(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 68 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. CHAPTER XI. COURT, BENCH AND BAR OF ROSS COUNTY.* The Perishable Nature of a Lawyer's Fame.—Samuel Smith Chosen Justice of the Peace in 1797.—The First Court.—The First Licensed Attorneys.—The First Cause and the First Jury.—The First Common Plea's Court for Ross County.—Quaint Form and Language of Early Law Proceedings.— Supreme Court Proceedings in 1804.—Execution or Edward Stolcupp.— The Trial, Conviction, and Execution of Henry Thomas, alias Goodhue Marvin, Forty Years Later.—Execution of Perry Bowsher, in 1878.—Early President and Associate Judges.— Biographical Sketches:—John S. Levin Bolt.— William Creighton.—Robert F. Slaughter.— Michael Baldwin.— Thomas Scott.—Wyllys Silliman.—Henry Brush.—John Thompson.— Jessup M. Couch.—Richard Douglas.— William Key Bond.— Joseph Sill.—Edward King.—William Sumpter Murphy.—Benjamin Greene Leonard.—Samuel Atkinson.—Jonathan F. Woodside.— James- McDowall. —Frederick Grimke.—Allen Latham.—Allison C. Looker.—Henry Massie.—Gustavus Scott.—William Allen.—George R. Fitzgerald.—Robert Bethel.—James D. Caldwell.— John L. Taylor.—John L. Grear.—Allen G. Thurman.—John H. Keith.—Theodore Sherer.—Joseph Miller.—Edward Lewis.--Alexander St. Clair Boys.—Samuel Logan Wallace, Charles Ward Gilmore.—Samuel M. Penn.—Alfred Yaple. —William Renick Madeira.—Thomas Beach.— Charles E. Brown. —Brief Sketches of Lawyers Still Living. ORDINARILY, the average lawyer reads, writes, studies, wrangles, and argues, through, perhaps, a long life; dies, and is forgotten after one or two generations have passed away, as surely and as utterly as his contemporary merchant and farmer are forgotten ; and more certainly than his contemporary architect, master mechanic, surveyor, and civil engineer are; for the works of these are, ordinarily, monuments to their memories, at least so long as their works remain either remarkable or useful. All the records of himself which a practicing lawyer leaves at his decease, are as vague, wierd and impersonal as are the mythical characters "John Doe" and "Richard Roe," of the old common law forms of real actions. His name appears, it is true, in perhaps a thousand instances in the journals and complete records of the courts, subscribed to narratives of the contracts of his clients made or broken, torts done or suffered, rights to * By Col. William E. Gilmore, of Chillicothe. be asserted or wrongs to be redressed; but the only discriplio persome of the lawyer himself is contained in these words: "By A * * * B * * *, his Att'y," and his personal appearance, his learning, intellectual capacity, habits, moral character, and all else about him are committed to the fast-fading memories of those who knew him and have survived him. True, if he has succeeded in reaching supreme judicial honors, he has then and thereby acquired the right to have his utterances in the form of "opinions by the court" go into printed reports; and his name, and, more or less accurately, the portraiture of his intellectual constitution is preserved, at least within the guild of lawyers. Sometimes we get glimpses of the dead and gone lawyer's character and habits of life, by reason of his having brought suits for himself, or his having been sued for his own debts and misconduct. Generally, however, the personal history of the lawyer is only preserved, when he has turned from the practice of his profession and achieved political distinction. Before the organization of any territorial court for Ross county, the people, in a mass meeting, called for the purpose, decided to select one of their own number to act as a justice of the peace, and agreed to sustain him in all his judgments and orders. Samuel Smith was chosen for this unique office, early in 1797, and, tradition asserts, that notwithstanding he held no commission from the governor, or any other officer, he exercised the power so conferred upon him by the people, freely, promptly, sternly, and well. Disorderly conduct and crimes were promptly punished, and the peace and good order of society maintained. The first court held in this county convened at the town of Chillicothe on the fourth Tuesday of December 1798. It was 'called the court of common pleas for the U. S. territory northwest of the Ohio river, and was presided over by "gentleman justices" commissioned by Gov. Arthur St. Clair. Thomas Worthington (afterwards governor of the State), James Scott, Samuel Finley, Wm. Patton, Elias Langham,, James Ferguson, John Guthrey, James Dunlap, Robert Gregg, Isaac Davis and Reuben Abrams were so appointed justices by commissions which bore the date of October 11, 1798. Of these, James Scott, Samuel Finley and James Ferguson soon resigned. The others served until the judiciary was