100 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio accomplished by tin defendants and two hundred other persons. Twenty-seven indictments were found. December 8, 1858. Some of the defendants were in jail for varying periods awaiting trial. Charles Langston and Simon Bushnell were separately tried and convicted. The former was given a sentence of twenty days in jail with a fine of $100 and costs, and Bushnell sixty days in jail with a fine of $600 and costs. The record shows that the fine and costs were not made in either case. Loren Wadsworth, John Mandeville, Matthew DeWolf, Abner Loveland and three others pleaded nolle contendere. In each case judgment was rendered against the defendant on this plea and each received a fine of $20 and costs, and sentenced to be imprisoned twenty-four hours in the county jail. The other cases were dismissed. It is curious to note an error in the charge. The defendants were alleged to have unlawfully, knowingly and willingly rescued the slave. Any one knowing the temper of the people who lived about Oberlin at that time, or, in fact throughout the entire 'Western Reserve, need not be disturbed at the inaccuracy of the charge that they willingly rescued this unfortunate man. This case profoundly affected the thought of the north respecting the institution of slavery. A later case in the eastern division and one which not only furnished a great deal of amusement to the entire country, but created much interest because of its exhibition of extraordinary assurance and capacity to be persuasive on the part of the principal, was that of Cassie Chadwick, alias Madame DeVere. In 16 counts she was charged with conspiring to commit an offense against the United States in the borrowing of money from a national bank on the strength of two alleged notes for five hundred thousand dollars and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, purporting to be signed by Andrew Carnegie with whom she claimed a close relationship. She was convicted on seven counts, and given a sentence of two years on each of five counts, and one year on each of the other two. She died in the penitentiary. Some of her unfortunate dupes in these transactions also suffered criminal judgments. One of the most noted cases growing out of the laws dealing with sedition during the late war was that of the United States vs. Eugene V. Debs, resulting in his conviction, confirmed by the supreme court, and a sentence of ten years, imprisonment. In the western division in the winter of 1909-1910 was tried the extremely interesting blackhand case of United States vs. Salvatore Lima and fifteen others. Upon conviction one of the defendants received a sentence of 16 years, two 10 years, one 6 years, two 4 years, four 2 years in the penitentiary, and one for 2 years in the New York State Reformatory. A case which not only overturned an interpretation of the contempt section (268) of the federal judicial code which had existed for eighty years, but which has been very extensively followed to the protection of federal courts from newspaper attack upon interlocutory proceedings in pending cases is that of the Toledo News-Bee, decided in the Toledo court in 1915, and affirmed by both of the higher courts. 220 Feb., 458 ; 237 Fed. 986.; 247 U. S., 402. The publishing company was fined $7,500 for contempt and its editor $200. THE EARLY BENCH AND BAR IN LUCAS COUNTY, OHIO BY BEN. W. JOHNSON, Esq. Of the Lucas County Bar LUCAS COUNTY was organized in 1835. Until 1820 there was no local bench or bar. Until little more than a century ago the mound-builders and their descendants or successors, the Indians, possessed the valley of the Maumee, in which the county lies. On the map it appeared as part of French Louisiana, then as part of British Quebec, and finally as the "Northwest Territory of the United States." But it remained throughout this pre-history one small part, and that a very inaccessible, inhospitable and unhealthy part of a vast sleeping wilderness. The Ordinance of 1787 not only changed the map, but at last prepared for the enormous task of redeeming the forests and swamps. Territorial courts were set on foot to bring them under the reign of human law, first a supreme court, then a court of common pleas. The latter was inaugurated at far-off Marietta with impressive ceremonies. Out of the woods marched the citizens, the officers from Fort Harmar, the lawyers, the supreme judges, the governor, the clergy and lastly the newly appointed judges of the common pleas. The only spectators were Indians, silent and stolid as statues. The high sheriff with a drawn sword, led the procession. In a loud voice he proclaimed : "Oh, yes ; oh, yes ; oh, yes ! A court is opened for the administration of even-handed justice—to the poor as well as the rich, to the guilty and innocent, without respect of persons ; none to be punished without a trial by jury of their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case !" This was the cock-crow that announced for the whole Ohio country the end of savagery and the hopeful dawn of civilization. "A good Greek land shall be Your lasting home, not barbarism. You shall see Our ordered life and justice, and the long, Still grasp of law, not changing with the strong Man’s pleasure." However, "the long, still grasp of law" did not at once succeed in reaching across the dreaded "Black Swamp" to the lower course of the "Miami of the Lake," as the Maumee then was named. Even after Ohio was admitted as a sovereign state, and so late as 1812. only a few American and French settlers were to be found there. They felt no great need of laws. Indeed, they did not know, nor did anyone else, to what laws they were really subject, whether those of the state of Ohio, or those of the territory of Michigan. 102 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio Congress had originally divided the future states by a line drawn due east from the southern tip of Lake Michigan, as shown on an old map. In 1802 the Ohio constitutional convention at Chillicothe was on the point of defining the boundary in accordance with that line, when a roving trapper drifted into town. He had not studied geography, but he had hunted and trapped for years in and about where Chicago now stands. He dropped the remark that Lake Michigan reaches miles further south than had been imagined. It had been supposed that the projected line would pass north of the fine harbor of Maumee bay. Now it was feared this harbor might go to Michigan. The boundary clause, therefore, was promptly amended so as to push the east end of the line north as far as "the most northerly cape of the Miami bay." The Michigan territorial authorities still stood for the original line, and not knowing exactly where it was, laid claim as far south as the village of Maumee, though, as it turned out, the doubtful strip went south barely far enough to cover the site of the present city of Toledo. The local public, what there was of it, was divided or indifferent. In 1812 they appeared- to the collector of the port to want "the laws of Ohio extended over them," except "the few who hold office under the governor of Michigan and are determined to enforce their laws." The Michigan partisans, on the other hand, if few, were influential and determined. Thus Dr. Horatio Conant, a justice of the peace by appointment of the Michigan governor, reported the sentiment in his town of Maumee to be strongly in favor of the territory as against the state. Benjamin F. Stickney, living in the forest at what is now the corner of Summit and Bush streets, in Toledo, was another Michigan magistrate who was ready not only to argue, but if necessary to fight for the Wolverine cause. The War of 1812 temporarily solved the difficulty by driving out the settlers of both parties, burning their cabins and laying their farms waste, but the return of peace restored the tide of immigration, revived the quarrel and gave it the proverbial bitterness of a line-fence dispute. Across the Maumee river from Justice Conant, in the town of Perrysburg,. dwelt Seneca Allen, who also came to be a justice of the peace, but he took his commission from the state of Ohio. He missed no chance of warning Dr. Conant against attempting to exercise his judicial office. In 1819, Justice Allen was called upon to marry a couple who lived on Dr. Conant’s side of the river. Unfortunately, the wedding day broke upon a flooded stream, full of tumbling slabs of ice, making an impassable barrier between the young people and the official who was to marry them. Spying his rival upon the opposite bank, Justice Allen hailed him and begged him to perform the ceremony. Conant reminded the Perrysburg magistrate that this would be a crime under the Ohio law, but the latter insisted that necessity knows no law. The worthy doctor finally yielded to these persuasions, united the bride and groom and received a jack knife for his fee. From then on, by mutual understanding, the two justices exercised concurrent jurisdiction on the northerly or Maumee side of the river, while on the southerly side, Allen’s jurisdiction was allowed to be exclusive. Their concordat did well enough for a time. In the early thirties, however, the boundary squabble almost reached the pitch of fighting. The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 103 The war spirit was assiduously stirred up on both sides. In 1835 Judge David Higgins, the successor of Judge Tod and Judge Lane, opening court one morning in Perrysburg, was amazed to hear the beating of a drum outside, so loud as to drown his voice. He shouted to the sheriff to "Go out and stop that drumming." Outside the sheriff came upon a giant of a man, whose height was exaggerated by a tall, wide, felt hat. A wide paper hat band bore the legend, "RECRUITING FOR THE WAR !" A rifleman’s coat of green, homespun pantaloons, dyed with oak bark and adorned with black lace down the legs, and a drum that looked like a tiny toy drum, completed his outfit. Thus equipped and attended by a man bearing the American flag, he