250 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY to the blockhouse for protection and remain there until quiet was reported by some God prepared angel like John Chapman, better- known as "John, Appleseed." Many of these pioneer forts or blockhouses later became the home certain families, but the house we are this day dedicating was destined to be used for other historical duties—that of Richland county's first courthouse for three years, the first jail or prison and the first schoolhouse. With this early historical escutcheon engraved on every sacred log, as it were, of this time honored, sacred building, it is destined to be emblazoned on the pages of archaeological and historical society publications. General Hedges said by his action this blockhouse must be preserved. It was taken down and moved to lot No. 168, East Second street; this lot us 60x180 feet, extending through to Virgin alley. The lot was sold to John Carson, a man with one leg, a shingle maker: Mr. Hedges, before disposing of the lot, had the blockhouse well sheeted with what is known as barn siding I well remember when a little boy, with my honored father, we were at the Carson home ,when Mr. Carson stated that when General Hedges requested various times the importance of properly protecting the old fort, Mr. Carson would rub the with his hands, calling it sacred timber. The Mansfield Historical Society have had this knowledge at heart for years. We how invite you, our fellow citizens, to come out in the open a fully enter into the joy of the coming centennial of Mansfield, in June 1908. We hope the membership of our society will be .beautified by your signature. You certainly understand the joy of my heart when I say that Gen James Hedges has fully earned the high honor and praise as the caretaker of our blockhouse. Miss Minnie Martin sang a patriotic solo which was greatly appreciated "Half a Century Ago" was the subject of a short but very interesting address by Peter Bissman, who told of conditions in his boyhood down is Mifflin township. The reminiscences were thoroughly enjoyed. Postmaster Cappeller read a poem, entitled "Beautiful Ohio," and the Rev. Father F. A. Schreiber, pastor of St. Peter's Catholic church, delivered an address on' "This Day in Future History." Father Schreiber is enthusiastic lover of history, and particularly of local history. He told of ti importance of commemorating the deeds of the fathers and preserving old landmarks. "Local History" was the subject of an excellent address by the Hon. Curtis E. McBride, who took up various things in connection with Richland county history. Professor C. L. Van Cleve, superintendent of the Mansfield public schools was on the program for an address on "American History," but owing to lateness of the lour he made only a few remarks, which, however, were the point. Miss Carroll sang the "Star Spangled Banner," the parochial school children and the audience joining in the chorus. The doxology was sung by the 'entire audience and the benediction was HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 251 pronounced by the Rev. Father Mulhane., thus bringing to a close the exercises of the day. RICHLAND COUNTY'S PUBLIC MONUMENTS Monuments are erected to remind the present and coming generations of the life of some person or of some event or epoch of history. The soldiers' monument at the west side of Central Park, Mansfield, was given to the city by the late. Hon. M. D. Harter, in honor of the soldiers of Richland county and as a tribute to their memory. It stands on the west side of the public square, and was unveiled with appropriate ceremony on Tuesday, November 10, 1881. Military and civic societies had places in the parade, and the late Colonel T. T. Dill was chief Marshal. The late Colonel B. Burns was president of the day, who, after a brief address; introduced Mr. Harter, the donor if the monument, who was received with hearty applause by the assembled thousands and delivered his presentation address, appropriate and eloquent both in matter and in style. At the close, of his address Mr. Harter formally presented the monument to the patriotic citizens of Richland county. It was then unveiled and viewed with admiration by the people present. Judge Dirlam in an appropriate speech accepted the monument in behalf if the people. The Rev. J. S. Broadwell, then pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church, Mansfield, followed with an address full of touching events and eloquent passages. The monument faces to the west, as, the march of civilization has ever been westward. The monument is of granite, surmounted by a bronze statue of a soldier, of heroic size, standing at parade rest upon a granite pedestal five feet square and eight feet high, of beautiful design and fine workmanship: The monument is an ornament to the park and an enduring memorial of the valor and services of Richland county's soldiers, and it is an appropriate and substantial manifestation of the generosity and patriotism of Mr. Harter, whose eventful career is shown in the business, social and religious life of this generation. The gift of this monument is appreciated by civilians and soldiers, each class holding Mr. Harter in grateful remembrance. The monument was designed by Ben Pitman; at that time president of the Academy of Arts at Cincinnati, and the. work was manufactured and erected by E. M. Wolff & Co., of Mansfield. On the east side of the monument there. is a bronze tablet with the following inscription : The Revolution. The War of 1812 The Mexican War The Great Rebellion On the west side there is a similiar tablet with this inscription : "To the memory of Richland county's honored dead, who lost their lives fighting the battles of their country on land and sea." The John Chapman monument in what is known as Middle Park, of the Sheman-Heineman Park, is the only public monument erected to a private 252 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY individual in Richland county. It was unveiled November 8, 1900, under the auspices of the Richland County Historical Society. Lydia Maria Child, in a poem on Johnny Appleseed, wrote : "Weary travelers, journeying west, In the shade of his trees find pleasant rest. And often they start with glad surprise At the rosy fruit that around them lies- "And if they inquire whence came such trees, Where not a bough once Swayed in the breeze, The reply still comes, as they travel on,. These seeds were planted by Appleseed John.' " On the Fourth of July, 1881, the Vasbinder fountain was unveiled in Central Park. President Garfield had been shot by Guiteau the day before and the sad event had cast a shadow of gloom over Mansfield, causing the Fourth to be passed in a very quiet and orderly way. A large number of people, however, assembled in the park to witness the dedicatory ceremonies. The late, Hon. James Purdy was president of the day, and Dr. William Bushnell, Levi Zimmerman, John Wiler and others were vice presidents. Captain A. C. Cummins was grand marshal. The Hon. Henry C. Hedges, in. a well-worded address, presented the fountain to the city on the part of the donors. Colonel B. Burns, in an appropriate speech, accepted the gift on the part of the city. Although this fountain is seen daily by our people. a brief description may not be out of place. The fountain proper above the water line is hex. agonal and has a well-designed column upon each corner. In the center above this is a round standard supporting a large iron basin, which is artistically enriched with high-class carving, and in the center and above is a group of statuary—three allegorical figures, one representing the Horn of Plenty, another representing Rebecca at the well, and the third is a figure beautifully draped, holding a wreath of flowers in her hand. Above this group is a smaller basin; surmounting which there is a statue, from which a number of water jets are thrown in semi-circular streams into the basins below- The beauty of the fountain has been marred by painting. The material is bronze, and, if painted at all, it should be of a plain bronze color. The fountain was designed by J. L. Mott & Co., of New York city, and the work was done by E- M. Wolff, of Mansfield. David and Jane Vasbinder, brother and sister, the generous donors of the fountain, were old residents of Richland county, and this gift to the city was made in the evening time of their lives. A monument has recently been erected in South Park, Mansfield, to th One Hundred and Twentieth Regiment, O. V. I. It was unveiled with appropriate ceremony on Saturday, August 22, 1908. 253 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY RICHLAND COUNTY POETS. Richland county can point with pride to her quota in the galaxy of Ohio poets. "The poet is born, not made," and "the poet alone sees nature," were favorite sayings among the ancients. From his very infancy the beauties and the melodies of the earth impress theniselves divinely on the soul of the true poet. To him the heavens and the earth seem full of spirituality, beauty and nelody, and his instinct indulges in musings, reveries and day dreamings, and afterward, when his thoughts are put into verse, they come forth with poetic aroma or crystallized imperishable luster. It is the province of poetry to present higher And more spiritual ideals of life, and in this our Richland county poets are entitled to praise and honor. It has been said that Ohio is not rich in poetry. No new country is; and Ohio is new, compared' with old New England. The early settlers here had a forest country to clear and wars to fight—events which furnish materials only after the mellowing influences of time have long hung over their history. The pioneers, doubtless had songs, but they were not preserved even in traditions. The first poem printed in Ohio, so far as is known, was an historical one written by Return Jonathan Meigs, and, read at a Fourth of July celebration at Marietta in 1787. It began : "Enough of tributary praise is paid, To virtue living or to merit dead. To happier themes, the rural muse invites, To calmest pleasures; and serene delights." The poem was descriptive of the Ohio valley as it then appeared and as it was destined to become. In what seems like prophetic vision the poet further wrote: "See the spires of Marietta rise, And domes and temples swell into the skies." In 1860 there were about forty recognized poets in Ohio, the majority of whom were to the manor born. They might be divided into two closes those who followed literature or newspaper work as a profession, and these who, although engaged in other vocations, occasionally wooed the muse. The poems of the poets of Ohio may not equal in pretentious styles the poetry of the East, yet in noble aspirations, in expressive appreciations of natural beauty, in depicting and cultivating domestic affections and in breathing a spirit of morality and religion, the writings of our Ohio authors compare favorably With those of any other country in the world. Poetry, in its highest perfection, is thought, feeling, imagery and music, expressed in the most appropriate language. Poetry is the greatest of the fine arts and is closely allied to the rest of them. In some poems thought predominates, as in Pope's "Essay on Man," in others, feeling is expressed, as in Wolfe's "Burial of Sir John Moore ;" in others, imagery is expressed, as in Moore's "Lalla Rookh." it would be a pleasure to write of many Ohio poets did space admit 254 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY of such mention. To come to our own county, the first to receive attention, Chronologically, is Andrew Coffinberry, commonly called Count Coffinberry, who was, a pioneer lawyer and who sometimes courted the muse- Among his poetical productions was. an epic poem called "Forest Rangers," that struck the. popular current at that time. Salathial Coffinberry was also a Mansfield poet and tale writer. He was afterward governor of Michigan. The Rev. James B. Walker, for many years pastor of the Congregational church of Mansfield, was a poet and writer of wide reputation. His "Angel hispers" and other poems gave him a high place among the poets of America. Mrs. Lovezila Patterson, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Gladden, of Monroe township, contributed to the Mansfield press both in prose and poetry back in the fifties. She gave her place of residence as Hazel Dell, by which name the schoolhouse near the home where she was reared is still called. Rosella Rice was born, reared and lived the greater part of her life near Perrysville, which was formerly a part of Richland county. She was a born poet a nursed her strange, wild fancies amid the equally wild hills and glens and rocky caves which she haunted with a devotion that amounted to a life passion. Meeting with but few associates who could appreciate the depth of her passion for such communings, her spirit was wont to retire within herself except, then. it was called forth by the presence of the sylvan gods among whom she. worshiped. Coming but little in contact with the world at large, she usually built upon ideal models. She contributed to Arthur's Horne Magazine, Philadelphia; and also to a number of the leading newspapers of Ohio. She is now deceased. Mrs. Nancy Coulter Eddy, of Perrysville, formerly lived in Washington township; this county. Her contributions to the county papers were quite popular, but after her marriage she ceased to dally with the muse. Ida Eckert, formerly of Perry township, this county, achieved considerable notoriety as a poet and published a small volume of poems called "Day Dreams." Miss Sade E. Baughman is a writer of both prose and poetry, but never sought to have her writings published in book form. Her poetical writings are of the inspirational kind, but are tempered and polished by years of newspaper work. Miss Baughman. is the youngest child of Jacob and Elizabeth (Cunningham) Baughman, and her grand parents were among the very first settlers of the county. She is a sister of A. J. Baughman, the writer of this history, and assisted in the preparation of the work. THE POWER OF SONG The ground was covered with the first snow of winter; the air was dull and humid, and overhead hung a murky sky, as a newspaper worker was returning fro one of the several additions that make the city plat of Mans- HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 255 field cover two thousand acres. It was a chilly, cheerless day, and he was hurrying along anxious to get back to the warmth of the Shield office, and later to his home. Crossing from one street to another he noticed a small dwelling house with a summer kitchen annex. The building is but little more than a shanty, and that is why it struck his attention, for Mansfield is noted for its handsome, comfortable looking homes, even among the poorest class of its people. The building and its surroundings indicated that poverty dwelt within that home- And while the thought was passing that perhaps even want was there, the words "Home, Sweet Home," were wafted upon the snow-flecked air in a sweet melody of song. Upon looking around a man was seen chopping wood in the side yard: of the little house: The pile of wood was small and was partly, buried in the snow. The man was dressed in the garb of a laborer, and as he plied his axe he sang in a rich, sympathetic tone : "'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,  Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere. Home, home, sweet, sweet home; There's no place like homehere's no place like home." The song seemingly came to rebuke thoughts that the humble little home must necessarily be an unhappy one. As he stopped and listened to the fug the receding sun cast rays of light around the dwelling as an aerifying benediction, in accord with the song. How impressible is man ! How the song seemed to change the scene! The poverty aspect disappeared and one of gladsome happiness and home like comfort took its place. Showing that no matter how humble one's surroundings May be; if love and contentment therein, there is no place like home: Home joys to some may be like lowers hidden in a fog, or like winter plants covered with snow, yet love can dispel the fog and melt the snow if it dwells in the heart. People may be weary, weary from overwork or overwaiting, and hope may at times even to be a heavy burden, but in that beautiful home to come all can unite in singing "Home, Sweet Home." It is easy to trace through the history of civilization the subtle force of popular melodies representing the thoughts and emotions that have prevailed from time to time and helped to share the course of events and the destinies of nations. All countries have their favorite and characteristic songs, corresponding to the temperament and tendency of their respective peoples. But John Howard Payne's "Home, Sweet Home" is for all nations and for all ages, and goes to the human heart wherever love and home are known. There is something divine in music, and that is why birds of prey never sing, and infidelity has no song. It is told that upon one occasion in Georgia during the. Civil War, the Union and Confederate armies, confronting each other, rested on their arms for the night. A battle was imminent on the morrow. At early evening the 256 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Federal bands played the "The Star-Spangled Banner," which evoked cheers from the Union troops. While their cheers were echoing in the distance, the Confederate bands began to play the sprightly air of "Dixie," which was welcomed With vigorous rebel yells. Following this the bands of the contending armies alternately played "Hail, Columbia," "Maryland, My Maryland,' "Yankee Doodle" and the "Bonnie Blue Flag." A few moments of impressive silence followed this friendly contest of war tunes, and then it is written that "Calm on the listening ear of night" came the soft, sweet strains of "Home, Sweet Home" from one of the rebel bands. The exquisite senti menu and tenderness of the song vividly recalled to the minds of the soldiers the homes they had left in the North and in the South, and the bands of the Union army joined in the music of the universal song. For the moment sectional lines were forgotten and the passions of war were softened by the air and the words of the world's great refrain : "Home, home, sweet, sweet home, There's no place like home—there's no place like home." And the