reorganized under the Slate constitution, and even after that event Patton and Abrams, together with Felix Renick, Isaac Cook and others, served the State long and well as associate judges of common pleas. At the opening of the first term of this court there were present of these justices, Worthington, Scott, Finley, Patton and Langham. Edward Tiffin, afterwards first governor, was the prothonotary, or clerk, and Jeremiah McLene, afterwards secretary of state, was sheriff. So far as we can ascertain, the only licensed attorneys present at this first court, were John S. Will and Levin Belt. The licenses to practice law issued by this territorial court were as follows: Robert F. Slaughter in March, 1799, William Creighton and James Montgomery in June, 1799, Michael Baldwin in November, 1799, HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 69 and Thomas Scott in June, 18ot. The first cause docketed was : " Blair vs. Blair. In case. Damages thirty dollars. Daniel Rotruck, special bail." The first jury was empanneled in the case of Kennett vs. Hamilton, and the entry upon the journal is as follows: "A jury was returned by the sheriff, to-wit : Isaac Davis, Jas. Hays, Joseph Tiffin, Wm. McLinahan, Isaac Owens, Jno. Wilkenson, Robert W. Finley, Elias Bootman, Jno. Bishong, Jno. Patton, Benj. Miller and Jas. Kilgore, who, being duly elected, tried and sworn, found a verdict for the defendant." Truly a model entry for conciseness and simplicity. Before the jury was given into the custody of the sheriff, that officer was required to take this oath, which for centuries was required in all cases: "You do solemnly swear that, so far as is in your power, you will keep this jury together without meat or drink, water excepted, fire or candle; that you will suffer no person to speak to them, nor speak to them yourself unless by direction of the court, only to ask `are you agreed upon your verdict?' And this you do as you shall answer unto God." Failure to agree upon a verdict was rare in those good old times when "rogues were hung that jurymen might dine;" and the modern practitioner is tempted, when a pig-headed, "smart Aleck" hangs the jury, to wish for a return to the old practice. Nearly all the entries in "order book A" are in the neat and correct handwriting of Edward Tiffin; but at the September term 1799, the prothonotary tried a deputy, and that deputy, evidently an Irishman who wrote a good hand, but spelled with a brogue, for he always wrote Justice Ferguson's name "Faugorson" and Guthrey's "Gutery" and closed the daily records of the courts "adjournments." His record, however, only fills six pages, when Tiffin resumed the pen and continued them until the January term, 1803, when, says the record, "Thomos Scott, esq., produced a commission from Charles Willeng Byrd, Esq., acting governor, appointing him prothonotary of the county," after which, having taken the required oath, he assumed the office and kept it until the State organization went into effect in April of that year. At the first term of court, 1798, it was "Ordered, that Thomas Worthington and Samuel Smith, esqrs., do superintend the building of a court house, jail, jailor's house, stocks and pillory." And a few days later it was further "Ordered, that one hundred and twenty dollars be appropriated out of the treasury for the purpose of assisting toward the expenses of building the court house, jail, jailor's house, stocks and pillory." On the fifth day of February, 1803, the records of the territorial common pleas end with the words "Adjourned until court in due course." The first term of the court of common pleas, under the State constitution, for the county of Ross, "in the second or middle district of the State," began on the twenty-sixth day of April, 1803. Reuben Abrams, William Patton and Felix Renick, esquires, produced their several commissions as associate judges from Governor Tiffin, took the oaths required by law, and ordered the opening of the court. On the next day, Wyllys Silliman, esquire, appeared, and, having produced his commission as president judge, took the oath and entered upon his duties. Thomas Scott was clerk pro tempore, and Jeremiah McLene sheriff. On this second day of the term, the first grand jury was ernpaneled, sworn and charged, and retired to make inquiry of crimes and misdemeanors committed within the body of Ross county; "and, after some time," says the journal, "returned into court and made presentment of Stephen Warren for selling liquor without license; and were discharged." Stephen was afterward duly convicted, fined twenty dollars and costs, and committed to jail until his fine and costs were paid. The next business of the judges was the choice of a permanent clerk of the court. Levin Belt, Thomas Scott, William R. Dickenson and John McDougal were the