracy. His wife was born in Berkeley county, Virginia, March n,
1821, but her people were from Pennsylvania. By her marriage she became the
mother of four children : E. B. ; Alonzo B., deceased ; Dr. Cornelius A., who
joined the Howard Association soon after his graduation at Rush Medical Col-
lege, of Chicago, and was sent to attend the yellow-fever cases in Vicksburg,
dying of that disease at Highland Place, October 13, 1878; and Euphemia, who
lives in Upper Alton, Illinois, with her mother, who is now seventy-seven years
of age.

Mr. Glass of this review was educated in Shurtleff College, of Upper Alton,
and then went to Leavenworth City, where he studied law in the office of Sears &
Taylor for a year. Later he returned to Alton and became a student in the law
office of Hon. Levi Davis, an able attorney, with whom he continued until his
admission to the bar, in June, 1870, successfully passing an examination before
the supreme court. The following year he opened an office in Upper Alton and
in 1872 he was appointed state's attorney to fill a vacancy. In the same year
he was nominated on the Greeley ticket as the candidate for that office and was
elected over W. F. L. Hadley, the Republican candidate. For four years he filled
that position, discharging his duties with marked fidelity and ability. During that
time he removed to Edwardsville, and in 1879 was appointed master in chancery
of the circuit court and was reappointed for four successive terms, covering a
period of ten years in that office. In 1883 he received the Democratic caucus
nomination for secretary of the state senate, but was not elected. He has also
been prominent as a leader in city politics, in 1888 was elected by a large majority
to the position of president of the board of education of Edwardsville; in 1889
was elected mayor and served one term ; and in 1892 was nominated by acclama-
tion in the Democratic convention for the office of state's attorney, to which
position he was elected by a large majority. In the administration of the affairs
of these various positions he has displayed a public-spirited loyalty and devotion
to the general good most commendable. At the bar he indicates his compre-
hensive familiarity with the principles and precedents of law, is forceful and con-
vincing in argument, cogent in reasoning and logical in drawing his conclusions.
He has won many notable cases and his ability insures to him a gratifying
clientage. At the Democratic convention of Madison county, held August i,
1898, he was nominated for county judge by acclamation.

In June, 1874, in Upper Alton, Mr. Glass was united in marriage to Miss
Eudora, a daughter of George R. Stocker, one of the associate judges of the
county court. Her mother bore the maiden name of Margaret Cline and was a
native of North Carolina" while Mr. Stocker claimed Louisville, Kentucky, as the
place of his birth. Mr. and Mrs. Glass have two children, Breese and Gene-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 701

vieve. Our subject is a charter member of the local lodge of the order of
Knights of Pythias, and in social as well as business circles his standing is high.

William P. Early, among the younger members of the Illinois bar who have
gained distinguished preferment, is now capably filling the office of county
judge of Madison county. He was born near New Douglas. Illinois, July 12,
1860, and has passed his entire life in his native county. He spent his boy-
hood on his father's farm and in the public schools acquired his education, fit-
ting him for the practical duties of life. After attaining his majority he engaged
in teaching school for several terms in Madison county, but the profession of
law proved to him a more attractive field and he began preparing for the bar as a
student in the law office of Judge J. G. Irwin, and completed his studies in the
office of Hon. Charles N. Travous, of Edwardsville, in 1887. His close applica-
tion and diligent study enabled him to successfully pass an examination before the
appellate court at Springfield, in 1889. and thus licensed to practice he opened
an office in Edwardsville, where his talent, thorough preparation of cases, de-
votion to his client's interest and laudable ambition have enabled him to make
continued progress toward the front rank of the representatives of the legal
fraternity.

In 1891 he was nominated by the Republicans and elected by an overwhelm-
ing majority to the office of city attorney, and so ably did he conduct the pro-
secutions and conserve the public good that he was re-elected in 1893. The
following year he was his party's nominee for the office of county judge, and
after making a thorough canvass defeated his Democratic opponent, who was
considered the strongest man on their ticket. Resigning his position as city
attorney to enter upon his duties as judge, he has won high commendation by
his fairness and freedom from judicial bias. In 1898 he was again the choice of
his party, was nominated by acclamation, and was re-elected to succeed himself.
He is the youngest man that ever sat upon the bench of the county, but his age is
no impediment to able service. His decisions are clear, concise and yet com-
prehensive and indicate a broad and accurate knowledge of the law. A number
of his cases have been appealed to the supreme court and in every one his
decisions have been affirmed.

On the 17th of November, 1894, Judge Early was united in marriage to
Miss Ritchie B. Ground, daughter of the late Richard B. Ground, to whom two
children have been born, Doris and Dudley G. The gracious hospitality of
their home makes it a favorite resort with their large circle of friends. He has
won the admiration of fellow members of the bar by his wise and considerate
course and he possesses the four indispensable qualities of the able judge to hear
courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly, and to give judgment without
partiality.

Charles N. Travous, of Edwardsville, was born of Irish parentage, near
Shiloh, St. Clair county, Illinois, January 26, 1857. Losing his father when very
young, he was early thrown "upon his own resources, and not only provided for
his own maintenance, but also aided his mother to support the other members
of the family. During his boyhood he attended the district schools in the winter

702 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

and through the remainder of the year worked on a farm. Later he obtained a
first-grade teacher's certificate in both St. Clair and Madison counties, and en-
gaged in teaching school in the latter county for four years, from 1876 until
1880. During that time, having determined to enter the legal profession, he
devoted his leisure time to the mastery of the principles of jurisprudence, also in
perfecting himself in a knowledge of stenography and the German language, in
both of which he acquired proficiency without the aid. of a teacher. His legal
studies were prosecuted under the direction of Messrs. Gillespie & Happy, one of
the leading law firms of Edwardsville, the county-seat of Madison county. To
those gentlemen he recited on Saturdays, riding horseback a distance of twenty-
four miles to their office. During several terms of the Madison county circuit
court he served as its official stenographer, and in the spring of 1881 was ad-
mitted to the bar by the supreme court of the state, easily ranking first in a class
of sixteen applicants.

In June following Mr. Travous entered into partnership with Cyrus Happy,
the junior member of the firm under whose supervision he had studied. This
partnership continued until 1891, when Mr. Happy removed to the state of
Washington. On the ist of August, of that year, Mr. Travous formed a part-
nership with W. M. Warnock, under the firm name of Travous & Warnock, and
this association is still maintained. The senior member is an excellent example
of what may be accomplished by fidelity and close attention to business. Begin-
ning at the very foot of the ladder, without wealth or influential friends to aid
him, in fact his lot cast among strangers, he has by individual effort achieved a
remarkable success, and enjoys the highest reputation for thorough knowledge
of the law and integrity and ability as an advocate. He represents some of the
largest interests, corporate and individual, in Madison and adjoining counties,
and there are few civil cases of importance in the circuit in which he is not re-
tained.

On the 6th of October, 1886, Mr. Travous was united in marriage to Miss
Gillian L. Torrence, a granddaughter of John T. Lusk, one of the pioneers of
Edwardsville. They now have two daughters, and theirs is one of the ideal
homes of the city in which they reside. In his political views Mr. Travous is a
Republican, and has always taken an active interest in politics, but has never
allowed himself to become a candidate for any office or otherwise permitted
politics to interfere with his professional pursuits.

Charles H. Burton, engaged in the general practice of law in Edwardsville,
has won a fair degree of success in his chosen profession, and is known as a
painstaking, thorough and competent attorney, whose devotion to his clients'
interests is proverbial. His connection with Illinois is not of short duration, for
he is one of the native sons of the state, his birth having occurred in Johnson
county, August 14, 1861. His father, Charles Burton, Sr., was born in Virginia,
on the I4th of July, 1824, and at the age of twenty years came to Illinois. He
married Caroline Russell, who was born in Tennessee, and was a lady of many
excellencies of character. He provided for his family by engaging in the grain
trade, and h'is well directed efforts brought to him a comfortable competence.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 703

His last days were spent in Mount Vernon, Illinois, and during his residence
there he was a member of the board of appeals of the Chicago board of trade.
His death occurred December 21, 1893. For forty years he was a consistent and
exemplary member of the Masonic fraternity and in his religious connection he
was a Baptist. His political support was given the Democracy and in all the
relations of life he was an honest, upright man, true to his convictions and
faithful to the trusts reposed in him. The Burtons came from England, locating
in Virginia. They were among the colonists who loved liberty and imbibed their
democracy from the "fountain head" of America, Thomas Jefferson, and time and
change have not altered their love or faith in the people.

Charles H. Burton, having acquired his elementary education in the public
schools, pursued a course of study in the State Normal University, at Carbon-
dale, Illinois, and on the completion of the regular classical course was gradu-
ated in 1881. His boyhood days were passed in a manner not unusual to most
lads of the period. Hunting, fishing and other sports of childhood afforded him
recreation and amusement when his father did not keep him employed at work
on the farm, and thus he grew to manhood, imbibing those principles in his home
and school life which make the reliable American citizen. Upon his graduation
he immediately began assisting his father in the purchase and sale of grain, con-
tinuing in this line until taken ill, when he went to Wyoming for his health,
spending several months in that state. With a thorough classical education to
serve as a foundation on which to rest the superstructure of professional knowl-
edge, he took up the study of law in the office of Judge Andrew D. Duff, of
Carbondale, Illinois, in December, 1881. In 1884 he was admitted to the bar and
in the courts of his district put to the practical test the knowledge he had gained
concerning the principles of jurisprudence, and the precedents that have grown
out of the litigation of former years. He practiced alone in Mount Vernon from
January, 1885, until 1891, and was then for a few months a member of the law
firm of Conger & Burton Brothers, the partners being Judge C. S. Conger, our
subject and his brother, John W. Burton. On the 2ist of June, 1892, Charles H.
Burton removed to Edwardsville, having previously formed a partnership with
Hon. W. F. L. Hadley, and the firm of Hadley & Burton is one of marked
prestige at the bar of Madison county. They have a liberal clientage and are
both recognized as men of more than ordinary legal ability. Mr. Burton en-
gages in general practice, but taste and patronage have led him more into the lines
of chancery and civil cases than of criminal. He ever guards his clients' inter-
ests as his own and in his practice he is absolutely fair, indulging not in artifice or
concealment, never dealing in indirect methods, but winning his victories or
suffering his defeats in the open field, face to face with his foe.

His legal work in the supreme court began in 1885, when he was retained
as counsel in the case of Warren versus Cook et al., reported in Illinois Reports,
volume 116, page 199, involving the revenue laws. The appellate and supreme
court reports show his connection with various important suits in those branches
of the judiciary, the latest case of special note being that of the Consolidated
Coal Company versus Scheiber, reported in Illinois Reports, volume 167, page

704 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

539. This was heard in 1897 and involved the liability of coal operators for in-
juries to employes, this being one of the most important decisions of the supreme
court of Illinois touching the liability of coal-mine owners. Mr. Burton has
also been interested as counsel in some of the litigation heard in the federal
courts at Springfield and Chicago, as shown in the records.

Politically Mr. Burton is a Democrat in principle and practice, is a firm be-
liever in the policy of his party and an admirer of Hon. W. J. Bryan, but has
never been an aspirant for office. Socially he is connected with the Knights of
Pythias fraternity, but of late years has not taken a very active part in the work
of the lodge. Reared in the faith of the Baptist church, he is now liberal in his
religious views, giving to those who differ with him 'the same respect that he
accords to those who agree with him. He believes firmly in honesty in busi-
ness, in religion, in politics, and in every other department in life, and exempli-
fies in his own upright career this trait of his character. With him friendship
is inviolable ; no trust reposed in him is ever betrayed.

On the 15th of October, 1885, Mr. Burton was married in Edwardsville, to
Miss Annie C. Wheeler, a daughter of Colonel William E. and Piety F.
(Hatcher) Wheeler. Mrs. Burton's father is a native of Edwardsville, a repre-
sentative of a New York family, and was a captain in the war of 1812, the Black
Hawk war and the Mexican war. Mrs. Wheeler represented a southern family
of Kentucky and Tennessee. To Mr. and Mrs. Burton have been born four
children: Margaret Eugenia, who was born May 27, 1887; Lady Elizabeth,
born July 6, 1889; Charles William, born August 31, 1891 ; and Julia, who was
born in Edwardsville, in 1892, and died in infancy. The living children were all
born in Mount Vernon. The parents occupy a prominent position in social
circles in Edwardsville, and Mr. Burton is known as a valued and progressive
citizen, as well as a thoroughly reliable man and lawyer.

\^L-^^^t-^

CHAPTER XXXIV.

REPRESENTATIVE LAWYERS OF ST. CLAIR, McLEAN, McDONOUGH,
MASSAC AND CLARK COUNTIES.

COLONEL THOMAS SLOO CASEY, as a lawyer, soldier and statesman,
has left a name ineffaceably engraved on the pages of Illinois history. He
left the impress of his strong individuality and noble character upon the
legislation and jurisprudence of the state, and in the hour of his country's peril he
marched at the head of a loyal Union army that aided in winning more than one
important victory for the nation. It is not an easy task to describe adequately
a man who led an eminently active and busy life and who attained to a position
of high relative distinction in the more important and exacting fields of human
endeavor. But biography finds its most perfect justification, nevertheless, in
the tracing and recording of such a life history. It is, then, with a full apprecia-
tion of all that is demanded, and of the painstaking scrutiny that must be ac-
corded each statement, and yet with a feeling of significant satisfaction, that the
writer essays the task of touching briefly upon the details of such a record as has
been the voice of the character of the honored subject whose life now comes
under review.

Thomas Sloo Casey was born on "Red Bud farm" in Jefferson county, Illi-
nois, April 6, 1832, and was descended from one of the Revolutionary heroes, his
grandfather, Randolph Casey, having served under General Francis Marion in
the war for independence. Zadok Casey, the father of our subject, was a native of
Georgia, and in 1817 married Rachel King, who was born in Tennessee. The
following year they removed to Jefferson county, Illinois, locating on a farm
to which they gave the name of Red Bud. In 1841 they purchased a new home,
adjoining Mount Vernon, which they named "Elm Hill." The father was a
farmer by occupation and was one of the honored pioneers of the state, whose
labors laid the foundation for the present prosperity and greatness of the com-
monwealth. As a local minister of the Methodist church, he also labored for
the uplifting of humanity, and his life was an inspiration to all who knew him.
He served in the Black Hawk war when the Indians threatened the destruction
of the new state, and in every possible way aided in the material, educational,
social and moral advancement of the community with which his life was cast.
A man of broad mind and ripe scholarship, of sound judgment and noble pur-
pose, he was well fitted for leadership in the world both of thought and action,
and was called to represent his district in both houses of the state legislature.
He was also a member of congress for ten years and was lieutenant-governor
of Illinois.

4S 70S

-o6 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

General T. S. Casey and his brothers spent their early years under the care
of a tutor in their own home. Later he attended the Mount Vernon Seminary,
and at the age of sixteen entered McKendree College, in which institution he
was graduated on completing the scientific and classical courses. Thus with a
comprehensive general knowledge on which to rear the superstructure of profes-
sional learning, he entered the law office of Hugh Montgomery, under whose
direction he mastered the fundamental principles of jurisprudence. After thor-
ough preparation he was admitted to the bar before the supreme court at Spring-
field, Illinois, and through the succeeding two years resided in Shawneetown,
Illinois, where his brother, Samuel K. Casey, had charge of the land office, he be-
coming an assistant in this office.

On the expiration of the two years, Colonel Casey returned to Mount Ver-
non, where he engaged in the practice of law in partnership with Tazewell B.
Tanner, and also edited the Democratic county paper from 1856 until 1858. In
1860 he was elected spate's attorney over two opponents by a large majority,
and in 1864 was re-elected for a term of four years. His law practice, however,
was interrupted by his military service, for in response to his country's call for
troops he determined to go forth to battle for the Union, and within fifteen days
raised a full regiment, with which he reported at Anna, Illinois, in September,
1862, and was elected colonel of what became the One Hundred and Tenth Illi-
nois Infantry. At the head of his command he went immediately to the front,
where he soon participated in several minor engagements and in the important
battle of Stone river, where he was reported killed. He was with General Palm-
er's brigade, which pursued General Bragg to Murfreesboro, and honorable
mention is made of his service on page 361, volume I, "Patriotism of Illinois,"
where an account is given how Colonel Thomas S. Casey and the One Hundred
and Tenth Illinois, together with the Forty-first Ohio regiment, by their un-
flinching determination and bravery foiled the overwhelming force of the rebels
in their attempt to break the front of General Hazen's forces. Subsequently they
occupied the extreme left under General Palmer against which a heavy attack
was directed. This position had to be held or the left wing of the army sacrificed.
The ammunition of the One Hundred and Tenth was exhausted when the voice
of the Colonel rang out, "Club your muskets!" to which command the men
heartily responded, and like heroes they fought and held the line unbroken
until reinforced by the One Hundredth Illinois under the lamented Colonel Bar-
tleson. The bravery of their commander often inspired the One Hundred and
Tenth to deeds of great valor, for they knew that he would never needlessly
sacrifice a single man, and that he would not only give them orders but would
be their leader in the thickest of the fight and in the midst of the greatest danger.

Returning to Mount Vernon at the close of the war Colonel Casey resumed
the practice of law and with the passing years his clientage increased both in
volume and importance. He ever took a patriotic and public-spirited interest in
the welfare of his state, and in 1870 was elected a member of the legislature,
where he served with distinction. In 1872 he was elected state senator, and dur-
ing his term made the first "free-trade" speech ever delivered in the general

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 707

assembly of Illinois. His knowledge of constitutional law made him a very able
member and his influence and counsel were widely felt in framing the statutes
of the commonwealth. In 1879 he was elected circuit judge of his district and
was immediately appointed one of the appellate judges, which position he filled
until the expiration of his term of office. He took to the bench a mind well
stored with legal lore, a large experience gathered from years of extensive and
important practice, a character that was an assurance that the duties of the high
office would be faithfully administered and a general natural fitness for the posi-
tion that few men possess. His record as a judge was in harmony with his record
as a man and a lawyer, distinguished by unswerving integrity and a masterful
grasp of every problem that has presented itself for his solution. While he was
at all times fair and impartial in his rulings and based his decisions upon a com-
prehensive and accurate knowledge of the law, he also exercised the higher at-
tribute of mercy which often is followed by a reform that cold justice never
brings. Upon his retirement from the bench Judge Casey resumed the practice
of law in Springfield. His preparation of cases was most thorough and exhaust-
ive; he seemed almost intuitively to grasp the strong points of law and fact,
while in his briefs and arguments the authorities were cited so extensively and
the facts and reasons thereon presented so cogently and unanswerably as to
leave no doubt as to the correctness of his views or of his conclusions. No de-
tail seemed to escape him; every point was given its due prominence and the case
argued with such skill, ability and power that he rarely failed to gain the ver-
dict desired.

Judge Casey was married in Springfield, Illinois, October 30, 1861, to Miss
Matilda S. Moran, a daughter of Patricius Moran, a native of Roscommon
county, Ireland, and a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia.
They had three children, one of whom died in infancy, the others being Carrie,
wife of Dan C. Nugent, of St. Louis, Missouri, and Louise, wife of Lieutenant
D. J. Baker, Jr., of the Twelfth Infantry, United States Army. The Judge was
a member of the Knights of Honor and the Sons of Maccabees, and was a con-
vert to the Roman Catholic church. He died March i, 1891, and was buried in
Calvary cemetery, in Springfield, Illinois. Any monument erected to his mem-
ory and to commemorate his virtues will have become dim and tarnished by
time ere the remembrance of his noble example shall cease to exercise an in-
fluence upon the community in which he lived and labored to such goodly ends.

Jesse M. Freels, of East St. Louis, is the subject of the following paragraphs.
"Biography," said Carlyle, "is the most universally pleasant, the most universally
profitable of all reading." The reason for this is evident and may be found in
the words of Pope: "The proper study of mankind is man." Nature furnishes us
illustration and even lessons of value, but where is found the inspiration and
encouragement that comes through a story of heroic action, of successful ac-
complishment, of honorable purpose crowned by brilliant achievement, the
conquering of a seemingly adverse fate and triumph over great obstacles. The
man that gains a position of eminence in any calling must possess certain quali-
ties, perseverance, energy, determination and business aptitude; but he who

7 o8 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

attains prominence in professional life must add to those strong mentality and
careful preparatory training. That Mr. Freels is possessed of these various
elements that go to make up the successful life is shown by his large clientage
and his enviable position as one of the foremost lawyers in his section of the
state.

A native of Tennessee, he was born in Robertsville, Anderson county, Octo-
ber 13, 1842. His father, William S. Freels, was a prosperous planter whose
ancestors lived in Virginia and were supposed to be of Scotch-Irish extraction.
For many years the father was chairman of the county court of Anderson county,
and his death occurred there at the age of seventy-nine. His wife bore the
maiden name of Maria L. Tunnell, and was of English lineage.

Jesse McDonald Freels acquired his preliminary education in the country
schools of his native county and supplemented that training by a course in the
Tennessee University, at Knoxville, and later was graduated in Amherst College,
of Amherst, Massachusetts, as a member of the class of 1871. When his literary
education was completed he became a student in the law department of the
Iowa University, at Iowa City, and was graduated in that famous institution in
June, 1874, with the valedictorian honors of his class. In August of that year
he located in East St. Louis, entered upon the practice of law and soon after-
ward formed a partnership with the late Judge W. G. Case. About one year
later the connection was dissolved by mutual consent, Judge Case entering politi-
cal life. Since that time Mr. Freels has been alone in law practice, his business
being of an important character. He has served as counsel on some of the most
celebrated cases that have been tried in the courts of southern Illinois, where his
masterly arguments, his sound logic and his clear reasoning are unmistakable
evidence of his skill and ability. He has argued many cases and lost but few.
No one better knows the necessity for thorough preparation and no one more
industriously prepares his cases than he. His course in the court-room is char-
acterized by calmness and dignity that indicate reserve strength. He is always
courteous and deferential toward the court, kind and forbearing toward his ad-
versaries, and, while he examines a witness carefully and thoroughly, ever treats
him with respect. His handling of his case is always full, comprehensive and
accurate; his analysis of the facts is clear and exhaustive; he sees without effort
the relation and dependence of the facts and so groups them as to enable him to
throw their combined force upon the points they tend to prove. He has always
avoided criminal cases, making a specialty of corporation and other branches
of civil law. For two years he held the office of corporation counsel and his ser-
vices proved so valuable that he was retained for two years longer as special
counsel.

During the Civil war Mr. Freels manifested a patriotic loyalty -to the Union
cause by enlisting in the federal army in February, 1862, when only nineteen
years of age. He was assigned to Company E, Third Tennessee Volunteer In-
fantry, participated in all the leading battles with his regiment, including the
engagements at Richmond and Perryville, Kentucky, Resaca, Georgia, and
those of the Atlanta campaign under command of Generals Thomas and Sher-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 709

man. Later his regiment returned to Nashville, where the Union troops suc-
ceeded in defeating General Hood. After three years of faithful service, Mr.
Freels was mustered out at Nashville, at the close of the war. He has ever been
a public-spirited citizen, interested in the welfare and progress of county, state
and nation, and his aid and influence have been given to the support of all
measures for the public good. He exercises his right of franchise in behalf of
the men and measures of the Republican party, but has never been an aspirant
for office. Socially he affiliates with the blue lodge of Masons. He is a man
of upright character, one that subordinates personal ambition to public good
and seeks rather the benefit of others than the aggrandizement of self. Endowed
by nature with high intellectual qualities, to which were added the discipline
and embellishments of culture, his is a most attractive personality.

Mr. Freels has been twice married. On the i$th of November, 1882, he wed-
ded Miss Alice, daughter of John Tunnell, and they became parents of two chil-
dren: Arthur M. and Alice T. The mother died October 23, 1886, and Mr.
Freels was again married December 13, 1888, his second union being with Miss
Belle Baker, daughter of Captain Angus Baker, an extensive planter of Red
Banks, North Carolina. Three children graced this union: Jesse B., deceased;
John W. and Mary I.

John B. Hay, a member of the bar of Belleville, has spent his entire life in
this city, where his birth occurred January 8, 1834. His parents were Andrew
and Emily (Morrison) Hay, the former a native of Cahokia, St. Clair county, and
the latter of Kaskaskia, Illinois. He acquired his education in the common
schools and supplemented it by knowledge gained while working in a printing-
office. During his early boyhood he always took great interest in the transac-
tions of the courts, and as opportunity offered attended their proceedings. Thus
was awakened a desire to become a lawyer, which wish was gratified on his ad-
mission to the bar in 1851.

In 1862 Mr. Hay entered the Union army as a member of the One Hundred
and Thirtieth Illinois Infantry, and with the rank of adjutant served for about a
year. With the exception of this period he has continually engaged in the prac-
tice of the law and has attained a distinguished position among the able members
of the bar of St. Clair county. In the year 1860 he was elected state's attorney
for the judicial circuit composed of the counties of St. Clair, Madison and Bond,
and in 1864 was re-elected, proving a most able prosecutor, whom fear or favor
could not swerve from the path of duty. In 1868 he was elected to congress
from the old twelfth district of Illinois and re-elected in 1870. He became a
Republican upon the formation of the party, and was the candidate on that
ticket for state's attorney in 1856, the year in which the first Republican governor
of Illinois was elected. His official service was ever commendable, and his com-
prehensive understanding of political questions and his fervent Americanism
made him a most able representative of his district in congress. In the year 1886
he was elected judge of the county court of St. Clair county.

On the I5th of October, 1857, Mr. Hay was united in marriage to Miss
Maria L. Hinckley, who was born in Belleville only a short distance from the

y 10 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

birthplace of her husband. They are the parents of two sons: John, who was
born July 31, 1858, and William Sherman, born July 13, 1864. Both have fol-
lowed in their father's footsteps, professionally, the former being a lawyer of
Minneapolis, Minnesota, the latter of Chicago. John B. Hay is now one of the
older members of the bar of Belleville, and has for years maintained an honored
position among the legal fraternity by reason of his ability and his upright life.

Charles P. Wise, of Alton, was born in Emmittsburg, Maryland, March 15,
1839, and is a son of Peter and Harriet (Sneeringer) Wise. On the paternal side
the ancestors were farmers and mechanics, of Maryland, distinguished only for
their industry and integrity; on the maternal side they were farmers and land-
owners of Pennsylvania. The father of our subject was a miller by occupation
and built the large mill in Alton, Illinois, now owned by the Sparks Milling
Company. There he carried on business from 1840 until his retirement to pri-
vate life.

During his infancy Charles Peter Wise was brought by his parents to Illi-
nois, and in private schools at Alton pursued his education between the ages of
six and thirteen years. He then entered the St. Louis University, where he
completed the work of the classical course through the junior year, leaving that
institution at the age of eighteen. For about five or six months thereafter he
assisted his father in the mill, and then entered upon the study of law in the
office of the Hon. Levi Davis, of Alton, who directed his reading for two years,
after which he became a student in the Albany Law School, where he was grad-
uated in May, 1861.

Returning to Alton, Mr. Wise began there the practice of his chosen profes-
sion in September, 1861, and was a leading member of its legal fraternity until
January, 1892, when he formed a partnership with George F. McNulty and re-
moved to East St. Louis. His family had located in St. Louis some years pre-
vious. He votes the Democratic ticket, but has always refused to become a
candidate for political office, preferring to give his entire time and attention to
his profession and business interests. His practice is large and of a very im-
portant character, and the ability with which he masters the intricate problems of
jurisprudence insures him continued success. In his religious views he is a
Catholic.

On the 25th of December, 1865, Mr. Wise was married, in Wyandotte,
Kansas, to Miss Mary Josephine Weer, a daughter of William and Gloriana
(Hamilton) Weer. Her father was a celebrated lawyer, who served as United
States district attorney at Lecompton, Kansas, was afterward state senator, and
in the Civil war served his country as colonel of the Tenth Kansas Infantry. His
wife was a granddaughter of the distinguished Presbyterian divine, Rev. Gideon
Blackburn, who founded the Blackburn University at Carlinville, Illinois. To
Mr. and Mrs. Wise have been born eight children: Henrietta, born October 13,
1866; Charles E., born December i, 1869; Albert R., born August 6, 1872;
Blanche T., born August 8, 1875; Francis A., born August 14, 1878; Marie J.,
born October 31, 1880; Cyril P., born July 9, 1883, and Austin, who was born
July 5, r886, and died in infancy. The others are all yet living.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 711

Judge Martin W. Schaefer, of the third judicial district, holds marked pres-
tige among those who occupy the benches of the various circuit courts of Illinois.
His career at the bar is one where merit has gained continuous advancement, and
his marked capability in handling the intricate problems of jurisprudence has
secured to him distinguished preferment in his chosen calling.

Judge Schaefer was born in Troy, Madison county, Illinois, March 20, 1857.
His father, Jacob Schaefer, was a native of Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, and with
his widowed mother emigrated to America, arriving in St. Louis in July, 1850.
Four years later Miss Margaret Noll, also a native of Rhenish Bavaria, took
up her residence in St. Louis, and the two were married. The father was a tailor
by trade and followed that pursuit in St. Louis until 1856, when he removed to
Troy, Madison county, Illinois. In 1858 he went to Lebanon, where he and his
wife are still living, each having reached the age of sixty-two years.

In the public schools of Lebanon Judge Schaefer acquired his early educa-
tion, which was supplemented by study in McKendree College, also of that city.
On the completion of the classical course he was graduated in June, 1876. He
possesses a very industrious and studious nature and during his boyhood attended
the public schools during the winter season, while in the summer months he
worked on a farm. Between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years he clerked in
a store in Lebanon, after which he entered college as before stated. On the com-
pletion of the classical work he made arrangements to pursue the study of law
under the direction of the law department of McKendree College, and at the
same time he engaged in teaching in the Franklin school west of O'Fallon, Illi-
nois. From 1877 until 1879 he devoted his energies to teaching and study and
in May of the latter year was admitted to the bar. He did not then begin prac-
tice, for his parents were desirous that he should embark in business in Leb-
anon, and from September, 1880, until October, 1881, he maintained a part-
nership connection with Seller's Bank, of that city.

Wishing, however, to devote his energies to professional labors, Judge
Schaefer removed to Belleville, November 27, 1881, and entered the law office
of Hay & Knispel, with whom he continued his studies for about a year. In
September, 1882, he formed a partnership with Hon. William H. Snyder, Jr.,
and in December, 1884, he entered into partnership with Hon. J. M. Dill, which
connection was continued until Mr. Schaefer's elevation to the bench in June,
1897. In the practice of law he found that his experience on the farm, in the
store, school-room and banking-house was highly beneficial, because no pro-
fession demands such an extensive and accurate knowledge of all lines of busi-
ness and modes of life as does the law. His mind is acute, clear, quick in per-
ception and rapid in deduction, just the kind that fitted him for a successful
nisi-prius practitioner. In' April, 1883, he was elected city attorney of Belle-
ville, and so ably did he fill that office that he was again chosen for the posi-
tion in 1885 and 1887. He soon became widely known as a very capa-
ble practitioner, and in November, 1888, was chosen state's attorney
for St. Clair county, to which position he was re-elected in 1892. Thor- .
oughly versed in the science of jurisprudence and equally at home in every

712 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

branch of the law, his defenses were able, logical and convincing. His argu-
ments showed thorough preparation and he lost sight of no fact that might
advance his client's interests and passed by no available point of an attack in
an opponent's argument. On the bench his rulings are ever just, incisive and
incapable of misinterpretation. With a full appreciation of the majesty of the
law he exemplifies that justice which is the inherent right of every individual,
and fearlessly discharges his duties with a loyalty to principle that knows no
'wavering. He has the respect of the entire bar of the third district and has
long occupied a place in the foremost rank of its distinguished members.

Judge Schaefer is an esteemed and prominent Odd Fellow, who in October,
1880, became a member of St. Clair Lodge, No. 119, of Lebanon. He trans-
ferred his membership to Pride of the West Lodge, No. 650, of Belleville, in
1883, and since 1884 has been a member of the Grand Lodge, serving as grand
master for one year, to which position he was elected in November, 1891. It
was during his term that the Odd Fellows' Orphans' Home at Lincoln, Illi-
nois, was dedicated.

Judge Schaefer was married November n, 1879, in Lebanon, Illinois, to
Louisa Weigel, daughter of John and Caroline (Art) Weigel, resident of Leb-
anon, where the father is engaged in merchandising. The children of Judge
and Mrs. Schaefer are Edna W., a student in Lindenwood College, of St.
Charles, Missouri; Leota M., who is attending the high school in Belleville;
Elmer W., Edwin M. and Otho E., who are students in the public school in
Belleville; and Anna Corinne, a little maiden of four summers. The family is
one of prominence in the community and their home is the center of a cultured
society circle.

Marshall W. Weir is an attorney of St. Clair county. The Weir family are
descendants of Scotch-Irish ancestors. Samuel Weir, the father of the subject
of this sketch, was born in Williamston, Pennsylvania, March 16, 1807. His
father, Samuel, was also born in Pennsylvania. His grandfather, the great-
grandfather of Marshall W., was born in county Londonderry, province of
Ulster, Ireland. He there grew to manhood and married, and came to this
country about the middle of the eighteenth century.

Samuel Weir, the father of Marshall W., was by trade a cabinet-maker.
While yet young he removed to Ohio and settled in Trumbull county, where,
on the 1 6th day of March, 1835, he married Miss Nancy Sophia Barnes, who
was born in the town of Gill, Franklin county, Massachusetts, September 14,
1812. Her father, Samuel Newton Barnes, and her grandfather, John Barnes,
were natives of New England. Her father married Miss Elizabeth Morley, a
daughter of John Morley. Both her grandfathers John Barries and John
Morley were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. By this marriage four chil-
dren were born, three sons and one daughter. The eldest, Virgil Newton
Weir, enlisted at the breaking out of the civil war, and was lieutenant in Com-
pany B of the Eighty-sixth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. He remained in
the service until discharged by death February 3, 1863. Mary, the only daugh-
ter, was born January 26, 1841, and died March 21, 1884, at Lawrence, Kansas.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 713

She was the wife of Judge A. H. Foote, a talented lawyer of the latter place,
now a prominent citizen of Seattle, Washington. Henry Barnes Weir, the
youngest son, is a prosperous merchant of Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio,
who lives within a half-dozen miles from the locality where he was born, and
has never lived elsewhere than in that county.

The father died about the time Henry was born. The mother reared her
family of four children, educating them all in the Western Reserve Seminary
at Farmihgton, Ohio. She was ever a remarkable woman. In early life she
received as good an education as the times afforded, and paid special attention
to the education of her children. No branch was too difficult, in her estima-
tion, for her children to pursue. When they encountered a lesson too intricate
for their young minds, and calculated to discourage them, she never wearied in
her endeavors to keep up their courage until the task, was done. She was
gifted with rare qualities of mind and graces of person. She was of command-
ing presence, interesting in conversation, affable in her manners, and loved and
esteemed by all who knew her. She died August n, 1890. The following
sonnet from the pen of the subject of this sketch is a tribute to her memory:

IN MEMORIAM.

I love to think of that dear sainted one

Who taught my infant lips to speak the name,

The sacred name of Mother. What a claim
She has to everything I may have done!
I pensive sit and let fond memory run

To that dear one. I see her just the same

As when she strove to keep my childish aim
On higher, nobler things through her begun.

I see her graceful form and handsome face;
I feel her cultured mind, her God-like soul,

And ponder on her wondrous depth of love.
Dear Mother! From thy more exalted place

Still keep o'er me thy sweet and blest control,
Until I join thee in the home above!

Marshall W. Weir is the second son of the family. He was born in Amite
county, Mississippi, February 9, 1839, and educated, as above stated, at the
Western Reserve Seminary, where he made rapid advancement in study, and
from which institution he received the degree of A. M. In this connection it
may be mentioned that the honorary degree of A. M. was conferred on him
in 1877 by Shurtleff College.

Mr. Weir came to Illinois in the spring of 1857, and taught one year near
Loami, Sangamon county. In 1858 he came to St. Clair county, where he
has resided ever since, and where he followed the vocation of teacher for a
few years. He commenced the study of the law in 1861, and was admitted to
the bar in 1863, forming at once a business relation with George Trumbull,
Esq., which was of advantage to him in getting a start in the profession.

On the 5th clay of November, 1865, he was married to Miss Hannah An-
geline Stookey, a most estimable and accomplished young lady, the daughter of
Simon and Hannah Stookey, an old and respected family of St. Clair county. Han-

714 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

nah Stookey was the daughter of Major Cornelius Goodingf who was living
in Virginia in the year 1767. Major Gooding married a lady named Peggy
Scott, September 12, 1786. Ten children were born to them, from whom de-
scended many well known and honored families in this section of the country.
Hannah was born January 12, 1802, in Fleming county, Kentucky; came to St.
Clair county in 1816, married in 1817, and died April g, 1879. Her husband,
Simon Stookey, died in 1849. To Mr. and Mrs. Weir two children have been
born, a daughter, Sophie Barnes, and a son, Marshall W., Jr. Both are well
educated and accomplished. The son has been admitted to the bar and is now
associated with his father in the practice of the profession.

As a lawyer Mr. Weir takes front rank at the bar of St. Clair county, and
his practice has been extensive and lucrative: his life has been a busy one, and
he has always been a close student; he is a man of liberal education and scholarly
attainments, and he has found time to devote considerable attention to litera-
ture, and has written quite a number of essays and addresses on subjects of
special interest. In 1890 he traveled extensively with his family, visiting the
principal European capitals. He has always been interested in the cause of
education. Tn 1888 he became one of the directors of the Belleville Public
Library, and in 1896 succeeded Governor Koerner as president thereof. In
1879 he became one of the trustees of Shurtleff College, and from 1893 to 1898
was president of the board. He has never been ambitious to shine in the field
of politics, or to occupy public office. His church associations have been with
the Baptists, and his political affiliations with the Republicans.

Hon. Joseph B. Messick, a distinguished member of the bar of southern
Illinois, and one of the most prominent and honored residents of East St. Louis,
was born in Macoupin county, Illinois, on the 2gth of January. 1847, his par-
ents being Joseph W. and Sarah E. (Kittinger) Messick. His elementary edu-
cation, acquired in the common schools, was supplemented by one year's study
in college. Of strong mentality and having an inherent taste for literary de-
velopment, he naturally turned toward professional life, and for a time engaged
in teaching school, devoting his leisure hours to the study of law. He bor-
rowed his books from General Rinaker, of Carlinville, and unaided mastered
the fundamental principles of jurisprudence and advanced far into the realms
of legal science. He was examined in Carlinville, in 1871, by a board composed
of C. A. Walker and Horace Gwin, the latter filling the office of state's attorney
at the time. The following year Mr. Messick began the practice of law, but did
not devote his energies entirely to that work, for during a part of the time he
engaged in teaching.

In 1872 he came to East St. Louis, where he has since engaged in the prac-
tice of his chosen profession. No dreary novitiate awaited him. His business has
grown, of course, with the passing years, but he did not have long to wait after
locating in East St. Louis before he had gained a liberal clientage. In 1875 he
was appointed judge of the city court by Governor Beveridge. This was a court
created by the city charter and the judges were appointed by the governor. Mr.
Messick held the office for three years, when the supreme court decided the charter

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 715

was unconstitutional and the court was abolished. He then resumed his law
practice alone, but soon entered into partnership with Thomas Quick, under the
firm name of Messick & Quick. This connection was continued for two years,
and in 1883 he entered into partnership with E. C. Rhoades, under the firm style
of Messick & Rhoades. For twelve years they practiced together, the partner-
ship being dissolved in 1895 on the election of the junior member to the office
of county judge, at which time the present firm of Messick & Moyer was or-
ganized, the junior partner being W. J. N. Moyer. In October, 1864, Mr.
Messick enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Illinois Regiment of
Infantry, leaving school to serve his country. He continued until the close
of the war. when he was mustered out and honorably discharged.

Mr. Messick is engaged in general practice and is well versed in many de-
partments of the science of jurisprudence. To an understanding of uncom-
mon acuteness and vigor he added a thorough and conscientious preparatory
training, while he exemplifies in his practice all the higher elements of the truly
great lawyer. He is constantly inspired by an innate, inflexible love of justice
and a delicate sense of personal honor, which controls him in all his personal
relations. His fidelity to the interests of his clients is proverbial, yet he never
forgets that he owes a higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. His dili-
gence and energy in the preparation of his cases, as well as the earnestness,
tenacity and courage with which he defends the right, as he understands it,
challenge the highest admiration of his associates. He invariably seeks to
present his argument in the strong, clear light of common reason and sound
logical principle, and merit has enabled him to mount the ladder of fame.

Whatever else may be said of the legal fraternity, it cannot be denied that
members of the bar have been more prominent actors in public affairs than
any other class of the community. This is but the natural result of causes
which are manifest and require no explanation. The ability and training which
qualify one to practice law, also qualify him in many respects for duties which
lie outside the strict path of his profession and which touch the general in-
terests of society. In 1882 Mr. Messick was nominated by the Republican
party, of which he is a stanch advocate, for the position of representative to
the state legislature. Elected, he served for one term and in 1884 and 1886
was re-elected. Thus connected with the general assembly for six years, and
taking a deep and comprehensive interest in the questions affecting the welfare
of the commonwealth, he left the impress of his strong individuality upon the
legislation of the state, and by his efficacious labors largely promoted many
measures which have resulted to the public good. He was also one of the
famous "103" who elected John A. Logan to the United States senate. In 1889
he was appointed a commissioner of the Southern Illinois Penitentiary, serv-
ing in that capacity until 1893. In January, 1897, he was reappointed to the
same position by Governor John R. Tanner, and is the present incumbent.

On the ist of January, 1885, Mr. Messick was united in marriage to Miss
Sarah P., daughter of James A. Wood, of East St. Louis, and to them two chil-
dren were born: Joseph B. and Richard J., but the latter died in infancy. Mr.

-i 6 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Messick is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Modern
Woodmen of America. Physically, he is tall, dark and erect as an Indian; in
manner he is courteous, in disposition genial ; his best friends are those who
have known him longest, a fact which is a tribute to his sterling worth and
honorable life.

Benjamin H. Canby, of East St. Louis, has won high honors in his chosen
calling, the law, and this fact is due to his comprehensive and accurate knowl-
edge of the science of jurisprudence and his ability to apply its principles to
the points in litigation. He is a clear and logical reasoner and realizes the im-
portance of the profession to which he has devoted his energies, and the fact
that justice and the higher attribute of mercy he often holds in his hands. His
reputation as a lawyer has been won through earnest, honest labor, and his
standing at the bar is a merited tribute to his ability.

In no profession is there a career more open to talent than is that of the
law, and in no field of endeavor is there demanded a more careful preparation,
a more thorough appreciation of the absolute ethics of life, or of the under-
lying principles which form the basis of all human rights and privileges. Un-
flagging application and intuitive wisdom and a determination to fully utilize
the means at hand, are the elements which insure personal success and prestige
in this great profession, which stands as the stern conservator of justice; and
it is one into which none should enter without a recognition of the obstacles to
be overcome and the battles to be won, for success does not perch on the falchion
of every person who enters the competitive fray, but comes only as the direct
result of capacity and unmistakable ability.

Judge Canby was born in Rellefontaine, Logan county, Ohio, on the 8th
of June, 1857, a son of Richard S. and Eliza Canby, the former of English de-
scent. The first of the name to arrive in this country was a member of the
Quaker colony, or Society of Friends, who came to America with William
Penn and took up his residence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is supposed
that all of the name in this country are his descendants. General Canby, who
was assistant secretary of war for a time during the Rebellion and who com-
manded the federal troops at the capture of Mobile, and was after the war
killed by the Indians in Oregon, was a cousin of our subject. The parents of
Judge Canby were Richard S. and Eliza Canby. The former was a prominent
lawyer and was a member of the lower house and senate of the Ohio. legislature.
,He was also a member of congress from the Buckeye state. In 1861 he re-
moved to Olney, Illinois, where he served. as judge of the circuit comprising
the counties of Richland, Lawrence and Clay, Illinois, being elected to that
position in 1868. He was an old-line Whig in early life, but joined the Re-
'publican party on its organization.

Benjamin H. Canby acquired his education in the common schools and
early in life became imbued with the desire of making the practice of law his
life work. His father being a lawyer, he was impressed with the grandeur and
dignity of the legal profession, and under his direction began familiarizing
himself with the principles that underlie the science of jurisprudence. After a

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 717

three-years course of study he was admitted, in 1877, to the bar before the su-
preme court of Illinois, and immediately thereafter located in East St. Louis,
where he has since engaged in practice. He was chosen city attorney in 1878,
filling the office for a two-years term, was special counsel of the city for two
years, was judge of the city court of East St. Louis three terms of four years
each, and in June, 1897, was candidate for the office of circuit judge, but was
defeated by the Democratic candidate, by a vote of sixty-two. His long service
on the city bench plainly testifies to the ability and impartiality shown in the
discharge of his duties.

Judge Canby belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, the National
Union and the Fraternal Mystic Circle, all insurance societies, and while not
a member of any religious organization is a believer in the theological doctrines
of Swedenborg. He was married in East St. Louis, December 20, 1883, to Miss
Nannie Carr, and their high position in the social circles of the city is indeed
enviable.

Gustavus A. Koerner, having attained distinctive preferment in his chosen
profession, is recognized as the leading lawyer of Belleville. He was born in
that city January 17, 1845, an d is a son of Gustavus Koerner, jurist, statesman
and diplomat, who for sixty years was one of the most prominent figures in
the history of Illinois. His wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was
Sophia Engelmann, a daughter of Frederich Theodore Engelmann, who came
to this country from Germany in 1833 and located in St. Clair county, Illinois.
Mrs. Koerner was born October 16, 1815, and died in Belleville, March i, 1888.

Having acquired his preliminary education in the common schools of his
native city, Gustavus A.. Koerner afterward attended Washington University in
St. Louis, Missouri, and at the age of seventeen went abroad with his father,
who had been appointed minister to the court of Spain by President Lincoln.
He spent some time in that country and then entered the University of Heidel-
berg, where he pursued his studies until the close of the year 1864, when he
accompanied his father on his return to America. He chose the profession of
law as a life work; indeed it never occurred to him to follow any other calling.
Nature seemed to have fitted him for this pursuit, and after a comprehensive
preparatory training he was admitted to the bar in August, 1865. His superior
talents and eminent legal ability soon gained him a high reputation and for
many years he has been accounted one of the leading representatives of the bar
of southern Illinois. He is thoroughly well informed on all branches of the
law, conducting with equal success both civil and criminal cases. He is a
forceful speaker, a logical reasoner and seeks to convince by facts more than
by persuasive eloquence, which often obscures the truth under rhetorical adorn-
ment. His time has been given almost entirely to his practice, which has stead-
ily grown in volume and importance as experience has tested his abilities and
proved his merit. The legal business intrusted to his care is of a high character,
but with consummate skill he handles the intricate problems of the law. His
is a natural discrimination as to legal efforts, and he is so thoroughly well read
in the minutiae of the law that he is able to base his arguments upon thorough

;i8 THE BUNCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

knowledge of and familiarity with precedents, and to present a case upon its
merits, never failing to recognize the main point at issue. His pleas have been
characterized by a terse and decisive logic and a lucid presentation rather than
by flights of oratory, and his power is great before court or jury from the fact
that it is recognized that his aim is ever to secure justice and not to enshroud
the cause in a sentimental garb or illusion which will thwart the principles of
right and equity involved.

Mr. Koerner has never been an aspirant for public office. He was master
in chancery in St. Clair county for some years and served one term in the legis-
lature, being elected in 1870. That legislature, the twenty-seventh general as-
sembly of Illinois, was the first to meet after the adoption of the constitution of
1870, and to it fell the task of molding the legislation of the state to conform to
that instrument. Many of its members were men of prominence and distinction
and the session covered a period of about ten months. Mr. Koerner considers
the knowledge there gained an important part of his education. He was elected
to the legislature by the Republican party, which he had supported ever since
attaining his majority, but in 1872 he took part in the liberal Republican con-
vention at Cincinnati, following the leadership of his distinguished father. Judge
Koerner, General Palmer, Lyman Trumbull and other prominent Republicans.
Since that time he has supported the men and measures of the Democracy until
the presidential campaign of 1896, when he opposed the free-silver platform
formulated in Chicago. He is a man of firm convictions, fearless in defense
of what he believes to be right and through many a campaign he has advocated
his views from the platform.

In Belleville, December 31, 1868, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Koer-
ner and Miss Mary F. Kinney, who was born in Belleville, January 8, 1848.
Her father was William C. Kinney, a distinguished lawyer, the son of Governor
William Kinney. Her maternal grandfather was Elias K. Kane, United States
senator from Illinois, who died in office at Washington in 1837. Mr. and Mrs.
Koerner now have seven children: Victor Kane, born September 20, 1869:
Maria Louise, March 20, 1872; Gustav, January 17, 1874; Kent Kane, Decem-
ber 23, 1875; William Kinney, August 20, 1880; Morrison, October 19, 1882,
and Dorothy, December 13, 1886. Mr. Koerner has spent his entire life in
Belleville and is known to all its citizens. His life is an upright one, marked by
fidelity to every duty, and the many admirable qualities of his social, genial
nature have gained him a large circle of warm friends.

George F. W. McNulty holds distinctive precedence as an eminent lawyer
of western Illinois and has wielded a wide influence. A strong mentality, a
most determined individuality, keen analytical powers and close and careful
reasoning have gained him a very prominent place in the ranks of the legal pro-
fession in this section of the state. He is at home in all departments of the
law from the minutiae in practice to the greater topics wherein is involved the
consideration of the ethics and philosophy of jurisprudence and the higher
concerns of public policy. - He is felicitous and clear in argument, thoroughly
in earnest, full of the vigor of conviction, never abusive of adversaries, imbued

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 719

with the highest courtesy, and yet a foe worthy of the steel of the most able
opponent. Such are the qualities which have won him eminence among the
lawyers of Illinois.

George Francis Wise McNulty was born in Alton, Illinois, April 26, 1859,
and on the paternal side is of Irish lineage. His grandfather was a native of the
Emerald Isle, but during his early childhood was brought to America, and at
the time of his death was an importer of glass and crockery in Mobile, Alabama.
His son, James McNulty, father of our subject, was born in Albany, New York,
and was educated in Spring Hill College, near Mobile, Alabama. His energies
were devoted to the wholesale crockery business and his well directed efforts
brought to him a gratifying success. He married Anna M. Wise, a native of
Franklin county, Pennsylvania, who in May, 1840, removed with her parents,
Sebastian and Elizabeth Wise, to Alton, Illinois. They were at that time living
in Emmittsburg, Maryland, but two years previously the father had come to
the west and established a business enterprise in Alton. He was one of the first
operators of large mills in the Mississippi valley and was prominently connected
with the development of his section of the state. He represented a family that
from early colonial days has been connected with American interests; his
mother's name was Flaut, and her mother's name was Dorsey.

In the schools of Alton Mr. McNulty of this review acquired his preliminary
education, which was supplemented by a course in the Notre Dame University,
of Indiana. Immediately after leaving that institution he took up the study of
law in the office of Charles P. Wise, and later entered the St. Louis Law
School, in which he was graduated in 1880 with the degree of LL. B. The same
year he was admitted to practice in the courts of Illinois and Missouri, and
opened a law office in his native city, where he remained until 1892, when he
formed a partnership with his former preceptor, Charles P. Wise, and removed
to East St. Louis.

Although Mr. McNulty is known as a general practitioner, corporation law
has more and more engrossed his attention to the exclusion of other depart-
ments of jurisprudence, and he has now an extensive clientage in that division
of the law. He is serving as district attorney for the Big Four Railway in Illi-
nois and Missouri, and is attorney for the Southern Illinois National Bank. In
the conduct of important litigation he has won some notable victories. He
throws himself easily and naturally into the argument, with a self-possession and
deliberation that indicate no straining after effect, but show an acuteness and
precision in his statement, a terseness and strength in his argument which
bespeak a mind trained in the severest school of investigation, and to which the
closest reasoning is habitual. In addition to his law practice he is interested,
as a stockholder, in several banking institutions and trust companies. He was
prominent in building and loan association matters, but for the last few years
has had no time to give those associations much attention. He has a distinc-
tively representative clientele, and the volume of his business plainly testifies
of his superior ability.

Mr. McNulty was married in St. Louis, Missouri, November 13, 1889, to

720 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Miss Margaret Adele Mullaly, a daughter of John Mullaly, who is very promi-
nent in financial circles in St. Louis and is a member of the Merchant's Ex-
change. They have one child living, John Francis McNulty, who was born in
Alton, August i, 1891, in the same house in which his father's birth occurred,
the old residence having been occupied by the McNulty family for over fifty
years. Mr. McNulty is a Catholic in religious belief, and is a Democrat in
political faith, but refused to support the free-silver plank in the Democratic
platform of 1896. In 1884, when twenty-five years of age, he was elected state's
attorney of Madison county, Illinois, and was re-elected in 1888, although the
remainder of his ticket was defeated. For eight years he filled that office in a
most acceptable and creditable manner, and in 1892 retired, since which time
he has never sought or held public office. His manner is one of modesty, yet
he is ever most courteous and kindly to those with whom he is brought in con-
tact, and those who are admitted to his friendship find him a most entertaining,
social man, always worthy the highest regard and esteem.

George A. Crow, of East St. Louis, was born in Massac county, Illinois,
March 17, 1860, and is a son of Jacob W. and Kezia (Sherwood) Crow. The
father, who followed the occupation of farming, was of Scotch-Irish extraction,
while the mother was of English lineage. He spent his boyhood in the manner
of most farmer lads. In the active, healthful pursuits of the farm, with plenty
of pure air and sunshine, wholesome food and exercise, the usual environ-
ments of an agricultural life, he grew strong and robust and sound of mind
and body. He obtained his elementary education in the district schools, and
in 1879 began teaching, but desiring to enter the legal profession he borrowed
some law books in 1880 and began studying them. He was aided and instructed
by Josiah P. Hodge, of Golconda, Illinois, and was admitted to practice in
February, 1884, after passing an examination at the bar of the appellate court,
in Mount Vernon, Illinois. He then began practice in Golconda, and at the
end of two years was nominated by the Republicans for county judge. He
was elected by a good majority and upon the expiration of his first term was
renominated and re-elected, notwithstanding the Populist landslide which de-
feated half the county ticket. In 1894 he was again renominated, and was
elected without opposition. In 1895, however, he resigned and removed to
East St. Louis, where he formed a partnership with Thomas E. Dempsey,
which connection is still continued under the firm name of Crow & Dempsey.

His reputation as a lawyer and judge he has won by honest, hard labor
and by an earnest endeavor to act fairly and justly. Fidelity to the interests
of his clients, a high sense of honor and integrity in all the relations of life are
among his characteristics. His diligence and energy in the preparation of his
cases, as well as the tenacity, zeal and courage with which he tries them at the
bar and pursues them on appeal, render him a formidable adversary. His
method is to present his arguments in the strong, clear light of common sense,
reason and sound legal and logical principles.

On the loth of October, 1883, Judge Crow married Miss Flora L. Hemp-
hill, whose death occurred June i, 1892. They had no children, but adopted

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 721

a nephew of Mrs. Crow's, Arthur F. Hemphill, who is still a member of the
Judge's family. On the i8th of December, 1895, he married Miss Nannie
Crow, and they have one son, Leslie S. ; born December 25, 1897. For a num-
ber of years the Judge has been a member of the Presbyterian church, served
as elder in Golconda, and is filling the same office in the First Presbyterian
church of East St. Louis. He is identified with the Masonic order and the
Knights of Pythias fraternity and is a Republican of the most uncompromising
type.

The earlier lawyers of McLean county, who were members of the bar
before 1850, were as follows: Jesse W. Fell, Asahel Gridley, Washington
Wright, David Davis, Wells Colton, Amzi McWilliams, Kersey H. Fell, Wil-
liam H. Holmes, William H. Hanna, Major W. Packard, John M. Scott, John
H. Wickizer, and Leonard Swett. Of these all are deceased except Major W.
Packard.

Thomas F. Tipton's life and career have been such as to suggest the fol-
lowing general reflections:

The glory of our republic is in the perpetuation of individuality and in the
according of the utmost scope for individual accomplishment. Fostered under
the most auspicious of surroundings that can encompass one who has the will
to dare and do, our nation has almost spontaneously produced men of finest
mental calibre, of true virile strength and vigorous purpose. The cradle has
not always been one of pampered luxury, but the modest couch of infancy has
often rocked future greatness. American biography thus becomes, perhaps,
one of more perfect individuality, in the general as well as the specific case,
than does that of any other nation of the globe. Of America is the self-made
man a product, and the record of accomplishments in this individual sense is
the record which the true and loyal American holds in deepest regard and high-
est honor. In tracing the career of the subject of this review we are enabled
to gain a recognition of this sort of a record, for he is a man of broadest intel-
lectuality and one who has attained to distinguished honors. For this reason
there is particular interest attaching to the points which mark his progress in
life, and this sketch is amply justified.

Thomas F. Tipton, who has just retired as circuit judge of the eleventh
judicial circuit of Illinois, was born near Harrisburg. Franklin county, Ohio,
on the 29th of August, 1833. The Tiptons have been residents of America
since the pre-Revolutionary period, and the representatives of the family as
disseminated throughout the Union all trace their genealogical record back to
the state of Maryland. The grandfather of our subject, Sylvester Tipton, re-
moved from Maryland to what is now central Ohio, about the year 1790, this
section being at that time part of the Northwestern territory. Here he followed
the vocation of school-teaching until he was nearly eighty years of age. He
reared a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters. His young-
est son, Hiram, was the father of the immediate subject of this review.

Hiram Tipton was born in 1802, and devoted his life to agricultural pur-
suits. In 1827 he was united in marriage to Deborah Ogden, a daughter of
46

722 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Albert Ogden, of Fayette county, Ohio. After his marriage he remained in
Franklin county until 1837, when he removed to Pickaway county, Ohio, and
there remained until the fall of 1844, when he left the Buckeye state, and took
up his abode in McLean county, Illinois, where he died on the 2Oth of March,
1845, leaving his widow and three small children, namely: Thomas F., subject
of this sketch; John, now a resident of Saybrook, Illinois; and Jane, who is
the wife of William S. Tuttle, who died September 26, 1885. He also was a
resident of Saybrook, where his widow still resides.

Thomas F. Tipton began his individual efforts in life at the early age of
twelve years, living with his uncle, John Ogden, and devoting his time during
the summer months to work on the farm, while in the winters he was enabled
to attend the district schools. He continued in this routine until he had at-
tained the age of sixteen years, after which he attended school for two years
at Lexington, where he pursued his studies under the effective tutorage of
Colonel William N. Color. After putting his acquirements to practical test by
teaching school for a year, he made ready to prepare himself for that profession
which his ambition had led him to adopt as his vocation in life. He entered
the law office of H. N. Keightley, a prominent attorney of Knoxville, Illinois,
and was licensed to practice law on the 6th of June, 1854, being then in his
twenty-first year. He opened an office in Lexington, this state, and at once
entered vigorously upon the practice of his profession, retaining his residence
in Lexington for a period of seven years, and gaining no little prestige by
reason of his ability and determined efforts. In January, 1862, he removed to
Bloomington, and in the spring of the following year he here formed a pro-
fessional association with Judge R. M. Benjamin, one of the framers of the
state constitution of 1870. In 1868 Hon. Lawrence Weldon, now one of the
judges of the United States court of claims, became a member of the firm,
which gained recognition as one of the ablest legal associations in central
Illinois.

In 1866 Mr. Tipton was appointed by Governor Oglesby as state's attor-
ney of the old eighth judicial district, which incumbency he held for two years.
The firm of Weldon, Tipton & Benjamin continued until August, 1870, at
which time our subject was elected circuit judge of the eighth circuit, which
then comprised the counties of McLean, Logan and De Witt, and he accord-
ingly retired from the firm. In 1873 the circuit was changed, and the new
eighth comprised the counties of McLean and Ford. He was elected judge of
the new circuit, and his tenure in that office continued until 1877. In the fall
of the preceding year he had been elected, as a Republican, to the forty-fifth
congress, and his resignation of the office of circuit judge was tendered on the
ist of March, 1877. His service in the halls of congress was characterized by
that sterling wisdom and practical judgment which he had shown so perfectly
in his professional career, and was of that discriminating and faithful order
which not only gained to him the endorsement of his constituents but which
gained him recognition as an honest representative and a true statesman.

Sodn after the adoption of the state constitution, in 1870, a case was

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 723

brought before Judge Tipton which involved the question as to the right of
railroad corporations to discriminate against localities in charging more for a
less than a greater distance for transportation on the same line and in the same
division. His decision in that case fully sustained the position of the people
and asserted the constitutional powers of the legislature to control the charges
of railroad corporations and to prevent extortions and unjust discriminations.
This was the first of a series of cases that came before the courts of Illinois, and
all were watched with absorbing interest, not only by the people of the state
but by the whole country, until the constitutional powers of the legislature to
regulate railroad and warehouse charges and thereby to protect the public
against imposition, were finally established by the supreme court of the United
States in what are known as the Granger cases.

After Judge Tipton returned from congress he was again actively con-
cerned in the practice of his profession until 1891, when he was again elected
one of the circuit judges for what is now the eleventh judicial district, com-
posed of the counties of McLean, Livingston, Kankakee, Iroquois and Ford,
which office he held for six years, retiring in June, 1897, and resuming the
practice of the law.

Judge Tipton is a man of broad intellectual culture, and has ever main-
tained a lively interest in the higher forms of literature, his private library
being one of exceptionally comprehensive arid select order as touching the
purely literary productions, while his law library is considered as one of the
best private collections in the state. While practicing at the bar he proposed
and secured the organization of the Bloomington Law Library Association,
which has full sets of all the state and federal reports, besides most of the
English reports. His services in this regard are not to be held in light esti-
mation, for they have secured to Bloomington an accession which will be of
lasting value and constant benefit.

The marriage of Judge Tipton to Mary J. Strayer was consummated in
Bloomington, in the year 1856. Mrs. Tipton is a native of Logan co.unty,
Ohio, being the daughter of Nicholas Strayer, whose demise occurred prior to
her marriage.

To Judge and Mrs. Tipton seven children have been born, two of which
number died in infancy. Harry V. died March 31, 1887, at the age of twenty-
seven years. Belle E. is the wife of E. E. VanSchoick, of Hastings, Nebraska.
Helen F. is the wife of William R. Bair, of Bloomington; and Laura B. and
Thomas W. still abide beneath the parental roof.

Judge Tipton is a man of distinctive ability and his character is one which
is above a shadow of reproach. He has been faithful to the high offices in
which he has been called to serve, and is widely known and respected by all
who have be.en at all familiar with his honorable and useful career.

Judge Owen T. Reeves. It is always a pleasurable task for the historian
to chronicle the deeds of a good and great man, such an one as he of whom we
now write. No flattery, no eulogy is needed, only the simple, unembellished
record of a noble life, nobly lived. With some men the law is a trade; with

/2 4 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Judge Reeves it has been a science. Endowed by nature with sound judgment
and an accurate, discriminating mind, he delights in penetrating the disguises
of the crafty, and bringing truth and justice to light. He possesses a high
moral sense which tolerates only fairness, right and goodness. Popular pas-
sion never sways his judgment, nor has personal ambition moved or deterred
him where he felt his path of duty clearly marked out before him. When he
was elevated to the bench the keenly analytical powers of his mind had full
play, not in the advocacy of one side of a question but in the careful weighing
of both sides presented, and in the concentration of all his faculties upon the
point to be elucidated,

The parents of our subject, William and Mary (McLain) Reeves, were
natives of Virginia and Ohio, respectively. The birth of the Judge took place
in Ross county, Ohio, December 18, 1829, and his early education was such
as the public schools and village academy afforded. In 1850 he was graduated
at the Ohio Wesleyan University, after which he taught in the college for two
years with success. He then went to Chillicothe, Ohio, and became principal
of the high school there. At the close of the school year, however, he entered
upon the study of law and in 1854 was admitted to the bar.

Coming to Bloomington the same year, Mr. Reeves established himself
in practice, and has since considered himself a citizen of the place. In 1861
he was elected city attorney, and in the spring of the following year, true to
his patriotic impulses, he recruited the Seventieth Regiment of Illinois Infan-
try, and was elected colonel of the same, and went with his men to the front.
In October of the same year he was mustered out of the service and resumed
his interrupted practice. Though he has not neglected his legal work, he has
from time to time identified himself with several enterprises of local impor-
tance. In 1867 he with others engaged in the building of the Lafayette, Bloom-
ington & Mississippi Railroad (now the Lake Erie & Western), and up to 1877
he was the general solicitor of this road. At that time he was elected to the
circuit bench, to fill out an unexpired term. In 1879 he was re-elected and
again in 1885, retiring in 1891, with a record for judicial impartiality and firm-
ness which his associates of the bar are proud to mention. Later he served
for three years on the appellate court bench at Mount Vernon. In 1874, with
Judge Reuben M. Benjamin, Judge Reeves organized the Bloomington Law
School, the law department of the Wesleyan University. He has since given
to the institution his helpful support and guidance, being the dean of the school
for the past seven years. As he has been in full control of the same it is almost
needless to say that the school has flourished and prospered until to-day it
enjoys a reputation extending far beyond the limits of the state.

Such, in brief, is the outline of Judge Reeves' busy and useful career. By
continuous devotion to the highest demands of his profession, by an ability
equal to the most severe requirements, and by an integrity that has never been
deflected from the true line of right and duty, he has won his way into the
front ranks of a body of men who, collectively, are the ablest lawyers of the
northwest.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 725

Robert L. Fleming has a character suggesting the following general
reflections: In no country of the world does merit and genuine worth so soon
forge its way to the front as in America, and this is one of the proudest boasts
of our beloved land. We hold that a man of noble character and superior tal-
ents, a faithful citizen and patriot, should take precedence of the merely titled
or wealthy man; that brains, energy and enterprise, love of country and a
broad humanitarian view of things are the measures of true greatness. For
that reason, therefore, we know no prouder tribute for a successful man than
this: that he is "self-made;" and under this category multitudes of the best .
and most honored citizens of this glorious republic have come, justly glad of
the fact that by their own undaunted ambition and perseverance in a well laid
out path they had reached the goal of their labors.

