(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 450 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY The initiation took place on Thanksgiving Day in the G. A. R. Hall, corner Howard and Cherry streets. The banquet was held in the Rose Hall in the Hamilton Building. The first officers were Rev. Fr. T. F. Mahar, D. D., Chaplain; A. G. Kaufman, Grand Knight ; Charles Knapp, Deputy Grand Knight ; John Costigan, secretary and C. C. McCue, treasurer. The subsequent Grand Knights have been N. H. Seil, J. V. Welsh, A. J. Quinlan, M. A. Flynn, G. A. Rohner, A. F. O'Neil and H. W. Schwab. There were 52 charter members and the council now has a membership of 900. It first occupied quarters on the third floor in the Doyle Block at 124 South Main Street. In September, 1920, the council moved to its present location at 282 West Market Street. On November 10, 1916, the Akron K. of C. Building Company was incorporated for the purpose of providing a home for the council. The corporation purchased the former A. C. Voris property at 77 Fir Street. This property was exchanged with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, on July 16, 1920, for the former Paul E. Werner residence at 282 West Market Street, the present home of the Akron Council. A campaign for stock subscriptions was put on at this time, E. C. McQueeney, Grand Knight, acting as chairman. Rev. R. A. Dowed, Chaplain, and Rev. R. Gorman, Seminarian, at the time enthused the effort so that $40,000 was subscribed. The first officers of the Akron K. of C. Building Company were E. C. McQueeney, president; Joseph Dangel, vice president ; Clarence W. May, secretary, and Thomas F. O'Neil, treasurer. The board of directors included Messrs. M. O'Neil, E. C. McQueeney, Joseph Dangel, H. P. Cahill, C. Mulcahy, M. A. Flynn and G. A. Rohner. Work on the new auditorium began September 18, 1925, and the cornerstone was laid Sunday afternoon, November 29, 1925. Rev. A. G. Troy, D. D., officiated in the religious ceremony. M. A. Flynn was master of ceremonies for the Fourth Degree Parade, and E. C. McQueeney delivered the address. G. A. Rohner laid the corner-stone. The new building cost about $100,000. In the evening of the same day a banquet was held at Akron Armory in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the institution of Akron Council. The auditorium was officially opened on the evening of April 6, 1926. Rt. Rev. Msgr. F. R. Schreiber delivered the address of the evening. Mayor D. C. Rybolt and E. W. Brouse, president of the Chamber of Commerce, also spoke, with A. F. O'Neil, Grand Knight, presiding. The present officers of the K. of C. Building Company are E. C. McQueeney, president ; Frank A. Menches, Sr., vice president ; G. A. Rohner, secretary and treasurer. Perhaps one of the most memorable community activities of the Akron Council of Knights of Columbus was the community campaign for Knights of Columbus funds in the World war. This campaign was conducted on February 14 to 19, 1918. Mr. M. O'Neil was chairman and thirty men, both Catholic and non-Catholic, formed the campaign committee. E. C. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 451 McQueeney was secretary. Fifty thousand dollars was the campaign goal but $104,000 was subscribed. Every group in the city, regardless of religious affiliations, joined enthusiastically in the work and a high peak of community spirit and good will prevailed in the community. Present officers of the council are : Rev. Fr. J. M. Crann, Chaplain ; H. W. Schwab, Grand Knight ; J. J. Austin, Deputy Grand Knight ; F. J. Conway, recorder, H. T. Gorman, treasurer. The Knights of Columbus Dinner Club was definitely organized Friday, November 13, 1926. F. F. McCarthy was elected president ; F. D. Gillen, vice president, and John A. Jackson, secretary and treasurer. The first directors elected were, J. J. Austin, W. E. Cunningham, H. T. Gorman, D. J. Kelley, H. L. Knapp, E. C. McQueeney, A. F. O'Neil, F. A. Ransweiler, C. G. Roetzel, G. A. Rohner, E. J. Welsh. It meets Friday noon at Elks Club. Its purpose is to aid Akron Council to cooperate with other luncheon clubs and to promote the civic welfare. Recreational activities of the Akron Council consist of baseball, basketball, bowling, dancing on Tuesday evenings, a Glee Club and a Boys' Camp near Northampton Center, called "Camp Christopher." The Knights of Columbus was first organized by the granting of a charter by the State of Connecticut, March 29, 1882. It has since been admitted into all of the United States and all the Provinces of Canada as a fraternal benefit society. It is not a secret organization and its ceremonial has been placed on file with many State Departments. Its principles are Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism. Its membership is limited to practical Catholic men over 18 years of age. It has a membership of about 700,000 and carries life insurance to the amount of about $260,000,000. The activities of the Supreme Council have been to administer the insurance, to promote education by endowment to the Catholic University at Washington, D. C., of $550,000. It has established a two-year postgraduate course in boy guidance to develop men professionally trained for boy life work. In August, 1921, it was unanimously voted to establish an endowment fund of $1,000,000 for financing welfare work in Italy, undertaken at the request of the late Pope Benedict XV. Four large playgrounds have been completed in different districts of Rome. The work in Rome will have an imperishable history in the archives of the church, through the recognition given by Pope Pius XI. The order publishes a monthly magazine known as Columbia. The members contributed $1,000,000 to war work in the World War and at the close of the first year $15,000,000 had been subscribed through the Public War Camp Fund. All of this money collected has been spent in the welfare of soldiers, sailors and ex-service men, whether Catholic or not, through employment bureaus, creature comforts in 455 hospitals, evening schools for vocational training 313,916 ex-service men and many other items of service to them following the war. 452 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY CUYAHOGA FALLS COUNCIL NO. 2362 Cuyahoga Falls Council, No. 2362, Knights of Columbus, was instituted March 26, 1922, by Thomas Duffy, of Columbus. The charter membership of the council consisted of sixty-one men. The first officers were as follows : Rev. John A. Nolan, Chaplain; James Joseph Giletly, Grand Knight ; Paul Kunkler, Deputy Grand Knight ; Albert A. Eckel, Chancellor ; Joseph Sheridan, financial secretary ; Gerhard J. Hoerbelt, recorder ; Guy L. Hartzel, warden ; William Murray, treasurer ; John A. Pack, lecturer ; Leroy J. Meyers, advocate ; Alfonse L. Trares, Joseph V. O'Connor and Michael C. Broderick, trustees. The past Grand Knights have been G. J. Hoerbelt, John J. Klenke. The present officers are : Rev. Wm. O'Laughlin, Chaplain ; Victor J. Paul, Grand Knight ; Wm. J. Daugherty, Deputy Grand Knight ; Joseph Sheridan, financial secretary ; John W. McQuillen, treasurer. The council is located in the Murray Block, 731/2 Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Barberton Council No. 1617, Knights of Columbus, was instituted April 21, 1912. Michael T. Ready was the first Grand Knight. The other first officers were Rev. V. Rhibar, Chaplain ; P. J. Delaney, Deputy Grand Knight ; P. J. McAllister, Chancellor ; James McNamara, financial secretary; Hugh Meehan, treasurer, B. J. Kehoe, recording secretary. It now has a membership of 410. It was the first K. of C. Council in the state to sponsor and organize a Boy Scout Troop, all of whom later became members of Barberton Council. Chas. P. McCafferty accomplished this work as Scout Master. The council participated in the war work and campaigns during the war. The present officers of Barberton Council are : Rev. J. W. Schmitz, Chaplain ; Henry Henly, Grand Knight ; Ray Herman, Deputy Grand Knight; Leo Eckenrode, financial secretary ; Frank Werner, treasurer. The council is located at 400 W. Tuscarawas Avenue, Barberton, Ohio. The K. of C. Dinner Club was organized and held its first official meeting January 17, 1928. It meets in the evening once a month. Henry Henly is president. KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN PROSPER IN AKRON The origin of the Knights of St. John dates back to the eleventh century the time of the Crusaders. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, twenty prominent Catholic men of Akron assembled for the purpose of organizing a local order known as St. George's Commandery No. 6, Knights of St. John. They received their charter October 10, 1885. This commandery, one of the largest in the sixth district of Ohio, has the distinction of being the only Catholic order of uniform rank in the city. It has initiated close to 300 members so far. John A. Greissing is now president of the order. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 453 HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC SERVICE LEAGUE In the spring of 1919 Mr. C. W. Wallace, state director of the then National Catholic War Council, interested a group of Knights of Columbus in what he described as a national program on the part of those agencies that had participated in the social welfare action during the war. He said that Secretary of War Baker had called representatives of these various agencies in conference and recommended to them that they continue to do in peacetime for the social welfare of their communities what they had been doing in war time. As a result the first meeting was called to order by acting chairman, Wm. Corcoran, at the Knights of Columbus rooms on May 8, 1919. E. C. McQueeney was appointed secretary. On August 20, 1919, the organization was perfected. Mr. M. O'Neil elected president; E. C. McQueeney, vice president ; Rev. Fr. R. C. Kotheimer, secretary, and Rev. Fr. W. P. Thorpe, treasurer. Constitution and by-laws were adopted and the purpose and intent of the organization as stated in the preamble is as follows : Whereas, there has grown out of the war a bigger and broader spirit of service on the part of men and women, And whereas, an effort is being made by the Catholic War Council to enlist the sympathy of Catholics in Akron in this most excellent work, Therefore, be it resolved, that a community service league be organized for the City of Akron, having for its purpose: to render Catholic service to the community, social, intellectual and moral, by co-ordinating the activities of our Catholic agencies, by creating committees which will apply themselves to the study of our various social and moral problems, and to the right solution of these problems, and to maintaining such agencies as may be useful to this end, And be it further resolved that this league shall be called "The Catholic Service League." On September 19, 1919, Miss Mary D. Kearns was employed as the first social service worker and on October 10, 1919, the organization was installed in an office in the Akron Savings and Loan Building. On November 12, 1919, it was voted to participate in The Better Akron Federation campaign and thus became a member of that organization and has since been budgeted through it. In May, 1920, the organization moved to a dwelling at 237 South High Street and in May, 1922, moved to occupy the two dwellings at 245-249 South High Street. On July 26, 1920, The Catholic Service League was officially affiliated with the Catholic Charities Corporation of Cleveland through Rev. Fr. C. H. Le Blond as Diocesan Director of Charities and which is a diocesan organization incorporated in the same manner as the Catholic Service League. On October 14, 1920, the Catholic Service League was incorporated as a non-profit sharing corporation to do social welfare work in Summit County, Ohio, with a board of trustees of fifteen Catholic laymen. The Catholic Service League is primarily a family case working 454 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY agency in the field of social service, but also maintains a Community House and office at 245-249 South High Street. It functions throughout the county and cares for all placement in and discharge from Catholic institutions, with an average of about 120 from the city and county constantly throughout the year and has an average of about 750 families cared for within the year. It is budgeted in the Community Chests of Barberton and Cuyahoga Falls, and Kenmore. It is employing a staff of 14, and in 1926 had 20,320 visits and interviews pertaining to problems of social adjustment. About half of the budget is applied for institutional and boarding home care for children. It employs workers to visit homes where some social problem may exist and in cooperation with all other agencies, state, social, religious, educational or commercial, endeavors to help the family to maintain a normal life and reduce poverty. Present officers are : Wm. A. Walsh, president ; E. C. McQueeney, secretary and treasurer. HISTORY OF THE HOLY NAME SOCIETY There are eight Catholic parishes in the county in which there are Holy Name Societies for men, having a membership of about 2,000. The Cleveland Diocesan Union has Rev. J. M. McDonough as Diocesan Director. Niles, Ohio. In the United States there are forty-two Diocesan Unions and 6,000 branches with a total membership of 1,500,000. The organization is about 650 years old, but was officially introduced to the United States by the Church of St. Vincent. Ferrer. N. Y.. in the receiving of a charter in 1871. The primary object is set forth in a pamphlet published by National Headquarters, 884 Lexington Avenue, New York. The primary object of the Holy Name Society is to honor and reverence the Holy Name of God and of Jesus Christ. This object is accomplished in a two-fold way. First, by cultivating reverence and worship for the most sacred of all names, by organizing its members in practices of piety, in frequent manly prayer and in group action of worship and devotion. Secondly, it opposes and denounces all crimes against the sacred name of God. Its active field campaign is directed against blasphemy, perjury, cursing, swearing, profane language and all manner of obscene and indecent speech. That the existence of such a society today is opportune is plainly evident from the prevalence of the great variety of crimes which threaten the very dissolution of modern society and which have their root in that deplorable lack of honor for the Name of God and respect for his law, which absolutely destroys conscience and makes of intelligent members of human society the most cunning and dangerous criminals. It was first approved by Pope Gregory X, September 20, 1274, to combat atheism, blasphemy, irreligion and disrespect for divine and civil law. CHAPTER XII THE BENCH AND BAR By John C. Frank The ordinance of 1787 for the government of the territory northwest of the Ohio River provided, among other things, that three judges, appointed by Congress, should constitute a court "with general common law jurisdiction." The judges were required to reside in the district, and have a freehold estate therein in 500 acres of land. Their commissions were to continue in force during good behavior, and any two of them should constitute a legal court. In a series of six articles, the ordinance set forth certain fundamental principles to be observed in the government of the territory, and to be considered as articles of compact between the original states, and the people and states of the new territory, and to remain forever unalterable unless by common consent. Article Two contained a series of fundamental principles to govern the future jurisprudence of the territory. The inhabitants were not be deprived of the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus, and of trial by jury. Judicial proceedings were to be according to the course of the common law. All fines were to be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishments were to be inflicted. In the just preservation of rights and property, it was declared that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the territory, that should in any manner whatever interfere with, or affect, private contracts or engagements entered into in good faith, bona fide and without fraud. The judges appointed by Congress under this ordinance were Samuel Holden Parsons, John Armstrong and John Cleves Symmes. Under authority of the ordinance, and between the years 1788 and 1799, a series of laws adapted from the laws of Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut and Kentucky was enacted and promulgated. Outstanding among these enactments is that of July 14, 1795, adapted from a similar statute of the State of Virginia, which provided that the common law of England and all statutes or acts of the British Parliament made in aid of the common law prior to the fourth year of the reign of King James I, and which were of a general nature and not local to that kingdom, together with the several laws enacted for the territory, should be the rule of decision, and should be considered in force until repealed by legislative authority or disapproved by Congress. The subject matter which first occupied the attention of the territorial government was a law for regulating and establishing a militia ; - 455 - 456 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY and the next subject matter was that of the creation of a judicial system. By an act of August 23, 1788, the following scheme of courts was provided. There was to be a Court of Quarter Session, and a Court of Common Pleas in each county. The Court of Quarter Session was to consist of not less than three or more than five of the justices of the peace of the county, specially designated by their commissions to hold such court. Its jurisdiction was limited to the conservation of the peace, with cognizance of all crimes and misdemeanors the punishment of which did not involve life, limb, forfeiture of property, or imprisonment for a period longer than one year. In the Court of Common Pleas was vested