voices of the soldiers of the two armies united in singing that deathless song, "Home, Sweet Home." LOVE AFFAIRS The love affairs of a community may be as interesting to some readers as tales of murder are to others. The incidents of the following romance, founded on facts, are of the Civil War period. Thomas Ream and Katharine Rolfe were schoolmates in the ante-bellum days and their parents were neighbors and owned farms in one of the most noted townships in Richland county. The children were playmates and friends, from their infancy. Their confidence and attachment for each other showed the beauty of that faith and love that oftentimes sets two hearts voyaging together on the wondrous sea of the future. Thomas was born in 1840 and Katharine a few years later. A school incident occurred in the winter of 1850 that was as amusing to the pupils as it was embarrassing to Thomas and Katharine. Thomas had written Katharine a note, which was against the rules of the school, and, having been intercepted by the teacher, was read aloud, as follows : Dear Kate: I take my pen in hand to inform you that I slipped a big red apple in your dinner basket, and when you eat it please think of me. The pizen vine climbs a holler stump, And you are as sweet as a sugar lump. Your lover, Tom The pupils laughed when this was read, which the teacher seemed to think was the proper thing for them to do. Kate cried and Tom looked defiant HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 257 but the incident only drew them closer in the bonds of affection and increased their attachment for each other. Those were the good old school days of two generations agone, when children went to school to study and to learn, and carried corn pone and spare ribs for noonday lunch. There were occasional diversions of sitting on the dunceblock for disregarding thumb-papers or for other acts of omission or commission. "Oh, were you ne'er a school boy, And did you never train And felt that welting on the back You hope ne'er to feel again." Thomas was a bright, capable boy, and his parents intended him for one of the learned professions. But how differently things turn out sometimes from what had been intended—how people are molded and changed by circumstances and events. The memorable spring of 1861 ushered in the great War of the Rebellion just as Thomas was preparing to enter an Eastern college. The pariotic blood of a revolutionary ancestor flowed warmly through Thomas' veins, and he promptly responded to his country's call for troops to defend its flag. That war is long since a thing of the past and since its close men of the North and of the South have marched together against a common foe. Thomas was one of the first to enlist, and a few days' later had marching orders to the front, but first he must bid Katharine goodbye, and felt as though he could not leave until he first had an open avowal of the love he knew she bore him. He called at the house, but was told that Katharine had gone down the graveled, walk toward the stream. He followed and found her sitting upon the bank looking pensively over the waters of the Clearfork as they rippled over the pebbled bottom and flowed gracefully with a musical murmur between the green banks. There was a sadness in the greeting of these young people, for each felt that that was their last meeting—at least for years—perhaps forever. They talked at first upon indifferent topics, each dreading to mention the subject if the war, and as he sat and watched her lovely face in the fading sunlight he almost regretted that he had placed himself in a position that forced him ti leave her. The sunset faded out and the moon threw the shadows of the trees at their feet, and a spell of peace seemed to hover over the earth, making them almost forgetful of the war and the uncertainties of the future. Love interviews, proposals and betrothals are difficult to narrate and describe, especially by one who has neither witnessed nor passed through such scenes; therefore, suffice to state sententiously that ere this couple parted they were engaged, looking forward to their marriage at the close of the war. And thus they separated, she to go to her quiet home; he to take his place in the ranks of the grand army of the Union as it went forth to put down the Rebellion. Thomas and Katharine met again six years later, but under very different and unlooked for circumstances and conditions.  258 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY In one of the great battles of the war Thomas was wounded, captured and placed in a rebel prison, and for many months all that his friends in the North knew of him was that he was among the "missing." During the interim other trouble was added to Katharine's sorrow. Her father's health failed and a change of climate—a trip to California—was recommended Katharine was to go with her father, and this she felt would place her still farther from her soldier boy lover whom, she confidently believed, still lived, and as she prepared for the journey she hoped each day that word would come from him on the morrow. But none came, and it was many months after she was on the Pacific coast ere word reached farmer Ream that his son was in Libby prison. Thomas lived through that terrible imprisonment, was finally exchanged, took his place again in the ranks where he served until the close of the war. If Thomas ever wrote to Katharine after he was taken prisoner she never received his letters, and time and events drifted them still farther from 'each other and kept them apart. Katharine's father's health came back to him and he concluded to make California his permanent home, and while the daughter rejoiced over her father's restoration to health, she still grieved for her lover and for two years was in doubt as to his fate- She, however, found comfort in her household cares and consolation in the observance of her Christian duties. She regularly attended religious services, and one Sunday evening she felt especially devout, and as she looked at the cross the chancel lights seemed like resplendent stars casting a halo of glory upon the altar, She knelt and worshiped; forgetful of earthly cares and of earthly sorrow. But presently she was startled, imagining she heard her lover's voice in the Litany responses. In vain she looked over the small congregation, but he was not there. She then realized that it was only a fancy or delusion caused by the mind being over-strained with anxiety and suspense—an auricular phantasm resultant from tension of brain and nerve. After four years peace came again to the land and the boys in blue came marching home. Thomas was with the number and was the hero of the neighborhood in which his parents lived and was loved by the young maidens for the dangers through which he had passed. Among the young ladies who smiled upon the returned soldier was one Ellen Moore, whose father during Thomas absence had moved into the neighborhood and bought a large farm, whose broad acres bordered the valley and skirted the hills. Ellen, even as a girl, was as plain as her name, but was one of the most estimable of her sex. Ellen was the opposite of Katharine, for the latter was talented, brilliant and beautiful and capable of adorning and station in life. The beautiful girl on the Pacific coast was neglected, if not forgotten and Thomas Ream paid court to the matter-of-fact Ellen Moore, and within a year they were married. In the meantime, Katharine Rolfe, hearing of Ream's return, waited long and impatiently for him to visit her. She had given him her love, had promised to become his wife, and how prayerfully, how hopefully, how despondently at times during the five long years she had waited for his return HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 259 and for the fulfillment of his promise to make her his wife. But as he came of to her, she decided to go to him, feeling that she must see him once more and hear from his own lips that he still loved her. With this resolve she crossed the continent and arrived in her old home village on a Saturday night. The next day she attended church and a few moments after she was seated a bridal party entered, it being their "appearance" day. As they passed up the aisle Katharine saw that the groom was Thomas Ream, and a friend at her side whispered to her that the bride was Ellen Moore, that was. This pen will not attempt to describe the feeling of disappointment, of chagrin and of sorrow that may have swayed poor Katharine's mind, or how the blow may have bruised her heart. Upon leaving the church, for a moment the eyes of Thomas and Katharine met, and what each read in other's face is among the things that are sealed. Thomas Ream and wife settled upon a farm, have prospered in life and seem to be happy. As the purpose of this sketch is to state facts, not to explain actions, no cause can be given for Ream's actions in discarding the girl whom he had loved in his youth. In his courtship with her, he looked hopefully forward to a professional career, in which he expected to succeed, for, as Bulwer wrote, "in the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves for a bright manhood, there is no such word as fail." But when he concluded to be a farmer, as his father was before him, then he wanted a wife whose mind would be content with counting the profits on butter and eggs, rather than attending club meetings, dances and theaters. There may still be a romantic warm spot in Ream's heart for the Katharine of long ago, who has no connection with his present life. The sad life story of Jane Swank is of general interest to the public and presents a peculiar case to the medical fraternity. In the southern part of Jefferson township, a locality noted for the diversified beauty of its landscapes, as well as for the fertility of its soil, Jennie Swank passed her childhood and her youth at the family homestead of her parents, about midway between Butler and Ankneytown. She was a lovely girl and was beloved by her school mates and other acquaintances. She is of medium height, a brunette, but not of that pronounced type for whom men have been willing to cross swords and die. When Jennie was yet in her teens, a young man from the Keystone state, with whose family the Swanks were acquainted, visited in the Swank locality, met the winsome Jennie, and then eye spake to eye and soul to soul. and then they realized the saying of the poet, that— "There's nothing half so sweet in life As love's young dream." Their betrothal followed, and soon afterward the young man returned to his home in the East, promising to soon return and make Jennie his wife. 'Tis useless to dwell upon or try to depict their parting. Lovers separated before, have since, and the vicissitudes of life will part others, also; and 260 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY such partings are, doubtless, somewhat similar with too much sameness in their stage settings to require narration in this sketch. Weeks passed and lengthened into months, but no message came from the absent lover to the trusting maiden. What did it mean? Had he won her, love and asked for her hand, but to cast them aside? No, she could not believe that, and in confidence she continued to watch and to wait. She went about her household duties in a mechanical way, while the future seemed to her young and over-burdened heart like a leadened sky to th way-tossed. mariner, as fraught with omens of ill. Jennie reached that stage in her anxious expectations and of hop unrealized, when a woman of a less trustful nature and of different mental endowments, would have turned from the avenues of disappointment to go forth into the world to seek a "career," when she had failed to get a husband and a home. But such thoughts did not occur to this poor girl The realm of letters, the field of the arts, she knew not of, except as she may have read of them in her school books, and if thoughts and visions of a "career" or of the "new woman" came to her at all, they were in a dim, indefinite form, pointing only to a path that was too remote and inaccessible for her to reach and tread. She had given the true love of her young heart to the man who had asked her to become his wife and whom she Could not think was untrue to her. There may have been a difference in their stations of life, but love works mysteriously and by the alkahest of its subtle chemistry melts all distinctions in a common crucible. And as Jennie would .look upon the betrothal ring her lover placed upon her finger, as they walked side by side in the fields where the cows grazed and the apples ripened, she doubted him not. At last, after months of watchful expectations, she was informed that her father had intercepted her letters. If Jennie had not courage, her innocence and simplicity stood her in its place, and she confronted her father and accused him of his duplicity and baseness. An angry scene followed, Jennie announcing that she would go at once to the man to whom she was betrothed, and her father declared. she should not go. The father had carried his opposition beyond the limit of her forbearance, beyond the wide margin of the love she bore for her parents, and a look of determination and of contempt came over her features as she braved the parental authority, and the father. permitted his anger to get the better of his judgment and his love, and punished Jennie severely, whipping her unmercifully, it was said. What cause the father had for his opposition to the young man to Whom his daughter was engaged, is not known, further than that he "hated him," and we hate as we do everything else, according to our nature. The defects of temperment, the clouded judgment and unreasonable prejudice extends to our likes and dislikes unconsciously. The punishment inflicted upon Jennie by her angry. father threw her into convulsions, and insanity .and loss of speech followed. The writer will not here attempt to give a dissertation upon the case, either pathologically, physiologically, or psychologically, but shall leave HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 261 the discussion of the same to the learned. profession to which it belongs, and to w.hich it presents an interesting study. Jennie is now over forty years of :age and for the fourth of a century she has been an inmate of eleemosynary institutions, first in the county. infirmary, then for several years in an asylum, from which she was returned as incurable, and for a number of years she was confined in a maniac's cell, but she is now given considerable liberty and assists in the work in the kitchen department of the infirmary. But for nearly all those years her tongue has been tied in silence, but she is now able to articulate "yes" or "no" so that they can be understood. Jennie has become somewhat stout, but her face shows evidence of the beauty of her youth. Jennie wore her betrothal ring for many years, but it was finally lost and now she wears one she made of wire, to take its place. In the past she would hold up her white hand that visitors might see the band of gold that encircled her finger, as they looked at her through the iron bars of her cell. No trial through which. she has passed has shaken her faith and trust, nor displaced her lover from the shrine whereon she had placed him, and where in her heart she doubtless worships him still. A short time after Henry Swank had inflicted the punishment upon his daughter Jennie, he came to his death in a tragic way. While at work in the woods, in felling a tree, it careened upon the stump, struck Mr: Swank, inflicting injuries from Which he died the following day. But what of the lover? the reader may ask. If this were a romance, instead of a plain, true tale, the writer might attempt to evolve a romantic story, telling how this whilom lover has remained faithful and true to the girl, whom, in her insanity, has remained true to him still. But, to be truthful, we know naught of him. But he doubtless looks back to that unfortunate engagement only as an episode of his boyish fancy, for the most of us know that the infatuations of youth are dispelled as the years of our age advance; and that love, such as young hearts imagine and poets paint, is but a myth. "Man's love is of man's life a thing a part; 'Tis woman's whole existence." —BYRON. The death of Katherine Ebersole, the Jefferson township hermit, recalled the pathetic story of her life.  