Robert L. Fleming belongs to this class of men. Possessing undoubted
talent and a great desire to rise in the legal profession, which was his choice
of an occupation, he fought many a battle with adverse circumstances, and at
last bore off the palm of success. Born in Athens, Illinois, February 15, 1861,
he is a son of William and Isabel (Burbridge) Fleming, who were natives
respectively of Pennsylvania and Indiana. The boyhood of our subject passed
uneventfully, much of his time being given to the mastery of the fundamental
principles of knowledge as taught in our public schools. His higher studies
were pursued in the Illinois State Normal School, where he fitted himself for
teaching. Having done so, he obtained a certificate and taught in the schools
of McLean county for about one year and for three years in the schools of
Piatt county. He met with gratifying success in this occupation, but he had
no desire to continue in it longer than necessary, only using it as a means of
future progress. When he could see his way clear to taking up the study of
law he commenced his real life work, and after two years of earnest labor, his
studies being directed by Fifer & Phillips, he was admitted to the bar, in 1887,
and immediately began practice as a member of the Bloomington bar.

On the 3d of November, 1896, Mr. Fleming was elected to the office of
state's attorney, and has since ably and faithfully met the responsibilities of
this important position. He was the city attorney of Normal for eight years
and was township collector for one year. Politically an active Republican, he
was chairman of the county central committee for some time.

Hon. Frank Y. Hamilton, prominent in the legal profession of Blooming-
ton, has occupied a leading place not only in legal circles of this section but
also has borne his part in the world of politics and public affairs. Always
active in the support of the Republican party, and thoroughly imbued with its
principles from his boyhood, he has been an important factor in local cam-
paigns and was elected to serve in the thirty-fifth general assembly of Illinois,
where he remained for one term.

A native of Ohio, Mr. Hamilton was born December 27, 1852, in Rich-
wood, Union county. His father, Samuel Hamilton, was a native of Maryland,
while his mother, whose maiden name was Nancy McMorris, came from the
state of Virginia. They removed with their little family to Illinois in 1854, and

726 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

the father, now arrived at the ripe age of eighty-four years, is a resident of
Wenona, Marshall county, this state.

As he was almost an infant when he was brought to this state, Frank Y.
Hamilton can lay claim to being an Illinois boy. He acquired his education
here in our public schools, and grew to maturity in central Illinois. In 1871,
desiring to better qualify himself for the duties of life, he went to Adrian, Mich-
igan, and pursued a course in Adrian College, graduating in 1874. Returning
to La Salle county, Illinois, he engaged in teaching school for some seven
years, making quite a success as a pedagogue. In 1881 he came to Blooming-
ton, with the purpose of studying law, and to that end entered the office of
Rowell & Hamilton, the junior member of that firm being his brother. Ad-
mitted to the bar in June, 1883, our subject at once engaged in practice and
opened an office in this city. He has always been alone in business and has
made a success of his undertaking. He enjoys a large and remunerative prac-
tice, of a general nature, and has been the corporation counsel for the Big
Four Railroad for several years, having succeeded his brother as their local
attorney. Fraternally, he is identified with the Masonic order, being a member
of Bloomington Lodge,. No. 43, A. F. & A. M.

August n, 1875, Mr. Hamilton married Miss Emma J. Cone, of Ohio.
She died March 9, 1888, leaving one son and one daughter. July 22, 1890, Mr.
Hamilton married Miss Olive A. Hudson, of this city. For several years prior
to her marriage Mrs. Hamilton was the principal of one of the largest schools
in Bloomington, and for a number of years she has been a valued member of
the city board of education. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are members of the Pres-
byterian church and are respected and highly esteemed by a large circle of
acquaintances and friends, here and elsewhere.

Major Wellman Packard, whose first name is Major, this not being a
title, was admitted to the Illinois bar more than half a century ago, and for
nearly all of this period he has been an active member of the legal profession
of this city. From a political standpoint he is a Democrat of the old school,
and though never desirous of holding public office he has been a worker in
the ranks of his party. His practice has been of a general character, compris-
ing the several branches of civil law, in which he is thoroughly conversant,
practical and skillful.

The paternal grandfather of Mr. Packard bore the name of Richards Pack-
ard. He was one of the heroes of the Revolution, and received a pension for
his gallant services in after years, his widow subsequent to his death being
continued as a pensioner of the grateful government of the United States.
Following the patriotic example of his father, John A. Packard, the father of
M. W., also took up arms for the defense of this country against England, in
the war of 1812, but was not required in active service. Both of the parents of
our subject, John A. and Miriam (Bullock) Packard, were natives of Ver-
mont.

The birth of M. W. Packard occurred in Stanstead county, Canada, a
portion of Vermont set off to Canada by the Ashburton treaty, May 31, 1820.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 727

In his boyhood he received a good education in the practical branches of
learning in the public schools of his community, and, being an apt student,
made the best of his opportunities. In 1844 he came to Illinois, where he
believed that a wider sphere awaited him, and the same year he entered upon
the study of law under the guidance of Colonel Gridley. Later he was under
the tutelage of Judge David Davis, and in the winter of 1846 he was admitted
to the bar, the oath being administered by Ebenezer Peck, then clerk of the
supreme court of Illinois. In 1850 the young man, possessing the enthusiasm
of early manhood, started for the gold fields of California and was absent for
five years, at the end of which time he returned and resumed his practice. His
first partner after he came back from the Pacific coast was Robert E. Wil-
liams, with whom he was associated several years. Subsequently Mr. Packard
was in partnership with Hudson Burr, but when the Civil war came on, their
connection was dissolved by mutual consent. The cause of education has
always found a sincere friend in Mr. Packard, and for some nine years he acted
as a member of the school board of Bloomington, being president of that hon-
orable body for four years. For two-score years or more he has been an ardent
believer in the tenets of spiritualism.

Two years after his arrival in Illinois he married Miss Maria Bullock,
whose death occurred about two years afterward, in April, 1848. Their only
child, a son, died in infancy. After Mr. Packard's return from California,
in May, 1857, he married Miss Ellen Harris, and there have been born unto
them four children, two sons and two daughters. The eldest son died in
infancy, the others are living and married.

Reuben Moore Benjamin, the youngest son of Darius and Martha (Rog-
ers) Benjamin, was born at Chatham Center, Columbia county, New York,
June 29, 1833. His father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his grand-
father, Ebenezer Benjamin, was a captain in the Revolutionary army. His
father and his maternal grandfather, Timothy Rogers, were of English, while
his maternal grandmother, Sarah (Moore) Rogers, was of Welsh extraction.
His ancestors on both sides lived in Connecticut in the colonial times. He
was fitted for college at Kinderhook Academy, New York, and in 1853 was
graduated with honor at Amherst College, Massachusetts. He was principal
of Hopkins Academy at Hadley, Massachusetts, 1853-4, a student in Harvard
Law School 1854-5, and a tutor in Amherst College 1855-6. In April, 1856,
he came to Bloomington, Illinois, and in the following September, upon the
examination certificate of Abraham Lincoln, was licensed to practice law.

Shortly after his admission to the bar he became a partner with General
,A. Gridley and Colonel J. H. Wickizer, and remained with them as long as
they continued to practice law. In 1863 he formed a partnership with Thomas
F. Tipton, afterward circuit judge and member of congress; and since then,
at different times, he has been associated as partner with Jonathan H. Rowell,
member of congress for several terms, Lawrence Weldon, one of the judges
of the United States court of claims, and John J. Morrissey. In 1869 ne was
elected a delegate to the convention that framed the state constitution of 1870,

728 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

and served on the important committees on bill of rights, municipal corpora-
tions, state institutions and schedule. The bill of rights (Article u), as drafted
by him, was adopted by the full committee and the convention with but a
single change. He introduced and caused to be incorporated into that article
the far-reaching provision that "no law making any irrevocable grant of special
privileges or immunities shall be passed." In his speech on the railroad article
he took the position, never before held in court, that the power to limit the
rates of charges of common carriers as the public good may require is a gov-
ernmental power which no legislature can irrevocably abandon or bargain
.away to any individual or corporation.

In 1872 he was one of the counsel for the people in the celebrated Lexing-
ton case (Chicago & Alton Railroad Company versus the People, Illinois Re-
ports, volume 67, page n), which led to the legislation of 1873 prohibiting ex-
tortion and unjust discrimination in railroad charges. He was subsequently
employed as special counsel for the State Board of Railroad and Warehouse
Commissioners, and assisted the attorney general in the prosecution of the
warehouse case (Munn versus People, Illinois Reports, volume 69, page 80),
which was taken to the supreme court of the United States, and being there
affirmed (Munn versus Illinois, United States Reports, volume 94, page 113),
became the leading case in the series familiarly known in 1876 as the "Granger
cases." These cases established the constitutional power of the legislature to
regulate railroad and warehouse charges, and thereby protect the public
against imposition. In the later case (Ruggles versus the People, Illinois Re-
ports, volume 91, page 256), decided in 1878, the supreme court of this state
declared broadly that the legislature has the power to pass laws establishing
reasonable maximum rates of charges by common carriers or others exercising
a calling or business public in its character, or in which the public have an
interest to be protected against extortion or oppression. In commenting on
this case the Western Jurist says: "It is probable that the people of the state
are indebted for the results of this agitation as given in the above decision to
Hon. R. M. Benjamin, of Bloomington, in a greater degree than to any other
single individual. As a member of the constitutional convention he made the
clearest and most convincing argument in favor of the rights of the people
which, was delivered in that body, and as special counsel for the people in the
cases of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company versus the People and Munn
versus the People has very materially contributed to the establishment of the
principle contended for by him before the convention and established in the
above cases."

The "Granger cases" have been repeatedly followed by the supreme court
of the United States: Budd versus New York (1891), United States Reports,
volume 143, page 517; Brass versus North Dakota (1893), United States Re-
ports, volume 153, page 391.

In 1873 Mr. Benjamin was elected without opposition to the office of
county judge of McLean county, and he was re-elected in 1877, and also in
1882. His judicial aptitude, the soundness of his decisions and the quiet ease

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 729

with which he dispatched business won and held the respect and confidence
of the bar and of the people. He preferred not to be a candidate again for the
office and accordingly retired from the bench at the close of his third term, in
December, 1886.

Upon the organization of the law department of the Illinois Wesleyan
University (known as the Bloomington Law School), in 1874, Judge Benjamin
was appointed dean of the law faculty. He is 'Still connected with the law
school, having charge of the subjects of real and personal property and consti-
tutional law. He has published the following works: Students' Guide to Ele-
mentary Law, Principles of the Law of Contracts, and Principles of the Law
of Sales, which are used in several of the leading law schools of the country.

In 1880 the degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by the Illinois Wes-
leyan University.

He was married at Chatham, New York, September 15, 1856, to Miss
Laura, daughter of David G. Woodin, who for many years was county super-
intendent of schools of Columbia county, New York.

Probably the part that Judge Benjamin took in the constitutional con-
vention had a more directly beneficial effect upon the citizens of Illinois than
any other of his acts; and the arguments he brought to bear before that, body
in behalf of the people to prevent railroad corporations from unjustly discrim-
inating against any section of the state or against any citizen displayed such a
deep knowledge of corporation law-, and have had such an important bearing
upon the construction of law affecting corporations throughout the nation,
that we herewith reproduce in full the speech to which reference has previously
been made (Debates of Constitutional Convention, volume 2, page 1641):

Mr. Chairman: Corporations, and especially railroad corporations, have within the
last few years assumed and exercised powers incompatible with the public welfare; and,
perhaps, there is no danger so much to be apprehended, and, if possible, guarded against
by the people of this state as that which has its source in the construction placed by
the courts upon what are called legislative, or charter, contracts. In theory railroad cor-
porations are created for the public good. In practice they became oppressive by being
allowed, under the claim of charter contracts, to fix their rates of toll for the transporta-
tion of persons and property.

Whenever the public interests demand the construction of a railroad the legisla-
ture, without any hesitancy, authorizes the corporation to take private property the very
homestead- for that purpose. Whenever the same public interests require a limitation
of the rates of railroad charges, the plea is set up that the legislature has no power
whatever to act upon the matter. The principle of public benefit, when invoked in aid
of a railroad, is all-powerful. The same principle, when appealed to for the protection
of the people against imposition and extortion, has hitherto been held to be utterly
powerless. The interest of individuals must yield to that of the public. The interest
of the public has been declared to be subordinate to that of railroad corporations. And
when we ask for the reason of this distinction between individual rights and corporate
rights when we ask why it is that public interests, although paramount to individual
interests, must succumb to corporate interests we are told that the legislature has made
contracts whereby it has abdicated in favor of corporations the governmental powers
intrusted to it by the sovereign people. I say governmental powers because in the absence

730 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

of a charter contract the power of the legislature to regulate and limit the tolls which
the owners of a railroad may lawfully take is unquestionable.

The statutes of the several states afford numberless instances of legislative limitation
of the tolls of ferry, bridge, plank-road and turnpike companies. The ordinances of the
larger cities of this country limit the charges of hack, omnibus and dray lines. The
statutes of our own state not only provide for the condemnation of private, property for
ihe sites of gristmills, but also limit the amount of tolls to be taken for grinding at
these mills. In some of the states the charges of inn-keepers and the fees of professional
men, and in nearly all the states the rates of interest which money-lenders and bank
corporations may lawfully take are regulated and limited by legislative enactment. The
power to 'make these laws, and a multitude of others of like character, rests on the right
and duty of the legislature to protect the people by statutory regulations against imposi-
tion and extortion.

Upon authority and principle it may be safely asserted that, in the absence of charter
contracts to the contrary, the legislature may from time to time regulate and limit the
tolls which railroad companies may lawfully take in the same manner as the legislature
may limit the tolls to be taken by ferry, bridge, plank-road and turnpike companies; in
the same manner as municipal authorities may regulate and limit the charges of hack,
omnibus and dray lines; in the same manner as the tolls at gristmills, the charges of
innkeepers, the fees of professional men, and interest on loaned money may be regu-
lated and limited. These are governmental powers; and by the term "governmental"
I here mean not judicial, but legislative powers. To declare what the law is, or has
been, is a judicial power; to declare what the law shall be, is legislative. The law is
applied by the judicial department, and made by the legislative. It is both the right
and the duty of the legislature not to await the action of the judiciary where the common
law has furnished no adequate remedies for existing evils, but to take the initiative and
place limitations upon tolls and charges, and fees and interest, whenever such limita-
tions are essential to the public good; provided, always, that the legislature has not
bartered away, absolutely beyond recall, to extortioners, the governmental powers where-
by it might otherwise protect the people against their impositions. And this brings us
directly to the question whether or not the governmental powers entrusted to the legis-
lature, to be exercised for the. public good as occasion may require, are the subject-matter
of contract, of mere bargain and sale.

The following provision was incorporated in the constitution of 1818 and retained
in that of 1848:

The powers of the government of the state of Illinois shall be divided into three
distinct departments, and each of them be confided to a separate body of magistracy,
to-wit: those which are legislative to one; those which are executive to another; and
those which are judicial to another. Constitution of 1848, article 2, section I.

I maintain that under this constitutional provision, which has been in force ever
since this state was organized, the legislature has had no power as a party to make a
contract the effect of which would be to control or embarrass its governmental powers
and duties. To hold otherwise is to affirm that the legislature may abdicate the authority
and relieve itself of the responsibility conferred and imposed upon this government by
the sovereign people of the state.

"The people of the state of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for civil, political
and religious liberty confided" that is the word "confided to the general assembly those
powers of the government of the state which are legislative" for what purpose? "In
order to promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves
and their posterity." At the same time they declared in the bill of rights that "all power
is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and
instituted for their peace, safety and happiness." The legislature of a state is in no just
sense the sovereign of the state, for sovereignty is the parent, not the offspring, of the
government.' The sovereignty belongs to the people of the state in their original char-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 731

acter as an independent community. All political power is inherent remains in the
people. In the language of Chief-Justice Taney: "The powers of sovereignty confided
to the legislative body of a state are undoubtedly a trust committed to them, to be exe-
cuted to the best of their judgment for the public good; and no one legislature can,
by its own act, disarm their successors of any of the powers or rights of sovereignty
confided by the people to the legislative body unless they are authorized to do so by
the constitution under which they are elected. And in every controversy on this sub-
ject the question must depend on the constitution of the state, and the extent of the
power thereby conferred on the legislative body." Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Com-
pany vs. Debolt (Howard's Reports, Volume 16, page 431).

The power to regulate the reciprocal rights and duties of common carriers and
private citizens who may desire to travel upon highways constructed for the public use
is, as we have seen, a governmental power one of the attributes of sovereignty con-
fided to the legislature to be exercised for the public good. And where is the provision
of our state constitution which authorizes one legislature to disarm a succeeding legisla-
ture of this power, the proper exercise of which we have been taught by sad experience
is so essential to the protection of the traveling public? In another case Justice Wood-
bury says: "One of the highest attributes and duties of a legislature is to regulate public
matters with all public bodies, no less than the community, from time to time, in the
manner which the public welfare may appear to demand. It can neither devolve these
duties permanently on other public bodies nor permanently suspend or abandon them
itself, without being usually regarded as unfaithful, and, indeed, attempting what is wholly
beyond its constitutional competency." East Hartford vs. Hartford Bridge Company
(Howard's Reports, Volume 10, page 534).

Now, whether railroad corporations are to be regarded as quasi-public bodies, or as
private bodies, forming a portion of the community, I maintain that the regulation of
rates of toll for the conveyance of persons and property upon railroads the public high-
ways as the public welfare may demand, is a legislative duty, the permanent suspension
or abandonment of which is wholly beyond the constitutional competency of the legis-
lature. Moreover, a grant by a public agent bound in the most solemn manner not to
throw away the governmental interest confided to it, is different from a grant by an
individual who is master of the subject. The corporation which accepts from the legisla-
ture exemption from governmental control, knowing that it is dealing with an agent
bound by duty not to impair a public right, does so at its peril. Nay, more: the cor-
poration which accepts from the legislature a grant of any essential attribute of sover-
eignty should be treated both in morals and in law as a party to a fraud upon the
inherent rights of the people.

The same constitutional provision confides legislative powers to one body, execu-
tive powers to another, and judicial powers to another. If legislative powers may be
disposed of by contract, why may not executive and judicial powers be sold? We all
recognize the principle that executive and judicial powers are entrusted to the governor
and the judges, to be exercised by -them while in office and then turned over unimpaired
to their successors I believe that the day is not far distant when the courts of this
country will settle down on the firm fundamental principle that no department of gov-
ernment, be it legislative, executive or judicial, can abandon, diminish or bargain away,
for any consideration or upon any pretense whatever, the governmental powers entrusted
to it by the sovereign people, to be exercised for the promotion of the general welfare.
When the people of this state, in 1818, and again in 1848, confided to the general
assembly the legislative powers of this state, was it contemplated that the agents entrusted
with these governmental powers should sell any portion of them to other organizations,
or parcel them out by contract to private corporations? It is a well settled principle
that where a trust is confided to any class of persons, the trustees cannot transfer that
trust to others. "What trust, what confidence is more sacred, more responsible than
the power to make the laws of a free people? The power is not only delegated to the

732 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

two branches of the legislature, but there is an obligation, a duty, imposed upon them
to make all such laws as are necessary and proper for the interests of the people and
good order of the body politic."

The language of our state constitution, reason and sound policy, all concur in bring-
ing us to the conclusion that the law-making power, being entrusted to the legislature by
the constitution to be exercised as occasion may require for the promotion of the gen-
eral welfare, cannot be permanently transferred to any other body. If the courts will
fall back upon this principle, we need not feel alarmed at the growth and power of
corporations. They are dangerous to the people only as they are allowed, under the
pretense of a bargain, to appropriate to their own purposes the governmental powers con-
fided to the legislature. "The great object of an incorporation," says Chief Justice Mar-
shall, "is to bestow the character and properties of individuality on a collective and chang-
ing body of men." Providence Bank vs. Billings (Peters' Reports, Volume 4, page 562).
The creation of private corporations, the bestowal of the attributes of individuality upon
these ideal creatures, the placing them, as to legal rights, on the same footing with natural
persons, are proper subjects of legislative action. And we readily concede that these
ideal creatures private corporations cannot be arbitrarily destroyed by the legislature,
and that the rights which they may possess by virtue of their individuality or existence
are protected by the same constitution which is the Magna Charta of the whole people.
But in the language of Justice Daniel: "The opinion seems to have obtained that the
right of property in a chartered corporation was more sacred and intangible than the
same right could possibly be in the person of the citizen an opinion which must be
without any grounds to rest upon until it can be demonstrated either that the ideal
creature is more than a person, or the corporeal being is less." West River Bridge Com-
pany vs. Dix (Howard's Reports, Volume 6, page 533).

The legislature may irrevocably dispose of the lands and public buildings and other
property of the state. These are the proper subjects of contract and sale. But a legis-
lative contract to surrender forever to a private corporation any portion of the govern-
mental powers of this state is, in my opinion, unconstitutional and void. It is unconsti-
tutional because the constitutional provision, which has been in force here ever since
we have had a state organization, confides intrusts these powers to the legislature to
be exercised for the promotion of the general welfare, not to be bartered away. It is
void, because it is a contract in violation of public duty, and without a competent subject-
matter. The legislature cannot deal cannot traffic with a sovereign right as private
property. Says Justice Daniel: "I never can believe in that, to my mind, suicidal doc-
trine which confers upon one legislature, the creatures and limited agents of the sover-
eign people, the power, by a breach of duty and by transcending the commission with
which they are clothed, to bind forever and irrevocably their creator, for whose benefit
and by whose authority alone they are delegated to act, to consequences however mis-
chievous or destructive." Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company vs. Debolt (Howard's
Reports, Volume 16, page 443).

And right here let me ask, From what one source have the people of this state
suffered more mischievous consequences than from the free exercise of the assumed right,
on the part of the legislature, to sell out to railroad corporations the power of fixing
and exacting from the community rates of toll without limitation? In resisting the usurpa-
tions of these wealthy and powerful corporations, we have turned our attention too much
to that clause of the constitution of the United States, which provides that no state shall
pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts, and have not paid sufficient attention
to that section of our state constitution which confides, and only confides, the legislative
powers of the government to the general assembly, and to that section of the bill of
rights which declares that "all power is inherent in the people." We must not forget
that a legislative act or charter may contain unconstitutional provisions. The real ques-
tion is not one of vested "rights under a contract, but one of constitutional power to
make the contract. The legislature cannot change the constitution or make a new con-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 733

stitution, and yet it would be doing just this if it could limit the governmental powers
of a future legislature; and therefore I maintain that corporations are subject to govern-
mental powers the same as individuals, that the charges of railway corporations can be
regulated and limited by legislative enactment, the same as the tolls of ferry, bridge,
plank-road and turnpike companies; the same as the charge of hack, omnibus and dray
lines; the same as the tolls of millers, the charges of innkeepers, the fees of professional
men and interest on loaned money. The powers to make these regulations and limita-
tions are, unquestionably, legislative, governmental powers, and neither these nor any
other legislative powers of a governmental nature can be irrevocably disposed of by
contract to any individual or corporation. There are and can be no vested rights of
governmental power in any individual or corporation except those conferred by the
constitution.

Will any gentleman take the position that the legislature can endow any individual
or corporation with a vested right to commit crime, or perpetrate fraud, or practice
imposition upon the public? I think not. One legislature cannot, by contract or other-
wise, prohibit succeeding legislatures from enacting laws for the prevention and punish-
ment of crime, fraud and imposition. But railroad corporations declare that they have
bought from the legislature the power to establish and exact the exorbitant charges they
are now every day extorting from the people. Under the claim of vested rights they bid
defiance to I was about to say the government; but according to the conceit of these cor-
porations there is no government that can control and regulate and limit their demands.
Each claims to be, in this respect, a government unto itself a sovereignty within a
sovereignty.

The people sooner or later will break away from the theory that a railroad, or
any private corporation, can have a vested right in any governmental power. Let the
next legislature enact substantially the railway laws of England, regulating and limiting
the rates of freight and passenger tariffs, and I firmly believe that the courts would hold
that such reassertion of a governmental control over railroad rates is not an interference
with vested rights.

The time was when city and other municipal corporations claimed that, by virtue
of their charters, they held vested rights in governmental powers. Even now the legis-
lature cannot confiscate the private property of a municipal corporation or change the
uses of its private funds acquired under the public faith. But the courts have long since
held that the legislature cannot transfer to a municipal corporation irrevocable vested
rights in governmental powers; and for one I am ready to take the broad position that
it is not, and never has been, in the power of the legislature of this state to bind its
governmental capacities, by any arrangements or stipulations, with either public or private
corporations so as to disable itself from enacting any laws that may be deemed
essential for the public good. The sovereign people, and the sovereign people alone,
by the adoption of constitutional provisions, can restrict and bind the governmental
capacities of the legislature.

After Judge Benjamin had ceased speaking it was apparent that his argu-
ment pleased the majority of his colleagues, several of whom rose to their
feet and sanctioned what he said in no uncertain terms. The following endorse-
ments are copied from the reports:

Mr. Ross Mr. Chairman: I cheerfully subscribe to the views of the gentleman
from McLean (Mr. Benjamin). I think the convention and the people of the state owe
him a debt of gratitude. It has the true ring of the doctrine that should be inculcated
by all our statesmen.

Mr. Bromwell Mr. Chairman: I am very much gratified to see the manner in
which this discussion starts in this convention. There have been doubts expressed

734 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

whether this convention, upon coming to this subject, would take the proper stand to
secure the rights of the people which have been so long trifled with and trampled
under foot by the interpretations of the law in this state; and I agree with the gentle-
man from Fulton (Mr. Ross) that the community at large owe the gentleman from
McLean (Mr. Benjamin) thanks for the masterly manner in which he has demonstrated
the right and the power of the people, inhering in themselves, ever living and ever
present, to command in the name of and for the people the creatures which they have
put on foot, the corporations which they have organized, in respect to the terms upon which
they shall enjoy those invaluable franchises which they are lawfully permitted to enjoy.

Captain Jonathan Harvey Rowcll, foremost among the members of the
legal profession of Bloomington and one of the honored citizens of that pros-
perous city, won his title by meritorious service in the battle of Shiloh, and by
three years of hard and gallant fighting in some of the brilliant campaigns of
the Civil war. As a patriot, business man and statesman he has played an im-
portant part .in the annals of his country and state, and is justly entitled to the
high respect in which he is held by all who know him.

Jonathan B. Rowell, father of the above-named gentleman, was a descend-
ant of a soldier of the Revolutionary war, and though he led the quiet, unas-
suming life of a farmer, was a man of influence in his community, holding
numerous civil and military offices of trust and responsibility. For his wife he
chose Cynthia Abbott, and they had ten children. In 1849 the family removed
from New Hampshire, their former home, to McLean county, Illinois. At
that time the subject of this narrative was a youth of sixteen years, he having
been born February 10, 1833, in Haverhill, New Hampshire. He had hitherto
lived upon the parental farm in the east and had gained a good education in
the public schools.

Soon after his arrival in Illinois J. H. Rowell began teaching school dur-
ing the winter season, while the rest of the year he worked on his father's farm
or at various other occupations. Thus his time was taken up until he had
passed his majority, but desiring further educational qualifications he entered
Eureka (Illinois) College, in 1855. The last year of his course there he was
a member of the faculty, holding the chair of mathematics. He graduated in
1861 and in May of that year volunteered his services to the Union. He was
made first lieutenant of Company G, Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, and par-
ticipated in some of the leading battles of the war during his three years of
army life. The company of which he was an officer was largely composed of
students of Eureka College.

When he returned from the southern battle-fields the Captain became en-
rolled as a member of the law class of the old University of Chicago. In June,
1865, he graduated at that institution, with honors, being the valedictorian of
his class. Immediately thereafter he opened an office in Bloomington and
commenced the practice of law. For the next three years he was a partner
with Hon. Thomas F. Tipton and Hon. Reuben Benjamin. In 1868 he was
elected state's attorney of the eighth judicial circuit and two years later he
became a partner with Hon. John M. Hamilton. This partnership existed for
twelve years, or until Mr. Hamilton was elected governor of Illinois, and Mr.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 735

Rowell was elected to congress. He was a nominee of the Republican party,
and after completing his term in congress he was re-elected three times, thus
"being a member of the forty-eighth, forty-ninth, fiftieth and fifty-first con-
gresses of Illinois, as a representative from the fourteenth congressional dis-
trict. With his life-long habits of industry and ability to do hard and con-
tinuous work he eventually became one of the recognized forces in the house.
In the last sessions which he attended he was chairman of the house elections
committee, which, as their friends claim, did better and more effective work
than has ever been done, before or since, by a similar committee. He was
the author of the elections (miscalled "Force") bill, which with the assistance
of Mr. Lodge he succeeded in having passed by the house. At the close of
his public career Mr. Rowell resumed the practice of law in Bloomington, with
his present partners, James S. Neville and J. P. Lindley. However, he has
not abandoned the political arena, and never fails to do his full share as a cam-
paign speaker at the proper time. His scholarly attainments; his intimate
knowledge of public affairs and his extended acquaintanceship with prominent
people make his counsels of value in the varied questions which arise in the
community where he dwells. In his intercourse with his fellow men he is unos-
tentatious and approachable, and his success attests his great popularity.

In 1866 Mr. Rowell married Miss Maria Woods, of Alton, Illinois, who
is a native of that place and is a daughter of John and Maria Woods. The
pleasant home of Mr. Rowell and his estimable wife is always open to their
hosts of friends, and charming hospitality is always to be found under their
roof.

Thomas C. Kerrick, one of the most active members of the Bloomington
bar, whose reputation as a legal practitioner is truly desirable, for nearly a
quarter of a century has practiced before our courts, gaining fame and in-
creasing his clientage year by year until his capacity for work became taxed
to the utmost. His has been a life of undivided interests, his best powers being
given without reserve to his noble profession, and to this concentration of his
energies is attributable, doubtless, the success he has worthily won.

Mr. Kerrick was born April 24, 1848, in Franklin county, Indiana, and
in the Hoosier state his boyhood was spent. In the fall of 1860 he removed
to Woodford county, Illinois, with his parents, and there continued to live
upon a farm until he reached his majority. He attended the public schools
and later entered the Illinois Wesleyan University, where he pursued the
higher branches of study for two years. Though he was not able to stay and
graduate there the college afterward conferred the degree of Master of Arts
upon him, which mark of honor and esteem shows the high regard in which he
is held in the school and is a tribute to his excellence in scholarship and gen-
eral proficiency while a student there.

Having diligently pursued the study of law for some time Mr. Kerrick
was admitted to the bar January 7, 1875, and immediately entered upon his
career as an attorney, in Bloomington. Believing that there is no "royal road"
to prominence and success, he labored unceasingly, never sparing himself, and

736 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

literally was the architect of his own fortunes. Thorough and painstaking in
his preparation and trial of cases and joining sound business sense to his com-
'prehensive knowledge of law, he rarely fails to reach the point for which he
strives. Though fearless and aggressive in his efforts for his clients, his oppo-
nents always find in him a fair and honorable adversary. At different times
Mr. Kerrick has been associated in business with leading members of the
Bloomington bar. His first partnership was as junior member of the firm of
McNulta, Aldrich & Kerrick. Later the style of the firm was Aldrich & Ker-
rick, and some years subsequently he was one of the firm of Kerrick, Lucas
& Spencer. At the present time and for some years past he has been con-
nected with William K. Bracken, under the firm name of Kerrick & Bracken.

In political matters Mr. Kerrick is a stanch adherent to the Republican
party. He was twice elected to the office of city attorney of Bloomington and
served for one term as a member of the state senate. The esteem in which as
. a lawyer he was held by the senate was manifested by his selection by that body
as chairman of its judiciary committee, a position in which he had much to do
with shaping and perfecting important legislation.

Cyrus Walker, the most prominent member of the early bar of McDon-
ough county, was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, May 14, 1791, was
taken when an infant to Kentucky, where he resided until 1833, when he re-
moved to Macomb, McDonough county, Illinois, where he resided until the
day of his death, which took place December ist, 1875. We are indebted to
Hon. Hawkins Taylor, of Washington city, for the following sketch, first appear-
ing in the Carthage Gazette, January 5, 1876:

"The father of Cyrus Walker and my mother were brother and sister, and
we both grew up in the same county (Adair). When the families first went
from Virginia to Kentucky settlers for twenty miles had to assist each other
in house-raising and log-rolling, and for three years the father of Cyrus acted
as a ranger, watching the movements of the Indians and warning settlers of
approaching trouble. His circuit embraced several hundred miles of wild, un-
settled country, and he was compelled to live almost entirely on game and to
camp out at night. I have often heard him class dried coon as the sweetest
meat he had. Several of the uncles of Cyrus Walker were soldiers in the Rev-
olutionary war. The old stocks were both Irish Presbyterians, all of them
learned in the scriptures and of stern, unyielding wills. Cyrus was mainly self-
taught, there being no schools in that section of the country at that day, and
from his admission to the bar he took high position as a lawyer. At that time,
in that part of Kentucky, the lawyers traveled the circuit on horseback and
were a merry mess. They were getting ready to attend the Burksville court
when Billy Owens, a man of large ability, kind heart and a good lawyer, but
rough and rather dissipated, saw that Walker was not with them, when he
hunted him up and inquired the reason. Walker told him that he had no
money. Owens at once gave him fifteen dollars and Walker went along, and
was so successful that he paid expenses and took home thirty-seven dollars, a
larger sum' than he had ever at one time possessed; and as long as he remained

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 737

in Kentucky he was the leading lawyer of that county. Several years later,
when Walker was at the head of the bar, Owens, partially under the influence
of liquor, made a bitter attack on Walker, during the trial of an important case,
to which Walker made no reply, although at that day rather disposed to readily
resent an insult. Some of his friends inquired the reason. Walker told them
of the kind assistance of Owens when he so much needed help, and when it did
him so much good, remarking that nothing Owens could say that did not
affect his integrity would be resented by him. The next morning Owens made
an apology to the court for his unjust remarks to Walker. Walker's motto
through life was never to forget a friendship, nor to do injustice to any one.

"I have often heard Mr. Walker say he regretted the prosecution of the
unfortunate young man that was tried, convicted and hung in your town for
a murder committed by him in Frederick, on the Illinois river. He always
believed he could have saved the life of the young man if he had defended
him ; and while the case was an aggravated one still Mr. Walker said that noth-
ing could ever induce him to prosecute another man for murder, and he never
did, but he defended and got clear a good many that deserved to be hung.

"When Mr. Walker made a profession of religion he for a time contem-
plated quitting the law and turning his attention to the ministry. He was
educated to believe that slavery was a sin, and when he joined the church he
freed all his negroes and paid their passage to Liberia. Amongst the number
was a sprightly boy who has since risen to distinction in Liberia. The boy
'had a young and handsome wife, who was the property of the pastor of the
Presbyterian church to which Mr. Walker belonged. When Mr. Walker set
his slaves free he urged his minister to free the wife of the boy he had set free,
but the minister refused to do so, saying that he was not able to lose the value
of the woman, although he had himself got her by marriage. Mr. Walker sent
off his freed people, fully believing that the minister would not separate the
man and wife when the time for separation came, but he still refused, and Mr.
Walker bought her and paid him for her and sent her on after her husband to
'.Louisville.

"Mr. Walker removed to McDonough county, Illinois, in 1833, an d lived
there until his death. He never moved to Iowa, but he practiced there for sev-
eral years. The partiality of Judge Douglas against him, as he believed, was
the cause of his going to Iowa, and his large practice retained him there for
several years.

"Mr. Walker, as you truly say, had no taste for office. He served two
terms in the Kentucky legislature during the great excitement between the 'old
court' and the 'new court,' because he was the most popular man on the old-
court side in the county, and was forced by his friends in the contest to their
ticket, and carried the county by a majority of two hundred and twenty-two,
when no other man on his side could have carried it.

"After the formation of congressional districts in Illinois, based on the
census of 1840, the Jo Daviess district was largely Whig with the Mormon
vote, but a debatable .district, the Mormon vote going to the Democrats.
47

738 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Nearly all the counties in the district had Whigs who wanted to be candidates,
but they were willing to give way to Mr. Walker, if he would only consent to
be a candidate. Walker was then in Iowa, attending the courts, the last one
being in Lee county, lasting several weeks. He stopped with me. His trunk
was full of letters from all parts of the district, urging him to allow the use of
his name for congress. Amongst the letters were at least two from Joe
Smith, and several from George Miller, who was then Mormon bishop but
who had formerly lived at Macomb, and was while there a brother elder in
the Presbyterian church with Mr. Walker. All these letters urged Mr. Walker
to be a candidate to save the district for the Whigs. Smith, in his letters,
pledged the Mormon vote to Walker, if he would allow his name to be used,
but would not agree to vote for any other Whig. Mr. Walker had steadily re-
fused to be a candidate until he felt that his duty to the noble Whig party
required him to make the sacrifice; but when he entered into the contest he
was terribly in earnest and went into the fight with a will. Alexander Symp-
son, one of God's people, and myself were to watch the movements at Nauvoo.
It was well understood by Walker and his friends that the Democracy would
not give up the Mormon vote without a great effort. One of the Backinstores
was sheriff and the other clerk of the Hancock circuit court, and Douglas was
a candidate for congress in the Adams district. I supposed, and I became sat-
isfied, that things were not working well in Nauvoo, and went down to War-
saw to meet Mr. Walker, who was there holding a joint discussion with his
opponent, Hoge. That night Mr. Walker went up to Nauvoo. The next
morning he called on Joe Smith and told him that he released him from all
the pledges made to give him the Mormon vote, but in turn asked honest deal-
ing, telling Smith that if it was necessary for their (the Mormons') safety from
arrest by the state authorities he should vote for Hoge, that he would tell him
so, and in that event he would at once go to Galena, and spend the balance
of the time before the election in the northern part of the district. Joe said,
with great vehemence: 'I promised you the support of this church; and you
shall have it. You stay here and meet Hoge on Thursday.' Mr. Walker was
-worn out in the canvass, and not well, and he stopped with Joe. The joint dis-
cussion between the candidates took place, and everything indicated that
Walker would get the united vote of the church. On Saturday the voters of
the church, in city and countv, were called together in the grove near the tem-
ple, where Hyrum Smith made a speech of about one hour, urging the voters
to vote for Hoge. It was a regular Democratic speech, and appeared to have
no influence. He was followed by Wilson Law in a bold, telling Whig speech
in favor of Walker, and from the commencement until the end he was cheered
by the entire Mormon audience. At the close of the speech Hyrum arose black
and furious, stretching himself to his full height, and extending his arm its full
length, said: 'Thus saith the Lord: if this people vote against Hoge for con-
gress on Monday a greater curse would befall them than befell them in Mis-
souri. When God speaks, let men obey;' and immediately left the stand; and
the whole audience dispersed in silence. When Walker heard of Hyrum's

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 739

speech he was indignant, and was for leaving Joe's house ; but Joe stopped
him, professing to be furiously mad at Hyrum, saying that he would himself
make a speech to the people on Sunday morning, and he again repeated the
pledge that Mr. Walker should have the Mormon vote. The next morning Joe
did speak to the people just one hour, and no hour's speech ever had closer
attention. In that speech Joe passed the highest eulogy on Walker that I ever
heard from man. He denounced politicians, declaring that Walker was not
a politician but an honest and a true man; that he had been forced to be a can-
didate against his will. He denounced in the most bitter terms any member
of the church who would consult the Lord about who they should vote for, and
declared that if any one should do it he should be cut off from salvation; said
that he would vote for his friend Cyrus Walker, and commanded all to vote for
the man of their choice without reference to what any one said; but in his
hour's praise of Walker, and denunciation of any one that would consult the
Lord about whom they should vote for, he said : 'Brother Hyrum is the elder
brother;' 'Brother Hyrum never has deceived his people;' 'Brother Hyrum
loves this people;' 'When the Lord commands, the people must obey,' etc.
The next day Joe did vote for Walker, and the balance of the Mormons voted
for Hoge and elected him 'as the Lord had commanded.'

"Joe's whole object, from the commencement, was to force Governor Ford
to give an unconditional pledge that no more writs should be issued against
him and the other Mormons on requisition from the governor of Missouri on
the old Missouri indictments; and he succeeded. At least, .such a paper was
b'rought to him Saturday night about one in the morning. Ford, I believe,
denied that he signed such a paper. The parties engaged in securing the pledge
were not particular how they got it, and may have forged it; or Ford may have
been in a muddled condition when he signed the paper. The election of Hoge
and Douglas depended on getting the pledge. They made three trips to Spring-
field before they got the pledge that satisfied Joe, and as soon as he was satis-
fied he at once sent messages to the commanding and faithful to support Doug-
las. They did support and elect him.

"This is the real history of that campaign, so far as Mr. Walker was con-
cerned. It was to him a campaign of mortification from the start. He was
forced into it contrary to his wishes, and forced into it largely to get the Mor-
mon votes; but after entering the contest he was denounced by Whigs all over
the district for trying to get the Mormon vote and really lost more Whig votes
in the district than would have elected him, simply because it was supposed that
he could get the Mormon vote.

"Cyrus was the eldest of a large family, and contributed largely to the
education of his brothers and sisters, and to starting them in business. Prob-
ably no man ever gave a larger share of his earnings than did Cyrus Walker to
the education of his brothers, sisters and relations, to the church to which he
belonged, and to benevolent purposes, besides the freeing of his slaves, which
were twice as much in value at the time as all his other property amounted to."

Lawrence Y. Sherman, to whom no one familiar with the history of the

740 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

bench and bar of McDonough county through the past decade would fail to
accord the leading position among the representatives of the legal profession
'within its borders, is a gentleman exceedingly quiet and reserved in manner
except among his intimate friends; but he nevertheless exerts a controlling in-
fluence on public affairs in his county and on matters judicial.

He was born in Brown township, Miami county, Ohio, November 8, 1858,
his parents being Nelson and Maria (Yates) Sherman, the former born in War-
ren county, Ohio, in 1822, the latter in Miami county, in 1826. The father was
a farmer by occupation, and in the autumn of 1859 removed to McDonough
county, Illinois, where he made his home until 1867, when he went to Jasper
county, this state. There he made his home upon a farm in Grove township
until his death, which occurred in 1897, his wife having passed away in 1889.
In their family were two daughters, but Judge Sherman was the only son. The
Shermans were among the early families of New Jersey. Thomas Shearman,
for so the name was originally spelled,- the grandfather of the Judge, was
born in Monmouth county, New Jersey, whence he removed to Warren county,
Ohio. He wedded Mary Lane, also a native of Monmouth county, New Jer-
sey, and a daughter of Jacob Lane, one of the heroes of the Revolutionary war,
who fought in the memorable battle of Monmouth. The maternal grandfather
of our subject, Edmond Seagraves Yates, whose immediate ancestors were
English, was born at Cape May, New Jersey, in 1793, and removed from there
to Clermont county, Ohio. He married Sarah Leming, whose parents were
Ouakers, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The ancestors of Judge Sherman,
both paternal and maternal, were pioneers of the Buckeye state.

When only a year old the subject of this review was brought by his par-
ents to McDonough county, Illinois, and in 1868 he went with them to Jasper
county. He attended the common schools of both counties, and during the
summer months until sixteen years of age was busily engaged with the work
on his father's farm. He then left home and worked as a farm hand for a year.
During that time he devoted all of his evenings and leisure hours to study, and
read all of the books that he could obtain of the neighboring farmers. His love
of study has ever been one of his most marked characteristics and forms a
strong element in his professional success. He attended the high school in
Macomb and for three months during the winter of 1877 was also a student in
Lee's Academy, in Coles county, Illinois, and afterward engaged in teaching
school in order that he might acquire the money necessary to enable him to
further prosecute his studies. At every spare moment he devoted himself to
reading. On one occasion he spent all the money that he had earned during
the threshing season for books, among which were the Revised Statutes of Illi-
nois of 1874. Much of this was written in such technical language that he
found he could not understand it without a course of legal studies, and this was
primarily the cause of his law reading at a later date.

In the fall of 1879 Mr. Sherman permanently left Jasper county and went
to Lebanon, St. Clair county, where he pursued a course of study in the law
department of McKendree College, under Henry H. Homer, from 1879 until

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 741

1882. He also studied mathematics, history, Latin and English and American
literature until his senior year, when he abandoned all work except his legal
studies, and was graduated, in the law department in 1882. During his colle-
giate course he also taught school three miles north of Lebanon, in the Emer-
ald Mound district, at the same time reading law and successfully passing the
examinations. In the spring of 1880 he had deliberately determined to make
the practice of law his life work, and in June, 1882, was admitted to the bar
upon examination before the supreme court at Springfield, after which he re-
ceived his diploma and degree from the law department of McKendree Col-
lege.

Immediately afterward Judge Sherman returned to Macomb, where he
has remained almost continuously since. His money was by this time ex-
hausted, and until August, 1882, he worked at day labor and at driving a team.
He then entered the law office of D. G. Tunnicliff, with whom he read law until
October. He then borrowed one hundred dollars from a college classmate and
entered into partnership with L. E. Vose. In 1890 D. G. Tunnicliff retired
(from practice and Judge Sherman became the senior member of the firm of
Sherman & Tunnicliffs, his partners being George D. and William W. Tuni-
cliff, the two sons of his former preceptor. His practice has been general and
he has been retained on many of the important suits that have been tried in the
district. In May, 1885, he was elected city attorney of Macomb, and in No-
vember, 1886, was elected judge of McDonough county, his term expiring in
December, 1890, when he declined a re-election. In politics he has always been
a Republican, and has been active in campaign work since 1884. In Novem-
ber, 1896, he was elected a member of the fortieth general assembly of Illinois
and was one of the most active and influential Republicans in the house. He
there explained his views on street-car legislation, May 27, 1897, the substance
of which was incorporated in the Allen bill, for which he voted on its final
passage. He has defended the law on its merits ever since the agitation began.
He was instrumental in securing the passage through the house of the jury
commission bill, recommended by the Chicago Bar Association, which is now
the law governing the selection of grand and petit jurors in Cook county. At
the special session of the legislature held in 1898 he was a member of the sub-
committee on revenue in the house and the joint conference committee of the
senate and house, and largely assisted in framing and passing the amendment
to the law for the assessment of property.

On the 27th of May, 1891, Judge Sherman married Miss Ella M. Crews in
Grove township, Jasper county, Illinois. The lady was the youngest daughter
of James L. Crews, one of the pioneers of that county, and was a schoolmate
of the Judge in their childhood days in southern Illinois. Her death occurred
June 16, 1893. In his social relations our subject is a member of Macomb
Lodge, No. 17, A. F. & A. M., of which he served as junior warden from 1890
until 1892; Morse Chapter,. No. 61, R. A. M.; Macomb Commandery, K. T.,
and the Oriental Consistory and Medinah Temple of Chicago. He also holds
a membership in Montrose Lodge, K. of P., of Macomb.

742 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Robert Wilson McCartney, deceased, was one of the most highly esteemed
citizens of Massac county.* His parents, John McCartney and wife, nee Jean
Brown, were hardy, honest, industrious and intelligent Scotch people who em-
igrated to the Western Reserve in Ohio in 1838 or '9, and he was born near
Warren, in Johnson township, Trumbull county, that state, March 19, 1843.
When he had arrived at the age of six years his parents removed to Eastbrook,
Pennsylvania, and resided there until after the death of young Robert's moth-
er, which occurred when he was but ten years of age. From Eastbrook the
family soon moved to Youngstown, Ohio, and our subject secured steady em-
ployment in the woolen mills until the war broke out.

When the country called for brave defenders, although only eighteen
years of age, he enlisted as a private in the Sixth Ohio Cavalry and fought until
the surrender at Appomattox. At Gettysburg he was aid-de-camp to General
Sickles, and in a desperate charge the General lost his leg and the gallant aide
received a severe wound in the shoulder as he carried orders from General
Sickles to General Ellis, the latter also being slain; and an elegant monument
now marks the spot where he fell. In a desperately wounded condition he lay
helpless on that historic field of carnage and blood, for two days and nights
suffering untold agony. When found he was taken to the hospital at Harris-
burg, Pennsylvania, and after partial recovery he was placed in the invalid
corps and assigned to clerical duty in the office of provost marshal. As soon
as he recovered sufficiently to take the field, Governor Andrew G. Curtin, the
famous war governor of Pennsylvania, commissioned him captain of Company
I, Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and at once sent him to the
front to join the Army of the Potomac. He participated in many of the hard-
fought battles of this campaign, sharing in the glory of Lee's surrender at
Appomattox and pas'sing through the magnificent grand review at Washing-
ton, to be later mustered out at Harrisburg. Going into the war in the prime
of youth after the last cloud had dispersed, he entered the arena of life with
a wrecked body but an unconquerable will.

During his boyhood days he attended the public schools, a,nd at the close
of the war entered Duff's Business College in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, gradu-
ating December 7, 1866. We next find him at Cleveland, Ohio, attending a
course of law lectures, upon the completion of which he came to Illinois to fur-
ther pursue his legal studies with his brother, John F. McCartney. In the
spring of 1868 he was admitted to the bar by Judge Olney, becoming a law
partner of his brother as well as associate editor of the Promulgator, a Repub-
lican newspaper founded by John F. McCartney, of which the Journal-Repub-
lican is the legal continuation.

For several years he was associated with William Towle in the operations
of the large Towle sawmills, which were later sold to Mr. Towle that he might
pursue the law, which was more congenial to his tastes. He early built an ele-
gant and substantial brick residence, followed by the erection of the commo-

* This sketch is contributed by Mr. O. J. Page, editor of the Journal-Republican.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 743

dious Julian Hotel, still the leading hotel of the city, and at the time of its
erection far in advance of that period. The ideal of his life, however, was the
erection of a brick block to contain a public library and reading rooms. Shortly
before his death he accomplished this, his chief design, by erecting the beauti-
ful new Music Hall block, and in his will made provision for a free public
library whenever the city should take charge of the same. His widow and
executrix has labored assiduously to carry out his purpose, and a library of
about a thousand choice volumes has lately passed under control of Metropolis
as the R. W. McCartney Free Public Library. He was also the moving spirit
in the organization and successful operation of the First National Bank, which
became a substantial institution under his wise management.

In his social life he was a respected member of the Grand Army of the Re-
public, an honored Odd Fellow and a loyal Mason. In religious affiliations he
was a Methodist and served for years as trustee of that large and influential
congregation in Metropolis. The great respect in which he was held by these
fraternities was shown at his funeral, in which they all participated.

He always commanded the confidence and the esteem of his fellow men,
who evidenced their high appreciation of his sterling worth by electing him
city attorney of Metropolis, afterward county judge in 1873, in which capacity
he served for nine years, to be again honored by being chosen to represent a
loyal constituency in the general assembly of Illinois in 1882. In 1885 he was
chosen circuit judge of this judicial district, and could have been re-elected,
but failing health and extensive business interests forbade, and the marvelous
powers of Judge McCartney, who proved himself not only a hero in times of
war but also a hero in times of peace, is beautifully and succinctly expressed in
an article published in the Times Star of Cincinnati, Ohio, at the time of his
death, as follows:

The death of the Hon. R. W. McCartney at Metropolis. Illinois, closes a career
which is deserving of more than the two-line notice the dispatches give it. When scarcely
more than a boy Mr. McCartney entered the cavalry service and was severely wounded
at Gettysburg. The wound never properly healed and was followed by inflammatory
rheumatism and other disorders that made life a torture. For not one day in thirty-two
years was he free from pain. The condition would have sent an ordinary man to his
grave or a veteran to a soldiers' home, but young McCartney was made of other stuff.
He went to Metropolis, read law, got admitted to the bar, and worked up a large
practice extending to the supreme court of the United States. He was elected judge of
the southern district of Illinois, and the way seemed open to the supreme court of his
state had his physical disabilities permitted of such promotion. He found time from
his busy profession to enter other pursuits, managed a large sawmill, ran a local news-
paper, built a large hotel, became president of a bank, put up a city hall for public
entertainments and opened a circulating library for the use of his townsmen. All these
and many more things he did, or was doing when death finally stopped the wheeled
chair whose occupant had scarcely yet crossed the line of fifty years! The arch-enemy
he 'faced at Gettysburg won at last; but who shall say the heroism of the boy surpassed
the heroism of the man? His career is cut short; but surely it is enough to encourage
boys who enter the race of life handicapped, enough to shame men of robust health
who accomplish nothing and charge it to lack of opportunity.

744 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

With all the suffering attending an invalid life and all the pressure of man-
ifold business obligations. Judge R. W. McCartney found time to enjoy the
serene and peaceful happiness of married life. On September 8, 1868, he mar-
ried Miss Mary Priestly, daughter of Professor Priestly. To them were born
two sons, William Priestly and John, the latter dying in infancy. Mrs.
McCartney crossed the "dark river" October 18, 1871, and March 19, 1873,
he was married to Miss Julia Scofield, the amiable daughter of Rev. Scofield,
an eminent minister of the Presbyterian church. From this union two children
were born, Robert W., deceased, and Jean E., who graduated at the Metropolis
high school as valedictorian of the class of 1894 and received her diploma from
the famous Western Female Seminary at Oxford, Ohio, June 7, 1898.

Against a broken and shattered constitution contracted in the defense of
his country's flag he loved so well, he fought a fight almost unsurpassed in the
annals of history and rose from simplicity to honored positions. In a wheel
chair and on the crutches he mastered the environments of life. In this condi-
tion a national bank received his guidance to success. In the forum of the
court he met antagonists of robust body who surrendered to his genius; on the
bench he grappled with knotty questions of the judiciary, and but one decision
was ever reversed; in the legislature of his chosen state he served with honor;
on the platform his voice in logic, purity and sublimity was heard with rapt
attention; and highest of all the fireside enjoyed the sacred blessings of his
congenial love until October 27, 1893, death closed his life so full of fruitfulness
and so worthy of emulation.

Frederick Randolph Young, one of the prominent members of the bar of
Massac county, and a sterling, esteemed citizen of Metropolis, has won distinc-
tion in his chosen profession, though but little more than two years have rolled
away since his admission to the bar of Illinois. Nor is he known alone in legal
circles, for he is equally prominent in public affairs, taking a commendable in-
terest in whatever is of moment to the community in which he dwells and at all
times doing his duty as a patriotic citizen of this great republic. In accord-
ance with what he believes to be the best policy for this government, he is an
earnest advocate of the principles of the Republican party, having given it his
allegiance since he received the right of franchise. In 1898 he was honored by
being made chairman of the Republican central committee of this county,
by which it may be seen that his influence is recognized as a power and factor in
the success of local politics.

In following the records of the life of our subject the writer of this brief
biography notes that he is one of the native sons of Massac county, his birth
having occurred at Brooklyn, April 11, 1871. His father, Dr. John D. Young,
a leading physician and surgeon of Brooklyn, has been engaged in the practice
of medicine for the pas_t twenty-eight years and has won more than a local
reputation for his skill. He is one of the honored heroes of the Civil war, in

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 745

which he suffered not only the hardships that fell to the lot of the ordinary
soldier, forced marches, privation, cold and hunger and the terror and stress of
battle, but was, moreover, one of the victims of Andersonville, with its untold
horrors. He entered the Federal service in July, 1862, and was captured by the
enemy at Guntown, Mississippi, after which he languished for six months in
Andersonville prison. When he returned to the north he took up the study of
medicine as soon as it was practicable, and in 1870 graduated at the Louisville
Medical College, since which time he has been actively engaged in practice. In
October, 1865, he married Miss Martha Lucy Calhoun, who was a native of
Weakley county, Tennessee, and was a second cousin of the Hon. John C. Cal-
houn. Dr. John D. Young is a native of Henry county, Tennessee, but for
nearly forty years he has been a resident of Illinois, as he became a citizen of
Johnson county in 1859. He has frequently been called upon to act in public
positions of responsibility and trust, and served as a member of the thirty-
second general assembly of this state.

Frederick Randolph Young possesses an excellent education and is a man
of broad views and wide information upon all subjects of local and national im-
portance. In his boyhood he attended the public schools and made such good
progress in his studies that he assumed the charge of a school when he was
very young for the position. He taught for three years with very fair success,
but, feeling the need of further mental training should he enter a professional
field of effort, as he desired to do, he entered Eureka College, in Woodford
county, Illinois, where he pursued the classical course for a period of two years. ,
The next two years he taught in the graded schools of Brooklyn, his native
town, and in the meantime began his initial studies in law. When he had com-
pleted his last term of school-teaching he went to the Wesleyan University at
Bloomington, and at the close of one term of work in the law department of the
institution he took an examination before the courts and was admitted to the
bar, this being in August, 1897. He was made a Master Mason the year that
Be attained his majority, in fact but two months after he had passed his anni-
versary, this honor rarely falling to one of that age. He has been the junior
warden of Farmers' Lodge No. 232, A. F. & A. M. for five years, and is royal
arch captain of Metropolitan Chapter No. 91, R. A. M. In 1804 the Order of
Knighthood was conferred upon him by Gethsemane Commandery, No. 41,
K. T., and for one year he served as captain-general in that commandery.

The marriage of Mr. Young and Miss Azalea A. Jones was solemnized
December 27, 1897. They have a very pleasant and attractive home, where they
dispense a gracious hospitality.

Captain John F. McCartney is a man who has risen by his own intrinsic
worth and merit to a high position in the respect of mankind, and the greater the
difficulties with which he has contended, the greater his triumph. There is
something inspiring in such a life record, a lesson for the young, ambitious
man just entering upon a discouraging pathway; a lesson for the man who has
failed, perhaps, to achieve the results at which he had heroically aimed; the
useful lesson that thorough perseverance, a brave heart and dauntless energy, when

746 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

added to even ordinary powers of mind and body, one may certainly accomplish
wonders, if not attain prosperity and affluence. The history of Captain Mc-
Cartney is the history of a man who put all obstacles under his feet and from a
humble position rose to an honored place in the community.

The sturdy, industrious, fearless spirit of a long line of Scottish ancestors
is present in the person of the Captain. He, too, is a native of the land of
Wallace, Bruce and Burns, his birth having occurred near the city of Glasgow,
April 22, 1835. His parents, John and Jane (Brown) McCartney, were natives
of Scotland, and came to the United States in 1840. They settled in Trumbull
county, Ohio, in which locality our subject spent his boyhood days. The father,
who was a so-called "dissenting" minister in his native land, removed to Law-
rence county, Pennsylvania, in his later years, and there passed the remainder of
his life.

The struggles of J. F. McCartney while he was endeavoring to gain an ed-
ucation were such as few children of the present day can imagine. He paid
his way, some of the time, by doing janitor work in the school building, and in
various ways he earned money, never being too proud to do hard, honest work
for honest pay. He attended school with the foster children of Benjamin and
Edward Wade, Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, and other men prominent in the
early history of the Buckeye state. He bought his time of his father from his
fourteenth year, paying for the same at the rate of fifty dollars a year until he
reached his majority. When he was eighteen he obtained a certificate to teach,
and was in charge of a school in western Pennsylvania, during his initial ex-
perience as a pedagogue. Later he attended Kingsville Academy in Ashtabula
county, Ohio, for instruction in certain branches in which he desired further
knowledge, and upon leaving there he resumed teaching, which he followed for
several winters, the rest of the year working upon farms at stipulated wages.

In 1855 fortune brought Captain McCartney to Illinois, and, as he had
but thirty-one cents in money, he accepted a position in a sawmill at Pulaski
Station, in Pulaski county, being employed there but a short time, however,
ere he was given an opportunity to teach a school in the neighborhood of the
town. After he had carried on school-teaching for a few terms he returned to
Ohio, and took an advanced course of study in the Vermillion Collegiate Insti-
tute, in Ashland county, same state, soon being given the chair of mathematics
in the institution.

At the breaking out of the great Civil war the Captain joined the One
Hundred and Thirty-first Illinois Volunteers at Metropolis, Illinois, and was
appointed regimental quartermaster of the same. Subsequently he was de-
tailed to the recruiting service and personally assisted in the enlistment of one
hundred and fifteen men during the winter of 1863-64. By the special order of
Secretary Stanton they were mustered in as Company D, Fifty-sixth Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, with him as captain. He went then with Sherman on the
march to the sea and on to Richmond, and in May, 1865, was sent in General
Herron's division in pursuit of Kirby Smith, then in Texas. He was honorably
discharged from the service in Little Rock, Arkansas, in July of the same year.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 747

In 1861 he was admitted to the bar of Illinois, but did not engage in practice
until after his country had received the loyal tribute of several of the best years of
his young manhood. When duty no longer called him he quietly resumed his in-
terrupted plans as though nothing had happened in the meantime, and from
that time to the present has been assiduous in business. He began his profes-
sional career in Metropolis and has been actively associated with the upbuild-
ing and progress of this thriving little city. In 1867, upon the death of Hon.
G. W. Neely, he was commissioned to the vacated position of state's attorney
by Governor Oglesby, and in 1868 was elected for a full term. When he left
the office, in December/ 1872, he entered more vigorously than ever before into the
private practice of law, and continued thus solely occupied until 1894, when in-
creasing business interests largely forced his retirement from the bar.

In 1882 he aided in organizing the First National Bank of Metropolis, it
being incorporated at fifty thousand dollars. His brother, R. W., was presi-
dent, and in 1883 ne was elected president, and acted in that capacity for three
terms. In 1895, having sold his interest in the First National Bank, he founded
the State Bank, capitalized at fifty thousand dollars. He was elected president
of the new institution and is yet officiating in this responsible position. To
his genius and excellent financial management the success of these two repre-
sentative banking institutions is largely attributable. By energy and well ap-
plied effort he long ago became one of the wealthy land-owners of Massac
county, Illinois, as there he holds the .deeds to thirteen hundred and fifty acres
of fine, fertile farm land.

Fraternally, he is a charter member of the blue lodge, A. F. & A. M., of
Grand Chain, Pulaski county, and is a member of the Sons of Temperance.
Politically, he is now a Prohibitionist. Since 1858 he has been a valued mem-
ber of the Christian church, and for the past twenty-two years has been an elder
in the same. He is chairman of the eighth district Christian Mission board,
embracing the fourteen southern counties of Illinois. For a number of years he
was the editor and proprietor of a newspaper published in Metropolis, and in
1876 he aided in the organization of the "Farmers' Movement," which elected
Hon. Samuel Glasford to the lower house of representatives, the opponent being
Colonel Farrell.

In 1859 the Captain married Elizabeth McGee, a sister of the Hon. F. M.
McGee, late of Johnson county, Illinois, and of Judge McGee, of Pulaski coun-
ty, this state. Two children were born to our subject and wife, namely: Lizzie,
who married B. F. Stroud, now of Seattle, Washington ; and Professor M.
N., who is superintendent of the public schools of Vienna, Illinois. Their
mother died in September, 1864, and March i, 1866, Captain McCartney mar-
ried Minnie D. Lukens, by whom he has had eight children. Grace is the wife
of Hon. F. A. Trowsdall; Anna is Mrs. D. T. Stimpert; Hattie is the wife of
C. M. Fouts ; Carrie married Professor J. N. Weaver; Catherine is the assist-
ant cashier of the State Bank, of which her father is president; and Frank,
Fred and Hope, the younger ones, are at home.

Judge William Tell Hollenbeck, son of John Milton and Margaret (Neal)

748 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Hollenbeck, was born on a farm in York township, Clark county, Illinois, Octo-
ber 18, 1861. His ancestors were Hollanders who came to America in the period
of the Revolutionary war, settling in the state of New York. His great-grand-
father, Lawrence Hollenbeck, left the state of New York in 1812 and traveling
down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers and up the Wabash river took up his abode
on Walnut prairie, Clark county, Illinois, in 1816. In connection with his sons
Lawrence, John, William and Jacob, he did a very large milling business and
shipped heavily down the rivers to New Orleans and other river points.

William's life was that of an ordinary farmer's boy of his time. He at-
tended the country school and was a diligent and apt pupil, and as years ad-
vanced and his labor became more valuable, his working time lengthened and his
school days grew less until they were confined to the winter term each year.
At the age of fourteen William met with the greatest loss that ever befalls a
young boy, in the death of his mother.

His mother was a daughter of Washington Neal, who came to Clark-
county from Boone county, Kentucky, and was a woman of fine natural abili-
ties, with a mind well cultivated for the times in which she lived. The family
was soon scattered and William hired out as a farm hand during the summer
and worked Saturdays, evenings and mornings of winter to pay his board while
he attended school. This continued until he was nineteen years old, when, by
frugal habits and the diligent improvement of his time he had saved enough to
pay his way at the Southern Illinois Normal University at Carbondale for a
year. Not being able to continue his course at the Normal for longer than the
year he returned to his native county and again went to work on the farm and
attended school in the winter. He obtained a teacher's certificate to teach
school in the spring of 1882, but not wishing to enter that profession he went
to Logan county and hired as a farm-hand east from Atlanta, where he worked
just a month, when he accidentally received a severe kick on the head from a
vicious horse, which disabled him so that he left the farm and returned to Clark
county and began teaching school in the village of Walnut Prairie. As a teacher
he was very successful and remained in charge of that school for six consecutive
terms and was offered an increase of wages to continue. He had other plans in
view, however, and went to Terre Haute and entered the Indiana State Normal.
From this institution he went to the Terre Haute Commercial College, at which
he graduated. After receiving his diploma he remained in Terre Haute as a
bookkeeper for about two years. But clerical work was not in the line that
young Hollenbeck had marked out for his life-work; so he returned to Clark
county and again entered the school-room. Here his labors were marked with
brilliant success; he was re-elected as president of the Clark County Teachers'
Association term after term, and his' services were in demand as a teacher at the
very highest wages paid in the county.

One of the marked traits of Hollenbeck's character is thoroughness of
preparation for any work he undertakes. Having his aim fixed upon the law as
the ultimate work to be pursued in life, he planned to make every undertaking,
even his amusements, contribute to fitting him for his chosen profession. De-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 749

sirous of widening his fund of general information he planned for a brief tour
of Europe, and in the summer of 1889 he traveled in England, Ireland, Scot-
land, Wales and France, spending some time at the World's Fair in Paris;
Germany, Holland and Belgium. Upon his return from Europe he re-entered
the law office of Golden & Hamill, at that time the leading law firm in Marshall,
and read with them for about two years, and then entered the law department of
the Ann Arbor University, at which institution he graduated with high honors
in 1892. Returning to Marshall he formed a partnership with F. W. Booth,
under the firm name of Hollenbeck & Booth. The firm soon had a large law
practice, which continued until the fall of 1894, when Mr. Hollenbeck was nom-
inated by the Republican party as their candidate for county and probate judge
of Clark county, which usually gave a Democratic majority of three hundred;
Mr. Hollenbeck was triumphantly elected by nearly five hundred majority. He
immediately dissolved partnership with Mr. Booth and in December of the same
year entered upon the duties of his office.