candidates, and each produced a certificate of competency, etc., signed by Hons. William Spring and Samuel Huntington, judges of the supreme court of Ohio. John MoDougal was the successful candidate, and was at once sworn into his official position. Since the great Rebellion of 1861-5, much significance has been attached to spelling our Nation "with a big N." But Clerk McDougal, in the pride of his citizenship of the newly admitted State, always wrote its name thus : "OHIO;" all capitals, and big ones too ! The earliest licenses to practice law, by the State courts here, were issued as follows: To Richard Henry Yansey, in April, 1803; to Lewis Cass (then spelled "Louis"), in April, 1803; to William H. Irwin, in April, 1803; to Henry Brush, in December, 1803; to Abraham J. Williams, in June, 1804; to Wyllys Silliman (ex-president judge), in June, 1804; to James Scott (ex-associate judge), in June, 1804. Neither Yansey, Cass, Irwin or Silliman ever resided in Ross county. The first cause docketed in this first term was "Joseph Tiffiin vs. James Wallace—debt. Judgment confessed; and execution stayed, by consent of plaintiff, for six months." The third cause tried was Robert Campbell vs. Samuel Smith; in case, damages, four hundred dollars. It had been twice tried in the territorial court. At the first trial the jury had rendered a verdict for plaintiff for six hundred and twenty dollars, being two hundred and twenty dollars more than the plaintiff asked for! This verdict was set aside, and, on leave had, the plaintiff amended his declaration by asking eight hundred dollars' damages; so as to be prepared for another liberal jury, if he could get such. But the second jury found a verdict for defendant ! This was also set aside, and, upon this, the third trial, the jury again found for the defendant, and the court entered judgment thereon as follows: "It is, therefore, considered by the court that the plaintiff take nothing by his bill; but, for his false clamor, he, together with his pledges, &c., be in mercy, &c., &c., and the defendant go hence without day, and recover against the plaintiff his costs by him in and about his defence, in this behalf expended." We give this as a specimen of the quaint forms and language of the law proceedings of that day. The "&c.s" of the original record stand as given above, and, 70 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. as Lord Coke said of the "&c." and "etc." of Littleton, they "are pregnant of meaning." It will not be unwelcome to the reader to notice here the humor with which the old time lawyers christened the mythical "lessors " and "casual ejectors" in the artificial forms of the common law action of ejectment— forms now obsolete forever and everywhere. We copy one notice from the casual ejector to his tenant in possession. The case is styled "Joseph Saveall, on the demise of Joseph Tiffin, versus Simpleton Spendall, Elias Langham, tenant in possession," and is as follows: " FOURTH OF DECEMBER, 1802. "MR. ELIAS LANGHAM, DEAR SIR :-I am informed that you are in possession of and claim title to the premises mentioned in this declaration in ejectment; and I being sued therein as casual ejector, and claiming no title to the same, I give you notice to appear before the justices of the court of common pleas, at their next term for Ross county, and then, by a rule of the court, cause yourself to be made defendant in my stead, and make your defences. Otherwise, I shall suffer judgment to be had against me by default, and you will be turned out of possession. So much from your loving friend, "SIMPLETON SPENDALL.' We also find notices in the records from "Peter No- title," "John Bankrupt," etc., but generally John Doe and Richard Roe maintain their eminence as litigators of the titles to real estate. We are sorry to notice in the records of 1804, 1805 and 1806 that Jeremiah McLene, our first sheriff, and his sureties, are sued for large sums, by the auditor of Ross county for the use of the State of Ohio, being moneys collected by him as taxes and not paid over. But he must have made ultimate settlement, or he would hardly have been elected secretary of State as he subsequently was. Simon Kenton, the famous Indian fighter, figures as defendant in a suit for debt in 1805. Imprisonment for debt was very usual. Indeed, most suits upon contract demands for money were commenced by the issue of capiases. Women were not exempt from this hardship. The journal for 1804 recites, for instance, that " Hetty McCann, a poor person imprisoned for debt in the jail of the county, is ordered to be admitted to the benefit of the insolvent act, she having taken the oath prescribed by law," etc. And again, we notice that " Mary Mealhouse" was the subject of a similar order. The stocks and pillory erected in 1798, had not been built in vain. Sentences, to be publicly whipped, were ordinarily only dealt out to negroes convicted of misdemeanors, and white people convicted of theft.