200 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio he became counsel and resident director of the Illinois Central railroad, with his home at Chicago, which position he held until March, 1859, when he resigned and retired to private life. He was a scholarly man and student, not only of his profession, but also of science and general literature, and was prompt in the discharge of every duty. His legal ability is evidenced by the Ohio supreme court reports, and he possessed in a high degree the respect and esteem of his fellow members of the bench and bar and the confidence of the people generally. He died at Sandusky, Ohio, June 12, 1866. Judge Lane was succeeded on the bench of the common pleas court by David Higgins, also of Norwalk, who held the office of president judge for the full term of seven years, from 1830 to 1837. He was a man of fine personal appearance and of good ability, a firm believer in a strict construction of the law, would brook no opposition. As a result of this, his relations with his legal associates and the public were not so harmonious as those of his predecessor. His ability and integrity, however, were unquestioned. In the winter of 1837 his term came to a close and he retired to private life. Ozias Bowen, of Marion, the successor of Judge Higgins, held the office of president judge four terms, or fourteen years, until the judicial system under the Constitution of 1802 was superseded by that of the Constitution of 1851. Judge Bowen was born at Augusta, New York, July 1, 1805. He was admitted to the bar at Canton, Ohio, in September, 1828, and soon after began practice at Marion. In 1856 he was appointed by Governor Chase a judge of the supreme court to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge C. C. Converse. The associate judges were generally of the same political party as the majority in the legislature at the time of their election. Yet the names of the judges in Crawford county show that it was an indispensable qualification that the men selected should be of such high standing and character that the people would have confidence in the court and respect its decisions. These men, although none of them were lawyers, received the title of judge. The first associate judge in this county was E. B. Merriman, elected in 1825, when Crawford was under the judicial supervision of Marion, the legislature electing two Marion men and one from Crawford. The next year Crawford was organized and its first three associate judges were elected on January 26, 1826, five days before the act was passed organizing the county. The following were the associate judges in Crawford county, with the dates of their election until this plan was abolished in 1851 by the adoption of the present constitution. Enoch B. Merriman, 1825-26. John Cary, 1826. John B. French, 1826. Jacob Smith, 1827. Abel Carey, 1829. Josiah Robertson, 1830. George Poe, 1833. Hugh Welsh, 1835-42. Samuel Kinsely, 1836-43. Andrew Failor, 1836-43. Robert W. Musgrave, 1845. Robert Lee, 1849. James Stewart, 1850. In the early days there were few lawyers in the little towns, and when court met and the judge arrived he was followed by a retinue of attorneys, who accompanied the court from town to town. Judge Lane's circuit at that time included land of northwestern Ohio ; the roads were bad sometimes, only trails ; many streams had, The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 201 to be forded and the lawyers carried their books from town to town. Once it is of record that in the fording of the heavily swollen stream the law library of the party was swept away. They entered towns sometimes covered with rain and mud, but with the fire and internal refreshments promptly served by the jovial landlord were soon made comfortable. Court days were great days for the little towns in those early times. It brought citizens in touch with the outside world, and every evening the tavern was crowded to listen to the latest stories and .hear the inside of all political developments. The first court was held in Lewis Cary's residence, in the lower front room ; and upstairs the jury was sent. If Sarah Cary's school was in session at the time education was suspended and justice held sway. Among the lawyers who followed Judge Lane on his rounds was Andrew Coffinberry, of Mansfield, known as "Count" Coffinberry on account of his dignity and faultless apparel. Then there was John Spink, the wit of the northwestern Ohio bar and a favorite with everybody. James Purdy and John M. May, of Mansfield, Charles L. Boalt, of Norwalk, Orris Parish, of Delaware and a few years later Charles Switzer, of the same place, as fastidious in dress as "Count" Coffinberry, and there being then a semblance of roads he used to arrive in state with a carriage drawn by two white horses. From Marion came Ozias Brown and James S. Godman. When the first court was held David H. Beardsley came over from Marion to act as temporary clerk on organization of the court. Zalmon Rowse was selected as clerk, and on the first meeting of the supreme court at Bucyrus, his qualifications were certified to and he became the first clerk of the court of the county. At the time the attorneys in the place were John H. Morrison, who was county treasurer, Isaac H. Allen, appointed the first prosecuting attorney, Michael Flick and Charles Standburg. No records are in existence of these early courts, as these were probably destroyed in the fire of 1831. The first record found in this county is of July term of 1832. With the supreme judges coming to Bucyrus were Joshua Collett and Ebenezer Lane, the latter having been elected a supreme judge by the legislature in 1830. Eight cases were heard here. The first court house had been completed, as the record states the court met in the court house. July was the month for meeting in Bucyrus, and in 1833 the judges attending were Joshua Collett and Reuben Wood, who heard nine cases. In 1834 Joshua Collett and Ebenezer Lane were the judges for eight cases ; 1835 Joshua Collett and Ebenezer Lane ; 1836 Ebenezer Lane and Reuben Wood ; 1837 same judges ; 1838 Peter Hitchcock and Frederick Grimkie. Zalmon Rowse was supreme court clerk with his bond fixed at $10,000. When the second term of common pleas court was held in Bucyrus the brick school house had been built and this was used for court purposes. If the case was to a jury, these gentlemen were escorted to some convenient room in the village, where they were locked up until they reached a decision, and in fine weather sometimes held their consultations in the woods back of the school house, the sheriff seated on a stump at some distance, keeping his eye on them. The first early records of the court are in 1834. Hon. David 202 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio Higgins was the presiding judge and his associates were Abel Carey, Josiah Robertson and George Poe. The first grand jury of which there is any record was composed of the following persons : David Ellis, foreman ; John Burwell, Emanuel Deardorff, David Marquis, Joseph Hart, William Arnold, Adam Beck, Isaac Cornell, James Higbee, William Scott, Robert Foster, Isaac Rice, Joseph S. Smith, William Cooper and William Robinson. At this term several cases were called and the papers were reported missing, and it is probable Judge Higgins, who was a trifle irritated, made some reflections on the clerk, for the next day the following appears on the court docket : "Personally appeared in open court Zalmon Rowse, who being duly sworn, doth depose and say that he is clerk of the court and that on the night of the 16th day of March, 1834 some person or persons entered the clerk's office of the court of common pleas and took from the proper place of deposit the files and papers belonging to the causes pending in court ; that the same have been taken beyond the reach or knowledge of the deponent, and he knows not whether such papers have been destroyed or what has become of them." Further, Zalmon Rowse tendered his resignation as clerk of the court, and the judge accepted it and reappointed him for another term of seven years, showing if he was irritable at times he was just. The record shows that thirteen cases were called and had to be continued on account of the records being stolen, so minor business was mostly handled. Waves had swept over the town against gambling, so a special grand jury was called to investigate the matter, and Samuel Norton was made the foreman and true bills were returned against six of the most prominent men in the village for gambling, and the next day they found six more, and followed it up with fourteen. A few were fined, but most of them acquitted, some of the cases being carried over for 'several terms. Several tavern keepers were fined $5.00 and costs fot selling liquor to the Indians, after which their licenses were renewed for another year. The court held three terms a year and the prosecutor was allowed $100 a year for his services, the sheriff and clerk each being allowed $60 a year. At this term of court a case was heard and damages of $25.00 allowed the plaintiff by the presiding judge. It is probable the law was very strongly in favor of the plaintiff, but the three associate justices had an idea that real justice was on the side of the defendant, and they reversed the verdict and found for the defendant, and further ordered that the plaintiff pay the costs. It is probable that Judge Higgins was indignant, as the next term of court shows the following entries : "Sept. 8, 1834—No quorum. George Poe adjourned court until next day at noon. John Moder well, sheriff." "Tuesday, Sept. 9—Carey and Poe present and adjourned until Wednesday at 10:00, when no quorum appeared and court adjourned without day." When the next term arrived the sheriff must have had his doubts as to whether the judge had recovered from his anger, as he summoned no jury. The court met on Monday, February 10, and there The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 203 being no quorum they adjourned until Tuesday. The next day Associates George Poe, Abel Carey and Hugh Welsh were there and they granted a new administration paper and adjourned until Wednesday, and that day the Hon. David Higgins showed up and proceeded to business by ordering the sheriff to secure a jury immediately, which he did, most of them Bucyrus men. The securing of a jury was no easy matter in those days and the records show instances of men being fined for ignoring the summons. A story is told of the county west of Craw ford in 1835. The county was sparsely settled, the farmers were busy and the sheriff had great difficulty in securing a jury. On the morning of the second day the judge opened the court and asked the sheriff if the jury was filled. The sheriff replied, "Not quite full yet, judge. I have eleven men locked up in the jail and my dogs and deputies are after the twelfth man." At the July term in 1836 the docket contains the entry, "Franklin Adams, admitted to the bar." Below is written in pencil, "Came from Mansfield, August, 1837." For seventy years he was a practitioner at the Crawford county bar. Several parties were tried for minor offenses and given five days confinement in the county jail on bread and water. The same term, when the spasm of reform swept over the city in