marched up and down drumming with great vigor. He told the sheriff that he was under orders and pay from his captain to drum for recruits for the war, and that as a military man he would obey his superior officer, until he was satisfied that the court had more authority. The captain was cited into court, but stood pat upon orders which he said he had received from his colonel, and which were approved, he said, by the Ohio governor himself. At that Judge Higgins roared, "Mr. Sheriff, take Captain Scott and his music organ to jail and lock them up." The captain and his drummer followed the sheriff out of the court room, but refused to go further toward the jail, and gave the sheriff to understand that, if he persisted, martial law would be declared upon the spot, and the judge and sheriff would then become the prisoners. "That is right ; that is right, Cap.," said the big drummer, doubling his fists. "That’s the way to talk. Bully for you, Cap. Stand off, Sheriff." By that time the yeomanry of the town had gathered, showing much more inclination to join the forces of the captain than any sheriff’s posse. The sheriff retreated, but the episode ended happily, for the able-bodied citizens of Perrysburg at once enlisted under the colors, and there was no further need of the spirit-stirring drum. The military soon atoned for their unintended contempt of the civil power. In early September of the same year they aided the Ohio judiciary to hold its first session in Lucas county and in the disputed belt, and thus achieved a bloodless victory over the Michigan authorities. The latter were awaiting the event, determined to prevent it. On the eve of the day set for holding court, a military expedition came down from Michigan, shouting a war song of which the first stanza was as follows : "Old Lucas gave his order all for to hold a court, And Stevens Thomas Mason, he thought he,d have some sport. He called upon the Wolverines, and asked them for to go To get this rebel Lucas, his court to overthrow." The Wolverines were said to number from 800 to 1,200, but some wags had spread among the recruits such horrid fables about Buckeye sharpshooters of deadly aim, that they half expected to be ambushed and massacred. Many deserted, and̊ the rest were glad to make camp a safe distance from the town of Toledo,- although within the present limits of that city. Judge Higgins did not desire to have his court again flouted. He 104 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio wrote Governor Lucas that he was ready to undertake holding court in Toledo without regard to personal consequences, but would feel acutely the disgrace of capture and abduction by a Michigan mob of a branch of the judiciary of the state, while actually engaged in the performance of judicial functions. Such a spectacle would, indeed, have shed no glory upon either the active or the passive participants. Finally, Colonel Van Fleet, in command of the Ohio forces, and the associate judges of the common pleas ( Judge Higgins being absent), held a council at Maumee. The judges hesitated. Not so the colonel. "If you are women," he said, striking an attitude like that of an Indian chief, "go home. If you are men, do your duty as judges of the court ! I will do mine !" It was decided to piece together the skin of the lion and the skin of the fox. Since the day set for holding court commenced at mid night, the judges, the clerk-designate, and the sheriff-to-be, escorted by twenty picked soldiers, mounted horses and set out for Toledo. In a couple of hours they reached their destination—a frame school house on the outskirts of the "upper town" (now in the heart of the business district of Toledo). The sheriff opened court, the judges appointed commissioners for the county and a clerk—the latter none other than our friend Dr. Horatio Conant, lately appointed a justice of the peace to enforce the laws of Michigan ! Following is the record of the brief and memorable session : "The State of Ohio, Lucas County, ss :  "At a court of common pleas, began and held at the court house in Toledo in said county, on Monday, the seventh day of September, Anno Domini, eighteen hundred thirty-five. Present, Honorable Jonathan H. Jerome, senior associate judge of said county ; their Honors Baxter Bowman and William Wilson, associate judges. The court being opened in due form by the sheriff of said county, Horatio Conant being appointed clerk of said court, executed his bond, with sureties, accepted by the court aggreeably to the statute in such case made and provided. The court appointed John Baldwin, Robert Gower, Cyrus Holloway, commissioners of said county. No further business appearing before the court, the court adjourned without delay. (Signed) J. H. JEROME, Associate Judge." The clerk deposited this precious document in his high hat and joined the judges, sheriff and military escort, who were celebrating their coup at a neighboring tavern. Suddenly, a would-be humorist burst in with the alarm that an overwhelming force of Michigan soldiery was almost upon them. In the sudden and swift retreat that followed, a branch of a tree swept Clerk Conant’s high hat from his head, and with it the record of the court. That Ohio’s claim to jurisdiction in fact as well as in law should not rest in pais, a few picked volunteers slipped back and rescued the record and the hat. It afterward transpired that the Michigan braves had slept soundly the whole night through and retired to their own territory the next day. Soon afterward Congress, the ultimate authority, acted. Michigan lost the coveted harbor, but was solaced by becoming a state and by acquiring the upper peninsula. The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 105 In the course of this Ohio-Michigan war, some captives were taken by the Michigan people, notable among them the redoubtable Major Benjamin F. Stickney, who was a shining mark, having changed ailegiance like Dr. Conant, and become a loyal Buckeye. He was captured in his home in Lower Town, placed on a horse and his feet tied under the horse’s belly. Thus he was conveyed in triumph to the jail in Monroe, Michigan, then known as "Frenchtown." The only casualty of the war occurred when an attempt was made to arrest one of Major Stickney’s sons. A knife flashed in the air, and the officer fell, crying that he was mortally wounded. Young Stickney thereupon made his escape. It was afterward ascertained that Stickney had inflicted a slight cut with his penknife. It was fifteen years before these events that the first court of common pleas for the northwestern part of Ohio was organized and held its first session. The jurisdiction of the court extended over the whole Maumee basin. Court was held at Maumee in a room above Almon Gibb’s store, rented for $40.00 a year. During the next two or three years court sat at the now extinct village of Orleans, nearby. Then a commission, of whom one was the father of the renowned brothers, John and William Tecumseh Sherman, transferred the county seat to Perrysburg, where in 1823 a log court house was built at a cost of $895.00. The first presiding judge was George Tod, father of Ohio’s second Civil War governor. A group of distinguished lawyers repaired to his court from other parts of the state. From Columbus came B. Daugherty ; from Urbana, Jonathan Edwards Chapin, descended from the illustrious divine, and related to Aaron Burr. Ebenezer Lane, Judge Tod’s successor to be, was there. Some litigants evidently preferred Michigan counsel, for we find them represented at that first sitting by Charles J. Lanman, of French-town, Michigan, son of a United States senator from Connecticut, and himself a polished gentleman. When court adjourned, it is related that bench and bar betook themselves for a picnic to Roche de Boeuf, where the bridge of an interurban electric railroad now spans the stream. One of the best known persons present was Mr. Cook, of Huron county. Born amid the enthusiasms of the eventful year 1787, he had been subjected to the given name "Eleutheros," which was Greek for "Freeman," and which was, indeed, Greek to his fellow-citizens. Although they usually succeeded in electing him when he was a candidate for office, at least once they failed—simply on account of the trouble they had with that name. Many voted for "Luther" Cook, some for "Lutheros," and a few for "Eilutheros," "Eilros," and other variations. Among these imaginary competitors, there were scattering votes for the man himself, but not enough to carry. Mr. Cook avoided his parents, mistake by naming his children for admired statesmen ; one of his sons, Jay Cook, reached national eminence as the financier of the Civil War. Eleutheros Cook was an orator of flowery eloquence, and was exhaustless in resourcefulness and vitality. Once, disputing a motion to set aside a faulty writ for the arrest of a refractory debtor, a steamboat captain, Mr. Cook staved off an adverse decision by talking for 106 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio sixteen hours. He traced the history of the human race from Genesis as far as the capture of Jerusalem by Titus, when an alias writ in proper form arrived from Norwalk, whereupon the filibuster ended, and the mariner paid the debt and departed. Imprisonment for debt was still lawful, but was losing the support of public sentiment in that community, where many were borrowers. People rubbed their hands in glee, as they told of Jacob Wilkinson, who had his debtor arrested to answer to a claim of $9.00. The constable and prisoner rode on horseback one hundred and fifty miles to the nearest jail at Urbana. There the sheriff refused the prisoner, in default of the price of a week's board. The debtor was thereupon turned loose, and Mr. Wilkinson had to pay cost and mileage taxed at over $150.00. Even lawyers sometimes found themselves in financial straits. One of them, William Stanbery, a brother of the distinguished Henry Stanbery of Cincinnati, and affectionately known as "Old Bill" Stanbery, was sometimes in this plight. On one occasion