- The reader will notice the difference made in the matter of punishments between the two races. We give a single specimen of a "Sentence to the Post," as it was commonly called. One John Cummins had been duly convicted of horse-stealing at the November term, 1808. The sentence (by Judge Levin Belt) was "that said John Cummins receive fifty lashes well laid on his bare back, pay a fine of one hundred dollars to the State of Ohio, restore to Israel Jennings the property stolen, and also eighty dollars the value thereof; be confined in the common jail twenty-five days, and pay the costs of prosecution. And it was further ordered that said John Cummins stand committed until this order be fully carried out." "Black Betty, a negro woman," was also whipped to the extent of ten lashes, also to be "well laid on her bare back," on conviction for petty larcency; and so far as we have noticed this is the only instance, in which the common pleas sentenced a woman to the post. But the reader must remember that justices of the peace had also power to sentence to the whipping post for petty offences, over which they had final jurisdiction, and no doubt, many such penalties were imposed by them upon both males and females if "negroes." It would be cruel in the last degree to some families yet resident in this county, if we should detail all the sentences to the whipping-post, which have attracted our attention while examining these old records. Let the above suffice. In many instances, when convicted criminals were unable to pay the fines and costs assessed against them, they were, by order of the court, "bound out to labor for not exceeding seven years," and the money bid for their labor was applied to the payment of such fines and costs—costs first, of course. Branding with red hot irons, too, was occasionally resorted to. In 8804 one John Brandy was tried for murder, but the jury found him guilty of manslaughter only. He was sentenced "to be burned in the palm of the left hand, with a hot iron, so that the letters MS shall be plainly marked thereon, and pay the costs of prosecution." There are very many other cases, both civil and criminal, in these old records, the recital of which would interest the present generation of readers. But the limits assigned this chapter will not admit of one going farther in that direction, than to notice briefly the three criminal trials which have resulted in the infliction of the death penalty in this county. And it is worthy of notice here, that up to this time no human life has ever been taken in Ross county by "Lynch law." At a term of the supreme court, holden for this county on Monday, May 14, 1804, at which Return Jonathan Meigs, jr., chief justice of the State, presided, and Samuel Huntington and William Sprigg, judges, were present, a grand jury was sworn and charged, and upon the same day returned into court with an indictment, which charged one, "Edward Stolcupp, laborer, of Pee Pee township" (now Pike county), with the murder of one Asa Mounts. The accused man had, on the twenty- seventh of December, 1803, in a fit of anger, born of jealousy, shot his victim dead, with a rifle. On the next day, after finding the indictment, to-wit: Tuesday the 15th, the prisoner was put upon his trial, and upon the following day the jury found a verdict in these words: " We, the jury, find the criminal guilty. Isaac Brink, foreman." On Wednesday, the twenty-third of May, he was sentenced, by Judge Meigs, to be hung by the neck until dead, on Friday, the third day of August, 1804, between the hours of nine o'clock in the morning and twelve at noon and he was executed accordingly. Traditions differ, somewhat, in regard to the spot where the gallows was erected. Dr. McAdow, generally most reliable authority in matters of local history, asserts that he was hung to the sign-post of a tavern on Main street. HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 71 It is hardly probable that a sheriff would execute the death penalty of the law in that manner. The late venerable Mrs. Nancy Waddle often told of having seen people looking at the execution from the windows of General Finley's house, which stood at the southeastern corner of Second and Paint streets, where Lansing's drug store now is. The execution would, most probably, be upon the, then, spacious public grounds around the court house, and in that day there was nothing to obstruct the view of all the front of those grounds from the Finley mansion. Upon the margin of the supreme court record of the trial; there is a memorandum in the handwriting of the late Louis Fullerton, made many years ago, in these words: " He was hung close to the