regard to gambling, three men were brought before the court charged with horse stealing and were discharged. The first penitentiary case of which record is found was on September 29, 1838, when Ephraim Eaton admitted he was guilty of stealing a horse and was sentenced to the penitentiary at hard labor for three years and to pay the costs of the prosecution, amounting to $30.88. When practicing law in Bucyrus in the early days, Josiah Scott commenced a suit with the following lines, "Suit for trespass sent to justice." "This is to cause you for to summon "Lindsey Woolsey—what you call 'em ? "The crazy son of old Suitzholm, "to answer for his devlish tricks "of cutting sundry sticks of timber "on Sam Myer's land." Another case of Mr. Scott's was against John Luke. Seventy years ago Mr. Luke kept a tavern where the boundary road crosses the Sandusky river in Sandusky township. It was a popular resort and in the early days did a large business. In front of the tavern was the usual post and on top of it was the sign bar on which was painted a black horse, so it was known as the "Black Horse" tavern. One of the neighbors had trouble with Mr. Luke and hired Scott to conduct the case for him. The trial came off and it was a jury. One of the jurors was Resolved White, of Auburn township, who has handed down the story. In the course of his speech, Mr. Scott warmed to his subject with the following : "In six days God made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh he rested ; and then he took the scraps which he could not use in the formation of the earth or the animals that walked the earth, or the fishes of the sea, or reptiles that crawled upon the earth ; he moulded his refuse into a human form and with his fist he punched in two eyes and put on a nose, and he called it John Luke." Another similar case was in 1844, when a hog case was being tried 204 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio in the court house. The attorney for the prosecution was Jude Hall, of Upper Sandusky, the stealing having occurred in the Wyandot part of Crawford. In his speech to the jury he said, "Why, gentlemen of the jury, you may put one foot upon Hercules and the other upon Jupiter and lay your telescope astraddle of the sun and gaze over this wide creation and you can't find as mean a man as John Smith." This same gentleman, in a case at Bucyrus, thus alluded to the opposing counsel, "Why, your honor, he's a mere circumstance— a fabric—a ruta baga." A similar illustration occurred at Bucyrus years later. An important case was on, and John R. Clymer was one of the attorneys, and speaking of one of the young attorneys of the opposition, with a wave of the hand he brushed him aside with the remark, "He amounts to no more in this case than a fly on a flywheel." Josiah Scott once went to Osceola to try a case before Squire Tuttle, and after he had made his eloquent and convincing argument, as he thought, to the jury, the opposing counsel spoke of the effort of the future supreme judge in the following vigorous style, "The gentleman may roar like a salamander ; but my decisions are adamant, and must prevail." Of the early lawyers, Isaac H. Allen died in Bucyrus in 1828. John H. Morrison, soon after he left the treasurer's office, went to Findlay. He was a very fair lawyer, not one of the ablest in those early days, but had a keen tongue. At one time he was conducting a case in which he became very much interested, and after the evidence was all in he was satisfied he would lose, so he opened his remarks to the jury about as follows : "May it please the court, by the perjury of witnesses, the ignorance of the jury, and the corruption of the court, I expect to be beaten in this case." Here the judge, who was Patrick G. Goode, interrupted him with the remark, "What is that you say, Mr. Morrison ?" The latter cooly replied, "That is all I have to say—on that point," and he commenced his address to his ignorant jury. At another time he had a separation case where the wife had taken the child and the husband wanted it, so Morrison, for the husband, got out a writ of replevin, and the sheriff seized the child and two disinterested parties were appointed to appraise the value of it ; they failed to agree, and two more were appointed, with a like result. While the third set of appraisers were at work a brother of the mother of the child grabbed the infant, and mounting his horse, started away at full speed. Morrison gazed after the vanishing horseman and remarked : "There goes my case—I could replevin the devil out of hell, if I could only get appraisers to put a value on him." Charles Stanberg was known as the "linsey woolsey lawyer," as he appeared in court wearing a suit of that material. Both he and Michael Flick left at an early date. Josiah Scott arrived in June, 1829. One of his first cases was before Squire James Stewart, two miles east of Bucyrus. He walked out and back. His' client was Charles Bacon, and Scott asked him if he thought $1.50 was too much to charge for his services: Bacon thought not, and the charge was made, but Scott overlooked the collecting of the bill for years. He was a great student and at times very absent-minded. In 1840 he was a member of the legislature, and on one of his trips to Columbus, George Lauck; who was county treasurer, The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 205 gave him a package containing the money for his semi-annual settlement with the state treasurer. Reaching Columbus he took the package from his saddle bags and put it in his pocket before going in to breakfast. After he left the dining-room he found the money was gone. He hurried back and fortunately found the package under the table, it having slipped from his pocket. At another time he had business at Marion and he hung up his coat in the hotel office and went to bed. The next morning the coat was still there, but the pocketbook containing $500 was gone. Scott was a great friend of the Indians, who called him "Big Head," as he wore a No. 8 hat. He used to take part in their sports, and in all their cases he was their attorney. One of the Indians named a son Josiah Scott, and when the Wyandots went west in 1843 Josiah accompanied them. Mr. Scott was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1803 and graduated with high honors from Jefferson college, Pennsylvania, in 1821. He taught in that college, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He located at Bucyrus in 1829. When the war over the Michigan boundary came up in 1835, Mr. Scott raised a company, but the matter was settled by the courts and the company was not needed. In 1840 he represented the county in the legislature, and about 1851 went to Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, where he continued the practice of his profession. In 1856 he was appointed by Governor Chase a judge of the supreme court to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Ranney, and in October of the same year he was elected to serve the full term of five years, being subsequently re-elected in 1861 and 1866. He returned to Bucyrus in 1870 and at the close of his last term as judge resumed practice at the bar. In 1876 he was appointed by Governor Hayes as a member of the supreme court commission, a body composed of five judges, who in 1875 disposed of a part of the accumulated business then on the docket of the supreme court and having the same jurisdiction and power in respect to such business as the supreme court itself. Elected chief judge for one year by his associate members of the commission, he served ably in that capacity and subsequently remained a member of the commission until February 1, 1879, the close of its term. Judge Scott was an eloquent advocate and an able and learned lawyer and jurist. He was a man of excellent education and fine mathematician, and well read in the classics. He was, moreover, a Christian gentleman, an elder for years in the Presbyterian church, of genial disposition, sparkling wit, and endowed by nature with a fine presence. His active professional career covered a period of half a century, the great part of which time was spent in this community, and no man was better understood and more highly appreciated and esteemed. He died June 15, 1879. George Sweney was born near Gettysburg, Pa., in 1796. After graduating at Dickinson college he studied law and was admitted to the bar. Beginning about 1820 he practiced his profession for ten years at Gettysburg. In 1830 he came to Bucyrus, where he continued in his profession. He was elected prosecuting attorney, and while holding that office in 1836 was elected a member of Congress from the 14th Ohio district, being re-elected in 1840. In 1853 he removed to Geneseo, Illinois, but after an absence of three years returned and was again 206 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio elected prosecuting attorney. After his term in this office he retired from the bar. He died in Bucyrus, Ohio, October 10, 1877. Mr. Sweney was a man of fine assurance, honorable character and amiable manners. He was a good lawyer, but his tastes inclined him more to the study of science and literature than the practice of his profession, which was always more or less distasteful to him. He was plain and domestic in his habits and was never so well contented as when engaged in his favorite studies in the quiet retirement of his own home. John Smith came in 1832, but did not practice law until later. At first he kept a dry goods store on the west lot of where Quinby block now is. He was later elected justice of the peace and his offices were located in a frame building just west of Rowse block. He was a fine lawyer and did much in the way of conveyance, writing wills and settling estates. He was an exceedingly conscientious and upright citizen. He was a widower, and his daughter kept house for him. In August, 1837, Franklin Adams located in Bucyrus and had his office opposite the court house, boarding when he first arrived with Samuel Norton, and when the Lutherans sold their property opposite the court house, in 1858, he bought the balance of the corner and built the brick building which was his office for so many years. In 1838 he was appointed prosecuting attorney, succeeding George Sweney, who had been elected to that office and re-elected for two more terms. He died in 1908, having been a member of the Bucyrus bar for over seventy years. John M. Armstrong practiced law in Bucyrus from 1838 to 1843. He was a graduate of Norwalk seminary and had studied his profession under Judge James Stewart, of Mansfield, and graduated at the Cincinnati law school. He was well educated and an accomplished man, but was partly Indian blood, his father, Robert Armstrong, who had been taken prisoner by the Indians, having married a quarter-blood Wyandot woman. In 1839 he was a Whig candidate for prosecuting attorney against. Franklin Adams, but was defeated. He moved west in 1843, with the Wyandot Indians, to where the town of Wyandot, Kansas, now stands. A few years later he died at Mansfield, where he had stopped for a visit while on his way back from Washington, having gone there on business in connection with the Indians. His wife was a daughter of Rev. Russell Bigelow, a prominent Methodist preacher in the early days. In the spring of 1844 the Bucyrus bar was strengthened by the addition of Lawrence W. Hall, who came here from Cuyahoga county. He was elected prosecuting attorney for the county ; he held that position by successive elections from October, 1845, to October, 1851. Under the new constitution he was elected a judge of the common pleas court and served in that office until February, 1857. He was a member of the national house of representatives, being elected in 1856. He subsequently continued the practice of law in Bucyrus until his death, January 18, 1863. Judge Hall was a successful practitioner and was a politician as well as a lawyer. He was kind and genial in disposition ; was very popular and was noted for his urbane manners while on the bench. Being associated with the party that was opposed to the prosecution of the war for the preservation of the Union, he was arrested in 1862 and for a number of weeks was nominally held as a political prisoner at Camp Mansfield, but allowed to go about on parole.   