A young girl, gifted, handsome and wealthy, was Wooed and her love won by a young man of her neighborhood and their wedding was to take place at the holiday season. At that time Miss Ebersole owned a half section (section 32) of landone of those fertile farms for which Jefferson township is so justly noted. Her parents were dead and her brother was equally well provided for-owning one if the best farms on the far-famed Owl Creek valley, in Knox county. Being engaged, Miss Ebersole, no doubt, indulged in day dreamings, and sought at times the seclusion of the forest for meditation and thought, and in the confidence she felt in the man of her choice, she was happy. To her love 262 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY seemed to be effulgent in the air and to whisper in the rustling of the leaves and that its demulcent influences o'erspread the earth. She was so true and devoted in her nature that it made her exacting and exclusive in her affections It has been said that there comes to every woman the vision of a complete life—a. home life with the man she loves. He comes to every woman once the man who could be supremely the husband of her soul—lie, who beyond ana above every other human being, might be to her what no other one could be in companionship and love. To her mind her betrothed was all that was great, noble and manly, and she. loved to pay him homage by her exquisite humility and contented submission. She was glad that she was rich and that he was poor—that she had not only love, but wealth to bestow upon the man she had promised to wed. Miss Ebersole's. character had been molded on the grand but simple lines of duty, and when the true. character of the man to whom she was betrothed was revealed to her, when she was convinced that he had remarked that he "didn't care for Katy as much as for her property," she acted promptly and spurned the mercenary creature who had sought her hand that he might obtain herwealth. She lost him when she lost confidence in him. She then rose gran to the high plane and dignity of true womanhood and discarded him forever. He may have made the remark half in jest, for conflicting and complex influences may come into a man's life, and under peculiar circumstances he may say things which he does not half mean, or does not mean at all. But his remark struck beyond the limit of her forgivenness—beyond even the wide margin of her love. The lines tightened 'about her mouth, and a look of determination, if of suffering, oyerspread her face. She realied that their lives must Separate and that 'she must tread life's weary journey alone, and sufficient strength came to her to sustain her until life's end. Another woman might have sought consolation and reparation in love for another, but Katherine could love but one and once. The "new woman" movement had not then been inaugurated, or she might have taken to the rostrum or stage to win a "career" because she had lost a lover. The ordeal through which she passed burned the roses of love into ashes upon her heart, and from a loving, confiding creature she was metamorphosed, into a Niobe and passed the remaining years of her life in anchoretical like seclusion. When troubles come and in times of disappointment and sorrow, aching and weary hearts are wont., to seek solace and rest in the grave. Satan comes to us in our weakest moments and tempts us in the hour of our severest trials, And he may have tried to tempt this young girl to end all in death. If so, conscience held rein over desire and weakness, as she recalled the teachings of a Christian another—that our life is not our own; that we must accept its penalties, must bear its pains and burdens and fulfill its purposes, but that we have no right to cast it off, lest we thereby fail to reach that more exceeding and eternal life of glory of which this is but the faintest dawn. Paradise and heaven may seem afar off and almost impossible to attain, while this earth life appears but a mockery to the overburdened heart. But HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 263 "By faith we walk the narrow way That leads to joy on high." Love and happiness beautify a Woman's life, and as these were denied Miss Ebersole, we must with charity temper our criticisms of her after-course, for the cynicism into which she sank never developed into misanthropy. It is stated by her neighbors that for several year thereafter Miss Ebersole lived somewhat after the manner of people in general, but as she grew older she became more morose and seclusive, and was an object of curiosity in the community and her doings were the gossip of her neighbors. Her house stood at the west side of the new state road, about five miles south of Bellville. Finally, for more seclusion, she built a cabin further from the road. There was but little furniture in the house, and in an old chest she kept the bedclothes her mother had given her. A corner of the large hearth in front of the fire-place served her as a bed, a stone was her pillow and she covered herself with boards. Tenants tilled the farm and marketed its products. After the crops were gathered she raked the fields and gleaned, like Ruth of old, grain sufficient for her simple needs. Although she lived in a condition of self-imposed penury and hoarded her untiful gains, she did not grasp at possessions that were not her own, but exercised the most delicate discernments of justice and was conscientious and norable in all her business relations. In speaking of herself she always used the plural pronoun, as "we are well," and like expressions. Miss Ebersole was once robbed, and in the trial that followed she appeared as a witness in the Mansfield court room, and lawyers tried to make sport of her peculiarities. She finally became blind, and was taken to her brother's, in Knox county, where she died a few years ago. Death was to her but the burst of sunrise over the eternal hills, beyond whose summits they neither marry nor are given in marriage. "THE UNJUST JUDGE." One of the most earnest advocates of the "Maine Liquor Law" in Mansfield was the late Hon. William Stevens, who with voice and pen ably presented the question of the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating drinks, which was very much agitated in Ohio in the early fifties. Mr. Stevens was the author of a book of three hundred and fifty-two pages, entitled "The Unjust Judge; or The Evils of Intemperance on Judges, Lawyers and Politicians; by a Meinber 'of the Ohio Bar." The work was published in . Mansfield in 1854, and was printed at the office of the "Western Branch Book Concern of the Wesleyan Methodist. Connection of America." The printing office was in the Drackert budding, on South Main street, now owned by Mr. Lorenz. Mr. Stevens at that, time resided in a house now owned by J. H. Barr—the first house north of the Drackert building. "The Unjust Judge" dealt largely with the dissipation which it alleged existed in the legal profession at that time. In his preface, Mr. Stevens stated that the had drawn upon the bench, the bar and the political arena for material 264 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY from which to weave the web for the book, and that though some passages might appear pointed and personal, he disclaimed any such intention, but insisted, that the work. was aimed at the idiosyncracies of a class, and not at individuals. The following stanza of poetry upon its title page explains a motives and gives an incentive for the work : "Go hear what I have heard— The sobs of sad despair—  As memory feeling's fount hath stirred, And its revealings there Have told him what he might have been, Had he the drunkard's fate foreseen." Mr. Stevens' book covered a wide range of thought, containing chapter pertaining to love, courtship and marriage, and on dissipation, degradation and crime. One of its most graphic chapters depicts a scaffold scene in which a man, condemned to death was reprieved on the gallows after the black cap had been drawn over his face. The author portrayed scenes as actors represent characters upon the stage in theatrical presentations. He hit hard and, no doubt,, sometimes ill-advisedly. His intentions may have been good, but his enemies claimed that his attacks upon certain members of the bar were made on account of enmity existing between them and the author- And now in reading 'the book fifty-four years after its publication, one is surprised that the lawyers did not take a more serious view of the attacks Mr. Stevens made upon them. A reason assigned for the dissipation which then, as it was claimed, existed to some extent among the members of the legal profession, was that: "Lawyers frequently attended courts in other counties, where they not only met their brethren of that particular bar, but also from other places, and often had to wait several days for their cases to be reached on the docket, and, in the meantime, they sauntered about town with time hanging heavily upon them that while they were invited frequently to drink, they had in turn to treat, or be thought penurious, and in that ,way the drinking habit was formed unconsciously." Many persons today regret that the lawyers of the Mansfield bar were shown in the bad light in which Mr. Stevens' book placed them. The facts are the bar has ever been a credit to both the county and the state, and has always :compared favorably with the bars elsewhere. Mr. Stevens was a man of good character, was a good lawyer and a. graphic writer. He was prosecuting attorney of Richland county two terms. His wife was a sister of the late John Larwill. The family removed to Kansas within a few years after the publication of the book- The first effective prohibitory law in the United States was enacted in Maine in 1851. The bill was drawn by Neal Dow, was known throughout the country as the "Maine Law," and the campaign in Ohio in 1854, involving a restrictive liquor law, was a strenuous one, and resulted in the' passage of a modified "Maine Law" in Ohio HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 265 THE MANSFIELD PRESS. BY GENERAL R. BRINKERHOFF, FOR MANY YEARS THE DEAN OF THE MANSFIELD PRESS. Of the various newspapers that have been published in the city of Mansfield I shall try to enumerate in their historical order with some personal recollections of the men who conducted them. The first paper published in Mansfield was established in 1818 by John C. Gilkinson, the pioneer printer of the City, and whose son, Mansfield H. Gilkinson, was the first white male child born in Mansfield. I knew them both very well and they .were excellent. citizens. The name of the paper established in 1818 was "The Olive," and was only published about a year. I had a volume of it bound, which I gave the Memorial library soon after it was opened, but the volume has now disappeared. The next paper was called "The Mansfield Gazette," and was established in August, 1822, by the late James Purdy who, through a long life was a leading lawyer and banker, and was always one of Our most worthy citizens. The Gazette was Whig in politics. It was continued under Mr. Purdy's management for about ten years. Mr. Purdy gave me bound volumes of his files for the years 1826, 1827 and 1828, which I also presented to the Memorial library, but they are now in the Memorial museum, safely kept and properly cared for. For its day and generation the Gazette was a very creditable newspaper. In 1830, Josiah L. Reed, of whom I know nothing, except that he started a Democratic paper in Mansfield called "The Western Herald," which he conducted for a year or two and then disposed of the plant. In 1832, T. W. Bartley, Dr. Rentzel and J. C. Gilkinson formed a partnership and bought out both the Gazette and Herald, and commenced the publication of "The Ohio Spectator." The plant was soon sold to Henry Seymour, and then by Seymour to . J. H. Hoffman, who with Rentzel conducted it to the close of the first volume when. it failed. Thomas W. Bartley, then a leading: lawyer in Mansfield, afterwards became governor of Ohio and later chief justice of the supreme court. In 1832 another paper was started in Mansfield called "The Richland Whig." Its publishers were John and Charles Boreland. But the Whig, like the Spectatgor, lasted only a year. In 1836 the Spectator outfit was purchased by John Meredith and John Warnock, who continued it as a Democratic paper under the name of "The Ohio Shield." Upon Mr. Warnock's retirement from the paper, the name was changed to the "Shield and Banner," under the firm name of Meredith & Maxwell, who in 1841, sold the plant to John Y. Glessner, and the paper remained under Mr. Glessner's ownership and control until his death in 1882, after which it was sold to the Hon. C. N. Gaumer, who enlarged its capacity in many ways and a few years later started the "Mansfield Daily Shield" in connection with the weekly edition. After a successful run of a dozen or more years, Mr. Gaumer sold the plant to the Shield Publishing company. 266 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY John Y. Glessner, who for over forty year was the editor and proprietor of the Shield, was one of our best known citizens. and no one was more generally known and respected and loved. In 1871, the Shield office was destroyed by fire, and the files of the paper which contained so much of the history of Mansfield, were thus lost. The Hon. C. N. Gaumer represented Richland county for two terms in the State legislature John Meredith, who organized the Shield and Bauner in 1836; was elected probate judge in 1858 and was re-elected in 1861 after which he removed to Shelby, where he died in 1895- Be was huri, in the Mansfield cemetery. The Shield and Banner has had the longest existence of any of tii Richland county newspapers. The Shield has always been a Democratic paper. In 1838, a Whig paper was started by Moraine & Devine, called tn "Richland Jeffersonian," which they conducted one year and then sold to J. C. Gilkinson & Sons, who after nine. years sold the plant to Mathias Day; Jr., and E. W. Smith. Day & Smith changed the name of the paper to "The Mansfield Herald:" In 1852 Mr. Day purchased Mr. Smith's interest and continued the publication of the paper. In 1854, upon the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the slavery question came to the front, and the old political parties were more or less disorganized and disintegrated, and a new party composed of anti-slavery Democrats and anti-slavery Whigs came together in 1855, as the people’s party, and in 1856, it became the Republican party; old questions went to the rear, the only bond of union. was opposition to the extension of slavery and recruits from all the old parties were welcome. I was then a young lawyer in active practice and a zealous Free Soil Democrat and naturally took to the new movement. The Herald was its organ in Richland county; its editor and proprietor, Mr- Day, was indisposed by illness and went away on sick leave. Before going, however, he requesh, me to take the supervision of his editorial columns, which I did, with no idea of it being more than a temporary arrangement. Mr. Day's illness was protracted until he felt compelled to dispose of the Herald property. In 1855, in company with James G. Robinson and David Looke, of Plymouth I purchased the entire Herald establishment. I was the political editor of the Herald. Robinson and Locke were practical printers and took charge of the mechanical department. Locke was foreman and city editor. We put in steam presses and a book bind and enlarged the establishment in other directions. At the close of the first year, Mr: Locke being unable to meet his payments, he sold out to his partners, and later we sold a one-third interest to. Mr. Day, who had recovered, his, health. Later on Mr. Robinson and Mr. Day went out and I became sole owner. I conducted a prosperous business until 1859, and then sold out to the Myers Brothers. and returned to my profession. As to my career as an editor, I have only to say that my files for four years, in four volumes, were bound and can be seen in the Memorial library and those who read them can judge for themselves whether I held my own in the political controversies of that period. In those controversies I am HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 267 glad to say that Mr. Glessner, the editor of the Democratic Shield, and I were always personal friends and in our business relations were always helpful to each other. We often borrowed type of each other and sometimes exchanged matter. Mr. Glessner and I never deemed it essential to indulge in personal abuse or to befoul a candidate or an office holder, simply because he did not belong to our political party, and I am very sure an example of that kind of political warfare, now almost universal, can not be found in the files of the Mansfield Herald under my administration. I am also glad to say that my. relations with my partners were always friendly. Mr. Robinson was a man of high character and excellent business ability, and after leaving me he became the proprietor of the Bucyrus Journal, in which he was joined by Mr. Locke. They conducted a. prosperous business for a number of years. Mr. Locke later became famous as "Petroleum V. Nasby," in the Toledo Blade which brought him fame and fortune. Mr. Locke wrote a series of humorous papers for the Plymouth Advertiser, and later for the Herald, which. were as funny as any he ever wrote, and if any one has preserved them I would be glad to see them again. Those in the Herald files were cut and stolen. Mr. Day was born and reared in Mansfield and was a worthy citizen and a genial friend. My successor, the Myers Brothers, after successfully conducting the Herald for fifteen years, sold the plant to George U. Ham & Brother, who conducted the Herald with various mutations for about ten years, but in an evil hour they started a morning daily in opposition to the. Evening News, then recently established. The venture was a failure, and put the Herald bankruptcy and final dissolution. The Daily News, the survival of the conflict, is one of the most creditable and prosperous of the Republican newspapers in the state. Of the Myers Brothers, who succeeded me, George, the oldest, died in about a year Lorenzo went into the army as quartermaster of the Sixty-fourth O. V. I., and after the close of the war he settled in Columbus and served as postmaster for four years, later he became. interested in the job printing business which he conducted very successfully. Wesley, the youngest of the boys, remained in Mansfield for a number of years in charge of the Herald. but after disposing of the plant he removed to Toledo and became secretary of the National Union, a life insurance company. He is now dead. In addition to the papers I have named there have been a number of others. First in point of time was a Democratic campaign paper started in 1844. by Wiley & Tidball, and called "The Morning Pennant." During the same year a Whig campaign paper was published by William Johnston, called The Richland Bugle and Independent Press." Both, these papers were suspended after the election. Johnston was an erratic genius, a scholarly man and an orator. During the Civil War Mr. Johnston was elected to Congress as a Democrat. He died soon after the expiration of his term. In 1852, the Rev. Edward Smith, a noted Wesleyan Methodist minister, came to Mansfield and with his, son-in-law, the Robert McCune, established 268 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY the Western Branch Book Concern. Mr. McCune was a practical printer and took charge of the mechanical department of the same: They located in the brick. building on the west side of Main street, between First and Second streets,' and started the Christian Statesman, a weekly newspaper published as the organ of the Wesleyan denomination. They also did book work, and printed "The Unjust Judge," a book of three hundred and fifty pages written by William Stevens, then a Mansfield lawyer. The Christian States man was, an anti-slavery paper. Messrs. Smith & McCune later moved their printing establishment to the second story of the Mansfield Herald office, in order to get their printing done on the Herald's steam presses. Mr. Smith. died a few months later and the paper was suspended. Mr. McCune re-entered the ministry. He is now dead. "The Ohio Liberal" newspaper was started. in 1873 by General R. Brinkerhoff. Nominally, it was published by a stock