old pump—so says Richard Snyder." Snyder, whom all our middle- aged citizens will remember, was living here, a young man, at the time of the hanging, and was one who would have been sure to see such a spectacle. There was an old pump just north of the old stone court house, and the north wall of our present court house is directly over the well-hole, and is cracked at the point because of it. We have no doubt, therefore, that that was the locality where Stolcupp was hanged. Levin Belt prosecuted the case for the State, and Michael Baldwin and William Creighton, jr., defended the prisoner. After the conviction, Baldwin made earnest, but ineffectual, appeal to Governor Tiffin for commutation of punishment, and after the execution he procured the dead body, to be buried on a lot directly in the rear of the governor's residence, swearing he would keep Tiffin in mind of Stolcupp, anyhow. The indictment was unskilfully drawn, and is not a good presentment of the crime of murder in the first degree. Nor, so far as we can now judge of it, did the facts make a case which warranted the infliction of the death penalty. But, perhaps, "an example was wanted." Forty years elapsed before the recurrence of such an event in Ross county. On the night of November 19, 1844. Frederick Edwards—an old, well known, and much liked merchant of this county—was murdered in a store-room, in the village of Bourneville, by burglars, after an evidently desperate struggle for self-preservation. His body exhibited no less than nineteen stabs, and of these wounds twelve were of such character that, in the opinion of surgeons who examined them, either one would have been, of itself, mortal. Soon afterwards Leroy J. Maxon was arrested at McConnellsville, Ohio, and Henry Thomas (alias Thomas Dean), at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and committed for the crime. At the April term, 1845, they were indicted for murder in the first degree, and elected under the law as it then was—to be tried by the supreme court. In the following May, Maxon succeeded in escaping from the jail; and, although many reports of his having been seen at different places were circulated at intervals, no reliable information was ever obtained, in regard to him, afterwards. On the twenty-fourth day of December, 1845, the supreme court began a term for Ross county, with Nathaniel Reed and Peter Hitchcock, judges, presiding; and the trial of Thomas was the first business of the term. The prosecuting attorney, Joseph Miller, was assisted by Hon. Thomas Ewing and John L. Green, and the defence was conducted by Henry Stanberry and Hocking H. Hunter. The trial of the case occupied two days. The evidence was conclusive against the prisoner, and the jury promptly returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. On the twenty-eighth, Judge Reed sentenced Henry Thomas to death, by hanging, and designated Friday, the sixth of March, 1846, as the day upon which the execution should take place. A few days before the time so fixed for the execution, Thomas endeavored to commit suicide by cutting his throat with a pen-knife, which he had contrived to obtain or conceal. The sentence of the law was duly carried out, at the proper time, by Charles Martin, the sheriff. The gallows was erected in front of the old stone court house, at a spot that is very nearly under the inner door of the present city hall room of the court house. We have ascertained that his real name was Goodhue Marvin. The next and only other execution upon the gallows in Ross county, up to this date, was that of Perry Bowsher, in June, 1878. On the night of Friday, October 26, 1877, Bowsher, with some accomplice, whose name has never transpired, burglarized and robbed the toll-gate house, on the Columbus turnpike road, about six miles north of Chillicothe. The resident gatekeepers were Edmund McVey and Ann, his wife; a venerable couple who had lived in this city and vicinity for more than fifty years, and were well and favorably known to almost the entire community. It appeared, upon the trial, that Bowsher alone had entered the house through a kitchen door, passed through the bedroom of the sleeping old couple, and was searching for money in the room which fronted on the turnpike road (which was also a grocery store, in a small way), when the noise made in prying open a desk aroused Mr. McVey, who, being a fearless old man, rushed at once upon the robber. Bowsher instantly fired at him with a thirty-two calibre revolver, and the first shot killed him. The wife then ran into the front room, begging for mercy. Bowsher replied, "it is too late now !" and fired the second and third bullets into her body, and she sank lifeless into a large arm-chair. A young girl, by the name of Alice Dean, was at the time in bed in a room adjoining the sleeping