when confronted with a warrant for his arrest as a delinquent debtor, he sat down and wrote out a document certifying : "William Stanbery, an attorney-at-law, and officer of the courts of the great state of Ohio, while engaged in the practice of his profession, has been wantonly and maliciously arrested on the steps of the court house, in violation of the constitution and in contempt of the majesty of the great state of Ohio." To this certificate he affixed a notary’s seal, and served it upon the sheriff as if it had been a writ. The latter turned a little pale, and retreated without executing the warrant. "Old Bill" was a colossus physically and mentally. No danger and no difficulty could jar his confidence in his powers. He despised book law, preferring to rely upon his own powers of persuasion and logic. During the trial of a certain case he was opposed by a youngster at the bar, who spent the night before the trial worshipfully looking up authorities to use against him in court the next day. When the novice had got well under way with his citations, "Old Bill" broke in upon him, "You young whipper-snapper !" he roared. "While your brethren at bar, after the labors of the day, are engaged in social intercourse and the exchange of those amenities that are so becoming to our noble profession, you sneak off and spend the night seeking precedents to overturn the great principles of jurisprudence." No local bar existed. Robert A. Forsythe and Ambrose Rice, of Maumee, became lay judges, associates of Judge Tod, but they were not lawyers. Judge Forsythe was absorbed in the Indian fur trade, and Judge Rice was also a man of affairs. Both would have been prominent in any community at any time. It was said of Judge Rice that even among the greatest men of our country there was none with so penetrating a judgment or so clear an intellect. Nor in simple truthfulness and stern integrity was he less distinguished. It was his sagacity that detected the perpetrator of the first chronicled robbery in northwestern Ohio. Miscreants had taken $400.00 in currency from Elijah Huntington’s but in Maumee, leaving him a ruined man. Judge Rice went to see his unfortunate neighbor. Just as he entered, he saw Mrs. Huntington throw into the burning fire place a hickory club with one end whittled clown to a handle. She told The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 107 him it had been left outside their cabin at the time the robbers made away. Judge Rice quickly pulled the club out, only a little charred. Led by some subtle conjecture, he went to the home of one Stockwell, where under the floor he found a few scattered shavings. These he fitted to the club, as neatly as the reunited fragments of an ancient indenture. Confession followed, and the recovery of the money from a cache miles down the river near an Indian village. Another citizen of primitive Maumee, who for a time acted as a lay associate judge of the court of common pleas, was Wolcott, who married a daughter of the Indian Chief Little Turtle. Below Maumee, where now stands Toledo, in 1816 were just two white men, Major Benjamin F. Stickney, already mentioned, and Judge John T. Baldwin. To the credit of Toledo be it said that at that early date both of the made citizens of that place were convinced that a great city would sometime arise where they rambled through the woods and went marketing with rifles for venison, bear and wild turkey. Perhaps the first practicing attorney to settle in this part of the state was Thomas W. Powell, who was admitted at Wooster, Ohio, in September, 1920, and thereupon he made his way to Maumee on horseback via Fremont. Between that town and the Maumee lay the jungle known as the Black Swamp, now one of the richest sections of the state, but then uninhabited, heavily wooded and destitute even of roads. Robert Lucas described it only eight years previously as "A tremendous swamp of 40 miles distance * * * without intermission from knee deep to belly deep on our horses for 8 or 10 miles together." Powell threaded the narrow, crooked, tortuous trail till the river valley came into view, a prairie land covered from hill to hill with Indian corn. In Perrysburg were a few houses, and the main street, Front street, had just been cut through the woods and cleared of stumps and brush. Maumee was a village of some consequence, boasting two good taverns, two or three stores, and an exceptionally intelligent, well-informed people. In 1822 he became prosecuting attorney, an instance of the office seeking the man. He enjoyed the distinction of prosecuting the first murder case in this section. One Richardson, a handsome but graceless figure of a man, ()Wed one Porter, whom he defied to collect the money. The creditor, himself in debt to others, became at last wrought beyond endurance, shot Richardson, and easily escaped into the wild. Presently, however, Porter got religion, gave himself up, confessed his crime, and begged to make expiation. This was inadmissible without a trial, which must be had either before the supreme court, or the court of common pleas. David Higgins, appointed to defend, elected to have his client tried before the higher tribunal. Judge Peter Hitchcock and Judge Frederick Grimke came to Maumee to try the case. When Judge Hitchcock learned that an acquittal was sought on the ground of insanity, he turned upon defendant’s counsel, exclaiming, "What ! What ! Mr. Higgins, do you contend that it is evidence of the man’s insanity that he chooses to be tried by us ?" Porter had his wish. He was convicted, sentenced, and duly hanged in a ravine across the river. Powell, for about ten years, had his home at Perrysburg, where he was joined in 1824 by the Gage brothers. One of them, J. L. Gage, 108 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio is remembered as the husband of Fanny B. Gage. Solid people looked upon her a little askance, and upon her husband with some pity in their eyes, for she was a literary woman, and advocated "woman’s rights." In those days a woman who sought a voice and vote in the republic was still likened to a dog walking on its hind legs. As always, it was the pioneer of opinion who sacrificed most. Even as late as 1863 the late Judge John H. Doyle, then a youngster of nineteen, fell out with the trustees of "The Toledo Young Men’s Association," by engaging for a lecture course under the auspices of that organization, Wendell Phillips and Anne E. Dickinson. The trustees considered that Phillips was a fiery abolitionist, and they did not approve of women on the platform under any circumstances. Young Doyle, nevertheless, carried out his program, and with a companion staged the lectures on his own responsibility. He had the satisfaction of presenting the two greatest attractions of the season. Another early corner to the Maumee valley was John C. Spink, whose pilgrimage took him over the same hard route traveled by Powell, and indeed by all the immigrants from the east, except such as preferred the lake voyage. Mr. Spink resorted to a tavern about a mile west of Fremont to fortify himself by a good night’s rest for his plunge into the Black Swamp. Going to the room assigned him, he discovered fourteen guests, ten of them women. Evidently, unable to pay the price exacted by the thrifty landlord for a bed, they were lying about on the floor. Young Mr. Spink was better off, having purchased the privilege of the only bed in the room, but he was perplexed to know how to disrobe and get into it in the presence of this large, mixed audience. At the same time he considered that a gentleman and a lawyer must be equal to any and every emergency, whereupon he drew himself up at the foot of his bed and delivered himself as follows : "Ladies ! This is my bed, and there is nothing to screen me from your observation while I get into it. This is my first introduction to a new country life and probably it is yours, as you appear to be moving. I will therefore take it as a great favor if you will kindly duck your heads under the clothes while I get into bed." The ladies in question had all been sound asleep, but being waked up by the persuasive tones of the young advocate, they obligingly hid their heads. In 1830, Powell turned over his law practice to William V. Way, and went to Delaware, where he later went upon the bench. The Gage brothers and the eccentric Fannie Gage are also lost sight of. For a time, it is said that Way and one John C. Spink constituted the bar of Perrysburg. One day they happened to be on opposite sides of that swath through the woods which bore the name of Front street. It was de jure a street, but de facto it was a shallow canal of mud on that day. Way was lucky in having an Indian pony. Spink, wishing to cross, asked to be brought over on the pony. The pony with his double burden got just in mid-channel when he forgot his dignity as the upholder of the law, and could think of nothing but the irksomeness of his office, which he felt so intensely that the next instant the bar of Perrysburg lay sprawling in the mud. Way and Spink remained good friends, yet probably learned a new application of the old precept that, when two The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 109 lawyers find themselves on opposite sides of anything, they are well off to stay on opposite sides. As the region grew more settled, other lawyers made their way thither, notwithstanding it was a hard place to reach and not a very healthful one to live in. A local contemporary poet thus sang its praises : "On Maumee, on Maumee, It's ague in the fall ; The fit will shake them so, It rocks the house and all." "There's a funeral every day, Without a hearse or pall : They tuck them in the ground With breeches, coat and all." By 1837 eight resident attorneys were advertising in the Perrys. burg paper, while an equal or greater number practiced in Maumee. The town of Toledo, some eight miles clown the river from Maumee and Perrysburg, was formed in 1833, by the union of Port Lawrence, or "Uppertown," and Vistula, or "Lowertown," was