company, in which the Hon. M. D. Harter and W. S. McMillen were interested. The paper was intended to represent the views of, the liberal Republicans, as this was the year following the Horace Greeley campaign. General Brinkerhoff was the editor-in-Chief and was assisted by Messrs. Harter and McMillen. The paper made things lively politically, and to the surprise of the promoters it paid expenses from the start. A. J. Baughman was the "field man" for the first year and secured a large subscription list; after which he became the city and desk editor. Since then Mr. Baughman has had many years of service in the newspaper business. After a short time the Liberal became my personal perquisite, and I continued its publication successfully for several years. In 1876 I championed the candidacy of Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency. In 1877 I sold the plant to Henry Foulk and his brother Charles; practical printers, who continued the publication for eight or ten years and then sold the same to W. S. Cappeller, who consolidated it with the Mansfield News. Charles Foulk died in 1882, and Henry, after disposing of the plant, removed to Missouri and engaged in job printing. The Liberal was really a very lively sheet and was never a financial weakling, and more than paid its expenses from beginning to end. I am not ashamed of the files of the rn Ohio Liberal and invite an inspection of them in the Memorial library. The only German newspaper in Mansfield, so far as. I can remember, is "The Mansfield Courier," which was established in 1872, by August Selback, who conducted it for a short time, after which it passed into the hands of John B. Netscher, who, in January, 1874, sold the plant to Killian & Kuebler. Mr. Killian died within a year or two, after which his interest was sold to Albert Wolfe. Later Mr. Kuebler bought Mr. Wolfe's interest and became sole proprietor, in which capacity he continues its publication to-day. In June, 1876, the first Sunday newspaper made its appearance in Mansfield, called 'The Sunday Morning Call," a seven column folio. It was established by A. J. Baughman and was devoted principally to local news. In fact, it was the first newspaper in Mansfield which made -a specialty of local happenings and had a decided influence in stirring up the staid old HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 269 Weekly competitors to activity along local lines. In 1884, after a successful run of eight years, the Call was changed to the Mansfield Democrat, and made a six-column quarto. The publication of a Democratic newspaper was better suited to Mr. Baughman's taste than was delving into local matters, which were often more or less sensational. Mr. Baughman's sister, Miss Sade E. Baughman, also a printer, was associated with him on the Democrat, and in the spring of 1885, Mr. Baughman was appointed to a clerkship in the United States Senate and Miss Baughman to a clerkship in the treasury department in Washington, D. C., and gave up their newspaper work in Mansfield and entered the government service at the National Capital. They are now, and have been for a number of years past, engaged in historical work. In calling the roll of Mansfield newspapers, it would hardly be fair to it the name of "The Daily Chronicle," notwithstanding the brevity of existence. It was started by Charles Grant Miller, in August, 1895, as a corning journal. It was bright and newsy, but for want of support it lasted only about six months. Mr. Miller was a gifted writer, with considerable fame as a journalist, but was a failure as a manager. THE MANSFIELD PRESS AND ITS PEOPLE. The following paper was prepared for, and read before a recent meeting . he Mansfield Lyceum, by A. J. Baughman: "Sketches have been given of the Mansfield newspapers of the past and of the graves of a number of them. This, however, deals with the men who had their entrances and their exits upon the newspaper stage of Mansfield in the years gone by. Perhaps there has been a greater change in the newspaper business in the past third of a century than in any other line of pursuit. In newspaper publishing there are two prominent features—the business management and the literary or editorial department. In the past, back before the Civil War, news was not as prominent a feature in a publications as it is to-day, and the business and editorial departments were recognized as one. Now they are separate and distinct. A newspaper is now conducted and its policy largely controlled from the counting room by the business manager, and that is why there have been fewer gravestones put in recent years in newspaper graveyards. .Nature seldom gives a man more than one gift. A great writer is seldom, if ever, a master of finance, and but few of the great business men of the country have reputations as writers. "A story is tad of two men who were graduates of Harvard and were close friends. One went to California and became successful in mining operations. The other went to New York City and engaged in newspaper work. After a separation of twenty years, the Californian returned to the East and visited his friend in New York. Each had become a millionaire. One day while lunching at Delmonico's, the New Yorker called his friend's attention to a gentleman who was sitting at another table, and remarked, 'There's the man who ruined me.' The friend remarked that he did not how he had been ruined, and said, 'You have health and a million, what 270 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY else do you want?' The. New Yorker explained that when he went to New York he had hopes of becoming a great editor, but, getting acquainted with the man to whom he referred, he had imbibed his business ideas and had become so absorbed with the monetary affairs that he gave up his newspaper work and engaged in financial pursuits. The new path was for awhile very alluring to him, and within ten years he became a millionaire. But he hadstarved both his soul and his mind in his mad pursuit for wealth, and now was dissatisfied with the result—that he would now willingly give his millions to be a great editor. But it was too late to retrace his steps ; the demon of finance had entered his soul and had changed his whole course in life. To be successful in any line of endeavor should be gratifying to every one, even if the topmost round of one's ambition should not be reached. The man had aSpired to a literary career ; Wealth seemed to him as but 'the husks which the swine cloth eat.' "As this sketch is reminiscent, it must be more or less personal. I write only of those with whom I was personally acquainted. And first upon this list was the Hon. James Purdy. "The first newspaper in Mansfield was established in 1818, and has been published continuously ever since, with the exception perhaps of a few weeks in its early history, and for the seventy years has been called the Shield and Banner.. The late Hon. James Purdy, who had located in Mansfield to practice law, purchased this paper in 1823, gave the office a better equipment, made the plant self-supporting and published the paper for about nine years. Locating here and casting his fortunes with the new town he wished to see it grow and prosper, and to this end he was willing to devote both time and money in the publication of a newspaper, without which he knew no town 'could succeed. Mr. Purdy's vocation was the law. his avocation the press—publishing a newspaper for the benefit of the town. In 1832, Mr. Purdy sold his newspaper plant to Thomas W. Bartley, then a prominent and gifted young lawyer of Mansfield. Mr. Bartley later filled offices of honor and trust. He was a state senator and later was governor of Ohio, and still ater was one of the supreme judges of the state. Judge Bartley edited his paper from his law office and was never engaged in newspaper publishing business, but as a side line to further the interests of his town and of his party. "In 1836 John Meredith bought the Shield and continued its publication until 1841. He later became probate judge of the county, and after histerm of office had expired he removed 'to Shelby, where he resided until the close of his life. Judge Meredith is best remembered by the people of to-day as. a member of the Old Folks' Singing society, of which he was a prominent member, and one of the best singers of that organization. "Rev. Edward Smith established a weekly newspaper in Mansfield in the '50s called the Christian Statesman, which he conducted for several years until his death. This paper was conducted principally to promulgate Mr. Smith's views on the slavery question and other so-called reforms. In this work he was assisted by his son-in-law, the Rev. Robert McCune, who left Mansfield some time after Mr. Smith's death. I remember of having 271 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY seen Mr. Smith, but I had no personal acquaintance with him, as I was then a boy. He was a large man, a fine speaker and a born disputant. During the agitation of the slavery question, a number of persons seceded from the M. E. church at Little. Washington, and formed an anti-slavery organization, and Mr. Smith preached for this congregation. He may have been its regular pastor, He was an Abolitionist and labored fearlessly to create an anti-slavery sentiment in the North. He aimed to labor for the betterment of society. His paper was issued from the office of the 'Western' Branch Book Concern of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America, then located in the Drackert building on South Main street, where Mr. Helt now conducts a boarding house: From this Office William Stevens published his book called the 'Unjust Judge!.' "I have been connected with the Mansfield press for many years. and in various capacities, and I have owned and published newspapers of my own in Mansfield and other places. My first work in the newspaper line was done on the Shield and Banner for the late John Y. Messner. I have known the 'ups and downs' of the business for the past forty years and have had my share of them. In my retrospections recall both the clouds as well as the sunshine of the past; but do not remember that I ever went out of my way to avoid either of them. "Of the newspaper men of Mansfield during my connection with the press, Mr. Glessner is the first of whom I now Write. He came to Ohio from Somerset, Pennsylvania, where he had served an apprenticeship to the printing business, and after removing West was engaged in publishing a paper in St. Clairsville for a few years, later became manager of the Ohio Statesman at Columbus, then came to Mansfield in 1841 bought the Shield and Banner, which he owned, edited and published for over forty years, and until his death. But few men, perhaps, have lived such a blameless life as did Mr. Glessner, and but few men left so Many friends and so few enemies. A full sized portrait of Mr. Glessner adorns the counting room of the Shield office, and persons frequently in looking at it speak kindly of their remembrance of him. While Mr. Glessner never aspired to be known as a great writer, he was a very capable newspaper man and an excellent citizen. "General R. Brinkerhoff entered the newspaper field in Mansfield in 1854, and published the Mansfield Herald. for a number of years. He also gave some attention to the practice of the law. Later he went into the army where he won the star of a brigadier, and remained in the service until after the close of the Civil War. Upon his return to Mansfield, he resumed his law practice and later newspaper Work as the editor of the Ohio Liberal. For the past thirty years. he has been iiz the banking business, and is now president of the Mansfield Savings bank. But in whatever pursuit he never neglected his literary work and his contributions to the literature of the country have been both interesting and valuable. He wields a facile pen and is a fluent speaker. Having been more or less intimately associated with him in newspaper, literary and '.historical -work for the past forty years, I know whereof I speak. 272 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY "General James S. Robinson, when a boy, served an apprenticeship in the Herald office, he later read law, removed to Kenton and became distinguished both in civil and military affairs. He was a general in the army during the Civil War, and later served several terms as a member of Congress and two terms as secretary of state. He is now dead. "D. B. Locke (Petroleum V. Nasby) was associated with General Brinkerhoff on the Herald for a year or two, and later attained fame as a Writer. J. M. Robinson was also associated with General Brinkerhoff on the Herald for some time. He went from here to Plymouth, where he published the Advertiser for several years, and later removed. West. William Johnston published a campaign paper here in 1844. He was a lawyer, a scholarly man, a fluent speaker and wielded a trenchant pen. He represented this district in Congress a term during the .Civil War. He is now dead. "In 1850, Joel Myers and Jacob Reisenger started an independent paper called the Richland County Democrat. It was discontinued at the end of the first volume and the outfit was sold to Mr. Glessner. Mr. Reisenger was postmaster Of Mansfield during President Pierce's administration, and Myers was probate judge of the county two terms. The latter was rather a fair editorial writer in a general way. In 1859, Mr. Reiseriger and L. C. Kelley started a paper called the Richland Democrat. Mr. Reisenger died about a year after the paper was founded, after which the publication was conducted by Mr. Kelley until 1862. Mr. Kelley was a practical printer and a fair reporter. He is now dead. "O. H. Booth was one of the proprietors and editorial writers of the Mansfield Herald for several years in the '70s. He was a printer and before coming to Mansfield had been engaged in newspaper work in Wooster. He was the manager of the Western Union Telegraph lines and gave but little time to the Herald. He is now deceased. "The Myers Brothers conducted the Herald for a number of years, and made it a very readable paper.. They were succeeded by the Harn Brothers. who are now out of the business. Harry Wilkinson was an able city editor of the Herald as Frank Ward was also of the Shield. "Of the Foulk Brothers, who conducted the Liberal for several years, Henry is in the job printing business somewhere in the. West and Charley is dead. George A. Holm was the manager of the Liberal for several years and is now in the job printing business. "Hon. C. N. Gaumer, who so ably conducted the Shield for a number of years has retired from . active newspaper work. He served his county faithfully in the legislature, 'and now holds several positions of honor and trust. 'The 'amenities' of the press were not always as serious nor as cordial as outsiders may have considered them to be, as the following instance will in part show: 'In the - summer of 1880, as editor of the Mansfield Democrat, I became involved in a newspaper war with George U. Harn, of the Herald. During that controversy, Mr. Harn and I took a drive in my buggy out through Springfield township. We happened to meet one of his subscribers, who nearly fell off the seat of his wagon when he saw us   HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 273 together, laughing and talking in the most social manner. He had taken our quarrel seriously and imagined we were enemies. But where newspaper en are brought in daily contact with each other in, business pursuits, their war of words should not be taken in too literal a sense. "The boys in the office in those days often played tricks on the 'devil.' When the office of the. Ohio , Liberal was in the Mansfield Savings bank builling, Frank Harding and Trav Harbaugh put up a job on Johnny Shaw who was then the Liberal's 'devil.' They sent him to the Shield office with a wheelbarrow to borrow a nonpareil space. They told him that he must take the wheelbarrow into the office and up to Mr. Glessner's desk, so that he could see that he was prepared to give the 'space' safe conveyance. This Johnny did, and as he went rattling up the steps and over the floor, Mr. Glessner exclaimeth 'Ha, Ha, what does this mean?' . Johnny stated his case and Mr. Glessner unbent from his dignity long enough to laugh at the joke, recalling the time when he had been a printer's 'devil.' A few days later the 'devil' from the Shield office' went down to the Liberal office to borrow their italic shooting stick. But the 'devil' sometimes in after years becomes the manager of a newspaper and then can look back complacently at the tricks played upon 'him in his youth. "The daily newspaper of to-day very fully covers the field which its name indicates—a newspaper. It has its finger tips on the public pulse of the nations, and the heart-beats of civilization are counted and the business of the world bulletined in its issues. "Although the Shield was issued under one management for over forty years under the Glessner regime, it has had several changes since Mr. Glessner's death. Some years after the sale of the plant to Mr. Gaumer, it was turned into a stock company and a daily edition issued in connection with the weekly. For a while Charles Grant Miller edited the paper, but it was finally drifted into a larger field, going from here to Memphis, Tennessee, where he became the editor of the Mercury. Mr. Miller's forte, however, was that of a writer rather than that of an editor. As .a writer Mr. Miller had a metropolitan reputation. "The next change in the management of the Shield was when W. T. Alberson, of Ashland, became its manager, but his management was not of long duration. The next was a Mr. MacMillan, a very capable man, but he remained not more than a year until he returned to Portsmouth where he later died. "Following Mr. MacMillan’s retirement, Mr. M. D. Frazier, of Zanesville, became the business manager of the paper; with the Hon. William Lawrence on the editorial tripod. Mr. Lawrence was a graduate of Kenyon college and came here at the close of his term as a state senator from the Muskingum district. Senator Lawrence was thoroughly conversant with public affairs and as an editorial 'writer he had but few equals and no superior in the land. Having been associated with Senator Lawrence in his editorial work for several years, the writer knows whereof he speaks concerning Mr. Lawrence's ability and