The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 207 Josiah S. Plants came from his father's farm in Liberty township to Bucyrus and worked at the trade of shoemaker, and while at work kept a law book beside him from which he studied. Later he was taken from his shoemaker's bench to teach in the schools. He then read law under Josiah Scott and was admitted to the bar and in 1844 began the practice of law in Bucyrus. In the fall of 1858 he was elected judge of the common pleas court for a five-year term begining February, 1859. He was distinguished for industry, honesty of purpose, devotion to his friends, affability to his clients, and earnestness and force as a public speaker. His promising career was unfortunately cut short, his death taking place August 23, 1863, as the result of wounds received by the accidental discharge of a gun while hunting in Indiana. Samuel J. Elliott began law practice at Bucyrus in August, 1857. In August of the following year he was appointed probate judge of Crawford county by Governor Chase to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of P. S. Marshall. -Mr. Elliott for a long time was the only Republican who ever held the office in the court house since the Republican party was formed. He held the office until October 18, 1858. When his successor was elected and qualified. In 1859 he removed to Wapakoneta, where he subsequently died. Abraham Summers commenced the practice of law in Bucyrus in 1850. He was elected prosecuting attorney for Crawford county in 1855, and was re-elected in 1857. He was afterwards twice elected probate judge in 1860 and 1863. Later he removed to Hicksville, Ohio, where he died. Abner M. Jackson, admitted to the bar in September, 1854, began practice in Bucyrus in 1855. He served as auditor of Crawford county and was elected prosecuting attorney of the county in October, 1859. In 1871 he was elected judge of the fourth sub-division of the third district of the common pleas court, composed of Crawford, Hancock, Marion, Seneca, Wood and Wyandot counties. In 1874 he resigned and removed to Cleveland, Ohio ; from there he went to Silverton, Colorado, where he died. Robert Lee, born in 1805 in Butler county, Pa., in 1823 removed with his father's family to Leesville, then in Richland county. In early manhood he was engaged in various business enterprises. In 1836 he was elected a member of the Ohio legislature for Richland county and was re-elected in 1837. For ten years, beginning with 1839 he held the office of justice of the peace. In 1849 he was elected by the legislature associate judge of the court of common pleas of Crawford county and held that office until February, 1852, when it was abolished by the new Constitution of the state. In 1853 he was elected state senator for Crawford, Seneca and Wyandot counties and was chosen president pro tem of the senate May 1, 1854, serving during the illness of Lieutenant Governor Myers. He was admitted to the bar by the supreme court May 3, 1854, but he devoted very little time to the profession of the law. For one term he served as mayor of Crestline. In 1869 he was elected probate judge of Crawford county, being reelected in 1872 and made his home at Bucyrus until his death. John Hopley came to Bucyrus in 1856 as superintendent of the union schools. He was admitted to the bar in 1858 ; began practice in partnership with A. M. Jackson. In 1862 he visited in England on pro- 208 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio fessional business. On his return in the fall of the same year he accepted a clerkship in the Treasury Department. At Washington he became secretary in the office of Secretary Chase, giving special attention to the subject of finance. He was afterwards transferred to the currency bureau and had charge of the statistical division. In 1864 he resigned and engaged in a New York City banking establishment. In 1866 he was appointed examiner of the national banks for the southern states and Kansas. In September, 1867 he purchased an interest in the Bucyrus Journal and became its editor and the following May sole proprietor of the office. He died at his home in Bucyrus June 3, 1904. Daniel W. Swigart, born in Franklin county, Pa., in 1824 came to Crawford county in the fall of 1846. He was appointed deputy clerk of the court in which position he served until April, 1848, when he became clerk and held the office until January, 1852, when it became an elective office under the new Constitution. Having graduated from the Cincinnati Law School he was admitted to the bar in June, 1852, and at once opened an office in Bucyrus. During the Civil War he served in the quartermaster's department with headquarters at Cincinnati, and was president of the Atlanta & Lake Erie Railway Company from September, 1869, to August, 1.873. He died very suddenly November 25, 1880. Jacob Scroggs was born at Canton, Ohio, 1827, and came to Bucyrus with his father's family in 1839. He was variously occupied for several years, and in the meanwhile studied law, being graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in 1854. He was admitted to the bar in Hamilton county in 1855, began the practice of his profession in Bucyrus. He was several times elected mayor of the village. He served during the greater part of the Civil War as chairman of the Crawford County Military Committee, and in 1864 and 1880 was presidential elector for this district. Stephen R. Harris was born in Stark county in 1824. He finished his college education at Western Reserve college in 1846, and having read law with his uncle, John Harris, at Canton, Ohio, was admitted to the bar in 1849. In the same year he opened an office in Bucyrus, being in partnership with Josiah Scott, their association being continued up to the time of the latter's death, except during the time Judge Scott was on the bench of the supreme court and a member of the supreme court commission. In 1895 Mr. Harris was elected to Congress from this district, serving one term. He died at his home in Bycyrus January 15, 1905. Thomas Beer began practice of law in Bucyrus in 1862, coming to the county as editor of the Forum in 1863. He was elected a member of the legislature and was re-elected in 1865. He represented Crawford county in the constitutional convention of 1873, and as a member of the committees on judicial and municipal corporations showed his great legal ability. In August, 1874, he was appointed by Governor Allen a judge of the fourth sub-division of the third district of the common pleas court, composed of Crawford, Hancock, Warren, Seneca, Wood and Wyandot counties, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge A. M. Jackson in October of the same year, who was elected by the people to fill the remainder of the term expiring in February, 1877. In the fall of 1876 he was elected to a full term of five years and re- The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 209 elected in 1881. In 1885 he was elected to the circuit bench and reelected, serving until 1893. Frank S. Monnett was graduated from Delaware University, read law in Bucyrus and was elected city solicitor. In 1896 he was elected attorney-general of the state and re-elected in 1898, and after his term of office expired, made his home in Columbus. Smith W. Bennett read law in Bucyrus, was admitted to the bar in 1897 ; went to Columbus as assistant attorney-general and chief counsel in that office and after ten years' service made his home in Columbus. David Cahill was admitted to the bar in December, 1860, and practiced law in Bucyrus until April, 1865. He then went west, spending two years in California and Oregon, subsequently returning to Bucyrus he resumed practice in June, 1867. In the fall of 1873 he was elected clerk of the court of common pleas of Crawford county and held that position from February, 1874, until February, 1880, after he had returned to the practice of law. Ebenezer B. Finley was born at Orrville, Wayne county, Ohio, in 1833. Some years of his earlier life were spent in the west. In 1859 he located in Bucyrus, and having studied law under his uncle, Stephen R. Harris, was admitted to the bar in June, 1861. In the fall of that year he recruited a military company. He was elected first lieutenant to the company, becoming part of the 64th Regiment, 0. V. I. The regiment was present at the battle of Shiloh. Disabled by an accident Mr. Finley retired from the service in September, 1862, and resumed the practice of law in Bucyrus, and was mayor of the village for two years. He was twice elected to Congress in 1876 and 1878, and as a member of the house of representatives distinguished himself by his speeches on various public questions during his second term as chairman of the committee on public expenditures. In 1884 he was appointed adjutant general of the state under Governor Hoadley and had charge of the Ohio troops at Cincinnati, when the rioters burned the Hamilton county court house. In 1896 he was elected circuit judge to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge Henry W. Seney. Seneca County THE opening of the circuit court in the Hedges building in Virgin alley, April 12, 1824, marks the beginning of the history of the courts and bar of Seneca county. Judge Ebenezer Lane and Associate Judges William Cornell. Matthew Clark and Jaques Hulvert opened court on April 12th ; Neil McGaffey was appointed clerk. A. Ingraham, who was elected sheriff a few days prior to April 12, opened the term in regular form. The first case on record was that of Josiah Hedges against Jesse Spencer. It was tried in chancery before Judge Ebenezer Lane September 21, 1824, on a bill filed May 3, 1824, in the clerk's office. R. Dickinson, for the defendant, filed his demurrer denying the sufficiency of the plaintiff's case, as well as the authority of the court. In April, 1825, the plaintiff withdrew the suit and the defendant was empowered to recover costs. The next entry is made May 1, 1826, in the case of 210 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio Thomas Butler against Josiah Hedges and Jesse Spencer. The plaintiff was represented by C. Boalt and 0. Parish, R. Dickinson, representing the defendant. In June, 1826, the case was still before the courts, Andrew Coffin-berry representing Hedges. In