jurisdiction of all manner of pleas, actions, suits and causes of a civil nature. It was to be composed of not less than three nor more than five judges. The court of Quarter Session was held quarterly, and the Common Pleas Court was held semi-annually. A Probate Court for each county was also created, with jurisdiction to take proofs of wills, grant letters testamentary and letters of administration, and to do all things pertaining to the probate office, excepting the rendering of definitive sentences and final decrees. Whenever a definitive sentence or final decree was necessary for the disposition of a matter in the Probate Court, the judge was required to call to his assistance two of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. A fourth court, known as the General Court, was established with jurisdiction to hold pleas both civil and criminal. Four terms were to be held annually, but not more than one term in any one county. A provision was made for the appointment of justices of the peace in addition to those who constituted the Court of Quarter Session. These justices had jurisdiction of petty offenses which did not involve a fine in excess of $3. Small cases of a civil nature not involving demands in excess of $5 might be tried and disposed of by an individual judge of the Court of Common Pleas. A few years later (October 1, 1796), an Orphan's Court was established, with jurisdiction of trust estates, the appointment of guardians, the settlement of estates and the construction of wills ; and for a brief period of time after 1800 there was a court known as the Circuit Court, in a few of the southern counties of the state, which had appellate jurisdiction from judgments rendered by the Court of Common Pleas. While there was a Court of Quarter Session, a Court of Common Pleas and a Probate Court for each county, it should be noted that there were not many counties in this early period. The Northwest Territory comprised all of the territory northwest of the Ohio River, and as far west as the Mississippi River. By proclamation of the governor and judges under date of July 27, 1788, all that portion of the Northwest Territory which lies east of the Cuyahoga River, Portage Path and Tuscarawas River, and southerly as far as Fort Lawrence, was erected into a county called Washington County. By a similar proclamation of January 2, 1790, Hamilton County was established between the Big Miami AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 457 and the Little Miami rivers and running north to the "Standing Stone Forks" of the Big Miami. By proclamation of August 15, 1796, Wayne County was established, comprising all the territory west of the Cuyahoga River, Portage Path and Tuscarawas River, to the western line of Lake Michigan and as far north as Lake Superior. Our present County of Wayne, and Wayne County, Michigan, in which the city of Detroit is located, are existing remnants of the original Wayne County, which included all of the State of Michigan, and large portions of Ohio and Indiana. The judges of that day who went on circuit to hold court could offer a good alibi, if they failed to get to the seat of justice at the appointed time. We find an act of Congress reimbursing John Cleves Symmes for the cost incurred by him in chartering a boat to hold court in the Northwest Territory. The practice of law did not escape the consideration of the Territorial Government. On August 1, 1792, a law was enacted providing that no person might be admitted to practice as an attorney in any of the courts of the territory unless he was a person of good and moral character, and well affected towards the Government of the United States and the territory. Moreover, he was required to pass an examination as to his professional ability before one or more of the territorial judges, and obtain a certificate that he possessed the proper abilities and qualifications "to render him useful in the office of an attorney." The oath which he was required to take was that he would "do no falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any in any of the courts of justice." If he knew of an intention to commit any falsehood, he was required to communicate knowledge thereof to the judges of the court, that it might be prevented. Furthermore, he was not wittingly or willingly to promote or sue any false or groundless suit or give aid to the same. In Anno Domini 1792, there was no surplus of lawyers, for the act referred to contained a provision that the plaintiff or plaintiffs in any suit were not to be allowed to manage their cause by more than two attorneys ; nor should any defendant employ a greater number ; with a further provision that if there were only two lawyers attending the court of any county of the territory, neither the plaintiff nor the defendant was allowed to have more than one of them. Thus was monopoly combated in those days. It will be recalled that Congress reserved the right to disapprove the laws enacted by the governor and territorial judges. Only one law so enacted was actually disapproved, and that was a statute of limitations, which provided among other matters that prosecutions for capital offenses, forgery, perjury and larceny, must be instituted within four years after the commission of the crime, and not afterwards ; and that prosecutions for all other offenses must be instituted within two years after their commission. The first General Assembly of the State of Ohio met at Cincinnati, September 16, 1799. The first business of the Assembly was to confirm and give force to the laws enacted by the governor and judges of the territory. Its next business was to enact a comprehensive law regulating 458 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY the admission and practice of attorneys and counsellors at law ; and it is to be noticed that a distinction existed, and continued to be made, between attorneys at law and counsellors at law. Attorneys at law were restricted in their practice to the Courts of Common Pleas and the Quarter Session, while counsellors at law were permitted to practice also in the General Court. By this law, approved October 29, 1799, no one was permitted to engage in the practice of law and receive fees without having been licensed to do so. The requirements for admission to practice were four years attentive study of the law under the direction of a practicing attorney residing in the territory. The applicant for admission to bar was required to pass an examination before two or more of the judges of the General Court. Considerable formality was involved in the proceeding. Request was made to the General Court for the examination, and a rule was entered fixing the time for the ordeal, notice of which was to be given in open court at least three days before the date of the examination. If the applicant satisfied the judges of the adequacy of his qualifications, he was admitted to practice, and took an oath that he would faithfully perform and faithfully execute the duties of attorney or counsellor, as the case might be, according to the best of his understanding and ability. His name was required to be enrolled on a parchment roll kept in the office of the General Clerk, and no person was admitted to practice whose name did not appear on that roll, or whose name had been stricken therefrom by order of the General Court. To be a counsellor at law, and have the privilege of practicing before the General Court, it was necessary to have been engaged in practice as an attorney for a period of two years, and then to have undergone successfully an examination on the theory of the law; and being thus admitted to a counsellor's degree. Anyone who undertook to practice law except in his own cause, whose name was not enrolled on the parchment roll as an attorney or counsellor became subject to the embarrassment of having to pay back the money he may have received as fees. How burdensome such a penalty might prove, may be inferred from the fee bill enacted by the first General Assembly fixing fees which attorneys might demand. For cases in Common Pleas Court a lawyer might charge a retaining fee of one dollar, and a fee for trial or argument of a case, a dollar and a half. The drafting of pleadings and briefs appeared to be a mere matter of penmanship, and a lawyer was permitted to charge at the rate of 12 cents per sheet of seventy-two words; while for a brief he was entitled to 75 cents straight. In the General Court a counsellor was allowed more liberal fees. Thus he might have a retainer of two dollars. He could charge 16 cents per sheet for drafting pleadings, one dollar for a brief and copy ; but a fee on trial or hearing was still limited to a dollar and a half. The fees of the judges were on the same scale of munificence. The judges of the General Court (the Supreme Court of those days) were allowed the startling compensation of two dollars a day, while holding court. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 459 The first General Assembly enacted a law which became the framework for the present jurisdiction of justices of the peace. Every action and demand except certain classes of cases specially excepted were made cognizable before a justice of the peace ; but the jurisdiction was limited to sums not in excess of $18. Causes of action for debt on bonds, actions on covenant, replevin, trespass, and trespass vi et armis ; actions on real contracts, and where the title to real estate should in any wise come in question were excepted from the justice's jurisdiction. A law of major importance enacted by the first General Assembly was that for the relief of poor persons in prison for debt. In those days a suit was ordinarily instituted by a writ known as a capias ad respondendum. Nowadays, suits are ordinarily started by a summons, which is a notice to the defendant that he has been sued, and is required to answer the demand of the plaintiff on or before a given time. A capias was an order of arrest, and under it the defendant was brought forthwith before the court and required to give security for his appearance at the trial, and for compliance with the judgment of the court ; and in default of such security he was remanded to prison. Thus the institution of an action virtually put the defendant to the giving of security for the satisfaction of the demand made by the plaintiff. The act for the relief of poor debtors recited that the detention in prison of persons destitue of property could be of no advantage to their creditors, but on the contrary their release from confinement, duly guarded, might be of service to society by placing the unfortunates in a situation where they could by honest industry support themselves and their families, as well as to discharge their just debts. The law which was enacted accordingly provided that if a person committed by force of any execution should complain that he did not have estate sufficient to support him in prison, the jailor on such complaint should make the complaint known to a justice of the peace of the county, whose duty it then became to notify the execution creditor of the defendant's decision to take the benefit of the poor law. The debtor was examined before the Court of Quarter Session, and put to the extraordinary oath of "answering unto God at the great day" that he did not have any estate sufficient to support himself in prison ; that he had not parted with any property with the design of defrauding his creditors ; whereupon the court was to make an order discharging the prisoner. Of course such discharge did not release the debt. THE CONSTITUTION OF 1802 In the year 1800 Congress divided the Northwest Territory into two sections, an eastern and a western division. By another act of Congress passed April 30, 1802, the inhabitants of the eastern division were authorized to form a constitution and state government, and when this was done the state was to be admitted to the Union on the same footing in all respects with the original states. The boundaries of the eastern division were defined so as to -constitute the present boundary lines of the State 460 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY of Ohio ; and provision was made for the election of thirty-five representatives to form a convention for drafting a constitution. To this law we are indebted for the Constitution of 1802, the first constitution of the State of Ohio. By the terms of this charter the judicial power of the state was vested in a Supreme Court and Courts of Common Pleas for each county, and such other courts as the Legislature might from time to time establish. The Supreme Court was to consist of three judges with a provision for the addition of another judge after five years, and for the division of the state into two circuits, if such other judge was added. The Courts of Common Pleas were to consist of a president judge and associate judges. The state was to be divided into three circuits and a president judge was to be appointed for each circuit. In each county there were to be not more than three, nor less than two associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas. On this court was bestowed jurisdiction at common law and in chancery in all cases as might be directed by law. A further provision authorized the increasing of the number of circuits and president judges'after a period of five years ; and from time to time increases were made in accordance with the authority so granted until in the year 1851, when the second constitution was adopted, there were twenty judicial districts in the state. The judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Common Pleas were vested with complete criminal jurisdiction in such cases as might be appointed by law. The judges of the Court of Common Pleas were vested with jurisdiction of all probate and testamentary matters, the granting of administrations, and the appointment of guardians. The Court of Quarter Session, the Probate Court and the Orphan's Court were thus put out of existence. The judges of the Supreme Court and the president judge and associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas were to be appointed by joint ballot of both houses of the General Assembly and were to hold office for the term of seven years. The times for holding terms of the Common Fleas and Supreme Courts were to be fixed annually by law, and were so fixed while the constitution remained in force. A competent number of justices of the peace was to be elected by the qualified electors. Section Four of the schedule attached to the constitution provided that all laws and parts of laws then in force in the territory should continue, and remain in full effect until repealed by the Legislature except so much of an act entitled "An act regulating the admission and practice of attorneys and counsellors at law," and of the act amendatory thereto as related to the term of time for which applicants should have studied law, their residence within the territory, and the term of time they should practice as an attorney before being admissible to the degree of counsellor at law. It is evident that the high standard of qualifications fixed during the territorial period for attorneys and counsellors at law was out of gear AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 461 with the point of view of the first constitutional convention, and out of gear with the point of view of the General Assemblies of succeeding years ; for an act passed February 4, 1804, removed entirely the requirement for legal study for a period of time as a prerequisite to admission to the bar. Any person was entitled to examination on the production of a certificate of some practicing attorney or counsellor setting forth that the applicant was of good character and had regularly and attentively studied law under him and that he believed the applicant to be of sufficient legal knowledge and ability to discharge the duties of an attorney at law. Not until the year 1819 did the General Assembly again require a fixed period of study as a prerequisite for admission to the bar, and at that time a period of two years study was required. An act passed February 22, 1830, imposed a tax on the income of practicing lawyers and physicians. The auditor and county commissioners were vested with authority to estimate the income of lawyers and physicians, and to charge a tax upon the same, not in excess of $5 annually. After the adoption of the Constitution of 1802 and at the first General Assembly held after the creation of the new state, the organization of a judiciary in conformity with the requirements of the new constitution immediately engaged the attention of the legislators. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was fixed to extend to all civil cases in law and equity where the title to land might be in question, or where the matter in dispute exceeded $1,000 in value. The court was given appellate jurisdiction from the Court of Common Pleas in all cases respecting the title to land, or where the matter in controversy exceeded $100 in value ; and in all cases where the proof or validity of a will, or the right of administration was in question. It was given exclusive cognizance of all causes of divorce and alimony, and of all criminal causes where the punishment was capital. The Supreme Court was likewise given concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of Common Pleas of all other crimes and offenses not within the exclusive jurisdiction of a justice of the peace. It also had power to issue writs of error, habeas corpus, certiorari and mandamus, and all other writs warranted by the principles and usages of law. For the requirements of the Court of Common Pleas the state was divided into three circuits ; Trumbull County, which comprised the entire Western Reserve, being assigned to the third circuit. A president judge was assigned for each circuit, and three associate judges for each county. The original jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas was to extend to all civil cases at law and in equity where the amount in dispute exceeded the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace. It was vested with power to take proofs of wills, grant administrations and determine all causes and controversies of a probate and testamentary nature and to appoint guardians for minors, idiots and lunatics. It was given cognizance of all crimes and misdemeanors the punishment of which was not capital, and excepting such offenses as were made cognizable by a single justice of 462 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY the peace. It had the same power as the Supreme Court to issue remedial writs (error and mandamus excepted), and an appeal was allowed as a matter of course from any judgment rendered by the Court of Common Pleas where the title to land was in question, or where the matter in dispute exceeded $100 in value, or where the validity of a will or the right of administration was in question. The oath required of all judges was to administer justice without respect to persons, and to do equal right to the poor and to the rich. An express provision was made that no suit in equity should be maintainable either in the Supreme Court or in the Court of Common Pleas where there was a plain, adequate and complete remedy at law. By an act passed April 16, 1803, the salary of the judges of the Supreme Court was fixed at $900, the same as the governor's salary, and the salary of the president judge of the Court of Common Pleas at $750. The following year the associate judges were authorized to receive $2 a day for time actually spent in attending court. Jurisdiction in chancery, or equity, was vested in the Courts of Common Pleas and the Supreme Court. The jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas was limited to cases where the demand did not exceed $500, that being the point at which the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court attached. An application to the courts of chancery was to be called a petition, and it was provided that the same rules of evidence should be observed in courts of chancery as those followed in the courts of law. On February 14, 1805, the General Assembly reenacted the territorial law adopted from the Virginia code, providing "that the common law of England and all statutes and acts of the British Parliament made in aid of the common law prior to the fourth year of the reign of King James I, and which are of a general nature, and not local to that kingdom, and also the several laws in force in this state, shall be the rule of decision, and shall be considered as of full force until repealed by the General Assembly of the State." An act passed January 27, 1806, extended the jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas in criminal cases so that a person indicted for a capital offense might at his election be tried in that court. An act passed February 21, 1805, increased the salary of the associate judges to $3 per day and an act passed December 8, 1821, raised the salaries of the judges of the Supreme Court to $1,200 and the salary of the president judge to $1,000. A general practice act for courts of law, passed February 16, 1810, and a practice act for courts of chancery, passed February 19, 1810, were a decided forward step in the development and definition of practice. While no radical changes were introduced at this time, we may nevertheless observe the germs of sentiment which later led to our present code of civil procedure. It was provided that no pleading or judgment was to be abated, quashed or reversed for any defect or want of form. The courts were required to give judgment according to the right of the case, and as the matter of law should appear to them, without regarding any AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 463 imperfections, defects, or want of form except only in cases of demurrer, where the ground of demurrer was especially set down. An act of February 18, 1804, regulating the duties of justice of the peace, for the first time conferred jurisdiction on that court to cause persons charged with crime, to be arrested and brought in for examination, commitment, admission to bail, or discharge, as the case might require, thus laying foundation for the justice's criminal jurisdiction as now known. The same act extended the jurisdiction of justices in small matters of controversy, where the amount was not in excess of $35. By some inattention, no provision was made for starting a suit before a justice, except by a capias, which required the constable to bring the defendant in person before the justice. This implied an arrest, and further required of the defendant, that he give adequate satisfactory security for his appearance at the trial, and for payment of any judgment that might be finally rendered against him; and in default of such security, the defendant was kept in custody, until the time of trial, when he would be released, if the outcome of the suit were favorable to him; but if it were unfavorable, he remained in jail until the judgment was satisfied. A general limitation on the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace was that it should not extend to questions of ejectment, replevin, detinue, slander, actions on contracts for the sale of lands, or where the title to land might be called in question. A more comprehensive act relating to justices of the peace was passed February 12, 1805. The jurisdiction to examine, commit, admit to bail, or discharge persons accused of crime, was reenacted, and the jurisdiction in civil matters was extended to include demands not exceeding $50. The defect of the act of 1804 relating to the commencement of actions was remedied ; and it was provided that the first process in a suit before a justice of the peace should be either a summons, or a warrant in the nature of a capias ad respondendum, as the case might require. By an act of February 18, 1909, the jurisdiction of justices of the peace was extended to demands not exceeding $70 ; and by an act of February 25, 1834, the amount was raised to $100. An act passed February 2, 1805, conferred for the first time upon justices of the peace, jurisdiction in forcible entry and detainer ; and by an act passed February 25, 1819, jurisdiction was conferred in trespass to real estate, conditioned that the amount sued for did not exceed the sum cognizable by a justice ; and no claim of title set up by the defendant could have the effect of taking away the jurisdiction. By an act passed March 10, 1831, it was made the duty of all the judges of the Supreme Court to meet annually in the town of Columbus, to hold a court in bank for the final adjudication of such questions of law as might be reserved in any county for decision by the court in bank ; it was provided that when any important or difficult question should arise in any proceeding at law or in equity pending before the Supreme Court in any county, the judges might reserve the same for 464 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY decision by the court in bank ; and also, whenever any of the judges of a Supreme Court of any county should be divided in opinion, the cause on motion of either party should be reserved for decision by the court in bank. It is worthy of notice that it was not until the passage of the Justice's Act of February 16, 1820, and the General Practice Act of February 18, 1824, applying to the Common Pleas and Supreme Courts, that the capias ad respondendum, or order of arrest, was abolished as the first process in an ordinary suit for money ; these acts provided that a suit against a householder should be instituted by summons, and not by capias. UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1851 On February 22, 1850, an act was passed providing for the calling of a convention to revise, amend or change the constitution (1802). This convention was to convene in the Hall of Representatives at Columbus, on the first day of May, 1850, and was to consist of 108 members. The deliberations of this convention resulted in the Constitution of 1851, and effected a notable change in the organization and constitution of the courts, and resulted in a rather radical change in legal procedure. The names of the Supreme Court and Common Pleas Court were retained, but their constitution and functions were materially altered ; an intermediate court of appellate jurisdiction called the District Court was created ; the Common Pleas Court was divested of its probate jurisdiction and a new court, the present Probate Court, was provided for. The Supreme Court was to consist of five judges. Its original jurisdiction was limited to quo-warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus, procedendo and such appellate jurisdiction as might be provided by law ; it superseded the Supreme Court in bank. By the Constitution of 1802, for the purpose of exercising the jurisdiction of the Common Pleas Court, the state was divided into three judicial circuits, with a provision that additional circuits might be established from time to time as needed, and with the net result that in the year 1851, there were twenty Common Pleas circuits. By the new constitution, it was provided that the state should be divided into nine Common Pleas districts of compact territory, bounded by county lines, with a Common Pleas judge for each district. The definition of the jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas was left for future statutory enactment. An intermediate court, known as the District Court, which was to be composed of the judges of the Common Pleas of the respective districts and one of the judges of the Supreme Court, was established. The District Court was given like jurisdiction as the Supreme Court, with such other jurisdiction as might be established by law from time to time. This court was named as the successor of the old Supreme Court which went on circuit. A Probate Court was provided for each county, which was to be a court of record, open at all times, and presided over by a judge, who was to hold his office for a term of three years. The jurisdiction of the Pro- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 465 bate Court extended to all probate and testamentary matters, the appointment of administrators and guardians, and the settlement of their accounts. It also had jurisdiction in habeas corpus, might issue marriage licenses, and had jurisdiction for the sale of lands by executors, administrators and guardians. The office of justice of the peace was continued without any special change. All judges were to be elected by the people instead of by the members of the General Assembly, as was the case in the former constitution. The General Assembly was vested with power to increase or decrease the number of the judges of the Supreme Court and of the Common Pleas Court, and to increase or decrease the number of districts, and make such changes in the districts by subdivision, or otherwise, as seemed wise. It will thus be seen that the Supreme Court was the successor of the old Supreme Court in bank ; that the District Court was the successor of the Supreme Court, so far as that court engaged in circuit work ; that the Court of Common Pleas and justice's courts were retained as theretofore known, and that the Probate Court became the successor of the Common Pleas Court in matters of probate. Several important features of this new constitution may be briefly noted. The right of trial by jury was to remain inviolate. There was to be no imprisonment for debt in any civil action on mesne or final process, unless in cases of fraud. This provision practically abolished the commencement of suits by capias ad respondendum. A very important provision of this constitution was Article XIV, which provided that the General Assembly at its first session after the adoption of the constitution should provide for the appointment of three commissioners whose duty it should be to revise, reform, simplify and abridge the practice, pleadings, forms and proceedings of the courts of record of the state, and as far as practicable and expedient, provide for the abolishment of the distinct forms of action then in use, and for the administration of justice by a uniform mode of proceeding without reference to any distinction between law and equity. Following the provisions of the constitution, the General Assembly, on the 14th day of March, 1853, enacted what has since been known as the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of Ohio. This enactment marks an epoch in the judicial history of the state. Not only had we adopted the common law of England with the acts of Parliament passed up to the fourth year of the reign of King James I, as the groundwork of our judicial system, but we had likewise adopted the system of pleading and practice which had grown up in the courts of England, and known as the Common Law system. This system, which was developed and perfected under the Norman kings, was the product of the rigid and immutable logic of the period, the same type of logic which underlies most of the religious creeds of the Middle Ages. In the English scheme of judicature, there were courts called Courts of Law, and courts known as Courts of Equity. They were separate and distinct courts ; but the existence of these separate systems does not imply 16-VOL. 1 466 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY that justice was administered in the courts of equity, and was not administered in the courts of law. It means rather that in the development of English jurisprudence, the king, being the source of all justice, established through his chancellor, at a very early date, a system of redress for wrongs, for which the then existing jurisdiction of the law courts appeared to be inadequate. According to the scheme of justice, all writs by which suits were instituted, were issued out of the chancellor's office ; and as cases arose which found no precedent in existing remedies, those cases might be retained in the chancellor's office, and disposed of by him, instead of being sent to the law courts. The chancellor's court became known as the Court of Chancery, or the Court of Equity. Its jurisdiction and sphere of action, in the process of time, became as clearly and as definitely defined as the jurisdiction of the courts of law. The practice in the Court of Chancery was different from the practice in the law courts ; in the law courts, cases were tried by jury ; in chancery, juries were dispensed with, and the judge himself heard the evidence, and decided the issue ; in the courts of law the redress and remedy afforded were a judgment for money, or for the recovery of specific or personal or real property ; the courts of chancery gave such remedy as the nature of his case required ; this might be an injunction, or a receivership, or an accounting, or some other remedy known as equitable relief ; the remedy was adapted to the requirements of the case. The practice in the law courts involved a system of written pleadings, logically and rigidly designed to the production of an issue ; that is, a situation where the plaintiff put forth a statement of facts, which was denied by his adversary. The system was designed to get into writing the controverted elements material to a dispute, and to eliminate all immaterial matters ; and to get the case down to one disputed and controlling fact. The scheme was practically immutable, and its principles were carried to their logical conclusion. In the courts of chancery, on the contrary, the written pleadings of the parties were not drawn with the idea of boiling a case down to its lowest terms, but it was rather to tell the whole story ; in the practice, as it developed, the pleadings of the parties, instead of being drawn in the form of summary statements of the facts of a controversy, would set forth, at length, the evidence in the case and the arguments of counsel, and often with such endless detail, that pleadings became lengthy dissertations. It is easy to point out defects in each system. The distinctive feature of the common law system of pleading was its forms of action. Cases naturally group themselves into classes. Under the common law system, in modern times, all cases were covered by nine classes, each of these having its own distinct formula for stating the cause of action and defense. Each form was a mold, rigid and inelastic. Indeed, want of elasticity was the unfortunate feature of the common law system. A mistake in judgment, involving the choice of an improper form, resulted in a non-suit, requiring the plaintiff to pay the costs of his unsuccessful venture and to start over again. In most cases it was easy AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 467 enough for the lawyer to select the proper form of action, but many cases presented difficulties in this regard. Under the common law, a party was obliged to prove the claims of his pleading as set forth ; he was not allowed to wander far from what he had set down in writing ; and the consequence of variance between the allegations and the proof was just as fatal as choosing a wrong form of action. In most cases a lawyer could not know until trial, and after the witnesses had testified, just how the proof would stand ; until then there would be, of necessity, many surmises and suppositions to reckon with ; but woe to the lawyer whose guess was wrong. This difficulty led to a practice of stating a case in the pleadings in several ways, each designed to meet a possible situation or combination of facts which might develop, and then on trial the lawyer could stand on the particular statement which coincided with the proof. It has probably always been the case that the theory underlying any system is better than its practice, and so with the common law system of pleading. In theory it was not unreasonable, but when carried out with inexorable logic by judges possessed of humanity's varied quirks, purely technical interpretations often resulted, and it became the subject of much just criticism, not only on the part of other judges, but also by the bar and the public. The records of our county, prior to the adoption of the code, are replete with cases on