incorporated in 1837, but had no local bar until 1835, when Lucas county was created. Toledo was made the county seat in the same year, and three lawyers, Richard Cook, Emery D. Potter and George B. Way, opened offices. In 1836 came John Fitch, 1837 John R. Osborn and Myron H. Tilden, the latter moving to Cincinnati in 1850. Hezekiah D. Mason was in Toledo at that time, but did not practice. So was Tappan H. Wright during a portion of the year 1836. In proportion to their scanty numbers, probably more lawyers of that day achieved a merited distinction than at any time since, as well in Toledo as in the larger towns of Maumee and Perrysburg. Way brought with him from New York a printing press and type, with which he started a newspaper, "The Toledo Blade," as a side line. A lawyer of extraordinary persuasive powers, he had at the same time a literary and artistic bent that sometimes led him to desert his office for days at a time, and give himself up to the society of the immortals. Potter, the first attorney to practice in Toledo, was also the last of his generation to bid his fellow-townsmen farewell, when, in 1896, he died full of years and honors, and still it the running tide of life. His office, with a long table down the middle of it and plenty of chairs, for four years was a favorite resort of people in and about town. In 1839 he was elected the first presiding common pleas judge in the newly organized second judicial circuit, consisting of counties taken from the district of Judge Ozias Bowen, of Marion, Ohio. Judge Potter at once bought himself a magnificent saddle horse for riding the big circuit, which included a large part of the state. In those early days it was the custom to administer what the late Judge Shauck has called "peripatetic justice." When Judge Ebenezer Lane, Judge Potter’s predecessor, was elected to the bench, he found that the northwestern part of this state was becoming peopled to such an extent that it was necessary for him to travel from county to county to hold court. He was attended by a 110 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio cavalcade of lawyers known as "circuit lawyers." They journeyed on horse-back, taking Maumee as a starting point. Attorneys carried their law libraries, with changes of linen, in their saddle bags. These working libraries usually consisted of Blackstone, Chitty on Pleadings, Coke on Littleton, and Starkie on Evidence. Often these parties had to ford or swim their horses through creeks and rivers. Sometimes night would overtake them miles from any habitation. Then they camped out in the woods until morning. The journeys lasted weeks at a time. When possible, the return trip was made by water. Judge Higgins, who occupied the bench from 1830 to 1837, described such a voyage in the "Good Pirogue 'jurisprudence., " "A countryman agreed to take our horses through the Black Swamp to Perrysburg, and we purchased a canoe, and taking with us our saddles, bridles and baggage, proposed to descend Blanchard's fork and the Auglaize river to Defiance and then to Perrysburg. Our company consisted of Rodolphus Dickinson, J. C. Spink, Count Coffin-berry, myself and a countryman whose name I forget. The voyage was a dismal one to Defiance, through an unsettled wilderness of some sixty miles. Its loneliness was only broken by the intervening Indian settlements at Ottawa Village, where we were hailed and cheered as lustily by the Ottawa Indians as would be a foreign warship in the port of New York. From Defiance we descended to Perrysburg, where we found all well." The most picturesque of the circuit riders in northern Ohio bore the inauspicious and misleading name of "Coffinberry," sometimes spelled "Coffinbury." So far from being a funereal soul, he was in reality the blithest, wittiest and most lovable of men. He was dubbed "Count" Andrew Coffinberry, or "The Count," partly by reason of his supposed resemblance to the renowned Count Puffendorf, and partly because of his supposed aristocratic tastes, evidenced by a weakness for spotless and fashionable raiment, and by an almost haughty bearing. While following the circuit, Count Coffinberry had offices first at Mansfield, afterwards at Perrysburg, then at Findlay. In his later years he settled at Cleveland. One mid-summer day, Judge Potter, ex-Judge Higgins, John C. Spink, James G. Haley, Count Coffinberry and some others left Defiance for Kalida to attend the opening there of the common pleas court. The Count had decked himself as for a parade, but during the journey of thirty-two miles the company had to pass through stretches of wet swale, so that when they reached Kalida they were spattered with mud from head to foot. The rest of the party forgot their own plight in the rapture of viewing the distress of the good Count Coffinberry, who was the sorriest specimen of them all. As soon as they reached the tavern at Kalida, however, he vanished with his saddle bags, and to the surprise of all emerged in a few minutes attired in a fresh outfit, for which he had found room in his portmanteau, perhaps at the expense of law books. Among Judge Potter’s traveling companions was the future chief justice of the United States, then the youngest member of the local bar, Morrison R. Waite, who practiced in Maumee, moving to Toledo in 1850. The two jurists became fast friends, yet no more intimate and inseparable than their horses, "Old Tom" and "Tam O’Shanter." While The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 111 the latter occupied neighboring stalls in a rude log barn, their masters were asleep under one quilt on a hickory bedstead in a log cabin as rude as-the barn. It is said that Mr. Waite and Count Coffinberry were the only two lawyers admitted by Judge Potter to a tenancy in common of his bed. The temple of justice in these outlying county seats was usually a log tavern, less commonly a school-house, very rarely a sure-enough court house. In Napoleon it consisted of an Upper room in a storey and a half log tavern. The judge sat upon a dais or platform opposite the door. At his right the jurors, in one long line upon puncheon benches with their backs against the log wall. One day in this court room Judge Potter and a jury were trying the title to a certain hog. Defendant’s counsel was haranguing the jury. His spectacles hung perilously over the bridge of his nose, with one glass tilted up over an eye, the other on the opposite cheek. He was addressing himself to a juror down at the end of the row. As he turned to consult his notes, a tired by stander sat down on the end of the bench next this juror. The room was dimly lighted and counsel's spectacles did not help his vision, so he returned to the attack without noticing the intrusion of the extra man. Upon this newcomer he fixed his naked eye and continued denunciations of his adversary. "Gentlemen of the jury," he shouted, "I want to know what this man has come into court for ? Why is he here ? Now, I repeat, gentlemen of the jury, why is he here ?" The thirteenth juror slowly unfolded six feet or more of American citizen, and towering over the astonished orator retorted : "I,m around, sir, as a witness ; have been here these three days waitin, for my fees and nary a dime can I git ! That's what I,m here for ! Pay me my witness fees, sir, and I,ll git out." After court adjourned, when out on circuit, the lawyers laid aside their professional dignity. They might chat about their cases, or engage in tilts of wit or argument, but soon they would be at cards or staging some impromptu entertainment in the tavern. Judge Potter always joined in and, indeed, was master of the revels. Sometimes he would open up the program by singing his favorite song, "Lord Lover and then respond to the encore with "Rosin the Bow." Then W. B. Way, Count Coffinberry and J. C. Spink would impersonate an orchestra, while the judge acted as conductor. The count would render the bassoon, Spink the violin and Way the trombone. Then they would have a theatrical performance. Usually these entertainments were for the exclusive edification of the profession, but sometimes a privileged layman was allowed to be present. Major McMillan, mine host in one of the taverns, who was thus privileged, once remarked, "Scripture says 'Woe unto you lawyers,, ,but if this is the way you enjoy life in this world, you can afford to endure a little scorching in the next." The scene of many of these frolics was a famous tavern called "The Lawyers Exchange," at Texas, where the Maumee river passes from Fulton county into Lucas county. Like a dozen other early settlements on the Maumee, this village has disappeared. Where this tavern stood are now four crumbling walls, roofless, doorless and windowless, waiting in stillness for the hour when they, too, shall vanish. Here, in the elder days, attorneys from Sandusky, Cleveland, Columbus and even Cincinnati, found shelter, good fare and jovial companionship. 