apartment of the McVeys. Aroused and frightened beyond measure by the exclamations and pistol reports, Alice hastily crept under her bed, and remained there unobserved, while Bowsher searched the drawers of the bureau in her room. The murderer coolly completed the search of the house, after committing these murders, and obtained four United States bonds, aggregating eight hundred dollars, and some thirty dollars in money, but failing to find about three hundred dollars, which was hidden in various places about the premises. After all this, Bowsher was deliberate enough to go into the kitchen with a lighted candle, and eat a hearty lunch of such food as he could find there. While he was so engaged, Alice Dean escaped through the window of her 72 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. bedroom, and ran to the nearest neighbors to give the alarm. Meanwhile, Bowsher, having finished eating, returned into the sleeping apartments and set fire to the bedding and some clothing which was hanging on an open door, and left the premises without having been seen by anybody who could identify him as the author of these terrible crimes. The fire he had started was extinguished by the neighbors, who soon arrived, without having made much progress. From the scene we have described, Bowsher went, unobserved in the darkness by any one, to his old haunts in Hocking county; where, having exhibited the stolen bonds to a half brother by the name of Baldwin (who was afterward a willing witness for the State for the sake of obtaining the one thousand dollars reward which had been offered for the detection and apprehension of the murderer), and a woman of his acquaintance, he was suspected, arrested, and brought to jail. He was indicted on the twenty-first of December for murder in the first degree in each case, and on the nineteenth of February, 1878, was put upon his trial for the murder of Ann McVey. Judge Thaddeus A. Minshall was upon the bench, and ruled upon the manifold questions raised in the progress of the case with such fairness to the prisoner and accurate knoweledge of the law, that no exception of value to the defense could be taken. The prosecutor, Albert Douglas, jr., was assisted by Judge W. H. Safford, and Hon. Archibald Mayo, and Colonel William E. Gilmore, under appointment by the court, defended the accused man. The trial lasted two weeks, and excited the greatest interest ever manifested by this community in a similar affair. The very large court room was densely packed with auditors from the first day to the last, and a large portion of them were ladies. The prosecuting attorney had, with great skill and diligence, hunted up every item of evidence against the prisoner that was possible of ascertainment, and the train of circumstances developed made it impossible to doubt that Perry Bowsher had fired the fatal shots. Counsel for the prisoner early recognized this truth, and bent all their energies and abilities to making out the defence of insanity. While they succeeded in greatly dividing public opinion upon that point, unfortunately for Bowsher, the jury were unanimous in the belief that at the time the acts for which he was on trial were committed he was sane enough to distinguish between right and wrong, and knew that he was violating the laws of God and the country. They returned a verdict of murder in the first degree, and Judge Minshall sentenced him to be hung on the twenty-first day of June, 1878. He was accordingly executed at about 10:30 A, M. of that day by Sheriff Thomas L. Mackey, in the space between the new jail and the court house. Bowsher, byethe-bye, was the first prisoner who occupied that jail. [The Ross County Register, of the dates covering the time of the murder, trial and execution of Bowsher, will be found singularly full and accurate in well-written descriptions of those events. Our account is necessarily brief.] The president judges of common pleas, under the first :onstitution of Ohio, were: Wyllys Silliman, 1803 to 1804; Levin Belt, 1804 to 1805; Robert F. Slaughter, 1805 to 1807; Levin Belt, 1807 to 1810; John Thompson, 1810 to 1824; Gustavus Swan, 1824 to 1830; Frederick Grimke, 183o to 1836; John H. Keith, 1836, 1850; Henry C. Whitman, 1850 to 1852. The associate judges for the same period were: Reuben Abrams, 1804 to 181o; Isaac Cook, 1804 to 1824; John Hutt, 1804 to 1805; James Armstrong, 1805 to 1824; Thomas Hicks, 1805 to 1817; Joseph Gardner, 1817 to 1825; Presley Morris, 1824 to 1831; James McClintick, 1824 to 1845; J. Bailhache, 1825 to 1830; Samuel Swearingen, 1830 to 1833; Presley Morris, 1831, May to July; Isaac Cook, 1831 to 1838; Isaac McCracken, 1833 to 1840; Jacob Bouser, 1838 to 1845; T. Rittenhouse, 1840 to 1847; Owen T. Reeves, 1845 to 1852; Thomas Orr, 1845 to 1852; Joseph Blacker, 1847 to 