Judge Hollenbeck's good knowledge of the law, his legal acumen and
sound judgment, which he has displayed in an eminent' degree, have won for
him the respect and high consideration of the members of the bar who have
practiced in his court in Clark and surrounding counties, and he has gained the
confidence of the people whom he has served with impartiality and faithfulness.
Judge Hollenbeck is a self-made man in the fullest sense of the term and has
overcome difficulties and surmounted obstacles that might well dampen the
ardor of the stoutest-hearted. In 1896 he was married to Louise M. Rackerby,
daughter of M. P. Rackerby of Hutsonville. They have one son, Neal Au-
gustus Hollenbeck, born August 18, 1897. Mrs. Hollenbeck is highly ac-
complished, especially as a musician, and they have an ideal home, which is
always a pleasant resort for their wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

CHAPTER XXXV.

LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS A COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE OF THEIR CHARACTERS,
DRAWN FROM THE GREAT DEBATE OF 1858.*

IT IS too early even now for an impartial review of the great debate, which
commenced at Ottawa on the 2ist of August and was continued at Free-
port on the 27th of August, at Jonesboro on the I5th of September, at
Charleston on the i8th of the same month, at Galesburg October 7th, Ouincy
October I3th, and which ended at Alton on the I5th of October, 1858. The
places I have mentioned were the mere points of contact between these great
leaders of public opinion, as they traversed the state.

In the intervals between their formal meetings both of them addressed large
popular assemblies in different parts of the state, and in that manner continued
the discussion of the questions of the day until the people were fully aroused and
watched this battle of the giants with the most profound and absorbing interest.

I have said that it is too early for an impartial review of the "debate of
1858," for though thirty-eight years have elapsed since the historic meeting
of Douglas and Lincoln, which occurred on this spot, some of the subordinate
actors in the drama of that year still survive, while some of them preceded
Douglas into the land of shadows and did not live to hear his words of burning
patriotism, when, with transcendent eloquence, he pleaded with his countrymen
to save the states from distintegration, and the Union, under the constitution,
from subversion.

Others of their hearers died under the flag, in the hospitals or on battle-
fields, and did not witness the tragedy of the I4th of April, 1865, or share in the
almost despairing gloom which that event cast upon the country. Still others
have fallen by the wayside, as the days and years have passed, and now a few,
ah, how few ! linger, as if reluctant to quit the stage. After a while, when all
of them are gone, the historian will with judicial accuracy arrange his pitiless
facts, and then, and not until then, the world will be given a calm and impartial
review of the great debate of 1858, with all of its attendant characteristic cir-
cumstances. Still, on this occasion, without injustice to the memory of the
dead and without risk of wounding the sensibilities of the living, I may con-
tribute something to the picture which this assemblage is intended to recall,
and commemorate.

The personalities of Douglas and Lincoln are almost as well known to
the people of Illinois as to their contemporaries. It is difficult to imagine men
more unlike in their origin, their education, their intellectual and personal

* Oration of Hon. John M. Palmer, delivered at Galesburg, Illinois, October 7, 1896.

750

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 751

habits and appearance. Mr. Douglas was of New England birth, had the ad-
vantages afforded by the public schools of his native "state, and had some share
of classical training. He came to Illinois and found employment as a teacher.
Mr. Lincoln was born in Kentucky, where, at that time, public schools were
unknown. His opportunities for mere elementary education were of the most
humble character. The story of his earlier years is familiar, and I will not at-
tempt to repeat it. It is the history of a life commenced under most unfavorable
circumstances, and its lesson is that under American institutions eminence is
attainable by the most humble.

I became acquainted with Mr. Douglas in the month of June, 1838, when
he was a candidate for a seat in the second branch of the congress of the United
States. The district he sought to represent included Quincy and Chicago,
Danville and Rock Island, Springfield and Galena. At that time Illinois was
entitled to but three members of "the house," and the population, as shown by
the preceding census, made it proper to provide two districts in southern Illi-
nois and but one for the whole northern half of the state. I heard Mr. Douglas
on the clay after our first meeting, and was impressed with his remarkable power
as a popular orator. My subsequent acquaintance with him ripened into the
most profound respect for his great abilities. ,

In December, 1839, when I visited Springfield to obtain admission to the
bar, 'he took charge of my application, obtained an order for the appointment of
a committee, consisting of himself and Jonathan Young Scammon (a name
venerable in the law) to examine me, touching my qualifications to practice as
an attorney and counselor at law; made a favorable report; wrote my license;
obtained the signature of two of the judges of the supreme court; handed me
the license and congratulated me on my entry upon what he called "the hon-
orable profession of the law." It can be readily imagined that from that time
until later political events separated us I was his devoted follower, always ready
and eager to serve him.

In December, 1839, while in Springfield on the errand I have just men-
tioned, I saw Abraham Lincoln for the first time, but not under circumstances
favorable to the formation of intimate personal or political relations between
us. He came into the building occupied by the second branch of the legis-
lature, and made what was called in the language of the times "a Whig speech,"
in which he assailed the Democratic party with great severity. Although at
that time the Democratic party in Illinois held all the departments of the state
government there were even then rumblings of the storm which came in 1840.

Under the provisions of the constitution of 1818, which was in force until
superseded by that of 1848, the executive officers of the state government (with
the exception of the secretary of state, who was appointed by the governor),
the judges of the courts, the attorney-general and the state's attorney were
elected by the legislature in joint session. The party leaders therefore attended
the legislative sessions, and the "lobby," as it was termed, was the theater of
their eloquence.

I there heard Alexander P. Field, who afterward left the state and died in

752 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

New Orleans ; Abraham Lincoln ; E. D. Baker, who fell at Ball's Bluff during
the late civil war; O. H. Browning, late secretary of the interior, for the Whigs,
and Stephen A. Douglas, John Calhoun, Isaac P. Walker (afterwards senator
from Wisconsin), Democrats. They were all stars of the first magnitude, but
I then imagined that the respective parties relied upon Lincoln and Douglas
as the pillars of their strength.

Mr. Lincoln, in the speech I heard him deliver on the occasion I have
mentioned, surprised me by his ability and by his apparent logical frankness.
He seemed to concede to his adversary almost everything he could claim, but
I observed that he always found means to escape the effect even of his own
concessions. His language was simple but exact. His statements were clear
and his arguments must have given great satisfaction to the party he repre-
sented. He asserted his propositions with firmness and supported them in
the most effective manner.

Mr. Douglas was then, as afterward, aggressive, bold and defiant. He was
quick to perceive the strong as well as the weak points of his adversary. He
approached the strong with caution, but assailed the weak ones with irresistible
force. Nor was he mistaken in the strength of his own positions. He invited
attack upon those that were impregnable, but covered the weak ones with mar-
velous ingenuity. These were my estimates of Lincoln and Douglas, made per-
haps as early as 1839, but were corrected and matured by subsequent acquaint-
ance.

The annexation of Texas, in 1845, and the acquisition of the large terri-
tories gained by the United States as the result of the war with Mexico gave
in some quarters a new importance to the subject of slavery. The sectional
strife which that subject occasioned, was, as was believed, or hoped rather than
believed, settled by the passage by congress of what were called the compro-
mise measures of 1850. Both the great parties pledged themselves, by the
action of their national conventions in 1852, to maintain "the compromise of
1850" as a final and satisfactory settlement of the question of slavery in the
United States. No one exerted himself more earnestly and efficiently than did
Mr. Douglas to secure the adoption by congress of the so-called "compromise,"
and the result was most favorable to the Democratic party, of which he had
become one of the national leaders.

His supporters in Illinois hoped for his nomination as the Democratic
candidate for the presidency in 1852, but he was defeated by the almost un-
known Franklin Pierce. The Democrats won an overwhelming victory in the
November election of that year. General Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate,
who was the foremost American soldier then living, was defeated. But the per-
manent success of the Democratic party was destroyed by an event which was
intended to insure its predominance.

Mr. Douglas, then a senator from Illinois and chairman of the senate com-
mittee on territories, early in January, 1854, reported a bill for the organization
of the territory of Nebraska. In the report accompanying the bill he said:

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 753

The principal amendments which your committee deemed it their duty to commend
to the favorable action of the senate, in a special report, are those in which the principles
established by the compromise measures of 1850, so far as they are applicable to territorial
organizations, are proposed to be affirmed and carried into practical operation within
the limits of the new territory.

With a view of conforming their action to what they regard as the settled policy
of the government, sanctioned by the approving voice of the American people, your com-
mittee had deemed it their duty to incorporate and perpetuate, in their territorial bill,
the principles and spirit of those measures. If any other considerations were neces-
sary to render the propriety of this course imperative upon the committee, they may
be found in the fact that the Nebraska country occupies the same relative position to
the slavery question as did New Mexico and Utah when those territories were organized.

It was a disputed point whether slavery was prohibited by law in the country
acquired from Mexico. On the one hand, it was contended, as a legal proposition, that
slavery having been prohibited by the enactments of Mexico, according to the laws of
nations, we received the country with all its local laws and domestic institutions attached
to the soil, so far as they did not conflict with the constitution of the United States; and
that a law either protecting or prohibiting slavery was not repugnant to that instrument,
as was evidenced by the fact that one-half of the states of the Union tolerated, while
the other half prohibited, the institution of slavery. On the other hand, it was insisted
that, by virtue of the constitution of the United States, every citizen had a right to
remove to any territory of the Union and carry his property with him under the pro-
tection of law, whether that property consisted of persons or things. The difficulties
arising from this diversity of opinion were greatly aggravated by the fact that there were
many persons on both sides of the legal controversy who were unwilling to abide the
decision of the courts on the legal matters in dispute; thus among those who claimed
that the Mexican laws were still in force, and, consequently, that slavery was already pro-
hibited in those territories by valid enactments, there were many who insisted upon
congress making the matter certain by enacting another prohibition. In like manner
some of those who argued that Mexican law had ceased to have any binding force, and
that the constitution tolerated and protected slave property in those territories, were
unwilling to trust the decision of the court upon the point and insisted that congress
should, by direct enactment, remove all legal obstacles to the introduction of slaves into
those territories.

Your committee deem it fortunate for the peace of the country and the security
of the Union that the controversy then resulted in the adoption of the compromise meas-
ures, which the two great political parties, with singular unanimity, have affirmed as
a cardinal article of their faith and proclaimed to the world as a final settlement of the
controversy and an end of the agitation. A due respect, therefore, for the avowed opinions
of senators, as well as a proper sense of patriotic duty, enjoins upon your committee the
propriety and necessity of a strict adherence to the principles, and even a literal adoption
of the enactments of that adjustment in all their territorial bills, so far as the same are
not locally inapplicable. These enactments embrace, among other things, less material
to the matters under consideration, the following provisions:

When admitted as a state the said territory, or any portion of the same, shall be
received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at
the time of their admission.

That the legislative power and authority of said territory shall be vested in the
governor and a legislative assembly.

That the legislative power of said territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of
legislation consistent with the constitution of the United States and the provisions of this
act: but no law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tax
shall be imposed upon the property of the United States; nor shall the land or other
property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents
48

754 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Mr. Douglas afterward offered an amendment to the bill, which, referring
to the Missouri compromise, declared: "Which being inconsistent with the
principle of non-intervention by congress with slavery in the states and terri-
tories as recognized by the legislation of 1850, commonly called the compro-
mise measure, is hereby declared inoperative and void, it being the true intent
and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any territory or state nor
exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to frame
and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the
constitution of the United States.

The proposition to repeal the Missouri Compromise or declare it void,
because of its opposition to the compromise measures of 1850, startled the
whole country. The people of the United States had submitted to the com-
promise measures of 1850 especially to the fugitive-slave law with reluc-
tance. They yielded to that measure only to discharge their obligations under
the constitution, but when it was proposed to repeal the compromise of 1820,
or to declare it inoperative because of its supposed conflict with the compro-
mise of 1850, they were astounded. They had accepted the compromise meas-
ures of 1850 as a supplement to that provision of the compromise of 1820, which
excluded slavery from the territories of the United States north of thirty-six
degrees and thirty minutes. No one can doubt that Mr. Douglas in his action
upon the Kansas-Nebraska bill committed the tactical mistake of his lifetime.
He relied upon the strength of merely partisan organization. He did not
understand what he afterward found to be true, that the questions he had
raised were of the most dangerous character and would destroy the Democratic
party. The language of his amendment to the Nebraska bill presented a conun-
.drum of almost impossible solution. It declared that it was not the intention of
the act to introduce slavery into any state or territory or to exclude it therefrom,
but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to regulate their own institution
in their own way, subject only to the constitution of the United States.

No man was more capable of defending this most remarkable provision
than was Mr. Douglas. I have mentioned my acquaintance with him up to
and including 1839. He had occupied public positions, embracing twelve years
in the senate of the United States, and was unmistakably a popular leader, who
up to that time had no peer in the state. Mr. Lincoln, on the other hand,
had devoted himself to the practice of his profession. His habits and his meth-
ods of reasoning had been formed in the courts, where exactness of statement
and clear and consistent arguments are necessary. It was apparent to men
who were acquainted with Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln when the controversy
in regard to the Nebraska bill commenced that they would be the leaders in
the struggle. I have observed before that as early as 1839 the leaders of the
Whig and the Democratic parties looked to Douglas and Lincoln as the pillars
of their strength. They were undoubtedly natural rivals. I am unable to say
from anything that I know how far mere personal associations and possible
social asperities may have whetted the spirit of antagonism between them. In
1854 Mr. 'Lincoln was a candidate for a seat in the senate of the United States,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 755

but at the subsequent session of the legislature he was defeated. His conduct
on that occasion only added to his strength as a popular leader, and gave him
the confidence of a small party in the legislature, "the Anti-Nebraska Demo-
cratic party." .Mr. Lincoln had personally appeared in the joint session of the
legislature when an election for senator was pending and urged his friends to
vote for Mr. Trumbull. That act of personal disinterestedness gave him a claim
upon the "Anti-Nebraska Democracy," which they were fully prepared to re-
deem in the contest of 1858. In 1856 he was present at Bloomington and made
a speech which, though it has not been preserved, was one of remarkable power.
In 1858 the Republican convention selected him as its candidate for senator.
The language with which his nomination was accompanied was emphatic. It
declared him to be not only the candidate, but the only candidate of the Re-
publican party for a seat in the senate of the United States. Thus endorsed
and supported he met Mr. Douglas as his accredited adversary. The corre-
spondence which led to the debate of 1858 is so familiar to the people of the
state that I omit it. It was preliminary to the meeting of Douglas and Lincoln,
at Ottawa, on the 2ist of August, 1858. Perhaps at this point it may be well
to present my estimate of Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln as they appeared to me
just before the time of their meeting at Ottawa. I think it is impossible to
overestimate Mr. Douglas as a popular orator. I have stated before that he
was bold, aggressive and defiant; that no man better understood either the
strength or the weakness of his own position, and no man could with more skill
frame the issues upon which he had determined to conduct his canvass. Judge
Allen, of the district court of the United States for the southern district of Illi-
nois, who was an earnest friend and supporter of Judge Douglas, said to me in
a recent letter: "Judge Douglas was the beau ideal orator, statesman and poli-
tician of the young Democrats of the state at that time, and easily the first in
the estimation of all members of the party in Illinois, without reference to age
or circumstances. * * * Judge Douglas, as you know, always mapped out
his own campaign, framed his own issues and supported them with unequaled
power. His speech from the balcony of the Tremont House, in July of that
year, was on lines drawn by himself, and from them he never deviated substan-
tially until the contest closed, resulting in his success." Mr. Lincoln, on the
other hand, accustomed, from his professional habits, to accurate reasoning,
was compelled from the necessities of his situation to exert himself to force
Judge Douglas to a definition of the real meaning of the Nebraska bill and
to a clear statement of his own opinion of the effect of the constitution of the
United States in its operation upon the territories with respect to the admission
of slavery. To that result he directed all of his efforts. How well he succeeded
will appear from Mr. Douglas' speech at Freeport. It will be observed further
in the progress of this debate that Mr. Douglas professed absolute indifference
to the extension of slavery into the territories. He seemed only anxious that
the white people of the territories should exercise their own judgment upon that
question, and appeared to be oblivious of the fact that the public mind had

756 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

reached the condition that the existence of slavery in Kansas and Nebraska
had become one of the great points of sectional controversy.

From this point I will consider the several speeches made by Mr. Douglas
and Mr. Lincoln, commencing on the 2ist of August, at Ottawa, and terminat-
ing at Alton on the I5th of October, 1858, simply with reference to the great
qualities of those two eminent men. I ought further to remark that some of
the questions considered by them were disposed of by the Civil war, to which
it is not too much to say the debate may be regarded as the mere preliminary.
Slavery no longer exists in the United States; therefore it must be held that upon
that question the views of Mr. Lincoln have prevailed over those advanced by
Mr. Douglas. There is no doubt but that the public conscience of Illinois,
even as early as 1858, revolted against the theories of Mr. Douglas as to the
right of all men to liberty and equality before the law. In addition to that,
Judge Douglas evidently entertained expectations of future political advance-
ment which could only be secured by the harmony and unity of the Democratic
party. In order to promote that end he seized hold of the doctrine of popular
sovereignty largely modified by the constitutional theory of the rights of the
states, two propositions irreconcilable, and diverse in their influence upon the
slavery question. The right of the states in which slavery then existed to main-
tain slavery anil defend it by their constitutions and their laws was admitted by
both parties to the great debate. The equality of the states, as asserted by Mr.
Douglas, carried with it consequences that were at no time defined with such
accuracy as to prevent the mischievous consequences that all were equal in the
territory and every right of property recognized by states attended citizens of
the several states in emigrating to new territorial acquisition. Undoubtedly
Mr. Douglas felt the difficulties of his provision, and he exhibited the highest
qualities as a debater in eluding his logical embarrassments. Mr. Lincoln
pressed those apparent inconsistencies upon him with great force, and there are
but few better examples during the history of oratory than are afforded by these
remarkable debates. Still it will be perceived that as the debates progressed
the real points of controversy, not only between Douglas and Lincoln as rival
candidates, but the issues between the sections of the Union, the supporters
and the assailants of slavery, were found and denned. I have said that Mr.
Douglas was embarrassed by what was apparent to all, the difficulty of har-
monizing what may be justly called the northern and southern Democratic views
of the system of slavery. He himself, in his report upon the Nebraska bill, had
stated the different views entertained by different parties in different sections of
the Union. He sought to find ground for a new compromise of the slavery
question, and he supposed he had done so in the doctrine which he asserted,
of the right of the people to regulate their own institutions in their own way,
subject only to the constitution of the United States; or, as he stated the same
doctrine in his Alton speech, that "The people of the territory, like those of the
state, shall decide for themselves whether slavery shall or shall not exist in
their limits." This statement of the doctrine by no means solved the difficulty,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 757

nor did it meet the public judgment. It was still a subject of popular inquiry:
Wliat is the true and proper construction of the constitution of the United
States with reference to the existence of slavery in the territories? It was
asked, Can the people by the action of the territorial legislature, admit or ex-
clude slavery from the territories? Or, Is it the true interpretation of the con-
stitution that while the territories remain common property the constitution
carries slavery into the territory as incidental to the rights of the states in which
slavery existed? Mr. Douglas was never able to answer that and similar ques-
tions to the satisfaction of the popular mind. In the Freeport speech, in reply
to the question propounded to him by Mr. Lincoln, he maintained that even
though slaves under the constitution might be carried into the territories,
friendly legislation might be adopted for the protection of the institution, or
it could be excluded by the failure of the territorial legislature to provide police
regulations for its protection. These views advanced by Mr. Douglas satisfied
neither of the parties to the controversy. The pro-slavery party, I use now a
term long since obsolete, were not satisfied, and denounced the doctrine among
unfriendly legislation, as being as objectionable as the assertion of the right to
exclude slavery from the territories by local legislation; while to the anti-
slavery party the theory that slaves could be taken into the territories and
retained there until excluded by territorial action, practically yielded the whole
question. A careful reader of the speeches of Mr. Douglas delivered during
the great debate will perceive the difficulties which surrounded him, and observe
the remarkable argumentative strength he exhibited in his attempt to recon-
cile propositions so embarrassing. After the Freeport speech the positions of .
Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln were changed. At Ottawa Mr. Douglas was the
assailant, and undoubtedly the speeches there terminated to Mr. Lincoln's dis-
advantage. At Freeport Mr. Douglas was driven to definitions, and from that
time forth Mr. Lincoln took the offensive. It has been said by a great military
writer that a purely defensive war is rarely successful; and so it is in great in-
tellectual contests. In 1858 slavery in the United States reached its greatest
strength. It was even then condemned in the northern states of the Union, not
only as wrong in itself, but it had come to be feared as a menace to the peace
and integrity of the Union. In the south many opposed the institution on
moral grounds, while still other practical men had reached the conclusion that
as a system of labor it was wasteful and, as compared with modern methods of
industry, no longer profitable. These considerations greatly increased the
embarrassment of Mr. Douglas. From his great eminence as a party leader
his contest with Mr. Lincoln was closely observed by political leaders in all
parts of the country. Mr. Buchanan and his cabinet did not conceal their desire
for his overthrow. The southern leaders were prepared to be dissatisfied with
whatever course he might think proper to pursue, and perhaps nothing in our
political history can be found to equal the magnificent struggle made by him in
the last and greatest battle of his life.

Mr. Lincoln entered upon the contest of 1858 without the full confidence

758 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

of even his own supporters. I remember the trepidation of the anti-slavery
party occasioned by his celebrated declaration that "a house divided against
itself cannot stand." It was expected by many of those who desired his suc-
cess that he would fail in his contest with Douglas, and it was only after re-
peated essays which he had given of his power that he established himself in
the full confidence of his supporters. I think it is apparent in the earlier speeches
of Mr. Lincoln that he felt the want of the full confidence of his party adherents,
and I think it can be perceived that he grew bolder as he became more con-
scious of his own power and received a larger share of the confidence of his
friends. I trust in what I have said as well as what I will say hereafter I have
kept within the line of just and proper appreciation of the intellectual and
logical force exhibited by these great leaders in the contest of 1858. I knew
them both and esteemed them both, although I confess that while the prelim-
inaries of the discussion were being arranged I doubted Mr. Lincoln's ability
to cope with Mr. Douglas. That series of discussions, which I have called a
mere continuous debate, is historic and it made history. Mr. Douglas, who
had been the idol of the Democracy of Illinois and was without doubt the
greatest man of his party in the United States, yielding to the influences which
surrounded him at Washington, and forgetful of what he so well said on an-
other occasion, "I never knew the Democratic party to fail in one of its prin-
ciples out of policy or expediency, that it did not pay the debt with sorrow,"
attempted that which is always dangerous to a political party which is in the
possession of power; he attempted to make a new issue for the consideration
of the American people.

If it had been possible at the time to have made the question of the future
existence of slavery in the states, or of its extension, by the occult force of the
constitution, into the territories, and had it admitted of exact definition and a
clear declaration of its purposes, it might have succeeded, but it was apparent
even in 1858 that what was known as the slave power was determined to de-
fend that system, even to the extent of the overthrow of the Union, and the
north was aroused and was equally determined that slavery in the United States
should never be allowed to enter any of the territories. Between parties thus
resolved no compromise was possible, no make-shift, no scheme could be
devised which would state the recognized propositions of the sections. In 1858
Mr. Lincoln by no means satisfied the extreme men who considered themselves
to be his supporters, in that he failed, as much as Mr. Douglas did, to satisfy
the southern element of his own political party. The debate defined the real
points of difference between the advocates and opponents of slavery extension;
it disclosed the chasm which separated sections. Mr. Douglas succeeded in
securing a re-election to the senate; Mr. Lincoln, as the result of his part in
the discussion, became the leader of a great and powerful party. Mr. Doug-
las, disappointed in his expectations of presidency in 1860, accepted the result
of the election of his successful rival, and when the secessionists attempted to
overthrow the Union, he became the champion of the national Union. His

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 759

speeches in Illinois in 1861 were magnificent in their power; they were sublime
in their patriotism; and he died in June, 1861, giving his last words and his
last thoughts to his country, Mr. Lincoln was elected to the presidency; was
called by the American people to lead them out from the domination of an
arrogant section; he was true to his mission, and died the death of a martyr.

He said to me once: "I have no policy; my hope is to save the Union.
I do the best I can to-day, with the hope that when to-morrow comes I am
ready for its duty."

CHAPTER XXXVI.

MEMBERS OF THE CHICAGO BAR.

FREDERICK SEYMOUR WINSTON. History is a record of events,
of things attempted and accomplished; biography is the record of the
life experiences of individuals who produce the events which form the
history of city, state or nation. History deals with effects, biography with
causes. The latter indicates what will produce certain results, what qualities
will produce success, what forces will result in leadership, what characteristics
will awaken respect. Biography becomes of value, therefore, only when it in-
dicates the path to be pursued by those who attain to the best things in life, and
fails of its true province when it emphasizes aught else. It accords to merit
its real place in the world and acknowledges the worth of true ability. In the
life of Mr. Winston we find that the causes which have led to his brilliant suc-
cess in the legal profession are all such as command respect and awaken ad-
miration. His life also illustrates another truth, that though one has back of
him an ancestry honorable and honored, of which he may be justly proud,
it is after all only individual and long sustained effort that counts in the race of
life; it is only this that can give intellectual prowess and maintain a leadership
once gained.

Mr. Winston comes of two of the best families in America, but it is his
own labors that have brought him legal pre-eminence. He is descended from
the Winstons of New York and the Mclntoshes of Georgia, families long prom-
inent in the history of the country. His grandfather, Rev. Dennis M. Winston,
who was a graduate of Hamilton College, of New York, and Princeton College,
of New Jersey, became a minister of the Presbyterian church and on account
of failing health removed to the south, where he met and married Miss Mary
Mclntosh, the granddaughter of the distinguished General Mclntosh. The
lady inherited a large number of slaves, but as the years passed the Rev. Win-
ston and his wife, believing, like many of the more advanced southern people,
that the practices of slavery were wrong, removed to Woodford county, Ken-
tucky, in order there to liberate those who were their bondsmen. This change
in residence was made in 1835, and in 1837 Mrs. Winston died, while her hus-
band survived only until 1842.

Their son, Frederick Hampden Winston, was married August 20, 1855,
to Miss Maria G. Dudley, and their eldest child is Frederick Seymour Winston,
whose name begins this review. He was born in Kentucky, October 27, 1856,
but with the exception of a few months has always lived in Chicago. Having
acquired his preliminary education in this city, he entered Yale College at the
age of sixteen; and although he left that institution at the beginning of his

760

J. <f.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 761

senior year, he was awarded his degree by the faculty on the basis of three years'
study. Subsequently he entered the Columbia College Law School, in New
York, and in 1878 was admitted to practice by the supreme court of Illinois.
Returning then to Chicago he became his father's law partner and had the
benefit of his counsel and experience. His success was marked and immedi-
ate, for he was recognized as a young man of indefatigable energy, laudable
ambition and firm purpose. His knowledge of law is comprehensive and ac-
curate: he has strong powers of analysis, is a clear reasoner, logical in argu-
ment, and concise and forceful in his pleadings.

In 1881 Mr. Winston was appointed assistant corporation counsel of Chi-
cago, and in April of the following year was accorded the unanimous endorse-
ment of the city council as the appointee for the office of corporation counsel,
being the youngest man ever appointed to that position. During his incum-
bency Mr. Winston conducted many important cases to a successful conclu-
sion, but perhaps we can best give an estimate of his efficient service in that
capacity by quoting a letter written by the lamented Carter H. Harrison, Sr.,
then mayor of Chicago, on receiving Mr. Winston's resignation. The letter
read :

"You have performed the duties of that office so beneficially to the city
and so satisfactorily to me that it is a really disagreeable task to accept your
resignation, and thus finally sever your connection with the city's administra-
tion. The public has seen the value of your services in the many suits you have
won for the city, whereby large sums of money were directly saved or import-
ant principles settled in the interest of the municipality. But the public cannot
know how often your opinions have been a safe guide to the council, or have
upheld the executive department, enabling it to act with promptness and de-
cision. In losing your services the municipality will lose an able counselor and
a safe friend. It is of some consolation to me that you have promised during
the remainder of my term of office to aid your successor by your free advice,
and to attend to the important causes now in the courts, which you can under-
stand so much better than any new attorney can, and that you will not accept
a retainer in opposition to the city. Five years ago you accepted from me a
subaltern position in the law department. You were young and untried. I
thought I saw the stuff that .was in you. I made no mistake, and it will always
be to me a source of unalloyed pleasure that I had the opportunity to enable
you to show the mettle of which you were made. In the performance of your
duties you have been unbending in the right, and yet so courteous that no sting
remained after the right was done."

In 1886 Mr. Winston resigned his position as corporation counsel of the
city to accept the position of counsel for the Michigan Central Railroad Com-
pany. He represents this company and many other corporations, and has
confined himself exclusively to corporation law, undoubtedly the most difficult
as well as the most important branch of jurisprudence. The firm of Winston
& Meagher, of which he is the head, has probably the largest corporation prac-

762 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

lice in the west. Mr. Winston is always courteous to his opponents, and his
1'airness has won him the highest respect of bench and bar.

Edward T. Glennon, of the prominent law firm of Pam, Donnelly & Glen-
non, is a native son of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Woodstock, this
state, on the 2ist of August, 1856. He is a son of Thomas Glennon, and in the
public schools of his native county he acquired his literary education, making
his home during the time under the parental roof. After leaving school he
spent eleven years in journalistic work and found therein a school which broad-
ened the mind and quickened the intellect as few other lines of work do. At
one time he was proprietor of the Woodstock Sentinel, but desiring to enter the
legal profession, he at length abandoned the newspaper field, and in 1881 took
up the study of law. The following year he entered the Union College of Law
of Chicago and received his diploma of graduation from that institution in
1884.

In June of the same year Mr. Glennon was admitted to the bar and began
practice, winning success by the result of his thorough preparation, close ap-
plication and ability to apply the principles of jurisprudence of the litigated
question. In April, 1887, he entered the law department of the city of Chicago
as assistant special assessment attorney under the then corporation counsel,
Oliver H. Horton, and acceptably filled that position until December, 1888,
when he resigned in order to accept the position of assistant state's attorney
under Joel M. Longenecker. He served in that capacity until May I, 1891, at
which time he resigned, having been appointed police magistrate by Mayor
Hempstead Washburne. He resigned from that office in November, 1896, and
became a member of the law firm of McFadon & Glennon, representing the
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company, a partnership that was
dissolved in 1897, while in February, 1898, Mr. Glennon became the junior
member of the law firm of Pam, Donnelly & Glennon, with office in the Rook-
ery building. In 1897 he was appointed master in chancery of the circuit court.
He has wide experience as a lawyer in the conduct of all classes of litigation
and his knowledge of the law is comprehensive and accurate. His mind is
naturally analytical and logical and his ability to determine and present with
great effect the strong points in a case had been one of the strong elements in
Ris success.

In 1885 Mr. Glennon was united in marriage to Miss Julia Donnelly, of
Woodstock, a friend of his youth. He gives his political support to the Re-
publican party and is deeply interested in its growth and success, but his en-
ergies are devoted not to politics but the law, in which he has achieved con-
siderable distinction.

Robert D. Martin is one whose close application, studious habits, keen
analytical powers and clear insight have enabled him to master the various
departments of the legal science. He is now an able member of the Chicago
bar, with which he has been identified since 1891. His advancement toward
success and fame has been that of a steady and substantial growth, and each
passing year marks a further step in his progress toward the highest legal

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 763

eminence. To solve the intricate problems of jurisprudence requires ability
of high order, and the diversified interests of human life are all the time aug-
menting the complexity of the laws which govern man in his relation to his
fellow man.

A native of Illinois, Robert Delos Martin was born in the town of Free-
port, August 28, 1859, and is a representative of one of the pioneer families of
the state. His father, Dr. Chancellor Martin, was a native of Martindale,
Columbia county, New York, and a man of unusual prominence and ability,
wTio served with distinction in various official positions to which he was called.
During the war of the Rebellion he was one of the most active surgeons in the
state and one of the most prominent members of the Illinois examining board.
He came to Illinois before railroads were extended west of Chicago, and during
the era of pioneer development he was an important factor in the progress and
advancement made in his section of the state. He wedded Mary F. Hall, sister
of Luther A. Hall, one of the talented lawyers of northern Ohio. Their eldest
son, Chancellor Martin, was appointed to a cadetship at West Point, by Elihu
B. Washburne, and after his graduation served in the regular army for sev-
eral years, or until his appointment by General Sherman as one of the five men
with rank of major, to instruct the Egyptian army in American military tactics,
and was then stationed at Cairo, Egypt. Later he resigned, and is now deputy
collector of customs in New York.

In the common schools Robert D. Martin acquired his preliminary educa-
tion, which was supplemented by a course in Phillips Academy, of Andover,
Massachusetts. His collegiate course was pursued in Yale University, which
he entered in 1876, as a member of the freshman class. He remained four years
as a student within the classic walls of that time-honored institution, and was
graduated with honor. Turning to the profession of the law, his preparatory
studies were pursued in the law department of Columbia College, where he was
graduated in 1882, with the degree of LL. B. A comprehensive grasp of all
subjects presented for consideration had well fitted him for his chosen voca-
tion, and he connected himself with the law firm of Nash & Nash, of New
York city. Subsequently he removed to South Dakota, where he practiced law
for six years, and then went to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he followed his
profession until 1891, securing a large clientele and doing a profitable busi-
ness. He was a resident of Utah at the time of the change in the state ad-
ministration from Mormon to Gentile.

As before stated, Mr. Martin has been a member of the Chicago bar,
where he has built up a large practice, mostly in civil law. A contemporary biog-
rapher has said of him: "Although he has practiced at the Chicago bar only
since 1891, he is already well known to the craft for his successful methods
and his large clientage. Like all lawyers well versed in the common law, he
easily and readily adapted himself to the Illinois statutes and now is undoubt-
edly one of the most reliable practitioners of Chicago. He is clean, conserva-
tive and able, and clients find that he is qualified to preserve and maintain all
their rights under the law." He has a natural legal mind, given to analytical

764 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

investigation, is careful and conservative in judgment, positive yet courteous
in expression, and has a capacity to comprehend and apply legal principles to
the solution of evidential problems.

Mr. Martin was married in 180,1 to Harriet S. Joy, a daughter of the late
Colonel Edmund L. Joy, of Newark, New Jersey, who was a prominent resi-
dent of that state, and who also served as one of the government directors of
the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have two chil-
dren. Joy Delos and Helen Theresa.

In his political affiliations Mr. Martin is a Republican and is a valued
member of the Kenwood Country Club and the Hamilton Clubs. His strict
conformity to the ethics of his profession has gained him the high regard of
bench and bar; his many companionable qualities have made him a social
favorite among his friends: and his genuine worth commands the respect of
all with whom he is brought in contact.

Thomas A. Moran, LL. D., dean of the Chicago College of Law, is one
of a few men and only a few who have attained such distinction in the higher
walks of life that all complimentary allusion to them would be entirely super-
fluous. Such have been his brilliant achievements at the bar and on the bench
that the public, without words of eulogy from the biographer, accords him
the place that he has worthily won in his profession; and so without intro-
ducing him to the readers of this volume, we proceed to chronicle the events
which mark his progress through life. His ancestors came from the Emerald
Isle, his father, Patrick Moran, a native of Ireland, having emigrated to
America in the early part of the century. For many years he was in business
in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the Judge was born October 7, 1839, spend-
ing the first seven years of his life in his native town. He then accompanied
his parents to Bristol, Kenosha county, Wisconsin, at that time a frontier re-
gion, but possessed of the spirit of enterprise and progress which has always
characterized this section of America. He became imbued with this spirit, and
though his time was largely occupied in the labors of developing and improv-
ing the new home farm, he availed himself of every opportunity for acquiring
an education, his advantages, however, being only such as the district schools
afforded. Books, however, were a source of continual delight to him and by
his eager perusal of all volumes that he could obtain he added greatly to his
store of knowledge. All this awakened in him a strong desire for better ad-
vantages, and for several terms he was a student in Liberty Academy, at Salem.
He then engaged in teaching school, and at the same time became an interested
and active member in the debating clubs which were then prevalent through
the district. Here he gave evidence of the superior oratorical ability which has
gained him distinction at the bar, and his readiness, his repartee and his logic
made him a worthy opponent of men many years his senior. His school-teach-
ing also supplied him with the means that enabled him to pursue a course of
law in the office of J. J. Pettit, of Kenosha, and later he continued his reading
under the direction of Judge I. W. Webster.

In i'862 Judge Moran returned to the farm and assumed its management,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 765

on account of the illness of his father, who died that year, after which the family
sold the farm and removed to the city of Kenosha. In 1864 the mother died,
and in the fall of that year Judge Moran became a student in the Albany Law
School, at New York, where he was graduated in May, 1865, when he was
admitted to the bar. In November of the same year he came to Chicago and
entered upon his professional career. After practicing for a time in the office
of H. S. Monroe he became a member of the law firm of Schoff & Moran, and
subsequently formed the firm of Moran & English, who caused a change in
the firm style, by the admission of Mr. Wolf, under the name of Moran, Eng-
lish & Wolf, and this connection was maintained until the elevation of the senior
partner to the circuit bench of Cook county. While Judge Moran was ac-
knowledged by all to be a brilliant orator, he never depended upon this gift to
win his cause. He prepared his cases with the utmost care and precision and
fortified his evidence by law and precedent; he manifested the keenest discern-
ment, in the arrangement of facts, and gave to each its due weight and con-
sideration, never losing sight of the main issue upon which the decision always
turns, and thus he came before judge or jury ready to present his clients' in-
terests in the strongest possible way. His speech was clear, concise and logi-
cal, and his accuracy of expression, grace of diction and splendid oratorical
powers enriched and beautified his speech, making it most effective. During
the first fourteen years of his connection with the Chicago bar he handled a
greater number of cases than any other practitioner of Chicago, and the re-
nown which he gained led to his selection for judicial honors.

In the fall of 1879 he was elected to the circuit bench of Cook county for a
term of six years, was re-elected in 1885 and again in 1891. After having served
for seven years w r ith great distinction as judge of the circuit court, he was assigned
by the supreme court, in accordance with the statutory provision, to the judge-
ship of the appellate court of the first district of Illinois, and served in that posi-
tion until he resigned his office, in March, 1892. His record in that incum-
bency, in the estimation of the bar of northern Illinois, is not surpassed by any
other judge of that court. So uniformly were his opinions based upon the
soundest legal and equitable principles, so much in accordance were they with
the spirit of our institutions and civilization, and so logical, condensed and
correct were they, that often they were adopted as the language of the supreme
court. His experience as a judge embraced the common-law, chancery and crim-
inal branches of the court, in each of which he achieved honor and won the
commendation of the bar and the public. Always self-contained and self-poised,
of patient and courteous bearing, an attentive, careful and most respectful lis-
tener, even to the humblest pleader, he discharged his high functions without
ostentation and with conspicuous ability.

Upon resigning his position on the bench Judge Moran resumed the pri-
vate practice of law, and is now the senior member of the firm of Moran,
Krause & Mayer. His clientage is very extensive, his legal business is of a
most important character, and the reputation he has won ranks him second to
no member of the Chicago bar. As illustrating his standing as a lawyer, he

766 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

was selected by the attorney-general of Illinois to prepare the brief and make
the oral argument before the supreme court in what are known as the inherit-
ance-tax cases, in which he successfully maintained the validity of the law
against the contention of ex-President Harrison that it was unconstitutional.
While his fidelity to his clients' interests is proverbial, he never forgets that he
owes a still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law, and he will not stoop to
win his cause by incorrect methods or by infringement upon the ethics of low
practice.

The Judge was married in 1868 to Miss Josephine Quinn, of Albany, New
York, and to them were born eight children: Alice, Thomas W., Margaret D.,
John P., Eugene, Josephine, Arthur and Kathryn.

Judge Moran is a member of the Sheridan Club, which he helped to or-
ganize, the Catholic Library Association, the Iroquois Club, the Columbus Club,
the Chicago Club, and the Chicago and State Bar Association. His political
support has always been ardently given the Democracy since the time when, a
mere lad, he espoused the cause of Stephen A. Douglas. He is regarded as
one of the leading members of his party in this city, and with pen, voice and in-
fluence, has increased its victories and lessened its defeats. In 1896 he declined
to support the sixteen-to-one silver party and took an active part in the organ-
ization of the National Democratic party.

George S. Willitts, late of Chicago, was born in Monroe, Monroe county,
Michigan, in 1857. a son of Hon. Edwin Willitts, who was a distinguished mem-
ber of the Michigan bar and represented his district in congress. In the com-
mon schools of his native town our subject acquired his primary education,
later attended the high school of Monroe, and was graduated in the normal
school and prepared for college in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He then entered the
State University at Ann Arbor and after four years of study completed the
classical course by his graduation as a member of the class of 1877. During this
time he also attended lectures in the law department of the university, and on
leaving school read law in his father's office until matriculating in the George-
town Law College, of the District of Columbia. Upon the completion of his
course there he returned to his father's office and was duly admitted to the bar.
His preparation had been comprehensive, thorough and accurate, and thus well
fitted for his chosen work he began practice and by reason of his marked abili-
ties soon won enviable distinction.

He continued a member of the bar of Monroe, Michigan, until 1879, when,
determining to seek a broader field for his labors, he came to Chicago. The
litigation with which Mr. Willitts was connected after his arrival in this city
indicates in no uncertain terms the quality of his talents and his fidelity to the
interests of his clients. He managed the business of large estates with credita-
ble skill and was connected with railroad and corporation litigation, involving
intricate problems of jurisprudence that he successfully solved. He also had a
large chancery and probate court practice in which he won eminent success.
His devotion to his clients' interests was proverbial, watching over them as if
they were- his own. He added to this characteristic of his practice the most care-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 767

ful and diligent preparation of his cases, and facts and precedents fortified his
position until it was rendered almost impregnable. He won the commendation
and confidence of court, jury and fellow advocates, and his standing at the bar
was indeed an enviable one. Politically he was an ardent Republican.

In the autumn of 1898 he went to San Juan, Porto Rico, where his death
took place November 26, 1898.

Henry D. Estabrook, a member of the firm of Lowden, Estabrook & Davis,
of Chicago, is recognized as one of the most brilliant members of the Illinois
bar. He was born in Alden, New York, October 23, 1854, and is a son of the
late Hon. Experience and Caroline Augusta (Maxwell) Estabrook. His father
removed to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1854, and the son is therefore a true western
man, possessed of the enterprise and progressiveness which dominate this sec-
tion of the country. He attended the public schools of Omaha and afterward
spent a year or two in study in Washington University, at St. Louis. He en-
tered upon his business career in a journalistic field as reporter on the Omaha
Bee and Herald, but was not predestined to success in that line, for during
the first week of his engagement on the paper he involved its editor in a twenty-
thousand dollar lawsuit for libel! Had he cultivated his talent for music and
devoted his energies to the art, he might have won fame as a musician, and in
his earlier years he did give much time to public singing. He studied both
vocal and instrumental music through his youth, continuing it while in St.
Louis, where he took part as a soloist in the oratorios of Messiah and Sampson
with such singers as Clara Louise Kellogg and Stanley, the tenor. He deter-
mined however, upon the practice of law as a life work and pursued a thorough
course of study in the St. Louis Law School, in which institution he was grad-
uated with the class of 1876.

His career at the bar has been most commendable. In the year of his grad-
uation he was admitted to the bar in Omaha and licensed to practice in all the
state and federal courts. His associate in law practice at the time of his removal
to Chicago in 1895 was H. J. Davis, and the firm is now Lowden, Estabrook &
Davis. Mr. Estabrook's connection with the well known case of Thayer versus
Boyd, a contest for the governorship of Nebraska, brought him into national
prominence. This suit was entitled James E. Boyd, plaintiff in error, versus
the State of Nebraska, ex rel. John M. Thayer, defendant in error, and attracted
the attention of the legal profession throughout the country, owing to new and
important complications in the law of naturalization.

His oratorical power is not second to his legal ability; it rounds out and
makes a symmetrical and complete structure of the forceful presentation of facts
and law. On the platform his eloquence has held spellbound immense audi-
ences, and he is frequently chosen as the orator on occasions of great import-
ance throughout the country. He came to Chicago first in his capacity of
public speaker and before the Union League Club delivered one of the most
brilliant and eloquent orations ever heard in this city, his subject being the
Vengeance of the Flag. The Republican party counts him a valued addition
to its ranks.

768 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

On the 23d of October, 1879, Mr. Estabrook married Miss Clara C. Camp-
Bell, who was his schoolmate in the high school of Omaha, and is a daughter
of O. C. Campbell. They have one child, Blanche Deuel, who was born Jan-
uary I, 1881.

David B. Lyman is president of the Chicago Title and Trust Company;
but it is as a lawyer that he is best known to the people of Illinois. He came to
the United States from the Sandwich islands in early manhood to attend col-
lege and law school and then start upon his professional career. His parents
were representatives of the brave and reliable band of Pilgrims who settled New
England. His father, Rev. D. B. Lyman, was in his early life a resident of
New Hartford, Connecticut, and pursued his education in Williams College
and Andover Theological Seminary, of both of which institutions he was a
graduate. In 1831 he married Miss Sarah Joiner, of Royalton, Vermont, and as
a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
sailed for the Sandwich islands, where he and his wife labored more than fifty
years for the cause of Christianity, their efforts in this direction being ended
only by death.

Mr. Lyman is a native of the beautiful and picturesque islands of the Pacific
that have so largely claimed the attention of our government during the past
few years. He was born at Hilo, Hawaii, March 27, 1840, and amid surround-
ings very different from those of most American youth, his childhood was
passed. He was fortunate in having the care and guidance of cultured Christian
parents, and it was under their direction that he acquired his early education.
He also unconsciously learned a lesson of the nobility of a life devoted to
humanity, a lesson that came to him daily in the devotion of his parents to
the evangelization, education and advancement of the people among whom they
lived. Nor was Mr. Lyman 's youth without its business training, for he held
several governmental positions, and was thus prepared for the active affairs
of life, at the same time, through the compensation received for his services, se-
curing the means which enabled him to continue his education in the United
States.

It was in 1859 that he saw the fulfillment of a long cherished desire to pur-
sue a classical course of study. Sailing from Honolulu around Cape Horn,
he arrived at New Bedford, Massachusetts, in May, 1860, and in September of
that year he enrolled as a student of Yale College, in which institution he was
graduated in 1864 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Immediately afterward
he entered the Harvard Law School and on his graduation there was awarded
one of the two prizes for the best legal essays. In 1864 and 1865, during his
term of enrollment at Harvard, he was connected with the sanitary commis-
sions as hospital visitor and was in charge of the Fifth Corps Hospital of the
Army of the Potomac, also the Point of Rocks Hospital in Virginia. Later he
had supervision of the sanitary commission station for the forces concentrated
about Washington, D. C.

A few months after his admission to the bar Mr. Lyman came to Chicago,
where for two years he was a clerk in the office of Waite & Clark, remaining

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 769

with them until July i, 1869, when with Colonel Huntington W. Jackson he or-
ganized the firm of Lyman & Jackson, said to be the oldest law firm in the city
in point of continuous existence under one organization, at the time of its
dissolution in 1895. From the beginning Mr. Lyman's career at the bar has
been one of marked success. He is an untiring worker, preparing his cases with
the utmost precision, exhaustive in research, clear and concise in thought and
logical in argument, and such qualities predestined him for a foremost place in
his profession. The history of the cases with which he has been connected
would comprise a record of much of the important civil litigation that has been
heard in the courts of Cook county for almost thirty years, and yet his legal
business is somewhat peculiar in that much of it seldom finds its way into the
courts. Mr. Lyman may be said to be more of a counselor than an advocate,
and it has become known to the business community that he will not advise the
bringing of a suit except in strong cases, and this only when there is no remedy
save in litigation. While real-estate and corporation law has claimed much of
his attention, he is equally proficient in other branches of practice and is always
ready for attack or defense. A firm believer in the maxim that there is no
excellence without labor, he is noted for his untiring industry and his pains-
taking preparation and management of his cases, no less than for his ability
and learning in the law. The one class of cases which he refuses altogether is
that which comes under the general designation of criminal practice. Though
he has probably a higher reputation as an able and learned counselor than as
an advocate, his arguments carry more weight from the very honesty of his
character than those of some more eloquent but less trusted lawyers.

His political predilections connect him with the Republican party, and he
views all the issues of the day from the standpoint of the student and patriotic
citizen. Official preferment, however, has had no attraction for him, and he
has never held office save as a member of the school board of La Grange, which
position he has filled for nearly twenty-five years, laboring earnestly in behalf
of the cause of education. Largely through his efforts the Lyons township high
school was established after a four-years campaign, and after the project had
been repeatedly voted down. But so zealous was he as an advocate of the com-
mon-school system that each defeat only added to his earnestness, and he has
the satisfaction of seeing both the grammar and high schools at La Grange
ranking with the best of their class anywhere.

On the 5th of October, 1870, Mr. Lyman was united in marriage to Miss
Mary E. Cossitt, daughter of F. D. Cossitt, of Chicago. Of the children born
to Mr. and Mrs. Lyman two are living. Mr. Lyman occupies a prominent posi-
tion in social circles as a member of the Chicago, Union League, University and
Church Clubs. A membership in the Protestant Episcopal church is necessary
to render one eligible to membership in the Church Club, a fact which indi-
cates Mr. Lyman's connection with the religious world. He has served as presi-
dent of the Church Club, and was honored by the members of the Chicago Bar
Association by an election to its presidency in 1893.

Harvey B. Hurd arrived in Chicago more than half a century ago, a young
49

770 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

man, poor, friendless and with only a limited education to serve as the founda-
tion on which to rear the superstructure of a successful career. Nature, how-
ever, had endowed him with a strong mind, quick understanding and keen dis-
cernment, and questions of every nature, in the rapidly-developing city, awak-
ened his attention and earnest consideration. Close application to every duty,
combined with laudable ambition, also procured his advancement until the in-
digent youth of eighteen years became a man of great power and force in the
life of the city. His influence was not only felt at the bar and in the law-making
bodies 'of the state, but was strongly in evidence in the work of material im-
provement and progress which have made Chicago one of the wonders of the
world. To-day, though he has largely laid aside the cares of business life,
Harvey B. Hurd is still a potent factor in many of the city's leading interests,
and at the age of three score and ten, he stands crowned with the honor and
respect of all who know him in the metropolis which he helped to build.

Mr. Hurd is descended from English ancestry on the paternal side, of Irish-
Dutch on the mother's, but the Hurd family was established in New England
in early colonial days and is now represented in many parts of the Union. Our
subject was born in Huntington, Fairfield county, Connecticut, February 14,
1828, and on the ist of May, 1842, he left the home of his father, Alanson Hurd,
to make his own way in the world. Like the spring, his life seemed full of hope
and promise, for youth is ever sanguine of success. His entire wardrobe was
tied up in a pocket handkerchief, but though his outfit was small, his ambition
and determination were large, .and with a worthy purpose he began the search
for employment in Bridgeport, Connecticut, whither he had directed his steps.
He soon secured a situation as an apprentice in the office of the old Whig jour-
nal, the Bridgeport Standard, where he continued for two years. The printing
office has been called "the poor man's college," and it largely proved such to
Mr. Hurd, who added not a little to his fund of knowledge through the chan-
nels of his work, and also by reading and investigation in his leisure hours.
With a desire to gain a good education, he joined a company of ten young men
in the fall of 1844, and coming to Illinois entered Jubilee College in Peoria
county: but after about a year, owing to some misunderstanding with its prin-
cipal, Rev. Samuel Chase, he left that institution and went to Peoria, where he
sought employment in a printing-office. Failing to find work there, either in a
printing-office or elsewhere, he determined to come to Chicago, then a little
town, to which he journeyed in the old-time stage, reaching his destination on
the 7th of January, 1846.

Mr. Kurd's first connection with the business interests of this city was as
an employee in the office of the Evening Journal, then published by Wilson &
Greer. Later he worked on the Prairie Farmer, but regarded this merely as a
means to an end, for he had determined to enter the legal profession, and began
the study of law in the fall of 1847. in the office of Calvin De Wolf, under whose
direction he made such good progress that he was admitted to the bar in 1848.
He entered into partnership with Charles Haven, afterward state's attorney, and
later was associated in practice with Henry Sapp, who subsequently represented

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 771

the Joliet district in congress. From 1850 until 1854 he practiced in partner-
ship with Andrew J. Brown, and from 1860 until 1868 with Hon. Henry Booth.
In the last mentioned year he retired from active practice, but by no means from
active life. He has been a most conspicuous and valued factor in promoting
many of the leading interests that have produced the wonderful development
of the city.

The beautiful suburb of Evanston largely stands as a monument to the
enterprise and progressiveness of Mr. Hurd, who erected one of the first resi-
dences in that place. With wonderful foresight he predicted the development
of Chicago and early became interested in real-estate transactions. He and
his law partner, Andrew J. Brown, not only practiced at the bar but also did
an extensive and profitable real-estate business, and platted two hundred and
forty-eight acres of land, which they owned as a part of the village of Evanston.
Mr. Hurd then erected a home there, completed in 1855, and it is still quite in
keeping with the present style of residences in Chicago's most aristocratic sub-
urb. He was made the first president of the village board and has performed
much disinterested service in behalf of the town.

The extended and valued political service of Mr. Hurd has grown out of his
humane interest in all that concerns the welfare of city, state and nation, and
forms such an important part of his life work that it seems impossible to disas-
sociate the two. Realizing that the ballot is the voice of the people and that
only by enactment can the public express its approval of a measure and direct
its execution, he has labored to thus secure the co-operation of the public in
advancing those measures which his judgment strong, sound and practical
tells him will best promote the city's interest. His known integrity of purpose
and honesty of action led to his selection, in connection with five others, co fill
vacancies in the board of county commissioners of Cook county, created by
resignation and conviction of members of that board for defrauding the county.
It is almost needless to say that the trust thus reposed in him was never be-
trayed.

His interest in the drainage system of Chicago being aroused, Mr. Hurd
gave to the study deep thought and investigation, with the result that he is now
known as the father of the new drainage system of the city, whereby the sew-
erage, instead of being discharged into Lake Michigan, the source of the water
supply, is to be carried into the Illinois river by means of a capacious channel
across what is known as the Chicago divide. While he does not claim the
credit of being the first to suggest such a channel, for it had been long talked
of, he is the author of the plan of creating a municipality distinct from the city
of Chicago, and to him is due the credit of having put the project in such prac-
tical shape as to insure its success. It is expected that this drainage canal, one
of the greatest feats of engineering skill ever executed, will soon be completed,
and thereby Chicago will not only have an excellent system of drainage
but will have a pure source of water and will have a magnificent waterway con-
necting the Great Lakes with the Mississippi, its tributaries and the Gulf of
Mexico. Until Mr. Hurd suggested the plan it was generally conceded that

772 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

there was no way of raising the necessary money to construct the canal without
an amendment to the constitution, the city of Chicago having already reached
the limit of its taxing and borrowing power. Acting upon Mr. Kurd's sugges-
tion, Mayor Harrison brought into existence the drainage and water supply
commission, popularly known as the Herring commission, of which Mr. Hurd
was the friend and adviser. He was the author of the "Hurd bill," introduced
in the legislature of 1886, and did much in the way of promoting its passage at
that session. These efforts resulted in the creation of a legislative commission
to further investigate the subject and take action in behalf of the project. The
bill reported by that commission and used in 1887 was substantially the Hurd
bill. Mr. Hurd also conducted the proceedings for the organization of the dis-
trict and the adoption of the act by the people, and it was adopted by almost
unanimous vote at the November election of 1887.

He has also performed considerable official service in connection with his
profession. In 1862 he was appointed lecturer in the law department of the
University of Chicago, which position he filled with great success until other
duties compelled him to relinquish the work. In the summer of 1874 he was
again elected to a chair in the law school, which had become the Union College
of Law, and finds this work very congenial, and at the same time is regarded
as one of the most able law professors in the entire west.

In April, 1869, he was appointed by Governor Palmer one of three com-
missioners to revise and rewrite the general statutes of Illinois, but after a short
time his colleagues withdrew, leaving him to perform the greater part of the
work alone. This he completed after five years; it was then adopted by the
twenty-eighth assembly and its success was immediate. The authorized edition
of 1874, of fifteen thousand copies, was soon exhausted, and Mr. Hurd has bee,n
called upon to edit and see through the press twelve subsequent editions, each
of which has been commended by the bar and the most eminent jurists of Illi-
nois.

In 1875 Mr. Hurd was nominated by the Republicans for a position on the
supreme bench of Illinois, but was defeated, owing not alone to the strong oppo-
sition of the Democracy but also to that of the railroad companies, who opposed
him on account of some stringent railroad legislation of which he was supposed
to be the author.

As chairman of the law reform committee of the Illinois State Bar Asso-
ciation, in 1887, he recommended a change in the law of descent and wills so
as to limit the amount one may take by descent or will, the object being to break
up large estates by distributing the same among a greater number of the kins-
men of the deceased.

He was also at the head of the commission raised to investigate the desira-
bility of introducing the Torrens system of registration of land titles in the state
of Illinois, which has since been submitted to a vote of the people of Cook
county and by them adopted by an almost unanimous vote. Its constitutional-
ity has been attacked and the case is at this writing under advisement in the su-
preme court.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 773

Thus it is that Mr. Hurd had labored continuously and untiringly in sup-
port of all measures for the public good.

In May, 1853, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hurd and Miss Cornelia
Hillard. They had three children: Edna, now the wife of George S. Lord; Het-
tie, who died in 1884; and Nellie, wife of John A. Comstock. He was again
married November i, 1860, to Mrs. Sarah Collins, who died in January, 1890,
and in July, 1892, he wedded Mrs. Susannah M. Van Wyke, who died in March,

1895-

He is a man of very benevolent and kindly nature and is interested in a
number of charities and benevolences. He is connected with the Children's
Aid Society and the Conference of Charities of Illinois, serving as president of
both organizations. He is now living in semi-retirement, and his genial com-
panionship, his tenacious regard for the simple truth, his unostentatious gener-
osity and large-hearted Christian benevolence are among the qualities which
greatly endear him to his many friends.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF GRUNDY COUNTY.

BY HON. P. A. ARMSTRONG.

THE first term of our circuit court was held in August, 1841, and the full
record thereof was kept upon a leaf torn from a narrow ledger, a ruled
book for accounts, say seven inches wide and ten inches long, with the
following entry:

State of Illinois, Grundy County Set.

At a Circuit Court, commenced and held in and for said county, at the home of
William E. Armstrong, appointed by the commissioners of said county on Monday, the
twelfth day of August, A. D. 1841. Present: The Honorable Theophilus W. Smith,
Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit; Leander Leclear, Coroner; James Nagle, Clerk
pro tern.

James Hart vs. Crawford and James Harvey. This case, by consent of parties, is
dismissed at the defendants' cost. It is therefore considered that the plaintiff recover of
the defendants his costs and charges expended therefor in this behalf expended and on
expended, and that he have execution therefor.

On the other side of this scrap the following appears :

The coroner returned into court a venire for a grand and petit jury, and there being,
howsoever, no complaint whatsoever of a criminal nature to be made, the empanelling of
a jury was dispensed with. James Nagle presented a petition to be admitted a naturalized
citizen of the United States, whereupon the same was ordered to be filed on record. There
being no further business of a criminal or civil nature before the court, the court adjourned
sine die. THEO. W. SMITH.

The county was organized by the election of county officers on the first
Monday in August, 1841. Isaac Hoge was elected sheriff, but declined to serve.
Thus there was no sheriff at the first term of court. William E. Armstrong was
elected sheriff soon afterward and qualified. He was re-elected four or five
times. There was no other term of court until May, 1843, when one was held
by Judge John D. Caton. The next term was held by Judge Richard M. Young,
afterward commissioner of the general land office, in October, 1843. He held
two terms of court in 1844, and Judge Jesse B. Thomas held the May term in
1845. Judge Caton presided until the December term, 1848, which was held by
Judge David Davis. Judge T. Lyle Dickey was elected judge under the consti-
tution of 1848 and held several terms of our court before the circuit was
changed.

James Nagle, who was elected clerk pro tern, of the first term of our court,

774

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 775

August 12, 1841, had been elected clerk of the county court the week before,
but it appears, from his application for citizenship at the term when he was
acting as clerk pro tern., that he was not a naturalized citizen when he was
elected nor when serving as clerk of the circuit court. His petition raises the
query as to how his certificate of naturalization could be certified, as he was the
acting clerk at the time of his application.

Without examining the court records, the following data is given con-
cerning the personnel of the Morris bar from 1841 to the present. The list, at
least, includes all those who became residents here and remained any length of
time, with dates as nearly as the writer can now remember:

Michael D. Prendegast was the first, and came here from Ottawa in 1842,
but never had a case in the circuit court. He held the office of justice of the
peace several years and that of probate justice one term. Rumor said he not
infrequently administered the oath as follows: "You do solemnly swear by the
iver living Jasus and me, Michael Prendegast, and the wife, that you will spake
the truth, etc." Intensely egotistic, he yet made a good officer. Ephraim H.
Little, from Pennsylvania, located here in 1843, but remained but a short time.
Having accidentally shot himself in his right arm while hunting prairie chick-
ens, he became disgusted with the west and returned to his native state.

Charles M. Lee, who taught school here in an early day. was admitted to
the bar in 1844, hung out his shingle and waited for clients, but they failed to
materialize; hence he came to the sage conclusion, as he said himself, that "the
law and the profits did not agree," and took in his shingle, bought a horse and
wagon, and turned peddler. Ezra P. Seeley was our next lawyer, and came
from the state of New York in 1845. He was a well read lawyer, but not apt
in his application of the law to the facts, and was very abusive to the witnesses
who testified for the "other fellow;" hence he was by no means a successful
lawyer before a jury. He represented his ward in the village council, and served
one or two terms as justice of the peace.

Henry Starr was our next lawyer. He came here from Joliet, in the fall
of 1846, and was elected county judge under the constitution of 1848, but re-
signed the office in 1852 and went to California, locating in Sacramento, where
he is a prominent lawyer now. He is a man of great ability and is a first-class
trial lawyer. His brother, Judge Charles R. Starr, of Kankakee, read law with
his brother, and opened his first office here, but moved to Kankakee a few years
later. He is a man of good legal ability, and has served several terms on the
circuit-court bench.

Charles L. Starbuck came here from the state of New York about the year
1849. He was a man of decided ability, and soon stood at the head of our bar, .
and was elected to the state legislature, where he served with credit alike to his
constituency and himself. He died ere the prime of life.

William T. Hopkins, from "away down in Maine," came to Morris in the
fall of 1849, anc l sang himself into popularity. He was a man of commanding
appearance and was one of nature's noblemen, generous, impulsive, educated,
brilliant, but was never a law student; hence he tried his case at random, de-

7/6 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

pending upon his forensic ability, which was fine. He was popular with all
classes, and held the various offices of supervisor, mayor, county superintendent
of schools, member of the state legislature, county judge and captain of the
"Grundy Tigers," and could have held almost any office if he had taken care of
himself. He died in 1888, and was laid away to rest in beautiful Evergreen
cemetery, at Morris. His funeral .cortege was immense, but he left no child or
descendant, and his widow died recently. We have skipped Captain William P.
Rogers, son of Commodore Rogers, who located here in 1846 and volunteered
in the Mexican war. He later located in California, where he stood very high
in his profession. Taken all in all he was one of the finest specimens of man-
hood we ever knew.

Boaz M. Atherton came from Ohio and located here in 1850. He was a
man of sour temper, but of good scholastic as well as legal ability. He was
past the meridian of life when he came here, and held the office of justice of the
peace many years before his death".

Judge Albon Bennett came here from Michigan about the year 1850; he
had held the office of county judge before coming here. A fairly sound lawyer,
but no advocate, he never succeeded in getting ahead in the world. He acted
as deputy county clerk a few years.

Colonel James N. Reading came here from Missouri about the year 1853,
and went into partnership with Mr. Hopkins, under the firm name of Reading
& Hopkins. They soon drifted into a general real-estate business. Mr. Read-
ing was a native of New Jersey and belonged to one of the most prominent
families of that state. A man of fine physique, tall, straight and stately in form
and bearing, he had little taste for disputation; hence he did not seek common-
law practice, but applied himself to the equity side of law. This was the leading
law firm of our bar for many years, but the partners finally fell out, and became
bitter enemies. Like Judge Hopkins, Mr. Reading was elected to the legisla-
ture for one term, and was county judge several terms. He died here several
years ago, leaving one son, Henry S., of Joliet: and two daughters, Mary, wife
of E. Sanford, Esq., and Julia, wife of ex-Lieutenant Governor L. B. Ray, of
this city.

Oscar Baugher came from New York, about the year 1854, and entered
into partnership with Mr. Seeley, but this firm was of short duration, as Mr.
Baugher devoted more time to the intricacies of "draw poker" than those of
the law, and soon took Greeley's advice and "went west."

Edward Sanford, now dean of the Morris bar, came from Connecticut as
principal of our public schools. A graduate of "Old Eli," he is a perfect ma-
chine of system and order: hence he soon placed our schools in a first-class con-
dition, and still found time to read Blackstone and Chitty. He was admitted to
the bar and first went into partnership with Mr. Seeley, but withdrew at the end
of the first year and opened an office alone. When the late war came he did
considerable business in the line of back pay and pensions, but soon drifted into
the real-estate loan business, for which nature and education combined to aid
him, and he soon became the peer, if not superior, of any loan officer of the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 777

country. His large bump of order and system enabled him to conduct his
business in such an orderly manner that his office became a marvel of system.
Of course he has been very successful, but not from his law practice. Yet his
legal knowledge has been very helpful to him. He never sought common-law
practice and eschewed criminal law, but has done considerable chancery and
probate work. His law library is by far the most complete of any in the country.
A man of commanding personal appearance, a ready and sometimes eloquent
speaker, one whose likes and dislikes are very positive, he is a scholarly and
polished gentleman. His home is the finest in the city, and he entertains ele-
gantly.

John W. Newport came here, from Ohio, about 1856. He was a young
man of decided ability and soon forged to the front. In 1859 John G. Arm-
strong, better known in the newspaper world as "Bemus," son of "Wash" Arm-
strong, entered into partnership with Mr. Newport, under the firm name
of Newport & Armstrong, but the latter preferred newspaper or journalistic
work and withdrew from the firm and, as a newspaper man, went to Davenport,
Iowa, and assumed the editorial chair of a leading Iowa paper. Mr. Newport
was elected to the state legislature in 1860, and was placed at the head of an
important committee. He over-worked and died in the spring of 1861. He
was a young man of fine promise, and his earl}- death was generally regretted;
he left a young widow and one son surviving him.