May, 1827, a demurrer was sustained. In March of that year the case of Spencer against McNeil was concluded, the complaint being that the former left a note for $150 value on the counter of the latter, which was taken by McNeill. The plaintiff alleged that he delivered to him another note of $900, both of which McNeill refused to account for. Andrew Coffinberry was for the plaintiff, and Dickinson was for McNeill. The bill was dismissed with costs, it being apparent to the court that the defendant had settled such notes. A number of other suits relating to other light offenses and petty criminal charges occupied the attention of the judges in the early days, until the office of associate judge was abolished. The first bill filed for naturalization of citizenship was that of William Doyle, an Irishman, in September, 1824. There was never a more demonstrative or devout pronunciation of loyalty to any government, or a more earnest determination to be true to his new citizenship that that made by the said Doyle before the court of common pleas. Before the close of 1834 a large number of cases for gaming of money and property were before the courts, also for selling liquor without license. A few cases of charivari, assault and battery, etc., were heard. The pioneer lawyer was a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous. Like actors, these old lawyers could appear as mad as hatters or as mild as lambs, but in both conditions they remained the pioneer lawyer still, treating each other with childlike kindness out of court, but in court, imbued with the fuel of their client's case, they fumed and fretted, roared at and badgered witnesses, and made the neighborhood of the court seem a very Babel. The presiding judge was sometimes subjected to their peculiar good-natured jokes, and the old associate judges never escaped their shafts of wit. Some of the names the old bar had for the old associate judges were "broomsticks," or "Judge Lane's bums," and sundry equal uncomplimentary designations. From early morning until late at night, no matter whether they were traveling or sitting in court, hotel, or private house—the lawyer of the early days never lost an opportunity to laugh at someone's expense, and thus, while winning their fees they treated the people to a circus performance which presented more solid side-splitting fun than all Barnum's funny men could ever produce in a week. The journeys of the court and bar to the remote places through a country in its primitive state were unavoidably attended with fatigue and exposure. They generally traveled with five and six in company, and with a pack horse to transport such necessaries as their own horses could not conveniently carry, because no dependence could be placed upon obtaining supplies enroute. Although they frequently passed through Indian camps and villages, it was not safe to rely on them for assistance, although occasionally small quantities of corn could be purchased for horse feed, but even that relief was precarious, and could not be relied on. In passing from one county seat to another there were generally The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 211 from six to eight lawyers kept ten days to two weeks in the wilderness. At all seasons of the year they were compelled to swim over water in their way, which was too deep to be forded. The country was wholly destitute of bridges and various travelers had to rely on their horses as the substitute for those conveniences. This fact made it common for the lawyer when purchasing a horse, to ask if the animal was a good swimmer, which was considered one of the most valuable qualities of a saddle horse. On July 28, 1826, Judge Charles R. Sherman and Jacob Burnet held the first term of supreme court in this county. The whole bar of northwestern Ohio prepared at Tiffin to attend the session. Mr. Rawson was appointed prosecuting attorney during the term. There were nine judicial districts formed under the Constitution of 1850 ; the first of which embraced Seneca and it was redistricted in 1853, when this county, with Wood, Hancock, Wyandot and Crawford was placed in the third subdivision of the third judicial, with Lawrence W. Hall judge of the district. Judge N. C. Whiteley was elected in October, 1856. In April, 1857 an act was passed providing for the election of an additional judge for this district, and in the fall of that year George E. Seney was elected judge of common pleas court. Josiah S. Plants was elected in the second subdivision in October, 1858. In 1866 Charles R. Mott was elected. A. M. Jackman was chosen in 1871. When Judge Jackson resigned Judge Thomas Beer was elected. James Pillar was elected without opposition in 1872 ; Thomas Beer defeated Josiah Scott in 1874, and he was re-elected without opposition in 1876. Henry Dodge was elected in 1877, and John McCauley was one of the judges of the first subdivision of the 10th district. In 1882 Judge Henry Dodge was elected, and in 1883 George F. Pendleton was chosen, and he was re-elected in 1884. Going back to the judges under the first constitution for a time we find the name of Judge Ozias Bowen, whose district comprised Seneca, Sandusky, Erie, Marion and Crawford counties, who succeeded Judge Higgins. He opened the spring term April 2, 1838, at Tiffin, and he was president judge of the district until November, 1851, when he retired after 14 years' service. Moses H. Kirby was chairman, and R. G. Pennington, secretary of the committee of the board, also comprising Cooper K. Watson, J. Plants, J. D. Spears, R. M. Kelly and J. P. Pillars, that presented Judge Rawson with an address on his retirement. He was born in Oneida county, New York, July 23, 1805, and died at Marion, Ohio, September 26, 1871. His career was marked by kindness and courtesy to all. Lorain County The first term of common pleas court in Lorain county was held in 1824. The details are set forth in official records as follows : Be it remembered that on the 24th day of May, in the year 1824, at Elyria, in the county of Lorain, in pursuance of a statute law of the state of Ohio, passed on the 10th day of February, in the year aforesaid, entitled "An act regulating the time of holding judicial court," 212 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio the first court of common pleas in and for said county of Lorain was opened in due form by the sheriff thereof, Josiah Harris, holding the said court ;. Geo. Tod, president of the court of common pleas for a third circuit in this state, in which circuit is the said county of Lorain ; and his associates, Moses Eldred, Henry Brown and Frederick Hamlin, before which court the following proceedings were read, to wit : "Woolsey Wells, an attorney of record in the court, was appointed the attorney to prosecute the case of the state for this county during the pleasure of the court." Mr. Wells was also appointed clerk of the court. At the March term, 1830, Hon. Reuben Wood took his seat as presiding judge, with the same associates as before given. Herman Ely became associate judge in the fall of 1830, and in April, 1831, Josiah Harris and E. W. Hubbard commenced their terms as Judge Wood's associates. In the spring of 1834, Hon. Ezra Dean was president judge ; Heman Ely, Josiah Harris and Franklin Wells, associates ; Ozias Long was appointed associate judge in the spring of 1835, and Daniel John J. Johns in 1837 ; in 1840 Hon. John W. Wiley became the presiding judge and died in office, July 9, 1841. Hon. Reuben Hitchcock filled the vacancy until January, 1842, when he was succeeded by .Hon. Benjamin Bissell, with Franklin Wells, Daniel J. Johns and Joseph L. Whiton as associates. In the May term of 1845, Elijah Dewitt and Daniel T. Baldwin became associate judges and in the April term, 1848, Benj. C. Perkins was appointed. Hon. Philamon Bliss became the president judge in May, 1849, and William Day, associate. Under the Constitution of 1851 the office of the associate judge was abolished and that of the court of common pleas was made effective for a term of five years. The common pleas bench, under the provisions of the first constitution, drew to itself much ability. Its old composition, with three associates drawn from the ranks of citizens, brought the presiding judge in close touch with the people and enabled him more effectually to advance his public ambitions, if his aims were in that direction, than under the present constitution, by which the judge is elected. The first to serve Lorain county as head of the courts were such men as George Tod, of Trumbull county ; he had been on the state supreme bench before he presided over the common pleas court ; Reuben Wood, of Cuyahoga county, afterwards chief justice of the state supreme court, and governor of the commonwealth ; John W. Wiley, first mayor of Cleveland, and Reuben Hitchcock, of Painesville. Hon. Philamon Bliss was the last presiding judge of the court of common pleas under the old constitution. Prior to going on the bench he had been for years a mayor and was one worthy of individual county pride. He entered the practice of law in 1841, and in the winter of 1848-49 Philamon was elected by the general assembly presiding judge of the 14th judicial district. This embraced the counties of Lorain, Lake, Cuyahoga and Geauga. The constitution created the office of probate judge, and in October, 1851, he was elected to the new judgeship. Judge Bliss's first official act as probate judge bears the date of March 5, 1852, and it constituted the granting of a license to Rev. William O'Connor, Catholic priest, authorizing him to solemnize marriages. Judge Bliss was succeeded by Judge William F. Lockwood in November, 1854, the former having been elected a member of the 34th Congress. In 1865 The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 213 Judge Bliss was re-elected. He was quiet, industrious and straightforward, and thoroughly able, and he gained the confidence of his fellow-members of both the south and north during that period of gathering conflict. In 1861, President Lincoln appointed Judge Bliss chief justice of Dakota territory, but after organizing the courts, the appointee resigned in 1864 and moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he engaged in newspaper work and proved a strong force in holding the state in the line of free states and as a supporter of the Union. In the fall of 1868 Judge Bliss was elected judge of the supreme court of Missouri. In 1872 he was elected professor of law in the Missouri state university and dean of the law faculty. Horace D. Clark was a delegate from Lorain county to the constitutional convention in 1851. He was one of the ablest and best known lawyers in northern Ohio. At that time he had been practicing seventeen years in Elyria. Among the most prominent occupants of the common pleas bench in Lorain county were Stevenson Burke and Washington W. Boynton, whose experiences were somewhat similar, both having made their broadest reputation as lawyers in Cleveland after their retirement from the bench. Judge Burke was a New York man, born November 26, 1826, in St. Lawrence county. In 1834 his father moved to Ohio and settled with his family in Ridgeville, Warren county, where he resided until his death in 1875. Judge Burke was elected judge of the common