1850; John Foster, 1850 to 1851; Joshua Robinson, 1851 to 1852, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ROSS COUNTY LAWYERS. John S. Wm". was born in Virginia, in 1773, and admitted to the bar in 1794. He attended the first territorial common pleas court for Ross county, in 1798, in which year he came from Cincinnati here, to reside. His name appears of record as attorney in a considerable number of cases—but mostly of small consequence—up to 5808. In 1809, hers removed to Franklinton, then the county seat of Franklin county. From the fact that, in the latter years of his residence here, he was quite frequently sued for his own debts, and sometimes for moneys collected for clients, and retained by him, we infer that his practice was not a lucrative one, He prosecuted for the State in 1807 and 1808. The only personal peculiarity we have heard of him is, that he was greatly interested in the experiments then being made with electricity. The Voltaic pile had been invented in 1800, and occasioned a renewed interest in the investigation of the nature and qualities of the subtle and mysterious fluid„ From the motion imparted by electric currents to dead bodies, Mr. Will deduced a firm conviction that science would, in a little while, be able, through its agency, to restore the dead to life and health, and he greatly deplored that his own birth had not been delayed until this anticipated grand triumph of human learning had been fully developed and established. It is also a tradition that Mrs. Will was a lady of unusually attractive charms; and it was slanderously circulated, and nearly credited, that General W. H. Harrison, for weeks, delayed marching with the army he had concentrated at Franklinton, in 1812, to meet the British and Indian enemy upon the threatened frontier, solely because he was loath to part from Mrs. Will. Mr. Will died April 27, 1829. LEVIN BELT was also in practice, as a lawyer, at the organization of the territorial court. He was born in England, but the date of his birth we have not been able to ascertain, though many of our old citizens knew him personally and well. Mr. Belt was first prosecutor for the State, within this county, when prosecuting attorneys were appointed by the court, and, paid, by order of the court, for each term's work, in sums ranging from fifteen to fifty dollars; which, we believe, were the minimum and maximum compensations for a term's labor, for a period of more than fifteen years. In June, 1804, he succeeded Wyllys Silliman in the office of President judge of common pleas. In the following March he was super- ceded by Robert F. Slaughter; hut was again installed as such in April, 1807, and continued to hold the place until the close of the year 5809. While it appears that Belt was a reasonably good and satisfactory judo of common pleas, it seems that he failed as a practitioner at the HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 73 bar. And this is not an uncommon fact in the history of the profession. From the bench he descended almost immediately into the mayoralty of the, then, very small town of Chillicothe, with which office he combined that of justice of the peace ; and mayor and justice he continued to be for a long series of years. One story of his construction of statutes, while justice, we must preserve. The legislature had, for some inscrutable reason, enacted a law forbidding licensed attorneys from "appearing before justices of the peace." Soon afterwards, Richard Douglas appeared before Squire Belt, in behalf of a client, and rose to argue a motion to dismiss the case. "Dick! Dick!" exclaimed the squire, "don't you know the law? You mustn't appear before me! Get behind me, Dick, and make your speech!" which order, says the story, Douglas complied with promptly, and went on with his argument. In physique, Mr. Belt was very tall, broad-shouldered, muscular, without surplus flesh, dark brown hair, sprinkled only with gray, even when advanced in life, gray eyes and somewhat ruddy complexion ; a tout ensemble which, in the days of his mayoralty, especially, gave great emphasis to his judgments upon, and orders to, the petty malefactors brought before him. We have been amused while pursuing our inquiries about him, among our older citizens, to notice the awe yet retained with which he inspired those who, as boys, were brought before him for such crimes as violating "the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday," by fishing, bathing, or playing ball. Old George Huffman had been one of these juvenile unfortunates, and when we asked him if Belt was not a large man, Huffman exclaimed, "Large? why he looked big as a meeting-house!" Judge Belt removed from Chillicothe to Washington city, about the year 1828, and died there a few years later. WILLIAM CREIGHTON (who always