adaptability for editorial work. He could write 274 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY pages of paper quite rapidly and never went back to change a word, because none needed to be changed. "In 1885 the. Hon. W. S. Cappeller came from Cincinnati to Mansfield and started the Mansfield Daily News, the first permanent daily newspaper foUnded in Mansfield. Later he purchased the Ohio Liberal, consolidated the plants and discontinued the Liberal. The News has grown with its years, owns its own building, has a fine equipment and is one of the leading county-seat papers in Ohio. Mr. Cappeller is now on his second term as postmaster of Mansfield." THE BENCH AND BAR. BY HON. C. E. MCBRIDE. In discussing my subject I propose to refer only to those whose records have been made up, and for whom the last entry has been placed on the journal, and the Court Crier has adjourned the term sine die. There has always existed more or less prejudice against the members of the legal profession. At times, they were barely tolerated, and some. communities still regard them as a necessary evil to be carefully circumscribed. Perhaps they are controlled by the prejudice which exists in the uneducated mind of to day, well illustrated in the remark of an Irishman who saw a tombstone with the inscription : "Here lies the body of John Robinson, a lawyer and an honest man," and reflecting, observed "A lawyer a.nd an honest man. I wonder what the two of them is doing in the one grave?" Notwithstanding all the jibes and jeers that have. been hurled at the bench and bar, they have and will continue to exercise a vast influence over the destinies of this nation. Our nation will resist time and survive decay, so long, and only so long, as a pure and independent bench and a fearless and patriotic bar remain to defend our liberties. The bar of Richland county has been composed of many able and distinguished members. It has furnished several cabinet officers, several United States senators, several justices of the Supreme Court of Ohio and other states; and, while never having one of its members appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, it had one who was considered to be sufficiently worthy and who would have been appointed except for the fact that a political quarrel would have prevented his confirmation. It furnished the singular anomaly of father succeeding son as governor of the state. It has furnished governors of this and other states; and some of the distinguished ability in the suppression of the Rebellion. It has had an honorable career. Let us hope that when the mist which now seems to dim its lustre clears away, its course will be greater and better than ever before The field which lay before the lawyers of the early days was far less extensive and far less lucrative than at present. Thousands of eases now crowd the dockets which could not have possibly arisen. No wealthy corporations existed, expending each year in lawyers' fees enough money to have paid the taxes of the four colonies of New England. Patent law and railroad law, the business of banks and insurance cmpanies, express com- HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 275 panies, telegraph companies and .steamships, have given rise to legal questions of which the old lawyers had no conception whatever. A fee of twenty thousand dollars was unknown ; a suit involving a million of dollars was heard of. Yet. the profession was not in paid, and offered many incentives to bright young men. The law student of the early days. usually began by offering his services to some lawyer of note, and, if they were accepted, paid a fee of a hundred dollars, and began to read law books, copy briefs, and sweep out and dust the office. Now a student would not think of keeping the office clean, and it scarcely comports with his dignity to run errands between the law office and the courthouse. In the course of two years he was expected to become familiar with Coke on Littleton, with Woods's Institutes of Civil Law, Blackstones' Commentaries, Chitty's Pleadings, and with some work on Chancery practice. This accomplished, his patron would take him into court, seat him at the lawyer's table, whisper to the gentlemen present, and, with their consent, would rise and ask leave of the Court to pre-sent a young man for the oath of an attorney. The Court would ask if the bar consented. The lawyers would then bow. The patron would then vouch for the morals and learning of his young friend, and the oath would be administered by the clerk. This done, the new attorney would be introduced to the bar and carried off to the nearest tavern, where health and prosperity would be drank to him in bumpers of strong punch. The early members of the bar were men of integrity and honor; men wedded to their profession and given to the practice of rigid honesty. They were men who have left their impress upon the history of our county and state as well as the nation and .other states. Under the constitution of 1802 the judiciary of Ohio was very differently composed than it is now. There was then no separate probate court. The court of common pleas in each county was composed of a presiding judge, a lawyer, and three associate judges, lay men ; and the associates as a rule gave attention to the probate business. They sat with the presiding judge at the sessions of the Court, and they were essentially a part of it, and sometimes they overruled him. This did not occur very often. Where the associate judges were men of strong mental force and vigor, of fair education, of strong natural gifts, they regarded themselves as fully authorized to be fully consulted by the presiding judge on all questions before the Court. The history of the associate bench of Richland county discloses the fact that, generally speaking, the associate judges were above the average of men. The county was organized in 1813. The population in 1813 cannot be accurately given, but it was only a few hundred. In 1820, when the census was taken, it numbered 9,169. The associate judges first commissioned were Thomas Coulter, William Gass and Peter Kenney. They were all men of high standing. Judge Coulter's descendants still live in the boundaries of the old county. William Gas was an historic figure—judge, member of the house, senator—his public services extend. over a period of more than thirty years. The first case recorded in Common Pleas Court of Richland county is 276 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY that of Thomas Oram and Elizabeth Oram, his wife, executor and executrix of John Lougue, deceased, against John Pew. This was an action of trespass on the case for $1,000.00 damages for one hundred and one beef hides alleged to have been found by the defendant and converted to his own use, well knowing that they were the property of John Lougue. The action was begun on the and day of January, 1814, and tried soon thereafter by a jury of twelve men and resulted in a verdict of not guilty. C. R. Sherman was the attorney for the plaintiff and Curtis 'and Harper represented the defendant. Recurring to the associate judges, they were all men above the average in mental strength, native vigor, general intelligence and acquirements. One of these was in the congress of the United States from 1833 to 1837, and was always addressed as Judge Patterson. Judge Isaac Osborn, who graced the bench for fourteen years; James McCluer, who succeeded Gass; Robert Beatty, Hugh Gamble, Benjamin Jackson, William S. Granger, Judge Andrews- most of these men were long-lived and attained the age of three score and ten; and they were honest men, and the ermine of the judges was not soiled by any of them. The last associate bench was composed of Ezekial Chew, Alexander Barr and David McCullough. Chew was a blacksmith by trade and a farmer, a man of stalwart frame and vigorous intellect, not given in his early life much education by the schools, but a remarkable man nevertheless. Every fiber of the man was a golden thread of integrity. Averse to litigation in his immediate neighborhood he was a great factor in keeping down local or neighborhood quarrels and litigation. He came to be the counselor of half the community in which he lived, reaching out beyond township lines, and his advice was so wise and just that he was in this respect a great benefactor to the old county. Judge Chew has passed away, but his memory ought to be and is cherished as that of an honest man and able associate judge and a worthy citizen of the county. He was a Jacksonian Democrat politically. Alexander Barr was a wholly different man physically, yet a man of broader education and quicker apprehension than Judge Chew. He was the village schoolmaster of Mansfield, a colonel in the Ohio militia. It is sald of him that he was capable of teaching the higher branches in mathematics, and taught practical surveying and that his penmanship was like copper plating. He removed to a farm and while a farmer was elected an associate judge. He was honest, able and worthy, and his useful life is the heritage of many of the sons and daughters of the old county. On the bench he was not so vigorous as Chew, yet his mind was more active and alert. If differences existed between the presiding judge and the associates, Chew was the man influential, though less able to formulate the expression of their dissent. The last of this old associate bench was David McCullough, of Mansfield, with less education than either Chew or Barr, yet a more intimate acquaintance with the world. He was for years the village tailor, tasty, neat in all things and a willing, hearty helper of his fellow men. McCullough, on the bench was apt to rely on his associates and the presiding judge more than on any HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 277 judgment he would frame himself, yet on questions where he believed the eight was suffering defeat, he was strong and determined. Physically, he was much smaller than Chew or Barr. He was also a military man, and at one time was captain of "The Mansfield Blues," an independent company organized by Mansfield's first soldier and West Point graduate, the late General Samuel R. Curtis. Judge McCullough was a Democrat in his early days, but in time became a Republican, and served for a term as county treasurer. The old bench, the associate judges of Ohio, are a thing of the past. They went out with the adoption of the Constitution of 1851. Did the new Constitution improve the system.? This has been a mooted question. This much must be said, the first judiciary of Ohio under the Constitution of 1802 was less expensive, and with the increased population of Ohio. would have continued to be less expensive to the state and the people. It has been said that "the first judical system was founded for the people; the second for the bar rather than the common people." The present Constitution of Ohio was formulated by a constitutional convention which closed its labors on the 10th day of March, 1851. Samuel J. Kirkwood and Dr. James P. Henderson represented Richland county in this convention. All judges were made elective by this Constitution. Under the Constitution of 1802, the judges were appointed by a joint ballot of both houses of the general assembly. The change from appointment to election was a radical one and one that I do not believe was an improvement. I believe an appointive judiciary will come nearer dealing out equal and exact justice than one where the judges must get down into the mud and slime of politics in order to wear the judicial Ermine. Under the Constitution of 1851 the counties of Licking, Knox and Delaware formed the first sub-division of the Sixth Judicial District; the counties of Morrow, Richland and Ashland the second sub-division, and the counties of Wayne, Holmes and Coshocton the third sub-division, and this district and their sub-diyisions remain to this day. After the Constitution had been ratified by the people the following were elected as the first judges in each of these sub-divisions : In the first, sub-division, Rollin C. Hurd, of Knox county; in the second sub-division, James Stewart, of Richland county ; in the third sub-division, Martin Welker, of Holmes county. The manner and the integrity and the ability with which these judges discharged all, the duties and performed all the functions of the bench assured the people that' a mistake had not been made in their choice. These were men of strong character. Judicial integrity, great learning, clear, concise thought, adherence to principle founded. on reason, familiarity with precedents and leading cases, honesty of purpose controlled their administration of the law. Technicalities Were brushed aside if they interfered with doing substantial justice between man and. man. The right was made to prevail over the wrong. George W. Geddes, was chosen as the, successor of James Stewart. Party lines were beginning to break. Stewart, who had been a Democrat, did not act with that party, and Geddes who had been a Whig was chosen on the Democratic ticket in preference to Stewart, whose name appeared on the opposite ticket. 278 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Judge Geddes' course illustrates the genius of our free institutions. It demonstrated that the poorest and raggedest boy that plays in the streets or country place may, at no distant day take his seat on the judicial bench or his voice may be. heard in our national councils. Judge Geddes served on the bench for fifteen years. He had an extensive and lucrative practice. As a judge, Geddes was pleasant, affable and courteous, yet at the same time he was firm and commanded the respect of all who had business before him. The judicial Ermine while worn by Geddes never contained a speck of dishonor. In his hands the scales of justice were evenly balanced. The humblest suitor's case received the same careful, painstaking consideration as that of the wealthy and powerful. As a lawyer he was very successful: To look at him in the trial of a. case no one could ever tell whether the evidence was favorable or unfavorable to his client. He always wore the same smile. He was a most skillful cross-examiner. He did it in such a pleasing way that he gained the confidence of the witness, and before the witness knew it he had been pumped dry. Its arguments to court were marked by the clearness and precision with which he stated his proposition. He was a most dangerous opponent to a jury. He could boldly state and plausibly maintain his position before -them. He was a close student and always .felt the spur of poverty in his childhood pricking him and pushing him onward. Thomas J. Kenny reache.d the bench in 1874 and held many terms of court in this county, although he resided in Ashland. He was gifted by nature with a judicial mind; he reached results intuitively, and; having reached them, he was satisfied to announce the conclusion and not disposed to elaborate the reasons therefor. I once heard John McSweeny argue a demurrer to Judge Kenny while .he was :holding court at Wooster. McSweeny spent almost an entire day in the presentation. The next morning after court opened Judge Kenny announced "Demurrer overruled" without any reason given for the holding. McSweeny was furious; he approached the bench and said he, at least, thought he was entitled to know the reason why he was beaten. Kenny coolly looked at him a moment and said : "Mr. McSweeny, life is too short and the pay of a Common Pleas judge too small for me to undertake to give a reason for overruling your demurrer. If you are not satisfied with the decision of this court, go up higher." He was social, convivial and made much of his friends and was made much of by his friends.. He was an able, impartial judge and alawyer of marked ability. William Osborn was another judge who hailed from Ashland. He heldmany terms of court in Richland and was liked by all. It has been said of him : "No one ever questioned his integrity. In every fiber of his head and and heart was woven the strong silken threads of judicial honesty. He was of spare build, slender, delicate rather than strong .physically, a close student, industrious, careful in his living, not convivial, but devoted to his friends, a loving husband and father, and counted among his friends not only those who agreed with him politically, but also those who differed with him. He was a careful, conscientious lawyer, and, putting on the gown of a judge, still more careful and conscientious. In fact, if he had a fault or failing, it was this; HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 279 that fearing that by some possibility he might err in judgment and so injustice be done, he hesitated somewhat in reaching conclusions, and that hesitation, born of conscience, may some time have led him astray and into unintentional error, but this must always be recorded of him that in his heart he was an upright Judge. Judson A. Beebe, of Mount Gilead, served a part of a term on the bench, dying while in office. He held several terms of court at Mansfield. He was a careful, painstaking judge, affable and courteous to the bar and litigants. He left behind him a reputation for honesty and integrity. Andrew K. Dunn was appointed to fill the vacancy, holding only a short time till the next election. He was an able lawyer, with a keen, incisive mind. He could see through a case with an almost intuitive perception. In the short time he was on the bench he had but little opportunity to display his ability. He was quick to catch a point and would have made a model judge. Manuel May Was elected a judge of the Common Pleas Court for this subdivision in 1882, and was reelected and served until 1892. He was prosecuting attorney of Richland county from 1858 until 1862. From 1866 until 1870 he represented this district in the state senate. Ixi the senate he took a high rank and served on the judiciary committee and was a prominent factor in shaping the affairs of the senate. As a judge, Manuel May was fair and impartial in his rulings, stanch in principle, clear in perception, with unswerving integrity and honesty of purpose, combined with a thorough knowledge of the law. He was most kind to the younger practitioner. His years of service on the bench were laborious years, but, in a large measure, he was gifted, and affability—a genial affability—so characterized the man that the burden of labor was lessened by the pleasure afforded in his intimate