112 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio The traveling bench and bar of that time needed no golf to make good the wear and tear of a sedentary life. Their circuit would kill or cure a dyspeptic or weakling in a year. Their robust bodies were fit tenements for vigorous minds and sane spirits. Hence, as Judge Doyle has well observed, they were gentle, good-natured and courteous, with rare and regretted exceptions. HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF STARK COUNTY, OHIO - 113 BY JAMES H. ROBERTSON, Esq. Member of the Stark County Bar IT has been said that "a history of a nation is made up of the biographies of its people ;" likewise in the preparation of a history of the bench and bar of Stark county, the writer must necessarily confine himself to presenting but brief individual biographies and mention of those who have presided over its courts of justice, and have appeared in the legal forum. Owing to the great numbers who, since the organization of the county, have appeared in its courts, either as judge or licensed practitioner, individual mention can not be given each and every practitioner, but the writer must be limited to some of the prominent figures, distinguished in the profession ; and believing that the early history of the bench and bar of the county will be of greater interest to the reader than its more recent composition, the writer has endeavored to give its early history the more prominence. The first court of common pleas held in the county took place on April 18, 1809, in the upper room of the tavern belonging to Philip Dewalt, with the Hon. Calvin Pease, of Trumbull county, as president judge ; Thomas Latimer, James Campbell and George Bair, as associate judges. On April 19, the day following the opening of the court, an entry was made : "Ordered that John Harris be appointed clerk pro teen pore, and Sampson S. King be appointed prosecuting attorney until a permanent appointment be made." The first case entered on the docket of the court was that of James Pierce, et al., heirs and legal representatives of Andrew Pierct (for the use of Peter Pinney) vs. Isaac Van Meter. Sumons was issued April 19, 1809, for debt, $42.00 ; damages, $40.00, returnable August term, 1809. After several continuances, judgment by default was rendered at the April term, 1810, for plaintiffs; debt, $42.00 and damages, $9.77V2, with entry : "and defendant in mercy." Counsel for plaintiffs, Horace Potter, of Columbiana county. Counsel for defendant, Obadiah Jennings, of Jefferson county. The second term of court held in the county was begun on the 15th day of August, 1809, with the same judges occupying the bench as in the April term, and at this term the first grand jury of the county was summoned and empaneled, William Nailor being appointed foreman. The grand jury finished its labors in one day’s session, made no presentments, but made return of an indictment in the case of the State of Ohio vs. George Stidger, which was indorsed, "Not a True Bill." 114 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio The foreman of the grand jury, William Nailor, resided in Osnaburg, where he ran a public house, and he seems to have gained a double distinction, being the foreman of the first grand jury of the county, and being the first person within the county to be indicted, for at the court session on October 18, 1810, the first presentment made by a grand jury of the county, Nailor was indicted "for keeping a public house without a license." On the same day he appeared and on arraignment, pleaded "guilty," was sentenced to pay a fine of $2.00 and the costs of prosecution. The first traverse jury of the county was summoned to appear on the 15th day of August, 1809, but there being no business before the court requiring their services, the jury was discharged. Under the Constitution of 1802, the common pleas courts were constituted of a president judge, and not less than two nor more than three associate judges, who were laymen. The president judge was chosen from the common pleas district, which comprised a great number of counties of the state, and the associate judges were selected from the laity of the county in which they were residents. This system of judicature prevailed until the adoption of the Constitution of 1851, when the system underwent a complete change ; the state being divided into a number of common pleas districts from which was elected one judge of the common pleas court, the office of associate judge being abolished. The president judges who held court in the county prior to the change made under the Constitution of 1851, were : Hon. Calvin Pease, of Trumbull county ; Benjamin Ruggles ; George Tod ; Benjamin Tappan, of Jefferson county ; Jeremiah H. Hallock, of Steubenville ; George W. Belden, of Stark county, and John Pearce, of Carroll county. So far as the writer is able to learn, but one of the president judges under the first constitution of the state, was a resident of the county, viz., Hon. George W. Belden, who was the youngest of all the able judges who held this important position of honor, but who so administered the duties of his office as to win the unbounded confidence of the bar and the public. Judge Belden being a resident of the county, it is proper that some brief account be given of him. His father was of New England birth, born in Massachusetts. The mother was born in Connecticut. George W. was their second son, and he was born in the state of New York, 1810, and died in Canton, 1868, being 58 years of age at the time of his decease. He read law in the office of Hon. David A. Starkweather, in Canton, and after his admission to the bar, formed a partnership in 1831 with John Harris. In 1834, Governor Lucas appointed him lieutenant-colonel of the First Regiment of riflemen in Ohio, and the following year he was elected prosecuting attorney of his county. In 1836 he received the appointment from Gov. Lucas of brigadier general of the Sixth Division of the Ohio State Militia, and later he was apointed by Gov. Vance . as district judge. After the expiration of his term on the bench, be formed a partnership with Louis Schaeffer, which continued but a short time until his election as common pleas judge under the Constitution of 1851. He also served as United States district attorney, and won distinction in the celebrated slave rescue case, tried in 1859. In politics. Judge Belden was of Democratic faith. After his retirement The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 115 from the bench he formed a partnership with his son-in-law, the late Hon. Joseph Frease, and upon the election of Joseph Frease to the common pleas bench, Juke Belden took into his office William McKinley, who had recently come to Stark county to engage in his chosen profession, the law, and who, after a short but brilliant career, entered the political field, became a distinguished member of Congress, governor of the state, and President of the United States. The associate judges of the county appointed under the Constitution of 1802, were : Thomas Latimer, George Bair, James Campbell, John Harris, James Clarke, John Hoover, Samuel Coulter, William Henry, Thomas Hurford, George Stidger, William Christmas, John Kryder, Jacob Hostetter, John Everhard, Harmon Stidger, Eli Sowers, Peter Loutzenheiser and Jacob Miller, all of whom were representative men of the county and engaged in the various occupations—merchants, farmers and tradesmen. The associate judges had authority to come together as a "Called Court," and dispose of matters of probate and testamentary, appoint administrators, executors and guardians, thus facilitating the business before the court, which would otherwise have had to remain undisposed of until the stated terms of the court. Under the Constitution of 1851, Stark county with Columbiana and Carroll, comprised the first sub-division of the. ninth judicial district, and at the first election for a common pleas judge of the sub- division, Hon. George W. Belden, who had formerly served as president judge under the former judicial system, was elected for the term of five years, and after serving about two-thirds of the term, resigned, opened an office and immediately secured a large and lucrative practice. On Judge Belden’s resignation from the bench, Hon. John Clarke, of New Lisbon, was appointed by Gov. Medill to fill the vacancy. At the succeeding election Hon. Lyman W. Potter, of Columbiana county, was chosen for a full term, but he resigned about 1858, when Hon. Jacob A. Ambler, of Salem, was appointed to fill the vacancy. At the next election Judge Ambler was elected for the unexpired term of Judge Potter, and in 1861, elected for a full term of five years, being succeeded in office by Hon. Joseph Frease, of Stark county. who served for two full terms with credit and honor. By a special act of the legislature, the first sub-division of the ninth district, about 1857, was authorized to elect an additional common pleas judge, and at the succeeding election, Hon. John W. Church, of Canton, was chosen for the term, but the act being repealed before Judge Church's term had expired, no successor was chosen to succeed him. On account of an increase in the business before the court, a special act was again passed by the legislature some years after the end of Judge Church’s term. The sub-division was again provided with an additional judge, and Hon. Peter A. Laubie, of Salem, was elected to the office, serving two full terms. At the end of Judge Freases second term, he was succeeded by the Hon. Seraphim Meyer, who served a full term of five years, when he was elected to the office of probate judge of the county, resigning shortly before the expiration of the term, when lie was succeeded by Hon. Jacob P. Fawcett, who was appointed. Judge Meyer was succeeded by the Hon. Anson Pease, of Massilion, who served for two full terms, when Hon. Thomas T. McCarty. of Canton, was elected as his successor. He likewise served two 116 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio terms, and upon leaving the bench of the common pleas court, was elected one of the judges of the circuit court of the district. The legislature having passed an act providing for an additional judge in the first sub-division, Hon. William R. Day, of Canton, was elected to the office, but he resigned after about a year’s incumbency, leaving the common pleas bench in 1887, to re-enter upon the practice. Since the expiration of the terms of Hon. T. T. McCarty, and Judge Day, the following persons, residents of the county, have filled the office : Hon. Henry W. Harter, Hon. Ralph S. Ambler, Hon. Robert H. Day, Hon. Harvey F. Ake, and Hon. Hubert C. Pontius, the last three named being the present incumbents. Hon. Isaac H. Taylor, of Carroll county, was elected as one of the judges of the sub-division, and removed to Stark county before the expiration of his term, being a resident when his last term expired. Among the judges of the ninth common pleas district who have honored Stark county court with their presence in the dispensation of justice may be mentioned the names of Hon. Luther Day, of