pleas court and held that position from February, 1862, to January, 1869. On going to Cleveland he formed a partnership with Hon. F. T. Bachus and E. J. Estep. The association was dissolved by the death of Mr. Bachus in May, 1870, but was continued with Mr. Estep until 1875, after which Mr. Burke practiced alone. From the first he took a high standing among lawyers of the northern Ohio bar. He practiced in all state courts, carrying considerable litigation before the supreme court of the United States. He was general counsel and director of the old Cleveland & Mahoning Valley Railway Company ; he also was general counsel and director of the Big 4 railroad ; he was also president of the Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo railroad. Other railroads claimed his -valuable services. Judge Washington W. Boynton commenced practice nearly 60 years ago. He was born in Warren county, January 27, 1833. He was the son of General Lewis and Ruth Boynton. He was admitted to the bar in 1856. Not long afterwards he formed .a partnership with General L. A. Sheldon, with whom he practiced until 1861. From 1859 until 1863 Mr. Boynton served as prosecuting attorney. In 1869 Governor Hayes appointed him judge of the common pleas court to -succeed Judge Burke, who had resigned. In October, 1876, he was elected judge of the state supreme court. Ill health compelled him to resign in November, 1881. Upon retiring from the supreme bench, Judge Boynton located in Cleveland and his former law partner, John C. Hale, joined him in the practice of their profession. In the succeeding fifteen years the firms of Boynton & Hale, and Boynton, Hale & Horr, became widely known throughout the state. Retiring from the practice in Cleveland, he erected a large, attractive residence at North Ridgeville. He lived there for some time, and finally moved to Elyria. In 1865 to nothing of principle left in the rule itself. He therefore held that the 214 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio 1867 he represented Lorain county at the state legislature, and first offered the resolution eliminating the color line from the constitution. John C. Hale, Judge Boynton's old law partner, also succeeded the latter as common pleas judge in 1877 ; he had no superior in his day in Warren county as a strong and honorable member of his profession, whether on the bench or at the bar. Among other lawyers of note were William F. Lockwood, Lionel A. Sheldon, John W. Steele, L. B. Smith, Joe Tiffany, John M. Vincent, Joseph H. Dickson, Reuben Mussey, S. J. Andrews, A. A. Bliss, Edw. S. Hamlin, Judson D. Benedict, Myron R. Keith, Joshua Myers, John V. Coon, J. C. Hill, Fred Webster and Rosswell G. Horr. The Oberlin-Wellington rescue case was one of the foremost ones in the annals of Lorain county. John Price, a fugitive slave from Kentucky, had been some time in Oberlin, when by some ruse he was seized by the United States marshall and his deputy, accompanied by two Kentuckians, who represented his master. The slave was driven over to Wellington, eight miles away, where he was made a prisoner at the Wadsworth hotel, it being intended to take him south by the first train and introduce him to slavery. There was a large crowd at 'Wellington, attracted by a fire, and as soon as they received word of the state of affairs at the hotel where the slave was held, the crowd, reinforced from Oberlin, surrounded the temporary prison and rescued the fugitive. Thirteen persons in Wellington and 24 in Oberlin, all leading citizens, were indicted by the United States district court, on the charge of aiding in the rescue. Their cases were called at Cleveland on April 5. The Wellington defendants were considered more as assistants than principals in the rescue of the slave, and were fined $20 and costs each and sent to jail for twenty-four hours. Simon Bushnell, of Oberlin, and Mr. Langston, made strong speeches defending their causes, and were convicted and sentenced, the former to sixty days in prison, with a fine of $600, and the latter to pay a $100 fine and to serve a twenty-day sentence. Twelve of the Oberlin men remained in jail at Cleveland, but all the prisoners had a rather enjoyable time. These convictions aroused the people throughout northern Ohio, who were opposed to slavery, and on the 24th day of May an immense. mass meeting was held in Cleveland to give expression to the sentiment that prevailed. Governor Chase, of Ohio, and. Hon. Joshua R. Giddings and others addresssed the committee and the feelings of the community were aroused to a high pitch of excitement. Visitors came in from all parts of the state to see the prisoners, sympathize with them, and make -their imprisonment comfortable. A demonstration occurred in favor of Mr. Fitch, of Oberlin, a man who had been superintendent of the Congregational Sunday school there for sixteen years. Children numbering 400 went to Cleveland in a body, marched into the jail and the corridors for a call on their beloved superintendent. Every effort possible was made to get the prisoners from the jurisdiction of the federal court through the agency of the state supreme court. A writ of habeas corpus was granted by one of the judges of the supreme court, commanding the sheriff to bring Bushnell and Langsten before that court that the reason for their imprisonment might be considered. The case was argued pro and con at Columbus for a week, but the court by a vote of 3 to 2 declined to grant a release. This was a severe blow to the men in the jail, who had counted with much confidence upon The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 215 relief from the state supreme court. Salmon P. Chase was governor at the time, and it was well understood that he would sustain a decision releasing the prisoners by all the powers at his command ; and the United States government was as fully committed to the execution of the fugitive slave law, and danger of a conflict between Ohio and the federal government in defense of state's rights seemed imminent while the case was under consideration at Columbus. If the party of freedom throughout the north had rallied, as seemed possible, the war might have come in 1858 instead of 1861, with the secession of the northern instead of the southern states, but as no sufficient proof of title to the slave, John Price, had been presented by the claimant, who had issued his power of attorney to the Kentuckians, the prisoners were all released on the 6th day of July, 1858. Four men who had seized Price had been indicted on the charge of kidnapping in Warren, but by mutual consent all further proceedings were dropped. On their arrival at their home town, the 6th day of July, 1858, the Oberlin men who had been imprisoned were escorted to the First Congregational church, where the people of the village gave way to their enthusiasm in song and prayer. SOME MEN WHO HAVE ELEVATED THE OHIO BENCH AND BAR SONS of the Buckeye State have won fame both at home and abroad. The commonwealth is now known as the mother of presidents on account of the large number of its sons who have been elevated to the presidential chair in Washington. The bar probably has made more contributions to the galaxy of statesmen who have won national and international fame than has any other of the professions. The bar of the state has always been the peer of any in the 'Union and the beach has been graced by men of great scholarly and legal attainments. There will be set forth in this chapter, sketches of some of the jurists and members of the bar who have passed beyond. It is, of course, impossible to include in this list, all the jurists and attorneys who have passed away in recent years after rising to places of honor, and if the names of any distinguished members of the profession are omitted, the omission is on account of the lack of space. MORRISON R. WAITE, OF THE TOLEDO BAR. Judge Waite was appointed Chief Justice in January, 1874, to succeed Justice Chase. He was born in Lyme, Connecticut, November 29, 1816. His father, Henry Matson Waite, was also a native of Lyme, a graduate of Yale College, who practiced law in his native town with large success; filling the offices successively of representative and senator in the state legislature; receiving appointment in 1834 as judge of the Supreme Court of Errors, and later being elected Chief Justice by unanimous vote of the legislature, a position which he held until the age limit of seventy years was reached. Members of the Waite family generally were great men, and men of strong character and upright lives. The mother of Morrison R. Waite was a granddaughter of Colonel Samuel Selden, who commanded a Connecticut regiment in the Revolutionary army; was made prisoner of war in September, 1776, and died the following month. Judge Waite was graduated from Yale in 1837, in a class comprising William M. Evarts, Edward Pierrepont, Samuel J. Tilden, Benjamin Silliman, and others more or less distinguished. He took up the study of law in his father's office, but in 1838 came west and settled at Maumee, Ohio, where he renewed his studies in the office of Samuel M. Young. He was admitted to the Bar in 1839, and formed a partnership with his preceptor. The practice of that time involved travel on horseback to the different counties of the circuit and the management of all kinds of cases. In 1850 Mr. Waite removed to Toledo, opening a branch office for his firm, and six years later, upon the retirement of his associate from practice, his brother, Richard Waite, became a partner. This association was continued until his appointment as Chief Justice, when his son, E. T. Waite,- became the junior partner of his brother. Mr. Waite continued The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 217 in the practice and was very soon recognized throughout the state as one of the greatest lawyers at the Bar. He never was at any time a politician, and vet always had deep convictions upon the important questions which separated parties. He was first a Whig and afterwards a Republican; was elected representative in the state legislature in 1849 and served with special credit. He was a candidate for delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850, but defeated simply on account of politics. Throughout the war he was the very earnest supporter of Mr. Lincoln's administration, and was especially in sympathy with his policy of making the preservation of the Union, and not the abolition of slavery, the paramount issue of the war. He was chosen by the Republicans who represented that policy as a candidate for Congress in 1862, but was defeated. In 1863 he declined the position of judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, tendered by Governor Brough. Although his practice had been within the borders of Ohio almost entirely, his reputation as an able constitutional lawyer had become national; so that in December, 1871, he was appointed by President Grant one of counsel representing the United States in the arbitration at Geneva, where the claim of the government against Great Britain for the depredations committed by the "Alabama" was submitted. Before that tribunal he demonstrated large capacity, entire familiarity with the case and a wide knowledge of international law. There was no more effective presentation of