Sidney W. Harris, a law student, and afterward the law partner, of the late
United States Senator B. F. Wade, of Ohio, came here from Cincinnati in
1853 and placed himself at the head of our bar at the start. He was of middle
age when he came and had been in the active practice of the law for many
years. He was a man of great force of intellect and was skillful in the manage-
ment of his cases. He was probably the ablest lawyer we ever had at our bar.
In June, 1861, he was elected to the bench, without opposition, and made a very
excellent judge, but resigned the office in 1864, upon being nominated by his
party for congress. Of course, being a Democrat, he was thoroughly trounced,
and then returned to the practice of law, entering into partnership with Charles
Turner, from away "down east," under the firm name of Harris & Turner, but
at the close of the Civil war Mr. Turner withdrew from the firm and went to
Alabama, where he still resides, holding the office of chancellor. Judge Harris
died about the year 1874, leaving a son, Tracy B. Harris, who was his law part-
ner at the beginning of hostilities in 1861. After the war he located at Watseka,
Ford county, Illinois, and was elected state's attorney several terms. He died
some eight years ago.

Thomas P. Rice came here from Aurora, Illinois, in the early '6os. and was
city attorney one term. He returned to Aurora. George W. Watson came
here from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1861, but practiced at the wrong "bar,"
was frozen out and returned to Pennsylvania.

John P. South worth located here in 1860. He was a man for whom nature
did much; education little. He was blest with wonderful memory and imitative
faculties. Invited by Mr. Newport to accompany him to a political meeting in

778 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

a country town, in the fall of that year when Mr. Newport was the Republican
nominee for the legislature, he accepted, and en route thither these two were
the only occupants of the carriage. Mr. Newport rehearsed his intended speech
in full, and upon going to the hall Mr. Newport privately requested the chair-
man to call upon Mr. Southworth, who, he said, was a good Republican and a
young lawyer, to occupy a few minutes first. This the chairman did, by saying
to the audience: "Mr. Southworth, a young lawyer, who has located in Morris,
will occupy a few minutes first, and then Mr. Newport will speak his piece."
Southworth did not stop in a few minutes, and when Mr. Newport took the
rostrum he had no piece to speak. Southworth had spoken it all, verbatim et
literatim, and Newport lost several good Republican votes on account thereof,
as they considered him a nincompoop, for he could only say "as my friend has
said!" Mr. Southworth was state's attorney part of a term, by gubernatorial
appointment, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Major S. W. Munn
when he went into the military service. Mr. Southworth was wanting in moral,
as well as physical, courage, but possessed decided ability. He went to Ala-
bama with Mr. Turner and was elected attorney general of that state; he has
been dead some fifteen or twenty years.

In 1862 Judge Benjamin Olin resigned his position in the Twentieth Reg-
iment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, on account of ill health, and located here.
In 1863 he entered into partnership -with P. A. Armstrong, who had just been
admitted to the bar. This firm soon forged to the front as attorneys and had
a lucrative practice, but Judge Olin, believing Joliet offered better inducements,
withdrew from the firm and located in Joliet, where he entered into partnership
with Captain E. Phelps, under the firm name of Olin & Phelps. Mr. Olin has
been elected county judge of Will county several times, and is one of the fore-
most lawyers of his county.

Mr. Armstrong was a delegate in the constitutional convention of 1862,
was a member of the house of representatives in 1863, again in 1873, and is the
author of many of our statutory laws. He has been master in chancery twenty-
two consecutive years.

Alvah R. Jordan was admitted to the bar in 1863 or 1864. He served several
terms as state's attorney, and is now near the close of his third term as county
judge. He is a man of quick perceptions and generous impulses, and is quite
scholarly, being a great reader of the higher class of literature. He is a true
friend, and the soul of honor.

Judge Samuel C. Stough came here from Indiana when but barely of age,
and has forged to the front as a criminal lawyer as well as a trial lawyer. When
on his third term as state's attorney he was elected one of the three judges of
the thirteenth judicial circuit by a large majority. Slight in form, but of a wiry
constitution, Judge Stough is a man of fine instincts and untiring energy. For
many years he has been at the head of the Morris bar, and is an opponent
worthy of any man's steel, at home or abroad.

A. L. Daud, now a prominent lawyer of Denver, Colorado, was reared in
this county and located at Morris in 1877. He was first elected city attorney of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 779

Morris, then state's attorney, but finding this climate too damp for his lungs, he
moved to Denver some, twelve years ago.

About the year 1878 Judge Russell M. Wing, who was born and reared on
a farm near Lisbon, Illinois, located here, and entered into partnership with Mr.
Daud, and later he became associated with Judges Stough and Carter. Pos-
sessed of and blessed with a powerful physical form, and fine intellect, he soon
became prominent in the profession, and though a Democrat, he was elected
county judge by a nice majority in 1886. From his splendid efforts in the
Cronin, and subsequently in the Dan. Coughlin, trial, he stands well up among
the leading criminal lawyers of the state. His first great criminal case was the
celebrated Moony case for killing his cellmate in the Illinois penitentiary at
Joliet.

Judge Orrin N. Carter, now county judge of Cook county, Illinois, made
his first legal bow as a member of the Morris bar. His first office was that of
state's attorney. He went to Chicago with Judge Wing and was there elected
attorney for the drainage board and later became county judge. Born and
raised in Dupage county, he came here as a teacher in the normal school and
was admitted to the bar while living here. He is a good lawyer and a gen-
tleman.

Besides Judges Jordan and Stough and Messrs. Sanford and Armstrong
the present Morris bar is comprised of Edward L. Clover; George W. Huston,
state's attorney; Charles F. Hansen, city attorney; Cornelius Reardon; Charles
D. Young, police magistrate; E. M. Pike, justice of the peace; N. E. Coles, D.
R. Anderson and O. S. Hagan, all natives of this state.

Among the judges who held our early-day courts were Theophilus W.
Smith, who held the first term, and Judges R. M. Young, David Davis. T. L.
Dickey and Jesse O. Norton.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE BAR OF CLINTON AND BOONE COUNTIES.

IN FEBRUARY, 1862, Judge Breese was living at Carlyle. It is unnecessary
to say anything about him here, as his life is fully touched upon elsewhere in
this work. At that time the following named lawyers lived here: Benjamin
Bond, William H. Gray, Daniel White, Hon. William A. J. Sparks, Richard
Bond, A. H. White, H. P. Buxton and F. A. Leitze. All of these are dead ex-
cept Mr. Sparks, who resides in St. Louis, Missouri. These are all of the older
lawyers.

William A. J. Sparks, a lawyer and prominent statesman, formerly of Illi-
nois but now a resident of St. Louis, Missouri, is of Virginia parentage, whose
English ancestors, paternal and maternal, were of the earliest settlers of the old
commonwealth. In fact the paternal ancestor was of the "Lord Newport expe-
dition" which settled Jamestown in 1607, the first English settlement in Amer-
ica. He is noted in the early Colonial histories as the associate, and having the
friendship and confidence, of Captain John Smith, and sharing the dangers and
privations of the infant colony in its gloomy days.

The maternal line, whose name was Gwin, came later, though at a very
early period, and both lines when the Revolution came were inspired by patriotic
impulses, and contributed their share to its successful termination in independ-
ence. Mr. Sparks' maternal grandfather, John Gwin. with his family, emi-
grated from Pittsylvania county, Virginia, about 1805 and settled on a farm in
Harrison county, Indiana territory, nine miles west of the present city of New
Albany, in that state. Here his father, Baxter Sparks (from the same neighbor-
hood in Virginia) came, and he and the mother (Elizabeth Gwin) were married
in 1807; and at this place the youngest of a family of ten children, sixty-nine
years ago, the subject of this sketch was born.

His father, some four or five years thereafter, disposed of his farm and re-
moved to New Albany, and after residing there two years removed to Illinois
and settled on a farm one mile north of the present town of Staunton, in Macou-
pin county, where the early boyhood and youth of young Sparks were passed,
attending at intervals the log school-houses of that primitive and sparsely set-
tled region. His father, an intelligent, upright man and farmer by occupation,
died in the fall of 1840, and his good mother three and one-half years later, leav-
ing the boy of fifteen years, substantially without means, upon his own resources
to fight the battle of life. The country was wild, the settlers generally poor and
uneducated, and competent teachers and schools very scarce. The prospects,
therefore, for the boy were indeed gloomy. But he possessed certain qualities
which seldom fail of success, indomitable energy, excellent habits and exalted

780

THE BENCH 'AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 781

integrity. He labored as a plough boy in summer at six to eight dollars a
month, and attended the log-house schools in winter, paying his board by doing
farm chores mornings and evenings and Saturdays, and in this way, quick to
learn, and spurred on by necessity, at the age of eighteen years he became the
equal in scholarship to the pioneer teachers of the surrounding neighborhoods,
and though a mere youth was employed, by the good people who had witnessed
his boyhood struggles, as school-teacher, under the old subscription system,
which though by no means lucrative was an advance upon plough-boy wages
and afforded better facilities for study and mental improvement. With the
means thus acquired, in 1847 ne entered McKendree College, one of the earliest
and best of its kind in the west, and as regularly as his means afforded continued
at intervals therein until he graduated in the summer of 1850.

From college he went directly to Carlyle and entered the law office of the
late Chief Justice Breese, of the supreme court, who was then in active law
practice, and between them there was then formed a close personal friendship,
beneficial to both, which ended only with the death of Judge Breese. in 1878.
Mr. Sparks' term as a law student was brief; his excellent habits, good, prac-
tical education and aptness in legal studies so impressed his sagacious preceptor
that he was advised at an early date to merge the student into the lawyer. He
was therefore admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Carlyle, Clinton
county, in 1851, being in the old second judicial circuit, which then embraced
a bench and bar second to none in the west. The home lawyers were Judge
Breese, Hon. Benjamin Bond, a distinguished jurist, R. S. Bond and Daniel
White, well-read, good lawyers; yet in less than two years Mr. Sparks had
the leading docket in the county. It was in the days of "circuit riding," and the
lawyers of the circuit generally attended all the courts. The presiding judge
was the late eminent jurist, Hon. William H. Underwood, while, in addition to
those heretofore mentioned, the leading members of the bar were Governor W.
H. Bissell, Judge Koerner, George Trumbull, J. L. D. Morrison, Robert Morri-
son, Colonel Fouke, Jehu Baker et al., from St. Clair county; "J. & D. Gilles-
pie," "Billings and Parsons," Judge Martin, Levi Davis, Judge Sawyer, David
J. Baker et al., of Madison county; the Omelvenys, of Monroe; P. E. Hosmer
et al., from Washington; James M. Davis and Judge Rice, of Montgomery,
and Judge Dale, of Bond. Among these eminent lawyers young Sparks took
his place to win his way as a lawyer. It is compliment enough to say that he
won it. His professional career was a signal success from the beginning. He
continued in active practice for about twenty-five years, when, elected to con-
gress, and with a competent fortune for a country gentleman, he retired. He
was pre-eminently a jury lawyer. His knowledge of men and earnest manner
in addressing them gained for him in that field the highest rank.

Like most of the pioneer lawyers, Mr. Sparks was from the beginning of
his career an ardent politician, taking active and efficient part in the conventions
and on the stump for his party, the Democratic. This, with his excellent quali-
fications and high character, led him into official stations. He was appointed by
President Pierce in March, 1853, receiver of public moneys for the United

782 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

States land office at Echvardsville, a very responsible and lucrative office for a
man only twenty-four years of age. He discharged its duties with fidelity and
ability, and returning to Carlyle was elected to the house of representatives in
the state legislature from the counties of Bond and Clinton at the November
election, 1856. At the same election he was chosen presidential elector on the
Democratic ticket for the eighth congressional district, the late General John
A. Logan, then a Democrat, being his colleague for the ninth district, it being
the last time the Democratic presidential electors were elected in Illinois for
thirty-six years. He was elected state senator for the fourth senatorial district,
composed of the counties of Bond, Clinton, Fayette, Marion, Perry and Wash-
ington, in June, 1863, the senate then being composed of only twenty-five mem-
bers.

In 1874 he was first elected to congress for the sixteenth Illinois district,
then composed of the counties of Bond, Clay. Clinton, Fayette, Marion, Mont-
gomery and Washington. The district was organized as a Republican district
and at the first election therein, in 1872, General Martin, the Republican candi-
date, was elected over the Democratic candidate, Judge Bryan, father of the
distinguished orator and late Democratic candidate for president. In 1874, by
the united voice of his party, Mr. Sparks entered the canvass and defeated the
Republican incumbent, General Martin, by a large majority, and continued to
be elected for four successive congresses by increased majorities until a Repub-
lican legislature reorganized the congressional districts in such manner as to
sever Mr. Sparks from all but two of his old counties. As a prominent Repub-
lican expressed it, "We tackled Sparks for eight years before the people and he
beat us; we then appealed to the legislature and won." But he was tired of con-
gressional life; he had been a diligent, hard-working member, and though he
was compensated for it by the increasing confidence of his people and the high
rank he had attained, he was tired and needed rest. He could have been elected
very easily to congress afterward, but persistently declined it. Continuing,
however, in the ardent support of his party on all occasions, he was strong with
the people and a "power on the hustings."

He was appointed by President Cleveland, March 26, -1885, commissioner
of the general land office, then, next to the cabinet, the most important and diffi-
cult office in the executive government. The public lands had been for years
the prey of unscrupulous speculation and monopoly, "land-grant railroad and
other large corporations," influential "syndicates" and "land-grabbing rings" by
shrewd manipulations were absorbing the public domain and converting to their
uses this heritage of the people, who were entitled to these lands for homes by
honest settlement and cultivation. Against these combinations and fraudulent
rings Mr. Sparks, well qualified by intelligence, experience and integrity, waged
uncompromising warfare. It was a terrible contest, one to test the courage
of the stoutest heart. He w.as battling against the illegal and avaricious demands
of unscrupulous organizations backed by millions of money and powerful influ-
ences "land-grant railroad" and other corporations, "treaty-land grant claim-
ants," large "syndicate combinations," "cattle-ranch rings," "speculative com-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 783

binations," "land-grabbers" and "land sharks" generally, great and small, who
had for years past controlled things pretty much their own way in the land de-
partment. Yet in less than three years of service he rescued and saved to the
public domain many millions of acres and to honest settlers thousands of homes.
He justly earned the title accorded him by the good men of the county as the
"fearless, able and honest commissioner."

Mr. Sparks resigned his office November 16, 1887, induced thereto simply
by a disagreement with the secretary of the interior, who then and now has ap-
pellate jurisdiction in contested cases coming from the general land office. In
the adjustment of certain railroad land-grant cases the commissioner charged
with, and having the jurisdiction thereof, disallowed such parts of the claims as
in his judgment were unjust and clearly inadmissible under the laws and de-
cisions of the supreme court. On appeal to the secretary of the interior his rul-
ings were reversed and the claims allowed. As the commissioner felt that this
was a ruinous error and thwarted all his efforts to protect the public lands from
absorption and spoliation by the unjust and illegal demands of these corpor-
ations, he applied to the secretary by a letter, unanswerable in legal argument,
for a reconsideration of the cases. This led finally to an estrangement between
the two officials and such friction in the department that the commissioner, well
worn with the arduous labors of the office, resigned it. His resignation created
much excitement at the time and was met by great regret by the good men of
all parties, but was joyfully welcomed by the despoilers and land-grabbing
rings, whose business he had so "ruthlessly disturbed." The president, in a re-
luctant acceptance of the resignation, in an official autograph letter to Mr.
Sparks, used this language: "I desire to heartily acknowledge the value of
your services in the improved administration of the land department which has
been reached, and to assure you of my appreciation of the rugged and unyield-
ing integrity which has characterized your official conduct." And, showing the
general feeling, we quote extracts from speeches in congress by eminent men
as follows: The late Judge Holman, of Indiana, popularly known as "father of
the house," and "watch-dog of the treasury," then chairman of the committee
on public lands, and for years noted as the best-posted man on public lands in
the United States, on June 21, 1888, in a speech in congress on an appropriation
for the general land office, said:

The judgment of the country, Mr. Chairman, is, I think, that in the employment of
its officers and agents this administration has been, as a rule, singularly fortunate. What-
ever else may be said about the administration of Grover Cleveland, I think that all men
of both political parties throughout the country accord to his administration an honor-
able purpose and a desire to secure to the people the blessings of good government. And
I feel sure, sir, that the public judgment, in reviewing the multitude of men who have
held offices under this administration, and the services rendered by each, if it selected
one who had rendered a service of special and enduring value to the people, reflected
especial honor on the government, whose integrity rose above all question, who left the
public service with the regrets of millions of people, that public judgment would without
hesitation designate General Sparks, of the state of Illinois [applause], so recently at the
head of the great bureau of the public lands.

784 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

I need not stand here, sir, to defend General Sparks. If any man of this period
has established himself in the confidence of the people of this country for rugged integrity
and firmness of character, of exalted devotion to the public service, that man is the late
commissioner of the general land office. [Renewed applause.] Mr. Chairman, the sun
does not shine upon a man of purer heart, more sterling integrity, or of a higher sense
of honor and duty than General Sparks, of Illinois. It is not necessary, sir, I repeat,
to vindicate General Sparks. He is vindicated by all men who esteem high qualities and
honorable and valuable public services. The only charge that ever has been or can be
made against General Sparks as an officer of the government, was that he was too
strongly devoted to his duties and too intensely abhorred injustice and fraud.

Mr. Chairman, men from both sides of this chamber, something unknown in our
past experience in this body, and perhaps in the history of congress, Democrats and
Republicans as well, impressed with the high value of the services General Sparks had
rendered to the country, urged that his resignation should not be accepted, notwith-
standing the embarrassment which they realized arose from General Sparks' conflict
of opinion, on questions of the administration of the land laws, with the head of the
department, and requested in the public interest alone that the people should have the
benefit of his services. Let another instance be found in our time in the history of this
body where its members, in appreciation of the service of a man who had served on
this floor with distinguished honor and credit, both to his state and himself, impressed
with the value of his services in public station under the administration, had appealed,
without regard to political differences, for his remaining in office, notwithstanding the
embarrassment to the public service of a conflict of opinion between the head of a great
bureau and the chief of the department.

The condition of that, the greatest of the bureaus of the government, the general
land office, charged with the interests of our public domain, the existence of countless
organized schemes of wealth and corporate power to rob the people and obtain by fraud
the lands which should be their future homes, demanded the presence of such a man
as General Sparks. He left the service of the United States with the regrets of the
whole people who loved honor and purity in public office, and with the regrets of the
chief magistrate of the country. All coming time will appreciate the value of General
Sparks' services and hold him in high esteem.

General Weaver, late Populist candidate for the presidency, then a mem-
ber of congress from Iowa, said:

In the moment reserved to me I want to say that I hope this committee will make
ample appropriation to enable the interior department to protect the residue of the
public domain from fraudulent entries. I want to say one other thing in defense of the
late commissioner of the general land office, General Sparks, of Illinois. A more con-
scientious and able public servant never occupied that position. Very few have ever occu-
pied any position in this government who were abler than he. Not only that, but I
want to say here that if this administration has made a mistake it was in allowing General
Sparks to retire from that bureau. With his magnificent courage and his incorruptible
honesty he was fighting a continent of thieves almost unsupported, single-handed, and
alone.

Hon. William McAdoo, of New Jersey, late assistant secretary of the navy,
then in congress, used this language:

Mr. Chairman, in the brief time allowed me I want to say a few words in answer
to the eloquence which has been poured out here in denunciation of what is called
the spy system inaugurated under General Sparks. General Sparks himself needs no

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 785

vindication. If there ever was an aggressively honest man in a public office, if there
ever was an upright, fearless, unselfish man determined to do his whole duty to the
people of the United States against monstrous combinations of capitalists and rail-
roads, against land-sharks, land-thieves and land-grabbers, cattle rings and alien free-
booters, that man was William Andrew Jackson Sparks, an honest man and a sterling
Democrat.

And ex-Speaker Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania, and many others
joined in similar pertinent expressions.

Having resided in Carlyle, Illinois, for forty-five years, Mr. Sparks within
the last year, on account of the long-continued illness of Mrs. Sparks, and for
better medical attendance, purchased a home in St. Louis, Missouri, where,
with a competent income, he is now living, and where, retired from all active
business pursuits, he will doubtless spend his declining years.

He was married April 16, 1855, at Edwardsville, Illinois, to Miss Julia Par-
ker, a native of that city, whom the hosts of Illinois' prominent men who have
shared the hospitality of their elegant home at Carlyle will remember as a deli-
cate lady of rare personal charms and wifely accomplishments. After forty-three
years of wedded happiness they are "lovers still." They have had no children
of their own, but have reared and educated a number of young relatives and
have thus always had quite a family. Mrs. Alexander, widow of the late Colonel
G. C. Alexander, a sister of Mrs. Sparks, has for nearly a quarter of a century
made her home with them. Mr. Sparks, though not a communicant, has strong
leanings toward the Catholic church, while his wife and other members of his
family are devout members of that church.

Harvey P. Buxton was admitted to the bar in 1855, having studied law in
the office of A. N. Harrington, of Geneva, Illinois. He located at Carlyle in 1857.
Later on, in 1863, Darius Kingsbury located here and entered into partner-
ship with Hon. William A. J. Sparks. He was admitted in November, 1860,
was a native of Indiana, and studied law with Judge Daly, of Edwardsville.
This partnership continued about two years. He was state's attorney for two
consecutive terms; was also master in chancery and city attorney.

Gustave Van Hoorebeke. Illinois numbers among her adopted sons many
who have attained eminence in their chosen walks of life and have conferred
honor and dignity upon the state. To this class belongs Mr. Van Hoorebeke,
who was born in the city of Genth, Belgium, on the 2d of February, 1838. His
parents, Emanuel and Collette Van Hoorebeke, also were natives of the same
country, where the father carried on mercantile pursuits. The paternal grand-
father served as a captain in the army of Napoleon Bonaparte, and a medal
which was given him by the Emperor is now in the possession of our subject.
The latter was also a cousin of Emile Van Hoorebeke, who was minister of the
interior under King Leopold I, of Belgium. Thus from a family of considerable
prominence in Belgium is Gustave Van Hoorebeke descended. In August,
1850, his father left the city of Genth, and in company with his. family sailed for
America, taking up his residence in St. Louis, Missouri, where our subject at
once entered St. Louis University. He there pursued his studies until the close

.So

786 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

of the school year of 1853, when the family removed to Coles county, Missouri,
settling near Jefferson City. He there assisted his father in farming until 1855,
when the family became residents of Franklin county, Kansas, the common-
wealth being still under territorial government. After two years they returned
to St. Louis, Missouri, and in February, 1858, located in Clinton county, Illi-
nois.

It was in February, 1862, that Gustave Van Hoorebeke took up his resi-
dence in Carlyle, Illinois, and began the study of law in the office of Benjamin
Bond, under whose thorough instruction he mastered the fundamental princi-
ples of the science of jurisprudence, and was admitted to the bar in August,
1863. He then entered into partnership with his former preceptor, which con-
nection was terminated in 1865, after which Mr. Van Hoorebeke was alone for
several years. In July, 1874, he removed to Denver, Colorado, where he formed
a partnership with General Bela M. Hughes, one of the leading lawyers of that
city, but owing to the ill health of his wife he was forced to leave the west in
October of the same year, and returned to Carlyle, where he has since practiced
with excellent success. He has been elected to several official positions, has
served as assessor, collector, city clerk and city attorney, and in June, 1885, was
appointed United States district attorney for the southern district of Illinois,
which office he held until July i, 1889, when he resigned.

In Clinton county, Illinois, in 1858, Mr. Van Hoorebeke married Miss Ann
E. Phillips. His second wife was Helen Owen, of Liberty, Missouri, and on
the 3d of May, 1877, he married Cora B. Cook, of Evansville, Indiana. By
his first marriage he had two sons, Charles and William, who are married and
reside in Colorado; and 'by the third union he has three living children: Eu-
gene, L. Harold and Vivian, all at home.

Mr. Van Hoorebeke became a charter member of the Ancient Order of
United Workmen in 1885. By nature he is studious, his tastes are scholarly,
and his extensive reading has made him a man of broad general information.
He is deeply interested in all that pertains to the welfare and improvement of
his county and state and gives to all measures for the public good the support
'of a progressive, public-spirited citizen. Although rather retiring by nature,
his friends know him as a most kindly, companionable man. and with him
friendship is inviolable. In his profession he has won a very creditable and hon-
orable success. In the law, more than in any other profession, does success de-
pend upon individual merit and labor. The able lawyer is he who has a mind
well trained in the severest school of reason, who is accurate in analysis, logical
in argument and entrenched behind a bulwark of legal knowledge which ren-
ders his position almost unassailable. Such are the qualities which characterize
the professional career of Mr. Van Hoorebeke, and the public and the bar ac-
cord him a foremost .place among the lawyers of southern Illinois.

In 1872 or 187-? M. P. Murray, who studied law with Mr. Van Hoorebeke,
was admitted to .the bar." He was state's attorney for sixteen consecutive years.
In 1873 or 1874 Robert Andrews was admitted to the bar. He also studied law
with Mr. Van Hoorebeke. He and Murray entered into a partnership, which

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 787

lasted until 1885, when Andrews was appointed law clerk in the general land
office, at Washington, under the Hon. William A. J. Sparks. He now lives
there and practices his profession.

Thomas E. Ford, who also studied law with Mr. Van Hoorebeke, was ad-
mitted in 1876 and later on entered into partnership with his preceptor, an as-
sociation which continued nearly twenty years. Mr. Ford was state senator from
the forty-second district, was master in chancery, city attorney and is now
state's attorney.

William White and Robert C. Lamb were admitted about 1880 and formed
a co-partnership. Some ten years ago Mr. White removed to Denver, Col-
orado, where he now practices his profession. Mr. Lamb is still here.

John J. McGaffigan was admitted in May, 1886, read law with Murray &
Andrews, was city attorney for several years, and is now master in chancery.

Porter W. Brown was admitted about ten years ago and was master in
chancery for two consecutive terms. Walter S. Louden was admitted in No-
vember, 1890, formed a co-partnership with Mr. Van Hoorebeke in January,
1897, and is president of the court of claims commission. Hugh Murray, at
present a member of the Illinois legislature, studied law with his father, and is
now practicing in Chicago. James McHale read law with M. P. Murray, was
admitted in 1892, and was at one time sheriff of the county. He practices here
and in East St. Louis.

Barney O'Neil read law "with M. P. Murray, was admitted in 1896 and is
now a resident of Alton, Illinois, where he practices his profession. Risdon
Moore and George A. Beattie were also admitted to the bar, but neither of them
were in active practice. The latter died in 1897.

BOONE COUNTY LAWYERS.

General Allen C. Fuller. Though Illinois has furnished to the nation
some of the most prominent figures in the history of the country few men have
been more intimately associated wkh the history of the state than General
Fuller. The goal toward which he has hastened during his many years of toil
and endeavor is that which is attained only by such as have by patriotism and
wise counsel given the world an impetus toward the good; such have gained
the right and title to have their names enduringly inscribed on the bright pages
of the nation's annals.

General Fuller was born in Farmingham, Connecticut, September 22, 1822,
his parents being Lucius and Candace (Newell) Fuller, both representatives of
old New England families. They came to Boone county, Illinois, in 1845 an ^
spent, their last years in Belvidere, where they were highly respected for their
many excellencies of character. For a short time the father engaged in mer-
chandising. He was at one time associate judge of the county court and after-
ward served as postmaster of Belvidere.

General Fuller is a graduate of Towanda Academy, of Towanda, Pennsyl-
vania. When he had completed his course in that institution he continued his

788 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

studies under the direction of a very competent private tutor, and in 1841 began
the study of law, which he completed in Warsaw, New York, in the office of
United States Senator Doolittle in 1846, being admitted to the bar in that year
by the supreme court of New York. In November of the same year he came
to Belvidere, where he yet makes his home. Within a few days after coming to
this city General Fuller was employed in several important cases, and entered
upon the active duties of his profession. At that time the population of Belvi-
dere was about eight hundred, including two lawyers in active practice, General
S. A. Hurlbut and W. T. Burgess. Soon afterward the firms of Fuller & Bur-
gess and Loop & Hurlbut were formed. These firms continued for several
years and did a large business, not only in Boone county, but also being con-
cerned in extensive litigation in neighboring counties and the supreme court of
the state. Devoting himself entirely to his profession for many years, refusing
to seek office or participate in party intrigues, and with an iron constitution and
indomitable will, General Fuller secured and held a large and profitable practice
for many years. This was the commencement of his subsequent financial suc-
cess. In later years he consented to accept office and became a leading factor in
the political interests of Illinois. At different times he has been master in chan-
cery, appraiser of damages on the Illinois and Michigan Canal, state bank com-
missioner, county judge, circuit judge, adjutant general of Illinois, state repre-
sentative and speaker of the house, state senator and president pro tern, of the
'senate. On his return to private life, in 1869, a local paper printed the fol-
lowing:

"For more than eighteen years the name of Allen C. Fuller has been inti-
mately and most favorably known to the people of this portion of the state. In
1846 he came to this place a briefless and penniless lawyer. His scholarly at-
tainments, his legal acquirements and his industry and inflexible resolution to
succeed, soon brought to him an extensive and lucrative practice, and during
the succeeding twelve or fifteen .years, while he was in active practice, we pre-
sume that no man ever doubted that he ably, zealously and faithfully discharged
his duties to his clients. Though always public-spirited and liberal, he has, by
personal economy and business talent, acquired a handsome property, and has
contributed much to the growth and prosperity of the town. When the war
broke out, in 1861, General Fuller was then presiding judge of this circuit, and
we believe that it was universally admitted that he discharged its honorable and
responsible duties satisfactorily and with ability. In the summer of that year
he was urged by our state officers to connect himself with the military affairs of
our state. The bar of the circuit unanimously objected to his resignation, but
urged him temporarily to accept the appointment tendered him of adjutant
general. In the fall of 1861 he entered upon the discharge of the duties of that
laborious and exacting and responsible office, and in July, 1862, resigned the
office of circuit judge. The history and result of his labors during the past
three and a half years as adjutant general of the state are too well known to the
country to need to be mentioned here. If the opinion of the press, without dis-
tinction of party; if the testimony of Governor Yates, with whom he has been

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 789

so long associated ; if the public opinion, so far as we have heard it expressed,
are to be relied upon, then, indeed, he has rendered the state and county capable,
faithful and acceptable service. The published reports of the operations of the
adjutant general's department in the organizing and sending to the field over
two hundred thousand men are before us, and we would wish no better record
than to have been so honorably identified with the glorious history of Illinois
during this war. Governor Yates, in his last message, repeats what he has
stated in other messages, and says: 'General Fuller has been a most able, faith-
ful and energetic officer, and is entitled to the gratitude of the state.'

"The house of representatives, at its last session, unanimously adopted a
report of its committee appointed to inspect the adjutant general's office, and
from this report we extract the following : 'That we have thoroughly examined
the office of the adjutant general and find it a model of completeness, one that
preserves in all its glory the proud record of all our soldiery and reflects infinite
credit upon the great state whose sons they are; that in the judgment of this
committee the thanks of every patriotic citizen of the state are due to General
Fuller for the able and efficient manner in which he has discharged the duties
of the office and for his indefatigable efforts in collecting and preserving this
glorious record of a glorious state.'

"On the first day of January last General Fuller resigned his office as adju-
tant general, and having previously been elected a member of the general assem-
bly he was nominated by acclamation by our party, and on the 2d of January
was elected speaker of the house of representatives. The manner in which he
acquitted himself in this new position may be seen by the following resolution
which was unanimously adopted by that body just before the adjournment:

" 'Resolved, That we tender our heartfelt thanks to the Hon. Allen C.
Fuller, our presiding officer, for the kind, courteous, able and impartial manner
in which he has presided over us, and as such recognize in his general bearing
and demeanor the perfect model of a gentleman.' "

At this distant day the people of the state may have forgotten, but it is
nevertheless true, that they owe General Fuller their lasting gratitude for his
service in introducing into the legislature various bills which became laws,
among which are the following: Railroad bills asserting the power and sover-
eignty of the state to control these corporations in fixing rates upon transport-
ing passengers and freight. His was the first square and honest fight made in
this or any other state to fix maximum rates, and the legislation upon this sub-
ject was taken to the supreme court of the state and the supreme court of the
United States, and finally the legal question of the constitutionality of such laws
was sustained by these high tribunals. Other bills which he introduced were
the law establishing railroad commissions, now in force; one establishing a
board of public charities, now in force; a bill upon the subject of eminent do-
main; and the revenue law, now substantially in force. The impress of his
genius and ability is found on many a page of the revised statutes of the state.

Though well and favorably known to the bar and business men of northern
Illinois prior to 1860, it was not until the Civil war commenced and he assumed

790 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

the duties of adjutant general that General Fuller's name became familiar in
every household in Illinois, and especially to the volunteer soldiers. It was in
this important office, with all its labors, cares, difficulties and responsibilities,
that he made his most distinctive mark and displayed those rare executive abili-
ties which were admitted by every one. The repeated messages of Governor
Yates, the resolutions of the state legislature and the reports of the federal au-
thorities, as well as the histories of those years, are so entirely unanimous on
that subject that no other opinion need be given in this brief sketch.

After a residence in Belvidere of half a century, it can truly be said that
General Fuller has established and maintained a character above reproach or
question. His word is as good as his bond, and all know his bond, if any one
can get it, is unquestionably good. Commencing active life in Belvidere, he
still retains the strongest attachments for the city where his early struggles for
success began. His liberality and public spirit are proverbial. His liberal do-
nation of five thousand dollars for the Ida public library, which he founded in
honor of his deceased daughter, and which has become one of the finest public
libraries in the state, outside the large cities, is only one of the acts of public
benevolence which have endeared him to all classes.

General Fuller, like all great lawyers, has been a great worker. He was
always faithful to his client, and gave to every case the best efforts of which he
was capable. But he surpassed most other men in executive ability, which he
possessed in a large degree. His business habits and methods are methodical;
he familiarizes himself fully with every detail of the business in which he may
be engaged, and never shirks a duty. His affairs are always in shape, every
detail is attended to with scrupulous exactness, and to these qualities is largely
due his success in life, in a material way. A distinguished lawyer who has
known him well for many years spoke of him in the following ^ words: "A
learned historian of this state has said that 'the history of Illinois could not be
written with the name of Allen C. Fuller left out.' Truer words were never
spoken, nor a more deserved tribute ever paid to a public servant. , In .the coun-
ty of Boone, where he is best known, and where the greater portion of his life
has been spent, the name of General Fuller is a household word, and is a
synonym for honor, integrity and fair dealing, as well as for worth and ability.
Whether at home or abroad, in public or in private life, no man ever questioned
his honor and integrity; no man ever doubted his public spirit, his broad-mind-
edness, or his absolute justice in all his dealings with his fellow men. As a
young man, in the practice of law, he was industrious and faithful, and those
qualities, coupled with strict honesty and fair ability, could not fail to bring
success. He has held the offices of master in chancery, county judge, circuit
judge, representative in the general assembly, and speaker of the house, state
senator from his district and president of the senate, and adjutant general of
the state of Illinois, during the days that 'tried men's souls,' when more than
two hundred thousand men went out from Illinois to do battle for the Union.
In all these positions of trust and honor he acquitted himself with signal ability
and manly honor. No man will deny, and none can gainsay, that he has been

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 791

a just and upright judge, a faithful public servant and an honest man in all the
relations of life. And such is and will be the final judgment as to his abilities,
worth and character."

Charles E. Fuller was born in Boone county, Illinois, received his educa-
tion in the common- schools of the neighborhood, and whatever of success he
has achieved in life has been by his own unaided efforts. He read law, first with
Hon. O. H. Wright, and afterward with Hon. Jesse S. Hildrup. He was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1870, and has since practiced his profession in Belvidere.
He held the office of corporation attorney for the old town of Belvidere for two
terms, before it became a city. In 1876 he was elected state's attorney, and in
1878 was elected to the state senate, after a contest which has become historical.
He served in the senate for four years, being chairman of the railroad com-
mittee and a member of the judiciary and other important committees. He
was afterward elected to the house of representatives three times in succession,
where he was a recognized leader, being generally recognized as the party lead-
er and honored by his associates with the chairmanship of the party managing
committee. He was also chairman of the house 'railroad committee. In 1888
he was again elected to the senate, and at the close of his term, in 1892, declined
a re-election, preferring to give his time and attention to his large law practice.
Mr. Fuller has enjoyed the personal, as well as political, friendship of such
men as General John A. Logan, General Richard J. Oglesby, Senator Shelby
M. Cullom, Governors John M. Hamilton, Joseph W. Fifer and John R. Tan-
ner, as well as most of the other political leaders of the state for the past twenty-
five years, and has had their entire confidence and respect. In the legislature
his friendships were not limited to his party associates, but many of his warmest
admirers were to be found on the other side of the house. Governor Tanner
is authority for the statement that in a political contest on the floor of the legis-
lature Senator Fuller was the readiest debater, the most resourceful parliamen-
tarian and the best fighter he ever knew. General John C. Black once said oi
him, that he was "one of the few men who always knew how to do the right
thing at the right time and in the right way." In the great senatorial contest of
1885 in the Illinois legislature, when General John A. Logan was re-elected to
the United States senate after a contest lasting two months, and in which Mr.
Fuller was the Logan leader, he performed services for his party and state which
were afterward recognized by General Logan in a personal letter.

While in the legislature Mr. Fuller's skill as a politician won him a high
reputation, which was enhanced by his statecraft. In conventions, both state
and national, he has shown himself to be a skillful and resourceful politician,
and the press of Chicago and throughout, the state has several times termed
him a party Warwick. As a legislator Mr. Fuller won recognition as one who
believed in legislating for the many, and a number of important bills for the
benefit of the masses became laws through his work. While he was potent for
his party's good in all conflicts with the opposition, at the same time he rendered
valuable service to the people. In the thirty-fourth general assembly he was vir-
tually speaker of the house, occupying the chair during that portion of the .ses-

792 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

sion when, after the senatorial struggle had ended victoriously for the Repub-
licans through his efforts, the real legislative work was done. He would have
been chosen speaker but for his own advice in opposition to any change in the
organization of the house.

Mr. Fuller was married in 1874 to Miss Sadie Mackey, of Cherry Valley,
and they have a pleasant home in Belvidere. As a citizen of that place Mr.
Fuller has been prominent, as well as in the field of public affairs. His ener-
getic, progressive spirit has had much to do with the upbuilding of Belvidere.

William C. De Wolf, Jr., of Belvidere, was born in Spring township, Boone
county, November 4, 1865. As a boy he worked on his father's farm and at-
tended the district school, while later he pursued his studies in the high school
of Genoa, De Kalb county, where he was graduated in 1885. Subsequently he
read law, and was admitted to practice by the supreme court of the state in 1887.
In the same year he entered into partnership with Hon. Charles E. Fuller, an
association that has since been continued. The firm is one of the strongest in
this part of the state and enjoys a lucrative practice, which is not limited to the
county of Boone, but extends into the adjoining counties as well. Mr. De Wolf
has given his attention almost exclusively to the practice of his profession, and
has not generally given much of his time to political matters, although he is a
stanch and active Republican, and is generally a delegate to the party conven-
tions. He was once appointed and twice elected city attorney of Belvidere, but
resigned the office in 1891. Mr. De Wolf has an eminently judicial cast of mind,
is studious and well read and always absolutely fair and honest.

Robert W. Wright was born in Belvidere, July 19, 1862, attended the pub-
lic schools, and at the age of sixteen began the study of law in his father's office.
On the completion of a course in the Illinois University, at Champaign, he was
admitted to the bar, in January, 1883, being only twenty-one years of age at the
time. He was chosen state's attorney by the people of Boone county at the No-
vember election of 1884, and has several times been re-elected. He has risen
rapidly to the front as a lawyer and commands a lucrative practice. In 1894 he
was appointed corporation counsel for the city of Belvidere. His advancement
and continued endorsement from the people of this city and county afford abun-
dant evidence that his talents receive the most genuine recognition that a com-
munity could possibly give.

Mr. Wright is a forcible and brilliant speaker, and has the reputation of
conducting to a successful issue the cases falling to his charge. His practice is
not confined to Belvidere, but includes many others of the important centers of
northern Illinois, especially Chicago, where he is frequently called for legal
work. As a counselor, pleader and official he has taken and maintained a posi-
tion in the front ranks of the legal fraternity of the state.

Wales W. Wood was born in Hinsdale, Cattaraugus county, New York,
April 25, 1837, and at the age of sixteen was sent to the Genesee Wesleyan Col-
lege, at Lima, New York, where he entered the freshman class, pursuing the
classical course. There he remained two years, and in the year 1857 was S ra< ^~
uated with honors in Union College, of Schenectady, New York. In the fall of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 793

that year he located at Belvidere and read law with the firm of Fuller & Wood.
In 1860 he was admitted to the bar and practiced his profession in Belvidere
until the summer of 1862, when he enlisted in Company G, Ninety-fifth Illinois
Infantry, and at the muster-in of the regiment he was promoted and commis-
sioned, by Governor Yates, adjutant of the regiment. He acted in that capacity
with his regiment in the field throughout General Grant's Campaign in northern
Mississippi in the fall of 1862, and in the spring of 1863 he was chosen to per-
form the duties of assistant adjutant general of the Sixth Division, Seventeenth
Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, took an active part in the campaign that
followed and the siege of Vicksburg, and after the surrender served as post ad-
jutant of that city under General McArthur. He was in the battle of Nashville
and in the siege and capture of Spanish Fort and Mobile, Alabama, in the early
part of 1865. He remained on similar duty until near the close of the war, when
he rejoined and was mustered out with his regiment, at Sprinefield, in August,
1865. At the close of the war Judge Wood returned to Belvidere and resumed
the practice of law, and was soon appointed master in chancery of the circuit court
of Boone county, holding that office some eight years, and subsequently was
corporation and city attorney for Belvidere, and also state's attorney of Boone
county for several years. In the spring of 1889 he was elected county judge,
and his years of service in the office has demonstrated his marked ability as a
jurist. The fact that he is so frequently called to Chicago to hold court is evi-
dence that his decisions are regarded as fair and impartial.

C. B. Dean was born in Franklin, Illinois, and located in Belvidere in 1862.
He began the study of law and entered the University of Michigan, being grad-
uated in the law department of that institution in 1873. He went to Denver,
Colorado, to practice law, but after a year returned to Belvidere, and soon took
rank among the leading attorneys. Pie was city attorney for several terms, and
was elected county judge three successive terms, being eminently fitted for that
office. In- 1888 he resigned from the bench and removed to Talapoosa, Georgia,
where he remained about four years, after which the family returned to Belvi-
dere. Judge Dean was one of the most enthusiastic workers in the movement
which brought to Belvidere the great National Sewing Machine Company. He
was one of the negotiating committee and spent time and money to secure the
prize. He did not accept stock for his subscription, but contributed with a
loyal, patriotic purpose. He is now practicing his profession, and is very suc-
cessful.

William L. Pierce. Well advanced on the list of prominent Belvidere at-
torneys is the name of William L. Pierce. He was born in Spring town-
ship, Boone county, June 3, 1868. After a thorough preparatory course of study
he entered the Northwestern Law College, where he was graduated June 16,
1892, beginning practice immediately thereafter at Belvidere. Fluent, versatile,
clear in statement and a valuable counselor, Mr. Pierce commands the attention
of juries and the confidence of the public. A number of important cases in Belvi-
dere and elsewhere conducted by Mr. Pierce to a successful issue adorn a rec-
ord which might well be contemplated with satisfaction.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE BAR OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

BY FRED DUCKETT, COUNTY CLERK.

THE first lawyers who lived in this county were J. H. McGregor and J. H.
Dart. Litigations in the early days were limited in number, but the two
local attorneys proved their ability in connection with the various causes
in which they were retained. Both were bright and promising lawyers, but
their careers were cut short by death, prior to 1857.

About the year mentioned Simeon DeWitt located here and was elected
state's attorney, but he died before the expiration of his term and before he
had opportunity of distinguishing himself as a practitioner at the bar of the
county.

Jonathan Duff came one year later, and was elected county judge in 1861.
He had a good legal mind and made a model judge. On one occasion the case
of an alleged insane woman was on trial before him, and the jury brought in
the extraordinary verdict that she was not insane, but "possessed of a devil."
"Gentlemen," said the Judge, "this court has no jurisdiction; the petition is
dismissed."

In April, 1857, Alfred E. Harding came from New York and entered into
the active practice of the law. He soon became the leader at the bar of the
county, prosecuting and defending many important cases with success. He
was particularly conspicuous as the defender of a colored man, who was charged
with murder, and in the prosecution of a suit against a railroad company, which
was begun on Sunday, in face of the precedents of fourteen hundred years to
the contrary, and which was sustained by the supreme court, to which he ap-
pealed the case, owing to the adverse decision of the circuit court.

William T. Ament served for four years as state's attorney, with marked
ability and success. His oratorical powers and convincing logic made him a
formidable adversary before a jury. He died in 1897.

John R. Perry was known as the "silver-tongued orator." He was a
brother-in-law of Judge John M. Scott. He enlisted in 1862 for service in the
war of the Rebellion, won distinction as captain of Company C, One Hundred
and Twenty-ninth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, and upon his return his
health was so much impaired that he was incapacitated for much active practice.
He received a federal appointment and died soon afterward.

Lewis E. Payson possessed a legal mind, marked tact and an ability that
was second to that of few lawyers in the state, and he met with general success.
He occupied the bench of the county court for four years; was subsequently a

794

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 795

member of congress for a number of terms, and has since retained his residence
at the national capital.

Nathaniel J. Pillsbury, who was circuit judge of this circuit for a number of
terms, has a clear legal mind, and his decisions were marked with justice and
impartiality. While a member of the appellate court his written opinions so
fully embodied the law that they are cited as precedents by the courts of other
states. S. S. Lawrence, his former partner, and later judge in Oklahoma, ex-
hibited much industry in his efforts to master the intricacies of the law, and he
knew no stopping-place until he reached the bottom of any question. He left
Pontiac years ago, for what he imagined were wider and greener fields.

James T. Terry has been in practice here since 1869 and has a large and
paying clientage. He is bold and aggressive in the trial of a case, is prominent
and successful at the bar, is independent in action, yet courteous in his relations
with all.

R. S. Mcllduff, former state's attorney, proved a success as a prosecutor.
He is technical and exacting in minor details and is a successful practitioner.

H. H. McDowell, who also served as state's attorney, was no less success-
ful. By his strict attention to his profession he has gained an extensive prac-
tice. He is cordial in manner and persuasive in argument.

C. C. Strawn is one of the most prominent members of the bar of this
county. He is local attorney of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, and no one has
been more successful than he. Persistent, unyielding, strong and forcible in
argument, the longer he fights, the stronger he grows. He is somewhat "ad-
dicted" to politics, and once ran for congress, as the candidate on the Green-
back ticket.

A. C. Norton, a younger man, but promising lawyer, has an increasing
clientage, is fairly successful and is ambitious in his professional work.

R. R. Wallace has been county-judge for twenty-one years, is still in active
practice, is distinctly popular, and holds the clientage he obtains.

A number of younger members of the bar are located in Pontiac and are
striving diligently for their professional spurs and for relative precedence. The
following supplemental paragraphs have been secured, but are not a portion of
Mr. Duckett's original contribution.

N. J. Pillsbury. In one of the most beautiful districts of England is a little
hamlet which bears the name of Pillsbury. It is situated in the parish of Hart-
ington, Derbyshire, on the banks of the river Dove, and there in the early part
of the seventeenth century lived one William Pillsbury, who hearing of the
New World and the opportunities of colonization there offered, left his English
home in 1630 and crossed the broad Atlantic to Boston. Soon afterward he
removed to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1641 was married, and in 1651 re-
moved to Newbury, now Newburyport, where he erected a home for himself
and family, which still remains in possession of his descendants in the ninth
generation. He was the progenitor of the family in America, and to-day rep-
resentatives of the name are found in almost every state of the Union. In
September, 1888, there was held a reunion at the old homestead in Newbury-

796 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

port, where were present ninety-three of the descendants of William Pillsbury,
representing fifteen different states. The political complexion of the family is
shown by the fact that when a vote was cast eighty-eight of the number were
for Harrison, four for Cleveland and one for St. John. It is related that during
the dark days which preceded the Revolution the old house in Newburyport
was an inn, of which a certain Pillsbury was proprietor. He was a loyal and
earnest patriot and on his premises was a secret place in which were stored
goods which had not regularly passed through the British custom-house. On
one occasion the revenue officers came to the inn to make a raid, and the young
ladies of the family, receiving a hint from their father, proceeded to make them-
selves very agreeable to the officers, furnishing them wine and cake and enter-
taining them with music and conversation. In the meantime the owners of the
goods succeeded in getting their property away and then the conduct of the
young ladies toward the officers changed materially. The great-grandfather of
Judge Pillsbury, of Pontiac, whose name heads this sketch, was an officer in
Washington's army throughout the war of the Revolution, and a great-uncle of
the Judge was killed at the battle of Plattsburg, in the war of 1812.

The parents of our subject were Stephen N. and Susan (Averill) Pillsbury,
both natives of York county, Maine, and born in 1812. Their marriage was
celebrated in that county, in January, 1834, and the father was employed as a
machinist for the Pepperell corporation from 1851 until November, 1855, when
he removed with his family to Illinois. In this state he carried on agricultural
pursuits until 1880, when he retired to private life and became a resident of
Pontiac, Livingston county. His wife died in 1885, and his death occurred
in 1890. They were laid to rest, side by side, in the beautiful cemetery on the
banks of the Vermilion river, in Pontiac.

Judge Pillsbury, of this review, acquired his education mostly in the com-
mon schools of York county, Maine, which was the place of his nativity, the
date thereof being October 21, 1834. He spent a few months in an academy,
and later engaged in teaching school through seven winter seasons, while in
the summer months he worked on a farm. His early experiences were those
of the farmer boy, and on leaving school he came to Illinois, hoping thereby to
benefit his health, as he had consumptive tendencies. He had previously worked
in a dye house for a York corporation at Saco, Maine, and while there had had
several hemorrhages. For nearly two years after his arrival, he had a hard
struggle to maintain his health and at the same time earn a living, but he made
the best of his opportunities, and in due time an improved physical condition
enabled him to more readily conquer the obstacles which lay in the path to
fortune.

The Judge was married January i, 1855, m Biddeford, Maine, to Eliza J.
Cole, and on the maternal side she was connected with General Warren who
fell at the battle of Bunker Hill. They had six children: Cora A., who was
born May 3, 1857, and died in infancy; Clara A., who was born December 16,
1858, and. is the wife of S. E. Sims, a prominent business man of Pontiac; C.
Avis, who was born April 13, 1862, and is the wife of E. J. Walker, formerly

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 797

a druggist but now a horticulturist of Hamilton county, Indiana; Ernest, who
was born in July, 1864, and died in infancy; Louis L., who was born December
30, 1868, and died July i,- 1888; and Dale E., born March 30, 1875, now in
business in Pontiac.

For three years after his arrival in this state Judge Pillsbury resided on a
rented farm in Bureau county, and in September, 1857, purchased eighty acres
of land of the Illinois Central Railroad, in Nebraska township, Livingston coun-
ty, which he improved and made his home until April, 1863, when, on account
of ill health, he was obliged to quit the farm, and removed to Pontiac. He
entered the law office of Samuel L. Fleming and made rapid progress in his
studies. Upon his admission to the bar he formed a partnership with his former
preceptor, and by diligent study, indomitable energy and strict attention to his
profession soon acquired a leading position at the bar of Livingston county.
While upon the farm he held various township and school offices, and in 1866
was appointed city attorney of Pontiac and reappointed for a second term, hold-
ing the office during the exciting times which grew out of the enforcement of
the "Princeton charter." In 1869 he was elected a delegate to the constitutional
convention of 1870, and took an active part in framing the organic law of the
state. In 1873 ne was elected judge of the thirteenth judicial district, compris-
ing the counties of Livingston, Iroquois and Kankakee. When he went upon
the bench the docket was eighteen months behind, but by hard and continuous
work, holding three sessions of court daily nearly all the time, he succeeded
in clearing it in three years. In 1877 his circuit was consolidated with that which
comprised McLean and Ford counties, under the name of the eleventh circuit.
At the same session of the legislature the appellate courts were established
and Judge Pillsbury was appointed one of the judges of the second district
appellate court, which held its sessions in the supreme-court house in Ottawa.
In June, 1879, he was elected circuit judge of the consolidated district and re-
appointed to the second district appellate court, and again in June, 1882. On
the first day of that month, while returning to his home on a railroad train
which was transporting non-union laborers from the ore docks in Bridgeport,
Chicago, to Joliet, striking "union" men attacked and captured the train, broke
into the coach and commenced firing their pistols. A bullet struck the Judge,
and from that time his health has constantly suffered. For a time, however,
he continued in the active discharge of his judicial duties, in fact so faithfully
performed his work that he was again elected in 1885, without effort on his
part, and was appointed to the appellate court of the fourth district for a three-
years term, but his wound proving very serious, on the close of his six-years
term as circuit judge he declined to again become a candidate, and retired to
private life. He still attends to some legal business, selecting his cases, and
were he so inclined could have a very extensive clientajge.

Through economy and close application to his legal business he has ac-
quired a handsome competence and he and his family now occupy a very pleas-
ant home in Pontiac. He has always been regarded as an able lawyer and
upright judicial officer, having the respect of all who know him. While upon

798 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

the appellate bench he decided some very important questions which may be
called "leading." These include the case of Flexman versus the Chicago &
Eastern Illinois Railroad Company (9 Brad., 250), in which, in an able decision,
the Judge held the railroad company liable for the act of one of its brakesmen,
who, on being accused of stealing a passenger's watch, struck the passenger
with his railroad lantern, nearly severing his nose from his face. Almost all
railroad attorneys and other members of the bar thought the decision wrong, but
it was afterward affirmed by the supreme court and led to the overruling of the
case of Jacobs versus the Third Avenue Railroad Company (53 New York).
Judge Pillsbury also decided the case of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
Railroad Company versus Barrett (16 Brad.), holding the railroad company
liable for an assault upon a passenger, in both railroad cases sharply drawing
the distinction between the duties owed by a common carrier to passengers and
to strangers. Other cases which appear in the twenty-six volumes of Brad,
reports have given the Judge an enviable reputation as a lawyer and jurist.

He was a member of the Union League in 1863-4, became an Odd Fellow
in 1864, and is now the oldest member in good standing of Pontiac Lodge, No.
262. He has also been a member of the grand lodge of that fraternity since
1868, and of the grand encampment. He belongs to Pontiac Lodge, No. 294,
A. F. & A. M., and to St. Paul Commandery, No. 34, K. T. His life has been
a busy and useful one and he has the confidence and respect of the entire com-
munity. His family occupies a very enviable position in social circles and his
own position in the regard of his fellow men is shown by the fact that he has
never been beaten for an office either at an election or in the nominating con-
ventions. His judicial record is without a stain, and he well deserved mention
among the eminent jurists whose lives are an honor to the state which they
represent.

George W. Patton was elected to the bench of the eleventh judicial circuit
on the 7th of June, 1897, and in the discharge of his duties is fully sustaining the
high reputation which he won as a practitioner at the bar. He is a native of
Pennsylvania, and a son of Samuel R. and Jane Patton, while from Scotch-Irish
ancestry he is descended. The father was a farmer by occupation, and in 1852,
with his wife and six children and a capital of six hundred dollars, he left the
Keystone state to become one of the pioneer settlers on the prairies of Illinois.
Locating in Woodford county, he continued to make his home there until the
labors of life were ended. He was a man of indomitable will, a close thinker
and an ingenious debater. His wife was a most able assistant and helpmeet to
him. She spun the wool and wove and made all the winter garments for her
family until after the Civil war. Throughout the community she was celebrated
for her wit, her memory and her mathematical talent.

Judge Patton has spent almost his entire life in Illinois, whither he was

brought by his parents in his infancy. The experiences of his youth were those

' of the ordinary country .boy, who assists in the work of the farm and attends

the public schools in the winter season. He pursued a course in the State

Normal University, of Normal, Illinois, completing his studies there in 1871,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 799

and afterward taught school for two years in order to earn money for a law
course. He became a student in the office of Hay, Green & Littler, prominent
attorneys of Springfield, Illinois, and in January, 1875, was admitted to the bar,
successfully passing an examination conducted by Judges Breese, Walker,
Scott, Sheldon, McAllister, Scholfield and Craig, of the supreme court. A love
of the profession led to his selection of the law as a life work, and to it he has
ever devoted his best energies. He began practice in Fairbury, Illinois, but in
1883 removed to Pontiac, continuing an active member of its bar until his ele-
vation to the bench. From his mother he inherited an excellent command of
language, from his father a logical mind and a persistent will, and these quali-
ties, combined with a laudable ambition to achieve more than ordinary success,
enabled him to rapidly make his way to the front. Within ten years he was
classed among the leading lawyers of the circuit, enjoying as large a practice
as any man in the eleventh district.

The course he has followed in his law practice has ever been most com-
mendable. His fidelity to his clients' interests was always above question, and
he was ever courteous to the court, agreeable to the opposing counsel, fair to
the witness and affable in his treatment of the jury. Industry, integrity and
good nature constitute the trinity whose benediction every lawyer must con-
stantly invoke if he would succeed. He must also have faith in himself, faith
in his cause and faith in the court or jury hearing the suit. He must study
himself as well as his case and the jury, and allow no personal prejudice or per-
sonal feeling to bias him in the slightest degree. All these qualifications have
found exemplification in Judge Patton and have brought to him success and
won him a place among the most prominent and able lawyers of central Illinois.
He had never held office until chosen one of the judges of his district, in 1897.
His judicial service has been in perfect harmony with his record as a man and
lawyer, and he has won the respect and confidence of the bar and the public
by his fearless administration of "an even-handed justice."

Judge Patton has a comprehensive knowledge of the law, yet his close and
continuous study of legal principles has never prevented him from familiarizing
himself with good literature and the topics which engross the public attention.
'He is especially well informed on the issues of the day and the concerns of
public policy. He has always supported the principles of the Republican party,
is a stanch advocate of a protective tariff on all home productions, favors restric-
tion of immigration to desirable persons who wish to become true American
citizens, and believes in holding every island, except Cuba, where American
valor has planted the stars and stripes. He is also in favor of the present sys-
tem of national-bank currency and opposed to the retirement of the greenback
currency, and advocates a gold standard until the great commercial nations
agree upon some other. He also thinks that the United States should con-
struct and own the Nicaraguan canal and a ship canal connecting Chicago with
the Mississippi, and on all matters of public concern takes an advanced and
progressive position which shows deep thought and research on the questions
under consideration.

8oo THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

On the 2Oth of September, 1877, m Fairbury, Illinois, George Patton was
united in marriage to Miss Flora E. Cook, and they have two children: Marie,
born July 7, 1883; and Proctor, born March 22, 1894. Socially he is connected
with the Masonic and Odd Fellows' societies, and in his religious affiliations
is of Methodist Episcopal faith. Reared on a farm, amid humble surroundings,
he has deep sympathy for every son of toil, and no poor laborer, white or black,
ever appealed to him for assistance in vain. To him wealth is not a sine-qua-
non to good social standing, nor has he ever courted the society of those who
can boast only of a good bank account or pretentious ancestral tree. He be-
lieves with Tennyson that

True hearts are more than coronets
And simple faith than Norman blood.

To him who is honest and industrious he is a friend, and this true spirit of
Democracy, arising from a sincere interest in his fellow men, has made Judge
Patton one of the most popular, admired and respected citizens of his section of
the state.

CHAPTER XL.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BENCH. AND BAR OF HARDIN COUNTY.

THE history of the bench and bar of Hardin county properly begins in the
year 1840, at which time the county was organized from territory carved
out of the adjoining counties of Pope and Gallatin. At this time, as is
well known, there was but one judge in each judicial circuit, and in the personnel
of the judges and district attorneys this district was particularly fortunate, as
there were included such eminent jurists as Judges Duff, Parrish and Sloan, and
for prosecuting attorneys the late General John A. Logan, Francis M. Young-
blood, and others.

In those days it was not unusual for lawyers to ride the circuit, and there-
fore this county was visited by most of the great lawyers of southern Illinois.
Robert G. Ingersoll, W. J. Allen, General John A. Logan, "Bob" Wingate, W.
H. Green and others of like ability appeared before the courts of the county.
Although they were not actual members of the bar of this county, yet they form
a part of the local history of the bench and bar of this county.

Beginning with the adoption of the present constitution of the state, the
presiding judges in this county were M. C. Crawford, D. J. Baker, D. M.
Browning, O. A. Harker, R. W. McCartney, G. W. Young, A. K. Vickers and
J. P. Robarts, and in 1897, under the new judicial apportionment, Hardin coun-
ty was placed in the second judicial district, now presided over by their honors,

E. D. Youngblood, E. E. Newlin and Prince A. Pearse.

The judges of the county court of Hardin county since 1870, whose names
appear in the order in which they were elected, and who each served but one
term were: Isaac Hurford, from 1869 to 1873; John Q. A. Ledbetter, from
1873 to 1877; J. F. Taylor, from 1877 to 1882; Richard P. Hetherington, from
1882 to 1886; Jacob Hess, from 1886 to 1890; James H. Beavers, from 1890
to 1894; and William J. Hall to the present time, 1898. Only two of the num-
ber have been practicing attorneys, Judges John Q. A. Ledbetter and Jonathan

F. Taylor.

1 he office of state's attorney has uniformly been filled by lawyers of recog-
nized legal ability since 1870. The list is as follows: Lewis F. Plater, from
1872 to 1876; William S. Morris, from 1876 to 1880; John Q. A. Ledbetter,
from 1880 to 1888; H. R. Fowler, from 1888 to 1892; Richard F. Taylor, from
1892 to 1896, at which time John Q. A. Ledbetter was again elected. Three of
our ex-state's attorneys have since their terms as such served as members of the
legislature, namely: Hon. W. S. Morris, in both houses, and L. F. Plater and
H. R. Fowler in the lower house. Their records there are a matter with which
<the people are familiar.

51 801

802 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

It will be impossible to give the names of every member of the profession
who has at some time been a member of this bar, on account of the burning of
the court-house in 1884. It is a matter of memory, but the writer will give so
far as possible the names of persons who have been members of this bar, but
who now are in other and, we hope, more lucrative fields: James Macklin, of
Harrisburg; Hon. W. S. Morris, of Golconda; J. F. Taylor and J. H. B. Ren-
fro, of Carbondale; L. F. Twitchell, Jr., of Denver, Colorado; G. W. Patrick,
of Albuquerque, New Mexico; John J. Ledbetter, of Kennett, Missouri; W. A.
Rittenhouse, of Shawneetown; James W. Gullett, of Springfield, and the late
W. H. Boyer, of Harrisburg.

The present local bar of the county is composed of the following members,
whose names are given in the order in which they were admitted to the bar:
John Q. A. Ledbetter, Richard F. Taylor, H. R. Fowler, Henry M. Winders,
John C. Oxford, Adolphus M. Baldwin, John H. Ferrell, Jr., Thomas H.
Stubbs, James A. Watson, Jackson G. Young, James A. Craig, and Richard H.
McConnell.

It is not the purpose of the writer to give an extended and complete
biography of each member of the bar of Hardin county, but only to give a brief
sketch of each, as touching more purely his professional career.

John Q. A. Ledbetter began the study of law in 1871, under the direction
of Hon. W. S. Morris, and was admitted to the bar in 1872, since which time
he has been in the active practice of the law. In 1873 he was elected county
judge, and served as such until 1877. I n J 88o he was elected state's attorney,
and held that office for eight years, and was again elected to the same office in
1896, and is recognized as a fearless and efficient officer. Besides his duties as
state's attorney he has a large practice in civil cases. In politics he is a Demo-
crat.

Richard F. Taylor began the study of law in the office of his brother, J. F.
Taylor, and after study in the office for some time he attended the Wesleyan
University for several terms. He was admitted to the bar in 1879 and at once
entered upon the active practice of his profession. In 1892 he was elected state's
attorney, and held that office until 1896, the expiration of his term, and as state's
attorney discharged his duties to the entire satisfaction of the people. Since
his term expired he has devoted his energies to the practice of criminal law, in
which he has succeeded to a remarkable degree, and is now considered an ex-
cellent criminal lawyer. Besides this he has a large practice in civil cases. He
has recently formed a partnership with John H. Ferrell, under the firm name of
Taylor & Ferrell, and will no doubt have a large practice in our courts. In
politics he is a Democrat.

H. R. Fowler was graduated in the law department of the University of
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in 1884, and at once began the practice of law in this
county. In 1888 he was elected state's attorney, held that office one term and
was a most excellent prosecuting official. During his term as state's attorney,
and since the expiration of the same, he has paid especial attention to the crim-
inal practice, and is now recognized as a criminal lawyer of considerable ability.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 803

He was a member of the lower house of the general assembly from 1892 to
1894, from the old fourth district, and is now in partnership with A. M. Baldwin.
In politics he is a Democrat.

Henry M. Winders studied law under Judge Ledbetter and was admitted
to the bar in 1891. He has since that time been in the practice of law. At the
time he was admitted he was a justice of the peace in Elizabethtown, the county
seat, and his decisions have uniformly been clear and concise in their interpreta-
tion of the law. He has been for several years master in chancery of this county
and he is in politics a Republican.

John C. Oxford was elected clerk of the circuit court in 1884, and held that
office for eight years. During his term as clerk he applied his spare time to the
study of law with Judge Ledbetter, and in 1891 was admitted to the bar. After
his admission to the bar he continued his legal studies until the clqse of his term
as clerk, in 1892, when he began the active practice of the law. By reason of the
superior knowledge he had gained of the records of the county, as the clerk,
and also owing to his extensive acquaintance, he at once entered on the practice
of law with more than ordinary advantages. He is now in partnership with
James A. Watson, under the firm name of Oxford & Watson. In politics he is
a Democrat.

Adolphus M. Baldwin began the study of law several years ago with the
late L. F. Plater, but the press of private business forced him to discontinue his
studies for a time. He eventually took up the study again, and in 1895 was ad-
mitted to the bar. Immediately upon his admission he became the junior mem-
ber of the firm of Fowler & Baldwin, and was at once thrown into active prac-
tice; in politics he is a Democrat.

John H. Ferrell, Jr., began the study of law with Richard F. Taylor, and
so continued until he was admitted to the bar, in 1896. During his preparation
for his profession he was a justice of the peace in the county-seat, and took
great pains to inform himself upon all questions of law upon which he was to
pass, and by this means his decisions were uniformly correct, and showed a clear
and distinct appreciation of his position as a judicial officer. He is now the
junior member of the firm of Taylor & Ferrell, and in politics is a Democrat.