association with his brethren of the bar. There was no austerity in his makeup, yet dignity was at the helm. I began my career at the bar while Judge May was on the bench. My temerity would quickly disappear under the genial, gentle glow of Judge May, and courage was given me by his kindly greeting and affable manners. His face was pleasant to look upon, his eye claimed your attention and captivated you his voice was sweet and low, yet clear and very attractive, and his manners Chesterfieldian; and yet, withal, the humblest of all the sons of Blackstone were made to feel at home in his presence. As a jury advocate he ranked high, being possessed of fair oratorical powers, as well as an openness of manner and frankness indispensable to him who would win the confidence of a jury. His power was the greater before court or jury from the fact that it was recognized that his aim was ever to secure justice and not to mystify and befog the jury and thus thwart the principles if right and equity involved. A number of the successful lawyers and prominent men of today read law under his guidance. He was an uncompromising Democrat. Kind friend and just judge, we bid you adieu. Believing that a complete list of the old associate judges has never been published in any history of Richland county, and thinking their names ought to be preserved, as well as their mode of appointment, I have taken the liberty to inisert the list, even though it entails a little repetition. The list is as follows : 280 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Thomas Coulter, Peter Kenney, William Gass, James McCluer, Robert Beatty, William Patterson, Isaac Osborn, William M. Biddle, Benjamin Jackson, Daniel J. Swinney, Francis Andrews, Jesse Edginton, Hugh Gamble, Allen G. Miller, Ezekial Chew, Alexander Barr, David McCullough. Section 3 of Article 3 of the Constitution of 1802 provides, among other things the following : "The associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas shall be appointed by a joint ballot of both houses of the general assembly, and shall hold their office for the term of seven years, if so long they behave well." It can be said of the judges, both those under the Constitution of 1802 as well as those under that of 1851, that they were never tainted by the breath of suspicion, but, one and all, they were honest, fearless, capable and upright judges—men whom the community should delight to honor and whose lives should be an example to the rising generation of Blackstonian disciples. We will now pass. in review some of the more illustrious names of the lawyers who have attended their last session of court. John M May was the first resident lawyer of Mansfield. He was admitted to the bar July 26th, 1815; and in the autumn of the same year settled in Mansfield and practiced. in his profession until two years before his death; which occurred on the 12th of December, 1869. Me was elected prosecuting attorney in 1816, but resigned the office the year following, because the defense to prosecution offered him better compensation. For many years he made the circuit of the northern and western county courts, and had a long and successful practice. In politics Mr. May was unambitious; in his profession he was a fine advocate as well as an .able chancery lawyer, and during his long life always maintained a high character as a good citizen and an honest man. In his later years, among his associate lawyers, he was styled the "Nestor of the Bar," and known.as "Father May," and to the day of his death maintained the good will, respect and confidence of all. Jacob Parker read law at Lancaster, Ohio. He was regarded as one of the best of the old-time lawyers. It can be said of him that it was greatly to the glory of old Richland that he lived so many years in Mansfield, for he was a transcendent benefit to the young men who came thereafter to the bar. His brain was a complete workshop so to speak. His knowledge of the law was exact, and his suavity; sincerity and safety of counsel were alike an assurance for his younger brethren and a benediction. James Stewart, the father-in-law of John Sherman, was a lawyer, rich in his wealth of classical education, his imagery, his sonorous tones, his perfect knowledge of the human heart and its promptings to action and effect. He came from Pennsylvania and established an academy at Mansfield and there-after read law and was admitted to the bar and later sat on the bench, mention of which has heretofore been made.. He possessed genius and was a man of portly form and magnificent presence. Thomas Edginton is thus described in a pen sketch by Hon. H. C. Hedges "Edginton was born in Virginia. He having been reared to the law did not cut much of a figure in its practice, not for the reason that he was not intelligent. but for the reason that he was indolent. Among the men of the past he was HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 283 known as the very personification of indolence. He was nearly six feet tall, spare, with fair elocutionary gifts, but indisposed to exert himself. I remember him when I was a lad and my father was a merchant, and a very careful, tasty one about his goods and wares and store furniture and furnishings, and he dreaded the presence of Tom Edginton, who, unbidden, would appropriate the counter whereon to stretch his lazy bones. I remember that when informed that he was 'persona. non grata,' Edginton would get off the perch but take rio offense. The one thing lacking in Thomas Edginton was industry that lacking, his professional life was a failure." Pelatiah W. Burr was a student and the opposite of Edginton. He was energetic and industrious, though somewhat peculiar and reserved. He was not a strong, healthy man, and abandoned the practice of the law and removed to a farm. The out-door life brought him better health. His neighbors looked upon him as a book farmer. He did Well on the farm, and it may be said of him that he was the first scientific farmer of Richland county. Hiram Humphrey was regarded as a lawyer of fair ability, active and industrious. Had lie remained in the practice he would, no doubt, have attained some considerable distinction. In 1842, during an awakening of the churches in Mansfield, he became greatly interested, and shortly thereafter entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. As a preacher he was didactic rather than persuasive, logical rather than fervid in his deliverances. He addressed the intellect rather than the heart, and it may be said of him that he was in no sense a revivalist ; that he was strong in doctrine, zealous in the cause he espoused and fairly successful. In his party preference he was a Democrat, and there came a time in the history of the North Ohio Conference when he was alone politically, and he frequently said of himself "that was like a strange cat in his father's garret." Isaac J. Allen was possibly the most highly cultured member of the Richland county bar at any time in its history. He was a graduate in the liberal arts and sciences, a graduate of the school of medicine and a doctor of laws--LL. D. He was a fine classical scholar. He attained a fine practice and clientage, but he was essentially a book worm, a scholar, a teacher. The professor's chair was more to his liking than the contests at the bar: He removed from Mansfield to Cincinnati and gave himself up to educational work, and later represented this country abroad as consul in Oriental countries. In a pen sketch published several years ago, Hon. H. C. Hedges speaks thus of Charles H. Bryan and Patrick Purdy Hull : "Of the two seeking fame and fortune on the Pacific coast, one acquired distinction as a lawyer and was elected to the supreme bench of the state. The other, with a more commanding prescne, fine form, graceful manners and genial ways, lingered longer than was well over the cup when it was red and sparkling, and made little mark for good, though his association with a famous woman gave him a notoriety in the early Fifties, both on the. Pacific and Atlantic slopes. While he who wore the judicial Ermine; after his retirement from the bench and reentry at the bar, though very successful, was with the success, in condition pecuniarily, to worship more at the shrine of Bacchus than tarry in the temple of justice, and it so happened that the two brilliant young men, Patrick Purdy Hull and 284 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Charles H. Bryan were soon not counted among the living. Patrick Purdy Hull was only remembered on the Pacific slope as the brilliant young man who found in Lola Montez a companion and made her his wife, a marriage ending as it could only end, in a fatality of disappointment and sorrow. "And of Charles H. Bryan, the chief justice of the United States territorial court of Nevada; Judge Turner, before its admission as a state, told me that in a single case tried before the United States district court Bryan earned and received a fee of $100,000 in gold, and on its receipt went down to the city and stayed not his course until the last dollar was spent. Prior to this Bryan was chief justice of the Supreme Court of California." William Linn Tidball, a member of the Richland county bar, was a man gifted not with riches, but ambition and a great desire to be somebody in the world of letters. It is said of him that "if he had wooed the muses of poetry and history and belles-lettres with constancy and assiduity, turning neither to the right to play for a little while. in the temple of justice, nor to the left to court the goddess of war, it is possible his place would have been higher." He removed to the city of Neva York and died there only a few years ago. C. W. Cowan was the son of a Presbyterian minister who officiated in Mansfield. He was a lawyer of considerable ability. He removed to Cincinnati and there acquired considerable practice. He was held in high esteem by his brethren of the bar and was regarded as a man of probity and honor. Joseph Hildreth found the law more to his taste than medicine, and so Doctor Joseph Hildreth came. to the bar. He was brainy and logical, a good thinker and forcible, though not a polished speaker. He was the first president of the association which purchased the nucleus of the grounds which are now a part of and which. led up to the laying out and cultivation and adornment of our "Beautiful City of the Dead," the Mansfield cemetery. He issued a call to the citizens of Mansfield to assemble and take action and closed the notice with these words : "Ye living men, come view the ground where you shall shortly lie." He was a Mason of high degree, a lecturer in that ancient order, and highly distinguished throughout the state as a bright and admirablyl equipped Mason. When the Ohio and Pennsylvania railroad was built—that was the first name of that portion of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, extending from Pittsburg to Crestline—Mr. Hildreth was employed in securing the right of way for it, and was very active, and was appointed agent at Mansfield, and served many years acting also as local attorney as Well as agent. He was the first railroad attorney in Mansfield. He was at one time mayor of the town, and was a public-spirited useful and very valuable citizen. The lives of these old. lawyers and judges inspire you with the gratifying thought that Mansfield was indeed blest in her early years with men who did not always look to the dollar that was to go into their purses, but were broad enough and manly enough to mount a higher plane and work for the good of the community and our common humanity. William Johnston was of Irish blood, but born on the blue waters of old ocean and brought to Ohio as a. child, and when a young man was a teacher. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 285 He was a true son of Erin, and his pen was as eloquent as his tongue, and his tongue was touched with a flame of. fire, sometimes vituperative, dealing, in invective, but for the most time persuasive and pleasant. In his young manhood he was of the Whig school of politics, and during the campaign of 1844 he with an associate, published the "Richland Bugle," the blasts of which, week in and week out, were very effective for Clay, of whom he was a great admirer.  The "Bugle" was conducted with great vigor and blasts and blows were client at the "Shield and Banner" and its then editor, John Y. Messner. Never prior had the local papers indulged in such warfare; and it was .fast and furious. "Harry of the West" was defeated and. Johnston was sad. He soon after moved to Charlotte, Michigan, and published a newspaper there with varying fortune. After some considerable of an interval he returned to Ohio; but without fortune or any accumulation, save his increased family. There began a struggle for existence, and it culminated in the. study of the law and entry on its practice. He was the Whig candidate for probate judge, but was defeated, and soon after became a Democrat :Day and Smith, who bought the Jeffersonian and resurrected its waning fortunes and christened it anew as the Mansfield Herald, made the fight a vigorous one against Mr. Glessner and the Shield, and used the editorial articles copied from the Bugle; and, strangest of all things, the republication of such articles were made the basis of an action on behalf of Mr. Glessner against Day and Smith, and Johnston was the attorney and advocate of Mr. Glessner. If Mr. Messner's good name was assailed, the Bugle blasted it, and the Herald only resounded the Bugle notes. The Bugle was not called to account, but the Herald was required to respond and defend the libel action. In 1862 Mr. Johnston'was elected to Congress and served one term. He was a man possessed of fine gifts, diligent in application and had the habit of .industry and made a success. of the practice of law. William Stevens was not a great lawyer yet he was associated in the trial of some important cases. He was careless of his personal appearance, careless in his dress. He was, in the days of his residence in Mansfield, an author and wrote and published a book, now out of print, entitled the "Unjust Judge." He quarreled with Stewart and with Kirkwood, and in his book he delineated Stewart to his own estimate and measure of the man as the "unjust judge," and one of the persons of this story he nominated "Old Yellow Coat," and that pellative fitted no one save Kirkwood. There may be some stray copies of the book in some of the libraries of Mansfield, I know not, but it is a fact, and should not be lost in history, that in the bar of Richland in the olden times. we find authors and painters, doctors and preachers, yet all at one time disciples of Blackstone and devotees of the law. Stevens removed to. Kansas City. He was elected prosecuting attorney, of Richland county one term, defeating George W. Geddes, who was the Whig candidate. Stevens ought to have been a success; he lacked not brains, but orderly brains; not knowledge, buf the disposition to use that knowledge to the utmost. William B. Bowman was a native son of Mansfield. He was a lawyer of some considerable ability, but the growth of an appetite for drink nearly ruined him. His folks induced him to remove to Kansas. There he asserted 286 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY himself, overcame his appetite and reached a fair measure of success. He was elected to the bench and served several terms. Wiliam R. Cantwell was of an old pioneer family. To young William R. Cantwell there happened an episode which is worthy of revelation. He had been a Democrat, and for a winter or two was a clerical assistant in one of the houses of Ohio's general assembly, and there he fought a duel, with no fatal results. I believe he is the only member of the Richland county bar who received and accepted a challenge .and tested: his courage on the field of honor. His practice in Ohio hardly commenced when he removed to California. There he reached the city bench in Sacramento and took front rank as a member of his profession. Mordecai Bartley was born in Pennsylvania and was in his day a merchant, a farmer, and as he advanced in age was, to a moderate extent, engaged in the practice of the law. He early developed character that won the confidence of those who knew him best, for in 1817 he was elected to the state senate, and remained there by continuous elections until 1823. In 1823 he was elected to congress and served four terms, when he declined a reelection. In congress he was the first to propose the conversion of the land grants of Ohio into a permanent fund for the support of common schools, and secured an appropriation for the improvement of .the harbors of Cleveland, Sandusky City, Huron and Vermilion. In 1844, having retired from Congress and engaged in mercantile and agricultural business, he was elected governor of Ohio on the Whig ticket. Upon his :inauguration as governor, the retiring governor was his own son, Thomas W. Bartley. An occurrence like that of father succeeding the son as governor has probably never occurred in any other state. In 1846 the war with Mexico was strongly opposed by the anti-slavery people of Ohio, they regarding its proclamation in the interests of slavery extension, and, in response to the call for troops, they were not in favor of Ohio filling her quota. But Governor Bartley maintained that Ohio, in common with every other state, was constitutionally bound to respect the requisitions of the national government. He therefore, adopted the proper measures, and the necessary number of volunteers were enlisted and transferred to the authorities under his personal supervision. He declined a second nomination, though strongly urged to accept, and retiring to his home at Mansfield passed the evening of his life in the bosom of his family, dividing his attention between the practice of the law and in the management of his farm. He died October 10th, 1870. Samuel Jordan Kirkwood was born in Hartford county, Maryland, December 20, 1813 ; he removed to Ohio in 1835, and was admitted to the bar of Ohio in 1843. He was prosecuting attorney of Richland county for two terms, elected as a Democrat. He removed to Iowa in 1855, was elected governor in 1859 and 1861; United States senator in 1866; governor again in. 1875, and United States senator again in 1876, serving. until 1881, when he was appointed secretary of the interior by President Garfield. He retired to