Ravenna, Conant, Woodbury, Hitchcock, Hoffman, Tuttle, Taylor, Canfield, Arrel, Sherman, Spear, Raley, Isaac H. Taylor and Fimple. Never in the long line of distinguished services of the bench in Stark county can it be said that the finger of suspicion could be pointed, nor has the judicial ermine been tarnished or stained. Our courts have met the requirements of the judge as laid down by the great Socrates. "Four things belong to the judge : to hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly, and to decide impartially." A history of the bench of Stark county would not be complete without some mention and notice of its court of probate, which as the reader will remember was one of the courts especially provided for under the Constitution of 1851. This court since its origin has always been presided over by judges learned in the law, and who discharged their duties with fidelity, and without fear or favor, and to the general satisfaction of the community. The first judge of the court elected was Hon. George W. Raff, a lawyer of eminent ability, especially fitted for the office. Judge Raff, upon assuming office, was confronted with many and intricate questions involving the proper procedure of the business before the court, chief of which was the rules and entries for the making of court records. He set to work in the framing and preparing of a set of rules and court entries for the use of probate judges, which were compiled and published under the title of "Raff's Guide," long acknowledged and in use as a standard work in the probate practice. Upon his retirement from office Judge Raff resumed the practice of the law for a time, but later engaged in the banking business, being one of the original organizers of the Central Savings Bank in Canton. Judge Raff at the end of his term of office, was succeeded by Hon. Isaac Hazlett, who served one term, to be followed by W. H. Burke, who served one term, and he in turn by James W. Underhill, who served for four successive terms, or twelve years, the term of office being three years as by law provided. Adam W. Heldenbrand was elected as the successor of Judge Underhill, and he was twice re-elected, but before the end of. his third term died, and Hon. John C. Mong, who was his chief deputy clerk, was appointed to fill the unexpired term. He. performed the duties of the office in a most acceptable manner. At the end of Judge Mong’s service, Hon. Sera- The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 117 phim Meyer, who had served on the common pleas bench, was elected, and re-elected at the close of his first term ; but, before the expiration of the term, resigned on account of poor health and removed to the state of California, where he died some years later. Hon. Jacob P. Fawcett was appointed to fill Judge Meyer’s unexpired term and at the end of it he was elected for a term, and also chosen for a second term, being succeeded by Henry A. Wise for two terms, and he by Maurice E„ Aungst for two terms. Charles E. Bow, the successor of Judge Aungst, was succeeded by Charles Krichbaum, the present incumbent of the office. Of the long list of ex-probate judges of the county, but one now remains, Hon. Henry A. Wise, who is actively engaged in manufacturing and in the banking business. Subsequent to the adoption of the Constitution of 1851, the following members of the bar have served the county in the capacity of prosecuting attorney : W. F. Evans, Joseph Frease, James D. Brown, Seraphim Meyer, George E. Baldwin, Charles F. Manderson, William A. Lynch, William McKinley, Joseph J. Parker, Robert S. Shields, Henry W. Harter, John C. Welty, Charles C. Bow, Atlee Pomerene, Robert H. Day, Charles C. Upham, Charles Krichbaum, Hubert C. Pontius, A. Talmage Snyder, Frank N. Sweitzer, and Walter S. Ruff, the present incumbent. As disclosed by the court records of the county, the earliest resident practitioner at the bar was one Roswell M. Mason, who, with one Sampson S. King, were the only resident lawyers of the county until about the year 1816, when John Harris was admitted to the practice and began a long and honored career of service in his chosen profession. Of the antecedents of both Mason and King, but little is known. Mason practiced for some years ; he was the owner of a tract of some ten or eleven acres of land purchased in 1815 for the sum of $163.50, and located west of what is now High street SW, and south of Tuscarawas street W. It would appear he met with financial reverses, for in the year 1816, a judgment was obtained against him in the court by some Philadelphia gentlemen, and, for want of personal property whereon to levy, the sheriff levied upon his real estate, which was subsequently sold under execution. The country being new and litigation necessarily limited, the bar of the county did not increase greatly in numbers from 1816 to 1829, being represented by John Harris, Andrew W. Loomis, Orlando Metcalf, James W. Lathrop, Almon Sortwell, David A. Starkweather, Sanders Van Rensellaer, and Hiram Griswold. John Harris, who can truthfully be called the Nestor of the Stark county bar, had a long and honored career covering a period of almost forty years of continuous practice. As a young man, he taught school east of the then village of Canton ; was appointed clerk pro tempore of the first common pleas court ; served as an associate judge of the common pleas court of the county ; was admitted to the practice about 1816; served two years in the legislature, and was the law preceptor of many of the young men who aspired to the legal profession. By one yet living ahcl who in his youth knew him, he is described as a man of strong physique, commanding presence, and the old school gentleman. He had an extensive practice not only in the county court, but throughout the judicial district and before the supreme court of the 118 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio state. It was one of his traits, while on his way to and from hiS home and office, to recite to himself the points and questions involved in the cases under his consideration, making frequent gesticulations and talking aloud. On the admission of Geo. W. Belden to the bar, he formed a partnership with Harris, the name of the firm being, Harris & Belden, and on the election of Belden to the common pleas bench, the partnership was dissolved, Harris about that time forming a partnership with James D. Brown, who was his son-in-law, the firm being Harris & Brown. About 1848, a partnership was formed with his son, John Harris, r., the style of the firm being J. Harris & J. Harris, Jr. This association did not long continue as the son always being of a delicate constitution, died of pulmonary disease shortly thereafter. About the time of the breaking out of the Civil War, James D. Brown removed to Omaha, Neb., and it was here that John Harris died ; both Harris and Brown are buried in West Lawn Cemetery. Of the many young men who read law in the office of Mr. Harris, one in particular may be mentioned, John McSweeney, who acquired national distinction as a lawyer, and of whom later reference will be made. Andrew A. Loomis and Orlando Metcalf, who formed a partnership under the firm name of Loomis & Metcalf, graduated at the same time from the Union college of Schenectady, N. Y., were admitted to practice at the same time, locating in Canton, and after many years practice, Mr. Metcalf moved to Pittsburgh, and Loomis to New Lisbon. Mr. Loomis later entered into partnership at Pittsburgh with Mr. Metcalf, which continued until the latter's death. Sanders Van Rennselaer came from the state of New York, belonged to the family of that name, one of the old Dutch. He did not remain in the practice many years, but is said to have been a man of fine attainments and a gentleman. James W. Lathrop was prominent in the profession, took an active part in the establishment of the common school system of the state, dying in 1828 at Columbus while serving in the state legislature. David A. Starkweather, long a conspicuous member of the bar, born at Litchfield, Conn., and a graduate of Williams college, located in Canton about 1828, after a short term of practice at Mansfield. Ohio. He was said to be a man of ease, fond of the chase, and kept a pack of hounds, and it was his fondest delight to gallop over the plains west of the town with pack in hot pursuit of the fox on still morning just at break of the day. In 1831 a partnership was effected between Mr. Starkweather and Dwight Jarvis under the name of Starkweather & Jarvis. The firm immediately took a prominent lead in the legal busines sof the country, Mr. Jarvis being a most careful manager of the details of the office and business while Stark-weather was attending the hunt and chase; and to the trial work of the firm. Mr. Starkweather was popular as an orator and speaker and was given the name "Little Stark." He was a Democrat, was always courteous and agreeable, and was respected by his political opponents. He served four terms in the state legislature, three in the house and one in the senate ; two terms in the national house of representatives, and in 1854 was appointed by President Pierce as minister* plenipotentiary to ̊like. He served as chairman of the national convention of his The Bench and Bar of Northern. Ohio - 119 party in 1852, at which Franklin Pierce was nominated for the presi- dency. Mr. Starkweather died at Cleveland, Ohio. The firm of Starkweather & Jarvis continued until 1842, when Alexander Bierce was taken into the firm, the style of the firm being Starkweather, Jarvis & Bierce. Gen. Dwight Jarvis finished his legal studies at Canton about 1822, located for a time at Athens, Ohio, but returned to Canton in 1831 when he and Starkweather Went into partnership. as heretofore mentioned. On the dissolution of the firm of Starkweather, Jarvis & Bierce, Mr. Jarvis moved to Massillon, where he continued to reside until the time of his death. While a resident of Massillon he was elected major-general of the sixth division of the Ohio militia, having theretofore been brigadier-inspector. In