Thomas H. Stubbs was elected superintendent of schools for this county
in 1890, and held that office until the expiration of his term, in 1894, and during
his term of office, in connection with his duties as superintendent, he studied
law with Mr. Plater, and later with Mr. Fowler. He was admitted to the bar
in 1896, and at once opened an office for business, which was not long in coming
his way. In politics he is a Democrat.

James A. Watson studied law'with Mr. Winders, and was admitted in 1896.
He at once began the practice of law and is now the junior member of the firm
of Oxford & Watson. In 1897 he was appointed village attorney for Elizabeth-
town, and resigned that position in the beginning of the year 1898. In politics
he is a Republican.

Jackson G. Young studied law with George W. Pillow, and was admitted
to the bar in 1896. Shortly afterward he removed to Marion, Williamson coun-

804 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

ty, and formed a partnership with a Mr. Fowler, of that place, in which he re-
mained for a short time, and then returned to this county and opened up an
office at Cave In Rock. In politics he is a Republican.

James A. Craig read law with Mr. Taylor, and was admitted to the bar in
1897. Shortly thereafter he formed a partnership with Mr. Winders, in which
position he continued for some time. After the dissolution of the partnership
he removed to Shetlerville, this county. In politics he is a Republican.

Richard H. McConnell studied law with Hon. H. R. Fowler, and was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1897. Thus far he has not engaged in the active practice
of law, but is a man of considerable force, and will, no doubt, at an early date
make for himself a name among the legal profession.

CHAPTER XLI.

THE BAR OF HENRY COUNTY.

SAMUEL P. BRAINARD was the first lawyer who settled in Henry
county, Illinois. He located at Cambridge, about 1846 or 1847, an( i prac-
ticed law a few years, and was clerk of the court at the same time.

Henry Brainard was the second lawyer who located at Cambridge, late in
the '405. He also was clerk of the circuit court, as well as practicing lawyer.

Early in the '503 Julius Saul Hinman located at Cambridge, as a lawyer.
He was also county judge for many years. J. S. Burkels also located at Cam-
bridge as a lawyer early in the '503. In a few years he moved to Geneseo; he
was a first-class lawyer. Henry W. Wells located at Cambridge as a lawyer
about 1855, and moved to Peoria a few years later.

The first court held in the county was at Richmond, Judge Sheldon pre-
siding. Thomas Ford was our next judge, and remained on the bench until
1843, when he was elected governor. Thomas C. Browne was our next judge,
and served until about 1849, when the judges were elected by the people.

There were a number of very able lawyers, from other counties, who at-
tended the Henry county courts for the first dozen or fifteen years. They were
able and grand men, but they will be written up from their own counties. There
were Knox and Drury, of Rock Island; Julius Manning, of Knoxville and
later of Peoria; Peters and Knowlton, of Peoria; Norman H. Purple was our
first prosecuting attorney; Henry B. Stillman was at our courts from White-
side, county.

Hon. Jonas W. Olson, of 'Galva, is from the land of the midnight sun, as
Scandinavia has been poetically styled, from which country have come many of
the valued citizens of this commonwealth. He was born in Soderala, Sweden,
on the 3Oth of June, 1843; an d there is much in his history that is of general
interest, as it indicates a surmounting of difficulties and a mastering of expe-
dients which have enabled him to win a place among the able members of the
bar of central Illinois and to gain prestige as a leader in thought and action in
his section of the state. In his youth he was surrounded by disadvantages
which seemed almost ^insurmountable. He was left an orphan at the early age
of three years, and it was not until he had passed the fiftieth milestone on the
journey of life that he obtained authentic knowledge of the exact date of his
birth.

His father was the Rev. Olof Olson, who came to America in 1845 as the
representative of a colony who desired to seek religious liberty in "the land of
the free." He was connected with a religious movement in Sweden which
awakened the condemnation of the "established church," and the new sect were

805

806 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

forbidden to hold public services. It is said that Olof Olson was arrested and
made to pay heavy fines for holding meetings or conventicles in his own home,
and that had he been again arrested he would have been banished in conformity
with an old law, now obsolete, making that the penalty of holding such services
without the consent of the established church! This led him to seek a home
in the New World, and eleven hundred others of the same sect determined to
emigrate. Accordingly Rev. Mr. Olson was chosen to select a favorable loca-
tion for the colony, and in 1845 ne came to the United States, accompanied by
his wife and two children, their third child, Jonas W., who was then in very
delicate health, being left to the care of his grandmother and aunt, Catharina
Wilhelmina Petronella Skoglund, who were to bring him to America with the
colony the following year, if he were living, which seemed very doubtful when
the parents sailed for their new home. Emigration to this country was then
almost unknown among the Swedish people, but Olof Olson crossed the Atlan-
tic and finally made his way to central Illinois, where he selected Bishop Hill
as the site for the establishment of the colony. Accordingly, the following year
he was joined by that band of devoted Christian people whose influence was to
be widely felt in the affairs of Illinois.

The subject of this review was then only three years of age. His illness
had terminated in the paralysis of one limb, rendering him permanently lame,
and other troubles were to gather like clouds across the sky of his boyhood.
The day before he was brought by his aunt to his father's home his mother died;
his sister and brother were .shortly afterward called to the home beyond, and
his father and grandmother soon followed them "to that undiscovered country
from whose bourne no traveler returns." Thus left an orphan, h6 was taken by
his aunt, who had married Peter Dahlgren, to Galesburg, Illinois, where he at-
tended school for a time. After the removal of Mr. Dahlgren to a farm five
miles from Victoria, he walked a distance of two miles to attend school at Cen-
ter Prairie, a long and often difficult journey to one in his crippled condit'ion.
He continued to live with his aunt until fifteen years of age, when he was obliged
to earn his own livelihood, and was apprenticed to Ira C. Reed, of Lafayette, Illi-
nois, to learn the shoe trade, for whom he was to work for twenty-five dollars
per year; but so faithful and efficient was he that his employer paid him twice
that amount. On the completion of his apprenticeship he worked at his trade
for one year, until he had earned enough to enable him to attend the Galva
high school. When his money gave out he returned to his trade, and thus
worked and studied alternately for some time.

During this period of his life he became ambitious to enter the legal pro-
fession, and while working at his trade during the day devoted his mornings
and evenings to reading law. He subsequently studied law under the instruc-
tions of the late Hon. John I. Bennett, and was admitted to the bar in 1869.
His indefatigable industry, keen mental discernment, analytical power and
gifts of oratory have been the salient characteristics of his success as one of the
able practitioners at the bar of Illinois, and he now enjoys an excellent client-
age. His knowledge of law is thorough and broad, and his careful preparation

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 807

of cases, backed by -ability to strongly present the points in evidence to court
or jury, has won him many notable forensic victories. His fitness for leader-
ship and his close study of the political situation of the country also drew him
into political life, and by the vote of the people he was called to represent his
district in the state legislature in 1870. He served in the twenty-seventh gen-
eral assembly as the member from Rock Island and Henry counties, and al-
though one of the youngest members he took a very active and prominent part
on the floor of the house, served on several important committees and several
times was called upon to act as speaker pro tempore.

Only a short time prior to his election a very large number of the Swedish
immigrants, who had obtained work on the Peoria & Rock Island Railroad,
had, through the insolvency of the contractors, been swindled out of their
wages and were left penniless in a strange land, whose language they could not
speak. To remedy evils of this character and prevent the recurrence of such
injustice Mr. Olson procured the enactment of a law, of which he was the au-
thor and which has ever since remained on the statutes of Illinois, giving to
laborers who work for contractors or sub-contractors a lien upon all property
of the railroad corporation to secure their wages.

During the extra session of the legislature to consider the matter of the
Chicago fire he visited that city, together with the other members of the house,
and upon his return to Galva found his own home in ashes! Four times has
he had to suffer that disaster! but with unconquerable hope, born of great
force of character and determination, he has set to work to retrieve his lost
possessions. In 1881 he erected a fine business block in Galva which stands
as a monument to his enterprise and marked ability.

But his political prominence did not end with his service as state repre-
sentative. He is a man of great prominence and influence in Democratic cir-
cles, and is regarded as the best advocate of the Democracy among the Scandi-
navian people of the Mississippi valley. He voted the Republican ticket until
after the settlement of the war and all the questions arising out of that struggle;
but in 1872, like so many of its leaders, he withdrew from its ranks and has
since been an unfaltering advocate of the Democracy. His countrymen are
mostly Republicans, and being a great favorite among them, he could have un-
doubtedly won very high political honors at their hands had he not preferred
to maintain his honest convictions, even at the cost of personal honors and
prestige. In 1880 he was the Democratic candidate for state's attorney, and
although defeated on account of the overwhelming Republican majority in his
district, he received a very complimentary vote, running one thousand ahead
of his ticket and having nine hundred and' seventy-nine more votes than Han-
cock, the presidential candidate. In 1884 he was again his party's candidate,
but again met defeat. When Grover Cleveland was elected to the presidency
his labors in behalf of the Democracy were recognized by his appointment to
the position of postmaster of Galva, and during Cleveland's second adminis-
tration he also held that office. He has also been a member for the state at
large of the Illinois Democratic state central committee, and his opinions carry

8o8 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

weight in the councils of his party. He is a brilliant and effective campaign
orator, his public addresses in support of the Democratic platform being log-
ical, entertaining, instructive and convincing. He has done campaign work in
Illinois, Kansas and Iowa, and the state committees of all have gladly ac-
knowledged their indebtedness to him for his effective efforts.

That Mr. Olson occupies a high position in the ranks of the Democracy
of the west and enjoys the warmest regard of the party leaders is shown by the
fact of the hearty endorsement which he received from the western Democrats
as the candidate for appointment to the position of minister to Sweden and
Norway. It is said that the only thing which prevented his appointment was
the fact that he was of Swedish birth and technically a native-born subject of
that country. However this may be, the words of commendation which were
written concerning his candidacy may ever be a source of just pride to Mr.
Olson ; and to indicate his popularity in the party and among his friends we
quote the following:

To the President: It gives me pleasure to address you in recommendation of Hon.
Jonas W. Olson to appointment as resident minister to one of the Scandinavian nations,
Sweden and Norway or Denmark. Mr. Olson is a man whose loyalty to his party is
unquestioned and whose services in the last campaign, as hitherto, were conspicuous. He
is a man of undoubted ability, of large information on public questions, an alert and
vigorous thinker, forceful in statement and debate, of much personal and political influ-
ence, and, withal, a man whose moral qualities command general respect. Though born
across the sea, Mr. Olson is a man whose Americanism can be "writ large;" and no
sympathies which he may justly entertain for fatherland would have power to swerve
him from an undivided attachment to the land of his adoption or from fidelity to every
duty entrusted to him by it. In my judgment, Mr. Olson would represent your adminis-
tration abroad with ability and success.

Very respectfully,

H. K. PAINTER.

The home life of Mr. Olson has ever been most happy. He was married
November 18, 1869, to Miss Carrie Matteson, daughter of Anson Matteson,
who at the time of his emigration from Sweden occupied the rank of major in
the Swedish army, having risen to that position from the rank of corporal. He
received a silver medal from the king on account of his efficiency as a soldier
and a swordsman. Mrs. Olson was born in Ugglebo, Sweden, June 5, 1848,
and came to this country when about eleven years of age. She now has three
children: Mary Aurora, born September u, 1870; Maude Violet, born No-
vember 10, 1876, and Mabel Winefred, born October 24, 1880. They are all
accomplished young ladies of estimable worth, and their parents are justly
proud of them. Mary Aurora graduated at Knox College June 12, 1896, and
is now first assistant postmaster at Galva. Maude Violet and Mabel Winefred
have graduated, with honors, at the Galva high school, both being valedic-
torians of their respective classes. Mabel Winefred has musical talent of a
high order, and aspires to obtain a thorough musical education.

Mr. Olson is one of the foremost Swedish-Americans of the entire coun-
try, and his fellow countrymen are proud to claim him as their representative.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 809

Hampered by physical disadvantages, he has reached a height in professional
and political circles far above the many. He possesses splendid oratorical abil-
ity and his utterances have swayed large audiences and brought conviction to
the minds of many of his hearers. His life should certainly serve as a means
of encouragement and inspiration to others who are forced to early begin a
struggle for existence without the aid of pecuniary advantages or influential
friends.

General John H. Howe was born at Riga, Monroe county, New York,
September 12, 1822. In 1832 he went with his father to Connellsville, Penn-
sylvania, and assisted him to clear a farm in that densely timbered region; and
after this he obtained work on the Erie canal in order to earn money to enable
him to attend school at Austinburg, Ohio, namely, the Western Reserve Col-
lege, at which place he remained some time, finishing at Kingsville, that state.
He then commenced the study of law under E. B. Wooclbury, Esq., at Monroe,
same state, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1845, Benjamin F. Wade and
Joshua R. Giddings being his examiners. March 27, 1845, ne was married to
Miss Julia A. Castle. For ten years he followed his profession, in the counties
of Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga, living at Unionville, Lake county.

In 1855 he came to Kewanee, Illinois, continuing in the practice of law,
with marked success, until 1860, when he was elected circuit judge for the sixth
district of Illinois to fill the unexpired term of Judge Drury. August 7, 1862,
he enlisted in the war, raising two companies for the One Hundred and Twenty-
fourth Illinois Volunteers, and was mustered in at Springfield, Illinois, Septem-
ber 10, 1862, being elected lieutenant colonel upon the organization of the regi-
ment. He remained with the regiment during the war, acting for nearly the whole
period tis colonel. He was twice promoted, bearing at the time of his discharge
the rank of brigadier general. His regiment saw much active service, having
marched over four thousand one hundred miles, and having been engaged in
fourteen skirmishes, ten battles and two sieges, and having been under the fire
of the enemy eighty-two days and sixty nights ; but the close of the war found
him, from exposure and anxiety, broken in health; and, believing that a change
of climate might have a beneficial effect, he obtained an appointment as chief
justice of Wyoming territory, April 30, 1869. Judge Howe then presided over
the first female jury ever impaneled in this or any other country.

After three years' service upon the bench his health again failed, and he
returned to his home in Kewanee and tried to resume the practice of law. His
health not improving, his physician and friends advised him to go south, and
he obtained an appointment as one of the Mexican border commissioners. He
left Kewanee, accompanied by his wife, and after six weeks with his compan-
ion fell seriously ill at Laredo, Texas, lingering twenty-three days, and died
April 3, 1873, three hundred miles from railroad communications. Mrs. Howe
arrived April 17, 1873, with the remains of her late husband, who was buried
with Masonic and military honors in the Kewanee cemetery.

A true friend, a kind husband and father, an upright judge and citizen, an
able lawyer, a faithful and heroic soldier, such was Judge Howe.

8io THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

John P. Hand became a member of the bar of Cambridge twenty-three
years ago. He was born in the county of which Cambridge is the seat of gov-
ernment on the loth of November, 1850, and acquired his education in the
Rock River Seminary, of Mount Morris, this state, and in the Iowa State Uni-
versity. Having determined to make the practice of law his life work, and
accordingly mastered many of the principles of jurisprudence, he was admitted
to the bar in 1875 and opened an office in Cambridge, and from the beginning
his practice steadily increased in volume and importance, and in various de-
partments of the law he demonstrated his ability to handle successfully the in-
volved and intricate problems of jurisprudence. So well had he demonstrated
his right to a place among the leading members of the profession that in 1885
he was nominated and elected county judge of Henry county, filling that posi-
tion for five years. On his retirement from the bench he became assistant
United States attorney for the northern district of Illinois, and in that capacity
acceptably served until 1894. He has since engaged in the private practice of
law and much legal business of an important nature is intrusted to his care.

On the 26th of October, 1871, Mr. Hand was united in marriage to Miss
Elizabeth Brayton, of Mount Morris, Illinois, and they now have one child,
Fred H v who was born April 27, 1874, and is now in Chicago.

Chester M. Turner, a member of the well known law. firm of Turner &
Streed, of Cambridge, was born in Toulon, Stark county, Illinois, November
i, 1861, his parents being Benjamin and Ruth A. Turner. The former was of
English descent and was born in Delaware, December 5, 1807. When a young
man he emigrated to Ohio, and thence in 1839 to Stark county, Illinois, becom-
ing one of the first settlers of Toulon; and there he carried on merchandizing
and farming for a number of years, and for sixteen years filled the position of
postmaster. He died March 21, 1887. His wife, who is of German and En-
glish descent, is a native of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, and a descendant of the
Starks who figured so prominently in the early settlement of the Keystone
state, some of the family being killed in the historic Indian massacre in the
Wyoming valley, near Forty Fort; and of General Stark, of Revolutionary
fame. Mrs. Turner bore the maiden name of Ruth A. Myers, and her grand-
father Myers was also a Revolutionary hero. She is now living in Toulon,
Stark county.

In his youth Chester M. Turner assisted his father in the cultivation of the
home farm during the summer months and in the winter season attended
school. He was graduated in the high school of Toulon, Illinois, in 1879, and
in the autumn of that year entered Knox College, in Galesburg, where he com-
pleted the regular classical course by graduation in 1884. On account of his
father's ill health he was obliged to return home and take charge of the farm,
but his tastes were in the direction of the law, and he spent as much time as
possible in pursuing a course of law reading in the office of the Hon. M. Shal-
lenberger. From his boyhood he was always an interested auditor of court
proceedings in the old court-house at Toulon, and in August, 1888, having

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 811

largely mastered the principles of jurisprudence, he passed an examination in
Mount Vernon, Illinois, and was licensed to practice at the bar of this state.

The following winter Mr. Turner opened an office in Toulon, where he
continued to practice until June, 1890, when he came to Cambridge, Henry
county. For a time he was alone in business as the successor of Hon. William
H. Shepard, then recently deceased, but in the autumn of 1890 he entered into
partnership with John V. Streed, under the firm name of Turner & Streed,
which connection has since continued. Their business and clientage have con-
stantly grown and a large share of the law practice of the district is now en-
trusted to their care. They are most faithful to their clients, for whom they
have won many important suits as the result of their careful preparation, their
ability to determine the strongest points in evidence and to apply the correct
principles of law thereto.

While reading law in Toulon Mr. Turner served as police magistrate and
filled the position until his removal to Cambridge. Here he filled the office of
mayor for one term and is now, 1898, a member of the town council. He is
also for the fifth time filling the office of president of the board of education,
and the schools find in him a warm friend who is ever ready to advance their
best interests. He was also instrumental in organizing the Cambridge Electric
Light & Power Company and is a member of its directorate. He is a very
progressive and public-spirited citizen and withholds his support from no
movement calculated to prove of public benefit. As treasurer of the Henry
County Fair Association he labors to stimulate the industrial and agricultural
interest of the community.

In politics Mr. Turner has always adhered to the Jacksonian and Douglas
principles of the Democracy, and was a candidate of his party for state's attor-
ney of Stark county the same fall that he was admitted to the bar, but the great
strength of the Republican party in the county prevented his election. He is
now the Democratic candidate for county judge of Henry county and is sec-
retary of the Democratic county central committee. Socially, he is connected
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He joined the lodge in Toulon
in 1886, passed through all the chairs and filled the position of past grand. For
eight years he was secretary of Cambridge Lodge, also deputy grand master,
and for several years past has been representative to the grand lodge. He is
chief patriarch of the Galva Encampment, and a chevalier of Canton Kewanee
and a member of Cambridge Rebekah Lodge, these including all departments
of the fraternity. He also belongs to several insurance organizations, includ-
ing the Home Forum, Knights of the Globe and Fraternal Tribunes.

Mr. Turner was married in Toulon, Illinois, June 6, 1889, to Miss Emma
E. Follett, daughter of Benjamin and Helen M. Follett. They have two
daughters: Helen Mari, born May 21, 1890; and Ruth Almira, born April 16,
1893. These charming and beautiful little girls are the life and light of the
household.

George E. Waite. In an analyzation of the life of any individual we must
take into consideration not only his environment and natural tendencies, but

812 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

also his hereditary tendencies. Fortunate is he who has back of him an hon-
orable ancestry, and Mr. Waite is favored in this regard. The Waite family
is of English origin and since an early day in American history the name has
been associated with many prominent events in the annals of our country. One
member of the family, residing in England, was, in the seventeenth century,
one of the regicide judges who tried and condemned to death King Charles I.
In the same century representatives of the name braved the dangers which
were incident to ocean voyages in those days and sought homes in America.
Many of their descendants have since distinguished themselves in high places
in public life and in business enterprises. The paternal grandfather of our
subject, realizing the injustice of the demands made by the British crown upon
the colonists, was among the first to protest and engaged in the first battle of
the American Revolution. Loyally he aided in the defense of the colonies and
his name is now inscribed on the roll of the patriots who brought independence
to the nation. The parents of Judge Waite were Tyler and Lucia Waite, and
he has two brothers, Henry A. and Dexter, now residing in Wardsboro, Ver-
mont.

In Stratton, Windham county, Vermont, George E. W T aite was born, and
amid the Green mountains he was reared upon his father's farm. To the com-
mon-school system he is indebted for the early educational privileges which he
received. Later he prepared for college and entered the Wesleyan University,
of Middletown, Connecticut, where he completed the four-years classical course
and was graduated with high honors in 1854.

In 1856 the Judge emigrated westward, locating in Geneseo, Illinois, where
he has since made his home. Shortly after his arrival in this state he began the
study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. In his profession he is rec-
ognized as a man of superior attainments and excellent legal ability. He was
early elected county judge of Henry county, in which capacity he served with
such faithfulness and impartiality that he was a third time nominated for the
office, but he declined to serve after the close of his second term, preferring the
private practice of law to the duties of the bench. His practice has always been
of an important nature and of considerable extent. He has met in forensic
combat the most brilliant members of the bar of central Illinois and has car-
ried off the laurels in many an ecounter of this kind. His trial of a case con-
sists not alone in strong arguments in the court room and acute examination
of witnesses, but indicates also most careful research and preparation before
the suit is presented before judge or jury. He is at all times logical, earnest
and forceful, and at times his utterances are colored by the most brilliant elo-
quence, the occasion exciting him to use of his best powers.

Judge Waite has always been a public-spirited citizen, deeply interested in
everything pertaining to the general welfare. His influence is strongly marked
on the public life arid much of the legislation bears the impress of his individ-
uality.' By Governor Yates he was commissioned colonel, and during the dark
days of the Civil war his energy and patriotism were unmistakable and mate-
rially advanced the Union cause. He was elected the first mayor of the city

Pub. Ca due'}'

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 813

of Geneseo, served two terms and was progressive in support of many meas-
ures which proved of benefit to the municipality. In 1870 he was a member of
the constitutional convention which framed the present constitution of the
state, served on important committees and was largely instrumental in secur-
ing the eradication of various features of the constitution which had always
been baneful to the weal of the state. He has always been a stanch Repub-
lican in his political views and has frequently served on the county and state
committees. He labors most unselfishly for the good of his party, without
thought of self-aggrandizement,, does all in his power for the political advance-
ment of his friends, and in this connection a prominent politician who had
known him for thirty years said of him: "He is the most unselfish man I ever
met."

The Judge is a man of fine personal appearance, fully six feet in height,
well proportioned, and weighing one hundred and eighty pounds. He would
attract attention anywhere not merely by reason of his fine physique but also
on account of the strength and intellectual character of his countenance. In
conversation his voice is exceedingly mellow, rich and charming. He pos-
sesses an original, distinct personality, and though usually quiet and reserved,
he can be aroused to great strength of thought and action upon occasion which
calls for integrity, moral courage and true manhood. On such occasions his
oratory is brilliant and carries all before it. But the best thing in the life of
Judge Waite is that no man can justly say aught against his political or busi-
ness honor or of the purity of his private life.

On the 9th of May, 1859, Judge Waite was united in marriage to Miss
Hattie N. Wells, a native of Tolland, Connecticut, and a daughter of Benjamin
and Mary Wells. They have three daughters: Laura N., Hattie M. and
Ruth M.

Charles Dunham has been a member of the bar of Geneseo, Illinois, for
many years, and to-day enjoys an extensive and remunerative clientage, which
is his because the public, ever a discriminating factor, has passed favorable
judgment upon his ability to successfully handle the intricate and involved
questions of the law. He has long been identified with the interests of Illinois,
although he is a native son of Massachusetts, his birth having occurred in Sa-
voy, Berkshire county, of the old Bay state, January 24, 1840. His parents
were Charles Dunham and Ardelia, nee Jenks. In Lombard University, one
of the old and reliable institutions of learning of Illinois, located in Galesburg,
our subject completed his literary education, and shortly afterward began the
study of law in Geneseo, where he has since resided.

Admitted to the bar in 1862, he has since been constantly engaged in the
practice of both civil and criminal law, and has won high commendation by
his careful conduct of important litigation, his candor and fairness in the
presentation of cases and his zeal and earnestness as an advocate. He also has
some farming interests, which are a source of rest and recreation as well as
profit, serving to divert his mind from the arduous duties of the court-room.

In his political views Mr. Dunham has always been a Democrat, but does

8 14 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

not advocate the recently-prominent issue of free and unlimited coinage of
silver at the rate of sixteen to one. He was elected and served as a member
of the twenty-eighth general assembly of Illinois, was the champion of many
important measures brought before the house, and was a member of the com-
mittee that revised the statutes of 1874. Socially he is connected with the Iro-
quois Club and the Masonic fraternity. During a long residence in Geneseo
he has ever merited the respect of his fellow townsmen and enjoys their high
regard.

On the 3d of April, 1862, Mr. Dunham was united in marriage in Port
Byron, Illinois, to Miss Caroline Loring, and their only child, Edith, born
March 21, 1864, is the wife of W. H. Foster, her father's law partner.

William Horton Foster, of Geneseo, deserves more than passing mention
in this connection. Environments and inherited tendencies may have had
considerable to do with his choice of a profession ; but man is only endowed
with capacity to learn, and knowledge must be acquired through individual
effort ; therefore, though Mr. Foster may have had a natural predilection for
the law his prominence as a legal and commercial counselor is due entirely to
his study, close application, his thorough mastery of the principles of jurispru-
dence, his correctness in their application to points of inquiry and his devotion
to the interests of his patrons.

He was born in Montreal, Canada, June 5, 1863. His parents are Elijah
C. and Judith Ellen (Horton) Foster, the former now assistant attorney gen-
eral of the United States. The mother, Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, is hardly less
prominent as a lawyer and is now practicing in Washington, D. C., while in
reform, temperance and political work she has a national reputation. The
ancestral history of our subject connects him with the Warren family. His
great-grandfather was a nephew and namesake of General Warren, who fell
at the battle of Bunker Hill, and with that distinguished hero he fought in that
first important engagement of the Revolution.

His parents having removed to the west, William H. Foster acquired his
preliminary education in the public schools of Clinton, Iowa, and later pursued
a course in the Northwestern University, of Evanston, Illinois. While in col-
lege and throughout his entire life he has made a specialty of the study of his-
tory and political science and is widely and thoroughly informed on those mo-
mentous questions which have such an important bearing upon the policy of
our government. He pursued his professional course in the Albany Law
School, in which he was graduated in May, 1884. Immediately afterward he
came to Geneseo, Illinois, where he has since engaged in practice. In 1885
he formed a partnership with Charles Dunham, and the firm now occupies a
leading position among the practitioners of this section of the state.

In his political views Mr. Foster is an earnest Republican, but is not an
aspirant for office. He belongs to the Hamilton Club, of Chicago, composed
of the leading Republicans of that city; is a member of the Methodist Episco-
pal church, and is secretary of the Lay Association of the church for the Cen-
tral Illinois conference. He has carried his researches and investigation far

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 815

and wide into the fields of history and of political and social science and is a
member of the American Historical Association, the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, the American Statistical Association and the
American Economic Association.

On the 2oth of May, 1885, Mr. Foster married Miss Edith Dunham, the
only child of his law partner, and they have one son, Warren Dunham, born
November 13, 1886. Mrs. Foster seems to have inherited the legal traits of
her father and ancestors, and is a lady of broad mental culture and refinement.

CHAPTER XLII.

THE BAR OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

LA SALLE COUNTY has had a bar of more than average ability. Its
size, wealth and number of large towns have combined to render it an
attractive field. Ottawa was for more than a third of a century the
location of the supreme court of Illinois, northern grand division, and the ap-
pellate, circuit, county and probate courts render Ottawa a busy place for attor-
neys and all who have use for their services. In the past her lawyers have
been foremost among her honored citizens. Although the record .contains no
long array of distinguished names, yet every one familiar with the county
knows that the members of the La Salle county bar have maintained an ex-
cellent reputation for character, honesty and diligence in business. Of course
the larger share have resided at Ottawa.

It is said that the first practitioner here was a young man named George
W. Forsythe, who came from Burlington county, New Jersey, in 1834. He
soon went south, and nothing is known of his subsequent history. Lorenzo
Leland was the second. Shortly after, in 1835, came Seth B. Farwell and
Adam Y. Smith. The former was first from New York, but came from Ohio
here. He was prosecuting attorney for a time. He afterward became a judge
in California. Smith came from New York, also was here three or four years
as a partner of Farwell, then went south. He acted as loan agent for the State
Bank. Thus it would seem that the first few lawyers did not thrive in this
place. Shortly after their departure several attorneys located here who became
afterward prominent in the history of the county, and from thenceforward
there has been no dearth of legal talent at Ottawa.

Lorenzo Leland, deceased, was for many years a distinguished member
of the bar of Ottawa and the contemporary and friend of the leading lawyers,
jurists and politicians of Illinois during the middle portion of the century. He
was born on a farm at Grafton, Massachusetts, in September, 1813. His father
owned a farm there, not far from Worcester, and was an energetic and pros-
perous agriculturist. The first ancestor of the Leland family of whom we have
record was the antiquarian of Henry VIII., of England, and the motto on the
Leland coat of arms was "Cui debeo fidus," which translated freely is, "faithful
to every trust." Among the early colonists of America were members of this
family, and several of the name served in the Revolutionary war, valiantly aid-
ing in the struggle for independence and liberty.

Lorenzo Leland was educated in the public schools and in an academy
near Worcester, Massachusetts, and studied law in the office of an attorney of
that city. He put into practice Horace Greeley's advice to young men and

816

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 817

came west in 1834, locating in Peoria, Illinois. The following year he removed
to Ottawa, where he opened a law office and continued to practice his profes-
sion until 1842. In that year a chain of circumstances gave him other employ-
ment. Judge Ford, having been elected governor, resigned his position as
circuit judge, and J. D. Caton was elected to that office. At that time the
circuit-court judges appointed the clerks of their respective courts, and Judge
Caton chose Mr. Leland as clerk of the circuit court of La Salle county, of
which Ottawa is the county seat. He continued to fill that office until after the
adoption of the new constitution, in 1848, at which time the state was divided
into three grand divisions, in each of which the supreme court of the state held
its meetings, and Ottawa became the location of the supreme court for the
northern division. Mr. Leland then became a candidate for clerk of the su-
preme court for the northern grand division, and was duly elected in 1848 for
a term of six years. Twice re-elected, he held that office for a period of eigh-
teen years, probably the most important period in the history of the state, from
1848 until 1866. He thus became acquainted with the leading lawyers, espe-
cially of Chicago and the northern district, and was widely known in legal
circles.

In politics Mr. Leland was always a Democrat, a friend and ardent ad-
mirer of Stephen A. Douglas, whose political views he endorsed. His positions
as clerk of the circuit and supreme courts for twenty-four years brought him
into contact with the leading politicians, judges and lawyers of Illinois, and his
social and genial disposition made him hosts of friends.

Mr. Leland died in Ottawa, in August, 1881. He left two sons, both of
whom are graduates of Yale College. The elder, Cyrus Leland, has long been
a resident of Kansas, where he has served as regent of the State University,
judge of the district court, receiver of the State National Bank of Wichita and
in other important positions. Lorenzo Leland, Jr., the younger son, has been
a successful attorney of Ottawa for many years, is now president of the First
National Bank of that place and holds other positions of trust and promi-
nence.

In connection with the chapter upon the supreme court will be found a
sketch of Hon. T. Lyle Dickey, at one time a prominent member of the bar of
La Salle county.

John V. A. Hoes came from Kinderhook, New York, in 1836, and resided
in Ottawa forty-two years, dying in October, 1878. He was a nephew of Pres-
ident Van Buren. He was admitted to the bar in New York, but did not prac-
tice until after he had located at Ottawa. His first few months here were spent
as editor of a campaign paper published for a short time at Ottawa. After this
journal "died the death" he devoted himself to the law, and was so engaged
until about 1855. He then retired from active business. He was a man of
vigorous mind, and while not an office-seeker, was interested in politics in a
general way. He was probate justice from 1837 to 1843. His wife was Fanny
Reynolds, and they left a son and a daughter.

John C. Champlin came to Ottawa with his father in 1836, and except one
52

8i8 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

term of four years as county judge, practiced law continuously until his death,
in 1873. He was crossing the railroad track at night, slipped and fell, and was
run over. His wife and daughter removed to Chicago. Judge Champlin was
an able lawyer, and had an excellent practice.

Henry G. Cotton was admitted to the bar here in 1839, and was a mem-
ber of the same about seven years, until his death, December 7, 1856. He
came here a ripe lawyer, and by his studious habits and close application he
made a steady and regular advance in the science of the law. In 1849 ne was
elected the first county judge of this county, which office he continued to hold
until his death. He discharged the duties of this high and responsible office with
very marked ability and uncommon satisfaction.

Judge Cotton, whilst he added dignity to the bench, inspired the people
who had business before him with unshaken confidence in his ability and in-
tegrity. He was unobtrusive, modest and retiring in his manners: and in all
his intercourse with the bar and the people he was just and blameless.

James Stout, a brother of Dr. Joseph Stout, came here from Ohio in
1845, having been admitted in that state. Though not formally admitted here
until 1849, ne practiced until 1860 at Ottawa, and was then appointed collector
of internal revenue at Boise City, Idaho. This office he held until Hayes's
administration.

William H. L. Wallace came to Ottawa in March, 1845, an d resided here
until the war, into which he entered and sacrificed himself at Shiloh.

P. K. Leland was admitted in 1851; practiced some years; was county
judge one term, and later engaged in banking at Seneca.

O. C. Gray was admitted in 1853 and practiced some twenty years; was a
partner of Washington Bushnell when he died. He was an excellent lawyer
and had a good practice.

Abraham Hoes, a brother of John V. A., came some time in the '405, and
was here perhaps fifteen years, until his death. He was one of the ablest law-
yers ever at Ottawa, and was a member of the constitutional convention of

1847-

Julius Avery came early in the '505; was a partner of Bushnell for a time,
and lived in Ottawa some twenty years. He was for a short time with his
brother George, in control of the Free Trader, in 1855. He was of moderate
caliber, as a lawyer, and rather intemperate in his habits.

Hon. Washington Bushnell was a resident of Ottawa for thirty-two years,
coming in 1853. and remaining until his death, in 1885. He was born Septem-
ber 26, 1827, in Madison county, New York. In 1837 his father, Stephen
Bushnell, moved to Kendall county, Illinois, settling in the neighborhood of
Lisbon. Here young Bushnell worked on the farm in summer, attending in
winter the local schools. In 1849 ne decided to adopt the legal profession, and
to that end entered the National Law School, at Poughkeepsie, New York,
where he graduated in 1853, was admitted to the bar in New York, and then at
once came to Ottawa, where he formed a partnership with O. C. Gray, one of
the leading attorneys at the time at the La Salle county bar. The firm soon

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 819

grew into note as one of the ablest in this part of the state, and Mr. Bushnell,
being soon after appointed city attorney, and then elected state's attorney, the
firm was strengthened by the addition as a partner of Julius Avery, another
brilliant young lawyer. In 1860 Mr. Bushnell was elected to the state senate,
in which he maintained a leading and influential position until 1864. In 1868
he was elected attorney general of the state, an office the duties of which he
discharged with signal ability for four years. In 1880 he was a candidate for
congress in this district, but did not receive the nomination, and after that
measurably withdrew from politics, though remaining, as he always had been,
an adherent of the Republican party, becoming apparently disgusted with pol-
itics, taking no such active part in the political contests of the day as was nat-
urally expected from a man of his wide influence and great ability. Instead,
he settled down quietly to his law practice, forming a partnership with Mr.
Bull, then with the late Judge Oilman, then with D. A. Cook, and at the time
of his death had Captain T. C. Fullerton for a law partner. His health for the
previous ten or twelve years, however, had at no time been robust, and it was
only on special occasions and when unusually aroused that he exhibited the
strength and force and fire of his more robust days. While yet a young man
he married Miss Phebe Charles, of Peru, who, with the six children a son
and five daughters that were born to them survive him. He accumulated
considerable property and left his family in comfortable circumstances.

He was a remarkable man in many ways, and largely composed of that
stuff of which great men are made. At all times an able and fluent speaker,
when roused he was .brilliant and forcible to a degree. Tall, and of command-
ing presence, with a voice full of strength and music, and a countenance ra-
diant with expression, few men could sway a jury or an audience as he could.
Socially he was^one of the most genial and companionable of men. Open-
hearted, generous almost to a fault, no movement, either in the direction of
some deserving charity or the general good, but found him a ready promoter
and a liberal contributor.

Dwight F. Cameron practiced here a few years, after being admitted in
1857. He was interested in the building of the Fox River Valley Railroad,
and soon after went to Chicago. He was possessed of a good mind, but did
not devote himself exclusively to legal practice.

George C. Campbell was admitted in 1858, and during his ten-years resi-
dence here became known as a railroad attorney. He went to Chicago, where
he died in the summer of 1885.

Frank J. Crawford was admitted in 1858, after he had been deputy in the
county clerk's office, and practiced a few years here. He also went to Chicago.
Samuel C. Walker, a son of George E., practiced a few years (admitted in
1861), and died of consumption. Ebenezer Lewis was admitted in 1861, and
two or three years later moved away. William E. Beck was admitted in 1861,
practiced for a time, was county treasurer one term, went west, and became a
supreme judge in Colorado.

Franklin F. Brower was admitted in 1862, after studying with B. C. Cook,

820 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

and commenced practice at once, following the law for eight years, until his
death, in 1870. He had been mayor one term, and was city attorney at the
time of his death. Henry K. Boyle was admitted in 1865, and practiced six or
seven years, when he died. He was a good lawyer, a partner of Colonel Dickey
and was mayor of Ottawa one term. Alexander T. Cameron was admitted the
same year with Mr. Boyle, and after several years went west. John H. Shep-
herd, admitted in 1866, was county treasurer two years and died of consump-
tion. He practiced but little. Thomas S. Bowen, who was treasurer imme-
diately preceding Shepherd, was admitted to practice the same year. He died
soon after. Herman Silver, admitted also the same year, practiced a few years
and went to Colorado. He was of moderate ability as a lawyer.

Cyrus Leland, a son of Lorenzo, graduated at Yale and was admitted here
in 1867. After a few years he went to Kansas, where he has a good practice.
Benjamin M. Armstrong, admitted the same 'year, was here a little time, and
then went to southern Kansas.

Charles H. Brush, admitted also the same year, practiced a number of
years and then went to Minnesota, in consideration of delicate health. He was
a promising young lawyer.

Charles H. Oilman was one of La Salle county's most eminent citizens,
and for a quarter of a century a prominent member of the bar. He was born
at East Windham, Connecticut, in 1817. Receiving a good high-school educa-
tion, he was engaged in various occupations, such as farming and clerking by
turns, until 1840, when he directed his steps westward. He first located in
that year at Peru, in this county, and soon afterward bought a farm and went
to work upon it in Troy Grove, adjoining the village of Homer. Marrying
about that time the daughter of Hon. Asa Mann, a former prominent and well
known Pennsylvania politician, but then a resident of Troy Grove, he settled
down to farm work, filling at the same time the office of justice of the peace
and other, local positions. Ten or twelve years later he removed to Mendota
and commenced the practice of law, for which he had been by years of study
preparing himself, and by 1869 his professional ability became so well recog-
nized that he was elected to the important office of county judge of La Salle
county, the duties of which position he discharged with exceptional ability.
Subsequently he was also elected a member of the state board of equalization
from this congressional district, an office for which, by his careful, thoughtful
and methodical habits, he was peculiarly fitted. Retiring from office, he formed
a partnership with Hon. Washington Bushnell for legal practice at Ottawa,
and subsequently with his son-in-law, Mr. Cook, of which firm he remained
the head until his death, which occurred April 14, 1880, the result of an acci-
dent.

As a lawyer, Judge Gilman was well read, careful, and in counsel always
safe. Displaying no especial forensic ability, he was trusted more for his care
and faultless accuracy in preparing his cases and especially his pleadings. He
despised all legal dodges and tricks; his only care was to get at the exact facts
and justice of the case. He was a man not only thorough in his legal studies,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 821

but had a thinking, plodding, philosophical mind which made him, aside from
his legal profession, a devotee of scientific studies, especially in the direction
of geology, mineralogy and anthropology.

The first practicing lawyer to reside at Streator was H. N. Ryon, who came
to this city in the autumn of 1867.

Hiram N. Ryon, senior member of the law firm of Ryon & Son, of
Streator, was born in Lawrenceville, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, on the 2Oth
of February, 1832. The family is of Irish lineage, and was foundeti in America
by the great-grandfather of our subject, who emigrated from the north of Ire-
land in 1660, and located in Connecticut. In that state the grandfather of our
subject was born, removing thence to Wyoming valley, Pennsylvania. He was
a colonel in the state militia and was in command of some of the troops at the
time of the memorable massacre of Wyoming. He died at a very advanced
age. John Ryon, an uncle of Hiram N., was a very prominent lawyer of Penn-
sylvania, and for more than thirty years was one of the three associate judges
of the circuit court of his district. James Ryon t father of Hiram N., was also
a native of Pennsylvania, and was by occupation a farmer. He married Sarah
Place, a native of the same state and a daughter of Jacob Place.

Hiram N. Ryon was reared upon a farm in Kendall county, Illinois, where
his father had located in 1838. He attended the public schools of that neigh-
borhood until fifteen years of age, and then entered the academy at Pavilion,
where he pursued his studies for eighteen months. On the expiration of that
period he became a student in Rock River Seminary, at Mount Morris, Ogle
county, where he remained for four years, acquiring a broad general education
which well fitted him for life's practical duties. His professional education
was pursued under the direction and with the assistance of Hon. W. E. Ives,
of Amboy, Illinois. He began practice in Ogle county, Illinois, where he re-
mained for a short time, and then went to Sacramento, California, where he
remained for seven years. Returning then to Illinois, he located in Streator,
where he has since engaged in a general law practice, handling many impor-
tant cases in the various courts of the state. In 1886 he admitted his son to a
partnership in the business, and the firm of Ryon & Son is now enjoying a
very extensive and lucrative clientage, which is given them by reason of their
pronounced skill in handling intricate law problems.

In 1854 Mr. Ryon was united in marriage to Miss Anna E. Hiddleson, of
Kendall county, Illinois, a daughter of William Hiddleson, a prominent early
settler and successful farmer of that county. They have three sons and a
daughter, Oscar B., who is associated with his father in business; Charles E.,
superintendent and general manager of the Streator Cathedral Glass Com-
pany; Clara V., wife of John C. Wheeler, a resident of Piano, Illinois; and
Ralph M., a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Chicago.

In politics Mr. Ryon has always been an ardent Republican. Socially he
is connected with Streator Lodge, No. 607, A. F. & A. M. He has never held
an office, nor has he ever been a candidate for office; but he has aided in or-
ganizing several of the leading industries of the city and at all times has been

822 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

active in promoting those interests which have for their object the improve-
ment and -advancement of town and county.

The second arrival of the legal fraternity was named Pratt ; but little is re-
membered of him. He was here but a short time.

Orlando Chubbuck visited Streator in the autumn of 1868, and opened an
office, but did not make his home here until 1870, when he removed his family
to this place. He was the first village attorney of Streator and held that posi-
tion five years.

Charles Blanchard, when his present term as judge of the ninth judicial
circuit shall have ended, will have occupied that bench for nineteen years.
Such a statement is the highest praise that can be given of faithful service, of
superior ability, of profound legal wisdom and of strict impartiality in the dis-
charge of judicial duty.

For almost thirty-seven years Judge Blanchard has been a resident of
Ottawa, and during the greater part of the time he has been in the public
service in the line of his profession. He was born in Peacham, Vermont, Au-
gust 31, 1829, and was reared upon his father's farm in his native county, his
education being principally acquired in the district schools near his home. For
a period of six weeks through three successive winters he walked from his
father's farm to the neighboring village, a distance of two miles, to attend a
school which was known by the more pretentious name of academy. During
a portion of the time he attended the fires and rang the bell in order to pay his
tuition. Before attaining his majority he worked as a farm hand in the neigh-
borhood of his home, and when he had earned forty dollars he started with
that capital for the west, arriving at Peru, Illinois, in the autumn of 1850, with
but five dollars remaining. He then made his way to Granville, this state,
where he engaged to teach school through the winter for a dollar per day and
board himself. The following spring he went to Hennepin, where he engaged
in teaching, and through the season of vacation devoted his energies to read-
ing law.

After successfully passing an examination before Judge Treat, in Spring-
field, Illinois, he was admitted to the bar, and then, having taught school in
order to secure the means necessary to purchase law books, he opened an
office in Hennepin, but soon removed to Peru, where he practiced his profes-
sion until -his removal to Ottawa, in 1861. From that time his professional
career has been attended by success. He steadily built up a good practice, as
he demonstrated by his work in the courts his ability to handle the intricate
problems of the law in its various branches. In November, 1864, he was
elected state's attorney of the district, composed of La Salle, Bureau and Ken-
dall counties, and re-elected in 1868, his term expiring December i, 1872. He
then engaged in the private practice of law until August i, 1884, when he was
appointed by Governor Hamilton to fill out the unexpired term of Judge
Goodspeed, who resigned his position on the bench of the ninth judicial cir-
cuit. At the regular election, in June, 1885, Judge Blanchard was elected to
the position, and in 1891 and 1897 was again chosen by popular vote for that

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 823

office, so that his service will continue until 1903. His mind is keenly analytical
and his opinions are clear, concise and just. The public has expressed in unmis-
takable terms its opinion of his service by three times electing him to this
important office.

While on the bench Judge Blanchard fully sustains the dignity of the law,
realizing the importance of the position through which man finds protection
for life, liberty and property; but when he lays aside the "judicial ermine" he
is very genial and approachable, with a keen appreciation of friendship, always
showing a loyal interest in and attachment for his friends.

The Judge has been twice married. In Hennepin, Putnam county, Illi-
nois, in 1852, Miss Sarah H. Cudgel, daughter of Isaac and Sarah (Hormel)
Guclgel, became his wife. They had four children: Sidney, an attorney at law;
Mae; Herman S.: and Charles, who died in infancy. Mrs. Blanchard, who
was a member of the Congregational church, died April 16, 1880. On the 3ist
of December, 1884, the Judge married Mrs. Sylvia A. Bushnell, daughter of
Jay and Jeannett Carner, formerly of Athens, Pennsylvania, but now deceased.

Maurice T. Moloney, a prominent lawyer of Ottawa, and one of the dis-
tinguished leaders of the Democracy in Illinois, was born in county Kerry,
Ireland, on the 26th of July, 1849, an d came to the United States in 1867, at
the age of eighteen years. A survey over the various fields of labor to which
men direct their energies and attention was followed by a resolve to make the
practice of law his life work, and to this end he matriculated in the University
of Virginia, in which institution he was graduated in the class of 1871, with the
degree of Bachelor of Law. Later he was admitted to the bar of Virginia, and
the same year he emigrated westward, locating in Ottawa, Illinois. He then
sought and obtained admission to the bar of this state, and rapidly won his way
to a place among the foremost practitioners of La Salle county. In 1879-81
he served as city attorney of Ottawa, and in 1884 was elected state's attorney
for a four-years term. He discharged the duties of both positions with the
utmost ability, faithfulness and fearlessness, and won the high commendation
of the bench and bar of La Salle county. Much important private legal busi-
ness was entrusted to his care, and his mastery of the intricate problems of
jurisprudence was shown by the success which crowned his efforts in the court-
room. He now maintains a law office in Chicago, although still making his
home in Ottawa, and has secured a large and lucrative clientage in the western
metropolis.

Mr. Moloney has long been one of the most important factors in Illinois
politics, and is a recognized leader in the ranks of the Democracy. In 1892 he
was nominated by the Democratic state convention for the office of attorney
general and in November' was elected to that office, in which he served for
four years. That epoch in his career has become a matter of history. It was
at all times commendable, being marked by the strictest fidelity to duty and a
devotion to the cause of justice which knew no wavering. Neither fear nor
favor could swerve him from the path he believed to be right, and his service
augmented the honors which his party has won in the state. A contemporary

824 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

biographer has said of him: "No man who ever filled the distinguished posi-
tion of attorney general of the state of Illinois has made his name more widely
known through the length and breadth of the Union than Maurice T. Moloney.
His continual struggle with the great trusts of the country, and his fortitude
in seeking them out, has never been equaled. It is said that he was one of the
very few men in the state of Illinois with whom the Rothschilds ever sought to
secure an acquaintance. He is considered a leader of the silver element of
the state, and so sound is his judgment and so wise is he in the matter of party
management and policy that he will long maintain his prominent place in the
ranks of the Democracy."

Henry Mayo, who has engaged in the practice of law at the bar of Ottawa
for thirty-three years, was born in Ithaca, Tompkins county, New York, July
28, 1836, a son of Hiram and Polly Mayo. His parents were plain people,
industrious and honest, and the son was trained to habits of industry, economy
and integrity. He acquired a fair English education in the schools of his
native city and supplemented it by a high-school course in Ottawa, Illinois.
He lost his mother when four years of age, and when a young man of seven-
teen left home. Desirous to improve himself by education he made his own
way through high school and college, meeting his expenses with money earned
at teaching. He was a student in Hillsdale College, at Hillsdale, Michigan, in
1858-59, and left that institution in order to accept the position of principal in
one of the city schools of Ottawa, in 1860. He continued teaching until after
the inauguration of the civil war, when in 1861 he put aside all personal con-
siderations in order to respond to the president's call for troops, enlisting in
Company I, Eleventh Illinois Infantry. He remained at the front while his
services were needed to defend the Union, and then resumed the duties of
civil life in Ottawa, where he has made his home continuously since 1854.

Having made himself familiar with the principles of jurisprudence, Mr.
Mayo was admitted to the bar in 1865, and in his law practice has met with
reasonable success. For more than twenty-six years he was the senior partner
in the firm of Mayo & Widmer, which took rank with the leading firms of the
circuit. The practice which Mr. Mayo has conducted has been such as falls
to the lot of the attorney in small cities, embracing nearly the whole range of
legal inquiry. He has been connected with some very important litigated in-
terests and his ability has brought him distinction among the representatives
of the legal profession. By the election of the county board of supervisors' he
held the office of county attorney for twelve years, from 1869 until 1881, and
by vote of the people was chosen state's attorney, in which position he ac-
ceptably served from 1872 until 1880. In addition to the work of his law prac-
tice he is discharging the duties of postmaster of Ottawa, to which he was ap-
pointed in 1898. His life has been a very busy one, and, entirely dependent upon
his own resources from an early age, the success which he has achieved is in-
deed creditable.

In 1862, in Ottawa, Mr. Mayo married Miss Isabella M. Kistler, and they
have four sons and two daughters. They are widely and favorably known in

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 825

social circles, and Mr. Mayo is a popular member of various fraternities. He
became a member of Occidental Lodge, No. 41, of Masons in 1873, a Knight
Templar in 1875 and served as Eminent Commander of Ottawa Commandery,
No. 10, from 1892 to 1895 inclusive. He has also held the office of worthy
patron of Mary E. Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, and belongs to Seth C.
Earl Post, G. A. R. In all of these organizations he has filled various offices,
and is a worthy exemplar of their benevolent teachings. He has long been
deeply interested in all that pertains to the welfare and advancement of his
adopted city and for seventeen years has been a member of the school board,
the cause of education finding in him a faithful friend. For the past eight
years he has also been one of the trustees of the Reddick Public Library, and
eight times has been elected supervisor of his town. In politics he has always
been a stanch Republican, the intense Whig proclivities of his father undoubt-
edly having much to do with his strong preference for the Grand Old Party.
He has taken an active part in campaign work since 1860, when he canvassed
the county in support of Abraham Lincoln, and his political addresses are at
once logical, entertaining and convincing. His ecclesiastical relationship is
with the Baptist church. In manner he is pleasant, agreeable and free from
ostentation or display. In all places and under all circumstances he is loyal to
truth, honor and right, justly regarding his self-respect and the deserved es-
teem of his fellow men as infinitely more valuable than wealth, fame or position.

Walter Reeves is numbered among the lawyers of Illinois, and the law-
makers of the nation. He is a prominent attorney of Streator, and is now for
the third time representing his district in congress. He was born near Browns-
ville, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of September, 1848, and is a son of Harrison
and Maria (Leonard) Reeves, the former of Scotch descent and the latter of
Welsh lineage. The father was a farmer by occupation and was also a native
of the Keystone state. The paternal grandfather. Samuel Reeves, married a
Miss Palmer.

When eight years of age Walter Reeves accompanied his parents on their
removal to Illinois, the family locating on a farm in La Salle county, where he
was reared to manhood. He acquired his education in the public schools and
private study, and in early manhood became a teacher. During that time he
also read law, and at the June term of the supreme court, in 1875, he was ad-
mitted to the bar. He at once began the practice of law in Streator and soon
attained prominence at the La Salle county bar. In 1884 he was admitted to
practice in the United States supreme court, and has since been identified with
much important litigation. He is the senior member of the firm of Reeves
& Boys.

In politics Mr. Reeves has always been a pronounced Republican and pro-
tectionist. In 1894 he was nominated by the Republican party for representa-
tive in congress from the eleventh congressional district of Illinois, and was
elected by a plurality of four thousand nine hundred and eighty-two votes. In
1896 he was re-elected by a plurality of six thousand and two hundred and
fifty-one votes, and on the 4th of March, 1899, he will take his seat for the third

826 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

time in the house of representatives. Upon entering congress in 1895 he rec-
ognized the fact that he could best serve his constituents by devoting his en-
ergies to the work of internal improvements in the country. He was appointed
a member of the committee on rivers and harbors, and in the river and har-
bor bill passed by the fifty-fourth congress he obtained from the general gov-
ernment for improvements in the state of Illinois between eight and nine mill-
ion dollars. His position was that in the midst of exceedingly hard times the
laboring people should be helped by providing work to be done in these in-
ternal improvements and that in turn farmers and business men would be
benefited by the influence on freight rates resulting therefrom. Thus he ac-
complished more for the internal improvement of the state by the general
government than had been accomplished for a score of years. He has pre-
pared and introduced a bill in congress to control the patent system of the
United States, and a leading labor paper of New York said that if passed it
would accomplish more for the laboring people of the United States than any
bill ever introduced. His course in congress has ever been one favoring ad-
vancement and progress, and that he has been three times elected to represent
his district is unmistakable evidence of the confidence reposed in him by his
fellow citizens.

Mr. Reeves was married in 1876 to Miss Metta M. Cogswell, of Connec-
ticut, a daughter of Lucius T. Cogswell. He is a man of fine personal appear-
ance, affable in manner, a cultured, genial gentleman, worthy the high regard
in which he is uniformly held.

C. W. Keller was the next member of the bar to take up his residence at
this point. He was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania, September 24, 1835, and
was married to Ellen M. Wright, in Brookfield, Illinois, June 3, 1858. Pre-
vious to the civil war, in which he lost an arm, he was a day-laborer. He was
admitted to the bar in Erie, Pennsylvania, March n, 1871, and came to this
county the same year. After practicing some years here, he went to Kansas.
He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics a Repub-
lican. He was village attorney for a year or more.

H. H. Brower came from Livingston county about the same time as Mr.
Keller, and after two years' residence in Streator went to Nebraska. He was,
while here, a partner of O. Chubbuck. Democratic in politics, he was inter-
ested in all matters of local importance. As a lawyer, he stood well.

E. J. Wall came about 1873, went into partnership with Mr. Chubbuck the
following year, and about 1875 went west. He was a Democrat, and a mem-
ber of the Catholic church. C. Dominy's arrival was chronicled in 1875. He
was justice of the peace for several years, and about 1877 formed a law part-
nership with Orlando Chubbuck, which relation existed about two years. He
was then appointed special agent of the yEtna Life Insurance Company, of
Hartford.

Peter Wilson came about 1856, from Buffalo, Missouri, remained two or
three years, and then returned to Missouri. J. D. Murdock, an Indianian, came
here about 1877 and commenced practice the following year.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 827

The first resident lawyer of Peru was Judge William Chumasero. who
settled here some time in the " '405," and practiced in Peru and La Salle (after
the latter was founded), for about twenty years. He was a prominent Whig
politician, afterward joining the Republican party, and held in a great degree
the esteem of his fellow citizens. He was city judge of the two cities for two or
three years. He was a good lawyer, and accumulated some property here. He
removed many years ago to Montana, and there served as territorial judge.

Henry Fetzer, born near Winchester, Virginia, on the nth of April, 1854,
is a son of William and Catharine (Stickley) Fetzer, the former a farmer by
occupation. The great-great-grandparents of our subject on both sides were
natives of Germany and at about the same period in the colonial epoch of
our history came to America, the Fetzers locating in Pennsylvania, the Stick-
leys in Frederick City, Maryland. Their descendants emigrated to Wood-
stock, Shenandoah county, Virginia, and thus the families became united
through the marriage of William Fetzer and Catharine Stickley.

In his early youth the subject of this review worked on his father's farm
in Virginia, and at the age of sixteen years, in opposition to his parents' wishes,
left home and went to Belmont county, Ohio, He had no money and no
friends in that locality, nor had he enjoyed any educational privileges. He
worked as a farm hand three seasons and in the winter months attended school,
working nights and morning f6r his board. Noticing his close application
and inclination for study, James Frazier, who indeed proved to him a faithful
friend and to whom he gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness, urged him to
use the little money he had saved to pay his tuition in Franklin College. That
was probably the most important step in the life of Mr. Fetzer, as it opened up
to him new fields and possibilities. He attended school until his money was
exhausted and then resumed work in order to replenish his exchequer.

In 1874 Mr. Fetzer came to La Salle county, Illinois, where he engaged
in teaching school for eight years, with the exception of a short period spent
as a merchant and postmaster in Grinnell, Kansas. There he lost in a tornado
all that he had saved prior to the year 1879, and in 1880 he returned to Illinois,
where he engaged in teaching until 1883. Failing health then forced him to
abandon that profession and he engaged in buying and shipping stock from
the frontier, a vocation which he followed with marked success until 1891.
Always having a desire to graduate at some good institution, in the fall of 1892
he determined to study law, more with a view of self-benefit in the conduct of
his business interests than of practicing it as a life work. Accordingly he en-
tered the Northwestern University Law School, of Chicago, and was gradu-
ated with the class of 1894. In the autumn of that year he opened an office in
Streator and has since enjoyed a fair practice. His naturally studious nature
has led him largely to master the principles of jurisprudence in its various
branches and thus with a wide general knowledge of law he has won some
important cases. In politics he usually votes the Republican ticket, but is not
strictly partisan and has never been an aspirant for office. Whatever success
he has achieved in life is due entirely to his own efforts, as industry, close ap-

828 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

plication and perseverance are the qualities which have enabled him to over-
come obstacles and steadily work his way upward.

A son of Dr. Guy Hulitt also located at Peru before there was any La
Salle, and practiced five or six years. He was a gentleman of good education
and a fair lawyer, was unmarried, and died when about thirty-five years old.

The first lawyer to reside in La Salle was James Strain, who came in the
year 1852, from Ohio. He practiced here about fifteen years, then went to
Monmouth, Illinois, and finally settled in Kansas, where he died a few years
later. The second member of the profession to live here was David P. Jen-
kins, who practiced until commissioned major in the Union army in the late
war. He was afterward promoted lieutenant-colonel. He removed to Wash-
ington Territory.

David L. Hough came here about 1848, from Vermont, as canal collector,
but had studied law before coming here. He practiced until about 1872, and is
well remembered as a sharp business man and a shrewd lawyer. He removed
to Chicago.

Nelson C. Cannon came in 1849 or 1850, and was quite prominent in local
affairs, being mayor three terms and city attorney at the same time. He was a
jolly fellow, and practical joker. Shortly after the war he went to Iowa, where
by a prudent management of the negro vote he was elected mayor and police
magistrate of Red Oak, running against candidates of both the old parties.

Alfred Putnam came in 1853, practiced a short time, was city clerk and
justice of the peace, and left here in 1862. E. F. Bull came here from Ohio
in the fall of 1855, and practiced a number of years and then went to Ottawa.

G. S. Eldridge and Thomas Halligan were early comers to Peru. The
latter was judge of the twin cities after Chumasero, and died a number of years
ago.

Charles S. Miller came from near Peoria in 1855 or 1856, and left here in
1874, having been chosen county judge. James W. Duncan was born here in
1850, and admitted to the bar in 1872. He has been prominent both in legal
practice and in politics. He was elected state senator in 1882.

The first lawyer in Mendota was Charles H. Gilman, who came in the
spring of 1854, practiced about fifteen years, and then went to Ottawa to re-
side, having been elected county judge. He died in that city. He was a good
lawyer, standing undoubtedly at the head of his profession in Mendota; was
somewhat of a politician, and was village attorney for a number of years.

E. S. Mudgett came at nearly the same time with Gilman, and practiced
until during the war, when he went to California. ' He held the postoffice ap-
pointment under President Buchanan four years.

J. C. Crooker came soon after these two, and resided here nearly a quar-
ter of a century. He went to Nebraska about 1879. He was an active, ener-
getic man, making both friends and enemies. He ran the Observer in partner-
ship with William E. Btck, the two selling after a time to R. H. Ruggles, who
made it the Bulletin. Mr. Crooker also served as alderman from the third
ward, for a term.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 829

William E. Beck studied law here with Mr. Crooker, and was admitted to
the bar soon after he ceased to work on the Observer. He was for some years
also a surveyor and engineer, and altogether did not practice law much in
Mendota. He was married here, and in a year or two more went west. He
became chief justice of the state of Colorado.

Joseph H. Hunter came to the city about 1870; had graduated at some
law school, and was admitted to the bar before coming here. His first legal
practice, however, was in Mendota. He was a zealous Republican, and while
not a pronounced politician, was city attorney three or four years. He mar-
ried a daughter of J. C. Crooker, went to Lincoln, Nebraska, about 1878, and
died there in 1883, having obtained a good business, and earned a reputation
as a good lawyer.

La Vega G. Kinne was admitted to the bar here and practiced one year
in Mendota, in partnership with Charles H. Crawford. He then went to El-
dora, Iowa. He became a judge, and was candidate for governor on the Dem-
ocratic ticket in 1883.

Charles H. Crawford, above mentioned, graduated at Evanston in the
same year with Kinne. He remained at Mendota some three years, and then
went to Chicago. He became state senator for Cook county.

Lucien B. Crooker, a nephew of J. C., served during the late war, and on
his return studied law with his uncle. He practiced until about 1881, when
he was appointed revenue collector for the Aurora district. He was relieved
of this position in 1885, and again engaged in practice.

Corbus P. Gardner, on the 2d of September, 1868, was born in the city
which is still his home, Mendota. His father, George W. Gardner, is a farmer,
and was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, February 13, 1824. His wife,
Margaret Gardner, was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. May 4, 1825,
and both are of Irish parentage, their ancestors having come from the northern
part of the Emerald Isle to America in early colonial days. Mrs. Gardner is
a granddaughter of James Smith, one of the signers of the Declaration of In-
dependence from Pennsylvania.

Reared under the parental roof, Corbus P. Gardner completed his literary
education by his graduation in the high school of Mendota, in June, 1887. For
ten months of the following year he studied law in the office and under the
direction of Otto Kieselbach, and in October, 1888, entered the law depart-
ment of the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated in 1890, with
the degree of Bachelor of Law. After his admission to the bar he occupied a
clerical position in the office of Mayo & Widmer, attorneys of Ottawa, for six
months, and on the nth of March, 1891, began practice in Mendota, where he
has since remained. While attending school in Mendota he walked three miles
there and back each day, through sunshine and storm, and the same determined
spirit has characterized his professional career, bringing him a well merited
success.

In January, 1892, Mr. Gardner became a member of Mendota Lodge, No.
176, A. F. & A. M.; in March of the same year he took the Royal Arch de-

830 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

grees in Mendota Chapter, No. 79, and in the following July joined Bethany
Commandery, No. 28. For the past five years he has been senior warden of
the blue lodge. He is also a valued member of the Mendota Commercial Club.
For three years, from July 20, 1885, until July 20, 1888, he was a member of
Company B, Sixth Regiment, Illinois National Guard, and was mustered out
with the rank of sergeant. In politics is a Republican, and never sought or
desired nomination for office until recently, when he concluded to accept the
nomination of his party for state senator in the convention, August 22, 1898.
His entire life has been passed in Mendota or vicinity and he has a wide ac-
quaintance in the county. His circle of friends includes many who have known
him from boyhood, a fact which indicates a well spent life.

JAMES B. BRADWBLL.

CHAPTER XLIII.

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CHICAGO BAR.

JAMES B. BRADWELL was born April 16, 1828, at Loughborough,
England, his parents being Thomas and Elizabeth (Gutridge) Bradwell.
Sixteen months after the birth of James B. the family crossed the ocean
to America and first located in Utica, New York, where they remained until
1833, when they came west by wagon and boat to Jacksonville, Illinois. There
they remained until May, 1834, when they removed in a covered .wagon or
"prairie schooner," drawn by one span of horses and one yoke of oxen, to
Wheeling, Cook county, Illinois, consuming twenty-one days in making the
trip of two hundred and fifty miles. They located upon a farm, and here James
B. spent several years in mowing and cradling, splitting rails, breaking prairie,
etc., which served greatly to strengthen his constitution and harden his muscles.
He here suffered all the inconveniences and hardships of pioneer times, but
developed a strong and active mind and an ambition for a higher and more active
position in the great, busy world.

His first lessons 'in schooling were received in a small country log school-
house, but later he attended Wilson Academy, in Chicago, in which Judge Lo-
renzo Sawyer was instructor. Still later he completed his education in Knox
College, Galesburg, Illinois, sustaining himself there by working in a wagon and
plow shop, sawing wood, etc., taking much of his pay in orders on the stores,
many of which he was obliged to discount heavily for cash. This necessity
made so strong an impression upon his mind that ever since he has maintained
that the laborer is worthy of his hire and should receive one hundred cents on
the dollar for his services.