the government's case than the one made by Morrison R. Waite. When the award was finally settled by the board of arbitration he returned to Toledo and resumed his law practice. As evidence of his growth among the people of his own section of the state it is only necessary to mention the fact that he was elected without opposition, in 1873, to the convention called to revise the Constitution of the state, and when that convention assembled in Cincinnati he was chosen president. While serving as presiding officer he was nominated by President Grant for Chief Justice, although he had taken no steps to secure the position and was not aware that his name was seriously considered by the President. Members of the convention over which he presided were greatly pleased with the honor conferred upon him and a resolution was introduced expressing approbation of his nomination. This resolution he very promptly ruled out of order. It is a singular fact that Mr. Waite was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court only one year before his nomination as Chief Justice, and his admission was upon the motion of Caleb Cushing; and Caleb Cushing's name had been sent to the Senate as the successor of Chief Justice Chase, and then withdrawn by the President just before Waite's nomination. Mr. Waite assumed the duties of Chief Justice March 4, 1874, and continued to discharge them with marked ability until his death in 1888. He brought to the position a very large mental capacity, and powers of physical endurance almost unequalled. Naturally strong and well knit as to his organism, he had been trained in early life by hard work and had become thoroughly seasoned by the exercise and toil incident to his early practice. His life had always been free from vicious habits and he was therefore strong, symmetrical and perfect in the development of a powerful physique. His experiences in the rough and tumble contests of the forum had contributed to his qualification for the labor and the acumen necessary to the correct decision of important questions submitted to the highest court. He took up the work courageously, exhibiting always ability, industry and patience in the discharge of his duty. He possessed the dignity of character and of manner which commanded respect. Under his guidance the business of the court was transacted with harmony among the judges, and decisions were reached with as much facility as at any period of the court's history. He wrote many of the decisions himself, and all of them passed the scrutiny of the critics and were accepted without complaint as the law of the land by all parties interested. Judge Waite had a very exalted estimate of the character and responsibilities of the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He regarded it so reverently as not to lend himself to any movement on the part of his friends to make him a candidate for President. He was not ambitious to be chief executive of the nation, and as a matter of principle he declined with great positiveness to permit the use of his name in that connection. He averred it was dangerous to have a judge look beyond the judiciary in his personal ambition. In all that pertained to the duties of his office he was sincere, honest, painstaking 218 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio and capable. His usefulness was the more conspicuous because he was satisfied with the honors conferred and was unselfish throughout his public life. Judge Waite was married September 21, 1840, with Amelia C., daughter of Samuel Selden Warner, of Lyme, Connecticut. RUFUS P. RANNEY, OF THE CLEVELAND BAR. Among all the illustrious names preserved in the records of the Supreme Court of the State none is higher, nobler or purer than "Rufus P. Ranney." He died at his home in Cleveland on the sixth day of December, 1891, at the age of seventy-eight years. As a man, as a lawyer, as a judge, and as a statesman, he left a record without a blemish; a character above reproach; and a reputation as a jurist and statesman which but few members of the Bar have attained. Judge Ranney came from New England, a land of robust men of wonderful physical and mental fiber and endurance. He was born at Blandford, Hampden county, Massachusetts, on the 30th day of October, 1813. His father was a farmer, of Scotch descent. In 1822 the family moved to Ohio, which was then a "western frontier." They settled in Portage county. By chopping cord-wood at twenty-five cents per cord, he earned the money to enter the Western Reserve College, but, for want of means, he could not complete the college course. He made up his mind to study law; and at the age of twenty-one he entered the Jaw office of Joshua R. Giddings and Benjamin F. Wade and began his preparation for admission to the Bar, and in 1836 he was admitted. Mr. Giddings having been elected to Congress, the firm of Giddings & Wade was dissolved, and, upon Mr. Wade's suggestion, he and young Ranney entered into partnership. This firm was the leading law firm in northeastern Ohio. In 1845 Wade was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Shortly afterward Ranney removed to Warren, Trumbull county, which was the chief center of business and wealth in that section of the state. He at once commanded a large practice. In 1846, and again in 1848, he was nominated as a candidate for Congress; but his party being hopelessly in the minority, the opposing candidate was elected. In 1850 he was elected, from Trumbull and Geauga counties, a delegate to the convention which had been called to revise and amend the Constitution of the State. In this convention he served with distinction on the committees on the judiciary, on revision, on amendments, and others. His associates on the committee on the judiciary were Stanbery, Swan, Groesbeck and Kennon. Although he was then a young man, he was soon recognized as one of the leading members of the convention. In this body of distinguished lawyers, jurists and statesmen, there were few members who had as thorough knowledge of political science, constitutional law, political and judicial history, and the principles of jurisprudence, as Judge Ranney displayed in the debates of the convention. There was no more profound, acute and convincing reasoner on the floor of the convention, and in the committee rooms his suggestive and enlightened mind was invaluable. The amended Constitution conforms very nearly to the principles and provisions advocated by him. In March, 1851, he was elected by the general assembly judge of the Supreme Court, to succeed Judge Avery; and at the first election held under the amended Constitution in 1851, he was chosen to be one of the judges of the new Supreme Court. He was assigned the longest term and served until ,1856,. when he resigned and removed from Warren to Cleveland, where. he resumed the practice of his profession as a member of the firm of Ranney, Backus & Noble. 1859 he was the unsuccessful candidate of his party against William Dennison, for governor of the state. Three years afterward he was nominated, against his expressed desire, as a candidate for. Supreme Judge. One of his partners, Franklin T. Backus, was nominated by the opposing party for the same office.. To his own surprise, Judge Ranney was elected. He qualified, but resigned two years afterward, and resumed the practice of law in Cleveland. The demands upon his professional, services were now more than he could comply with. Anything like a,, selfish .regard for his own pecuniary interest would have induced him The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 219 to select for his attention the most important and lucrative business that was offered; but the needs of a man or woman in difficulty or distress were more likely to secure his devoted services than the offer of a large fee. When the Ohio State Bar Association was organized in the year 1881, he was unanimously elected its president. Towards the close of his life Judge Ranney gradually withdrew from the practice of his profession; but the urgent solicitation of some old friend, or an attack upon some important constitutional or legal principle, drew him occasionally from his library to the court room. The announcement that he was to make an argument never failed to bring togeteher an audience of lawyers, eager to learn from him the art of forensic reasoning, of which he was a consummate and acknowledged master, and to be entertained and instructed by his sympathy and familiarity with the more recent advances in the science of jurisprudence. Judge Ranney was a man of great simplicity of character, wholly free from affectation and assumption. He was a man of native modesty of character. He could have attained the highest standing in any pursuit or station requiring the exercise of the best intellectual and moral qualities; but his ambition was chastened and moderate, and he seemed to have no aspirations for official place or popular applause. While always dignified, he was a genial and companionable man, of fine wit and rare humor. He had singular powers of memory. Every fact, every rule, every principle, when once acquired, remained with him always. He combined extensive and varied general knowledge with remarkable accuracy of judgment. His originality of mind was not impaired by his accumulation of knowledge and the ideas of others. No man was more fearless in asserting the right, and in the performance of what he deemed his duty. His known integrity and honesty, and his never-failing common sense and sagacity in affairs of business, placed in his hands many weighty and responsible trusts, embracing important interests and large amounts of property. From the beginning of his career as a lawyer, by reason of the professional learning, the clear and persuasive method of reasoning, the nice power of discrimination, the .strict sense of justice, the inflexible integrity, and the great practical wisdom which characterized and adorned all his efforts, he occupied the position of a leading representative of the Ohio Bar. He had remarkable power of 'analysis, and saw with the quickness of intuition the principles of law, as well as the right or morality of a controversy. In the argument of a cause he never made a useless parade of authorities. He used authorities only to illustrate principles. While Judge Ranney was on the bench he was one of the strongest administrative forces of the state government. He held a place of his own. He was a personal force whose power was profoundly felt in the administration of justice throughout the state. He made a deep and permanent impression on the jurisprudence of Ohio. In the Constitutional Convention Judge Ranney was made a member of the committee on the judicial department, chairman of the committee on future amendments to the Constitution, and chairman of the committee on revision, enrollment and arrangement. His part in the convention was largely the result of his intense belief in democracy; not Democracy in a partisan sense, although that belief determined his party fealty also, but democracy in the first and best sense, as meaning government by the people. He trusted the people thoroughly, and although the character of the voting population of the state gradually changed before his death, his faith in the people continued to be so