promissory notes, where the lawyer thought it necessary to state the case in seven or eight different forms to avoid the possibility of a failure of proof on some one point. Except that the same amount would be claimed on each of these seven or eight causes of action, no one would suspect that they all related to a single subject. Add to the foregoing the fact that in two of the common law forms of action, ejectment and trover, resort was necessarily had to fictions in the statement of the cause of action, resulting in an untrue statement of facts. The action of trover, for instance, was a form of action designed for the recovery of the value of personal property belonging to the plaintiff, and which the defendant had converted to his own use. Originally the action was devised to meet the case of a plaintiff who had lost articles of personal property, and the defendant, having found them, refused to restore them, on demand, to the plaintiff. The form having been worked out, it became as fixed as a mold of iron, and the method of statement never altered thereafter. For purposes of convenience, to which we shall hereafter allude, it became desirable to utilize this form of action in all cases for the recovery of damages for the conversion of personal property ; but in so doing, the form was not changed or adapted to the particular circumstances of the various cases. The old formulary statement found in the chancellor's office had to be used, and it had to be alleged that the plaintiff, being the owner of certain described goods, casually lost them, and the defendant found them, and refused to deliver them to the plaintiff. The fact probably would be that the plaintiff' didn't lose any goods at all, and that the defen- 468 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY dant didn't find any. It would be simply a case of misappropriation. Thus, in one of the first cases ever tried in the Western Reserve, Owen Brown, father of John Brown,. the abolitionist, was sued by William Hart on a declaration alleging that the plaintiff was possessed of, as his own property, certain goods and chattels, to wit, six lengths of stove pipe, and being so possessed thereof, "the same was casually lost, and then and there came into the possession of said Owen Brown by finding, who, with force and arms converted the same to his own use, and refused to deliver the same to the said William Hart." In like manner the common law action of ejectment, which was originally devised to permit a tenant to recover a leasehold estate from his landlord, and was properly framed to meet that purpose, was afterwards adapted to be used in all cases for the recover of real property ; but the formulary statement did not change, and the record read as if a tenant were seeking to recover a leasehold estate, instead of an absolute title. The resort to fictions in these forms of action arose, partly at least, from the desire of litigants to avoid certain barbaric forms of trial in vogue in early times. There was, for instance, a form of trial known as wager of law, which implied that the controversy was actually tried by a resort to a duel. The parties litigant fought it out with deadly weapons, and the winner was declared to have the right of the case. This kind of trial was countenanced by the common law in a class of cases where, from the nature of things, there might be no eye witnesses to the transaction ; and the outcome of an appeal to God, by battle, was regarded as showing the right of the cause, just as in Old Testament times the manipulation of the Urim and Thummim, or sacred lot, by the priests, was believed to declare the will of Jehovah. Another peculiar ancient English mode of trial was that known as purgation, whereby the defendant could clear himself of a complaint by bringing into court his suit, consisting of twelve persons. The defendant would declare on his oath that he did not owe the demand, or did not commit the wrong, and his twelve neighbors (his suit) would testify that they believed what the defendant had said. This constituted a defense. The suit would not necessarily know anything about the case, but they believed the defendant's oath. These and other barbaric forms of trial were involved in the early administration of justice. With the progress of time, the futility of such proceedings as an aid to justice must have been perceived. The right of purgation and the wager of law were not allowed in certain newer forms of action provided for by Act of Parliament, and litigants naturally sought to bring their cases within forms not subject to disposition by an appeal to arms. Such, in a general way, was the origin of fictions. Conditions undoubtedly justified their invention; but having once come into use, they persisted, like other things, long after the excuse for them had passed away. In the State of New York, a movement for the reform and simplification of the common law practice, headed by Cyrus W. Field, resulted in AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 469 the adoption of a new code of procedure in the year 1848. Within the three years following, the states of Missouri, California, Kentucky, Iowa and Minnesota followed the lead established by New York. Ohio was ripe for a similar step, the constitution of 1851 provided for it, as we have seen, and the legislature promptly fell into line and adopted the new procedure in 1853. The Ohio Code is a substantial reproduction of the New York system. The distinguishing feature of the new procedure was the abolishment of the difference of procedure in equity cases and law cases. One system of pleading for both kinds of cases was provided, with the same rules applicable to both. The common law forms of action were abolished. By this we mean, that it was no longer necessary to give a name to your case. All actions not of a criminal nature are called, simply, civil cases, we no longer characterize them as debt, covenant, trover, trespass, assumpsit, etc., but just plainly, civil actions. We may note here that abolishment of the forms of action could not, in the nature of things, have the effect of abolishing actual distinctions between different types of cases. Distinctions are not obliterated by a fiat of the legislature. We would not accomplish much by cutting from our vocabulary the words pine, and fir, and cedar, and substituting for all the word conifer ; we would still have the pine, the fir, and the cedar tree. All the rules of pleading as known at common law were expressly abolished, and a few simple rules promulgated in their stead. The most striking feature of the new system, however, is that which provided for the manner of stating a cause of action. It was ordained that the facts of a cause of action or defense should be set forth in ordinary and concise language, without repetition. This is the revolutionary feature of the code. It requires a statement of facts, ordinary language suffices, and the statement is to be concise and without repetition. It had been strenuously objected under the old scheme that there was no adequate statement of facts to advise the opposite party or the court of the real nature of a law case. Pleading was very largely according to legal effect, often involving broad conclusions of law, and the language employed was very apt to be the technical formula that had been in vogue for several centuries, the point of which had been long forgotten. In courts of equity, under the old system, the facts were set forth, but they were not set forth concisely, and under both the law and the equity systems there was much repetition. On the law side, the case would be set forth in a variety of counts, while on the equity side, the endless detail resorted to involved much useless repetition. All fictions were now abolished, and pleadings were to be truthful. Unfortunately, the new system did not meet a favorable response in all quarters ; lawyers were used to the old system, and many did not believe that anything so revolutionary could be successful. Judges were of the same frame of mind, many judges, indeed, were definitely unfriendly to the new system. Justice Hitchcock, then a member of the Supreme Court of Ohio, seems to have been one of these. Although the rules of   470 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY pleading, as known in common law, were expressly abolished by the Code, the Supreme Court under the leadership of Justice Hitchcock promptly reimposed all of them by judicial interpretation. Reference was constantly made to the way in which things were done under the old system. The impression was current that the design of the new system was to enable a lawyer to become a pleader without study, that any go-as-you-please practice would suffice. In fact, the conviction continued in some quarters that in order to become a good pleader, the lawyer needed to lay his foundation in the old common law system. Perhaps most of the difficulties involved grew out of the principle that the new system of pleading is a fact-stating system, in which the material facts of a transaction are to be set forth. Law is not to be pleaded, neither is the evidence to be pleaded. Between the law of a case, and the evidence in the case, there is supposed to be a realm of facts which will set forth a controversy by a comparatively brief statement. It must be conceded that, from this point of view, the code has not operated with entire success. Careless lawyers will not, or cannot, distinguish between law, facts and evidence. No lawyer, however learned, can draw a certain line between statements of fact and conclusions of law. Most statements of fact involve a conclusion of law, and the reverse of the statement is equally true. The fact-stating requirement has resulted in greatly increasing the length of pleadings ; and all because it is often difficult to distinguish between facts, evidence, and statements of law. Since our civil code was adopted in 1853, a period of 75 years, the majority of the states of the union have adopted codes of procedure more or less similar to our own ; and in those states where the common law system has not been abolished, it has been so altered by statutory enactment as to be scarcely recognizable. Since the adoption of the New York code in 1848, it has undergone three revisions. In England, as early as 1852, a start had been made in the revision of the common law system, and in 1873 there was a complete revamping and simplification of the entire English system, so that after the year 1873 the common law system has not prevailed even in England, the land of its birth. Again, in the year 1925 there was a further revision and simplification of the system of practice ; and the present English procedure, from the standpoint of simplicity and directness, appears to the writer to be far in advance of the system adopted seventy-five years ago in Ohio, which has prevailed since with no modification or revision to speak of ; for it is a fact that in the period which has elapsed since the adoption of the Ohio Code, there has been nothing done towards its general revision. Various sections have been more or less amended, sometimes to conform to interpretations of the Supreme Court, and at other times to carry out the half digested schemes of a self-appointed reformer, or of some disappointed lawyer. As a whole the system has been a fixture for three quarters of a century. Within such a period the process of fossilization may become complete. A striking advance made in English procedure during the last fifty AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 471 years has been the provision for very short pleadings. These forms are subject to the control of the Supreme Court of Judicature, and provision has been made for simplified pleadings to cover almost every phase of human activity wherein controversies arise. Provision was made in our code for simple pleadings to be used on promissory notes and accounts, and in a few other kinds of actions. In these cases a very brief statement is all that is required. There appears to the writer no good reason against extending the scheme of simplified pleadings by providing short forms for all of the commonly recurring actions, as is done in England. The two sessions of the legislature following the adoption of the new constitution were given over, in a substantial measure, to bringing the judicial system into accord with the requirements of the constitution. The various courts were organized, and their jurisdiction defined. A new act relating to justices of the peace was enacted. The general act of March 25, 1851, relating to justices of the peace, had recently been enacted, and afforded the general framework and scheme for the new Justice's act. The General Assembly seemed content with the old act of February 14, 1824, regulating admission to the bar and prescribing the requirements therefor, and nothing new was attempted. A few years later, (by the act of April 7, 1856,) an innovation was made in the interests of a school of law. It was provided that where there was a college in any county, the District Court might appoint a committee of competent lawyers to attend the commencement exercises, and examine any students who might apply, as to their qualifications for admission to the bar, and issue certificates to such as should show themselves qualified. This certificate, when presented to either the Common Pleas, District or Supreme Court, entitled the holder to admission to practice, conditioned that he was twenty-one years of age. By an act passed in 1878, women were made eligible for admission to the bar. Criminal procedure and the jurisdiction of the Probate Court continued without noteworthy alterations. A development of considerable importance is that which is marked by the appearance of the revised statutes of 1880. Under an act passed March 27, 1875, the General Assembly provided for the appointment, by the governor, of three commissioners to revise and consolidate the general statute laws of the state in force at the time the commissioners should make their report. The commission, in performing its duties, was to bring together all the statutes, and parts of statutes relating to the same matters, omitting redundant and obsolete enactments, and such as had no influence on existing rights and remedies, making alterations to reconcile contradictions, supplying omissions, and amending imperfections in the original act, so as to reduce the general statutes into as concise and comprehensive a form as was consistent with the clear expression of the will of the General Assembly. Equivocal and ambiguous words, and circuitous and tautological phraseology were to be rejected. The statutes were to be 472 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY arranged under suitable titles, divisions, subdivisions, chapters and sections, with head notes briefly expressive of the matter contained therein, and with marginal notes of the contents of each section, with references to the original act from which it was compiled. Annotations of decisions of the Supreme Court were to be furnished in footnotes, and a suitable index for easy reference was to be provided. This revision and consolidation was to be printed and reported to the General Assembly without unnecessary delay. The commissioners were to have free access to the rolls, books and records of the several departments of the state government, and were to be provided by the state with suitable rooms for the prosecution of their work. A salary of ten dollars a day was fixed for each of the commissioners, during the time actually employed. The commissioners appointed to perform this important task were Michael Daugherty, Luther Day and John W. Okey. The commission performed its work with marked promptness, and the new statutes were in print in the latter part of 1879, and were enacted by the General Assembly as a whole, and became known as the Revised Statutes of 1880. This publication of the statutes met with a ready and satisfactory response in the legal profession. It may be questioned, however, whether the arrangement of the statutes as required by the provisions of the legislative act, under titles, divisions, subdivisions, chapters and sections, has been as satisfactory as the simpler arrangement which had previously prevailed, and which largely prevails in other states, viz : a purely alphabetical arrangement of subject matter. In the year 1833 Salmon P. Chase published an edition of the statutes containing all the acts of the General Assembly and of the Territorial Government from 1788 to 1833, inclusive. The arrangement was purely chronological. Three substantial volumes were required for this edition ; and at that early date the compiler already gave expression to the difficulties involved in getting together the mass of laws which had accumulated during a period of forty-three years. The work and scheme of Chase were continued in a publication known as Curwen's Statutes, a work in four volumes, which appeared in 1853. Saylor's Statutes, published in 1876, was a continuation of Curwen. These three editions of statutes are republications of all the laws of the General Assembly, whether repealed or in force, in chronological order, down to the year 1875, and give a lawyer access to all of the statutory law up to that time. An early and satisfactory attempt at a systematic arrangement of the laws was Justice Swan's edition of the statutes in force, published in 1841. In this edition the various laws were arranged in alphabetical order, and a single volume sufficed to cover the entire body of statutory laws then in force. In 1860 an edition of the statutes appeared, known as Swan and Critchfield's Statutes. This also was an alphabetical arrangement of the laws in force, and was contained in two volumes. The revision of 1880 made a general classification of all laws in four AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 473 divisions : political, civil, remedial and penal. Each division was subdivided into titles, each title into chapters ; and the chapters into appropriate sections. The scientific