After finishing his education he began to -study law, and in time was duly
admitted to the bar. During this period he worked at various trades as a jour-
neyman, displaying much skill and exhibiting a high degree of inventive genius.
So apt was he in all branches of mechanics that it is stated that if necessary he
could earn his living in any one of seventeen trades. Much of his work was
conducted in Chicago. He invented a process for half-tone work, and is said
to have produced the first half-tone cut ever made in this city. Upon beginning
the practice of law here more than forty years ago he soon acquired a large prac-
tice and the confidence of the public. He steadily advanced and became prom-
inent in local politics by reason of his eloquence as a speaker and his high so-
cial and conversational powers.

In 1861 he entered the field of politics in earnest, and was elected county
judge, by a large majority, and, after serving one term acceptably, was, in 1865,
re-elected for a second term. Several very important reforms were effected by

831

832 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

him in the procedure of this court. As a judge of this court he so distinguished
himself by his fairness, opinions and reforms that his services are yet recalled
by the older members of the bar with great pleasure. In 1873 he was sent to
the lower house of the legislature and was re-elected in 1875 and distinguished
himself there as a speaker and as an advocate of much needed laws and reforms.
He has been called upon by his fellow-citizens to occupy many positions of re-
sponsibility and to discharge grave public duties, all of which have been per-
formed by him with rare judgment, high intelligence and unswerving loyalty
and integrity.

He presided at the American Woman Suffrage Association at its organiza-
tion in Cleveland; was chairman of the arms and trophy department of the
Northwestern Sanitary Commission and Soldiers' Home Fair, in 1865; was
president of the Chicago Press Club; president of the Chicago Rifle Club, and
was its be.st rifle shot; president of the Chicago Bar Association; president of
the Illinois State Bar Association, and many years its historian; president of
the Chicago Soldiers' Home; was one of the founders of the Union League Club
and the first president of its board of directors ; president of the Chicago Photo-
graphic Society; chairman of the photographic congress auxiliary of the World's
Columbian Exposition, etc.

Judge Bradwell has taken all the degrees in Masonry and has occupied
many high positions in that ancient and honorable order. He is the present
able editor of the Chicago Legal News, founded and for twenty-five years edited
by Mrs. Myra Bradwell, and is one of Chicago's foremost citizens.

May 18, 1852, he was married to Myra Colby, a sketch of whom appears
elsewhere in this volume. Throughout his life Judge Bradwell has been an elo-
quent and constant advocate of the equality of man and woman before the law.

Luther Laflin Mills is a celebrated Chicago lawyer, yet his reputation is
too far-reaching to permit him to be designated as one of Illinois' citizens or to
class him among the representatives of the bench and bar alone. He belongs
to the country that he has ever revered and loved, upholding her honor and her
interests by the fervid eloquence which has numbered him among her distin-
guished orators. He stands to-day among the gifted men of Illinois, whose
patriotic utterances have inspired men to deeds of valor or heroic sacrifice, and
whose logic has conquered the reason of their auditors. Yet it is not by his
eloquence alone that Mr. Mills exerts an influence in the world. His life, up-
right and consistent, his quiet but unfaltering devotion to every duty, his broad
humanitarianism and his liberal charity, serve to enforce the words which are
the exponent of a brilliant mind.

A son of Walter N. and Caroline (Smith) Mills, born at North Adams,
Massachusetts, on the 3d of September, 1848, Mr. Mills of this review was
brought by his parents to Chicago in 1849 an d . nas since been prominently
identified with the interests of the city. Having acquired his preliminary edu-
cation in the public schools, he attended the Michigan State University and in
1868 began the study of law in the office of Homer N. Hibbard. Being ad-
mitted to the bar in 1871, he practiced alone for four years, and in 1875 en-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 833

tered into partnership with George C. Ingham and Edward P. Weber, under
the firm name of Mills, Weber & Ingham. In 1876 he was elected state's attor-
ney for Cook county, and in 1880 was re-elected, filling that office for eight
consecutive years, during which time he successfully prosecuted a number of
criminals, bringing them to justice, thus sustaining the majesty of the law and
upholding that order upon which every stable community must rest. He se-
cured conviction in the trial of John Lamb for the murder of Officer Race, of
Peter Stevens for the murder of his wife, and of Theresa Sturlata for the murder
of Charles Stiles. He also conducted for the state the prosecution of several
members of the county board for what is known as "boodling." During his
eight years' service as state's attorney Mr. Mills had readily gained a front rank
among the many distinguished lawyers who adorned the Chicago bar. So
thoroughly was this fact recognized and appreciated by his successor that in
several important cases he was called in to the aid of the regular prosecutor.
One of these was the trial of James Dacey for the murder of Alderman Gaynor.
Dacey took a change of venue to McHenry county and Mr. Mills was commis-
sioned to assist in the prosecution there. His opponent was the eminent T. D.
Murphy, but in the trial of the case Mr. Mills secured a conviction and the
extreme penalty. While in jail, however, Dacey feigned insanity, and a trial
of that special issue was afterward ordered by the supreme court, Mr. Mills again
appearing for the state. Dacey was adjudged sane and ultimately executed by
hanging.

In 1888 the Democracy of Ohio determined to purge themselves of asso-
ciation with those who had for years been guilty of the grossest election frauds,
and, to aid in bringing to justice the tally-sheet forgers in the contest for the
governorship of that state, Mr. Mills was paid the high compliment of being
chosen, together with Hon. Allen G. Thurman, to assist in the prosecution of
that celebrated case, at Columbus. He was also one of the prosecutors in the
trial of the murderers of Dr. Cronin. No case in the history of Illinois' crim-
inal jurisprudence has attracted more widespread attention, and Mr. Mills spent
seven months in the preparation and trial thereof. The result is a matter of
history, for the punishment of the conspirators was a direct blow at the anar-
chistic tendencies which brought about the fearful deed.

While perhaps the criminal cases with which Mr. Mills has been connected
have brought him wider reputation, his efforts have also been crowned with
notable victories in the field of civil litigation, displaying his wonderful versa-
tility in the branches of the profession. He was connected with John J. Knick-
erbocker as counsel for the proprietors of the Daily News and defended them
in an action brought by a man whose wife had obtained a divorce from him on
the charge of criminal intimacy with a girl in his employ. The paper 'gave an
extended report of the case and the plaintiff sued for exemplary damages. The
News filed a plea of justification that the charge was true. In his argument for
the defense Mr. Mills excoriated the plaintiff and secured a verdict in favor of
his clients. The woman in the case also brought suit against the paper on the same
facts, but in her case the jury disagreed, probably in consideration of her sex.
S3

834 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

On other occasions Mr. Mills has been called from Chicago to conduct import-
ant litigation. He was retained for the defense in the Mounce murder trial in
Monticello, Piatt county, Illinois, in 1888. Both the prisoner and the deceased
were prominent citizens of that part of the state, and the case was bitterly con-
tested, resulting in a conviction and sentence for fourteen years. To give a full
account of the litigation with which Mr. Mills has been connected would cover
a large portion of the history of jurisprudence in Illinois through the past quar-
ter of a century, but enough has been said to show the position which he oc-
cupies in professional circles. His treatment of all cases is marked by patient
study and careful preparation, while his addresses to juries are always charac-
terized by logic and eloquence of the highest order.

Not only in the realms of law has his eloquence moved his hearers. He
has been chosen as the orator on many brilliant occasions where the brightest
intellects of the country have been assembled. Patriotism, citizenship, educa-
tion, reforms, progress along all lines, have found in him a champion who has
advanced their interests as few could have done. On Lincoln day, of 1890, he
responded to a toast on the martyred president at a banquet given by the Re-
publican leagues, at Columbus, Ohio; at a banquet in the Sherman House,
Chicago, in December, 1890, he delivered a stirring address on American Citi-
zenship; he spoke before the law school of the University of Wisconsin on Law
and Progress, in July, 1891; at the memorial services for Herman Raster, the
German journalist, in August following; at the memorial services over the
three young reporters killed in the railroad accident, in October, same year;
and at the Kossuth and Grant memorial meetings in 1895.

Mr. Mills \vas married on the 15th of November, 1876, to Miss Ella J.
Boies, of Saugerties, New York, a daughter of Joseph M. and Electa B. (Laflin)
Boies. They have five children: Matthew, a student at Yale University, of the
class of 1900; Electa Boies, Mari Brainerd, Caroline Bigelow and Agnes Shef-
field. Mr. Mills and his family occupy a very prominent position in social cir-
cles and their home is the center of a cultured society circle where intellectual
enjoyments predominate. Mr. Mills became a member of the Psi Upsilon Fra-
ternity in 1865 and for several years has been a member of the executive com-
mittee of the Illinois Humane Society. Personally and socially Mr. Mills enjoys
the popularity that a generous nature, refined manner, great scholastic attain-
ments and the magnetism of a strong intellect would be expected to win, and
has gained the highest regard by reason of the splendid use to which he has put
his marvelous talents.

Charles H. Aldrich was born on a farm in Lagrange county, Indiana,
August 26, 1850, his parents being Hamilton M. and Harriet (Sherwood) Al-
drich. He shared in the duties of the farm, working in field and meadow through
the days of his early youth, and when sixteen years of age removed to Orland,
Steuben county, Indiana, with his parents, who wished to give their children
the advantages provided by an excellent school there. His tastes were scholarly
and his desire to acquire a good education led him to apply himself with such
earnestness to his studies that his health suffered in consequence. He wished to

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 835

pursue a collegiate course, but his father, believing that his health would not
stand the strain that would thereby be placed upon it, refused to furnish him
the means with which to enter a university. Not to be deterred, however, from
an attempt to carry out his plan of life, Charles H. Aldrich left home and worked
for his board until he had not only finished his preparation for college but had
completed a portion of the college course. A kind friend became interested in
the ambitious and gifted youth, and insisted upon advancing to him a financial
loan adequate to meet the expenses of the last half of his college course. He later
made further advances in order to enable our subject to continue his profes-
sional studies and enter the practice of law without recourse to teaching in the
meantime in order to replenish an exhausted exchequer. In 1875 he completed
the classical course in the University of Michigan, and some time subsequently
to his graduation his alma mater conferred upon him the degree- of Master of
Arts.

' Having been admitted to the bar Mr. Aldrich commenced the practice of
law in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and had little of the dreary experience of the no-
vitiate, but won almost at the beginning of his professional career a reputation
that insured his success. He soon acquired a large clientage and in the court-
room gave evidence of the possession of legal powers that drew to him the at-
tention and won him the friendship of such distinguished members of the In-
diana bar as Thomas A. Hendricks, Colonel Abram Hendricks, Benjamin Har-
rison, W. H. H. Miller, Joseph E. McDonald, John M. Butler, Oscar B. Hord,
Noble E. Butler, W. P. Fishback, R. S. Taylor, Allen Zollars and others. In
1884 he was urged to become a candidate for the office of attorney-general of
Indiana, and, though he did not visit a place in the state in the interests of his
candidacy, he lacked but a few votes of receiving the nomination. This was
significant of his fame as a lawyer and his popularity as a citizen.

In April, 1886, Mr. Aldrich came to Chicago, and at the bar of the second
city of the Union has won distinctive preferment. In 1890 he was appointed
special counsel for the United States in its Pacific Railroad litigations, growing
out of the so-called Anderson act. He was successful in both cases which he
argued in the circuit courts for Nebraska and California, and these successes,
opposed as he was by some of the leading counsel of the Union, led to his selec-
tion as solicitor-general of the United States, to succeed William H. Taft, who
was appointed a judge of the United States court of appeals, in 1891. Mr.
Aldrich retained the incumbency as solicitor-general until June, 1893, and no
more able officer has ever occupied the position. His name is always associated
with the able conduct of the Chinese, Cherokee and hat-trimming cases, causes
in which he was opposed by some of the most gifted jurists of the nation, yet in
two of these he won triumphant victories, and in the other his argument was
said, by a member of the supreme court, to have been one of the most masterly
ever addressed to that court.

The opinion prepared by Mr. Aldrich upon the power of the national gov-
ernment in matters of public health and quarantine regulations, and also that
upon the scope and effect of the election law, showed a broad grasp and met the

836 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

cordial approval of those of the legal profession who were conversant with the
questions, while his opinion that the administration might issue bonds to main-
tain resumption and keep the money of the United States at parity, was prac-
tically adopted and acted upon during President Cleveland's second administra-
tion. Since his retirement from the office of solicitor-general, he has been twice
retained by the United States. once, through Attorney-General Olney, in the
Sunday-closing case of the World's Columbian Exposition; and once by At-
torney-General Harmon in the suit to cancel the Berliner patent, against the
Bell Telephone Company. Mr. Aldrich enjoys a very large patronage, his
practice being mostly in the federal courts. He is a member of the American
Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, of which he has been first
vice-president; the Chicago Bar Association, and the Lawyers' Club, of New
York city.

Mr. Aldrich has always been deeply interested in civic and social problems,
and is ever ready to support real reforms of existing abuses in the law or its
administration, and to encourage and support institutions designed to aid his
fellow men. He is a member of the First Presbyterian church, of Evanston, and
his views on the governmental problems of the day lead him to give an earnest
support to the Republican party. He maintains membership relations with the
Country Club of Evanston, and the Union League Club, of Chicago, and of
the latter has served as vice-president. He was also a member of the Civic
Federation of Chicago, and was chairman of the committee which prepared a
new charter for the city.

On the I3th of October, 1875, he married Miss Helen Roberts, and they
are the parents of three children.

Lewis L. Coburn was the pioneer in patent law in Chicago and the Missis-
sippi valley, and in this important branch of jurisprudence has won a distinction
that places him foremost among the brilliant men now devoting their energies
to this specialty. It is of pleasing interest to know that he has attained this emi-
nent position entirely through his own efforts.

The world instinctively pays deference to the pioneer. to him who dares
to walk in untrodden paths, to become a leader and not a follower, to assert his
individuality in carrying out original ideas, to present entirely new plans of
action or to introduce into a community a new field of labor. The originator has
ever held an honored place in public esteem, and the pioneer in the realm of
thought or professional life is just as worthy of public commendation as he who
blazes his way through trackless forests and carries the refining influences of
civilization into the wilds of the west.

Mr. Coburn's early years were spent more amid the surroundings of poverty
than of wealth, his advantages were limited, his opportunities few; but the innate
force of his character, his laudable ambition, his strength of purpose and his pre-
dominant, overruling energy enabled him to triumph over all obstacles, fit him-
self for the greatest of all the learned professions, and seek and gain that dis-
tinction and success which comes only from superior ability and exceptional
merit.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 837

Lewis L. Coburn is a native of Vermont, his birth having occurred in Mont-
pelier, November 2, 1834. His parents were Larned and Lovisa (Allen) Co-
burn. His father was a man of more than ordinary ability and resources and
served his locality first in minor public offices and later as a member of the state
legislature, attaining considerable prominence by his energy, intelligence and
rectitude. Farm work and attendance at the district schools through the winter
season occupied the early boyhood of our subject. He manifested considerable
aptitude in his studies, and by the time he had attained his fifteenth year had
fitted himself for entrance into the Morrisville Academy, where he remained for
some time. Later he attended the Northfield Academy and subsequently con-
tinued his preparation for college at Barre, Vermont. In the autumn of 1855
he was enrolled as a freshman in the University of Vermont, and after a brilliant
course of four years was graduated with distinction and the degree of Bachelor
of Arts was conferred upon him.

Thus thoroughly equipped for the duties of life with a cultured mind, well
stored with broad general information, he thought of the different business in-
terests to which man has given his energies and chose as his own particular vo-
cation the law. Even in college his studies were pursued with that end in view,
and during the periods of vacation he began to acquaint himself with the elemen-
tary principles of law in the office of Roberts & Chittenden, of Burlington, at-
torneys of prominence. He also spent portions of his vacations in teaching
school and thus made possible his college career. After obtaining his diploma
he became a law student in the office of Hon. T. P. Redfield, of Montpelier,
where he was trained in the practice as well as the theory of law. He next en-
tered the law department of Harvard University, closely applying himself to
his work, so that he was graduated with honor in 1861, and given the degree
of Bachelor of Law.

Life in all its possibilities now lay before him. He had no capital but pos-
sessed a character reliable and trustworthy at all times, a comprehensive knowl-
edge of the science of jurisprudence, a courage and training that would enable
him to conquer many of the difficulties of a professional career. After mature
deliberation he determined to adopt the specialty of patent law, and with that
object in view came to Chicago. It was wonderful foresight that enabled him
to select this city and see its possibilities and growing opportunities, which
would render it a fit field for a specialist in his line. Success, however, attended
his efforts from the beginning and his practice became so large that in November,
1861, he admitted to a partnership in the business his old college friend and
classmate, William E. Marrs. Their practice soon extended to all the western
states and was of a very important character.

But now another phase entered into the life of Mr. Coburn. In the summei
of 1862 he visited his old Vermont home and while there was unanimously
elected captain of a newly-formed company for the war. Prompted bv a spirit
of duty and patriotism, he accepted the trust and at the head of Company C,
Thirteenth Vermont Infantry, went to the front, where he participated in a
number of engagements of importance. At the battle of Gettysburg he gal-

838 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

lantly led his company in one of the headlong charges against one of the most
active of the rebel commands, which had captured a battery, and assisted in re-
capturing the same, himself being the first to reach two of the cannon. Major
Moore, of a Florida regiment, and a captain and lieutenant of a Mississippi regi-
ment, surrendered to him personally, and so conspicuous was the bravery he dis-
played that he was permitted by his superior officers to keep the side arms of
the latter two. He continued to serve with gallantry until the term of his en-
listment had expired, when he was honorably mustered out of the service.

When he laid aside the sword and other accoutrements of war, Captain Co-
burn returned to Chicago and resumed the practice of patent law, which he has
since continued with marked success. In 1868 his partner died and he was left
with an enormous practice in the federal courts, but with the assistance of an
army of clerks he carried it all through to a satisfactory finality. Since 1875
Mr. Coburn has been associated in a partnership with an old classmate, Hon.
John M. Thatcher, and the firm is without a superior in the realm of patent law.
Mr. Coburn is especially well fitted for his specialty and has performed most ex-
cellent service in protecting the rights of inventors whose genius has given to
the world many of the most useful and important inventions of the age. His
aptitude for mathematics and his own fertility in problems of invention give him
absolute mastery of any mechanism that is presented to him. Added to this is
a thorough and accurate knowledge of the law applicable to patents and the
rights of the patentee, and in the preparation of his cases he shows the utmost
care and precision, while in the presentation of his cause he is forceful, logical
and clear. One has only to realize how indispensable are machinery and in-
genious devices and forms in the economy of life to apprehend the importance
of patent law, not only as a special line of practice, but also in its application
to the wants and expansion of civilization. Mr. Coburn handles with consum-
mate skill the intricate problems involved in his specialty, and in the profession
has attained an eminence that few in this country have reached.

In public matters of Chicago Mr. Coburn has been an active and interested
participant. Many reforms in local governmental matters have been the out-
come of his persistence, energy and sagacity. He was largely instrumental in
inaugurating the movement which led to the change in the south town and city
governments, and several social organizations with which he is connected, hav-
ing been one of the founders of the Christian Union and the Vermont Associa-
tion of Illinois, serving as president of the latter at one time, and was the first
president of the Union League Club. He has been frequently urged to become a
candidate for official honors, but though deeply interested in politics has always
declined office. His ability and gifts of oratory and conversation enable him
to grace any assemblage, whether public or private, and he stands to-day as one
of the representative and honored citizens of the western metropolis.

On the 23d of June, 1880, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Coburn and
Miss Annie S. Swan, of Brooklyn, New York. Their pleasant and hospitable
home is the center of a cultured society circle.

James G. Jenkins was born at Saratoga Springs, New York, July 18, 1834.

.V STRUCK. EKGRAVEH

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 839

His father, Edgar Jenkins, was a well known business man of the state of New
York. His mother was the daughter of Reuben H. Walworth, the distinguished
jurist, who for many years held the position of chancellor in the state of New
York. He was educated in his native state, read law in New York city and was
there admitted to the bar in 1855.

Two years later he came to Milwaukee and at once engaged in the active
practice of his profession. Wisconsin had then just adopted the New York code
of practice, his thorough familiarity with which gave him at once a marked po-
sition of advantage among lawyers trained to an older system. Well read in his
profession, clear in thought, forcible in argument, and endowed with a rich vein
of humor, ever at command, he soon became the favorite of the court-room. His
work was so bright it often seemed like play, but it was preceded by careful and
earnest preparation in his office.

He was elected city attorney in 1863 and held the office for four successive
annual terms. In 1867 he formed a partnership with Theodore B. Elliott. The
firm, which some six years later was joined by General F. C. Winkler, soon took
rank with the leading practitioners of the state. Upon Mr. Elliott's sad death, in
the Newhall House fire, Mr. A. A. L. Smith came into the firm.

Until his appointment to the federal bench Judge Jenkins continued in the.
active and devoted service of his profession, enjoying a large and profitable prac-
tice, a very large share of popularity, and the confidence and respect of his client-
age. He confined himself to no special branch of the profession, and proved
his superior qualifications as lawyer and advocate in many important causes in
the different courts of the state.

In politics Judge Jenkins is a Democrat, and he gained prominence at an
early day in the councils of his party. He was its candidate for governor of
Wisconsin in* 1879, received its vote for United States senator in 1881 and has
been delegate to numerous state and national conventions.

He is a man of taste and wide reading in general literature.

In 1870 he was married to the daughter of the Hon. Andrew G. Miller,
judge of the United States district court. His home in Milwaukee is the nucleus
of a refined and intelligent social circle.

In 1888 he was appointed judge of the United States district court for the
eastern district of Wisconsin, and in 1893 to the position he holds now, that of a
circuit judge of the seventh judicial circuit of the United States, in which con-
nection he occupies the bench in Chicago. In both positions he has fully vin-
dicated his reputation as an able and enlightened jurist.

In 1893 tne university of Wisconsin conferred upon him the degree of
LL. D.

William A. Howett, one of the recent acquisitions to the bar of Cook county,
in July, 1898, was appointed to the position of local attorney of the Illinois Cen-
tral Railroad Company for Cook county. The large amount of business as-
sumed by him has at once thrown him into active practice, and his continued suc-
cess has shown that the corporation made no mistake in his selection for the
position.

840 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Mr. Howett was born in Flora, Illinois, June 18, 1860, but spent the greater
part of his youth in Mississippi, whither his parents removed in 1868. His
father, Judge Edmund L. Howett, was a native of the Empire state and was a
man of considerable influence, and of high reputation in legal circles in central
and southern Illinois, where for almost twenty years, following 1850, he was a
well known practitioner at the bar. During President Grant's first term, Judge
Howett was appointed by him to the position of United States district attorney
for the southern district of Mississippi, and after the reconstruction of that state
he held the office of United States district judge.

William A. Howett began his education in the common schools, and after
his graduation in the high school of Flora, Illinois, he entered the Northern In-
diana Normal School, where he completed the scientific and elocutionary
courses and was graduated. Being then too young to enter professional life
he engaged in teaching school for a year, and at 'the same time continued his
law studies, which he had begun at the age of sixteen years. In June, 1882, he
was admitted to the bar of Illinois, and began practice in connection with his
father-in-law, Thomas J. Rutledge, in Hillsboro, the connection being main-
tained until the death of the senior member in 1885. Mr. Howett then engaged
.in practice alone, and won a very large and remunerative clientage. In 1894 he
formed a partnership with Thomas M. Jett, the present member of congress from
the eighteenth district, and from that time until Mr. Howett's removal to Chi-
cago the firm enjoyed one of the most extensive practices in that section of the
state, their clients coming from many counties in central Illinois.

While residing in Hillsboro Mr. Howett served for two years as mayor of
the city, being elected on the Democratic ticket by an overwhelming majority,
although the city is strongly Republican. This plainly indicates his personal
popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen, a con-
fidence that was never betrayed in the slightest degree. In 1889 he was ap-
pointed master in chancery of Montgomery county, and held that office for four
terms, or eight years. In 1897 he received the support of Montgomery county
in the Democratic convention for the nomination for circuit judge of the district
composed of Christian, Effingham, Fayette, Clinton, Marion, Montgomery,
Shelby, Jasper and Clay counties. During the past twelve years he has been
closely and intimately associated with Chief Justice Phillips, of the supreme
court of Illinois, being in the same office with him and serving for several years
as his private secretary and assistant.

On the death of Judge Gwin, last district attorney for the Illinois Central
Railroad, in Chicago, it became necessary for the corporation to secure a com-
petent man to take charge of its Cook county litigation, and Mr. Howett's suc-
cess as a trial lawyer, his well known ability and his reputation throughout the
state were such that he was selected from a large number. Added to natural
genius and an inherited taste for the law are years of experience in the business
world, and the skill and mental alertness which result from continual contact
with brilliant minds. In his profession he is an untiring worker, preparing his
cases with the utmost regard to the detail of fact and the law involved. He

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 841

never loses sight of even the most minor point which may advance his client's
interest, and at the same time gives full weight to the important point upon
which the decision finally turns.

On the i6th of February, 1882, in Hillsboro, Mr. Howett was united in
marriage to Miss Ida M. Rutledge, who had spent her entire life in that city and
was one of its leading young ladies. Four sons have been born to them: G.
Earle, W. Roy, Wilbur E. and Hugh Drexel. Mr. Howett and his wife have
already made many friends in their new home, and in the legal fraternity his
talents have been accorded recognition, and still further successes are predicted
for him in his professional career.

Morton Taylor Culver is numbered among the younger members of the
Chicago bar. He was born in this city, December 2, 1870, his parents being
Morton and Eugenia M. (Taylor) Culver. He began his education in the pub-
lic schools and pursued his professional course in the Northwestern Law School,
in which he was graduated in 1890. He was admitted to the bar as soon as he
arrived at legal age, but later attended the Kent Law School, of Chicago,
in which institution he was graduated with the class of 1894. He
entered upon his professional career in 1892 and has since engaged in active
practice with good success. He now has a pleasant office in the Oxford build-
ing, and is making a specialty of realty and commercial law. He is well in-
formed on the science of jurisprudence, and in the application of principles to
the points in litigation shows masterly skill. He is now serving as attorney for
the village of Glencoe, in which suburb he has resided since two and a half years
of age. He succeeded to some of the business of James Lloyd, who died in
February, 1898, and in his practice is now associated with his brother, H. N.
Culver.

For nine years Mr. Culver was a member of the First Regiment, Illinois
National Guard, and his brother and partner is now second lieutenant of Com-
pany G, of that regiment, which recently made such a brilliant record in its
service in Cuba during the war with Spain.

In his political views Morton T. Culver is a stalwart Republican and for the
past two years has served as secretary of the Glencoe Republican Club. So-
cially he is connected with A. O. Fay Lodge, No. 676, A. F. & A. M., of High-
land Park, and of Unity Council of the National Union, at Evanston.

Charles S. Thornton is now serving as corporation counsel of Chicago, and
no more capable incumbent has ever occupied that position. His knowledge of
the law is comprehensive, his application of its principles exact, and his experi-
ence in all branches of jurisprudence so extensive that his fitness for office is at
once recognized by all. He is a man of strong mentality, with a ready com-
mand of English, and before court or jury his arguments are forceful, logical
and convincing. His discernment is keen, his judgment sure, and with masterly
skill and tact he manages his cases, winning the laurel in many a forensic com-
bat. In a profession that depends upon intellectual prowess, distinction can only
be won by individual effort, and the eminent position which Mr. Thornton

842 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

occupies at the Illinois bar at once indicates the labor and diligence that have
enabled him to attain splendid success.

Mr. Thornton is a native of Massachusetts, his birth having occurred in the
city of Boston, on the I2th of April, 1851, his parents being Solon and Cordelia
A. (Tilclen) Thornton, the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of
the old Bay state. When he had mastered the elementary branches taught in
the public schools of Boston, Mr. Thornton entered the famous Boston Latin
School, where in a six-years course he prepared for college, and as a student
entered and later graduated from America's oldest and most honored educa-
tional institution, Harvard College.

In the month of March, 1873., Mr. Thornton arrived in Chicago and, after
studying until the fall, in the offices of Lyman & Jackson, and Isham & Lin-
coln, was admitted to practice, upon examination before the supreme court of
Illinois at Ottawa. Immediately thereafter he opened an office in Chicago and
entered upon his professional career. At a later date he entered into partnership
with Justus Chancellor, which connection, with the addition of several well known
lawyers, still continues, and the firm of Thornton & Chancellor, now number-
ing seven members, has become one of the largest and most prominent in the
legal fraternity of Chicago.

Mr. Thornton was not long in securing a liberal clientage, and has gained
distinctive preferment in several branches of the law. He has made a specialty
of corporation and real-estate law and is thoroughly informed on all matters
pertaining to these departments. He has conducted many suits involving large
interests, and, having been called upon so frequently to adjust the rights of
owners of lands, he is recognized by the bar and in real-estate circles as an
authority on all real-estate litigation and matters relating to that branch of the
profession. Yet his efforts have not been confined to this line alone, for he has
tried with success a few notable criminal cases, among them the Williams for-
gery case. His successful speech to the jury on behalf of the defendant in this
case, occupying two days in delivery, at the end of a trial of great public interest,
which lasted six weeks, placed him in the proud rank of eminent jury advocates.
His oratory is convincing and his zeal and earnestness never fail to impress his
auditors. Care and precision mark the preparation of his cases, and his essen-
tially clear-headedness enables him to grasp at once the salient points in a
case and to present them with unusual conciseness and directness.

Previous to the annexation of the town of Lake, which at that time con-
tained one hundred thousand inhabitants, Mr. Thornton was elected to the
office of corporation counsel, and most efficiently served in that capacity. In
1897 he was appointed by Mayor Harrison corporation counsel of Chicago, and
is therefore the present incumbent. In 1889 he was elected president of the
board of education of Auburn Park, which is his place of residence. The pride
of the American citizen in American institutions culminates in the public schools,
and, considering the zeal and energy expended in developing them and the
momentous influence they have upon the manhood of the country, this is justi-
fiable. Mr. Thornton was elected a member of the Cook county board of edit-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 843

cation and subsequently was elected a member of the board of education of Chi-
cago. In January, 1885, an appointment, made by the governor of the state
and confirmed by the senate of Illinois, gave him a membership on the state
board of education. He has been a prominent and very useful factor in educa-
tional circles, and is the originator of a number of reformatory measures now
enforced in the public schools. His observations, gleaned from investigation of
the Cook County Normal School, were published and attained considerable
prominence. He inaugurated the College Preparatory School of this city, and
likewise the system of truant schools. In 1895 ne framed the teacher's pension
bill and through his influence it became a law. The educational interests of the
city are certainly largely indebted to Mr. Thornton, and his work has been of
the greatest benefit. Of scholarly attainments and literary tastes, he has given
much of his time to study, and few men are better informed on matters of gen-
eral interest.

His political support has ever been strongly given the Democratic party,
but in the public offices he has filled, so faithfully has he discharged his duties,
that he has received the commendation of many of the leaders of the opposition.

Mr. Thornton was married in 1883 to Miss Jessie F. Benton, of Chicago,
and they now have three daughters: Mabel J., Pearl Esther and Hattie May.
In fraternity and society circles Mr. Thornton has a wide acquaintance. He is
a man of pleasing personality, genial manner and true courtesy, and his many
admirable qualities of mind and heart have endeared him greatly to his many
friends. Though he is most widely known in professional and educational cir-
cles, his honor in all life's relations has won him the respect and regard of his
fellow men.

John N. Jewett, whose life history is closely identified with the history of
Chicago, which has been his home for forty-two years, began his remarkable
career in the Garden City when it was but a village, and has grown with its
growth until his name and reputation are as far-reaching as are those of the city.
His life has been one of untiring activity, and has been crowned with a degree of
success attained by comparatively few men.

Mr. Jewett is descended from an old New England family. Soon after the
landing of the Pilgrim fathers upon Plymouth Rock two brothers of the name
of Jewett located at Rowley, Massachusetts. Later one of them joined a colony
that went to Maryland and some of his descendants became prominent in the
south ; but it is with the branch of the family that continued its -connection with
New England that the subject of this review is associated. Members of the fam-
ily have attained distinction in professional life, and the name has always been
associated with strong mentality and high literary culture.

John N. Jewett was born in the town of Palmyra, Somerset county, Maine,
in 1827, and spent his youth on the hillside farm which belonged to his father,
remaining there until eighteen years of age. In the meantime he was improving
every opportunity for mental advancement and was about to enter one of the
schools for higher education in New England when the family removed to the
west. This somewhat interfered with his plans for the time being, and through

844 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

the following year he engaged in teaching school in Madison, Wisconsin. The
year 1847, however, saw the consummation of his youthful hopes, as he then
matriculated in the sophomore class at Bowdoin College, where he received his
classical diploma three years later. Immediately after his graduation he was
employed as one of the principals in the North Yarmouth Academy, in Maine,
and during his two years' connection with that institution he devoted all of
the time which he could spare from the duties of the school-room to the study
of law.

In 1852 Mr. Jewett returned to Madison, Wisconsin, and entered the law
office of Collins & Smith, under whose direction he completed his preliminary
studies for admission to the bar in 1853, and upon examination was licensed to
practice as an attorney, in Wisconsin. In the spring of that year he located in
Galena, Illinois, where he entered into a partnership with Wellington \Veigley,
with whom he was thus connected for three years. About this time he wisely
chose the future metropolis of the west as the scene of his future labors, and
in September, 1856, came to Chicago, entering the office of Judge Van Higgins,
then one of the leading lawyers of the state. The following year, however,
he became a member of the law firm of Scates, McAllister, Jewett & Peabody,
but the last named withdrew after a year, and in 1862 Judge Scates entered the
military service of the country, so that William K. McAllister and Mr. Jewett
constituted the firm for the succeeding five years. This firm always maintained
a very high standing at the bar, and its business constantly grew in volume and
importance. In 1867 the association was discontinued and Mr. Jewett con-
tinued business alone, having a very large practice in both the state and federal
courts. There are few members of the Chicago bar who have displayed the
ability that Mr. Jewett has shown in the management of the important litigation
entrusted to him. As a lawyer he is sound, clear-minded and well trained. The
limitations which are imposed by the constitution on federal powers are well
understood by him. With the long line of decisions from Marshall down, by
which the constitution has been expounded, he is familiar, as are all thoroughly
skilled lawyers. He is at home in all departments of the law, from the minutiae
in practice to the greater topics wherein is involved the consideration of the
ethics and philosophy of jurisprudence and the higher concerns of public policy.

Mr. Jewett has frequently been solicited to accept public offices in the line of
his profession, among them being a place on the bench of Cook county and on
that of the supreme court of Illinois. He was urged by friends to become a
candidate for the place on the United States supreme bench, afterward filled by
Hon. Stanley Matthews, and finally he succumbed to their solicitations, but would
himself do nothing to further his candidacy. He was state senator for two years
from January, 1871, but with this exception has never held office. The degree
of LL. D. was conferred upon Mr. Jewett by Bowdoin College in 1894.

In 1855 Mr. Jewett was united in marriage to Miss Ellen R. Rountree,
daughter of Hon. John H. Rountree, of Wisconsin.

Judge Jesse Holdom, of Chicago, elected in November, 1898, to the bench
of the superior court, is a jurist whose talents, natural and acquired, have enabled

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 845

him to maintain a foremost place in legal circles. While no profession de-
mands such extensive knowledge, high culture and accurate understanding as
that of the law, a judicial position demands qualities still higher than those ex-
pected in the ordinary advocate. The man whose range of general knowledge is
limited cannot hope to present to court or jury, with clearness and force, the
intricate and complicated questions affecting all lines of life ; nor can he whose
nature is materialistic, lacking refinement and culture, have a lofty conception of
the law, of its majesty and of its beneficence to humanity. The successful prac-
titioner at the bar, therefore, and still more the judge of a court, must possess
broad erudition, strong intellectual endowments and a nature capable of realizing
the possibilities of that justice which rises above all personalities, all jealousies
and all enmities, and typifies that divine justice which governs the world.

Judge Holdom was born on the 23d of August, 1851, in London, England.
In reverting to the early history of his family, we find that his ancestors were
Huguenots who fled from France on the eve of the massacre of St. Bartholomew
and settled in that part of London called Spitalfields, in the year 1572. From
that time to the birth of our subject, a period of nearly three hundred years, the
Holdoms were all born in the same parish and within half a mile of the place
where their ancestors originally settled.

In the city of his nativity Judge Holdom acquired an academic education,
and in 1868, when seventeen years of age, crossed the Atlantic to the United
States, locating in Chicago in July of that year, since which time he has made
this city his home. He soon began the study of law, diligently applying himself
to the mastery of the underlying principles of jurisprudence, and after two years
entered the office of the late Judge Knickerbocker, with whom he continued until
1876, when he accepted the position of chief clerk in the office of Tenny, Flower
& Abercrombie. In 1878 he became associated in the practice of law with a
brother of Judge Knickerbocker, under the firm name of Knickerbocker & Hol-
dom, a relationship that was maintained until 1889, since which date he has been
alone in practice, to the time he was elected to the superior bench. He has always
been regarded as a safe and astute counselor ; in argument he is forceful, logical
and convincing; and in his active practice at the bar, which extended over a
period of twenty-five years, he has earned the reputation of being a successful
lawyer. Perhaps, however, his greatest reputation has been achieved in chancery
and probate cases and in litigated questions involving contests of wills and
titles to real estate. Upon the death of Judge Knickerbocker he was publicly
mentioned for the vacant probate judgeship, and was afterward, without any
personal solicitation, appointed by Governor Fifer as public guardian, and as
already mentioned, at the November election of 1898 he was elected judge of the
superior court, which honored position he is now holding.

Above all, Judge Holdom is a literary and a cultured gentleman. His
scholarly tastes are indicated by a large library of rare and old books, as well
as many de-luxe and limited editions, which are his special delight ; and some of
his happiest hours are spent amid the works of master minds, which have
enriched and enlarged his own storehouse of wisdom until he is regarded as one

846 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

of the best-read lawyers in the city. His law library is also extensive and con-
tains the modern publications, regarded as authority, as well as the older writers.
In his religious views the Judge is an Episcopalian, and is serving as
vestryman of Trinity Episcopal church. In his political principles he is a Repub-
lican, and in society relations he is a member of various social, literary and
law clubs, including the Union League, in which he is a member of the com-
mittee on political action for the years 1898, 1899 and 1900, the Hamilton, Cax-
ton, Kenwood, Midlothian, Country and Law Clubs of Chicago, and of the
Chicago, Illinois State and American Bar Associations. In 1896 he was a dele-
gate to the American Bar Association convened in Saratoga, New York. In the
history of the Hamilton Club appears the following well deserved tribute :

During the past year, 1897. the club has had, and still retains, as its presi-
dent, Mr. Jesse Holdom, one of the best known and most highly respected
lawyers at the bar of Chicago. It is largely due to his untiring efforts in the
club s behalf that it has achieved so much. The record of his administration
is a record of brilliant accomplishments ; and in the face of the prediction,
founded on past experience, that a political club can only be made successful in
presidential years, Mr. Holdom has made the year now closing one of the most
brilliant in the history of the organization. It is not a matter of surprise, how-
ever, that such should be the case, for Mr. Holdom has never been known to
fail in any undertaking to which he has lent his name and interest. The history
of his life is the history of ability and integrity conquering every obstacle : and
Mr. Holdom's present enviable position in this community to-day is an en-
couragement to every young man to "dare to do right" at all times and places.

John McNulta comes of Scotch-Irish ancestors, from the counties of Done-
gal, in Ireland, and Invernesshire, Scotland, the remote male line being North-
men or Vikings, who intermarried and merged with the clan Donald. He was
born in New York city November 9, 1837: came west in 1852, and settled at
Attica, Indiana, and was, in 1856, employed as traveling salesman and collector
for Dick & Company, wholesale tobacco dealers, traveling on a route in the
western part of Indiana and the eastern part of Illinois. In 1858, on attaining
his majority, he became a member of the firm. While thus traveling he first
went to Bloomington, in 1856, and went there to reside permanently in March,
1859.

He was made captain of Company A, First Illinois Cavalry, May 3, 1861 ;
lieutenant colonel of the Ninety-fourth Illinois Infantry, August 20, 1862 ; took
command of the regiment a few days after it was mustered in, Colonel William
Orme taking command of the brigade; was promoted colonel and afterward
brevetted brigadier general for "gallant and meritorious services in battle." He
served with his regiment, or the command to which it belonged, and was mus-
tered out August 9, 1865.

General McNulta was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Illinois in
1866 and to the supreme court of the United States in 1873. With Lawrence
Weldon he formed the law firm of Weldon & McNulta in 1866; was elected to
the state senate in 1868 and to congress in 1872, as a Republican. He was re-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 847

nominated for congress and was defeated in 1874. He was a delegate to and
member of the Old Guard in the national convention of 1880 and awarded a
"306" or Grant medal. The General was master in chancery four years, 1881
to 1885. In June, 1885, he was appointed receiver of what is now the Toledo,
St. Louis & Kansas City Railway, known as the Clover Leaf Route, and in April,
1887, became receiver of the Wabash Railway. He was appointed receiver of
the Whiskey Trust in February, 1895 ; receiver of the Calumet Electric Street
Railway Company, January 3, 1898, and receiver of the National Bank of Illinois,
at Chicago, January 4, 1898.

January 15, 1862, General McNulta was married to Miss Laura Pelton, at
Bloomington, Illinois. They have three sons and one daughter living, namely :
Herbert, Robert Pelton, Donald and Laura. The family removed to Chicago in
January, 1895, and this city has since been their home.

CHAPTER XLIV.

REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY BAR.

BY HON. LAWRENCE WELDON.

DANVILLE, in the days of the "itinerant" lawyer, was a famous battle-
ground, and to court went some of the leading lawyers of Illinois and
Indiana. Edward Hannegan, D. W. Voorhees, Joseph E. McDonald,
Richard W. Thompson, and others of the Indiana bar, met Lincoln, Swett, Wei-
don, Judges O. L. Davis, E. S. Terry, Hill, Lamon and others of the Illinois bar,
in the court of Judge David Davis, who presided for many years in Vermilion
county.

In the spring of 1860 a very sensational criminal case was tried in the Ver-
milion circuit court in the form of a prosecution of a man named Kilpatrick for
murder. Kilpatrick was a young printer and killed a young man by the name
of Bundy, by striking him with a hatchet. The Bundy family was one of wealth,
and position, and employed Mr. Voorhees and Mr. Swett to assist Lamon, who
was the prosecuting attorney. The defense was represented by Judge O. L.
Davis, Judge Terry and Judge Weldon.

The trial lasted for many days, and resulted in the conviction of Kilpatrick
for manslaughter, and his punishment in the penitentiary for a short term. The
result was regarded as a victory for the defense, as a most determined effort was
made to convict for murder. In those days no limitation of time was placed in
the argument of counsel, and forensic discussion took a wide range of argument
and illustration. All the lawyers engaged in the case were at their best in age,
if not experience, and the trial was worthy of the best period of the profession.

Vermilion county was the extreme eastern end of the eighth circuit, which
commenced with Sangamon, and was the "round-up" of the judicial year. It
had, at the time we speak of, an able bar, consisting of Judge O. L. Davis, Judge
E. S. Terry, Colonel Harmon, John N. Drake, Hiram Beckwith, George W.
Lawrence and others.

During the session of the court in the spring of 1859 at Urbana, Illinois, Mr.
Lincoln with a number of other lawyers occupied a large room in the "tavern"
which was the scene of many merry meetings. The room from the earliest days
of the hotel had been designated as the "lawyers room" and as the assizes ap-
proached, it was always fitted with special reference to their accommodation.
In the four corners was a large bed which might be occupied by one or two, as
the necessities of the occasion required. Judge David Davis insisted upon sleep-
ing alone, and therefore one bed was taken exclusively by him ; but Mr. Lincoln
being "lean and lank" had no aversion to sharing his bed with any of his com-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 849

panions. The itinerant lawyer being compelled to be from home longer than
his "grip" would accommodate him with clean linen, was compelled to avail
himself of the service of a colored woman, who from her long service as a washer
and from her kind disposition had acquired the endearing name of "aunty." She
was in the habit of bringing the clothes in a large basket and dealing them out
according to the marks which she had adopted to preserve their identity. One
morning, coming early, she found all her patrons in bed except Mr. Lincoln, who
had arisen earlier than his companions and was sitting by the fire, musing
no doubt in the twilight of that great dawn which was soon to come upon him.
The entrance of "aunty" before the toilets of her patrons were made, occasioned
no embarrassment in the situation ; so she proceeded in a businesslike way,
commencing with Judge Davis's bed, to distribute the "washin' " as she called it.
Among the lawyers was Mr. O. L. Davis, of Danville, who was not only a
Republican, but who from the kindness of his disposition went beyond the party
in the appreciation of the black man's rights, so that by some he was accused of
being an "abolitionist." His bed was the last one approached by "aunty" in the
distribution of the "washin'," and after she had laid out on his bed the last gar-
ment he said, "Why, Aunty, you have not given me my share of shirts. I sent
four and you have only given me back three." To this charge "aunty" replied
with much vehemence of manner, "Why, Massa Davis, do you insinuate I steal
your shirt?" "No," said Mr. D., "I don't charge you with stealing my shirt, but
you have given it to some of those other fellows." This necessitated a recount,
so aunty proceeded to examine the different piles, in full confidence of her count
and the accuracy of her mode of keeping the "washin' " separate. She again
came to Mr. Davis, insisting most strenuously that he had sent only three in-
stead of four. Mr. Lincoln in the meantime had become very much interested in
the contest going on between the colored woman on one side and her abolition
friend on the other. Notwithstanding her friend was very kind, in the contention
that he had sent four instead of three, his superior power of argument was about
to drive poor "aunty" from the field, when her eye caught the sleeve of a shirt
protruding from the head of the bed, and taking hold of it she said, "Massa Davis,
isn't dis the shirt you 'cuse me of stealing?" The lawyer saw the truth in a
moment and in his kindest way said, "Aunty, you are right and I am wrong!"
Mr. Lincoln turning again in his chair to resume his look into the fire said with
an air of relief, "Well, I am very glad that trouble is settled. I was afraid from
the determination of both parties that it would introduce a lasting fend into the
Republican party." It was a favorite practice of Mr. Lincoln to get up early, sit
by the fire, recall and repeat eloquent and poetic passages which he had com-
mitted to memory. It was on one of those occasions that my informant first
heard the poem "Why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" Mr. Lincoln re-
peated the poem at length and when asked who was the author said, "I do not
know. I learned it somewhere, but I never did know who wrote it."* It was

* John Knox.
54

850 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

a great favorite with him, and no doubt it came upon his memory through the
gloomy years of his administration.

In the defense of a case of trespass to the person, the defendant, who was a
fluent talker, said in his description of the encounter that, "As the plaintiff was
coming at me, I Providentially knocked him down." Mr. Lincoln, looking at the
court, said : "I object to that form of expression. I don't believe Providence
had anything to do with that fight." The objection was instantly sustained by
Judge Davis, who said : "Mr. Witness, you must not testify in that way." The
witness paused for a moment and, casting a glance at Mr. Lincoln and then at the
court, said : "Well, gentlemen, I will change the form of my expression, and
say, As good hick would have it, I knocked him down." Judge Davis, who had a
keen sense of the humorous, looking at Mr. Lincoln, said : "Well, Mr. Lincoln,
I think the witness has got us this time."

In the trial of a case which involved a question whether wheat would turn
to cheat, Mr. Lincoln was engaged for the plaintiff, who had sued the defendant
for not sowing clean seed-wheat on one of the large wheat farms which at that
time abounded in Illinois. He seemed to be posted on a vexed question which
at that time was much discussed among the farmers, to wit, whether wheat
would turn to cheat. His attention had no doubt been directed to it when he was
a farmer in Indiana and Illinois, and he belonged to that class of farmers who
maintained that it would not. The clean seed-wheat which the defendant had
agreed to sow, turned out a large crop of wheat, chess and rye. After the rye,
according to the testimony of a witness, had appeared as a factor in the crop,
Mr. Lincoln, turning to the counsel on the other side, said : "Gentlemen, you
have insisted that wheat would turn to cheat, now do you want to take the
further position that it will turn to rye?" The manner in which he asked the
question was better than a long argument on his side of the case. In the trial of
causes which involved the determination and discussion of questions relating to
the common affairs of life he was inexhaustible in his resources. He grasped
them with the same clearness of thought and judgment that in the after years
he dealt with the problems of state in the administration of one of the greatest
trusts ever devolved on man.

CHAPTER XLV.

THE BAR OF GALLATIN COUNTY.

SAMUEL DAVIES MARSHALL, eldest son of John Marshall, one of the
earliest business men of the territory and state, and president also of the
Bank of Illinois, was born October 8, 1812, in Knox county, Indiana.
His parents removed to Shawneetown, Illinois, during his infancy, and this con-
tinued to be his home until his death, April 12, 1854.

At the age of twelve years he entered a preparatory school in New Haven,
Connecticut, where he remained two years. During this time he became very
much interested and proficient in military tactics, which formed a part of the
school course, and which became of use to him in his career as a soldier. He
then became a student in Yale College, graduating in the class of 1833, with a
number who subsequently had a distinguished record. He studied law with his
brother-in-law, Hon. Henry Eddy, and soon after married.

Although residing in a section overwhelmingly Democratic, he was electee!
prosecuting attorney and a member of the legislature, of which he became a
prominent and influential member. He edited a Whig paper ; was a Whig can-
didate for congress ; was one of the state electors on the Harrison ticket in 1840 ;
went in 1846 to the Mexican war, as major of the Fourth Regiment of Illinois
Volunteers ; was engaged in the capture of Vera Cruz, and was appointed by
General Scott one of a board of commissioners to make regulations for the gov-
ernment of that city after it was taken. He died in his forty-second year, having
survived his wife and children.

He was a profound lawyer and an orator of the first order ; his eloquence
touched the heart and while his reasoning produced conviction, his nervous and
impassioned appeals carried the feelings of his hearers by storm. As major of
the Fourth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers in Mexico, he conducted himself with
great bravery, in recognition of which he received from the state a sword in-
scribed as follows: "Presented by the State of Illinois to Major Samuel D.
Marshall for services in the late war of the United States with Mexico, and
especially for gallantry at the battle of Cerro Gordo."

He died of congestion of the brain, after a few hours' illness. He was a
man of the kindliest, most generous impulses, of strict integrity, and a scrupu-
lous sense of justice in his dealings with others. On the evening preceding his
death, in the course of conversation with his family, he remarked that in starting
out in life he had adopted as his motto "Fiat justitia, coelum ruat" "Let justice
reign, though the heavens fall;" and that in his profession, however large the fee
offered him, he had never taken a case which would require his pleading against

851

852 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

his conscience. Owing to this well-known fact, joined to his gift of oratory, he
rarely lost a case before a jury.

William J. Gatewood was from Kentucky, and first settled in Shawneetown ;
but when the county-seat was moved to Equality he located there. He was a
handsome man, dignified and impressive in appearance, and was said to be a man
of fine scholastic attainments and of a fine reputation as a lawyer. He was a
ready debater on almost any question, and was said to be the only lawyer in this
part of the state that could meet Henry Eddy with any prospect of success. He
was very popular and was at the time of his death a member of the state legis-
lature. He died at Springfield, in the winter of 1841, during a session of the state
senate. Some years after his death it was remarked by persons living in this and
other counties, "Had Gatewood lived he would have been the next United
States senator."

Edward Jones came from Clarksville, Kentucky, to Gallatin county. It was
said by those who thought they knew that he was a graduate of a college at
Bardstown. He had the reputation of being a good lawyer, but was very
eccentric to a degree that was hard to account for. In warm weather he would
go down on the banks of the Saline and declaim for nearly an hour, and laugh
heartily at his effort ! His voice was strong and he talked very loud. The boys
would often slip up close to him to hear what he said. He had a good library,
the most noticeable feature of which was the disproportionate number of French
law books it contained.

Mr. Jones was a warm friend and admirer of the Hon. John C. Calhoun, of
South Carolina, and corresponded with him on the breaking out of the war with
Mexico. He enlisted as a private in Captain Lawler's company and served the
full term of his enlistment, and while in the army he contracted a diarrhea that
carried him off about a year after his discharge from the service.

Michael Jones was a young lawyer at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, about the
year 1808, and was married to Miss Mary C. James, eldest daughter of John
James, who came west from Frederick county, Maryland, and settled in Law-
renceburg in 1807. A few months after his marriage he removed to Shawnee-
town, then the most important town on the Ohio below Louisville. He was the
half-brother of Hon. Jesse B. Thomas, one of the early attorneys of this state.
He practiced law at Shawneetown for a few years, but abandoned it to engage in
agricultural pursuits, and was at the time of his death the largest land-owner in
Gallatin county. He was appointed to the United States land office at Kaskas-
kia, but we do not know whether as register or receiver ; was a member of the
first legislature held in Illinois from Gallatin county, and was a candidate for the
United States senate against Governor Edwards in 1820.

Jeptha Hardin, a brother of Ben. Hardin of Bardstown, Kentucky, came to
Shawneetown about the year 1812, in search of a locality in which to engage in
the practice of the law. He made the acquaintance of Michael Jones and through
him that of Miss Sarah F. James, second daughter of John James, of Lawrence-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 853

burg, Indiana, who was on a visit to Mrs. Jones, her sister, which culminated in
their marriage at Lawrenceburg, in 1813.

After a successful practice of the law for ten or fifteen years he was ap-
pointed circuit judge of the Shawneetown district, in which capacity he served
for many years. Soon after his marriage he purchased a beautiful tract of land
on the bluff back of Shawneetown, about one mile, and after he had erected a
comfortable dwelling and other necessary buildings thereon removed to it and
there lived and died. His remains were buried on the bluff, about a quarter of a
mile east of his dwelling, at his own request, although the beautiful cemetery of
Westwood was distant less than a mile in an opposite direction.

Henry W. Moore was an eastern man, probably from Massachusetts. It is
supposed that he was admitted to the practice of the law in this state, and that
he claimed Hon. John C. McClernand as a preceptor; at all events they were
good friends and McClernand aided him to a considerable extent. He was a
tall, dignified man, but did not attain a very high position in his profession. In
1848, when the gold fever broke out, Moore went off with the first company that
organized here for the gold fields, and died on the way.

Henry Eddy, of Shawneetown, deserves mention in this connection. A
marked feature of Shawneetown is the number of men of distinguished ability
who were attracted to it as a place of residence. It has the distinction of having
given to the state, in John McLean, the first member of congress and senator ;
contemporaneous with him was Henry Eddy, who was a conspicuous lawyer
throughout the west.

He was born 1798 in Pittsfield, Vermont, his ancestors being of Puritan
stock. He and an elder brother attended a boys' school in Buffalo, New York,
while there, they served in a "called out," in November and December, of Colonel
McMahon's regiment of militia of New York. The city of Buffalo was burned,
and he was slightly wounded at the battle of Black Rock, when he was not quite
sixteen years old. He drifted to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he entered a
printing-office, and while working at the printer's trade pursued his education at
a night school. The love of acquiring knowledge was a passion with him and
continued to his last days. From a diary he kept during his early life one can
judge of his thirst for learning and desire to acquire a finished education.

Judge Schaler, a prominent lawyer of Pittsburg, invited him to study law in
his office, an offer he gladly accepted. He became interested in the cause of
Illinois being entered as a free state, and early in 1818 he secured a printing-press
and workmen and boated down the Ohio river to Shawneetown, then the most
important point on the river below Louisville, Kentucky, and he was soon editing
the second paper published in the state of Illinois. It was known as the Illinois
Emigrant, and advocated very zealously the importance of this being a free state.
He was an ardent Whig, politically ; was appointed a judge of the circuit court,
but declined, being unwilling to give up a large, and for that day a lucrative, prac-
tice, and requested that his late student, Alexander Grant, might be appointed
in his stead. Notwithstanding that he lived in the stronghold of Illinois De-
mocracy, he was elected a delegate to the constitutional convention, politics

854 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

being laid aside for the time, that the state might have the benefit of its ablest
citizen from that section. For many years he was regarded as the most thor-
oughly read lawyer in the state, and in the competition of later years he had no
superiors in this respect. He was not an orator, but presented his case with
masterly clearness and conciseness. He was a man of fine literary taste and
ability, conversant with English and French literature, reading the latter in the
original.

He was a man of rare personal attractions, being large, finely formed, hand-
some, of dignified bearing, kindly and cordial manner, generous to a fault, and
although a man of the strongest feelings, constitutionally, he held himself in such
control that he met all trials and sorrows with patient endurance, and all provoca-
tions, however trying, without loss of temper or dignity. Few men possessed so
many grand and noble traits of character. It may be said of him :

"The elements were

So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, 'This was a man!' "

He was married in 1826 to Mary, daughter of John Marshall, an early and
prominent citizen of the state. He died June 29, 1849. Four children survive:
Mrs. Carroll, wife of Hon. Charles Carroll ; Miss Alice B. Eddy, John M. Eddy,
and Frank M. Eddy, all of Shawneetown.

Alexander Fraeser Grant was one of a number of men who studied law in
the office of Hon. Henry Eddy and afterward became prominent. Equality being
the county-seat of Gallatin county at that time, he located there and soon after-
ward was appointed judge of the circuit court. He was born in Inverness, Scot-
land, in 1804, and died at the age of thirty-one, in Vandalia, then the capital
of the state, where he had gone to spend the winter. During his somewhat pro-
tracted illness he was tenderly watched and cared for, in addition to the loving
ministrations of his sister, by Messrs. Lincoln, Eddy, Browne and other warm
personal friends. Physically, he had auburn hair, blue eyes and other marks of
the Scotch physical character. His moral and intellectual excellencies and
pleasing manners won him universal respect and esteem. He was never married.

He was a brother of Mrs. Mary Fraeser Ridgway, the mother of the late
Hon. Thomas S. Ridgway, of Shawneetown. The family to which he belonged
came to this country in 1807, locating in Philadelphia, but subsequently moved to
southern Illinois. It may be said of this family that in the early days of Shawnee-
town and vicinity it had precedence in point of education, refinement and deep
piety, and as such became a special blessing to the community ; its elevating
influence is still noticeable there. The son, the subject of the foregoing para-
graph, received his education in Philadelphia and was considered a remarkably
bright boy by his teachers.

John Cook Rives was born in Franklin county, Virginia, May 24, 1795, and
at the age of eleven years came to Kentucky to live with his uncle, Samuel Casey,
who gave him a good education. They subsequently removed to Edwardsville,
Illinois, and while residing there Mr. Rives was in some way connected with the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 855

bank at that place. About the year 1824 he moved to Shawneetown, where he
began the practice of law, but abandoned it to accept a clerkship in the fourth
auditor's office in Washington city.

In 1830 he formed a partnership with Francis Blair, Sr., and founded the
Congressional Globe, as the exponent of the principles of the Democratic party,
in opposition to the National Intelligencer, which espoused those of the old
Whig party. They continued the publication of the Globe until after the close
of the war of the rebellion, up to the spring of 1864, when Mr. Rives was taken ill
and died at his country place, now known as Rives's Station, on the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad, a few miles northwest of Washington, in Prince George county,
Maryland, on the loth day of April, 1864. Mr. Rives had accumulated consider-
able wealth, and was noted for his charity and liberality in many ways. He left
a widow and three sons surviving, one of whom, probably, still resides at the old
homestead above described.

His career as a lawyer at Shawneetown was brief, but is worthy of record
with those who continued in the field for longer terms of service.

Thomas C. Browne was a member of the second territorial legislature. In
the third territorial legislature he was a member of the "council" representing
Gallatin county, which convened December 2, 1816. He was appointed prose-
cuting attorney by Governor Ninian Edwards in July, 1815. The May term
(1819) of the Gallatin circuit court was held by Judge Browne, and the succeed-
ing courts were, until 1823, held by him.

John McLean, one of the distinguished representatives of the bar of Illinois
during the early part of the century, was born in North Carolina, February 4,
1791, and died in Shawneetown, Illinois, on the I4th of October, 1840. He was
taken by his father to Logan county, Kentucky, in 1795, and after acquiring a lim-
ited literary education began the study of law. After continuing his preparation
for some time he was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of his
chosen profession in Shawneetown, in 1815. He was also prominent in the law-
making bodies of the nation. He was the first congressman elected from Illinois,
taking his seat on the 4th of December, 1818, and serving until the following
March. In 1820 he was elected to the house of representatives of the Illinois
legislature and was chosen speaker. On the resignation of Ninian Edwards he
was appointed to the United States senate, and served from the 2Oth of Decem-
ber, 1824, until the 3d of March, 1825. In 1829 he was elected United States
senator for a full term, by the unanimous vote of the legislature, and took his
seat on the 7th of December, 1829. He died while in that office, October 14,
1830.

He was a man of signal ability and honor and was of generous and amiable
nature. He was one of the ablest of the early lawyers of Illinois and upon both
state and nation left the impress of his individuality.

Albert Gallatin Caldwell, attorney at law, was born in Shawneetown, Illinois,
in 1817, the son of John Caldwell, who was a native of Brownsville, Pennsylvania,
and who married Sarah, a daughter of John Badallet, a Frenchman. The latter
and Albert Gallatin (not our subject) were schoolmates together, in Geneva,

856 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Switzerland, the former coming to America in 1786, and the latter in 1780, both
locating in Pennsylvania. In 1802 Gallatin was secretary of the treasury under
Thomas Jefferson, and secured Badallet's appointment as register of the land
office at Vincennes, Indiana, and John Caldwell obtained the same office at
Shawneetown. Badallet's privilege of naming the fourth county in Illinois ter-
ritory resulted in this county having its present name, Gallatin, in honor of his
old friend and schoolmate. John Caldwell died in 1835.

Albert G. Caldwell was educated in Shawneetown, and in 1841 married
Eleanor, born in 1822, a daughter of Joseph Castle, of Philadelphia. Air. Cald-
well was one of the leading members of the county bar and an eloquent speaker.
In 1850 he was elected to represent his county in the legislature, and the following
year he died, passing away in his prime, leaving many friends to mourn his loss.
He was a Mason and an Odd Fellow.

Willis Allen, born in Wilson county, Tennessee, in December, 1806, was the
son of John Allen, one of the seven heroic soldiers whose death at the battle of
New Orleans gave such peculiar emphasis to General Jackson's bloody repulse
of the British, on the 8th day of January, 1815, was of Virginia ancestry and
Scotch-Irish descent. When not yet ten years of age he found himself the sole
dependence of a widowed mother, and four orphan sisters, living on a small farm,
where he grew up to manhood, in his native^ county, with very limited educational
advantages. At the age of twenty he married Elizabeth Joiner, and in 1830, with
his wife and two infant children, he moved to Franklin county, Illinois, locating
in what is now Williamson county. In 1834 he was elected sheriff of Franklin,
and was re-elected to that office in 1836. In 1838 he was elected a member of the
legislature.

Having determined to embark in the law, he located at Marion, in 1840, that
having become the county-seat of Williamson, stricken off from Franklin in 1839,
and commenced practicing law, with but little acquaintance with the text-books
or professional preparation. When elected by the legislature in 1842 state's
attorney for the third judicial circuit, he had not been licensed to practice law ;
but his splendid adaptation to new conditions, his strong common sense, his per-
suasiveness of speech and fairness of action, enabled him to soon become one of
the ablest and most successful prosecutors in the state. His reliance as authority
was Archibald Cumnal's Pleading and Practice, a book with which he soon
became perfectly familiar.

In 1844, he was the Democratic candidate for elector in his congressional
district, and made a campaign for Polk and Dallas, which added much to his
reputation ; and he was elected to the state senate the same year, serving with
Matteson, Judd, Ninian Edwards, Thomas G. C. Davis, Constable, and others
who were then, or afterward became, prominent. In 1847 he was elected a mem-
ber of the constitutional convention of Illinois, and proved a valuable member of
that distinguished body. In 1850 he was elected to congress from the Shawnee-
town district and was re-elected in 1852. Retiring from politics in 1855, he re-
sumed the practice of the law, but in 1857 was elected judge of the circuit court

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 857

and was holding a term of the circuit at Harrisburg, Saline county, when he
was attacked with pneumonia, and died in April, 1859.

He was a man of great candor, of warm friendship, very near to the people,
who relied upon him with entire confidence. As a jury lawyer he had few equals
in the state ; and as husband, father, neighbor and citizen none stood, or de-
served to stand, higher.

William Jefferson Gatewood was born in Warren county, Kentucky, and
moved to Franklin county, Illinois, while yet a boy. He was of great buoyancy,
elasticity of disposition, of a remarkably robust and vigorous constitution, which
enabled him to overcome a thousand obstacles. About 1832 he moved to
Shavvneetown, having previously acquired a good English and classical educa-
tion. He taught school two or three years, devoting his leisure hours to the
study of the law, and admitted to the bar in 1828 he rapidly rose to distinction in
his profession. He represented Gallatin county in the legislature several times,
both in the house of representatives and in the senate.

He possessed a kind and benevolent heart, justice was always before his eye,
and so strongly was he attached to justice that he often combatted the opinions
of the judges, even though they may have been favorable to his own side of the
case, because he believed them to be at variance with the law, which was to him
the medium through which justice was to be obtained.

He died January 8, 1842, leaving a wife and four children.

Thomas G. C. Davis was a native of Virginia, but soon after attaining his
majority located in Alabama, and in 1842 removed to Illinois, locating at Me-
tropolis in Massac county. His literary attainments were of a high order, and his
culture broad. With these advantages, united to a splendid presence and voice,
he became one of the most popular orators in the state.

As a member of the constitutional convention of 1847 he won high dis-
tinction for eloquence and ability. In 1850 he was an independent candidate for
congress, in the Shawneetown district, against Hon. Willis Allen, the regular
Democratic nominee, but was defeated, and soon changed his residence to Pa-
ducah, Kentucky, removing afterward to St. Louis, where he was a leading law-
yer for many years, locating late in life at Denton, Texas, where he died in 1888.
He had high claims on scholarship and oratory, had much force, and was very
ambitious for political distinction.

Andrew McCallon, son of Hays and Susannah McCallon, was born at
Palmyra, Indiana, October 29, 1813, and died at Shawneetown, Illinois, Febru-
ary 10, 1861. He came to Shawneetown in 1843 an< i m connection with Bernard
Timmons established the dry-goods store of Timmons & McCallon. This con-
cern quit business in 1845, when he commenced the study of the law, and com-
menced its practice the following year. At one time he was a member of the
legislature. He was a successful criminal lawyer, and devoted nearly his entire
time to the criminal practice. In politics he was a Whig, and in 1860 voted for
Bell and Everett.

CHAPTER XLVI.

THE BAR OF SCHUYLER AND FAYETTE COUNTIES.