private life in 1882, and died in Iowa City, Iowa, September 1, 1894. He was a man of strong character and has left his impress on the affairs of this nation. Charles T. Sherman came here from Lancaster, Ohio. He was an able lawyer. He had an analytical mind and was a keen, incisive reasoner. He was HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 287 appointed United States district judge for the northern district of Ohio: His decisions were models of conciseness and clear, lucid reasoning. John Sherman came here from Lancaster, Ohio. He read law with his brother, Judge Charles T. Sherman. Three years afterwards, being admitted to practice, he went into partnership with his brother, and soon achieved the reputation of being an honest, laborious, thoroughly able and remarkably successful lawyer. During the subsequent years, he took an active interest in politics. In 1848 and again in 1852 he was a delegate to the Whig National Convention, and in the latter year was chosen a Presidential elector. In 1854 he labored earnestly in opposition to the extension of . slave territory, and accepting the nomination for the then. Thirteenth district, he was elected to Congress greatly to his surprise. He was appointed by the speaker of the House one of a committee of three to investigate and report on the border ruffian troubles in Kansas. This committee visited the territory and took testimony, under great difficulties. The members received rough treatment and at least on one occasion their lives were saved only by the intervention of United States troops. Returned to the Thirty-fifth Congress he was chairman of the naval investigating committee; which exposed the complicity of Buchanan and his secretary of the navy in the interest of the slave-holding states. A. third time he returned, in the Thirty-sixth Congress he was the Republican candidate . for speaker, and through a long series of ballotings lacked but one or two votes of being elected, but finally, to end the "dead lock," had his name withdrawn. At once made chairman of the ways and means committee, he then became the leader of the House, and in this position the framed the Morrill tariff. In reply to a speech made by the Hon. George Pendleton in 1861, Mr. Sherman prophesied the inevitable destruction of the institution of slavery, as the result of the threatened Civil War.. Elected for the fourth time to Congress, the appointment by President Lincoln of Senator Chase to his cabinet as secretary of the treasury,. made a vacancy to which Mr. Sherman was immediately elected, and taking his seat in the United States Senate in March, 1861, held the same until his appointment in March, 1877, by President Hayes to the secretaryship of the treasury. At once, on taking his seat in the Senate in 1861, he was appointed to the Senate committee of finance, and as its chairman, in December, 1862, he introduced the National Banking bill, and in January following he made a speech in its favor, and against the state. banking system, so effective as to largely influence the passage of the National banking law. The custom of making contracts in advance of appropriations then prevailing, was denounced by him„ and largely through his influence, broken up. In the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, he. proposed a substitute for the reconstruction bill that finally became a law. In the Fortieth Congress he was reappointed chairman of the Senate finance committee and directed legislation that eventually led to the passage of the act of 1870, under which the six per cent war bonds have been wholly refunded. In 1875 he reported the resumption bill that became a law in 1876, and, as secretary of the treasury, was in a position to direct its consummation in the most satisfactory manner, in the face of the most rabid schemes for its 288 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY repeal by the opposition in Congress. At first, in 1878; unfavorable to the passage of the bill to coin silver dollars to' the extent of 'not less than two millions, nor more than four millions a month, as soon as he perceived the advantage this coinage would be to consummation of resumption, he earnestly engaged in the administration of the law, and removed every impediment to its successful operation within his reach. Upon the resignation of General James A. Garfield, who had been elected senator by the Legislature of Ohio, to serve from the 4th of March, 1881, in order to enter upon the presidency, Mr. Sherman was chosen in his place. He held his place in the Senate until March 4th, 1897, when he resigned to accept the secretaryship of state in President McKinley's cabinet. In a. short time, failing health compelled him to resign. He was a prominent candidate for the presidency in 1880 and in 1884 and in 1888 was the leading candidate till General Harrison was nominated. He died October 21st, 1900. His life was one of exceeding activity, untiring industry, of close thought and study, of energetic work, of great accomplishment. lie largely wrote the laws which proved the factors for the onward, progress of the people and the. glory of the Republic. He was one of the greatest statesmen of his day and. generation. He was one of the few who pursued the study and practiced the arts of the statesman, for the good of all his countrymen and rest of mankind. William McLaughlin was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, February 3rd, 1802. He came to Mansfield in 1828 and resided here till his death, July 19th, 1862. Much might have been lost to his day and generation, and to our day and generation, if that marvelous man, marvelous because his early education was limited, and more marvelous because in spite of the meager advantages of his youth, his native gifts were sufficient to supplement the lack, if we had not possessed as a townsman General William McLaughlin, a hero of two wars. Trace his life—was prosecuting attorney of the county, then a member of the Senate of Ohio, when. many men of might were his colleague: yet term after term he was chosen speaker of the Senate, and in his administration of Parliamentary laws, was never overruled. He was possessed of unbounded charity and kindness. He was bold, fearless and resolute in his advocacy of what he thought was right. He was a thorough patriot, who called the whole country his home and gave his life that the nation might live. James Purdy was one of the practitioners under the old common law practice, who never became reconciled to the code. He always referred in disdainful terms to it as the "Cod." In the adoption Of the Constitution of 1851, the change was radical—from the old common law practice to that of the new code just adopted by the state. The older members of the bar, Purdy among them, were indisposed to study the new practice. Mr. Purdy was a successful lawyer, a man of sterling honesty and unblemished integrity. He had and held until his death the confidence and esteem of the bar and the community. Barnabas Burns was the warm hearted, the genial soul, the honorable man, the public-spirited citizen, the careful legislator, the brave soldier and true patriot. His parents were. from across the sea. The Green Isle, the land of HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 289 song and story, of suffering and oppression, was the country from which his father and mother came, settling in Fayette county; Pennsylvania, and there in the woods, their son; Barnabas, was born. In all the official ,positions he held, he filled them with honor to his constituency and credit to himself. He was not a strong man physically, yet he survived to a good old age, and if we measure his life by the good he .accomplished, he lived much longer than any others. He was industrious, energetic, a fair judge of human nature, ithful in his friendships and intense in his dislikes. He analyzed well, not gmatic deliverances. He was an intense lover of the .Union. He was seeing. Early in the war he anticipated Grant's fame, and in a letter written the first year of the war to U. S. Grant, he prophesied his future. The ttei of Grant in reply is among the papers of Burns. He was particularly the friend of young men, especially the younger embers of the bar, all of whom loved him as a. friend and father. He took eat pains to cultivate their friendships and was always ready and willing act as their father confessor and to give them good advice. He was strong th the jury and was unusually successful in the trial of his cases. He was orough in preparation and diligent in application. No golden spoon was the mouth of Barnabas Burns, though there came to him a silver tongue th which to charm his friends in conversation and persuade courts and ries, and guide and. convince and control legislative bodies and political mentions and political questions. He was a Democrat and maintained his egiance to the principles of his party to the end of his useful life. Thomas H. Ford was a lawyer whose practice was never of such an extent to correctly measure him. thereby as a lawyer. He was capable of great effort, but there was in his organization the seeds of weakness, as well as of strength and greatness. There came to Ford a great opportunity, such an opportunity as Patrick Henry once had many decades before. There was a national council of the American party in session in Philadelphia. The leading men of the Whig party of the South were there, with Many Whigs froth the North. Ford was a delegate and the debate was high, and he delivered himself in a speech,. brief, yet masterly, that stirred the whole nation and made him famouS. In speaking further of Ford, I shall reproduce the speech I made while serving as a member of the House in the Seventy-first General Assembly of Ohio, in presenting a picture of Ford to the Senate. Mr. President and Senators: I desire to thank you for this courtesy extended to me in permitting me to address you at this time. The senator from this district has told you in eloquent .language of the greatness of Richland. county and her illustrious Sons, In the galaxy of great men in Ohio, the sons of old Richland stand in the front ranks. As the Ohio man wherever he is, is fond to say, "I was born in Ohio," so the sons of Richland, wherevei they may be, are proud to say, was born in Old Richland." I came here today not to eulogize Richland county's sons, for they need. none, but to, perform a pleasant duty assigned me by the friends and admirers of one who, in the past, was an honor to and shed luster upon his county. The walls of the Sen'ate chamber of Ohio are adorned with the portraits of 290 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY distinguished sons of the Buckeye state who have presided over the deliberations of the Senate under the Constitution of 1851. It has been noted that the .face and features of him who, in 1856-1858, was the president of the Senate, are lacking. Thomas H. Ford, third in the line of lieutenant governors of Ohio, was born in the year 1814, In the State of Virginia, but when a mere child, was brought by his parents into Ohio, and his early years were passed on the hills of Harrison county—the hills high and steep, but covered with rich grasses which have made that county one of wealth and great prosperity. In time his parents removed to and settled within the boundaries of Richland, then, in area, the empire county of the state, and politically the best in Ohio. On the farm he grew to manhood, but varied his employment by teaching the youth and entering on the study of the law, but before he was established in practice, the tocsin of war sounded an alarm on the Rio Grande, and he led into the land of the Montezumas a company of Ohio volunteer, a part of the Third Ohio regiment. Returning after the Mexican war he resumed his studies and began the practice of his profession, and in time became an active participant in the discussion of all questions affecting the public good of the state and the nation, and: the ability he manifested marked him for further advancement and placed him on the ticket as an associate with Salmon P. Chase. On his election he discharged the duties of lieutenant governor ably and well. In the War of the Rebellion he commanded the Thirty-second Ohio. After his resignation, for the most part. of the time he resided in Washington. D. C., and became the intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln.. The form of Ford was that of a commanding personage—few men possessed a finer physique or more commanding presence. He was a gifted man and capable of great effort, when driven into close combat of thought and words, but under ordinary circumstances, he lacked persistency and continuity in labor, Still he measured up well with the other sons of Ohio who served the State. He died February 29, 1868, at the city of Washington, but his mortal part was returned to Ohio, and was buried on the hillside overlooking the Valley of the Mohican, and 'it is fitting and right that on these walls his pertrait should hang, so that in recounting the past it may be seen and known by the coming greneration what manner of man he was. And now, Mr. President, on behalf of a few of his friends, viz: Judge Martin Welker, Hon. John Sherman, Hon. Henry C. Hedges, G. F. Carpenter, Ilon M. D. Harter, B., F. Crawford, Nelson Ozier, and Samuel N Ford, I have the honor and the very great pleasure to present through you to the State, this portrait, and ask that it be assigned to a place on the walls of the Senate chamber. At the close of the above remarks the Senate, by a rising vote, unanimously accepted the portrait. Isaac Gass was the son of William Gass, who was a member of the Seond General Assembly of Ohio. He read law with James Stewart and in many ways and methods was like him. He was prosecuting attorney of the county, state senator, and also entered the military service of his country and carried HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 291 the sword of a lieutenant colonel. He attained some prominence at the bar and was regarded as a safe counsellor and a trial lawyer of fair ability. Robert C. Smith was born in Pennsylvania. He did not devote himself very closely to the practice of law. That he had gifts, is not questioned, but he lacked method, both of study and life, and he despised the weakness of some who gain fame and fortune by fawning. He was a true friend and the soul of honor. When the Civil War broke out, he became a soldier and served as a lieutenant in the First Ohio Independent Battery. For a number of years he was connected with the internal revenue service, and was a faithful public officer. William Loughridge did not long remain at the bar of Richland county. He early took Horace Greeley's. advice, "Go West, young man." He went to Oskaloosa, Iowa, and there became a judge and congressman. Jacob Brinkerhoff was born August. 31st, 1810, in Cayuga county, New York. He came to Mansfield in 1836, and one year later was admitted to the bar; and immediately formed a partnership with Thomas W. Bartley and entered upon the practice of the law. He soon acquired the reputation of being a lawyer of more than ordinary ability, and in 1839 was elected prosecuting attorney of Richland county, and sucessfully discharged the duties of the office for four years. In the fall of 1843 he was elected to Congress on the Democratic ticket. While serving as a member of this body, he became affiliated with the Free-soil party and drew up the famous resolutions introduced by David Wilmot, and since known as the "Wilmot Proviso." The original draft of this resolution in Judge. Brinkerhoff's handwriting is now in the Congressional Library in Washington, D. C. Several copies of this resolution were made and distributed among the Free-soil members of Congress, with the understanding that whoever among them should catch the speaker's eye, and get the floor, should introduce it. Wilmot was the fortunate man, and thereby his name was attached to the resolutions, and it has gone into history as the "Wilmot Proviso," instead of the Brinkerhoff Proviso, as it should have been. At the close of his Congressional career he resumed the practice of law Mansfield, in which he sucessfully labored until he was elevated to the supreme bench, his first term commencing January 9, 1856. He served three successive terms and .declined a fourth nomination. The Ohio state reports from volume five to twenty, inclusive, contain Many of his opinions, and they are very highly regarded everywhere by the profession. Judge Brinkerhoff had a strong sense of justice, and was ever zealous in the discharge of his official duties, and his written opinions are characterized by a fluent and perspicuous style. He was a man of broad culture, of comprehensive views, and of remarkably quick perception. Upon his retirement from the supreme bench he returned to his home in Mansfield, where he re-mined up to the time of his death, which occurred July 19, 1880. Thomas W. Bartley, lawyer and jurist, being president of the Senate of Ohio in 1844, became, by the resignation of Governor Shannon, governor of the State of Ohio," and administered the duties of that office until the inauguration of his father, Governor Mordecai Bartley, in the closing month of that year. He was born February 11, 1812, in Jefferson county, Ohio. He 292 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY was admitted to the bar in Mansfield, Ohio, and served as such for four years, after which he was appointed United States district attorney and served in that office for four years. Elected subsequently to the legislature, he served one term in the House and four years in the Senate. In 1851 he was elected a judge of the supreme court of Ohio and served two full terms. His decisions are held in high esteem by the bench and bar and greeted with approval in the other states. He was a courteous gentleman, -a wise judge and a careful lawyer. Jerome Lee, of him Henry C. Hedges says : "He was a quiet man, but I doubt if he had many equals at any time in the history of our bar and few superiors in intellect or fine intellectual power. He was a man of extensive reading and knowledge of men and things. Keen in analysis, logical in statement, and intensely able in unraveling that which was irrelevant and immaterial, so as to reach the kernel of truth." After the war he was chosen city solicitor of Mansfield and the duties of that office were never more ably performed