basis of this classification will not be gainsaid ; but it requires from lawyers a display of more science than they commonly possess to know under which of the divisions, titles and chapters they ought to look for a given subject of inquiry. In addition to science, it now seems to require of lawyers a very decided gift of augury, soothsaying and prophecy to determine in what volume and in what part of the volume to find the law ; and some lawyers seem never to master the mystery. It is questionable, to say the least, if the simple alphabetical arrangement of earlier years, and as commonly followed in other states, would not be conducive to the saving of the time of judges and lawyers. Long before the year 1875, the Supreme, Court, with its circuit duties and extensive jurisdiction, became swamped with cases ; and when justice is delayed, the delay is often equivalent to a denial of justice. Accordingly, a resolution of the General Assembly adopted March 30, 1875, provided for the submission to the electors, at the following October election, of a proposal to amend Article IV of the constitution, by the addition of a new section, providing for the appointment of a commission of five members, to hold office for the term of three years from and after the first day of February, 1876, to dispose of such part of the business then on the dockets of the Supreme Court as might by arrangement be transferred to the commission. The commission was to have like jurisdiction and power as the Supreme Court itself, and the members of it were to receive the same compensation as the judges of the Supreme Court. It was also provided that on application of the Supreme Court, duly entered on its journal, the General Assembly, on concurrence of two-thirds of each house, might, from time to time in the future, provide for like commissions with like powers, provided that the term of any such commission should not exceed two years, and that it should not be created oftener than every ten years. The proposed amendment was adopted at the election held in October, 1875, and pursuant to its provisions the governor appointed the first Supreme Court Commission. The commission organized February, 1876, and volumes 27, 28, 30, 32 and 33 of the Ohio State Reports contain the reported decisions made by it. On February 15, 1883, the Supreme Court made application to the General Assembly for the appointment of a second commission, and on March 30 of the same year the General Assembly passed an act to establish such a commission. Volumes 41 and 42 contain the decisions rendered by this commission. It required, however, more radical steps to effect the cleaning up of the docket of the Supreme Court. On the 30th day of March, 1883, the General Assembly, by joint resolution then adopted, proposed a further amendment of the constitution, to be submitted to the voters at the next election, on the first Tuesday of October. It was proposed to establish a Circuit Court, the judges of which were to be wholly disconnected from 474 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY either the Common Pleas or the Supreme Court, and who would relieve the judges of the Supreme Court from devoting any portion of their time to going about from county to county on circuit work. The Supreme Court was to be composed of five judges, whose term was to be not less than five years, and whose number might be increased from time to time by the General Assembly. The original jurisdiction of the court was to be limited to quo warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus and procedendo. Its appellate jurisdiction was to be defined by the General Assembly. There was provision for dividing the court into divisions of not less than three judges each, at the will of the legislature. The Circuit Court was to have the same original jurisdiction as the Supreme Court, and with such appellate jurisdiction as might be provided by law. The state was to be divided into circuits, with a circuit court in each. The amendment was carried, and for several sessions thereafter the General Assembly had before it the problem of reconstructing the Supreme Court, and establishing the Circuit Courts, and getting them into satisfactory running order ; for courts, no less than other institutions, are not perfected all at once. The Sixty-sixth General Assembly, on the 7th day of February, 1885, enacted a general judicial act. The Circuit Court was to consist of three judges in each circuit, elected for a term of six years. The state was divided into seven circuits, and Summit County and the counties of Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Erie, Huron, Lorain, Medina and Cuyahoga, were to constitute the sixth circuit. All of the circuit judges were required to meet on the third Tuesday of August, annually, in Columbus, for organizing and choosing one of their number to be Chief Justice for the next judicial year. It was required that two terms of the Circuit Court be held in each county annually. The salary of the circuit judges was fixed at $4,000. It was provided that appeals might be taken from judgments rendered by the court of Common Pleas to the Circuit Court in cases where the right to trial by jury did not exist in Common Pleas ; but any judgment or final order of the Court of Common Pleas might be reversed, vacated or modified by the Circuit Courts for error. The Supreme Court was vested with jurisdiction to reverse, vacate or modify judgments or final orders of the Circuit Court for error. Not long before this, the General Assembly had provided that the Supreme Court should not be required to pass on the weight of the evidence of any cause which came before it from the District Court. This provision, designed to relieve the Supreme Court of much arduous labor, was now broadened to include the Circuit Court. On the second day of April, 1906, the legislature passed an act which provided for a new revision of the general statute laws of the state. The terms of the act were substantially identical with the act under which the revised statutes of 1880 were produced. The commissioners appointed to do the work were to make their report not later than the first day of AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 475 January, 1907, and were to receive compensation at the rate of $5,000 per year. As matters turned out, the commission did not complete its work within the time designated, and on March 5, 1909, the General Assembly requested the commission to report to its next regular session in January, 1910, indicating that it was the sense of the assembly that no further time be given, and that no further appropriations be made for the work. As a result of this legislation, we have the present General Code of Ohio, enacted on the 14th day of February, 1910, a work which to all intents and purposes is a new edition of the statutes of 1880. Between the years 1880 and 1910, the law makers were busy with the making of new laws, and publishing houses were quite as busy printing and selling new editions of the statutes. Each publisher had his own system of numbering the sections of the statutes, so that it came about that the bench and bar were unable to cite either of the editions without explanatory references as to the edition they were using. Annually, or nearly so, a new edition appeared out of one or the other of these publishing houses, and it became a distracting proposition to keep track of the editions, to say nothing about finding the law. The new code of 1910 was intended to, and did, start us off again where we were all on common ground. It is to be noted, however, that no sooner was the new code adopted than it became the field for amendment. The 78th General Assembly, which adopted this code, enacted, by the 10th day of May, 1910, not less than 500 amendments to the code which they had adopted on the previous 14th day of February, and the next General Assembly was equally ambitious in the matter of amendments. On the 31st day of May, 1911, the General Assembly passed an act providing for the submission to the electors at the next general election in November, of the question, "Shall there be a convention to revise, alter or amend the Constitution?" The act further contained the necessary provisions for the organization and work of the convention, in the event that the voters adopted the proposal. The convention was to consist of delegates equal to the number of representatives elected to the Seventy-ninth General Assembly. They were to meet in the House of Representatives in Columbus on the second Tuesday of January, 1912, for organization, but might thereafter adjourn to any place or places they should select. The convention was to have authority to determine its own rules of procedure, to publish its debates and proceedings, and prescribe the time, form and manner of submitting any proposed revisions, alterations or amendments of the constitution. The proposal having been carried, the work of the convention resulted in a number of amendments to the constitution of 1851, not the least noteworthy of which are those relating to the judiciary. The Courts of Common Pleas and Courts of Probate were continued without substantial alterations, either in their constitution or jurisdiction. The Supreme Court 476 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY was reconstituted. It was to consist of a Chief Justice and six judges. It retained original jurisdiction in quo warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus, prohibition and procedendo. Its appellate jurisdiction was, however, limited to cases involving questions arising under the constitution of the United States or of the State of Ohio ; and on leave first obtained, in cases of felony. It was provided that no law should be held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court without the concurrence of at least all but one of the judges, except in affirmance of such a judgment of the Court of Appeals. In cases of great or general interest, the Supreme Court was vested with authority to direct any Court of Appeals to certify its record to the Supreme Court, and to modify or reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals. The Circuit Court, as constituted under the amendment of 1883, was abolished, and in its place a Court of Appeals was provided. The state was to be divided into appellate districts of compact territory, bounded by county lines, and in each of these districts there was to be a Court of Appeals consisting of three judges. The judges of the then Circuit Courts were to take up the work of the new Court of Appeals and continue as judges thereof until the expiration of their terms of office. This court was vested with the same original jurisdiction as the Supreme Court, and appellate jurisdiction in the trial of chancery cases, and jurisdiction to reverse, affirm or modify judgments of the Court of Common Pleas. It was especially provided that the judgment of the Court of Appeals should be final in all cases, except cases involving questions arising under the Constitution of the United States or of the State of Ohio, and cases of felony, and cases of which the court has original jurisdiction, and such cases of public or general interest in which the Supreme Court might direct the Court of Appeals to certify its record to that court. A limitation upon the appellate jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals was made, that it should not reverse any judgment of a Court of Common Pleas on the weight of the evidence except by a concurrence of all of the judges. On other questions, a majority of the court could reverse decisions of the Common Pleas Court. A provision was made that in the event that the Court of Appeals should find that they had rendered a judgment which was in conflict with the judgment of another Court of Appeals of the state on the same question, the judges should certify their record to the Supreme Court for revision and final determination. The general result of this overhauling of the judiciary has been to make the Court of Appeals the court of final resort in ordinary cases. No general statement or rule for determining what is a case of general and public interest has yet been formulated, and that question in any given case rests solely with the Supreme Court. The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, except in cases where constitutional questions are involved, can only be invoked on leave, that is, a request in the form of a motion must be made to the Supreme Court asking the Court to require the Court of Appeals to certify its record for review. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 477 There has been a curious and probably unintended sequence from the use of the term "chancery cases" in the new constitution to designate the class of cases which may be tried on appeal in the Court of Appeals. The former provision had been that a case might be appealed to the Circuit Court if it were not triable to a jury in the Court of Common Pleas. Now, a chancery case is not triable to a jury, but is heard by the judge without a jury ; and evidently it was a matter of first impression with the framers of the Constitutional amendments that the term "chancery cases", used to describe the class of appealable cases, was the equivalent of the former practice. It so happens, however, that there is a difference. We have an express legislative act defining what cases shall be triable to a jury, and what cases shall be triable without; and this legislative definition is not entirely the equivalent of the term "chancery cases." To determine what cases are triable to a jury, we are required to look only to the provisions of our own statute ; but to determine what cases are chancery cases may involve a vast amount of antiquarian research into the medieval practice of the courts of chancery in England, covering the period between the Norman Conquest and the reign of James II. The net result has been that the right of appeal has been lost in a variety of cases where it formerly existed. It is apparent from the foregoing review of our judicial system, that the trend of events has been to curtail the right of appeal. In the early period, a second trial could be had as a matter of course in the Court of Common Pleas, and another trial was permissible in the District Court, with a judge of the Supreme Court on the bench. Afterwards, we observe a period in which a retrial can only be had in cases not subject to jury trial in the lower court. In the early period all cases of importance were cognizable in the Supreme Court, which later on became merely a court of error, to review the proceedings of lower courts ; it is no longer a court where witnesses can be heard. In the last phase of our history, we have adapted the intermediate court as the court of last resort for ordinary cases. Only constitutional questions and felony cases may be reviewed in the Supreme Court. Doubtless these results have come largely from the constantly growing pressure of increased litigation, following increases in population. The judiciary has been the subject of express constitutional regulations, and the constitution, in the earlier years, was not so readily altered as now. The growth of population takes no notice of the constitution, and courts became crowded and pushed beyond their capacity for handling business. Keeping the courts constantly in session, and increasing the number of circuits, subdivisions and judges, did not solve the problem. It was finally met by rough methods, methods that informed litigants that there must be a limit placed on the number of times they could rehash their controversies in court. With capable courts and an efficient bar, there should be no need of numerous trials to settle a controversy. No one pretends that our judicial system has reached its final stage 478 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY of development ; nevertheless, it has never stood on so high a plane as now. Our judicial reports clearly show that, in our day, trials do not consume so much time as in the former generation. The bar is better equipped than ever for determining questions of law, and there is not so much guess-work. The law is more settled in the mass of matters which occupy human affairs, and it is no longer the subject of endless argument and controversy. Lawyers no longer need to shake the law out of their sleeves, but in the majority of cases accurate solutions may be reached. By the act of April 18, 1913, certain decided changes were made in the organization of the Court of Common Pleas. Under the scheme as it prevailed from the beginning until recently, the state was divided into districts, each of which had its Common Pleas judge. As additional judges were needed, the districts were subdivided, and judges were provided for the subdivisions. With increased population, it became necessary, in certain instances, to provide more than one judge for a subdivision. By the new law it was provided that there should be one or more judges elected from and resident in each county; so that, since that date, we no longer have counties which do not have a resident Common Pleas judge. At that time two judges were provided for Summit County. By act of May 27, 1915, a third Common Pleas judge was provided for Summit County ; and by act of March 21, 1917, a fourth judge of the Common Pleas Court was provided and designated as a judge of the Division of Domestic Relations, but competent to exercise all the varied powers of a Common Pleas judge. By act of May 14, 1921, still another judge was provided for Summit County, bringing the total up to its present number of five. At the time of writing, these judges are Ervin D. Fritch, Edward H. Boylan, Scott D. Kenfield, Lionel S. Pardee and Howard C. Spicer, the latter being the judge of the division of Domestic Relations. Since the year 1880, the salaries of the judges have been subject to some twenty different legislative enactments. Starting in 1880 with a salary of $3,000 for the judges of the Supreme Court and $2,500 for the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, the salaries have been increased from time to time, until, now, in 1928, they stand as follows : the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court receives a salary of $12,600, and the other judges receive salaries of $12,000 each. The judges of the Court of Appeals receive fixed salaries of $8,000, payable out of the state treasury, and are entitled to additional sums according to the population served, payable out of the county treasuries, to an amount not in excess of $4,000, making $12,000 the maximum salary which a judge of the Court of Appeals may draw. The judges of the Court of Common Pleas receive salaries of $3,000 payable out of the state treasury, and are entitled to additional amounts according to the population served, ranging from three cents to four and two-thirds cents per capita, with a limitation that the maximum salary shall not exceed $9,000. In Summit County the population has reached the point where the judges receive the maximum salary. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 479 In the year 1910, (the act of May 10,) a Police Court was established in the City of Akron, and vested with jurisdiction of all offenses under the ordinances of the city, and of all misdemeanors committed within the limits of Summit County. It was made a court of record, and was to be presided over by an attorney and counsellor at law duly admitted to practice in this state. This court remained in existence until the 31st day of December, 1920, when the Municipal Court was established ; and during the ten years of its existence John R. Vaughan presided over its destinies. By an act of April 3, 1919, a provision was made for the establishment of a Municipal Court in the City of Akron. It was to be presided over by three judges, for whom a higher grade of qualifications is required than for any other judges in the state, viz : they must have been admitted to practice for a term of five years before being eligible to the office of Municipal Judge. The judges are elected for a period of four years, and each receives a salary of $4,500, one third of which is payable out of the county treasury, and the other two-thirds out of the city treasury. The original jurisdiction of the Municipal Court is limited to the City of Akron, And in general terms follows that of Justices of the Peace, save that the jurisdiction extends to cases where the amount claimed does not exceed $1,000, instead of being limited to $300 as are Justices of the Peace. The Municipal Court also has jurisdiction to subject personal property to the payment of liens, and may marshal liens in cases pending before it. It has jurisdiction in proceedings in the nature of creditors' bills, in aid of execution, and in interpleader, and in cases arising out of contract, it may decree the reformation or cancellation of a written instrument. It also has jurisdiction of the violation of all ordinances of the City of Akron, and of all misdemeanors committed within the limits of Summit County ; and in cases of felony committed within the county, it has the same powers of examination as a Justice of the Peace. The procedure which has been devised for the Municipal Court follows in numerous particulars the English system, and undoubtedly had its inspiration from some similar Municipal system created with the Engish Judicature Act of 1873 in mind. At the present time this court is presided over by Judges Gordon Davies, Carl C. Hoyt and J. Earl Cox. The following is a list of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, with their terms of office, since the organization of Summit County : Van R. Humphrey, 1840-1844; Eben Newton, 1844-1846; Benjamin F. Wade, 1846-1851; George Bliss, 1851; Samuel Humphreville, 1852-1857 ; James S. Carpenter, 1857-1861; Stephenson Burke, 1862-1868 ; W. W. Boynton, 1869-1871; Samuel W. McClure, 1871-1876 ; Newell D. Tibbals, 1876-1883 ; John C. Hale, 1883; U. L. Marvin, 1883, May term, and part of the September term ; George W. Lewis, 1884 ; Edwin P. Green, 1884-1890 ; Alvin C. Voris, 1891-1896; J. A. Kohler, 1896-1906; R. M. Wanamaker, 19061912 ; Dayton A. Doyle, 1907-1918 ; W. J. Ahern, 1913-1923 ; S. G. Rogers, 1913-1914 ; Ervin D. Fritch, 1914-1928 ; Charles C. Benner. 1917-1918 ; 480 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Philip B. Treash, 1919-1921; Howard C. Spicer, 1919-1928; E. H. Boylan, 1921-1928 ; and Scott D. Kenfield, 1923-1928. The first three of these judges served under the old constitution, and were the president judges of the court. Their jurisdiction extended to many counties other than Summit County. There were periods when Summit County was not represented by a resident judge. For instance, Stephenson Burke and John C. Hale were residents of Cleveland; W. W. Boynton lived in Elyria, and George W. Lewis at Medina. For those periods during which there were resident, as well as non-resident judges, the names of non-resident judges are omitted. As the old District Court was composed of Judges of the Court of Common Pleas with a judge of the Supreme Court as presiding judge, a list of these judges is omitted. After the organization of the Circuit Court, the judges of that court, who were residents of Summit County, were William H. Upson, 18851895 ; Ulysses L. Marvin, 1895-1912 ; and Charles R. Grant, 1913-1918. Judge Grant saw the demise of the Circuit Court, and the advent of the Court of Appeals. The resident judges who have sat in the Court of Appeals since the expiration of Judge Grant's term are Philip B. Treash and William E. Pardee. The following is the roll of the Probate Judges in Summit County since that office was established by the Constitution of 1851: Charles Ladd, 1851-1852 ; Roland Hammond, 1852 ; Constant Bryan, 1852-1853 ; N. M. Humphrey, 1854-1860 ; William M. Dodge, 1860-1861; Ashel Lewis, 1861; Stephen H. Pitkin, 1861-1863 ; U. L. Marvin, 1869-1875 ; S. C. Williamson, 1875-1881; N. W. Goodhue, 1881-1883 ; C. R. Grant, 1883-1891; E. W. Stuart, 1891-1896; G. M. Anderson, 1896-1902 ; W. E. Pardee, 1902-1908; Ora E. Lytler, 1909-1917 ; L. D. Slusser, 1917-1928. It has been the writer's observation that the usual history of the Bench and Bar consists largely of biographical matter. That scheme has been deliberately discarded in this sketch, and an attempt made instead to outline the development of the judicial system. It is probable that good taste forbids the publication of biographies of some of the living members of the bar to the exclusion of others. The bar of Summit County has so grown in numbers that it would be impractical from several points of view to present a biographical sketch of each member. The city directory for 1928 contains 354 names of lawyers, for Akron alone, and no one can say that the list is complete at any given date. Moreover, publication of mere names gives us nothing of permanent value. The biographies of the lawyers of the past generations have been set down in other historical works of this character on several occasions. A repetition might be worth while, provided the shortcomings of those histories could be remedied. But it seems probable that Lane, Doyle and Olin have collected all the available biographical material. At any rate, the labor involved in supplementing their efforts would hardly be justified. Accordingly we will close AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 481 this chapter with certain general statements as to the make-up of the bar, with a very few biographical sketches, the point of which will be evident. Prior to 1840, while Ravenna was the seat of justice for the major part of the territory which is now Summit County, it was natural that the county seat should have been the residence of most of the members of the bar. Nevertheless, we find that Harvey H. Johnson, Constant Bryan, Alva Hand, John C. Singletary, Gregory Powers, David K. Carter, Van R. Humphrey and Lucius V. Bierce were already residents of Akron before that date. Several of these lawyers achieved considerable distinction. David K. Carter, whom Lane refers to as a "sharp, sarcastic, witty pettifogger, but a profound, sagacious lawyer and skillful pleader," was United States Minister to Bolivia under President Lincoln, and afterwards held the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. General Lucius V. Bierce rendered distinguished service in the Civil War and became assistant Adjutant General of the United States. He was a notable figure in the early history of Akron. After the year 1840, the influx of lawyers into Summit County was marked. Akron became a thriving manufacturing center, and afforded a more extensive field for the exercise and exhibition of legal skill than the purely agricultural counties. The court records for the few years following 1840 disclose a long list of lawyers practicing at the Summit County bar, but it is not possible, in every instance, to determine with certainty whether the lawyer appearing in court was a resident of the county. Nevertheless, already we meet with such names as W. S. C. Otis, James S. Carpenter, Seneca L. Hand, George Kirkum, Samuel W. McClure, Rufus P. Spalding, William N. Dodge, Zenas Snow, Samuel H. Tilden, Harvey Wheaton, Charles D. Ladd, S. Humphreville, Aaron Pardee, C. P. Wolcott, and others. In truth, in the early forties the bar appears to have been larger than at a later date ; for in the city directory of 1868-69, the earliest local directory accessible, we find the names of twenty lawyers as constituting the bar of Summit County, viz : Lucius V. Bierce, Constant Bryan, Arthur F. Bartges, James S. Carpenter, Sidney Edgerton, Nathaniel W. Goodhue, Edwin P. Green, John J. Hall, Henry W. Ingersoll, Jacob A. Kohler, Ulysses L. Marvin, Samuel W. McClure, Henry McKinney, John McGregor, Edward Oviatt, E. S. Smith, James A. Sumner, Newell D. Tibbals, William H. Upson, and Stephen H. Pitkin. Mr. Bierce was mayor of the town, and Mr. Pitkin was Probate Judge. In 1871 we find the following associations : Edgerton and Kohler, at Market and Howard Streets, over M. W. Henry's store ; Hall and Poulson at 116 E. Market Street ; McKinney and Tibbals, Empire Block; Rhine-hart and Pitkin, Opera Block; and Voris and Green, 113 S. Howard Street. And Henry C. Sanford comes on the scene. In 1873 Richard P. Marvin is associated with Edwin P. Green. Humphrey and Stuart is a new firm. George M. Wright is associated with 482 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Mr. McKinney, and Frederick S. Hanford is with Mr. Tibbals. Upson and Ford are associated, and S. C. Williamson is in practice. The law offices of those days, for the most part, were clustered about the intersections of Howard and Market streets, and Main and Market streets, with numerous others along South Howard Street, the then principal business street of the city. In 1875 Newton Chalker, John H. Campbell, James M. Fraze, George S. May and E. C. Ruggles are here. McKinney and Wright fade from the scene, Mr. McKinney having removed to Cleveland and Mr. Wright having gone west in the service of the United States Geological Survey. George K. Pardee is here, in partnership with Lee Elliot. H. B. Foster and M. C. Reed are practicing at Hudson. Charles R. Grant is listed, with an office at the residence of George Sackett in Cuyahoga Falls. McClure is judge, Marvin is Probate Judge, Poulson is Prosecuting Attorney, and William C. McNeil is practicing at Peninsula. In 1877 Newton Ford, N. Hodge, James McNaughton, John C. Means, George C. Allen, Eugene Pardee, Henry K. Sauder, Charles Baird and L. D. Seward are new accessions. H. B. Foster, U. L. Marvin and C. R. Grant have made an association, with offices in the Academy of Music. N. P. Goodhue and David L. Boynton are associated, at 214 East Market Street. Hall and Poulson have separated, and each is playing a lone hand. McClure is off the bench, and practicing law. The firm of Oviatt and Allen has come into existence. Upson, Ford and Baird are a firm in the Academy of Music, and George M. Wright is back in Akron again. In 1879 F. B. Cassidy, James V. Welch, L. D. Watters, Robert J. Young, John Johnston, 0. L. Sadler, R. W. Sadler and Edwin F. Voris appear in the arena. Chalker and Goodhue are alone. David L. Boynton has left the city. L. D. Watters is associated with John Hall. Robert J. Young is with Mr. Hodge. Mr. Kohler is going it alone, with an office over the First National Bank on East Market Street. Lee Elliot has gone, and Pardee is alone. Robinson and Means, and Voris and Voris are new firms. John M. Fraze is mayor ; C. P. Humphrey is solicitor ; Newton Ford is Clerk ; Tibbals is Judge, and E. W. Stuart is Prosecuting Attorney. U. L. Marvin is in the City Council. In 1881 the number of lawyers has reached the total of forty. Frank M. Atterholt, Frederick C. Bryan, Charles S. Cobbs and Dayton A. Doyle are the fresh arrivals. Carpenter and Pardee have joined forces. Kohler and R. W. Sadler are a new firm. Tibbals is Judge ; Williamson is in the Probate Court ; Baird is Prosecuting Attorney ; Cobbs is solicitor and Newton Ford is Clerk. The year 1882 brings but few changes. George W. Sieber, John C. Means and Lee K. Mihills are the new lawyers. Marvin has become judge in place of Tibbals. Watters is mayor, and Fraze is Clerk. The year 1883 sees the passing of General Wildes. Harvey Musser, W. H. Pixley and H. K. Sauders have arrived. Upson, Ford and Baird have split three ways. Campbell, Seward and McNaughton are a new firm. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 483 Tibbals has opened an office ; L. D. Watters has done likewise. Goodhue is Probate Judge. Other county and city officers have not changed so far as the bar is interested. In 1884 Tinker and Willson (Albert T. Tinker and Horatio T. Willson) constitute a new firm. The other new arrivals are Herman Preusser and William H. Sanford. Humphrey and Stuart are not holding themselves out as partners, but occupy the same office at the corner of Market and Main. Hall and Welsh collaborate. Marvin and Atterholt are partners ; George May has gone. The year 1885 sees the advent of G. M. Anderson, Nathan Morse, J. A. Motz, R. M. Smith and H. M. Stone. Tinker and Willson have separated. Geo. K. Pardee is alone. Upson has become Circuit Judge ; Green is on the Common Pleas bench ; Grant is Probate Judge ; Watters is still mayor and Doyle is solicitor. Edwin F. Voris is Prosecuting Attorney. 1886. Look who's here. John C. Frank, Edward P. Otis, Watson E. Slabaugh, William E. Talcott and Frank H. Waters. R. W. Sadler has parted from Kohler and formed a team with Harvey Musser. Otis and Slabaugh are partners, and John C. Frank is carrying on with Voris and Voris. Doyle and Bryan are associated. 1887. Not a new lawyer this year ; and none has departed, and the list now numbers 54 in Akron. Frank has gone in with Tibbals ; Seward is mayor, Sieber is Prosecuting Attorney, and R. W. Sadler has had the nerve to move into the new Paige Block on South Main Street. In 1888 Hall and Welch have dissolved ; Kohler and Musser is a new firm. Otis and Slabaugh part company, and E. E. Otis comes on the scene, and is the only new accession. G. Todd Ford has quit. N. Hodge has gone to Los Angeles. Henry M. Stone is out. The bar has decreased in numbers. In 1889 several new names appear. J. A. Arbogast at 209 East Market Street ; J. Warren Plette ; Emory A. Prior in the Arcade Block ; Samuel G. Rogers with an office in the City Building ; Frank B. Theiss at 102 North Howard Street ; and Theodore W. Wakeman. Tinker and Waters are associated. George M. Anderson is solicitor. Otherwise the line-up has not changed. In 1890, the new names are Ernest C. Housel ; Charles H. Howland, who has come down from Cuyahoga Falls ; J. D. Pardee ; Fred H. Stuart, with his father ; and Andrew J. Wilhelm is at 111 South Howard Street. J. Warren Plette's name has vanished. 