THE attorneys constituting the bar of Schuyler county from 1839 to 1854
were : William A. Minshall, William A. Hinman, General Maxwell, Horace
S. Cooley and J. B. Bigler. The attorneys who resided in adjoining coun-
ties within this judicial circuit (the fifth) and who practiced here were Messrs.
Browning, Bushnell, Archie Williams, and Abraham Jonas, of Quincy ; Cyrus
Walker, of Macomb ; H. M. Wead and Lewis W. Ross of Lewistown.

Those who resided without the circuit but who attended court here occa-
sionally, were E. D. Baker, Stephen T. Logan and Abraham Lincoln, of Spring-
field ; and Murray McConnel, of Jacksonville.

Early in this period H. S. Cooley moved to Quincy, was appointed secretary
of state, and ex-officio state superintendent of schools, in 1846. He died many
years ago.

Mr. Bigler went, after a short residence in Rushville, to Mount Sterling,
and thence to California, and was elected governor of that state, and perhaps
filled other public offices.

Soon after Colonel Richardson returned from the Mexican war he removed
to Quincy, was elected to congress several times, and also appointed by the legis-
lature to fill Judge Douglas' vacancy in the United States senate.

About the year 1852 there was a change made in the circuit. Pike county
was taken into this circuit, and Adams, Hancock and Henderson were put into
a new circuit, and by fixing the time of holding court the same in both circuits,
the Quincy attorneys were prevented attending courts here, or, as "Bob" Black-
well expressed it, "We got rid of them Quincy fellows."

The change in the circuit, and the removal of several of the old attorneys,
created a great change in the bar of this county, and of the circuit. It brought
to the front P. H. Walker, R. S. Blackwell and John C. Bagby, of Rushville ;
William and Jack Grimshaw, C. L. Higbee, James Irwin, Charles C. Warren and
Milton Hay, from Pike county ; John S. Bailey, of Macomb county ; and O. C.
Skinner and Calvin A. Warren, of Adams county.

In 1838 Judge James H. Ralston was elected senator of Adams county,
thereby creating a vacancy on the bench, which Governor Thomas Carlin filled
by appointing Peter Lott, of Quincy. Judge Lott held his first term of court in
Rushville, in December, 1839.

He was succeeded by Judge Stephen A. Douglas, who, as judge of the su-
preme court, performed circuit duties, under the new law of 1840-41. This he
continued to do until 1843, when Jesse B. Thomas was appointed, and held court
till 1845. J uc lg e Richard M. Young, another of the supreme judges, held the

858

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 859

April term in 1845. Judge N. H. Purple was then appointed, and continued to
hold court until 1849; D. M. Woodson, of Greene county, held one term in this
year, and then William A. Minshall was appointed, and served as judge until
he died, in 1852. He was succeeded by O. C. Skinner, of Adams county, and he
by Pinckney H. Walker, in 1853, wno continued our judge until he was elected to
succeed Judge Skinner on the supreme bench, in 1858, where he continued to
the satisfaction of the people of this district until he died, February 7, 1885.

Theophilus L. Dickey and DeWitt C. Johnson practiced in our courts, the
former belonging in the first class the latter in the second, in point of priority as
members of our bar. Mr. Johnson came to Rushville in 1852. He was a young
man of fine mind, well educated and a good lawyer, and, of course, well fitted
for county judge, which office he held for four years. He died in 1866 or 1867.

Judge J. P. Van Dorston, in whose death there passed away another member
of that little group of distinctively representative lawyers that in the middle period
of the nineteenth century made the bar of southern Illinois famous, was remark-
able in the breadth of his wisdom, in his indomitable perseverance and strong
individuality. There was in him a weight of character, a native sagacity and a
fidelity of purpose that commanded the respect of all. He seemed to realize, as
few men have done, the importance of the profession to which he devoted his
energies, and the fact that justice and the higher attributes of mercy he often held
in his hands. His high reputation as a lawyer was won through earnest, honest
labor and his standing at the bar was a merited tribute to his ability.

John Packer Van Dorston was born in Center county, Pennsylvania, Janu-
ary 22, 1837, and was the eldest son of Rudolph and Elizabeth (Packer) Van
Dorston. The father was of German descent and the mother was of Scotch ex-
traction, a cousin of ex-Governor Asa Packer, of Pennsylvania. About 1850, the
family removed to Kendall county, Illinois, where the father was recognized as
a leading and prosperous agriculturist. In his early childhood he manifested a
love of study and gave evidence of the possession of a very retentive memory.
When about thirteen years of age he accompanied his parents to Illinois, and
being unable to engage in manual labor he eagerly perused all the volumes of
his father's scanty library and those he could obtain in the neighborhood ; for
books were not then plentiful. Acquiring an education and much greater pro-
ficiency than most youths of his years, at the age of sixteen he began teaching,
which profession he followed through the winter seasons until he continued his
own education as a student in the Rock River Seminary, at Mount Morris, Illi-
nois. He was graduated in that institution in the spring of 1858, and immedi-
ately afterward entered upon a course of law reading in the office of Hon. John
R. Crothers, of Oswego, Illinois. The following year, in Ottawa, Illinois, he
was admitted to the bar, having successfully passed an examination conducted by
Hon. John D. Caton and Sidney Breese, of the circuit court, and Judge P. H.
Walker, of the supreme bench.

Judge Van Dorston had practiced law but a short time when in response to
his country's call for troops he enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, com-
manded by Colonel T. Lyle Dickey. He was promoted adjutant of the first
battalion with the rank of lieutenant, and participated in the battles of Fort Henry

860 THE BENCH AND BAR OP ILLINOIS.

and Fort Donelson, in the. latter having charge of the picket guards known as
the "right wing of the army." On account of illness and a wound in the foot.
Lieutenant Van Dorston was forced to resign after the capture of Fort Donelson,
and in the fall of 1863 received an honorable discharge.

As soon as able to travel he proceeded to Centralia, Illinois, where he en-
tered upon the practice of law in connection with the late Judge Nelson, who
thinking it would prove profitable to establish a branch office in Vandalia soon
sent Mr. Van Dorston to this place for that purpose. Here our subject entered
into partnership with George R. Fitch, then the only Republican lawyer in the
town, with whom he was connected until Mr. Fitch's death, about a year later.
In the fall of 1865 Mr. Van Dorston was elected county judge on the first Repub-
lican ticket ever elected in full in Fayette county. His career on the bench
was one which demonstrated his ability to successfully handle the intricate prob-
lems that come up for settlement in a court of that character, and his able admin-
istration made him the choice of his party for still higher honors. In 1868 he was
elected to the state senate, and resigning his position on the bench became a
member of the general assembly, where his influence was soon strongly felt. He
was one of the working members of that body, and his forcible, eloquent and
logical arguments showed careful consideration of the problems affecting the wel-
fare of the state and won him the commendation and gratitude of the Repub-
lican forces and even the respect of the opposition. He was afterward spoken
of in connection with gubernatorial honors. On the 22d of June, 1874, he was
appointed United States district attorney for southern Illinois and conducted the
trial of many important cases, including the Driggs counterfeit case, in which he
was opposed by many of the ablest lawyers of Springfield, who were employed for
the defense. Judge Van Dorston succeeded in gaining his suit and won high
complimentary mention from Judge Treat, who spoke of his legal worth, saying
he never in all his experience saw the equal of Judge Van Dorston in his ability
for preparing papers without reference to books or authorities. He seemed
almost intuitively to grasp the strong points of law ; no detail seemed to escape
him ; every point was given its due prominence, and the case was argued with
such skill, ability and power that he rarely failed to gain the verdict desired. In
February, 1876, he resigned his position as United States district attorney and re-
turned to Vandalia. It vjas his purpose to remove to Chicago with a prospect of
being elevated to the supreme bench, but on the I3th of April, 1880, death
terminated his labors and ended a judicial career which shed luster on the bar
of Illinois. He met in forensic combat the ablest members of the bar of his
district and won their highest respect and confidence by his extreme fairness.
He cared not for the laurels if they must be won by debasing himself, debauch-
ing public morality or degrading the dignity of his profession, but stood as the
defender of the weak against the strong, the right against the wrong, the just
against the unjust.

The Judge was married June 22, 1864, to Miss Alice M. Coffin, daughter of
Frederick and Dolly M. (Rhines) Coffin. On her father's side the ancestry can
be traced back to an old Norman family that went with William the Conqueror to

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 861

England, whence his descendants emigrated to Nantucket island. Members of
the family were prominently connected with the establishment of leading educa-
tional institutions in this country. The father was born in New York, and at the
age of thirteen went to Chicago, where he resided when the village was incor-
porated. He served as clerk in the historic Mark Beaubien Hotel, and later en-
gaged in merchandising. His wife represented an old German family, whose
lineage through one hundred and twenty years was given in an old family Bible.
She was born in New York and was a lady of high literary attainments. Her
brother was Henry Rhines, the first deputy sheriff of Chicago, a man of sterling
worth, who was proprietor of the early hotel in which John Wentworth, S. B.
Cobb and other prominent men were entertained in pioneer days. Frederick
and Dolly Coffin were members of the famous old Calumet Club, of Chicago, and
of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Judge Van Dorston and his wife established their home in Vandalia, where
they entertained the most prominent lawyers and statesmen, including Generals
Oglesby, Palmer and Logan. In politics the Judge was always a stanch Repub-
lican and his influence was strongly felt in the councils of his party. His
superior intellectual endowments, fidelity to his honest convictions and his genial,
courteous manner made him well fitted for leadership, and he was very popular
in all circles. He served as presidential elector in 1872, and was an honored
member of the United States Bar Association. At the age of twelve years he
joined the Methodist church on probation and always continued his connection
with that denomination. He had a very sensitive nature and suffered keenly
from the opposition and unwarranted attacks of political or business enemies.
His disposition was sunny and his circle of friends was very extensive. Friend-
ship was to him inviolable, and every confidence reposed in him was considered
a sacred trust.

"His life was noble, and the elements so mixed in him
That Nature might stand up and say to all the world,
'This was a man.' "

Judge William M. Farmer, circuit-court judge in the fourth judicial district
of Illinois, and a resident of Vandalia, was born on a farm in Fayette county, this
state, on the 5th of June, 1853, and is a son of William and Margaret (Wright)
Farmer. His paternal grandparents removed from North Carolina to Ken-
tucky, and in 1829 William Farmer, leaving the latter state, became a resident of
Fayette county, where he spent his remaining days, his death occurring in June,
1888, at the age of eighty years. He had but limited advantages for acquiring an
education, but was a man of strong common sense and great force of character,
and his sterling worth and fidelity to duty won him the confidence and respect of
all. He enlisted in the Black Hawk war in 1832 and remained in the service until
hostilities had ceased, when he returned to his farm. He held a number of public
offices in his county and township, and throughout his life was a stalwart advo-
cate of the Democratic party. He and his wife both belonged to southern fam-
ilies who owned slaves, but they favored the abolition of slavery and at the time of

862 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

the civil .war Mr. Farmer was an ardent supporter of the Union cause. Mrs.
Farmer, whose people were from Georgia, was a lady of culture and literary ac-
complishments, and although the Judge was only twelve years of age at the time
of her death her teachings and influence did much in forming his habits and tastes
in life.

Judge Farmer acquired his preliminary education in the district school and
later was for three years a student in McKendree College, pursuing the classical
course to the sophomore year. He then entered the Union College of Law, in
which institution he was graduated in June, 1876. Perhaps one of the influences
that led him to adopt the legal profession as a life work came through his interest
which was aroused by the trial of cases before his father, who held the- office of
justice of the peace. In those days very important controversies were often
settled in the justice courts and the trials would be conducted by the best legal
talent the county-seat afforded. Although but a boy Judge Farmer took great
delight in sitting by his father and watching the progress of the trial, hearing the
discussions of the opposing counsel as each labored earnestly in behalf of his con-
stituents. He thought at the time that he would like to become a lawyer, but dur-
ing his youth his time was largely taken up with the work of the farm until he
went away to school. His first step after leaving McKendree College was to en-
gage in teaching for ten months, and during that period he also read law, pre-
paratory to entering college.

In June, 1876, Judge Farmer was admitted to the bar, and in July opened an
office in Vandalia, where he has since engaged in practice. He formed a part-
nership with a man named Chapin, a college "chum" and classmate, under the
firm name of Farmer & Chapin, and later they entered into partnership relations
with B. W. Henry, an old-established practitioner who had been Judge Farmer's
preceptor before his entrance into the law school. The firm name was accord-
ingly changed to Henry, Farmer & Chapin, and thus continued until the death of
Mr. Chapin in 1880, after which the firm of Henry & Farmer continued to prac-
tice at the Yandalia bar until 1882. The junior member then formed a partner-
ship with J. J. Brown, a young man about his own age, and the firm of Farmer &
Brown won and maintained a position of distinct prominence until June i, 1897,
when Mr. Farmer was elected to the bench and the business relations were neces-
sarily discontinued. He was elected in 1880 to the position of state's attorney
for Fayette county and served one term, and is now the efficient and popular
circuit judge of his district. As a lawyer Judge Farmer was prominent and suc-
cessful, because he was fully equipped for the difficult work of his profession.
With natural talent of a high order he bent his energies to the task of mastering
the science of law, and he did it with the natural result of achieving a proud posi-
tion in the profession and winning an extensive clientage. Wide research and
provident care mark his preparation of cases, and his logical grasp of facts and
principles and the law applicable to them was another potent element in his
success, together with his remarkable clearness of expression and an adequate
and precise diction which enabled him to make others understand not only the
salient points of his argument, but every fine gradation in the significance of his

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 863

statement. As a judge he has commanded uniform respect and general confi-
dence, and the community rests in perfect content while the administration of law
is in such hands as his.

Judge Farmer views the political situation of the country from a broad
standpoint, and mature deliberation guides his political work. Believing firmly
in the principles of the Democracy, he always votes with that party, and in 1888
was elected on its ticket to the house of representatives of the general assembly.
On the expiration of his two-years term he was elected to the state senate, where
he enjoyed the distinction of being one of the famous "101," who in 1891
elected ex-Governor Palmer to the United States senate. During the session of
1893 he was chairman of the judiciary committee and took an important part in
framing the laws of the state. In 1892 he was a delegate to the Democratic
national convention and has contributed in all possible ways to the success and
growth of his party.

Judge Farmer was married in Hagarstown, Illinois, December 23, 1875, to
Illinois V. Henninger, and they have three children : Mabel, who was born
December 17, 1878, and is now a student in the Illinois Female College, at Jack-
sonville; Virginia L., who was born February 20, 1886; and Lucia Gwendolen,
born August 21, 1892. The Judge is a member of the order of Knights of
Pythias, and in social circles is a very companionable gentleman, whose courtesy
and geniality have won him a host of friends. On the bench, however, he fully
upholds the majesty of the law and maintains the dignity of one who believes
that the highest title that can be bestowed is that of an American citizen.

Samuel Alexander Prater, upon being admitted to the bar of Fayette county,
fifteen years ago established himself in the practice of law in Vandalia, where he
is still a resident. As in nearly every walk in life he has been alone and thor-
oughly independent, so in this he has preferred to practice alone, and has never
been in partnership with any one. In September, 1882, he was appointed to the
office of master in chancery of the Fayette circuit court by Judge C. S. Zane, and
two years later was reappointed to the position by Judge W. R. Welch. After
an interval he was honored by another appointment to the same office, in Feb-
ruary, 1893, and has acted in this capacity for three successive terms, each time
being the choice of Judge Jacob Fouke. His practice is almost exclusively
chancery and probate business, in which lines he is particularly successful.

The paternal great-grandparents- of S. A. Prater were natives of Virginia and
were of Scotch-Irish extraction. About the beginning of this century they re-
moved to Tennessee, and within a few years proceeded onward to Illinois, where
their descendants have since dwelt. The maternal grandparents came to Illinois
from Kentucky, and thus it may be seen that southern blood flows in his veins,
which fact in a rneasure accounts for the deep sympathy he has felt for the south.
While bitterly opposed to slavery, his study of the causes which led up to the
war has strengthened, rather than lessened, his belief that the south was not
entirely in the wrong in the position it took in regard to "state sovereignty." At
the same time he appreciates the benefits of an undivided Union, and does not
regret the issue of the terrible conflict which cost both sections of this country

864 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

such a fearful sacrifice of lives, all equally devoted to the principles in which they
had been reared.

The parents of S. A. Prater were Holloway S. and Siner (Casey) Prater.
His father was a farmer by occupation and owned and cultivated a good home-
stead in the northwestern portion of Fayette county, Illinois, for many years.
Settling there in 1831 he was a continuous resident of that county for over half
a century, or up to the time of his death, June 9, 1884. He was a hero of the
Mexican war and was with General Scott at the bombardment of Vera Cruz
and at the taking of the city of Mexico. From 1875 to 1877 he served in the
capacity of county treasurer of Fayette county, and for years was an important
factor in local Democratic politics. By his straighforward, manly life he won the
respect and admiration of all who knew him.

The eldest child of H. S. and Siner Prater, our subject was born on the old
homestead in this county, December 10, 1853, and until he was eighteen years of
age had no school advantages save those which the district schools offered. De-
siring to equip himself more thoroughly for the duties of life, he attended the
Normal School at Normal, Illinois, for one term, and during the winter and
spring of 1872-73 was a student at the National Normal at Lebanon, Ohio. He
had always been a great reader, eagerly devouring all the literature, books and
papers which came within his reach, and thus was well informed on a variety of
topics of general interest and importance at an age when his friends of the same
age spent their leisure almost entirely in youthful society and athletic sports. As
for himself, he desired no better friend than a good book, and to this day he has
kept up his love for deep, scientific and philosophical studies. He is a disciple of
the school of agnosticism, agreeing with many of the theories of Huxley and
Spencer and admiring the ethical teachings of Felix Adler and O. B. Froth-
ingham.

At the age of nineteen Mr. Prater began teaching and was thus occupied for
three terms. For several years he devoted more or less of his time to agricult-
ure, but in December, 1876, he left the farm and for about one year gave his time
to the study and practice of telegraphy, being located in Janesville, Wisconsin,
and Chicago, Illinois. Returning to this county at the close of 1877, he was
elected township assessor soon afterward, and resumed farming in 1879. Owing
to asthmatic trouble he decided to abandon the farm and about the first of Oc-
tober, 1880, he commenced the study of law in the office of Henry & Farmer,
of Vandalia; was admitted to practice June 12, 1883, and has since been engaged
in professional business in Vandalia. He has been very successful and stands
well in the estimation of the local members of the bar. Politically, he is a
Democrat.

January 30, 1896, Mr. Prater married Miss Mary Todd, a daughter of Rev.
Hugh Wallace Todd, who was born in Scotland and was the pastor of the Van-
dalia Presbyterian church from 1876 to 1897. He then resigned and has since
enjoyed a quiet, retired life, free from the many cares and anxieties which always
attend the. pathway of an earnest, sincere minister of the gospel.

Beverly Walter Henry, one of the historic figures at the Illinois bar, for

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 865

more than forty years has actively engaged in practice in Vandalia. His career
forms an important chapter in the history of jurisprudence in this state, for he
has been connected with much of the most important litigation in southern
Illinois through more than four decades. Long since he attained an eminent
position among his professional brethren, and that place he has never forfeited,
but through the passing years has had a distinctly representative and extensive
clientele that plainly testifies to his superior merit, his comprehensive knowledge
of the law and the successful application of its principles to the points in liti-
gation.

Mr. Henry is one of Illinois' native sons, his birth having occurred in
Shelby county, on the 28th of May, 1834. He is descended from one of the
heroes of the Revolution, his grandfather, Fontleroy Henry, having served as a
soldier with Virginian troops in the war for independence. The father of Judge
Henry was Bushrod Washington Henry, a native of Culpeper county, Virginia,
who on attaining his majority married Miss Elizabeth Hutson, a native of the
same county, their wedding being celebrated in Culpeper Court House in 1826.
The former belonged to the same family of which Patrick Henry was a repre-
sentative, and the latter was a member of the prominent Mason family of Vir-
ginia, her mother having been a Mason. That family furnished to the Old
Dominion a number of her prominent ministers and statesmen, including Senator
George Mason, of "Mason and Slidell" notoriety. In the year of his marriage
Bushrod W. Henry emigrated with his bride to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and
thence to Shelby county, Illinois, in 1829, locating on a farm near Shelbyville.
He was a minister of the gospel, first in the Baptist church and afterward in the
Christian church. The present Christian church in Shelbyville was established
by him as a Baptist church, but becoming convinced that the doctrines of the
Christian church were those taught by the Saviour, in 1835 he withdrew from the
Baptist denomination to identify himself with the Christian church and took with
him all of his congregation with the exception of three members. He was a
man of strong personality, a logical and aggressive speaker and a man of great
eloquence who exercised an ennobling influence among those with whom he
was associated. Almost twenty years have joined the silent march of the cen-
turies to eternity since he passed from this life, but the impress of his individuality
and Christian example is still felt throughout the counties of Shelby, Moultrie,
Coles, Macon and Christian. His wife passed away in 1835, and they lie buried
side by side in the cemetery of Shelbyville.

Judge Beverly W. Henry was reared on his father's farm, situated a few
miles north of Shelbyville, and from the time of early planting in the spring until
the harvests were gathered in the late fall assisted in the labors of the fields.
Through the winter season he attended the district schools of the neighborhood,
until eighteen years of age. The Bible, a hymn book and a few school-books
comprised the library of most of the country people in those days, but the Rev.
B. W. Henry was the possessor of what was then considered a voluminous
library. The volumes which he owned consisted of Goldsmith's Ancient His-
tories of Greece and Rome, Hallam's Middle Ages, Prescott's histories, Weems'
55

866 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Lives of Washington and Marion, and Plutarch's Lives. While the students
seldom advanced beyond "the double rule of three" (nowadays called "compound
proportion") in Pike's Arithmetic and knew little or nothing of grammar, Judge
Henry pored over his father's library with great delight, and, as every one must
who engages in the perusal of the best literature, found it an educational train-
ing much superior to that of the school-room. When eighteen years of age,
however, he removed with his father to Sullivan, Moultrie county, where, in the
fall of 1852 he entered the Moultrie County Academy, in which institution he was
graduated in 1855. He afterward engaged in teaching in that academy, and also
took up the study of law under the supervision of the Hon. John R. Eden. In
the spring of 1857 he was admitted to the bar, but not content with his prepara-
tion for practice he went immediately to Lebanon, Tennessee, where he entered
the law department of the Cumberland University. He was graduated in the
spring of 1858 and among his classmates were Judge L. B. Valliant, now of the
St. Louis circuit bench, Judge Battle, of Arkansas, and Ben Yancy, son of the
celebrated William L. Yancy, of Alabama.

On leaving the university Judge Henry returned to Sullivan and opened a
law office, but his was the same old experience of the prophet that is never
without honor save in his own country, and leaving that town he came to Van-
clalia, on the ist of January, 1859. Early in the morning he left the train at this
point, umvelcomed by a single friend. His capital consisted of seven dollars and
a half, borrowed money, in addition to which he had a scanty wardrobe and a few
standard text-books. He had no experience; but, full of hope, determination
and courage, he joined the Vandalia bar, then composed of such men as the Hon.
Daniel Gregory, Joshua W. Ross, Tewis Greathouse, Jacob Fouke, John Mcll-
wain and R. C. Lewis. With resolute purpose and commendable ambition he
resolved to win a name and a place for himself at this bar. A lack of energy,
perseverance and broad knowledge of the law would not deter him in this under-
taking, and such qualities always win success sooner or later. Mr. Henry's case
was no exception to the rule. Daniel Gregory, who about that time retired
from the bar, became his stanch friend and used his influence in behalf of the
young man. He also won social recognition from the best people of the town,
but it needed money also to support the struggling young lawyer. In order to
attend to his first lawsuit he walked six miles into the country to try his case
before a justice of the peace, and winning in the argument he received a fee of
five dollars, which seemed more to him at that time than one-hundred-dollar fees
have since.

Entering into partnership with Joshua W. Ross, this connection was con-
tinued until 1861, when Judge Henry entered the army, enlisting in July of that
year, as a member of the Thirty-fifth Illinois Infantry, serving first as adjutant of
the regiment. Later he was commissioned captain of Company G and was with
Fremont in his Missouri campaign, followed Curtis and Sigel in the spring of
1862, and in June of that year went south under command of Jefferson C. Davis.
He participated in the siege of Corinth, where, in July, he was stricken with

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 867

malarial fever, his illness forcing him to resign shortly after the evacuation of
that city.

Returning to his home in August, 1862, Judge Henry entered into partner-
ship with the late Judge Jacob Fouke, which connection continued for seven-
teen years, during which period the firm of Henry & Fouke had more business
in each term of court, after the first two years, than all the lawyers in Vandalia
now have. For forty years Judge Henry has practiced at the bar of Vandalia
and has attended every term of court with the exception of four, two of those
being held while he was in the army. He has tried twice as many lawsuits as any
other member of the bar, and his success in a professional way affords the best
evidence of his capabilities in this line. He is a strong advocate before the jury
and concise in his appeals to the court. He has ever been a student of his pro-
fession, and his knowledge of legal principles and of precedents is comprehensive
and accurate. His reasoning is sound, his deductions logical, and he is remark-
able among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with which he
prepares his cases. He invariably seeks to present his argument in the strong
clear light of common reason and sound logical principles, and the earnestness,
tenacity and courage with which he defends the right, as he sees it, challenges the
highest admiration of his associates. He is ever ready to extend a helping hand
to young men just starting out in their professional career, and his assistance has
been of material benefit to many, among whom are Hon. William H. Dandy, of
Greenville, Illinois; E. M. Ashcraft, of Chicago; and Judge William M. Farmer.

After the election of Judge Fouke to the circuit bench in 1882, Mr. Henry
entered into partnership with William M. Farmer and George B. Chapin, under
the firm name of Henry, Farmer & Chapin. After the death of the junior mem-
ber, in 1884, the firm remained Henry & Farmer until the election of the latter
to the position of state's attorney in 1888. Mr. Henry next formed a partnership
with B. H. Chapman, under the style of Henry & Chapman, and after Mr. Chap-
man's removal to Kansas City in 1890 he again became associated with his old
partner, Judge Jacob Fouke, this relation being maintained until the Judge was
elected to the bench in 1891. Associated with F. M. Guinn, the firm of Henry &
Guinn practiced until 1895, when the partnership was dissolved, and George F.
Houston was admitted to a partnership with Mr. Henry, under the firm name of
Henry & Houston.

Mr. Henry has also been connected with various business enterprises which
have' not only promoted his individual prosperity but have also advanced the
welfare of the community with which he is connected. He aided in the organiza-
tion of the Farmers & Merchants' National Bank of Vandalia, in 1869, and has
been a member of the directorate and attorney for the corporation since that
time. In March, 1870, he made a trip to Texas on horseback, passing through
the Indian districts, and in the Lone Star state purchased nine hundred head
of Texas cattle, which he drove to Kansas, crossing the district now known as
Oklahoma, then a wilderness occupied by Indians, and on reaching Buffalo,
shipped the cattle to Philadelphia, where he realized a fine profit on the enter-
prise. In 1872 Mr. Henry made a tour among the northern lakes, in 1874 visited

868 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Colorado and the west, and from 1891 until 1895 was engaged in ranching in
Wyoming, in connection with his brother. His journeyings have largely been
made for the benefit of his health. Never very rugged, he has by an indomitable
will power put aside the thought of physical weakness and attended to a very
extensive law business, which would have taxed the strength of a much more
robust man. He has remarkable powers of concentration and application, and
his deep thought on matters pertaining to his legal interests has given him the
reputation of being somewhat absent-minded ; yet his is not a dreamy forget-
fulness, but arises rather from his deep absorption in the profound and intricate
problems of jurisprudence. On one occasion he was waiting for a train, and
upon its arrival at the station he assisted a lady, with her children and bundles,
to board the train, after which he quietly returned to the waiting room. About
fifteen minutes later he inquired of the station agent when his train would arrive
and was told that it had passed a quarter of an hour before. He then remem-
bered that he was to have taken that train, and was forced to go to a hotel and
remain over night. At another time, his servants all being away from home,
he was forced to do the milking. When the task was accomplished he walked
into the house to be greeted by his wife with the question, "Why, where is the
milk ?" "Oh, I left it out there with the cows," he replied.

Mr. Henry was married in Vandalia, August 28, 1862, to Miss Sarah M.
Johnson, daughter of Duncan Johnson. They had four daughters, but two died
in infancy. Those living are Carrie Bell, wife of Dr. C. N. Collins, of Peoria;
and Waverly, wife of George Finley Houston, the present law partner of her
father.

Mr. Henry has been a life-long Democrat, voting for every presidential
nominee of the party from James Buchanan down to William J. Bryan. His
professional duties, however, have been too pressing to allow of him taking any
very active part in politics, and he has held but few offices. He was county
superintendent of public instruction in 1865-6 and was a member of the con-
vention that framed the present constitution of Illinois, in 1869-70, but resigned
March i, 1870, on account of ill health. Like his father, he holds a membership
in the Christian church and attributes his personal worth and his success largely
to the ennobling influence of the Rev. B. W. Henry. His life has ever been
upright and honorable, and over its record there falls no shadow of wrong.
His manner is kindly, cordial and genial, and renders him a social favorite not
only with those of his own age but with the younger people as well. No man has
been more prominently identified with the interests of Vandalia through the past
forty years than Beverly Walter Henry,' and throughout his life he has ever
upheld the majesty of the law, to which we must look for the protection of life
and liberty.

John Alexander Bingham, whose life record indicates a mastering of ex-
pedients and a triumph over obstacles which is indeed creditable, was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio, April" 23, 1853, and is a son of John and Mary Ann Catherine
Bingham. His father was born in county Down, Ireland, and the mother was
born in Philadelphia, only a few months after the arrival of her parents from the

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 869

Emerald Isle. John Bingham superintended the erection of the Marine sawmill
at Mound City, Illinois, in 1858, and operated the same during the period of the
civil war. In 1865, however, he removed to the farm upon which he now resides.

From the time when he was twelve years of age Mr. Bingham, of this review,
was forced to aid in the cultivation and improvement of the home farm. Pre-
vious to this time he had attended the public schools of Mound City, but after the
removal of the family to the farm his labors were needed in field and meadow,
and accordingly his educational privileges were very greatly limited. He worked
through six days in the week, plowing, planting and harvesting, and Sundays
were usually spent in searching for horses and cattle which had strayed away
during the week, so that he had little opportunity for rest, recreation or thought.
This led him to desire some other mode of life, and when eighteen years of age
he became very restless and determined to go to the city. His father, however,
wishing him to remain at home, offered him eighty acres of land, for which he
had recently traded a team of mules, the tract being four miles east of Shabonier.
It was to become Mr. Bingham's property on condition that he broke it, made
rails and fenced it. This he determined to do, and spent two winters in the river
bottom, where he camped in a shanty, making ten thousand rails in all, with
which he marked the boundaries of his prairie farm.

On the iQth of December, 1874, Mr. Bingham married Miss Cornelia L. Byl,
a young lady who had recently come to the county from Cincinnati, Ohio, where
she had graduated in the Hughs high school. Mr. Bingham, desirous of im-
proving his education, took up a course of study, in which he was instructed by
his wife, and through the winter months he pored over his books until he had
added greatly to his store of knowledge. In the fall of 1880 he determined to
read law, and in October entered the Cincinnati Law School. The following
June he returned home and harvested his wheat, which he had previously planted.
He then sowed another crop and again went to Cincinnati, where he was gradu-
ated in June, 1882. He was licensed to practice by the supreme court, at Spring-
field, Illinois, January 17, 1883, ar "d intended to sell his farm and enter upon his
professional career, but his wheat crop was an entire failure, and with a wife and
four children to support he was forced to bide his time. For about four years
longer he struggled on, and then, in 1887, removed to Vandalia, where he opened
a law office and has since engaged in practice. A large clientage is to-day his,
and he is now in control of a profitable business, which calls into play his talents
and energies, together with that abiding perseverance and strong determination
which are important elements in his character.

In April, 1888, only a short time after his removal to Vandalia, his wife died,
leaving six children, the eldest then thirteen years old, the youngest thirteen
months. In November, 1889, he married Mrs. Fannie E. Stoddard. His chil-
dren are: Mayme, born September 29, 1875; Maud, May 5, 1877; Rosa, July
18. 1879; Jessie, June 29, 1881 ; Beula, August 23, 1883; and Cornelia, January
2, 1887.

In connection with his law business Mr. Bingham is vice president of the
Vandalia Coal & Coke Company, and a director of the Vandalia Electric Light

870 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Company. He has also been prominent in municipal affairs, and for two terms of
two years each served as city attorney of Vandalia. He was appointed public
guardian of the county under Governor Fifer, and held the office four years. By
President McKinley, he was appointed postmaster March 10, 1898, and is now
acceptably filling that office. A paper gave an account of his appointment as
follows : "It is claimed that Mr. Bingham broke all Washington records of
office-getting. He arrived in the capital city one night and the next morning
made his way to the White House. He was admitted without delay, and after
a short conversation with President McKinley came out with one of the presi-
dent's visiting cards on which was written, 'Postmaster General: Please appoint
J. A. Bingham postmaster at Vandalia. (Signed) William McKinley.' Mr.
Bingham made his way to the post-office department, deposited his order and
took the next train home. He has always been a stanch Republican, and has
been chairman of the county central committee for the past four years, and
secretary of the Republican congressional committee of the eighteenth district
for the past six years. In 1888 he received his party's nomination for prosecut-
ing attorney of Fayette county, and in 1896 was nominated for a position on
the state board of equalization. He is a very prominent member of the Knights
of Pythias fraternity, with which he became connected in 1888, when he joined
Ben Hur Lodge, of Vandalia. He has filled all its offices and is now district
deputy grand chancellor. He is also a member of the Court of Honor and the
Knights of the Maccabees. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church of
Vandalia, and for the past ten years has been 'chorister of the Sunday-school.
His life has been well spent, and in social, political and professional circles he
enjoys the regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.

Judge George T. Turner, whose history is that of a successful man who had
passed his boyhood days on a farm but whose ambitions were far beyond the
ordinary routine work of an agriculturist, and who, overcoming various ob-
stacles in his pathway, carved out his own road to fortune and pre-eminence, is
a worthy type of the brave-hearted American youth, who puts all difficulties
.under his feet and steadily presses forward to greater and greater triumphs,
rising from an obscure position to one of honor and responsibility, solely through
his personal merits.

This well known citizen of Vandalia is one of the native sons of Fayette
county, Illinois, his birth having occurred on the parental homestead Decem-
ber 4, 1862. His father, William Turner, was a native of Ireland, and in his
early manhood he resided in England, where he worked at his trade as a
weaver of cotton goods. Having formed the desire to cast in his lot with the
favored inhabitants of the United States, he came across the Atlantic, and for
a short time was employed at his usual vocation on this side the water. Later,
he came to Illinois and having purchased a good farm in this county settled
down to a peaceful agricultural life. When the Civil war came on he offered his
services to the country of his love and adoption, and while he was in the army,
in March, 1865, the summons of death came to him. His widow, Elizabeth

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 871

Turner, has never married again and is still living in this county. She was a
native of this section of Illinois, but her parents were from Tennessee.

The education of Judge Turner was primarily that of the country schools in
the neighborhood of his early home. After completing his studies there he at-
tended the high school in Vandalia for two years, and in 1883 matriculated in the
Illinois Normal University at Carbondale. Having completed the full four years'
course in that institution of learning he was duly graduated in June, 1887. He
then began teaching school, being located in Carrollton for about two years,
and was in charge of one of the Vandalia schools for a year or two. In the mean-
time he took up the study of law, and for some time was in the law office of
Farmer & Brown, of this city. In May, 1891, he was admitted to the bar,
after passing the required examinations at Springfield, and within a few weeks
the law firm of Farmer, Brown & Turner was organized.

Since he received the right of franchise Judge Turner has been an active and
zealous Republican, taking great interest in the triumph of his party and party
principles. In 1894 he was honored by being made a candidate for the office of
county judge, on the Republican ticket, and was elected by a good majority.
Up to December of that year he remained a member of the firm above men-
tioned, but was then obliged to withdraw, on account of the press of his official
duties. He so demonstrated himself to be an earnest, upright judge, conscien-
tiously meeting the requirements of his responsible and exacting position,
that he, although a Republican, was re-elected to the position in November, 1898,
in that strongly Democratic county. He is well posted on law and carefully
and judiciously weighs all evidence presented to his notice. With a clear, well-
informed mind, analytical and logical, he follows the train of reasoning of lawyers
appearing before him, and with impartial justice sweeps away all sophistry, bring-
ing into full view real motives and facts. His future is one of great promise,
judging from the rapid strides forward in his profession which he has made
within a very few years. In 1888 he joined the Knights of Pythias and has not
only occupied nearly all of the offices in the subordinate lodge but has been a
member of the committee on law in the grand lodge for several years. Though
his people were identified with the Methodist church, he is not himself a member
of any denomination.

On the 30th of December, 1896, Judge Turner was united in marriage with
Miss Abbie M. Martin, of Barrington, Rhode Island. She comes from one of
the old and honored families of New England, their arrival here antedating the
Revolution, in which struggle many of her relatives were participants.

CHAPTER XLVII.

A SKETCH OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

THE history of Johnson county jurisprudence goes back to the very earliest
days of our beloved state. Just after the beginning of the war of 1812
pioneers coming down the Ohio, and others' dropping across the historic
stream from Kentucky, began the settlement of "Egypt," as the delta region of
the Prairie state came to be known.

On the I5th day of July, 1813, Hamlet Fergusson and Jesse Griggs, two of
three judges of the county court (the absent member being John B. Murray), ap-
pointed for Johnson county, whose boundaries then reached from river to river
and far to the north, met in regular session, and held the first term of court in
this county.

The place of meeting was designated as the "House of John Bradshaw,"
near the present village of Lick Creek, just over the present west line of the
county, in Union county. The gentlemen composing this court exercised a
varied and complex jurisdiction, as evidenced by the records. They acted as
county commissioners, and had jurisdiction in probate matters ; they acted as
judges of the court of common pleas (the predecessor of the circuit court), and
had the power to try all criminal-law and chancery cases arising in this county.

Thomas C. Patterson was the first sheriff, and James Finney the first clerk of
the court. The latter seems to have been a careful official, judging from the
records he kept, and he served many years. The only objection, from an his-
torical standpoint, is an absence of any record of the residences of the officers
and lawyers.

Russell E. Heacock was the first attorney mentioned as practicing before the
court in this county, and he continued in the practice for a number of years.
Prior to the above a term of the court of common pleas, with the same judges on
the bench, had been held at the same place, but the session was brief and unevent-
ful, the records being short indeed.

On the 8th day of November, in the same year, the second term was held.
William Means appeared as United States attorney, while the list of lawyers in-
cluded Thomas C. Browne, Jeptha Hardin and William Russell. At this term
commissioners appointed by the court reported that they had located "the seat
of justice" on the southwest corner, section 5, township 12, range 2 east, near the
present post-office of Elvira.

Here a log court-house and jail were erected, in what was then the "forest
primeval," and hither came bench, bar and litigants. Here came James Conway,
as deputy attorney general, and John Miller, E. K. Kane and Henry F. Delany,
were added to the list of practitioners.

The circuit court here superseded the old court of common pleas, and the

872

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 873

first term convened at Elvira, June 26, 1815, with William Spraig as the first
judge ; James Evans was the first lawyer admitted to practice in the county, being
admitted, on license, May 18, 1818.

Upon the admission of Illinois as a state, in 1818, the county-seat of the
county, was permanently located at what is the present city of Vienna, where it
yet remains. The first term of circuit court convened June 14, 1819. It was
held in a log court-house located on the same block on which the present hand-
some brick one stands.

Thomas C. Browne was the first circuit judge, James Finney the first clerk,
and James Copland the first sheriff after statehood was established; Browne
was succeeded as judge by Samuel McRoberts, who gave way, in 1825, to
Richard M. Young.

In October, 1825, we meet for the first time the name of the illustrious David
J. Baker, father of the ex-chief justice of the supreme court, of that name, who
was appointed circuit attorney pro tempore for that term. For many years
Judge Baker "rode the circuit" to Vienna, and his forensic battles with Hon.
John Dougherty, another of the legal giants of the early days, are yet talked of
by the "oldest inhabitant." Thomas Reynolds was one of the attorneys at this
time, and here we find the first rules of court recorded.

In May, 1826, we find that for the first time in Johnson county the Nestor
of Illinois jurisprudence, Hon. Sidney Breese, appeared as circuit attorney.
After his elevation to the supreme bench he held one term of circuit court here.

Thomas C. Browne came back to the bench in October, 1827. After him
Hon. Walter B. Scates, one of the early justices of the supreme court, presided in
the circuit court for many years.

In November, 1834, John Dougherty, afterward circuit judge and lieutenant
governor, made his first appearance in Johnson county. Other practitioners,
several of whom afterward became judges, were Alexander F. Grant, Joseph
Young, Jesse J. Robinson, Jeptha Hardin, and Samuel D. Marshall.

We all love to think of the courts of those' days as models of decorum and
formality, conducted with the solemnity proverbially attributed to judicial pro-
ceedings. What a rude shock it is, then, to read on the records that "On the 6th
day of October, 1837, one James Westbrook, having been summoned as a juror,
on yesterday, on being called, appeared in court in a state of intoxication, and
demeaned himself in a disorderly manner, whereupon it is ordered that he be
imprisoned for the space of one hour." Ah, James, had you known the severity
of the sentence, methinks you would not have imbibed so deeply !

W. H. Stickney came as state's attorney in 1839. General John A. Mc-
Clernand, reared on a Johnson county farm, began his career here as a lawyer
in November, 1839, an d enjoyed a large practice until he went forth to do
valiant service for the Union. Wesley Sloan was admitted to practice the same
year. Willis Allen officiated first as state's attorney in 1841. The same year
witnessed the advent of Andrew J. Kuykendall as a practitioner, when he began
perhaps the longest term of practice of any lawyer ever in the county. He oc-
cupied many official positions during his long life ; was a state senator, member

874 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

of the constitutional convention of 1847, member of congress and county judge.
For many years after "circuit-riding" became obsolete, he had a monopoly of the
legal practice in the county, dying in 1891.

Richard S. Nelson and J. M. Davidge first appeared before the bar here in
1841. The immortal John A. Logan, idol of the "Egyptians," came first in 1843,
and for long years appeared in all leading cases. He was the hero of many a
hotly contested forensic battle, his most noteworthy opponent on many of these
occasions being the Hon. William J. Allen, now passing his declining years as
United States judge, at Springfield.

Andrew J. Duff was circuit judge during the first years of the war. One of
the noted lawyers who then began practice here was F. M. Youngblood, now of
Carbondale, who yet occasionally appears in our court. L. William Fern came
here in 1844, and for many years was a noted counsellor, his voice having been
ruined in his youth prevented his active work in court. He passed over to the
silent majority only a year or two ago.

But a word as to the more recent lawyers, and I must close. Oliver A.
Harker, for many years past, and yet, circuit and appellate court judge, began his
practice here in 1867, the Damrons, C. N. and A. G., practiced here a number
of years ; C. N. is dead, and A. G. is now in California. Hon. William A. Spann,
the present dean of the local bar, has been in the practice over twenty years ;
Hon. David J. Baker was circuit judge before his elevation to the supreme bench;
Robert M. Fisher practiced here over twenty-five years, going west in 1897.

Of the present bar, P. T. Chapman has served as superintendent of schools,
county judge, and is at present state senator. George B. Gillespie is state's
attorney, with L. O. Whitnel as his business associate. W. Y. Smith, master in
chancery, is associated with O. R. Morgan, who is county judge. Hon. Thomas
H. Sheridan is an ex-state senator. The other members of the bar are George
W. English, George W. Ballance, David J. Cowan and Samuel A. Van Kirk.
All except Mr. Spann are young men, and all except Mr. Van Kirk are natives of
Illinois ; he was born in Pennsylvania, was admitted to the bar in Kansas, in
1880, and has been in Johnson county since 1890. Mr. Ballance is now circuit-
court reporter, and Hon. A. K. Vickers, at present circuit judge, resides in
Vienna, and practiced here many years before his elevation to the bench, in 1891.

Such, in brief, is a slight sketch of the history of the bench and bar of
Johnson county, to the present time. Reaching back to the first settlement of
Illinois and down through the trying days of the circuit rider, it is indeed mo-
mentous. The story of the county is the story of Illinois to a great extent.
Here were developed some of the greatest men our grand state ever knew;
here were experienced some of the most trying times of pioneer days ; here were
witnessed some of the most stirring events at the breaking out of the civil war;
here were heard some of the greatest contests of eloquence, learning, and wit
ever fought out in the state court-rooms. When the history of the state of
Lincoln and Grant shall have been written, our descendants will read with pride,
and will learn that Johnson county occupies a front rank in the long line of
grand counties that make up our noble state.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

7T MONG the judiciary of the circuits to which Hancock has belonged have
j\ been a number of able men, quite as able, perhaps, as have fallen to the
-* *- lot of other circuits in the state.

Richard M. Young was the first judge who occupied the bench (the splint-
bottomed chair, we should say) in the county of Hancock, as well as in perhaps
a dozen other counties in the northwestern part of the state. It was he who first
put the wheels of justice in motion where now nearly a million of people reside.

James H. Ralston succeeded Judge Young on the circuit by legislative elec-
tion in 1837, but resigned the ensuing August and removed to Texas. He soon,
however, returned to Quincy. In 1840 he was elected to the state senate. In
1846 he joined the army to Mexico as assistant quartermaster, by appointment
from President Polk. After the war he settled in California, where he died,
having been lost in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Peter Lott was from New Jersey, was elected by the legislature to succeed'
Judge Ralston, and held the position till 1841. He resided for a short time at
Carthage, but removed to Quincy. After his judgeship he served as circuit clerk
in Adams county for several years. Later he removed to California, where he
was appointed superintendent of the United States mint at San Francisco.
From this position he was removed in 1856 by President Buchanan. He had
served as captain in the Mexican war, and it is stated that he died at Tehuante-
pec, Mexico, where he was holding the position of United States consul. Judge
Lott was. a well educated man, had been a classmate at Princeton with Hon.
Samuel L. Southard, the eminent New Jersey senator, and studied law in his
office. He is remembered as jovial, witty, companionable and fond of fun, not
fond of study, and yet a good lawyer.

Stephen A. Douglas. The career of this eminent man is so well known as
to require a mere mention. He was elected judge in 1841, and held the office till
August, 1843, when he resigned to take a seat in congress. Some of his acts
while on the bench here gave great offense to the people of this county during
the troublous days of the Mormon period. He found the docket loaded with un-
finished cases ; but his dispatch and ability were such that he. soon cleared it.
Of Judge Douglas' career as a statesman, in the house of representatives, in the
senate, as a candidate for the presidency, it is unnecessary to speak.

Jesse B. Thomas was a conspicuous man in the history of Illinois. He was
delegate in congress as early as 1808, while Illinois and Indiana were together
as one territory. From Washington he came home with a commission as
federal judge for the new territory of Illinois, which position he held till it was

875

876 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

admitted into the Union as a state, in 1818. Thomas, with Governor Ninian
Edwards, was then elected to the United States senate, the first senators from
the state. It was while in this position that the memorable contest came up in
congress on the admission of Missouri ; and Senator Thomas stands in history
as the reputed author of the measure known as the Missouri Compromise, though
it was taken up and strenuously advocated by Henry Clay. He was again elected
to the senate by the legislature, which passed the convention measure for mak-
ing Illinois a slave state.

This first Judge Thomas removed to and settled in Ohio, and was still living
in that state when his namesake and nephew was on the bench in this circuit.
Judge Thomas, junior, succeeded Douglas in 1843 an< ^ resigned in 1845. His
death occurred not long afterward while judge in another circuit.

Norman H. Purple occupied the bench on this circuit from 1845 f r about
four years, when he resigned for the alleged reason that the salary was insufficient.
He was a resident of Peoria. Judge Purple was regarded as a man of high legal
abilities and good executive talents.

William A. Minshall resided at Rushville, and was elected to the circuit in
1849, ar >d held the position till his death, which took place in October, 1851. He
was an emigrant from Tennessee in an early day ; attained to distinction and a
good practice as a lawyer, and had been a member of the legislative, and also of
the constitutional convention in 1848.

Onias C. Skinner resided a number of years in this county, coming among us
a little previous to the close of the Mormon war. He settled first, we believe,
in Nauvoo, and afterward resided at Carthage, where he became well known
and built up a good reputation and practice. He took his seat on the bench in
1851, occupying it till May, 1854, when he resigned and was transferred to the
state supreme court. His death occurred at Quincy many years ago.

Pinckney H. Walker succeeded Judge Skinner as judge in this circuit, and
afterward succeeded him on the supreme bench. He was a Kentuckian emi-
grated in his youth to McDonough county.

Joseph Sibley held the position of judge in this circuit for a longer period
than any other in all over twenty years. He was an attorney at law for several
years in the county previous to his election, and resided here several years after-
ward.

Chauncey L. Higbee was a resident of Pittsfield, in Pike county, where he
had been many years in the practice of law. In connection with the history of
the bench and bar of that county will be found detailed reference to Judge
Higbee. Hon. Simeon P. Shope, now on the supreme bench, was a judge on
this circuit, his associate being Hon. John H. Williams.

William C. Hooker. Instances are rare indeed of men who for close to a
half century pursue in one place the even tenor of a professional life : doing
unto others as they would that men should do unto them ; commanding the
love, respect and confidence of the entire community, and meriting it by the
sincerity, honesty and modesty of their daily carriage. William C. Hooker was
born near Auburn, New York, September 13, 1828. His parents were both of

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 877

Connecticut origin, his father, Harley Hooker, being in the direct line from
Samuel Hooker, who led the first colony into the wilds of Connecticut. His
mother was Mary (Beardsley) Hooker. Prior to his marriage Harley Hooker,
who was a physician, practiced his profession in the south, but returned to New
York state, where he was married, and in 1839 removed with his family to
Illinois, settling near Rockton, where he engaged in the practice of medicine,
commanding the confidence of the community up to the date of his death, in
1867. His wife followed him to the grave in 1877.

Illinois in 1839 was without advanced means of securing an education.
William C. Hooker was, therefore, compelled to look beyond the state for the
means of fitting himself for the career in life which he at an early day had decided
upon. Having, by close study at home and in the primitive schools of his
neighborhood, prepared for entry into some academy, he went in 1845 to Onon-
daga Academy, at Onondaga, New York, where he remained for one year, and in
the fall of 1847 ne entered the freshman class of Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin,
where he graduated in 1851, with the first class sent out from the institution, the
degree of M. A. being conferred upon him.

His purpose being to pursue the profession of law, he began his studies im-
mediately on leaving college, and to sustain himself while preparing he sought
employment at teaching. Following this calling, he filled acceptably the position
of master in schools in Alabama, Kentucky and in Illinois. In 1854, after com-
plying with the requirements then existing, he was admitted to practice by the
circuit court at Quincy, Illinois, and selected Nauvoo as a suitable place to begin
his life work. He remained there until 1858, when he removed to Carthage,
which has ever since been his home.

He has held many places of honor and trust in the county and town, giving
of his time and means to develop the best interests of the county and bearing his
share of the burdens of those home offices which carry much work and little
pay. He has served as school director, alderman, supervisor and mayor of the
town ; has been an active participant in all that made for the advancement and
betterment of the people. In politics he has always been and is now a Demo-
crat, believing most firmly in all tenets of true Democracy, but could not endorse
the platform of 1896 in its financial plank of "sixteen to one," so followed
General John M. Palmer and voted for electors pledged to his support. He has
never sought political office, preferring the quiet of his home and the pursuit of
his profession to the uncertain honors of political advancement. He served for
a number of years on the county Democratic committee, as chairman on several
occasions, and has also represented his party in the state central committee.

His practice has been of a general character, in Hancock and adjoining-
counties, in the state supreme court and in the federal courts. Early in his
career he took an active part in the extensive litigation over land titles arising out
of the location of bounty warrants in the military-land district of Illinois, and was
associated with many of the most eminent lawyers of the state in the settlement
of the law applicable to that branch of real estate. Amongst others whose names
have given strength and glory to the profession of law he was in the beginning

8/8 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

of his practice intimately connected with such men as Archibald Williams,
Nehemiah Bushnell, Orville H. Browning, Charles Lawrence, Jackson Grimshaw,
Norman H. Purple, Julius Manning, George Edmunds, and Onias C. Skinner.
He was master in chancery from 1862 to 1874, and in 1892 was again appointed
to the same office, of which he is the incumbent at this time (January, 1899).

Mr. Hooker has been twice married. June 24, 1856, he was united to Miss
Annie M. Hume, of Clark county, Kentucky, who died in December, 1857, and
in December, 1862, he married Miss Mary C. McQuary, of Hancock county,
Illinois. Of four children born of the last union two survive, Harley Hooker,
of San Jose, Costa Rica, where he is making for the advancement of American
industries in introducing them to the markets of Central America ; and Chellis
E. Hooker, who has followed in the footsteps of his father by adopting the legal
profession. He is a graduate of the law department of the Northwestern Uni-
versity, of Illinois, and is now filling his first term as judge of the county court
of Hancock county.

William C. Hooker is above all noted for his liberal views and his tolerance
of the wishes and feelings of his fellow men. A member of the Masonic fratern-
ity, he is deeply interested in all that pertains to its best development and daily
practice, being active in his relations to his lodge and commandery. He is a
member of Hancock Lodge, No. 20, and of El-Aksa Commandery, No. 55,
Knights Templar, Quincy, Illinois.

While his family attend the Protestant Episcopal church, he has given to
all denominations alike, but leans to the more liberal Unitarian views. While
past seventy years of age, Mr. Hooker is still an active practitioner, and attends
daily at his office and in court, supervising a large and constantly growing busi-
ness, with branch offices in adjoining counties. He is erect of carriage and
youthful in appearance for one of his years, showing in his person the effect of
right living, temperate habits, industry and fairness to his fellow men.

Among the members of the bar of Hancock county may be counted a num-
ber who have acquired a wide and even national reputation. Not all of them
have made the county their homes ; but many, while residing in adjacent coun-
ties, have practiced more or less in our courts, and are therefore justly entitled
to notice in these pages. Probably most conspicuous among them have been
those from the older counties of Adams and Schuyler. Indeed, in the earlier
days of our legal history, the Rushville and Quincy bars supplied the only legal
talent we had, we believe, with one exception, Robert R. Williams. If we mis-
take not, the county was without another attorney until 1834 or 1835, when
Mr. Little located at Carthage.

In 1836 there were three attorneys at the county-seat, viz: Sidney H. Little,
James W. Woods and John T. Richardson ; and about that time Messrs. Calvin
A. Warren and Isaac N. Morris were locating at Warsaw.

Robert R. Williams was a native of Kentucky, and brother to Wesley Will-
iams, the first county clerk, and to Hon. Archibald Williams, of Quincy. But
little is known of Mr. Williams ; he died at an early day, and consequently his

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 879

acquaintance with the people was limited. He settled in the county about the
date of organization.

Sidney H. Little was a Tennesseean by birth. But little is known of his
early life. He came to Carthage about 1834 or 1835, and began the practice of
law, and soon took rank among the able young attorneys who frequented this
bar from abroad. Mr. Little was a man of decided talent, a good speaker, a
clear reasoner and affable and urbane in his intercourse with the people. In a
word, he was popular, and in the election of 1838 was chosen by the Whigs and
elected to the state senate. In this body he took a leading position as an active
working member. With Secretary Douglas, he took a leading part in obtain-
ing for the Mormons their celebrated charters in the legislature charters which,
gotten up in haste and without due consideration, contained powers and con-
ferred privileges the application and use of which could never have been antici-
pated by him. Mr. Little's tragic death, by being thrown from his buggy by a
runaway horse, occurred on the loth of July, 1841.

James W. Woods remained in the county only a year or. so, long enough to
acquire citizenship and run for the legislature in 1836, and, although so confident
of election as to bet freely on it, came out hindmost of four candidates, with a
score of eighteen votes ! This result disgusted him with the county and he left
it for Iowa territory, where in time he became a lawyer of some prominence.

John T. Richardson remained only one summer in the county that of
1836 when he went further west. He was a genial, good sort of a fellow, with
no special talent for the law. Of his nativity or after career, we know nothing.

Isaac Newton Morris died at Quincy, October 29, 1879. The press notices
thereof furnish the following : "He was the son of Hon. Thomas Morris, of
Ohio, long a Free-Soil senator in congress ; was born in Clermont county, Ohio,
January 22, 1812, came to Illinois in 1835 and settled in Warsaw in 1836. A few
years afterward, having married a Miss Robbins, of Quincy, he removed to that
city, where he continued to reside till his death, engaged chiefly in the practice
of the law. Mr. Morris was a strong Democrat in politics, was twice elected to
congress in this district, in 1856 and in 1858, and always made an industrious and
active member." He held other offices of honor and trust, both under state and
national authority. The Carthage Gazette says of him : "Colonel Morris was
a man of strong character. He possessed fine natural ability, was a good speak-
er, was full of vim, a warm friend, and a bitter, unrelenting enemy."

Louis Masquerier was of French origin and was learned, eccentric and com-
munistic. He had imbibed* the theories of the French philosophy, and came
west to disseminate them, and practice law. In this last he met with indifferent
success ; in the other, had he lived on another planet, where human nature was
not in the ascendant (if there be such an one), he might have succeeded better.
He was a theorist only ; had no practical ability with which to buffet the world's
selfishness. He had resided in Quincy; in 1836 he was in Carthage, but soon
went back to New York.

Of Governor Thomas Ford so much is said in other chapters that little must
suffice here. He was a prosecuting attorney for the circuit in the early years of

88o THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

the county. As such there are few who remember him. He attended court here
only a few times, often enough, as he states in his History of Illinois, to conclude
that the people here were a "hard set." 'Mr. Asbury, of Quincy, speaks of him
thus kindly : "All agree that Tom Ford was a bright, conscientious and just
man. In 1833, when the cholera was raging in Quincy, he was here and stood
his ground and helped the sick, like a man."

William A. Richardson, usually called "Dick" Richardson, resided at Rush-
ville, and had considerable practice in this county. Like his friend, Douglas,
Colonel Richardson was best known as a politician. He was at one time prose-
cuting attorney for this circuit. He was not distinguished as a mere lawyer,
though his sturdy, hard sense and experience, rather than study, made him suc-
cessful. As an officer in the Mexican war he was brave and acquired distinction.
After his return home it was that he became famous, not only in his district, but
in the house of representatives and the senate at Washington, as a politician. He
was born in Kentucky, and died in Quincy on December 27, 1875.

Archibald Williams, a Nestor of the bar in the Military Tract, was a Ken-
tuckian, and settled in Quincy as early as 1825 or 1826, where he continued to
reside and practice his profession many years, acquiring a very high reputation.
He had not an extensive practice in this county, but was often called to take part
in cases of great magnitude ; and his management was always such as to gain
him a wider and more enduring fame. He was not an orator, in the common
acceptation of the term ; but his direct, plain and earnest reasoning always made
an impression on a court or jury. He talked to convince ; never aimed at rhet-
oric, or descended to vulgarity or abuse. He served for a short period as United
States attorney for the district of Illinois, and was appointed by his friend, Presi-
dent Lincoln, judge of the United States district court in Kansas. He died Sep-
tember 21, 1863, and his remains sleep in Woodland cemetery, in the city he had
so long made his home, and where he had established an enduring fame.

Charles Oilman was better known as a law-reporter than as a lawyer, had a
good education, fine literary taste and acquirements, and industrious habits. His
reports have become standard publications. His practice was limited in this
county, but as a partner with Mr. Sharp, for a period, he became somewhat known
to our citizens. He was from Maine, resided, and died in Quincy, of cholera,
in the year 1849.

Edward D. Baker, a resident of Springfield, and a compatriot with Murray
McConnell, John C. Calhoun, the Edwardses, Abraham Lincoln and others, and
possessed finally of a national fame, "Ned Baker," may be classed as belonging'
to our bar. His appearance at our courts was not frequent ; yet when he did
appear, the occasion was sure to be an important one. Mr. Baker may justly be
ranked as among the finest orators the country has produced. His speeches
made in the Carthage court-house have been among the ablest and most impres-
sive ever made there. He possessed all the natural gifts of an orator, an easy
flow of language, a good imagination, an attractive and graceful manner and an
earnest honesty of purpose. He went in command of a regiment to the Mexi-
can war, and achieved distinction at Cerro Gordo, removed thence to the Pa-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 88 1

cific coast, where he became a United States senator from Oregon. In the senate
he stood high as a statesman and an orator. He resigned to take a position in
the Union army, and laid down his life for his adopted country, at Ball's Bluff.
General Baker was by birth an Englishman, and was raised in Adams county,
Illinois.

Nehemiah Bushnell. Of the many attorneys who have practiced at the Han-
cock bar, no one has gone to the bar beyond leaving a brighter fame and a
purer reputation, perhaps, than Nehemiah Bushnell. He came to Quincy in
1837, and entered into a law partnership with Mr. Browning, which was only
terminated by the death of the former. He was a New Englander, a graduate
of Yale College and a highly educated and finished gentleman. Mr. Bushnell
was fond of books, was one of the best read men in the state, and had accumu-
lated a most valuable library. Perhaps Illinois never held a more modest and
unassuming really great man than Bushnell ; and perhaps few, if any, really in-
tellectually stronger men than he. He was a very pleasant speaker, though not
what the world calls an orator. His manner was graceful, dignified and earnest.
Mr. Bushnell was an active worker in behalf of the Quincy & Galesburg railroad,
the city of Bushnell, on said road, being named in his honor.

Cyrus Walker. For ability as a lawyer, and for persistence and force in the
prosecution of a case, there were no superiors at the Hancock bar to Cyrus Walk-
er. He had been a successful practitioner in Kentucky, and was a man of middle
age when he settled at Macomb. He had a good deal of practice in the "hard"
cases, not only in this, but in other counties in the circuit and out of it. He was
very strong in criminal cases, both on the side of the people and in the defense.
When Cyrus Walker was thoroughly aroused, and in dead earnest, with a de-
termination to win the verdict from the jury, he was as terrible as an army with
banners.

William Elliott was a citizen of Fulton county, and was prosecuting attorney
here for some eight years, embracing the period of our Mormon difficulties. He
was regarded as a lawyer of medium ability, but not an eloquent orator. In the
celebrated trials growing out of Mormon affairs, he usually had associated with
him in the prosecution lawyers of more decided reputation. He afterward served
as quartermaster in a volunteer regiment in the Mexican war, and died at home
soon after the war was over.

George C. Dixon was a Quincy lawyer who sometimes not often prac-
ticed at our court. He was from New York, where he had previously prac-
ticed ; was a well educated and well read lawyer, and withal a good speaker,
though he never became popular with our people. He removed to Keokuk,
Iowa, where he died some years ago.

Robert S. Blackwell was admired and esteemed by all who knew him. Re-
siding in Rushville, he was a frequent practitioner at our bar. Urbane, com-
panionable, witty, lively, generous, he soon gained a position among our law-
yers, and might have made did make a shining light in our midst. Some of
his speeches, while prosecuting attorney, were among the ablest ever made in our
court, and compared favorably with those of his opponents, among whom we
56

882 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

may name Browning, Walker and others. Mr. Blackwell was evidently a rising
man when he left our courts and settled in Chicago, in a broader field of useful-
ness, where he died several years ago. He had a most remarkable memory, was
always ready with his authorities, quoting book and page with the greatest fa-
cility.

Jackson Grimshaw, of Pike, afterward of Quincy, was for many years well
known in our county and had considerable practice at our bar. He was always
regarded as a strong lawyer and able to cope with the best. He possessed an
active, perceptive and vigorous mind, was well grounded in the law, and was pre-
eminently strong before a jury in any and every case where an analysis of the
testimony and motives of witnesses might be brought into view. Mr. Grimshaw
was, perhaps, best known to our people as a stump orator, having been on sev-
eral occasions before the people of the district in that capacity, either as a candi-
date or a volunteer in aid of his party.

Almeron Wheat was a Quincy attorney, an able lawyer, who years ago had
considerable practice in this county.

N. Johnson died a number of years ago. He was an active member of the
"Peace Committee of One Hundred" from Quincy, during the last Mormon
troubles, and through his influence and skill probably the destruction of much
life and property was averted.

William H. Roosevelt was a scion of a rich family in New York city. He
settled in Warsaw about 1836 and acquired large interests there. His practice at
the bar was merely nominal, as he was better known as a politician, a trader and
land speculator. He was intimately identified with the interests of Warsaw, and
labored hard to advance her prosperity. He was genial, good-natured, high-
minded and held many honorable positions. He was several times a candidate
for the legislature, and was elected to that position in 1858. His death occurred
soon after the commencement of the Rebellion.

Malcolm McGregor was a New Yorker who came to Warsaw about the same
time with Mr. Roosevelt ; was also a Democratic politician ; was a candidate for
the legislature in. 1840, but defeated. In 1839 he had been elected to the office
of probate judge ; was afterward appointed by the county commissioners to the
responsible position of school commissioner, and died while holding the office.

Thomas Morrison was a Tennesseean, and settled in Warsaw about the year
1842 or 1843; afterward resided in Carthage. He was a good lawyer, though
he never obtained a large practice. He was a pofitician of the Whig school, and
was elected to the legislature in 1846. His death occurred not long afterward.
Messrs. Roosevelt, McGregor and Morrison were brothers-in-law married to
the Misses \Vells, sisters of James M. Wells, one of the Warsaw proprietors.

Henry Stephens was a New Yorker, and is said to have read law in the office
of Millard Fillmore. He settled in Warsaw about 1840, and arose to the rank
of brigadier general in the militia. The general was not an able lawyer, neither
was he an orator, yet by his industry, energy and methodical habits he attained
to considerable practice.

Sterling P. Delano was raised in Hancock county in the vicinity of Warsaw.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 883

He studied with Browning & Bushnell, of Quincy, and entered into practice in
that city with Messrs. Buckley & Macy. He enlisted in the army, and was
elected captain of a company of cavalry. He was unfortunately wounded by a
pistol ball accidentally discharged in the hands of his first lieutenant, Catlin,
which lodged in the spine and proved mortal. He died at his home in Quincy,
after months of extreme suffering. Mr. Delano's career as a lawyer was short
but honorable. He was greatly esteemed by the members of the bar, and died
regretted. We are not aware that he had practice at the Hancock bar, but as a
Hancock boy this notice is due to his memory.

Of old attorneys, non-residents of the county, and who formerly practiced at
this bar, we mention Hon. Orville H. Browning, Hon. James W. Singleton and
Calvin A. Warren, Esq., all of Quincy.

ANECDOTAL.