than by Jerome Lee. He was compelled, on account of his health, to remove to Washington City and there for twelve years he was chief of a division in the treasury department: He performed his duties ably and well. Robert H. Rowland was born in Richland county and after his admission to the bar practiced his profession but a short time and then went into banking business. He died some years ago in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Andrew N. Hedges was a man of faultless form and cultured brain. In a class of forty-two, he was the poet. His intellect was keen, his equipment, for his age, excellent, and his knowledge exact. For a year at the height of the war he served with Captain Shumk, the provost marshal of the district. He, too, entered upon the study of law. Ere he had entered actively the lists of his profession, he was met in the way, and death conquered. His life was gentle and the elements in him assured a man. George F. Carpenter was a native son of old Richland. He practiced law for a number of years in Mansfield. He was not given to the drudgery of trial work. He was especially an office lawyer. He was always regarded as a safe counsellor. He was a business lawyer, and as a result of his thrift and economy, amassed a considerable fortune. Once at a bar banquet held in the old Wiler House, he closed an amusing reminiscent speech by saying that if he had entered some other vocation he might: have been rich, but as it was he had always remained poor. Hubbard Colby was born in New Hampshire. He came to Mansfield in the early Forties. He taught school, studied law and wrote editorials. His first law partner was Mordecai Bartley. His practice of the law was limited more especially on account of other business engagements. He, along with Edward Sturges, Andrew L. Grimes and others, organized the Mansfield Machine Works. He became interested also in the Mansfield Gas Light company, and for a number of years was very active . in manufacturing and other enterprises of Mansfield. He was a member of the Baptist church and was largely instrumental in the erection of the church on the corner of Park avenue west and Walnut streets. Meeting with financial re- HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 295 verses, he removed to California and secured a clerical position in the office of the collector of the post of San Francisco. If he had confined himself to his profession, he might have attained rank. He was a man of commanding figure and socially much liked. N. N. Leyman was born in Richland. county, Ohio. He was educated in the public schools of Mansfield, admitted to the bar on gaining his majority, and immediately entered on a successful practice with his former preceptors. He was a young man of marked ability, but he matured early and reached his greatest height when others were only climbing the lower slopes of fame. Success came to him early and with success ambition led him onward. He removed to New York City, but his sun declined and when hope at its highest he departed. He was not a success as a jury lawyer. He could not reach them, but always went over their heads. As an advocate in the appellate courts he had few. if any, equals at the Richland county bar. He had a keen, incisive, analytical mind. His propositions were always stated with terseness and conciseness and supported with authorities applicable. Thomas McBride was born November 20, 1827, in Monroe township, Richland county, Ohio. He was of Scotch-Irish. ancestry. He read law in Mansfield in and was admitted to the bar in June, 1827, at Mt. Vernon, Ohio. The month following his admission to the bar, he opened a law office in Defiance, Ohio. Success followed his efforts, and two years afterward he was elected prosecuting attorney of Defiance county. This office he filled with credit for two successive terms. In 1865 he returned to Mansfield and followed the practice of his profession till his death in January, 1890. He was a man of strong will power, intense likes and dislikes, fairly cultured, more logical power than rhetoric, and he made of life a success. He was a close student of the law, but not of letters. or literature generally, and thereby he lacked something of the skill and power he might haye attained had he been more broadly educated. As a trial lawyer of facts, he had few equals in Richland county. He was not a polished advocate, but a vigorous one, and in invective not surpassed by any of his contemporaries. He was a skillful cross-examiner of both classes of witnesses, those determined not to tell what they knew and those eager to tell all and more than they knew. His special ability was made manifest in the examination and cross-examination of witnesses. Once retained in a case his every effort was put forth to gain this cause, irrespective of all other considerations. In his intensity, he made enemies of friends, but never made friends of enemies. He was devoted to the church of his choice, the Presbyterian, and was for many years a ruling elder thereof. Lyman Beecher Matson was educated at Wabash college, in Indiana. He studied law at Mansfield and was admitted to the bar and began the practice here. He was a very successful lawyer. He was especially strong with a jury. He, probably, had no equal at the Richland bar as a jury lawyer. He was wonderfully successful in securing business, having a most pleasing appearance and manner. He died in 1876, but he had not reached the zenith of his life or of his accomplishments. Milton W. Worden entered the army soon after his admission to the 296 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY bar. He was a captain in the Thirty-second Ohio and lost his leg at Harper's Ferry. He was elected probate judge of Richland county, and enjoys the distinction of being the only man ever elected to that office of the Republican faith in politics. He did not long survive his retirement from office. He had little, if any, opportunity to attain success at the bar. Samuel S. Bloom was born at Waterford, Pennsylvania., March 11th 1834. He came to Richland county, Ohio, and settled at Shelby in March, 1856. He represented his county in the House of Representatives, General Assembly of Ohio, during the years 1863-1867 and 1877-1881, inclusive He was admitted to the bar in 1864. He was the projector of the first paper in Shelby, The Pioneer. He established the first telephone exchange in Richland county, at Shelby. He was an ardent Democrat. lie was One of the organizers of the First Evangelical Lutheran church, of Shelby, and was one of its devoted members. He lived an active Christian life. He was a good and useful citizen and attained some measure of success at the bar. William W. Drennan lived at Plymouth. He never took an active part in the trial of cases, but was always regarded as a good counsellor. He had considerable success in the practice of law, but it was largely confined to office and Probate business, uncontested cases. John K. Cowan was born in Holmes county, Ohio, and educated at Princeton, New Jersey. He was prosecuting attorney of Richland county in 1870. While. he was prosecutor he was tendered a position in the office of the general counsel of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. He accepted, resigned the .prosecuting attorneyship and removed to the city of Baltimore. He afterwards became general counsel, receiver and president of the Baltimore and Ohio. railroad, and A. D. Egerton, one of President Cleveland's civil service commissioners, told the writer that President Cleveland told him that he would have appointed Cowan to a position on the supreme bench of the United States, instead of L. Q. C. Lamar, but on account of Mr. Cowan's quarrel would Senator Gorman, of Maryland, Gorman had served notice that he would defeat his confirmation. Mr. Cowan served one year in Congress. He was a. polished gentleman, an able lawyer and a Christian citizen. He had a keen, incisive mind. He could readily grasp a point and could sift the chaff from the wheat and get to the merits of the case at once. He was a brilliant orator and a power with court and juries. A. M. Burns was born in Richland county. He began the study of the law in the dike of his uncle, Colonel B. Burns, and was admitted to the bar. The war breaking out soon thereafter, he enlisted in the Fifteenth Ohio, both in the three months' and three years' service. After the war he resumed the practice of the law in Mansfield and was elected to the State Senate and served two terms. He was the author of the so-called "Burns law," that requires the council of any municipality to. first certify that the funds for a certain purpose. are in the treasury not otherwise appropriated; before a valid contract can be made. He was afterwards appointed to a position in the treasury department, but resigned that position and settled in Cleveland, HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 297 where he died. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and measured up well with his fellow members of the legal profession. Andrew J. Mack, of him I quote the following from the committee appointed to prepare a testimonial onhis life : "The bar is today face to face with the great enemy, Death. One of our members, Judge Andrew J. Mack, has been called home. A. native of Ohio for fifty years walking the earth, on the 14th inst. he came to the parting of the ways and :has passed into the unseen country. His parents were of the pioneers of the county—his father strong intellectually, a man of character, self-reliant, his mother gentle, cultured and possessed of all the Christian graces. With such a father and mother, our friend's youth and early manhood were made especially bright and promising, his education was cared for, and in 1868; when twenty-three year of age, he finished his collegiate course and entered on the study of the law, and having the advantage of a course of study in the law department of the University of Michigan; he entered on the practice of his profession in 1870. Official positions came to him almost unsought, and he was prosecuting attorney and for two full terms judge of the Probate court, and retiring therefrom, he entered again on the practice of his profession. We note these facts, for they are a part of his life and his history. He was a genial, gentle-minded man, his domestic relations were happy; his knowledge of the elementary principles. of the law excellent, and his familiarity with the practice large. He was a pleasant and attractive public speaker, and all things combined to make life honorable and useful." William H. Pritchard was born in Richland county, Ohio. He was educated at the Academy at Perrysville, and graduated from the University. of Wooster, Ohio, in 1874. He at once began the study of law and when admtted, began the practice in Mansfield. During his residence in Mansfield he was in partnership with his brother-in-law, Judge N. M. Wolfe. He removed to Washington state in December, 1884, and settled at Tacoma; -where he reached a high position at the bar and served several terms on the bench. He was a most careful, painstaking lawyer. No case that he was retained in couId be too well prepared.. Tie left nothing undone in the preparation. He analyzed both the law and the facts. He endeavored to leave no avenue open by which the opposition could surprise Albert G. Day was born in. Richland .county, Ohio. He read law with Colonel B. Burns and was his last.law partner. He was not a strong, healthy man, and was cut off early in life, before he had an opportunity to do much in his profession. He was a. man of pleasing manners, social and companionable. Albert J. Twitchell was a man of commanding presence. He was a busness lawyer and amassed sorne considerable property. He had a good knnwledge of the law. He was regarded as safe counsellor. And on the few occasions he appeared in court, he showed marked ability, but the drudgery of trial work was distasteful to him. He was a most kind neighbor, He always ready to offer his services and took a delight in. being able to render neighborly assistance. 298 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY William L. Sewell was born in Richland county, Ohio. He was cated in the public schools and in the academy at Hayesville, Ohio. He read law with Judge M. May. After his admission to the bar, he practiced in Mansfield. He was appointed United States consul at Toronto, Canada, and afterwards transferred to Pernambuco, Brazil. He was a great wit, and that, together with his -quaint way of expressing himself, made him a most welcome addition to any party. He would be the life of it. He had a sweet, sunny disposition. He always saw the bright side of life. The word tomorrow was omitted from his vocabulary. When he thoroughly prepared a: case there never was at the Richland county bar a more dangerous opponent. He was full of resources. Knock him out on one theory and he would quickly recover and come back at you; with another and beat you before you had time to gather yourself together. If he had confined himself diligently to the study and practice of the law he would have reached a commanding position at the bar. William W. Skiles was born in Pennsylvania. He came with his parents to Richland county, Ohio, in 1854. He was educated in the public schools and Baldwin University, at Berea, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1876. He paid his own way through college, earning his money by teaching school." He read law with Dirlam and Matson, in Mansfield. After his admission, he formed a partnership with his brother and they located at Shelby, Ohio. The firm, by their industry, soon acquired a large and lucrative practice. He was elected to Congress in 1900 and died during his second term. He reached a conspicuous place in Congress and was highly regarded by his Congressional associates for his sterling honesty and integrity and his adhesion to his principles. He was a man of excellent judgment and most pleasing disposition. He was a student and was always an agreeable companion. He was the soul of honor. His word was as good as his bond. While he eas a man of strong convictions, he had charity for the man who differed with him. He was an untiring worker. When once engaged in a matter, nothing swerved him from his course till the matter was consummated. He was a good citizen and the world is better that W. W. Skiles lived in it. Robert B. Brinkerhoff was born in Richland county. He was edueated in the public schools. He read law and was admitted to the bar in Manafield. After his admission to the bar, he began the practice in Mansfield and continued in it until he was appointed deputy insurance commissioner of Ohio. When his term of office was over, he removed to New York, and became .-connected as counsel for a large insurance company. He became ananexcellent insurance lawyer. He reached a high position in his chosen profession. He was always a student. His wide range of reading made him a brilliant and instructive conversationalist. Thomas F. Black was born in Richland county in 1863. He was the son of poor parents and had to make his own way early in life. He was educated at the public schools and at Ada, Ohio, from which institution he graduated. He was admitted to the bar in 1899 and began the practice in Mansfield field. He was elected mayor of Mansfield and served one term. He con- HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 239 ducted the affairs of the office in a. highly creditable manner. He was successful in his practice. He was a student of the law. He was careful and diligent in his preparation of his cases. He was a genial companion, strong in friendships., he died in December, 1905. A brilliant career was cut off all too soon by the fell destroyer. Richard Gaily was born in Richland county. He was educated in the public schools of Mansfield. He read law in Mansfield and began the practice here. He was appointed referee in bankruptcy and conducted the affairs in a manner satisfactory to all concerned. He was a close student. He had a most lovable disposition and had many warm friends. He was the soul of honor. He was frail and delicate in health and was cut off before his career was hardly begun. Henry P. Davis.practiced law in Mansfield many years and was lovingly referred to by his fellow members as the "Nestor of the bar," "the grand old man of the Richland 'county bar." He had many friends but no enemies. It can be said of him that as a man, as a lawyer, he left a record without a Blemish, a character without reproach, and reputation without a stain. His long, honorable and useful career should be taken as an example by not only all the members of the bar, but by the citizens generally. It is the lives of such men as Henry P. Davis that make the world better for their living in it. While he was not a great man, he was a good man and his influence will be felt for many years to come. I have endeavored to tell sonde things of the members of the Richland county bar. The bar of old Richland has had an honorable name. Its members have attained honorable distinction in many places. They have stamped their impress on the laws of the state and nation and have attained honorable distinction in the interpretation of the laws. Their contests in the forum have brought distinction to their native heath. Let us hope the future will be even moore renowned than the past. In closing it may not be amiss for me to narrate a few anecdotes that occurred during the years of practice. A well-known justice of the peace when asked to instruct the jury would say, "Why gentlemen, the jury understands the case; they need no instructions. No doubt they will do justice between the parties." It is told of another justice that after he had charged the jury at great length and they had been out for a long time, that they came in and asked the justice "whether what he had told them was really the law or whether it was only his notion of it." This article has already been too long drawn out. I must bring it to a close, but in doing so. I want to acknowledge my obligations to Mrs. H. C. Hedges, who kindly gave me access to a scrap book kept by her husband in which much valuable information was obtained. I only regret that Mr. Hedges was not able to prepare this himself. We all regret that that brilliant mind, so full of reminiscences, is clouded so that this article-could not have received the full benefit of it.