politics he was a federalist and admirer of Jay, Hamilton and the Federal leaders ; and earnest in his dislike of the Republican leaders of the Jeffersonian school. Hiram Griswold, who had taken his legal course of study in the office of Hon. V. R. Humphrey, of Hudson, Ohio, after his admission to the bar at Bucyrus in 1829, located in Canton, and immediately acquired a large and lucrative practice. He enjoyed the complete confidence of the people of the county by whom it has been said, had lie remained there, he could have had any political preferment from the county or congressional district. He removed to the city of Cleveland about 1852, where he at once was elected to the state senate, shortly thereafter removing to the state of Kansas, locating at Leavenworth. While. Hon. Hiram Griswold resided at Canton he served for six years as reporter for the Supreme Court of the state. He compiled Volumes 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the Ohio Reports. At the time of the election of Hon. Benjamin F. Wade to the United States Senate, Mr. Griswold came within one or two votes of securing the election over Wade to the office. Alexander Bierce, of whom mention has been made, was a native of Massachusetts, located first at Massillon where he practiced for about three years before coming to Canton to enter into partnership with Starkweather and Jarvis, and upon the dissolution of the firm, Mr. Bierce entered into partnership with the Hon.. Anson Pease, of Massillon, which continued. until Mr. Bierce’s death, a period of about twenty-four years. It is said of him that few men who practiced in the courts of the state, commanded more attention than did Alexander Bierce. Of fine analytical mind, strictest integrity, with a thorough knowledge of the law, he was seldom over-ruled in the court of last resort. It was said of him by one who knew him well, "he was a lawyer." The opening of the Ohio canal, making it an artery of trade with the Great Lakes, gave great impetus to the town of Massillon as a business and commercial center, and for a long period there were perhaps as many practitioners of the bar of the county located at that town as at the county seat. Among the lawyers of that thriving city who took a prominent place at that bar was the Hon. Samuel Pease, who opened an office in 1831 and continued in active practice until his death in 1867. Not a strong advocate in the trial of jury cases, but as office lawyer and counsellor, he had few equals. Prior to 1840, Hon. James D. Brown came from the state of New 120 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio York, and, as before noted, formed a partnership with Hon. John Harris at Canton. He frequently served the county as prosecuting attorney, was prominent in his profession, and about the beginning of the Civil War moved to the city of Omaha, where he resided until decease in the year 1880. Hon. Samuel Lahm, born at Leitersburg, Md., a graduate of Washington college, Pennsylvania, completed his legal course at Hagerstown, Md., and located in Canton about 1834. As the law of the state required one year’s residence before admission to the bar, Mr. Lahm spent the year in the office of Almon Sortwell, attorney, familiarizing himself with the statutes of the state, and modes of legal procedure. On his admission to the bar of the state, he immediately acquired a large practice, had all the business he could handle, and generally appeared on one side or the other of every prominent case in the court. Well grounded in the law, a most eloquent orator, of fine appearance, logical, forcible and persuasive, he was regarded as one of the most able lawyers at the bar, the most popular stump-orator in the district and among the best in the state. His voice was strong, and from much outdoor speaking became much impaired and caused him to retire from public speaking and politics. The following incident occurred in the court, which gained wide publicity in the press of the day A witness was presented to the clerk to be sworn and inquired of : "How do you swear ?" meaning, do you swear or affirm ; to which the witness replied : "I swear by Sam Lahm." He had a strong taste for military matters and was chosen brigadier-general. He served as prosecuting attorney of the county, three terms in the legislature—one in the house and two in the senate. He was defeated for a third term in the senate by the treachery of his pretended political friends ; but forming a political coalition with the Whig party, was subsequently elected a member of the lower house of Congress, as an independent candidate against Hon. D. A. Starkweather, the regular nominee of the Democratic party. His course in Congress was not such as to meet with the approval of the Whig element that had contributed to his election, and being regularly nominated by the Democratic convention in 1856 for a second term, he was defeated by the opposition supported by the so-called Know-nothings. Gen. Lahm continued to be a Democrat of the radical kind, supported Breckenridge as against Douglas, and was bitter in denunciation against the abolitionists. At a largely attended union mass meeting held in the county in 1861, addressed by Hon. Luther Day, of Ravenna, who had previous to the war been a Democrat of the Douglas branch of the party as opposed to the Breckenridge following, but who on the breaking out of the war threw all his influence and powers in defense of the Union, Judge Day in the course of his address was interrupted by Gen. Lahm with the taunting remark, "The abolitionists caused the war." Without attempting to discuss the statement, Judge Day argued that the duty to preserve the Union was none the less imperative. "If my friend, General Lahm, returning to his home some evening, discovers fire breaking out in his neighbor’s house, does he walk by without giving his aid, saying, let the old thing burn ; I didn’t set it on fire ?, " The answer was effective, and General Lahm became a much changed man in his political attitude from that clay to the end of his life, which closed in 1876. For some years before his death he had The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 121 gone to farming, owning a large tract of land west of the city of Canton, and where the growing town of Reedurban is now located. General Lahm had a brother some years his junior, John Lahm, who practiced at the bar for many years, served as mayor of Canton, and as clerk of the court of the county, and who was of opposite politics from the general. Among the early practitioners of the Stark county bar, and who came from Leitersburg, Md., was the Hon. Benjamin F. Leiter, born in the year 1813. Without a collegiate education, but of bright intellect, and widely read on many subjects, Mr. Leiter before coming to the county had been engaged for a short time in teaching school. Shortly after taking up a residence at Canton, he taught school in an adjoining district, and when the free school system went into operation was engaged as the first teacher in Canton under it. He soon made his entry into politics, was elected clerk of the township, and served as justice of the peace ; read law under Hon. D. A. Starkweather, and after his admission to the bar, entered into partnership with Hon. G. W. Belden. During his practice at the bar he was a member of the firms of Belden & Leiter ; Leiter & Pool ; Leiter & Treat. Joseph Pool, after some years of practice, moved to Cleveland, went into the army, and later located in the City of New York and engaged in the business of banking. Mr. Leiter served two terms in the legislature, was speaker of the house during his second term, the contest for which was long and bitter. Mr. Leiter obtained possession of the chair by a coup de main, held possession during the day and a night, having his meals brought to him by a page, and after considerable filibustering was declared elected. It is said he became a popular presiding officer, being well versed in parliamentary law and procedure. In 1850 he was a candidate for the state senate, but met with defeat, the balance of the Democratic ticket being elected. Becoming much dissatisfied with his party, for some years he held aloof from his party’s councils, joined the Know-nothing party, which formed an alliance with the dissatisfied elements of the Democrats, and was elected to the thirty-fourth Congress, at the close of which term, having won the approbation of the new Republican party, he was renominated and elected over his opponent, General Sam Lahm. It has been remarked that no congressman from the district was more thoughtful in remembering his constituents by the free distribution of documents and seeds. Seraphim Meyer, mention of whom has already been made, was a native of Alsace, France, and the father and family came to Massillon about 1828, remaining but a few days before removing to Canton. He was admitted to the bar in 1838, had a long career as a barrister, and, as before mentioned, served as judge of both the probate and common pleas courts of the county. He was well read in the law, a master of both the French and German languages, and versed in the best literature. Judge Meyer during his practice was a member of the firm of Dunbar & Meyer Brown & Meyer ; Meyer & Manderson, and Meyer & Piero. On the breaking out of the war, in 1861, Mr. Meyer and his two sons, Edward S. and C. Turenne, entered the army, the father as colonel of the 107th Regiment, 0. V. I., with the son. Edward S. belonging to the same regiment. Col. Meyer was compelled to resign from the army on account of severe illness, in 1864. 