strong that he looked forward to the outcome of every struggle, in which both sides had a fair hearing, as sure to be wise and right. It was Judge Ranney who first proposed to the constitutional convention that the creditors of corporations should be secured by the individual liability of stockholders, although the form and extent of the proposition were somewhat changed by amendment before its adoption. He met strong opposition from many delegates, who agreed with him that, as an abstract principle, it was right that stockholders should be responsible for the debts of their corporation's, 'but contended that it was impolitic to so provide in the Constitution, because it would check public improvements. With terrific sarcasm he replied that' to barter away principles in order to push forward prematurely works of public improvement 220 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio would be "making a most miserable swap," and with eloquence he denounced the abandonment of political principle in matters of legislation. He favored the proposition for the reformation of civil procedure. His ideal of a lawyer was high. In his opinion no one could occupy a respectable position in the legal profession without a knowledge of law as a science, which could be attained only by the most assiduous labor and application. He wanted the profession to be relieved of the miserable jargon and mystery of forms and technicalities, that it might be left to pursue the noble study of the rights of man, the rights of property and all the varied relations of life subject to legal regulations. He took an active part in the discussions on education, the elective franchise, capital punishment, levying poll taxes, finance and taxation, and the repeal of corporate franchises. His views upon all of these matters were pronounced, but the combined wisdom of all the delegates was wiser than the wisdom of any one; so in the closing hour of the convention he had occasion to say that after a careful review of the whole instrument, of all its parts, of every line and word, he believed before God and man that it was one of the best, if not the best, of the Constitutions of American States; and if the people of Ohio were not well governed thereafter, it would be the fault of the people, for the whole responsibility then and thereafter was upon them. He devoted his best thought and labor to the judicial article. His chief objection to it was that it removed the courts of last resort too far from the people. He objected to County Courts with such limited jurisdiction. He objected to the District Courts because they might be held at only one place in the district, and consequently lawyers and witnesses might be compelled to travel a hundred miles for trial. But most of all he objected to the Supreme Court, because it was to become substantially a Court of of Errors, sitting at Columbus. He looked upon the circuit system as absolutely indispensable. In his judgment a mere paper court would become but little better than mere papers themselves, and might as well be filed away in some secure place in the Capitol. It was an insurmountable objection that no judge of court was ever to participate in a trial, face a jury, see the parties, hear the witnesses, study human nature as exhibited in a trial at court, or mingle with the people. He also wanted the effect of the circuit system upon the people, because he believed that no court could acquire that power, dignity, influence and authority in the eyes of the people, which it ought to have, unless it acts among the people, performs its duties in their sight, and places in their view the practical workings of the system of judicial power which acts upon and protects their interests. He and others who agreed with him were able to secure the abandonment of the County Courts, for which Probate Courts were substituted, and a provision requiring District Courts to be held in every county. This was justly considered a great triumph, but they were unable to secure any substantial change in the duties of the Supreme Court judges, who, as business increased, were gradually withdrawn from District Court duty until they composed simply a Court of Errors sitting at Columbus. The old Supreme Court, under the leadership of Judge Peter Hitchcock, was one of the ablest courts in the United States and was acknowledged as such wherever the common law prevailed. It was remarkable for taking certain practical views of the law which were widely accepted and applied to a great variety of cases. Judge Ranney found himself in thorough sympathy with them, as they satisfied at the same time his feeling of veneration for the principles of the common law and his love of justice. One of his first opinions is an illustration of this. The owner of a judgment had accepted payment for about one-third of its amount, and one hundred dollars for attorney's fees, in satisfaction of the whole, and he refused to enter the satisfaction. The court recognized the existence of the rule that the payment of a sum less than the sum due upon a liquidated judgment, although agreed to be received in full satisfaction, could not be insisted upon as such for want of a valuable consideration. Judge Ranney, in giving the opinion, would not set aside this rule; he had too much regard for well settled principles. But he had no hesitation in pronouncing both the reason and the rule purely technical, and said that there was The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 221 payment of one hundred dollars to the attorney instead of the judgment creditor, was a sufficient consideration to take the case out of the rule. "I am aware," he said, "that this is an exceedingly technical and unsatisfactory reason, but its justification is found in the fact that the plaintiff seeks to escape from his solemn engagement, by which he has obtained money from the defendant by the aid of a technicality. To prevent the consummation of such a fraud, he is met with technicalities nearly as absurd as that upon which he insists." Judge Ranney never sought to appear learned, but rather to adapt his argument to the comprehension of the weakest member of the profession and of a layman. The course of his reasoning is readily followed to a conclusion which is impregnable. His style is charming, his choice of words felicitous. Clearness of expression is matched by purity of diction. His opinions are not more noteworthy for the soundness of the conclusions reached than for the beautiful simplicity of the language in which they are clothed. His tastes were simple and domestic. His home life, in its effection, confidence and constancy, exhibited the gentler traits of his strong character. His attachments to wife and children were of the tenderest and most enduring quality. He married Adeline W. Warner. Mrs. Ranney was a daughter of Judge Jonathan Warner, of Jefferson, Ashtabula county, who was an associate judge of the Common Pleas, and one of the pioneers of the state. Their family consisted of six children, four sons and two daughters. FRANKLIN T. BACKUS, OF THE CLEVELAND BAR. Franklin T. Backus came to Cleveland and began the study of law. He brought his fortune with him in a fine, manly person, a most engaging countenance, a clear, discriminating mind, ambition for success, persistent industry, a stainless character, the best education Yale College could give, inflexible honesty, which, through a long and active life, was never questioned, and talents of superior order. He was born in Lee, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, May 16, 1813. While Mr. Backus was quite young his father removed to Lansing, New York, where he soon died, leaving the widow and several children with but scant means for support. For a time after his arrival in Cleveland, Mr. Backus supported himself by teaching a classical school, and soon afterwards entered himself law student in the office of Bolton & Kelly. He was called to the bar in 1839, and almost at once attracted the attention of the public, and entered upon that successful practice which became larger and wider until the close of his useful, honorable life. In 1841 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, was re-elected and served with special ability, gaining the esteem of the public and the bar. In 1846 he was elected a Whig member of the Ohio House of Representatives. In 1848 he was elected to the State Senate, where his unusual talents, force of character and fitness for the position, made him prominently named as a suitable' candidate for the Senate of the United States. He was afterwards nominated, both for member of Congress and judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, by the Republican party, and failed of election only because of the non-success of his party in those years. In 1840 he made a law partnership with Honorable J. P. Bishop, which continued fifteen years. On the election of the latter to the bench, Mr. Backus became the partner of Judge Rufus P. Ranney, the eminent lawyer and jurist, and the firm of Ranney, Backus & Noble became widely known and respected as any in the state. Afterwards he was a partner of Mr. Estep, and continued in this relation to the time of his death. The high standing Mr. Backus held in the esteem of the people as a lawyer was indicated by his being chosen once by the Whig party and once by the Republican party as a candidate for Supreme Judge. In 1861 he was appointed by Governor Denison a delegate to the peace conference, which met at Washington on the 4th of February. His associates were Salmon P. Chase, Thomas Ewing, William Groesbeck, Reuben Hitchcock, V. B. Horton and Christopher P. Wolcott, the latter being appointed to take the place of John C. Wright, who died soon after reaching Washington. 222 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio In 1864 Mr. Backus, who for years had been a distinguished leader of the Republican party, became dissatisfied with the administration in regard to the management of the war, and greatly to the distress of his immediate friends, gave his support to General McClellan for the Presidency. In 1866 he was one of the delegates to the National Convention at Philadelphia to 'form a new party. In 1868 he was the nominee of the Democratic party for Congress in the Cuyahoga district, but was of course defeated. Perhaps no higher tribute can be paid to the memory of Mr. Backus, and prove the genuine respect all men had for his integrity of personal character and pure life, than the fact that while Mr. Backus changed his political associates, and gave his great influence to the party he so long had opposed, and at a time when party spirit was the most bitter ever known in modern times, no man was found to doubt his absolute good faith in pursuing the line he regarded as right, and that he was acting from the most conscientious sense of duty and honor. HENRY CLAY RANNEY, OF THE CLEVELAND BAR. The subject of this biography is a native' of Ohio, of Massachusetts ancestry on both sides. He sprang from the union of two historic families, distinguished in the annals of New England and Ohio. His father was Elijah W. Ranney, a successful merchant and the oldest of the three brothers, Elijah W., Rufus P., and John. L. Ranney. His mother was Levana L. Larcom. He was born June 1, 1829, in Portage .