When Sheriff Deming was in Warsaw looking for the defendants in the
Smith murder cases, he was treated very shabbily. He put up for the night, and
when he started to leave in the morning he found that some ruffian had shaved
his horse's mane and tail. He mounted him, however, and started to leave.
Coming to where some citizens were standing, he halted, and remarked : "My
horse got into bad company last night." "Most generally is, I reckon," retorted
one of the by-standers. The General rode on, thinking it unnecessary to parley
with such a crowd.

Here is a story told of a certain Rushville attorney. He practiced at the
Hancock bar, or at any rate attended courts here for that purpose. But, if the
truth must be told and there is where the joke comes in he practiced also at
the bar of Charley Main's grocery. It was in the early days, when courts were
held in the log cabin south of the square. But early as it was, there had been a
circus perambulating the country, and one had exhibited a few days before on the
square, and left its ring in the soil. So one night after a parcel of attorneys and
others had been "indulging" at Main's, our Rushville friend started to go to his
hotel alone. Coming to the circus ring, he took the track and followed it round
and round for some time, till others coming along, asked what he was doing.
"Doing !" replied he ; "I'm going home ; but I didn't know this town was so big.
I've been half an hour on my way, and I've passed ever so many houses just like
that over there." The next day the story got out, and the lawyers had a high
time over it. We believe it was Sidney Little's suggestion that he was going to
be candidate for judge, and "was only practicing how to run the circuit."

Christopher E. Yates tells us this story and it must be true that "once
upon a time," about 1834, during court, a certain jury got "hung" under a cot-
tonwood tree, not far from the court house, which had been appropriated for a
jury room. Constable Duff had been deputed to watch them, and make them
hang together. But the case was a knotty one, and they couldn't agree. One
of them, becoming tired and saucy, said he was going home, and started. Duff
told him he could not go without first whipping him. At it they went, and Duff

884 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

whipped him into obedience. But still they could not agree upon a verdict.
Again the refractory man began to rebel, and go home he would. Duff was
again under the necessity of whipping him in ; and thus kept him until a verdict
was rendered.

Jesse B. Winn, a citizen of Carthage, had a mule that strangely enough died
a natural death, during the session of one of these early courts. The fact caused
great comment among the lawyers. Among them was one from Quincy, a native
of Kentucky, who had no business at the town ; but his associates started the
story that he came to attend the mule case ; that it was good law in Kentucky
that a mule never died, and their associate came especially to investigate the
reason why the law was not equally good in Illinois. The attorney decided that
the mule in question had lost his "bray," and consequently had to give up the
g-gho-o-st !

Wesley H. Manier, a prominent member of the Hancock county bar, was
born on October 2, 1829, in the state of Kentucky. He received a classical edu-
cation and taught school a short time in his native state, and in May, 1851, came
to Quincy, Illinois, where he commenced the study of law in the office of Will-
iams & Lawrence. Archibald Williams, of that firm, was his uncle, and after-
ward became the United States district judge for Kansas ; and Charles B. Law-
rence, the other member of the firm, was for many years one of the judges of the
supreme court of this state. Mr. Manier was admitted to practice in 1852, and
in June of that year located at Carthage, Illinois, where he resided until his death,
which occurred February 24, 1897. During his practice he was associated as a
partner, at various times, with John M. Ferris, Hiram G. Ferris, Bryant T. Sco-
field and Bryant F. Peterson. At the time of his death he was the senior mem-
ber of the firm of Manier, <J. D.) Miller & (J. W.) Williams.

About 1873 or 1874 Mr. Manier became associated with the Hon. Norman
L. Freeman, as the assistant supreme-court reporter of Illinois, and continued as
such until the death of Mr. Freeman. During that time it was a part of the duty
of Mr. Manier to prepare the syllabi of the decisions of the supreme court, and,
with few exceptions, the syllabi of the decisions during that period were prepared
by him, and were models for accuracy of statement and conciseness of expres-
sion. His work received the commendation of the bench and bar of the state,
and was and is relied upon as the correct interpretation of the points decided in
the decisions. He had quite an extensive practice for many years, and was an
industrious and resourceful lawyer in any branch of the practice. He excelled
as an equity lawyer, and his knowledge of equitable principles was profound and
of the highest order. His mind was a veritable store-house, and such was the
accuracy and extent of his acquaintance with the decisions of this state that he
could give the number of the volume and the page, and frequently the names of
the litigants, where a given point had been decided. This remarkable knowl-
edge of where the law might be found made him an adversary to be feared.
Quite early in his business life he was admitted to practice in the federal courts,

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 885

and had considerable practice in the United States courts. He prepared and
published a work entitled, "Warehouses, Railroads and Eminent Domain." It
was a digest of the decisions of Illinois on the above subjects, and exhibited much
care in its preparation. For many years before his death he had been preparing
a digest of the Illinois reports, but death cut short his labors, with his manuscript
uncompleted. Mr. Manier filled many local offices of importance and trust, and
always with great benefit to the public. He was the author of the act creating
the Carthage school district, and when president of the town council of Carthage
prepared an excellent code of ordinances of the town. He had many friends,
and the friends once made he retained throughout his lifetime. Personally he
was sociable and urbane, and his kindness of heart was a very prominent charac-
teristic. He was very careful to avoid wounding the feelings of others, and he
would make almost any sacrifice to keep from being the occasion of inflicting
pain upon another.

He was married October 25, 1854, to Miss Sarah Allen, who survives him.
There were six children born of this union, one of whom, Miss Laura A. Manier,
is still living.

Orville F. Berry, one of the most distinguished lawyers and political leaders
in his section of Illinois, has won the respect which is so freely accorded him by
his many acquaintances and friends, by those virtues which are the most axio-
matic. Practical industry, wisely and vigorously applied, never fails of success ;
it carries a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character and acts
as a powerful stimulus to the efforts of others. The greatest results in life are
usually attained by simple means and the exercise of the ordinary qualities of
common sense, perseverance and earnest, continuous labor.

Born in Table Grove, McDonough county, Illinois, February 16, 1852, he
is a son of Jonathan L. and Martha (McConnell) Berry. His father died in 1858,
his mother in 1860, and thus early left an orphan he went to live with his maternal
grand-parents in Fountain Green, Hancock county, where he worked on the
farm and attended the district school until sixteen years of age. He completed
his literary education in the Fountain Green high school. After attaining his
sixteenth year he worked as a farm hand in the neighborhood for six months in
a year and attended school for the remainder of the time. Shortly after putting
aside his text-books and leaving the school for the last time, he was married and
went to live on a farm. Agriculture was to him a congenial occupation, but he
believed that he would be more successful in the practice of law, and desired to
study that he might become a member of the bar. In this he was opposed by
Mrs. Berry. For a year he continued his farming operations, and then engaged
in merchandising. All this time his desire to study law never left him, and his
wife finally agreeing to the plan he became a student in the law office of Mack
& Baird, of Carthage, with whom he remained until his admission to the bar in
1879. He then entered into partnership with Hon. Thomas C. Sharp, and a few
years later they were joined by M. P. Berry, a brother of our subject. Judge
Sharp remained a member of the firm until his death a few years ago, and under
the name of Sharp & Berry Brothers they soon built up a very extensive and

886 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

profitable business. Orville F. Berry was soon recognized as the trial lawyer
of the firm, and remains so to this day. His firm has been connected with most
of the important litigation, both civil and criminal, that has been heard in Han-
cock county for many years, and now has a distinctively representative clientage.
He is now the general attorney for the insurance department of Illinois and at-
torney for Carthage College. He prepares his cases with the greatest thorough-
ness, is painstaking and exact in research, and in the court-room marshals the
points in evidence with the precision of a general on the field of battle. His gifts
of oratory, his incontrovertible logic and his comprehensive knowledge of the
law make his arguments forceful and convincing, and he is regarded as one of
the strongest advocates at the bar in his section of the state.

Mr. Berry has long been prominent in the public affairs, both county and
state, his fitness for leadership causing him frequently to be called into public
service, where his fidelity to duty has won him high commendation. He was
elected the first mayor of the city of Carthage, in 1883, and held the office for six
years. In 1888 the Democrats of Illinois made a herculean effort to carry the
state, and the Hancock district was regarded as doubtful. The Republicans
were importuned to name their strongest man, and Senator Berry was induced
to make the race and was elected. In 1892, when the Democrats swept the
state, the district gave Harrison a majority of only one hundred and eighty-
seven, while Mr. Berry received a majority of two hundred and forty-four a fact
which indicated his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his
fellow townsmen. But the legislature of 1893 was Democratic, and new dis-
tricts were made, throwing Senator Berry into what was thought to be a hope-
lessly Democratic district. In 1896, without warrant of law, his opponent's name
was placed on the ballot in the Democratic and Populists' columns, and appar-
ently defeated Mr. Berry by about one hundred votes. The latter contested,
however, and was awarded the seat, the senate holding that the secretary of
state illegally certified his opponent's name as a candidate of the Populists. Mr.
Berry was chairman of the judiciary committee during the session of 1895, chair-
man of the police investigation committee of 1897, and was also chairman of the
Republican state convention of 1896. He has been a leader in the legislature in
every session since he first took his seat in the house in 1889, has long been
prominent in state politics, and his opinions carry weight in the conferences,
councils and conventions of this party.

Mr. Berry is a man of domestic tastes and his home relations are very pleas-
ant. He was married in Fountain Green, Illinois, March 5, 1873, to Anna M.
Barr, who was educated in Monmouth, Illinois, and was a teacher for several
years prior to her marriage. A lady of culture and refinement, she presides with
gracious hospitality over their pleasant home, which is the center of a cultured
society circle. Five children were born to them, but all are now deceased ; they
have an adopted daughter, Mary Lenore, now four years old.

Mr. Berry is connected with several social organizations, including the blue
lodge and Royal Arch chapter of Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Mod-
ern Woodmen of America. He is also a member of the Ancient Order of United

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 887

Workmen, has served as grand master of the order in Illinois, and has been rep-
resentative of the state in the supreme lodge for many years. He also belongs
to the Hamilton Club, of Chicago, and is a member of the Presbyterian church.
By his careful expenditures and good investments in former years he has ac-
cumulated some property, and has a very comfortable home in Carthage, to
which he is greatly attached. His life has been well spent, and he has risen to
prominence by earnest labor, fidelity to duty and honorable purpose.

Apollos W. O'Harra, a lawyer of Carthage, Illinois, was born on a farm near
Camp Point, Illinois, on February 22, 1857, tne eldest child of Jefferson and
Paulina O'Harra. His father, who was in the early years of his life a thrifty,
hard-working farmer, but who for many years past has been engaged in. mer-
chandising, is a man of strict integrity of character, both in private life and busi-
ness, and a man who is greatly respected by his fellow-townsmen. His mother,
a gentle, refined and capable woman, is a mother in whose heart and life a family
of nine children have claimed a large place, and who has lived for domestic and
religious circles.

The subject of this brief sketch received his elementary education in the
district school where he lived, and assisted his father all that he could by clerking.
P>ut, not having a taste for work of this kind, and being fond of study and intel-
lectual effort, he pursued his studies in Carthage College, obtaining for himself
financial aid by teaching school in his home village. Before he reached his
twentieth year he exhibited the possession of natural ability for the law, and hav-
ing determined to follow that profession, he arranged with the law firm of Draper
& Scofield, prominent attorneys of Carthage, to become a student of their office,
and in 1877 entered upon his studies with great assiduity. He devoted himself
with all earnestness to the study of his chosen profession, and was examined for
admission to the bar before the appellate court at Springfield in November, 1879,
and was licensed to practice, passing a most creditable examination.

On January 5, 1880, he began practicing in Carthage, and was alone in busi-
ness until 1882, when he formed a partnership with F. H. Graves under the firm
name of O'Harra & Graves, a connection which continued until the removal of
the latter to Spokane, Washington, where he is now regarded as the leading
lawyer in the eastern part of that state. During these years Mr. O'Harra had
shown, by his diligence and untiring perseverance, capacity for an able and
efficient lawyer. He persevered in a course of wisdom, rectitude and benevo-
lence, and won the confidence of those with whom he had become associated.
He was a young man ambitious to possess a true manhood, true honor and per-
fection of our nature. His ability won him many admirers, and his kindness of
heart and genial manners gathered round him a host of friends.

In 1884 he became associated in the practice with Charles J. and Timothy J.
Scofield. This partnership existed but a short time, however, Charles J. Sco-
field's election to the office of circuit judge in the following June making neces-
sary his withdrawal from professional duty, at which time Mr. O'Harra became
the senior member of the firm of O'Harra & Scofield. Desiring to extend their
practice they opened an office in Quincy also, where a partnership was formed

888 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

with Colonel W. W. Berry, of that city, who ranked among the most prominent
attorneys of that part of the state; but upon his sudden death in 1893 the Quincy
office was discontinued. In the meantime Timothy J. Scofield had been ap-
pointed assistant attorney general of Illinois, and removed from Carthage to
Springfield. In the fall of 1897 Judge Charles J. Scofield, at the expiration of
twelve years on the circuit bench and four years on the appellate bench, again
entered the practice of law, and associated himself with his brother and Mr.
O'Harra, making the present firm of Scofield, O'Harra & Scofield.

Mr. O'Harra is a man of decided talent, a good speaker and a clear reasoner,
and justly ranks as one of the ablest attorneys in this part of the state. As a
vigorous prosecutor and an able defender he has no superiors in western Illinois.
He has a wide reputation for his successful examination of witnesses, and is espe-
cially apt in cross-examination, but at all times displays a courtesy to those on
the stand that has made him very popular. He prepares his cases with most
careful and painstaking effort, and his logical deductions, apt conclusions, clear
and cogent reasoning and sound arguments never fail to carry weight and seldom
fail to convince. In social and private life he is beloved as a man, warm in his
friendship and charitable toward those who differ from him, and a firm friend of
young men struggling for success in the legal profession. He is an active citizen
and forward in all schemes for improvement and enlightenment. He is a clean-
handed Democrat, and is frequently sent as a delegate to the judicial, congres-
sional and state conventions of his party. He has served as mayor of Carthage
two terms, has been for many years a prominent member of the board of educa-
tion of the Carthage public schools and of the board of trustees of Carthage
College.

On October 14, 1880, Mr. O'Harra "took to wife" Miss Eliza J. Burner,
daughter of Isaac S. Burner and Jane A. Burner, who came to Illinois from Vir-
ginia, and to them have been born five children, one of whom died in infancy.
The others are Clifton J., Edith M., Gladys J. and Roswell B.

CHAPTER XLIX.

REPRESENTATIVE LAWYERS OF VERMILION AND DEWITT COUNTIES.

ER. E. KIMBROUGH, whose name is inseparably interwoven with the
history of Danville in its professional, commercial and political life, has
1 long been an important factor ; and through his efforts the interests of the
city have been materially advanced. He now holds in his hands the reins of mu-
nicipal government, and his administration of the affairs of the city is progressive,
business-like and commendable. He has been the promoter of several leading
enterprises, and in his profession has attained an eminent position to which merit
and skill justly entitle him.

Mr. Kimbrough was born on a farm in Edgar county, Illinois, March 28,
1851, his parents being Dr. Andrew H. and Sarah (Ashmore) Kimbrough, now
residents of Danville. Both are representatives of old colonial families. The
Kimbroughs were among the earliest settlers of Virginia, but prior to the war of
the Revolution removed to North Carolina, locating near Newberne. Repre-
sentatives of the name aided in the struggle for independence, serving under
Sumter and Marion. The grandfather of our subject, Richard C. Kim-
brough, was a soldier of the war of 1812, serving on the staff of
General Andrew Jackson. He took part in the battle of New Orleans and was
severely wounded at the Horseshoe Bend. He died at the age of thirty-three
years, his death resulting from the exposure and hardships endured in the war.
His wife was a member of the rather numerous family of Morrisons of Kentucky.
The maternal grandfather, Amos Ashmore, was born at Staunton, Virginia, and
married Patience McGuire, a native of Dandridge, Tennessee, her birth occur-
ring in a fort where her mother had taken refuge from the British and Indians
during the Revolutionary war. Amos Ashmore came to Illinois in 1808, locat-
ing in Clark county, where his daughter Sarah was born, in 1820. Dr. Kim-
brough has long been a successful physician and now practices his profession in
Danville, where he and his estimable wife are numbered among the most re-
spected citizens.

Although born on a farm, Danville's popular mayor, E. R. E. Kimbrough,
was taken by his parents to Paris, Illinois, when four years of age, and three
years later the family went to Georgetown, this state, where they remained until
coming to Danville, on the 1st of January, 1873. I* 1 t ne common schools our
subject began his education, which was continued in the Normal University of
Normal, Illinois, and completed by his graduation in the class of 1873. On the ist
of July of that year he became a student in the law office of Elias S. Terry, a
prominent member of the Danville bar, remaining under his tuition until January
i, 1876, with the. exception of a period of eight months spent in teaching in Gol-
conda, Illinois. Admitted to the bar in that year, he has since engaged in gen-

890 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

eral law practice. Nature bountifully endowed him with the peculiar qualifica-
tions that combine to make a successful lawyer. Patiently persevering, pos-
sessed of an analytical mind and one that is readily receptive and retentive of the
fundamental principles and intricacies of the law; gifted with a spirit of devo-
tion to wearisome details ; quick to comprehend the most subtle problems and
logical in his conclusions ; fearless in the advocacy of any cause he may espouse,
and the soul of honor and integrity, few men have been more richly gifted for
the achievement of success in the arduous, difficult profession of the law. He
now has a very large and distinctively representative clientage. In addition to
his law practice he has for twenty years been connected with the First National
Bank, of Danville, as director and member of the executive board. For a similar
period he has been connected with the Building & Loan Association, and in all
his business transactions has met with success, winning a very desirable compe-
tency.

Mr. Kimbrough has long been a prominent figure in political circles. In
1878 he was a candidate for state senator against George Hunt, afterward attor-
ney general. There was also an independent Greenback candidate in the field,
who received one thousand votes, and in this district, which is very strongly
Republican, Mr. Kimbrough, as the Democratic candidate, was defeated by a
plurality of only three hundred and seventeen. He was a member of the Dan-
ville Board of Education from 1879 until 1888; was a member of the legislature
from 1882 until 1886, serving in the thirty-third and thirty-fourth general as-
semblies; was appointed on the state board of education in 1893 for a four-years
term and reappointed in 1897. In the latter year he was also elected mayor of
Danville, and is still serving in that capacity. He was a delegate to the Demo-
cratic national conventions of 1888 and 1892, and to the Indianapolis gold-
Democrat convention of 1896. He was elected mayor on an independent ticket,
on the issue of reform, defeating the Democratic, Republican and Prohibition
nominees. He has been a close student of the needs of the American people,
national, state and local, and is the advocate and supporter of all measures for
the general good..

Socially Mr. Kimbrough is a Mason, becoming such in 1879, and since 1877
has been a member of the Knights of Honor. He was married September 14,
1876, to Julia C. Tincher, daughter of the late John L. Tincher, the founder of the
banking firm of Tincher & English, whose institution later became known as the
First National Bank, of Danville. Senator Tincher was a warm personal friend
of Governor Palmer, and was a leader in public affairs in Illinois. He served for
a number of years as a member of the general assembly, was a member of the
constitutional convention of 1870, which framed the present organic law of the
state, and was serving as state senator at the time of his death, which occurred
in the Revere House, at Springfield, Illinois, in December, 1871. He was a
very successful and active business man, and was intimately connected with all
public enterprises of Danville and this locality. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Kimbrough
was born an only son, Robert T., who died at the age of nine years, leaving a
place in the household that can never be filled. This is the only great shadow

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 891

that has ever fallen upon their home, which is a most happy one. Mr. Kim-
brough is a man of the most unflinching honesty and honor, whose course in life
lies in the path of justice. By some he is regarded as an austere man, but his
intimate friends know of his genial temperament, kindly disposition and ready
sympathy. His habits are studious and reason sways all his acts. Such a man
is a credit to the community, and his worth is appreciated by all who come into
contact with his work and life.

Seymer G. Wilson is a distinguished lawyer of pronounced ability, residing
at Danville, Illinois, he having been a member of the Vermilion county bar for
twelve years. He was born near Harrisburg, in the county of Pickaway, Ohio,
on the first day of March, 1858. In October, 1862, he came with his parents
in a covered wagon to Vermilion county, Illinois, where he has since resided.
The day they arrived in Illinois, his father's family and property consisted of
a wife, four little children, a few household goods, an old team of horses and
fifty-six dollars in money, and thus equipped they began the battle of life. His
parents were farmers, and he remained with them upon the farm until he was
of age. It seldom falls to the lot of a boy to face grim necessity more severely
than he did. His father was a renter and frequently moved from farm to farm
in the county. During the winter months, after the autumn work was done,
he attended the district school, where a studious nature fitted him for teach-
ing, which calling he entered upon at the age of twenty-one, and followed for
four years.

Speaking for himself, he said: ''I acquired more of my education at home,
studying with myself for a teacher, of nights, on Sundays and rainy days than
I did in the short terms of school that I attended. The last two years that I
taught school I also read law under the direction of the firm of Mann, Calhoun
& Frazier, of Danville. At the end of that time, after having taught fourteen
months of country school, I passed an examination at Springfield with a grade
of eighty-five per cent, and was admitted to the practice of my chosen profes-
sion in May, ,1882."

Through the kindness of Hon. J. G. Cannon and Colonel W. J. Calhoun, he
was appointed to a clerkship in the war department, at Washington, D. C., in
August, 1882, which position he held for five years, and during that time he
completed the course and was graduated at the National Law University of that
city, being endowed with the highest degree that can be acquired .in any law
college in America, that of Master of Laws, receiving his diploma from the
hands of Chester Allen Arthur, who was then chancellor of the university. In
December, 1887, he returned to Danville, where he opened an office and has
ever since remained. His merits as a lawyer were soon recognized, and his
practice, then commenced, has steadily increased, until to-day his firm of Wil-
son, Buckingham & Kent have as large a practice as any law firm in the
county, if not larger, much important litigation being entrusted to their care.
The bar and the public, both severe in their criticism of one who would essay
legal prominence, have passed favorable judgment upon him, and he can well
look back over the path he has trod and say, "Labor bringeth its reward.'-'

892 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

In 1892 Mr. Wilson was elected prosecuting attorney of Vermilion county,
and again chosen in 1896 to the same position, being the only man that has
ever been able to succeed himself in that office in that county. He has carried
the same energy and determination into the duty of prosecuting violators of
the laws that have marked his other efforts in life. The result has been an
almost unbroken line of, "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty." The rec-
ords of the county show that out of twenty-two men and women prosecuted by
him, up to the date of this sketch, for homicide, eighteen have been convicted.

Mr. Wilson was married December 28, 1893, to Miss Gertrude Kent, a
daughter of one of the old and substantial families of Danville. He is a man
of pleasant disposition, ever ready to extend a favor to a friend, and equally
ever ready to punish an enemy. His steady habits and high moral character
command the respect of all who know him. In politics he is a Republican, and
is much sought after in that community during campaign time as a speaker at
Republican meetings. He is a man of marked ability, strong in character, a
close student of men, possessing a very determined and aggressive nature, to-
gether with a wonderful amount of energy. He seldom quits any proposition
that he becomes interested in until he sees it successfully terminated. He is a
free and quick thinker, with a ready command of language, and at times in de-
bate rises to rounds of forcible and convincing eloquence that carries his jury
or his audience along with him in perfect accord. He is one of the promising
lawyers of the state.

Morton W. Thompson, county judge of Vermilion county, has been a
member of the bar of Danville for fifteen years. He was born on a farm in
Oak wood township, this county, May 23, 1858, his parents being John R. and
Elizabeth A. (Wright) Thompson. The father was born in Greene county,
Pennsylvania, April 12. 1830, and in 1850 came to Illinois, driving three thou-
sand sheep. From that time until his death he continued to make his home in
Vermilion county, where on the 27th. of November, 1856, he married Miss
Wright, who was born in the county, December 26, 1837. She was of German
descent and Mr. Thompson was of Scotch-Irish lineage. He carried on agri-
cultural pursuits throughout his business career, and died in Fithian, Ver-
milion county, September 3, 1895.

Judge Thompson acquired his elementary education in the country schools,
supplemented by a four-years course in the Danville high school, where he was
graduated in the class of 1879. He then engaged in teaching for two years,
and in 1881 entered the law department of the University of Michigan, in which
institution he was graduated with the degree of LL. B., in 1883. He then
opened an office in Danville, and continued in the active practice until elevated
to the bench. He was always alone in business with the exception of the years
1888, 1889 and 1890, when he was associated in a law partnership with Hon.
W. J. Calhoun, the present interstate commerce commissioner, under the firm
name of Calhoun & Thompson. On the 27th of July, 1897, he was elected
county judge, and was the successful Republican nominee for re-election in No-
vember, 1898. So ably has he discharged the duties of the office and so popular

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 893

is he in the county that the Democrats placed no opposing candidate in the
field, 'knowing that his nomination was equivalent to an election. For some
years he has been an active factor in politics in Vermilion county, and has
served as secretary of the county committee for ten years, his capable man-
agement, sagacity and executive ability contributing not a little to the party
successes which have been registered. In 1890 he was special agent of the
census department for taking the mortgage indebtedness of Utah.

Judge Thompson was married in Danville, Illinois, November 30, 1887,
to Miss Mary W. Steen. He belongs to Olive Branch Lodge, No. 38, A. F. & A.
M., with which he has been connected five years, and is past master. He also
holds membership in Vermilion Chapter, No. 37; in the council; in Athelstan
Commandery, No. 45, K. T., and in Danville Lodge, No. 332, B. P. O. E.

George F. Coburn, one of the older members of the bar of Danville, Illi-
nois, began practice here in 1867, the year of his admission to the bar. He has
always enjoyed a fair clientage and commands the respect of his fellow mem-
bers of the bar. He was born in Brown county, Ohio, December 29, 1841, a
son of Francis D. and Nancy (Daulton) Coburn, who removed to Danville
when our subject was only two years old.

The success which Mr. Coburn has achieved in life is due entirely to his
own efforts, and he has justly won the proud American title of self-made man.
During his youth he worked on the farm, but while following the plow he
became imbued with the desire of entering professional life, and for him to will
was to do. He afterward engaged in teaching, during which time he spent all
his leisure hours in reading Blackstone, Kent and other commentaries and
authorities. His legal studies were directed by Judge Davis, and his earnest
application and mental alertness enabled him to successfully pass an examina-
tion for admission to the bar in 1867. He then opened an office in Danville,
where he practiced for four years. On the expiration of that period he re-
turned to the farm, but after a time again opened his law office, and in the course
of his practice has handled some very important litigation. In 1889 he was
elected justice of the peace and has since served in that capacity, being twice
re-elected. During this time he has disposed of over six thousand cases, doing
all the clerical work himself. He is a man of unbounded energy, of strong will,
and his perseverance and determination have enabled him to triumph over ob-
stacles which would have deterred most men. As an office-holder he is most
reliable and trustworthy, and has the confidence and esteem of the public and
of the legal fraternity.

Mr. Coburn has one daughter, Mrs. Lena C. Dibble, who is living in North
Stamford, Fairfield county, Connecticut. His entire life has been spent in or
near Danville, from the age of two years, and his circle of acquaintances and
friends in the community is very extensive.

Frank Lindley, a member of the bar of Danville, was born in Dublin,
Wayne county, Indiana, March 10, 1858, his parents being Osmond and Ach-
sah W. (Wilson) Lindley. The father was a graduate of the Friends' Boarding
School, now Earlham College, of Richmond, Indiana, and became a teacher,

894 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

pork-packer and farmer. His wife was also a graduate of the same school and
both were orthodox Quakers. In a little Quaker community the subject of this
review was reared, amid a Christian people of quiet habits and simple tastes, and
in his youth he never heard an oath or saw a playing card. He assisted in the
work of the home farm and acquired his education in the public schools of
Henry county, Indiana, and in Hopewell Academy, a high school conducted
by the Quaker church, in Hopewell, Indiana. He finished his course in 1873
and began teaching in 1874, when sixteen years of age. He afterward began
the study of law in the office of Thornton & Hamlin, of Shelbyville, Illinois,
and was admitted to the bar when twenty-one years of age. For about two
years he practiced in Shelbyville and then came to Danville, on the 1st of
May, 1881.

Mr. Lindley here formed a partnership with Frank W. Pennell, which con-
nection has continued with mutual pleasure and profit to the present time. Mr.
Lindley has always been a most indefatigable worker, prepares his cases with
the greatest precision and care, and his reading is never confined alone to the
obvious issue, but goes beyond and encompasses every possible contingency.
His arguments are always forceful, never fail to carry weight and seldom fail
to convince. He has the reputation of winning a greater percentage of cases
than any member of the Danville bar, and has tried every kind of suit from
those heard in the justice courts to those which come under the jurisdiction of
the supreme court. His devotion to his clients' interests is a recognized fact by
the public and this has prevented him taking an active part in political life.
He has made some campaign speeches in support of the men and measures of
the Republican party, frequently attends the judicial and congressional con-
ventions and was a delegate to the state convention of 1896, but has never
sought or desired political preferment for himself.

On the 25th of October, 1885, in Danville, Mr. Lindley was united in mar-
riage to Miss Jennie M. Gregg. Her father was a native of the north of Ire-
land, was educated for the Presbyterian ministry and when twenty years of
age left home, emigrating to Indiana. Mr. Lindley owns a pleasant home in
Danville and has recently invested much of his capital in farming lands, giv-
ing his personal supervision to the management of the same. His well directed
labors in the line of his profession have brought to him a creditable success.
Reared a Quaker, at the time of his marriage he became a member of the First
Presbyterian church of Danville, and is now serving as a member of its board of
trustees. 'Since attaining his majority he has been a member of the Odd Fel-
lows society, and for a number of years has been a member of the Knights of
Pythias fraternity. He is a man of positive nature, strong in his convictions
and firm in support of what he believes to be right, and this quality has won
him the confidence of the courts and has secured him many favorable verdicts.

George G. Mabin, of Danville, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, March
30, 1853, and is a son of Colonel Howard Mabin and Mary Lee Mabin. His
father was connected with the boating interests between Memphis and Vicks-
burg. When about seventeen years of age, the subject of this review came

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 895

to Illinois and after pursuing his education for a time in the graded school
entered the State University, where he completed his literary course. In 1875
he began the study of law with Captain Thomas Smith, of Champaign, Illinois,
as preceptor, and the following year became a student in the law office of the
firm of Lawrence & Townsend, of Danville.

In 1877 Mr. Mabin was admitted to the bar, and at once began practice in
Danville, where he has since enjoyed a fair share of the legal business of Ver-
milion county. For six years he served as city attorney, ably discharging the
duties of that position. He has been especially successful in the trial of dam-
age cases, and won the Corbett and Gernaur breach of promise case, in which
a verdict for over fifty-four thousand dollars was awarded. He is familiar with
the law in its various branches, and his practice has been of a general character,
demanding extensive knowledge of both civil and criminal law.

In his political affiliations Mr. Mabin is a Republican and has received the
nomination for state representative, but making no effort to secure the office
he failed of election. His interest centers in his profession and his home, the
latter presided over by his wife, who was formerly Miss Margaret Henderson,
of Danville. By their marriage they have two children, Gordon and Isabella.

George F. Rearick, a practitioner at the bar of Danville, is now serving
his third term as city attorney, and is an able and faithful officer. He came to
Danville in early manhood from Beardstown, Illinois, the city of his birth,
which occurred on the 3ist of March, 1863. His parents were J. W. and Eliza-
beth Rearick. When six years of age he entered school and continued the
perusal of the prescribed course until his graduation in the high school of his
native city. He attended college for two years at the Ohio Wesleyan Uni-
versity at Delaware, Ohio, and read law in the office and under the direction
of W. J. Calhoun, of Danville, diligently applying himself to the mastery of
the principles of jurisprudence. In January, 1888, he was admitted to the bar
and immediately opened an office in Danville, where he has since engaged in
practice. In 1889 he entered into partnership with Mr. Blackburn, then state's
attorney. In 1893 he was elected city attorney and by re-election has been
continued in that office up to the present time. He is careful and painstaking
in the preparation of his cases, and that he has discharged his duties without
fear or favor is shown by his election for the third time. In 1893 he was married
to Miss Grace Haggard, of Danville.

James C. Wood-bury is one of the younger members of the Danville bar,
but his years, however, seem no bar to his professional advancement. He
was born in this city in 1870, and is a son of James H. and Sarah Woodbury.
He acquired his literary education in the public schools of Danville, and in 1892
began reading law in the office and under the direction of E. R. E. Kimbrough.
For three years he pursued his studies, gaining a wide, comprehensive and ac-
curate knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, and was then admitted to
the bar in the year 1895. He immediately opened an office in Danville and is
rapidly building up a good practice, having now a clientage which many an
older attorney might well envy. He has a keenly analytical mind, applies the

896 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

principles of the law to the points in controversy with correctness, and in argu-
ment is logical, earnest and convincing. He has never aspired to public office,
preferring to devote his entire attention to his profession, and the qualities of
his mind and the salient points of his character are such that we may safely
prophesy for him a successful future.

Mr. Woodbury was united in marriage to Miss Mertie L. Foster. Long
residents of Danville they are widely known and the hospitality of the best
homes of the city is extended to them.

Clifton H. Moore, of Clinton, De Witt, county, was born October 26, 1817,
in Kirtland, Lake county, Ohio. His father's name was Isaac Moore, his
mother's Philena Blish Moore. His grandfather on his father's side was John
Moore, who was an old Revolutionary soldier, was in Fort Stanwix when it
was besieged by St. Leger, with his British regulars and Indians, and undoubt-
edly was saved by General Herkimer and his eight hundred Dutchmen. After
Burgoyne was taken he with his regiment, under Colonel Gansevort, was or-
dered south to join General Washington's army at or near New York city, and
was with him in all those masterly movements from New York to Yorktown
that culminated in the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the peace and inde-
pendence of the United States.

At an early day he came to Ohio, where he lived, in Kirtland and Chester,
then in Geauga county until he died, in 1845, aged about ninety-five years and
was buried in Chester. At the age of five years he was left an orphan, and was
apprenticed to an uncle by the name of Hyde, who lived near the line between
the states of Maryland and Delaware. He was engaged in fighting the Indians
and British for ten years; was in the Third New York Regiment, commanded
by Colonel Gansevort, and was afterward transferred to the First Regiment,
commanded by Colonel Goose Van Schaick. After his discharge from the army
at New Windsor, near West Point, he made some effort to find his brothers
and sisters, but at that early day, with no mail facilities and little money, he
never found but one sister. She had married a man by the name of Groome, and
from her he learned that his brothers had all gone to Virginia and Kentucky.

John Moore had two sons and four daughters, and all came to Ohio in 1811
and settled in Geauga or Cuyahoga county.

Isaac Moore was a fanner in comfortable circumstances, owning two hun-
dred acres of land in Kirtland, much of which he had cleared off himself. In
the winter of 1829-30, he exchanged this farm with the Mormons for a farm in
Warrensville, Ohio. This was the first farm bought by the Mormons of an
unbeliever, and the subject of this article can truthfully boast of seeing, as a
boy from ten to fifteen years old, most of the theological luminaries of that day
in Ohio, consisting of Hartwell. Badger, Rigdon, Alexander Campbell, his
father Thomas Campbell, Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, his father and all
his brothers; P. P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, and evangelists Bouchard, Finney and
Foote. Foote could beat Milton, Pollock or Dante in describing the torments
of the damned. It was his strong point and he loved to dwell on it and elaborate
their horrible sufferings until persons with strong imaginations acted as if they

ffit Klttmtf l'/ll>ti.-.Htltlf,\ i. Infill, Itllf It' llll,>lifl>

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 897

could smell the sulphurous fumes and hear the groans of those in torment. It
never entered his mind that the stronger he developed this characteristic of his
Deity the less there was in His character to be worshiped or respected. With
all these teachings and teachers before him, it should not surprise any one that
Mr. Moore has not joined any church, although he aids in supporting all.

He remained with his father, working on a farm and going to school win-
ters, until the spring after he was sixteen, when his father "gave him his time,"
as it was then termed, and he went to school at Bedford that summer, and con-
tinued to go to school in the summer and teach school in the winter until the
spring of 1839, when he decided to leave Ohio for either the south or west.
Fortunately for him he came to Illinois and about the first of May he landed
in Pekin, Tazewell county, Illinois, with less than five dollars in his pocket, ready
to do any kind of work that was respectable. Pekin at that time had much more
wealth than Peoria, although Peoria had the greater population and being on the
west side of the river was considered more healthful. The Markses, David and
Elijah, the Alexanders, father and two sons, and the Wagensellers and Gideon
H. Rupert, all active and energetic men, were very wealthy for that day. A
kindly feeling will be always entertained for the people of Pekin for the friend-
ship and assistance given to struggling poverty. After teaching in Pekin until
the spring of 1840 Mr. Moore was offered an opportunity to write in the court-
house at Tremont, by officers John H. Morrison and John Albert Jones. The
first was clerk of the county court and recorder of deeds, the latter clerk of the
circuit court and master in chancery; and Mr. Moore now remembers both
with a lively sense of gratitude. At this time he commenced reading law with
Messrs. Bailey & Wilmot, and in July, 1841, he was examined in open court
and by the court admitted to practice law. He must also be allowed to name
another friend who aided greatly by his advice and kind acts, Littleton T.
Garth, a merchant in Tremont.

In August, 1841, he came to Clinton, De Witt county, Illinois, then a town of
about twelve families, when he commenced his career as a lawyer and business
man, meeting such men at court as Abraham Lincoln, David Davis, Wells Colton,
Asahel Gridley, Edward Jones, Charles Emerson, Kirby Benedict and some
others twice a year, and with only three days in each term, and many times the
business was done in two days: Samuel H. Treat was judge of the court then,
and we think his circuit embraced the counties of Sangamon, Tazewell, McLean,
Livingston, Logan, De Witt, Piatt, Champaign, Vermilion, Edgar, Coles, Shel-
by, Christian and Macon. The judge started on his circuit early in the spring
and made the rounds and got back to Springfield early in June, and started again
in September and finished the circuit in November. Mr. Lincoln and David Davis
usually went the entire rounds with him. Mr. Moore made the acquaintance of
Judge Davis in the fall of 1841, but outside of the law they had no business tran-
sactions until 1847 ar "d 1848.

Land then in some cases could be bought for less money of eastern merchants
than of the government, and in 1852 the copartnership of Davis & Moore was
formed for the purpose of entering, buying and holding land, selling only enough
57

898 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

to pay debts; land not sold was rented and improved. This copartnership was
dissolved only by the death of the Judge, June 26, 1886. Judge Davis was the
best reader of the human face and character, and a man of the greatest executive
ability of all men, Mr. Moore says, that he ever saw. Rascality could not be so
diluted or covered up but that as a judge he could detect it. His ability to size
up the capacities of men and give each his proper place in all daily walks of life
was astonishing, and it was hoped by his friends at one period that he might be
made president.

The law has always had in Mr. Moore's life a very powerful rival. He early
saw how impossible it would be for any lawyer, in any of the small county seats,
to make more than a decent living by the pure practice of law ; a few in the large
cities can do it. It required no prophetic eye to see and know that the black soil
of Illinois would some day be very valuable. Upon that basis he has invested all
his spare means, in land. He has surveyed and entered in his time, mostly for
others, between seventy and seventy-five thousand acres of land in Illinois, Iowa
and Missouri. It was the only thing in which money could be made in central
Illinois.

Mr. Moore never held an office. He early learned that going around trying
to get people to vote for him was not in his line, and he now tells the young men
around him that if he had been given all the offices he wanted in his younger days
his note for ten thousand dollars would not have been taken at any bank ; and if
any young man wants to get rich he should never run for office. Against the
amount of abuse they will receive, the little money they get doesn't pay.

Mr. Moore is now past his eightieth birthday, able to attend to his business
regularly, goes to Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas once a year, to look after his lands
and decide upon improvements, and hopes to stay here for many years, having no
knowledge of any better place than Illinois.

William Booth, a respected citizen of Clinton, Dewitt county, is one of the
old residents of this county, as he has spent nearly his entire life within its borders,
and has been actively interested in everything tending to promote its welfare or
develop its industries and wealth. For nearly a score of years he has been suc-
cessfully engaged in the practice of law at the county-seat, and for three terms he
officiated as state's attorney, being elected to that responsible position in 1880
and twice re-elected, his last term expiring in 1892. He made a capable, trust-
worthy official and added new laurels to those he had already won in the private
practice of law.

The eldest of four children, William Booth was born April 24, 1849, in Cedar-
ville, Ohio, his parents being John and Rosa (Piles) Booth. His great-grand-
mother was a Harper, belonging to the family for whom Harper's Ferry was
named, and at one time the historic ferry was owned by them. John Booth was a
farmer by occupation, and, having heard gratifying stories of the fertility of the
Illinois prairies, he decided to remove west in 1850, and settled in De Witt coun-
ty, where he became "well-to-do and respected.

William Booth spent his boyhood upon the farm, learning the various duties
of agricultural life and receiving his elementary education in the district schools.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 899

He early imbibed the spirit of patriotism that pervaded the very air just prior to
the outbreak of the Civil war, and when the first shot was fired upon Fort Sum-
ter he was filled with longing- to go to the front and fight for the flag that had
been so outraged. Although he was not yet twelve years of age at that time he
was determined to enlist, and, as a drummer-boy, joined Company I of the One
Hundred and Forty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel
Lackey. It is believed that he was the youngest drummer boy who went to the
war from the state of Illinois. His education was completed in select schools
at Waynesville and in the Wesleyan University at Bloomington. In the last-
named institution he was graduated in 1874, and for the succeeding three years
he taught school, being principal at Waynesville for a portion of that period.
He next took up the study of law in the office of Orendorff & Creighton, of
Springfield, and, being admitted to the bar in 1879, began practice at once in
Clinton. He has conducted a general practice and has been alone in business,
virtually. In 1890 he married Miss Theresa Crang, of this city.

Hon. George K. Ingham. for a period of fourteen years, has ably and
creditably filled the position of county judge of De Witt county, winning the
favorable recognition of the bench and bar of this section of the state. His
decisions generally meet with the approval of those best qualified to pass cor-
rect judgment upon them. He is an earnest Republican in his political views
and is active and aggressive in promoting the interests of his party. In 1878
he was honored by being elected to the thirty-first general assembly of Illinois,
and served in that body for one term.

Born in the southern portion of Ohio, in Andersonville, Ross county, July
19. 1852, he is a son of Samuel and Nancy (King) Ingham. He was given
the advantages of a public-school education, which was supplemented by a
two-years course in the Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. The
family had removed to this state in 1858, and from that time to the present
Mr. Ingham has looked upon central Illinois as his home. In 1873 he decided
to enter the legal profession and to that end went to Ann Arbor, Michigan,
where he became enrolled as a student in the University of Michigan. Two
years later he was graduated in the law department of the college and for a
year or so thereafter he engaged in teaching. In the spring of 1876 he estab-
lished an office and began his chosen life-work in the town of Kenney, De Witt
county. Three years he continued in practice in that place, when, coming to
Clinton, he started in business. Since that time, 1879, he has been prospered
and his position as a lawyer has been assured. In 1883 he entered into partner-
ship with William Fuller, which association continued in existence, to the profit
and pleasure of both parties, until the death of Mr. Fuller, in 1894. In April,
1881, Mr. Ingham was appointed county judge and served in that capacity
until the expiration of his term in December, 1882. He was elected to the
office for a four-years term in 1886, was re-elected in 1890 and again in 1894,
being nominated by his party by acclamation each of those years, and also in
1898, at the time of this writing.

William Monson, for a period of twenty-three years has been established

900 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

in the practice of his profession in the town of Clinton, De Witt county. He
has been very active in public affairs, taking great and commendable interest in
all movements calculated to benefit the community in which he dwells, and
being concerned, likewise, in all things affecting the welfare of the country in
general.

The ancestors of Mr. Monson were New England people, noted for upright-
ness and sterling integrity. His parents, B. W. and Sabra (Bates) Monson,
were both natives of Connecticut, and the father is still living, his home being
in Clinton. He has reached a hale and hearty old age, having passed the eighty-
seventh anniversary of his birth.

William Monson was born in Madison county, Ohio, December 21, 1845, and
in his youth he acquired the rudiments of his education in the public schools
near his home. Subsequently his studies were continued in the Wesleyan Uni-
versity at Bloomington, Illinois, and in 1873 he entered upon the study of law
in the office of Fuller & Graham. He was duly admitted to the bar at Mount
Vernon in June, 1875, and at once established an office in Clinton, where he
has since been actively and successfully occupied in practice. For about one
year he was alone, after which he was a member of the firm of his former pre-
ceptors, Fuller & Graham, up to 1883, when the style was changed to Fuller
& Monson. In the year following G. K. Ingham was admitted to partnership,
the firm style becoming Fuller, Monson & Ingham. Thus it remained for
three years, when Mr. Monson withdrew and associated himself in business with
George B. Graham during a period of four years. Nearly a year of this time,
however, Mr. Monson was absent in California, and when he returned from
that land of sunshine and flowers he joined R. A. Lemon, and together they
conducted business for about two years, since which Mr. Monson has been
alone. The various firms with which he has been associated for about a quarter
of a century have handled a large proportion of the legal cases of this county
and have been considered representative exponents of the law.

Prior to 1872 Mr. Monson was affiliated with the Republican party, and
in 1876 he voted for Peter Cooper. During the Centennial year he himself
made the race for the state's attorneyship on a combined ticket, and from 1875
to 1877 h ne ^ * ne ornce f city attorney here. In 1896 he ran for the county
judgeship against Ingham, and from 1882 to 1886 he was chairman of the Demo-
cratic central committee of this county.

In 1869 Mr. Monson married Miss Hattie Hutchins, of De Witt county,
and two sons and a daughter bless their union. Mrs. Monson is a daughter
of John D. Hutchins, a prominent and wealthy farmer of De Witt county.

CHAPTER L.

THE BENCH AND BAR OF KANE COUNTY

THE county commissioners, at their meeting held in September, 1836, select-
ed grand and petit jurors for the first term of the Kane county circuit court.
The first term of the circuit court was held at Geneva, in James Her-
rington's log house, on the igth of June, 1837, Judge John Pearson presiding.
A. P. Hubbard acted as clerk pro tern, and B. F. Fridley was sheriff. The first
jury trial at this court was that of John Wilson et al. versus Thomas Wilson,
for trespass. The jury found the defendant guilty and assessed the plaintiff's dam-
ages at $4,160.66, an amount probably equal to all the money in circulation in
the county at the time. The calendar at that term was large, most of the actions
being for trespass. The grand jury presented five indictments, two for riot and
three for larceny; the rioters were fined five dollars and costs each at the fol-
lowing September term. Much of the business of this grand jury and of the
first term of court was with claim-jumpers and house-burners. A couple of these
worthies were in examination before the jury, and one of its members, Mr. Van
Nortwick, became so disgusted with the testimony that he impatiently blurted
out, "Gentlemen, you can think what you please, but I believe these fellows

swear to a d d lie, both of them." It was a favorite scheme with some of

these claim-jumpers to come from somewhere down the river, engage to do
a job of plowing for a settler, and after having plowed two or three acres drive
off and sell the claim to another party. These rascally proceedings did not
always result healthfully for the perpetrators.

At this term of court Mark W. Fletcher was appointed clerk in place of
Hubbard, who resigned after the first day. It is said that not a single lawyer
was then living within the limits of Kane county. Alonzo Huntington was the
state's attorney in attendance on the court. Selden M. Church had been ap-
pointed clerk originally, but removed to Rockford before court was held, and
Mr. Hubbard received his appointment from Judge Ford September 21, 1836.
This first term of court lasted three days, during which time there were five
jury trials, four changes of venue granted, fourteen judgments rendered,
amounting to five thousand four hundred dollars, twenty suits continued and
five dismissed; therefore it seems the pioneers dabbled quite extensively in
legal proceedings, and usually for cause. It is recorded that Jacob B. Mills
and H. N. Chapman were at this term granted the privilege of practicing as attor-
neys in the court. On the second day John Douglass, by birth a Scotchman,
renounced his allegiance to the British government and swore fealty to that of
the United States.

In September, 1837, the second term of the court was held by Judge Thomas.

901

902 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Most of the settlers attended the terms of court, it is said, either as jurors,
parties to suits or witnesses, or merely as spectators. Besides the suits brought
on account of conflicting claims to lands, there was much trouble and litigation
over prairie fires, carelessly kindled. These were, in the language of an eminent
member of the bar and formerly a practitioner of the Kane county courts, "an
annual terror," and caused great destruction of property. When Mark W.
Fletcher was clerk of the courts he had a Bible upon which to swear witnesses,
and on one side of it was a cross, while a dollar embellished the other side, the
witness having his choice of objects to swear upon. Mark W. Fletcher is still
living and retains his faculties in a marked degree and bears the distinction of
being the oldest living graduate of Dartmouth College.

The first judge of the circuit court, for the district which included Kane
county, was John Pearson, and the second Thomas Ford, who was in 1842
elected governor of the state. Hon. B. C. Cook has said of him: "He was
one of the best circuit judges I ever knew." He was succeeded by Judge Caton,
and the latter by Judge T. Lyle Dickey. Previous to 1852 the prosecuting
attorneys of the district were Xorman H. Purple, afterward a judge of the
supreme court, and one of the ablest attorneys in the state; Seth B. Farwell,
B. F. 1-ridley and Burton C. Cook, the last named holding from 1846 to 1852,
and attending every term of the court held in the county. He succeeded Mr.
Fridley, during whose term the courts were called upon to take in hand the
work of suppressing a class of criminals such as are found at some period
troubling the settlers in all new countries. Concerning this momentous period
Mr. Cook says: "During the term of Mr. Fridley as prosecuting attorney, and
for a part of my term, the northwestern part of the state was infested by a most
dangerous and wicked association of outlaws, thieves and counterfeiters, such
as are often found upon the frontiers of civilization, having grips, signs and
passwords whereby they could identify each other, and bound by oaths to pro-
tect each other. 1 hey were the enemies of society, unscrupulous and brutal. The
citizens of De Kalb and Ogle counties organized bands of regulators to protect
themselves and their property. Mr. Campbell, the captain of the regulators,
was shot at his own house, at White Oak Grove, and then the citizens followed,
captured and shot some of the more notorious of the gang, and it was finally
broken up in this section. The able and efficient prosecution by my friend,
Mr. Fridley, was greatly appreciated by the bar and by the citizens generally at
the time, and was greatly instrumental in freeing the country from the presence
of evil-doers. The indignation excited by the torturing death of Colonel Daven-
port, at Rock Island, caused such persistent and hot pursuit of the rascals, and
the execution of so many of them, that the gang was wholly suppressed."

The main trouble with these desperate outlaws was in the region lying along
the Rock river and its tributaries, which was settled by a much less desirable
class than that which for the most part peopled the Fox river valley; but the
records show that even in Kane county there was more or less difficulty with
them. Their principal acts of outlawry consisted of horse-stealing, and they
were adepts at the business. At the April (1848) term of the circuit court two

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 903

men, Ames and Holmes, were convicted of stealing a span of horses from
William Lance, of Blackberry, and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in
the penitentiary at Alton, whither they were taken by Sheriff Spaulding. In
September of the same year the county commissioners passed an order offering
a reward, not exceeding fifty dollars, for the apprehension and conviction of
each person found guilty of stealing a horse, mare or mule, within the limits of
Kane county.

Very comical incidents sometimes occurred in the court, human nature
then being much the same as at the present day. During the December term, in
1858, a couple of rival horse-doctors on the witness stand made considerable
sport for the spectators. One of them solemnly- swore to his positive knowledge
of a disease among horses called the red belly-ache, while the other as solemnly
and earnestly swore there was no such thing, and both adhered tenaciously
to their belief, defending their positions with much loud talk and many emphatic
gestures.

The probate judge originally was simply a probate justice of the peace, who
was his own clerk, and conducted the- business of his office without the presence
of the sheriff or his bailiff. Archibald Moody, of St. Charles, died July 27, 1836,
and the first recorded act of the probate court was the granting of letters of
administration to his widow, Lydia C. Moody, by Mark Daniels, probate jus-
tice, on the 6th of June, 1837. The bonds of the administratrix were two
thousand dollars, with Gideon Young as surety. The first will probated was
that of Warren Tyler, also of St. Charles. It was dated September 10, 1837,
and proved and admitted to record November i, 1837, by Isaac G. Wilson, who
had succeeded Daniels as probate justice. The first letters of guardianship were
issued to Moses Selby, as guardian of Rebecca Gillespie, November 5, 1838. The
seal of this probate court is described as a "copper block, with a weeping willow
and tombstone, emblematic in those days, of grief for the dead." In 1849, under
the new constitution, the probate justices gave place to the county court, of
which Isaac G. Wilson, the well known circuit judge, was elected first judge, with
James Herrington as county clerk. Judge Isaac G. Wilson died June 8, 1891.
The present circuit judge is Henry B. Willis, of Elgin, and Charles A. Bishop, of
Sycamore, and George W. Brown, of Wheaton, complete the circuit. Judge
Wilson and James Herrington were elected in November, 1849, commissioned
in December, and held the first term of the county court in January, 1850, begin-
ning on the loth of the month. Of this court Andrew J. Walclron and Marcus
White were associate justices. Among other business transacted was the grant-
ing of grocers' licenses i. e., licenses for the sale of liquors to John D.
Wygant, of Batavia, and William G. Webster, of Geneva, the charge for the same
being twenty-five dollars each.

When the original charter of the city of Aurora was granted by the legisla-
ture, in 1857, it was given an addendum providing for a city court at that
place, and A. C. Gibson was chosen the first judge. Elgin copied and adopted
the Aurora charter, and a city court was also created at that place, of which C. H.
Morgan was the first judge. By the terms of these charters, the expenses of

904 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

the courts were to be met by their respective cities. An act was passed in 1859
providing that the same judge should preside over both courts, and the two
were consolidated under the title of the court of common pleas of the cities of
Aurora and Elgin. The bulk of business was transacted in the Aurora branch.
In 1870, when the new state constitution was framed and adopted, a clause was
inserted similar to that in the constitution of 1848, by which Kane county is
entitled to have a city court, with terms held at Elgin and Aurora. The judge
of this court was Hon. A. H. Barry, of Elgin. Russell P. Goodwin, of Aurora,
succeeded Judge Barry, and is now presiding judge. Several attempts have been
made to abolish the court, but a necessity for its continuance seemed to exist,
and the efforts proved futile.

The judicial district embracing Kane county has been remarkably fortunate
in its choice of men to occupy the bench. Judge Ford, in his subsequent career
as governor of Illinois, won an enviable reputation by his upright and straightfor-
ward administration of the affairs of the commonwealth. Judge John Dean Caton
was for many years an honored resident of La Salle county, and Judge Dickey,
who was from the same county, has also passed to that higher court whose Judge
is ruler of the universe, his death having occurred July 22, 1885. His duties as
circuit judge were admirably discharged, and his marked ability was evident
in his career as a judge of the supreme court of Illinois. Judge Pearson was
judge of the seventh judicial circuit, Kane county being in the sixth, and held
court several times in said county. Judge Jesse B. Thomas belonged in what
was then the first circuit, and Judge Caton was a justice of the supreme court
at the same time his services were rendered in the Kane circuit. His first term
here began August 25, 1842. Hon. Isaac G. Wilson's first term of the Kane
county circuit court began August u, 1851, Phineas W. Platt being, at the time,
state's attorney.

Judge Wilson was a native of Miclcllebury (now Wyoming) county, New
York, and the son of an eminent lawyer and judge. He was graduated at
Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1838, and removed at once
to Chicago, whither his father had shortly before preceded him. He began
the study of law under Butterfield & Collins, then prominent Illinois practi-
tioners. About a year later he entered the law school at Cambridge, Massachu-
setts, in 1841 was admitted to the Massachusetts bar; and 'returned to Illinois
and began practice at Elgin in August of that year. He was elevated to the
bench in 1851, holding through subsequent elections for about seventeen years.
In 1867 he removed to Chicago, remaining until 1871, when he lost his valuable
law library in the great fire. He finally returned to Kane county, locating at
Geneva, and became one of the judges of the twelfth judicial circuit. He died
in 1891, as has already been noted. The characteristics of Judge Wilson were
remarkable industry, strict integrity and opposition to needless litigation, and
the delays which are so vexatious in most courts. He was regarded as one
of the ablest lawyers in the country, and during his years upon the bench was
several times chosen to represent his district in the appellate court.

Hon. Silvanus Wilcox, who succeeded Judge Wilson in 1867, is a native

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 905

of Montgomery county, New York. He was a cadet at West Point for two
years, beginning in April, 1836, but was obliged to resign on account of ill
health, standing fifth in merit in a class of fifty. He spent five months in the
west, in 1840, finally locating in Elgin in 1844, where the next year he was
appointed postmaster by President Polk, holding this office during the latter's
administration. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, and in 1867 elected judge
of the twenty-eighth judicial circuit, comprising the counties of Kane, Du Page
and Kendall. He was re-elected in 1873, but resigned in 1874 because of poor
health, his resignation being received with regret by the judiciary of the state.

Judges Wilson and Wilcox are the only citizens furnished by Kane county
for the circuit bench of the district, but those from other counties who have
performed its duties have been men of marked ability and high standing in the
profession. Judge Hiram H. Cody, of Du Page, was no exception to the rule,
and Judges Charles Kellum and Clark W. Upton, the associates of Judge Wilson,
stood also in the front rank. Judges Kellum, Upton and Wilson retired from
the bench at the June election in 1890, and Henry B. Willis, George W. Brown,
and Charles A. Bishop comprise the bench of this circuit at the present time.

Although numerous murders have been committed in Kane county, and
some of them of the most diabolical character, but one man has been legally
executed for his crime within the limits of the county. At the February term
of the circuit court, in 1855, John Collins \vas convicted of murder, for having,
while intoxicated, killed his wife. He was sentenced to be hung, and the
penalty was inflicted upon him by Sheriff Spaulding.

There have been several noted murder cases in the county, among them
the following: April 3, 1868, Mjrs. Mary Widner, second wife of Adam Wiclner,
was found to have been murdered. The crime was laid to John Ferris and wife,
who rented part of the Widner house, and with whom there had been a dispute
and one or two lawsuits. The trial was held at Woodstock, McHenry county,
and ended early in April, 1869, with a verdict of acquittal for Mrs. Ferris and
a sentence of .fourteen years in the penitentiary for the husband, who was proved
to be undoubtedly guilty. Rev. Isaac B. Smith was tried in the fall of 1869
for the alleged drowning of his wife in a creek between Elgin and Turner Junc-
tion. The trial was long and excited great interest, but a verdict of not guilty
was reached in November. The Kimball case, tried in the circuit court in the
fore part of May, 1881, was for the fatal wounding of Billings Wright by
William Kimball, in the car shops at Aurora, October 22, 1886, while the latter
was intoxicated. Wright died of his wounds in November following. The jury
found Kimball not guilty, on the plea of emotional insanity. On Sunday, June
i, 1884, Otto John Hope, a German farmer, residing in Sugar Grove township,
was killed and his hired man, Ed. Steinburn, dangerously wounded during a dis-
pute over the feeding of some of Hope's cattle on the highway. Ozias W.
Fletcher and his son Merritt W. were the guilty parties, the shooting being done
with a revolver. The trial which ensued was intensely bitter, and resulted in
sending the senior Fletcher for three years to Joliet, and sentencing the young
man to death. Steinburn, the principal witness, recovered and went to Europe,

900 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

and, finally, after Merritt Fletcher had been confined in jail three years, he suc-
ceeded in having his sentence commuted to three years in the penitentiary,
making an incarceration of six years. A fiendish murder was committed at
Elgin March 3, 1883, when George Panton shot and killed his tenant, William
Smith, in consequence of a dispute over the occupation of a house belonging to
Panton. It was shown that the murder was deliberate and cold-blooded and
unprovoked. Panton was arrested and was tried, on a change of venue, in the
Boone circuit court, the jury finding him guilty of murder in the first degree,
and the judge sentencing him to be hanged. He was granted a new trial and a
second time sentenced, but Governor Oglesby commuted his sentence to impris-
onment for life in the penitentiary. He was accordingly sent to Joliet, where he
eventually became insane, and in the spring of 1887 he was removed to the
asylum at Elgin.

Few books upon legal matters existed in the early circuit, and Hon. B. C.
Cook describes the lawyers who "rode the circuit" as strong men, dependent
more upon their own intellectual strength than upon books." The bulk of busi-
ness in the early courts was transacted by lawyers outside of the county, among
whom were J. J. Brown, of Danville ; Leslie Smith and J. D. Butterfield, of Chi-
cago ; Jonathan K. Cooper, Onslow Peters and Lincoln B. Knowlton, of Peoria ;
Judge Dickey, of Ottawa, and others. B. C. Cook was also from Ottawa, al-
though he practiced to a great extent in the Kane county courts. When first
known in the profession here he was a young man just entering upon his public
career. From 1846 to 1852, as stated, he was prosecuting attorney of the dis-
trict, and it has been said of him that he was a terror to all criminals, who, in
their own language "would rather have the devil after them than that young,
pleasant, smiling, white-headed Cook." Mr. Cook was elected afterward to the
state senate, and later served several terms in congress. He was a delegate from
Illinois to the peace congress, to arrange a settlement with the southern states,
when they were about going out of the Union, and he took a bold and decided
stand in favor of upholding the constitution, and preserving the Union at all
hazards. He subsequently served many years as the chief attorney for the Chi-
cago & Northwestern Railway, with headquarters at Chicago.

Among the first lawyers to locate in Kane county were Caleb A. Bucking-
ham and H. N. Chapman, at Geneva, about 1837, and S. S. Jones, at St. Charles.
Buckingham was a young lawyer of fine promise, who acquired some promin-
ence in his profession and in other directions, but he was cut off by death about
1841, at Chicago. Chapman married and removed, it is thought, to Racine, Wis-
consin. Jones had visited the region in 1837, and in 1838 located with his
family at St. Charles, coming by way of Naperville. He had been admitted to
the bar at Montpelier, Vermont, about 1835, and opened an office upon his arrival
at St. Charles. He became a prominent attorney, but finally relinquished the
profession to engage in newspaper publishing, his death occurring some years
since in Chicago. He was the first lawyer to locate in St. Charles. A. R.
Dodge is said to have hung out his shingle at Aurora as early as 1837. He was
a good speaker and a man of considerable ability, and at a later date was sent to

THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS. 907

the legislature from Kendall county. Orsamus D. Day settled at Aurora in 1839,
and in the following year published his professional card in the nearest news-
paper the Joliet Courier. He died in the fall of 1861, having been elected
mayor in 1860.

Among the early lawyers and well known residents of Geneva were William
B. Plato, who removed there from Aurora; Joel D. Harvey, who subsequently
became a prominent citizen of Chicago ; and Charles B. Wells, who won fame not
only as a lawyer but as a soldier.

Edward E. Harvey was an honored pioneer lawyer of Elgin, who volunteered
at the breaking out of the war with Mexico and gave his life for his country
during that struggle.

Paul R. Wright, a native of Oneida county, New York, moved to Illinois
in 1837, when eighteen years of age. He taught school five years and during
that time studied law. In 1844 he entered the office of E. E. Harvey, at Elgin,
was admitted to the bar a year later, and opened an office in that place. In 1856
he was chosen circuit clerk on the Fremont ticket, and removed to Geneva. At
the expiration of his term he resumed practice, but moved in 1862 to a farm in
Union county, and thence, in 1874, to Jonesboro, where he again entered practice.
Charles H. Morgan, the first judge of the Elgin court of common pleas, became
subsequently a United States judge in one of the territories, and was a very able
lawyer. His residence was also at Elgin. Edmund Gifford, one of the early
lawyers of Elgin, was well and favorably known for his legal ability, and became
in after years a judge at New Orleans, Louisiana.

William D. Barry, who had been admitted to the bar in Henry county,
Ohio, in 1836, located at St. Charles in the spring of 1840, and was long the
Nestor of the bar of Kane county. He continued in active practice until the
weight of years rendered it necessary for him to retire. He was long judge of
the Kane county court. During the early days of his residence here he con-
ducted many hard criminal trials, among them being the defense of Taylor
Driscoll, of Ogle county, for the alleged murder of one Campbell, during the
dark days of horse-stealing and kindred crimes. Driscoll was tried at Wood-
stock, McHenry county, on a change of venue, and through Judge Barry's
efforts was acquitted. Judge William D. Barry died at St. Charles, January 27,
1892, aged more than eighty years.

Joseph W. Churchill, a young resident of Batavia, was one of the first
lawyers in the county, coming to Batavia in 1835, and was elected to the state
senate the following year. In 1837 he was chosen to a position on the board of
county commissioners, and was otherwise prominent. About 1853 he removed
to Davenport, Iowa.

A good story of practice in the early days was related a number of years
since by Henry B. Pierce, now deceased. It seems that Churchill's estimate of
his own ability was very great. A. M. Herrington, whom everybody knew as
"Gus," was then a law student in the office of Ralph Haskins, Esq., at Geneva,
and had access to the latter's fine library. He had picked up many points in
law. and was especially familiar with the decisions and opinions in "Coleman on

908 THE BENCH AND BAR OF ILLINOIS.

Contracts." He had been engaged to try his first case before Squire McNair,
in Blackberry precinct, one in which suit had been brought for breach of con-
tract. He took along his book, but hid it under a fence before entering the
judicial presence. He had walked from Geneva, carrying his brogans over his
shoulder until he had nearly reached his destination, when he stopped and put
them on. The aforesaid Churchill was opposed to "Gus'' in the case. After
the. evidence was heard, Herrington claimed a verdict by virtue of the law,
which he quoted after bringing his authority into court. Churchill claimed the
case for the plaintiff, stating that the law as read by the defense was not applicable
to the case at all, and that the mere boy who had offered it had no educational
advantages, and could not be expected to know the law or its application.
Churchill sounded his own trumpet after the following manner : "May it please
the court, my father spent a thousand dollars to give me a collegiate education
and fit me for the bar. and of course I ought to and I do know the law in this
case." After Churchill had finished his plea and taken his seat, young Herring-
ton arose and said : "May it please the court, the counsel for the plaintiff has
stated to you that his father spent one thousand dollars to give him an education.
Now I submit to the court and the jury that in view of the facts proven in this
case and the bearing of the law thereon, it was a mighty poor investment, and
would have paid better put into wild land at one dollar and fifty cents an acre."
The jury rewarded the young counsel by deciding the case in favor of the defense,
and his first legal fee was paid him, two new five-franc pieces, which he
coolly placed in the pockets o