1891. This is a year of new alignments. Observe the list of new firms. Baird and Voris at 108 East Market Street ; Grant, Green and Sieber in the new Akron Savings Bank Building ; Marvin, Atterholt, Slabaugh and Marvin in the Academy of Music ; Oviatt, Allen and Cobbs at 102 North Howard Street ; Rogers and Wilhelm at 111 South Howard Street, and Welsh and Sawyer at 113 South Howard Street. A. E. Kling, D. L. Marvin and J. W. Scott are new names. Alvin C. Voris is Common Pleas Judge and E. W. Stuart is Probate Judge. The dominant new notes of 1892 are found in the names of Lionel S. 484 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Pardee, 114 South Howard Street ; Arthur J. Rowley, Akron Savings Bank Building and William E. Young, 102 South Howard Street. Clarence E. Humphrey and J. L. Patterson are also new names. W. E. Slabaugh is listed by himself, in the Academy of Music. Rogers and Wilhelm remove their common shingle, but stay at 111 South Howard Street. J. W. Scott has departed. The year 1893 brings but few changes. Henry K. Sauders and Samuel G. Rogers have associated, with offices in the Akron Savings Bank Building. Three new lawyers whose nerve did not last long are Charles Colahan, Edward A. Whitelaw and Peter Findley. The year shows 61 lawyers in Akron. Rogers is Prosecuting Atorney. L. D. Watters is still mayor, and Welsh is solicitor. George K. Pardee's name is missing. The year 1894 brings a grist of new names, at the head of which are those of Reuben M. Wanamaker, associated with W. E. Young at 186 South Howard Street ; I. H. Phelps at 142 South Main Street, with L. D. Watters ; and Charles C. Benner at 108 East Market Street. Other new names are Edward Claffey, J. Goodman, G. W. Jones, D. L. King, William A. Norris, R. H. Swadner, Osburn Esgate and Charles Motz. 1895. The plot is become too involved to follow. We can still see who is arriving ; but it is more difficult to discern who is passing out, and who is just quitting. See the new names : Harry E. Andress and Frank E. Whittemore as Andress and Whittemore, at 182 South Main Street; Charles W. F. Dick, with an office in the Akron Savings Bank Building; William B. Doyle at 22 South Main Street; William E. Pardee, not yet located ; Francis Seiberling, in the Academy of Music ; William T. Vaughan with Thomas L. Childs in the Kelly Block. But there are others also. Charles H. Isbell at 120 South Main Street ; A. J. Kreighbaum, 114 South Howard Street ; T. J. Leeser in the Harter Block ; H. E. Loomis, 128 South Howard Street ; William A. Martin, 117 East Market Street ; Ira L. Nash, 120 South Main Street ; T. E. Raley, Academy of Music. And there are numerous new alignments : Arbogast and Esgate, in the Arcade Block ; Cassidy and Miller in South Akron ; Hall and Phelps at 209 East Market Street ; Pixley and Housel in the Arcade Block ; Voris and Pardee at 180 South Main Street ; and Sadler, Marvin and Atterholt in the Academy of Music. It is now Musser and Kohler, J. A. Kohler has become Common Pleas Judge, and George C. Kohler has arrived. Wanamaker is Prosecuting Attorney and Rowley is solicitor. Judge Edwin P. Green is gone forever. This record of transitions could be followed indefinitely, but it would scarcely be of general interest. The reason for the insertion of the following sketches should be apparent. Rufus P. Spalding was a resident of Akron when elected Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. He was a native of Massachusetts, the son of a physician, and a graduate of Yale College. After his admission to the bar he practiced first for a short period at Little Rock, Arkansas, and then AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 485 removed to Warren, Ohio, where he remained for sixteen years. From Warren he moved to Ravenna, then to Akron, and finally to Cleveland. He was elected a representative in the General Assembly from Ravenna, and during his term of service, the county of Summit was organized. Shortly after that, Mr. Spalding took up his residence in Akron ; and in 1841 was chosen representative in the legislature from the new county. He became Speaker of the House of Representatives. During th legislative session of 1848-49, the General Assembly elected him a Judge of the Supreme Court for the term of seven years. When the new constitution of 1851 went into effect, the office of judge of the Supreme Court became elective. Judge Spalding refused to engage in a political contest for a judicial office, and thus his career in the judiciary terminated. Unwilling to engage in a political campaign for a judicial office? Dusky shades of Coke and Blackstone ! We now live in an age when judicial honors can only be attained by persistent self-proclaimed adulation. The race is no longer to the qualified ; but to the most persistent handshaker and distributor of cards. The direct primary system has broken down every vestige of party responsibility for the character of judicial candidates, and it has become a system of blow your own horn. On leaving the bench, Judge Spalding went to Cleveland and engaged there in the practice of law, for a time. In 1862 he was elected to represent the Eighteenth Congressional District of Ohio in Congress. He served three terms, after which he declined further nomination. The decisions rendered by Judge Spalding while sitting on the Supreme Court bench are found in the 18th, 19th and 20th Volumes of the Ohio Reports. His career shows that he must have been a man of unusual personality, and able to make and leave a marked impression upon whatever community he chose to adopt as his residence ; and this impression is more than emphasized by a perusal of the opinions rendered by him while on the bench. Judge Spalding's opinions were always terse, unless he was rendering a dissenting opinion. His language was vigorous, incisive, and to the point. He had a rare faculty of analysis and coordination; with unerring directness he selected from the details of a case the controlling point. He never employed his pen in writing about those features of a case which did not control its decision. He went straight to the mark, and chose words that left no doubt as to his meaning. To be sure. in those days when opinions were written, rather than dictated, it was easier to get to the point than in these later days when everything is shouted to a stenographer. Nevertheless, it is a fair summing up of the man, that he was preeminently fitted, not only by training, but by gifts of nature as well, for the work of the bench. He died August 29, 1886. An extended biography is found in the 44th Ohio State Reports, from which the foregoing is in part derived. William H. Upson, after a distinguished career at the Akron Bar, became Judge of the Supreme Court in 1883 by appointment to fill the vacancy created by the death of Chief Justice William White. Mr. Upson 486 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY was born in Franklin County, Ohio, in 1823, and began the practice of law in Akron in 1845. He was associated successively with Sidney Edgerton, C. P. Wolcott, G. Todd Ford and Charles Baird. He represented this district in Congress from 1868 to 1873. He was judge of the Circuit Court from 1885 to 1895. It was Mr. Upson's fortune to remain on the Supreme Court bench for but a single term, the January term of 1883, which continued throughout that year. The cases decided by the Supreme Court while Mr. Upson was a member of it are found in Volume 39 of the Ohio State Reports. A careful examination of the opinions written by Judge Upson in the reported cases reveals a trained and brilliant legal mind. At the trial table, Judge Upson was not impressive. His speech was labored, and he had some characteristic of voice that made him somewhat difficult to follow. But his written opinions are quite on a par with those of Justice Spalding. His language was perhaps not so incisive and blunt, but it was nevertheless clear and direct, and, moreover, elegant and polished. His opinions were notable for their brevity ; and in his power of analysis he was fully the peer of his predecessor, Justice Spalding. On the organization of the Circuit Court, Mr. Upson became a judge of that court, and served for two full terms. Many of the older members of the Akron bar still remember him for his polished and genial manner. Mr. Upson died in 1910. Reuben M. Wanamaker was a justice of the Supreme Court from January 1, 1913, until his death in 1924. His decisions run through Volumes 87 to 110, inclusive, of the Ohio State Reports. It will thus be observed that Mr. Wanamaker's services cover a longer period in the highest court of the state than any of his predecessors from Summit County. Mr. Wanamaker was a native of Mahoning County, Ohio, born in North Jackson on August 2, 1860. He received his academic education at Ohio Northern University, located at Ada, and was admitted to practice in 1893, and from that time, until the year 1905 he resided in Akron. Shortly after coming to Akron he began the practice of law in association with the late W. E. Young. In 1895 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the county, and gained well earned and wide spread distinction for his vigorous and successful prosecution of the leaders of the Akron riot, which occurred in August of the year 1900, and during which the city building was burned by the rioters. In 1905, he was elected one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. At that time the fourth judicial district consisted of the counties of Summit, Medina and Lorain. He assumed the duties of his office on May 1, 1906, and found a docket so overloaded and cluttered with cases that the work was substantially two years in arrears. Judge Wanamaker had a conviction that he could clean up that docket ; and he did clean it up. He cleaned it up so quickly, and so thoroughly as to take the bar off its feet ; and at the same time his efforts attracted attention far and wide. While the process was on, particularly in its early stages, there was much AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 487 complaint and growling heard from the bar over what were termed the judge's summary methods. Lawyers went into court with their expectations all set for several days trial work, and found themselves out of court the same day. The defeated lawyer was sore all over ; he was sure that he hadn't had a fair chance to try his case, or even disclose what it was about. But we observed as time passed that Judge Wanamaker's decisions were usually right, and stood the test of appeal and error. Judge Wanamaker as the trial judge permitted no time to be lost about irrelevant matters ; he had the faculty of guiding a trial with dispatch and efficiency. He had a good legal mind ; and with what seemed like marvelous intuition, he was able to grasp the controlling point of a case. Once getting that controlling point, he cut away all obstructing rubbish, and directed the trial quickly to its proper conclusion. After a case was tried, he decided it and generally, on the spot. His sizing up of a case at first impression after the evidence was in, was usually as accurate as he could ever arrive at, no matter how long he might hold it for deliberation. If a judge is able to discover and hold fast to the controlling point of a case, he is on safe ground, but if he wanders off and ponders doubtfully about quirks and kinks, he is quite sure to wrong frequently, no matter how diligent he may be. Judge Wanamaker's work as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas is one of the things that must not be forgotten. His work in cleaning up the docket entitles him to a place in the front rank of the able judges who have occupied the bench of this county. Judge Wanamaker was ambitious, and to make good his ambitions he must have publicity ; and he proved a master in the art of securing it. In that day it was a popular mode of thought to discredit the things that existed. The land was filled with theories which, if put into effect, would surely banish all the existing evils. Judge Wanamaker, with an ear to the ground, joined hands with this progressive reform movement. With his excellent work as judge as a foundation to start with, he readily got a hearing on whatever new theory he could work up. He was in demand as a public speaker far and wide, and he became known not only over the state, but over much larger sections of the country, as a vigorous, progressive judge who could do things. He was not, however, at his best when he started in to invent new theories for the reformation and purification of the country. He had cleaned up the Summit County docket, but having done that, he was pretty well at the limit of his resources. Time and again he called the writer into his private office, to read over to him the text of some address that he was about to deliver in response to spontaneous and irresistible demands. He was striving for new ideas for reforms that would not, and could not materialize from the very nature of things. His reformative schemes were vague and thin, and were soon forgotten by the judge himself. Nevertheless, these ideas, meaningless as they were, could be couched in striking language ; and delivered with a sonorous voice, properly punctuated with telling 488 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY gestures, it went down well with the public. He kept himself in the public eye, and his candidacy and election to the office of judge of the Supreme Court was a whirlwind. People knew his name, and they voted for him. As Judge Wanamaker was naturally of a judicial trend of mind, and had done excellent work on the Common Pleas bench, one is prepared to believe that his accomplishments in the Supreme Court were equally valuable. Nevertheless, the opinions written by him in the reported cases do not read so well. Possibly, we have here the case of a man who could deliver himself from the bench orally better than he could write. The committee who wrote the memorial found in the 112th volume of Ohio State Reports said of him : "When Judge Wanamaker had spoken, there never was any doubt in the minds of those who heard him as to his meaning." Quite true, but his written opinions are involved with discussions of side issues, and his logic is less apparent and less convincing that when he spoke from the bench. While serving on the Supreme Bench, he wrote a volume entitled "The Voice of Lincoln," published by Scribner's. He was well qualified by previous study to write the work; but it may be doubted if the work would have found a publisher if the author had not been a judge of the Supreme Court. Be that as it may, the contributions which Judge Wanamaker has made to the country and state are not his literary productions, nor his observations on English judicial procedure, published in The Saturday Evening Post, nor yet any new or progressive theory he may have had in his mind. They are rather to be found in his work on the bench, in the hearing and deciding of controversies between man and man. It is certain that we might with equal propriety review the careers of the long line of judges of the Common Pleas Court and of the District and Circuit Courts, and the Court of Appeals, judges whose services, if not quite so exalted a field, have nevertheless been in every way quite as valuable as those rendered in the court of last resort. Nor would we be going far astray if we reviewed the careers of that long list of lawyers who have never sought public office, and who have devoted their talents and found their utmost satisfaction in life in rigid attention to their chosen profession. But this work is about to go to press, and there is neither time nor space to write of such giants of former days as Calvin Pease, perhaps the ablest of all our judges ; or of Benjamin F. Wade, president of the United States Senate during the administration of Andrew Johnson, or of Christopher P. Wolcott, attorney general of Ohio from 1856 to 1861, whose brief in ex parte Bushnell (9 0. S. Rep. 77) has the distinction of being the only brief ever ordered by the Supreme Court to be printed in full in the Ohio Reports. Nor can we, coming down to later days, write of the distinguished services and legal contributions of such eminent lawyers as Samuel W. McClure, Sidney Edgerton, Jacob A. Kohler, Newell D. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 489 Tibbals, Henry McKinney, Alvin C. Voris, U. L. Marvin, R. W. Sadler, Samuel G. Rogers, W. E. Young, and a host of others. Nor has the writer the courage to mention the names of the leaders of the profession at the time of writing. But in closing, we cannot forbear a momentary reference to the names of the three grand old men of the bar, James H. Poulson, now 86 years of age, and a member of the Akron bar since the year 1869 ; Charles R. Grant, now 82 years of age, who served with distinction in the Civil war, was once probate judge of the county, and served two terms as judge of the Circuit Court and Court of Appeals ; and, lastly, Isaac H. Phelps, 85 years of age, who has been engaged in practice in Akron and Ravenna for more than half a century. Attorneys and law firms listed in Akron, Barberton, Kenmore and Cuyahoga Falls follow: Irwin D. Allen Allen, Waters & Andress D. W. Baker S. Peyton Baker Irby S. Ballard Beery, Sheppard, Meisner & Pool Scott A. Belden Benner, Harter & Watters Nathan M. Berk Booth, McGowan & Lombardi Leland S. Bricker Burch, Bacon & Denlinger E. & R. Burroughs Fred T. Childs C. C. Chisnell C. W. Chorpening Colton & Wendt Commins. Brouse, Englebeck & McDowell Cook & Kail Henri O. Corvington John V. Cotton George Courtney C. E. Crafts Ernest L. Cunningham Chas. M. Davis Davis & Lipps S. A. Decker Wade DeWoody Jesse P. Dice Charles Dick Doak, Mills & White Doolittle, Foust & Holden Dotson, Falkner & Woodruff Arthur W. Doyle Jos. L. Edwards O. D. Everhard Fairall & Fairall A. L. Falardeau Michael A. Fanelly Finkle, McChesney & Van Berg Frank E. Fitterman Artee Fleming Clarence R. Foust Frank & Ream Fuerst & Friedman Donald Gottwald Chas. R. Grant C. Audley Gray Alexander S. Greenbaum N. M. Greenberger Thos. E. Greene, Jr. John C. Grimm Edw. G. Hachtel Chalmers M. Hamill Hammond & Tweed Harris & Holub Jas. W. Harter Frank H. Harvey Dwight G. Hay E. N. Heiser H. P. Henley D. H. Hepner Herberich & Weick W. E. Holden Holloway & Chamberlin E. C. Housel Walter S. Hutchison Chas H. Isbell Donovan D. Isham S. S. Jaffa H. V. Johnson Rolland Jones Arthur C. Keeney Chas M. Kelly Samuel T. Kelly Oscar Klekner Kryder, Rogers & Bailey Lahrmer & Hadley Edw. L. Laushell Paul C. Laybourne Alfred E. Limber Laybourne, Zesiger, Johnson & Crafts 490 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY M. J. Marlot Mather, Nesbitt & Willkie May & May Mark F. McChesney Charles McCuskey Daniel F. McGowan John McIntosh W. B. McIntosh Orville G. McKibben Geo. S. Mihalek Clarence E. Motz Musser, Kimber & Huffman Carl M. Myers J. A. H. Myers & Dinsmore Lee J. Myers Ralph J. Myers Naef & McIntosh Nelan & Walsh Stanley S. Nicholls A. F. O'Neil R. E. Ormsby Ormsby & Kennedy Chas I. Parlett P. J. Patton Geo R. Platt Walter C. Quayle Lloyd Read F. A. Rees C. D. Riggle Rockwell & Grant Roetzel & Olds Geo. W. Rogers Paul G. Russell W. T. Sawyer Dwite H. Schaffner J. Edward Schenz Schnee, Grimm & Belden Schwab & Heiser Warren F. Selby M. T. Shank F. E. Shannon Sheck, Stevens & Hargreaves Harmon N. Shively Sieber, Sieber & Amer Dushan D. Silashki Slabaugh, Seiberling, Huber & Guinther Smoyer & Smoyer Harry L. Snyder Snyder & Snyder Michael Sophrin Stahl & Andree Henry G. Stewart Jonathan Taylor J. Perry Teeple F. B. Theiss Ralph G. Thomas Thomas & Buckingham Richard W. Tobin Trunko & Stevens Underwood, Carson, Moore & Howes John R. Vaughan H. N. Van Berg Edwin M. Wachner A. M. & H. C. Walker G. C. Walker Walter B. Wanamaker Wanamaker & Russell Waters, Andress, Hagelbarger, Wise & Maxon Howard L. Weaver H. A. Whittemore Whittemore & Motz Ray Wilson Wilson & Knowlton Myer Wise W. A. Woodling Emerson C. Woolf A. D. Zook Orlando Wilcox J. M. Poulson I. H. Phelps O. E. Lytle CHAPTER XIII THE MEDICAL PROFESSION OF SUMMIT COUNTY By A. S. McCormick, M. D., Secretary of The Summit County Medical Society The medical history of Summit County began with the founding in 1800 of the first village, Hudson. Among the founders was Moses Thompson, M. D. (1776-1858). The second