(minty, and bereft of his father when only six years old. At the age of eight he became a member of the family of his uncle, the late Judge Rufus P. Ranney, by whom he was educated. His education was limited to an academic course, because it seemed desirable that he should qualify himself for the profession of law, which he had chosen, and become self-supporting as early as practicable. With that object in view he took up the study of the law in the office and under the instruction of his uncle, who was one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in 1852 and immediately commenced practice at Warren, in the office of Judge Matthew Birchard. He left Warren in the fall of 1855 to enter into a partnership with his uncle, John L. Ranney, at Ravenna, with whom he was associated until the death of the latter in 1866. He continued practice at Ravenna until 1874. when he came to Cleveland and became associated with his uncle, Rufus P. Ranney (the firm later including Judge Ranney's youngest son, John R.). After the death of Judge R. P. Ranney in 1891, he continued in practice alone. His education in the law was not restricted to any single branch or division, but was in fact unlimited in scope. This statement is also applicable to the character of his practice, af least during the first twenty-five years of his membership at the bar. Latterly the legal business of railroad companies and other -corporations commanded most of his time. HENRY B. PAYNE, OF THE CLEVELAND BAR. Henry B. Payne, who died at his home September 9, 1896, was about the last of the "Old Guard" of really eminent lawyers that made the Bar of Cuyahoga county great. He was of English descent through the lineage of his father, while his mother descended from the stock of the great Douglas, Earl of Angus, Scotland. His father, Elisha Payne, a man of remarkable probity, strong character and resolute spirit, left Connecticut in 1795 and settled in Hamilton, Madison county, New York. At this place Henry B. Payne was born, November 30, 1810. He was carefully and thoroughly educated, graduated from Hamilton College at twenty-one. He possessed in a high degree the innate qualities which are the source of the largest professional success, and his bent was towards the law. His preceptor was John C. Spencer, of Canandaigua, an eminent lawyer and The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 223 statesman, secretary of war in the cabinet of President Tyler. While a student of law he formed the acquaintance of Stephen A. Douglas, who was at the same time pursuing his studies with another firm of lawyers in the same town. A close and intimate friendship was formed between the two young men, whose recognized abilities even where prophetic of the exalted station attained and the commanding influence exercised by each of them in later life. Mr. Payne settled in Cleveland in 1833, confident of his own powers and with astute prevision of the future greatness of the embryo city. He continued his law studies for one year in the office and under the wise supervision of Sherlock J. Andrews, whose_ fame as a lawyer-advocate was at its zenith. Mr. Payne was admitted to the bar in 1834, and in the following year formed a partnership with Judge Hiram V. Wilson, who twenty-five years later occupied the bench of the United States District Court with such distinguished ability. The success of this firm, Payne & Wilson, was very remarkable. Within ten years its business had grown to proportions unparalleled in the county and unexcelled in the state. The enthusiastic and unremitting application of Mr. Payne to the exacting demands of his profession and the interests of his clients was too severe to be endured long by his delicate physical organism. His health was broken at thirty-six, and he became conscious that the exactions of such a law practice as he had built up were incompatible with a reasonable degree of health. The strain to which he had been subjected and the resultant debility superinduced hemoptysis. Yielding to the inexhorable law of self-preservation, he retired from the practice of law and entered upon a business career which, while affording ample scope for the useful employment of extraordinary abilities, permitted larger freedom and more activity in the open air. The state of his health improved rapidly and he was permitted, after retiring from the bar, to spend sixty years in great usefulness to his city and state. His marvellous success in the practice of law, during the dozen years of his practice in Cleveland, was matched by his triumphs in commercial business and his achievements in statesmanship. He was the first city solicitor of Cleveland under its municipal charter, and during the whole course of his life the growth, prosperity and good name of the city appealed to his civic pride and found in him a wise promoter. His counsel, prompted by public spirit, was freely given and gratefully accepted long after his retirement from the office of counsellor and the practice of law. He thus rendered vast service to the municipality. He was prominent in the railroad construction of the state, inaugurating and carrying to completion, with two or three associates the Cleveland and Columbus Railroad, which was opened in 1851 with Mr. Payne as president. He was also in the directory of the Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad, which at length expanded into the Lake Shore. Mr. Payne exhibited a remarkable talent for politics while yet a young man. In 1848 he was a candidate for Presidential elector on the Cass ticket. In 1851 he was elected to the State Senate and before the close of the first session displayed rare skill as a parliamentarian and a party leader. He was then the choice of his party caucus for United States Senator, but the few Free-soilers in the Legislature holding the balance of power secured the election of Ben Wade. In 1857 Mr. Payne was the Democratic candidate for governor and came near defeating Governor Chase, who was before the people for re-election. He was a delegate to the National Convention of his party in 1856 from the Congressional district, and a delegate from the state at large to the memorable convention at Charleston in 1860. In the latter he was the personal representative of Douglas and repelled the sectional assaults of the Southern leaders—denouncing the spirit of secession disclosed by their inflammatory utterances and warning them of the ruin they were about to bring upon themselves and their section. In that convention his reputation as a political orator, already established in Ohio, became nationalized. During the civil war which followed he was steadfast in his devotion to the Union, pledging his wealth, to the extent needed, for military equipment, giving his time and the influence of public addresses to promote enlistments. In 1872 he was chairman of the State Delegation in the Baltimore Convention which nominated Horace Greeley. In 1874 he was nominated and elected to Congress in the Cleve- 224 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio land district, overcoming a very large adverse majority and having 2,500 votes to his credit. As a member of the committee on Banking and Currency he found opportunity for the display of the rare financial ability with which he had long been accredited by his friends. He was the author of a compromise measure, bearing his name, which secured the united support of the extreme gold Democrats of the East and the Greenbackers of the West, and had for its major purpose the appreciation of all the currency to a gold standard. He proposed the retention of the National Banks and the Greenback currency, paving the way to an easy resumption of specie payments by retiring twenty per cent of the paper money put into circulation by the banks and by the government. The compromise effected an adjustment of differences requiring superior skill in diplomacy, and presented a scheme for maintaining a stable currency of varying volume according to the requirements of trade. In this the keenness of the financier was happily blended with the ability of the statesman. In the contest following the Presidential election of 1876, to determine the manner of declaring the electoral vote, Mr. Payne with commendable patriotism supported the bill providing for an electoral commission, and was one of the five members of the House elected to membership on the commission. It is a historical fact worthy of mention in this connection that he was supported for President by a large representation of his party in the National Convention of 1880, and his nomination could have been effected but for the instructions of the State Convention, which bound the Ohio delegates to vote for Senator Thurman. In 1885 Mr. Payne was elected senator of the United States and served six years, retiring permanently from politics at the close of his term in 1891. In 1836 he married Miss Mary Perry, the daughter of Nathan Perry. SHERLOCK J. ANDREWS, OF THE CLEVELAND BAR. Sherlock J. Andrews was a native of New Haven county, Connecticut, born on the 17th day of November, 1801. His father, Dr. John Andrews, of Wallingford, was then one of the most distinguished physicians of Connecticut, and in later life became a resident of Cleveland. The subject of this sketch was prepared for college in the excellent academy at Cheshire, in his native state, controlled by the Episcopal Church. He matriculated at Union College, Schenectady, New York, and pursued the classical course, from which he was graduated in 1821. Upon admission to the bar in 1825, soon after coming West, he formed a partnership with Judge Samuel Cowles, which gave him a business and standing in the profession at once. The fortunate relations between the old practitioner and judge, and the inexperienced but capable young lawyer, was terminated by the retirement of the former from the active duties of the forum and the office. Soon afterwards Mr. Andrews became associated with the late John A. Foot, in a partnership to which James M. Hoyt was subsequently admitted (in 1837). In 1848 when he was appointed judge of the Superior Court of Cleveland. His judicial career, in all respects honorable, was terminated by the constitutional convention of 1851, which abolished the Superior Court, largely at his own suggestion. Judge Andrews was a member of that convention and of three of its most important committees—judiciary, revision and temperance. His broad and deep understanding of the law, and of judicial construction, his splendid vocabulary and familiarity with the best English, and his fixed moral principles contributed to make him a most valuable member of the committees on which he served. It is seldom that the various and distinct talents which endow the able pleader, the successful trial lawyer and the great advocate are bestowed so copiously upon any man as they were possessed by Judge Andrews. These existed in due proportion and perfect harmony. All of his pleadings were prepared with scrupulous care and exactness. All of the evidence was examined, weighed and sifted, so as to separate the material from the immaterial; he counselled wisely in matters requiring fine discrimination and acuteness of judgment; his argument in summing up a case evinced wonderful power of