122 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio The son, Edward S., a brave and fearless soldier, was severely wounded in the battle of Chancellorsville, won an 'enviable military record, and was brevetted brigadier general. After the close of the war, he located in Cleveland, was United States district attorney under the Garfield administration, and later he had a large practice. He died but a few years since. The other son, C. Turenne, practiced for a time at Canton after his military service, moved to Wichita, Kan., but later returned to Canton, where he formed a partnership with W. J. Piero. General Charles F. Manderson, a native of Pennsylvania, born in the city of Philadelphia, was admitted to the bar in 1860, after the necessary studies under his preceptors, Lewis Schaeffer, and William K. Upham. He began the practice' of law in Canton. Entering the army shortly after the beginning of the war, as lieutenant in Company A, 19th Regiment, 0. V. I., his services continued until 1865, he having greatly distinguished himself through his valor and bravery. He was promoted through the different grades, and was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers. At the close of his military career he again resumed the practice, was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and moved to the city of Omaha about 1869, where he had a long and honorable career both as a lawyer and public official. He served as general counsel for the Burlington & Quincy R. R. lines west of the Missouri river, was United States senator from Nebraska for several terms, and during his last term was president pro tem of that body. General Manderson's wife was a daughter of Hon. James D. Brown, and a granddaughter of Hon. John Harris. He died about two years since, aboard ship, while on his return from a European trip. David K. Carter, a native of Jefferson county, N. Y., began life for himself as an apprentice in the printing office of Thurlow Weed, at Rochester, in that state. After the necessary preparation for his admission to the bar, he, after being admitted to practice, hung out his shingle in Rochester, but after several years, not having met with the success anticipated, came west to Ohio, locating for several years at Akron, and about 1845 settled at Massillon, where he formed a partnership with Hon. H. B. Hurlbut, the firm name being Carter & Hurlbut, which lasted until his- election to the National House of Representatives in 1848. He had aspired to congressional honor while a resident of Akron, but the district not being Democratic, it was charged by his political opponents that he had removed to Stark county (which was a rock-ribbed Democratic district) merely for the purpose of securing political honors. He took an active part in the councils of the Democratic party, was prominent in its conventions and one of its most popular speakers. In appearance he was commanding, his face marked with smallpox. a voice coarse, his manners at times somewhat rough, his language not always chaste and pure, and with an impediment of speech which it is said rather emphasized than detracted from the force of his oratory. He was always referred to as D. K. Carter, and the Whigs, by whom he was always feared, wrote him in their papers as "Decay" Carter. He served two terms, withdrew from politics, shortly thereafter removing to the city of Cleveland. On the organization of the Republican party he affiliated with that party, taking an active part in its affairs, and was delegated from the' Cleveland district to the Republican national The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio - 123 convention at Chicago in 1860. He claimed the honor" of Lincoln's nomination as the party’s candidate. Whether true or not, he was recognized by an appointment as minister to Bolivia, but the office not being to his taste, he resigned, came back home, and received the appointment as chief justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, serving through all the exciting and trying times of the Civil War and the reconstruction period, when new and important questions were arising before the court. He had a judicial mind, a keen perception of the basic elements of the law, which he was ever ready to apply with peculiar aptness, and with strong will and courage undaunted, he cut through the entangling difficulties, reaching satisfactory conclusions. He made his impress upon the judicial proceedings of that court. In after life, it is said, he much regretted his rather coarse and brusque style in the trials of his causes when in his early practice at the bar. One who knew him has said that "had he been more of a student in his early life and had the suavity and culture of his contemporary, Chase, he would have been one of the foremost judges of the federal bench." Judge Carter died in 1887. Among the practitioners at the bar in the first half of the last century may be mentioned the following, who resided at Canton : William Bryce, who had been a stone mason before coming to the bar. He had helped in building the Ohio canal ; studied law and was admitted to the practice. He served one term as county recorder. Hon. Elijah P. Grant, an accomplished scholar and lawyer ; a man of many genial qualities, and a believer and advocate of socialistic doctrines. Zerubbabel Snow, who was at the bar in 1848, and said to be a close relative of Erastus Snow and Lorenzo Snow, both of whom were prominently connected with the Mormon church ; the first being one of the advance party sent out by Brigham Young to spy out the land at Salt Lake, where Young and his band of followers located after, crossing the plains the other, traveling for some years as a missionary of the Mormon church in Europe, and later founding the town of Brigham, Utah. No history of the bar of Stark county would be complete without some reference to the Hon. William K. Upham, who was regarded as one of the ablest lawyers of his day. He was a native of the state of Vermont, and a son of Hon. William Upham, who represented that state in the Senate of the United States. William K. Upham first located at New Lisbon, where he practiced for about three years, coming to Canton about 1848, where he continued in active practice, not only at the bar of Stark county, but throughout eastern Ohio, until his death in 1867 at Canfield, the then county seat of Mahoning county, where he was attending court. He was a contemporary of Stanton, and met with the distinguished lawyers of his day in the trig of many important cases before the courts. He possessed the faculty of being able to cite the volume and page of most every case in the Reports of the State, as well as the legal principle involved in the court's decision. When the question of the constitutionality of the organization of the state of West Virginia came before President Lincoln, the president called in Stanton for a legal opinion on the subject. Stanton is said to have remarked to the president, "There is a lawyer "out in Ohio whose opinion I would suggest you should get, Mr. President." "Who is he ?" queried the president. "William K. Upham, of Canton," was Stanton’s reply. 124 - The Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio Mr. Upham, at the request of Lincoln, went to Washington, and after an extended conference with the president, set to work in the preparation of a brief setting forth his opinion, and wnich was regarded as one of the most able presentations in advocacy of the constitutional right of the government to admit the state as one of the members of the Union. Horace P. Dunbar and William Dunbar, brothers, were among the early lawyers at the bar, William for a time being connected with the publication of The Stark County Democrat, and later removing to Mount Vernon, where he published a newspaper. Horace P. Dunbar practiced for many years at the bar of the county with success, and he obtained a wide influence in the community. Among the members of the bar who located at Massillon in the latter part of the first half of the last century, the following may be given special mention : Hon. Anson Pease, who began the practice in 1844, and was for a time a partner with Hon. Alexander Bierce, under the firm name of Pease & Ricks. He served as common pleas judge for two terms, and after retiring from the bench formed a partnership with Frank Baldwin and Otto E. Young, under the name of Pease, Baldwin & Young. All three members of the partnership are now deceased. James W. Underhill, admitted to the practice in 1842, entered into a partnership which was known as Hurlbut & Underhill, later with Hon. Robert H. Folger under the firm name of Folger & Underhill, and for a time with F. M. Keith, under the firm name of Keith & Underhill. After Judge Underhill’s term of service as probate judge of the county, he took up his residence as a practitioner at Canton. Arvine Wales, George Miller, Leavitt L. Bowen, David M. Bradshaw and James Harsh, all practiced at the bar of the county while residents of Massillon. For a short period Mr. Wales entered mining and industrial pursuits ; Mr. Harsh served in the army, attaining the rank of captain, and died in 1870 at the early age of 40 years. It is highly fitting in presenting a history of the bar of Stark county that a brief mention should be made of one who though not a resident practitioner, was frequently engaged in some of the more important cases tried in the courts of the county, both in the civil and criminal branches of the court, and who had almost a nation-wide reputation as a criminal lawyer, the Hon. John McSweeney, who began the practice of his profession at Wooster, where he continued to reside until the time of his decease. Mr. McSweeney was the child of Irish parents, both of whom died at Bolivar, O., about the time of the building of the Ohio canal, of an epidemic generally understood in that day to be cholera. The child, John, was tenderly cared for and raised by a worthy Christian lady, Mrs. Grimes, of Canton. He was a law student of John Harris, and after his admission to practice, located at Wooster. He was one of the leading lawyers of his day, a master of wit, sarcasm and irony ; an orator of the foremost rank, and a tower of strength before the jury in the presentation of the cause of his client. As a criminal lawyer he was frequently employed before the courts of other states, and was one of the counsel assisting the government in the prosecution in the celebrated Star Route trial in the City of Washington.