village founded was Tallmadge in 1809 and there the second physician located, Amos Wright (1783-1845). He was the first of three generations to follow the profession, his son being Amos Case Wright. M. D. (1808-63), and grandson Samuel St. John Wright, M. D., A. B., born in 1852. Next to practice medicine in the county were : Jonathan Metcalf (1787-1869), in Hudson. Titus Chapman, Akron's first physician, who located in 1815 in Middlebury, now East Akron. Luther Hanchett (1778-1840), in Middlebury. Secretary Rawson (____ -1796), in Richfield. Chester W. Rice (1803-61), in Cuyahoga Falls. Hosea Bliss (____ -1874), in Northfield. After the founding of Akron in 1825 the first practitioner was Joseph Cole, who opened his office in 1827. Practice was at that period conducted over a large territory and by horseback, carriage, sometimes in canoes. Long hours, hard work and often poor remuneration were the rule. Payment was often made in goods and one physician of the name of Hand received for some important service two meals of wild turkey and a jug of whiskey. In spite of these drawbacks the physician had the satisfaction of being probably the most honored member of the community. All were not content to practice medicine ; for the part played by members of the profession in the business world is shown by streets named after Eliakim Crosby (1779-1854), Samuel W. Bartges (1814-82), Stephen H. Coburn (1809-88), Arthur Monteith Cole (1855-1922), and the world famous industry established in 1870 by Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, M. D. (1841-88). More than any man of his time Dr. Crosby foresaw the future growth and prosperity of Akron and to his foresight and energy more than to any other person before and perhaps after are due the growth and present prosperity of Akron. - 491 - 492 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY In the State Legislature Summit County has had as senators or representatives six physicians : W. S. Hough (1844-1925), M. Jewett (1815-89), Eli Conn (1833-1903), L. S. Ebright (1844-1917), E. B. Harper (1864-1914), H. S. Davidson, representative since 1922. The Summit County Medical Society was founded in 1842. Akron had a population of 2,400 ; the U. S. A. 8,000,000, and John Tyler (17901863) was President. Since that time the Society has been reorganized for the better in 1866, 1884, 1898, 1923. The reorganization of 1884 was not, however, due entirely to a desire for a better system but to the existence of two factions who wrangled and snarled and kept the profession in such an uproar that the more sensible members forced a disbandment in 1881 to give the hot-heads time to cool off during the three years' interval till 1884. The aims of the Society are : "First. An association for the purpose of mutual recognition and fellowship. "Second. The maintenance of unison, harmony and good government among the members, thereby promoting the character, interests, honor, and usefulness of the Profession. "Third. The cultivation and advancement of medical science and literature and the elevation of the standard of professional education." Since the humble beginning in 1842 the Society has become the fourth largest in Ohio and in excellence is equalled by few and surpassed by none. It has had a total of 663 members since 1842. The membership now numbers 259 active, twenty-five associate, five non-resident, eight honorary, located in twenty-one cities and towns. The honorary members are men of national prominence in the profession in the U. S. A. and Canada. The associate members are Akronites prominent in business, law, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the church, pharmacy, the university, etc., who take an interest in the hospitals of the county and the work of the medical profession. HOSPITALS Until 1883 no hospital existed. At his death November 3 of that year, a French or Swiss laborer, Boniface de Roo, left his savings, $10,756.17, to the founding of a hospital. A building at Bowery and Centre streets was equipped. In 1892 with the balance of the fund and $10,000 each from Messrs. 0. C. Barber (1841-1919) and T. W. Cornell (1820-92) the Akron City Hospital was opened. Another gift of $250,- 000 in 1904 from Mr. Barber resulted in the erection of the first wing of the present group of buildings. A fund of nearly $800,000 was raised in 1927 for additional buildings. 494 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Officials of the hospital in 1928 are: President, C. C. Benner, LL. B. Superintendent, A. E. Hardgrove, B. S. Supervisor, Celia Cranz, R. N. Chief of Staff, C. E. Jelm, Ph. C., M. D., F. A. C. S. Secretary, A. S. Robinson, A. M., M. D., F. A. C. P. In 1894 W. A. Searl (1867-1927) and H. I. Cozad, Ph. B., M. D., opened their well known Fair Oaks Villa Sanitarium in Cuyahoga Falls for the treatment of nervous and mental cases. From 1890 the Mary Day Nursery had been operated by a group of Akron ladies, the King's Daughters. In 1905 a ward for crippled children was added. Later donations of buildings and, on his death in 1910, of $50,000 from Col. George Tod Perkins enabled the nursery to become the Children's Hospital. The sum of $526,000 raised by popular subscription in 1926 has resulted in the erection in 1927 of the new and very complete buildings with seventy-five beds. Officers are : President, S. F. Ziliox  Manager, H. H. Graef, M. E.  . Supervisor, Luli M. Tuttle, R. N. Chief of Staff, W. A. Hoyt, B. S., M. D. F. A. C. S. Secretary, A. S. McCormick, M. D. The important part played by Veterinary Medicine in the prevention and control of rabies among dogs and cats and tuberculosis and other diseases in cattle and pigs and the purity of the milk supply entitles the Akron Veterinary Hospital to mention. It was founded in 1909 by C. H. Case, D. V. M., and J. F. Planz, D. V. M. These gentlemen with an assisting staff of four veterinary surgeons carry on the work. The Akron, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital was founded in 1909 by M. D. Stevenson (1876-1915). After his death the hospital was taken over by his brother, D. W. Stevenson, M. D., F. A. C. S. INFIRMARY In 1913 the Summit County Infirmary, situated on West Exchange Street, turned one section into a hospital with J. D. Smith, M. D., F. A. C. S., as medical officer. In 1917 the model $500,000 buildings in Munroe Falls were opened. One entire wing is given to a modern hospital of sixty beds. Dr. Smith is medical director and H. E. Chamberlain, superintendent. The need for more hospitals was so urgent that in 1914 a campaign of eight days undertaken by citizens and the medical profession raised $160,000 for the erection of the Peoples Hospital. The hospital was completed and opened in eleven months, March 2, 1915 being the opening day. In 1924 a maternity wing was added at a cost of $200,000 and is one of the finest in the country. The hospital now has 180 beds. President, Francis Seiberling, A. B., LL. B. Manager, H. E.. Frazier Directress, Nina Wootton, R. N. Chief of Staff, C. E. Held, M. D. Secretary, K. H. Harrington, M. D. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 495 The adjoining City of Barberton in 1915 conducted a similar campaign and erected the Citizens Hospital of fifty beds. Officers are : President, H. A. Galt  Superintendent, Genevieve Sandrock, R. N. Chief of Staff, H. A Finefrock, M. D. Secretary, H. B. Harper, M. D. Until 1915 the care of tuberculosis patients was haphazard. In that year Summit and four other counties together erected the Springfield Lake Sanitarium. The four counties pulled see-saw fashion and not together. With the appointment of E. C. Shaw, prominent in civic affairs of Akron, to the board of directors the move was started to buy out the other counties and make the institution the sole property of Summit County. This was successful and today the Sanitorium is unsurpassed by any in the U. S. A. as a curative hospital for tuberculosis. The chief credit for this splendid rating is due to E. C. Shaw, Ph. B., director, and C. L. Hyde, M. D., F. A. C. P., superintendent. The capacity is 200 beds. In 1916 the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company equipped a section of its plant as a modern hospital, with fifteen beds. Medical director is J. S. Millard, A. B., M. D. For many years a Catholic hospital for Akron was advocated ; but the question of control delayed the organization until in 1924 a committee was formed. The campaign to raise $800,000 was successfully conducted by a committee of citizens of all creeds in 1926. The erection of the building began in 1927 and the hospital opened September, 1928. The committee is: W. O'Neil, Chairman C. J. Jahant J. M. Doran C. Mulcahey Mother Superior—Sister Lawrence. W. A. Walsh J. J. Shea A. Buehrle HEALTH DEPARTMENTS Until 1916 Akron's health officer devoted only part of his time to the department. In that year the need for a full time director became imperative and the department was reorganized. The officials have been : 1896-1916—A. A. Kohler, A. B., M. D.,  Health Officer  1916-1917--J. J. McShane, M. D., 1918-1921—C. T. Nesbitt, M. D. 1921-1927—D. D. Shira, A. B., M. D. Director Akron Health Department    M. D. 1927-  —M. D. Ailes, B. S., LL. B., Dr. Shira held the offices of director of the Akron and Summit County health departments till the increase in the time required became so great that in 1924 the departments were separated. Dr. Shira remained director of the Akron Health Department and R. H. Markwith, M. D., was appointed director of the Summit County Health Department. The directors of the other health departments are : 496 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Barberton Health Department—W. A. Mansfield, M. D. Summit County Health Department—R. H. Markwith, M. D. NURSING In 1912 the nurses of Summit, Starke, Portage Counties formed the Tri-County Nurses Association. Later this organization was absorbed by the Ohio State Nurses Association as District No. 1. In addition to the above counties the District includes Carroll and Tuscarawas Counties. The membership is nearly 500. President, Anna Gladwin, R. N. Secretary, Clara Brouse, R. N. INDIVIDUALS The senior members of the Summit County Medical Society are : Samuel St. John Wright, M. D., A. B., dean of the society. Born 1852, graduated 1876, membership 1876. James Vale Cleaver, M. D., M. S. Born 1858, graduated 1887, membership December 20, 1887. John Henry Seiler, M. D. Born 1858, graduated 1886, membership May 7, 1889. Seniors in years of practice : James Nelson McMaster, M. D. Born 1844, graduated 1870. Horace Delamater Taggart, M. D. Born 1851, graduated 1874. Samuel St. John Wright, M. D., A. B. Born 1852, graduated 1876. Historians of the Society and Profession are : Alvin Kramer Fouser, M. D., who wrote the first history, 1881. Alexander Stearns McCormick, L. A., M. D., 1912, 1922, 1927. William Sabin Chase, A. M., M. D., 1925. Other medical organizations independent of the Summit County Medical Society are the : Summit County Clinical Society, founded in 1885 by the Homeopathic physicians. Celsus Club, founded 1893. Barberton Medical Association, founded 1902. Every member of the Celsus Club, all but one of the Barberton M. A., and the majority of the Clinical Society are members of the older and parent society. Akron's physicians have not been content to merely follow the footsteps of others, but have been the pioneers in some cases. An event that attracted physicians from surrounding counties was that when, in 1868, the first ligation of the femoral artery was performed by B. S. Chase (1834-78). In 1874 he performed the first tracheotomy. He was also the first to do a thigh amputation. In the same year W. C. Jacobs (1840-1905) and A. E. Foltz (1840-1917) introduced the clinical thermometer into Akron. Dr. Foltz in 1885 designed the first Clinical Chart now in use in every hospital in the civilized world. He later designed the Optician's Chart. Not realizing the value of the former he sold the patent for 50 cents and the buyer made a profit of $50,000 or 100,000 per cent. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 497 The first real test in the U. S. A. of the Flexner serum for the control of meningitis was conducted in 1907 by W. S. Chase (son of B. S. Chase) and the late M. L. Hunt, who died in 1910. Their work was carried out in the Akron City Hospital. The nationalities of the Society members according to birth are : Austria (2) Canada (19) France (1) Germany (3) Great Britain (4) Greece (1) Hungary (2) India (1) Ireland (1) Italy (1) Jamaica (1) Poland (1) Roumania (1) Russia (2) U. S. A. (the remainder) By schools of medicine there are : Homeopath fifteen, Eclectic seven, Regular the remainder. Their degrees were obtained from the best universities of Austria, Canada, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Roumania, Russia, U. S. A. For special diversion there is the Summit County Medical Society Golf Club organized in 1923 by A. S. McCormick, C. T. Hill, R. H. McKay, E. S. Underwood, the executive committee of that year. The chairman of the Club is L. L. Bottsford. THE DOCTORS' ORCHESTRA Unique, the first organized in North America and for some time the only organization of the kind in the world is the Doctors' Orchestra, organized in 1926 by the conductor, A. S. McCormick. It is composed of members of the medical and dental professions and their families. It confines its concerts to medical and dental societies and hospitals. It played in May, 1927, in Columbus before an audience of 400 by special request of the Ohio State Medical Association at its annual convention. The type of musicianship displayed by this orchestra attracts large and appreciative audiences at the concerts. The Personnel Director— A. S. McCormick, M. D. Assistant Director— D. C. Brennan, A. B., M. D. Violins— H. L. Arbuckle, Concertmaster D. H. Henninger, D. D. S., Assistant Concertmaster T. W. Harkins, D. D. S. A. E. Bohm, M. D. Madeline Harkins A. J. Knapp, A. B., M. D. A. Dobkin, B. S. F. M. Warner, B. S., M. D. Mandolin— I. L. Houghton, A. B., M. D. Banjo— H. J. Gordon, B. S., M. D. Viola— P. B. Long, M. D. Violincellos- R. E. Pinkerton, A. B., B. S., M. D. C. L. Hyde, M. D., F. A. C. P. B. Kuhne 17—VOL. 1 Piano— D. C. Brennan, A. B., M. D. Flute— T. Van Sickle Clarinet— C. R. Newton, A. B., M. D. Saxophones— V. E. McCormish, D. D. S. G. R. MacRitchie, D. D. S. Bassoon— G. R. MacRitchie, D. D. S. Trumpets— T. G. Reilly R. F. Drury, M. D. H. B. Ford, D. D. S. French Horn— H. B. Ford, D. D. S. Trombones— A. E. Davis, B. S., M. D. C. T. McCormish, M. D. Tuba— F. W. Shane, B. S., M. D. Drums— H. C. Ott W. C. Robart, B. S., M. D. 498 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Associate Members (substitutes) Mrs. H. L. Arbuckle T. B. Harper J. H. Minnick James Tompkins Winifred Tompkins J. A. Sweizer H. M. Van Doren C. R. Waite WAR RECORD We believe the claim is correctly made that no medical society in Ohio can show a record of war services equal to that of the Summit County Medical Society and Profession. War of 1812 U. S. Army— J. C. Wilcox Eliakim Crosby Joseph Cole Titus Chapman American Civil War 1861-5 Medal "Civil War" U. S. Army- 9th New York Cavalry, Surgeon B. F. Goodrich 4th Ohio Cavalry, Surgeon W. C. Jacobs 9th Ohio Cavalry, J. N. McMaster 1st Ohio Light Artillery, W. E. Chamberlin, W. S. Hough United States Engineers, Surgeon B. F. Goodrich 53rd United States Infantry, Surgeon S. T. Odell 11th Indiana Infantry, Surgeon S. T. Odell 64th New York Infantry, Surgeon A. C. Belden 4th Ohio Infantry, Surgeon W. C. Jacobs 7th Ohio Infantry, Surgeon E. Hitchcock 14th Ohio Infantry, Surgeon E. K. Nash 16th Ohio Infantry, Surgeon B. B. Brashear, Surgeon B. S. Chase 19th Ohio Infantry, Surgeon B. S. Chase 81st Ohio Infantry, Surgeon W. C. Jacobs 85th Ohio Infantry, L. S. Ebright 93rd Ohio Infantry, Surgeon G. P. Ashmun 102nd Ohio Infantry, Sergt. A. E. Foltz 110th Ohio Infantry, S. Pixley 116th Ohio Infantry, Col. T. McEbright 191st Ohio Infantry, J. W. Sorrick 151st Pennsylvania Infantry, Surgeon W. J. Underwood Miscellaneous—Surgeons G. L. Starr, A. M. Sherman, M. M. Dickson, 0. E. Brownell, W. B. Hyatt, Drummer S. Johnson Confederate States Army— Surgeon G. C. Phillips Russo-Turkish War 1877 Medal "Turkish War" Service in Roumania and Turkey Roumanian Army Medical Corps, Lieut. Lazaar Vioran AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 499 North West Rebellion 1885 (Canada) Medal "North West" 31st "Grey" Regiment Infantry, Bugler R. A. Smith Spanish-American War 1898 Service in U. S. A., Cuba, Porto Rico Medals—"Spanish Campaign," "Spanish War Service," "Porto Rico Occupation" 2nd Regiment United States Infantry, Capt. F. A. Hopkins 2nd Alabama Regiment Infantry, Sergt. 0. Hayes 5th Regiment Infantry, Pvt. F. C. Bissell 1st Carolina Regiment, Pvt. J. H. Selby United States Hospital Corps, Lieut. T. W. Jackson, Pvt. R. A. Smith, Surgeon C. A. Lerch (attached) South African War 1899-1902 Service in Canada, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Cape Verde Islands, Great Britain, Ireland Medals—"Queen's," "Westmount" British Army- 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Infantry, Corp. A. S. McCormick Philippine Campaign 1899-1904 Medal—"Philippine Campaign" United States Hospital Corps, Lieut. T. W. Jackson World War 1914-1(8 Service in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Russia Medals : British—War, Victory, Military Cross ; French—Croix de Guerre, Medal of Honor ; German ; Italy—War, Victory, Military Cross Austrian Army (1)— 50th Regiment of Infantry, Lieut. J. J. Weber British Army (8)— Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, 9th Battalion, Lieut. Ivor Campbell British Army (7)— Royal Army Medical Corps- Capt. H. R. Baremore  Capt. H. R. Conn  Capt. J. G. Kramer  Capt. R. V. Luce Capt. A. S. Robinson. Capt. S. Miller, M. Capt. D. F. Mathias, M. C C. Canadian Army (9)- 8th Field Artillery Brigade, Pte. C. A. Raymond 13th Field Artillery Brigade, Pte. G. R. Wellwood 4th Heavy Artillery Brigade, Corp. D. I. McLean 4th Division Engineers, Corp. J. C. McClelland