wrote his name with the addition of " jr." to distinguish himself from an older cousin of the same name who resided here), was born in Berkeley county, Virginia, in the year 1777, came to Chillicothe in 1799, and was admitted to practice here in the same year. He soon established himself in the favorable regards of the people by the industry and conscientiousness with which he applied himself to the interests of his clients. His practice grew steadily larger and larger for many years; but as cases in those days were not such as could pay large fees, and Mr. Creighton did not, to any considerable extent, seek to get and hold real estate, he never be--- came a very wealthy man. While he was eminently industrious and painstaking in-his business, he was not equally industrious as a student of the law. In fact, Mr. Creighton held that the law was simply good sense and sound judgment crystallized into certain forms and rules, and he trusted greatly to evolving from his own sense and judgment what those rules were, or ought to be, in any given case, He was not much addicted to hunting up precedents or quoting decided cases. When, in later times, more exact knowledge of the science of the law, and better acquaintance with tlie reported cases, were required for successful practice, he was fortunate in associating himself in partnership with William Key Bond, and afterwards, and finally, with John L. Green. Nor had Mr. Creighton any pretensions to oratory. His style of speaking was conversational; ready, easy, fluent, and pleasant enough, but never impassioned. He aimed to amuse with his wit, rather than to enthuse those he addressed "with thoughts that breathe and words which burn." He dearly loved and freely indulged in practical jokes and fun. An hundred anecdotes of these might be readily gathered from the memories of men yet living, but of all we have heard there is not one which we would dare to put into type. He always took a deep interest in political affairs, and was an ardent Whig after that party was organized, and was especially devoted to the fortunes of Henry Clay. He was elected to congress, and represented this portion of Ohio from 1815 to 1817, and again from 1827 to 1833• In the latter year he resigned his position as representative for the purpose of accepting the office of district judge of the United States court, to which he was nominated by the president, but*was disappointed, by reason of the senate having refused to confirm the appointment. In person, Mr. Creighton was a large man, nearly, or quite, six feet in height, large-boned but not fleshy, weighed, perhaps, one hundred and eighty pounds. His hair was dark brown, and never became very gray; he had gray eyes, rather deep set and over-shaded with heavy brows. He habitually carried his head advanced, which made him appear somewhat round-shouldered. His expression of face was always gravely good-humored. He was fond of entertaining his friends and distinguished strangers, and was a generous and genial host. Henry Clay, DeWitt Clinton, and many more historic men have sat at his table. Judge Safford, who occupied the old Creighton mansion, at the corner of Water and High streets, after Mr. Creighton's death, showed us a single account paid by him for madeira, port, sherry and Malaga wines, brandy, and whiskey, which footed up three hundred and fifty- five dollars. William Creighton died here, in September, 1851. ROBERT F. SLAUGHTER was admitted to the bar here in 1799, and resided in Chillicothe for some years. He seems to have had a fair share of the practice in the early years of the State's existence; although he, too, appears as defendant in a considerable number of suits for debt, especially in 1803 and 1804. In March, 1805, he became president judge, but held the office for only a single year. We notice that his sentences to the whipping post were more frequent, in proportion to the number of convictions, and more severe than those of his predecessors or successors. It was he who sentenced Black Betty to be whipped. Judge Slaughter moved from Chillicothe to Fairfield county, and lived there to a very advanced age, we believe. MICHAEL BALDWIN was a very marked and memorable member of our earliest bar. He came of a Connecticut family of note. One brother, Henry Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, was one of the associate justices of the supreme court of the United States; another, a wealthy planter in Tennessee; a third lived in Connecticut. Michael was admitted to practice here in 1799, and at once forced recognition of his energy, learning and sparkling intellectual gifts; and almost as speedily developed his uncontrollable love of liquor, fun and frolic. He soon distanced all competitors for legal business save William Creighton, jr., whose patient industry still retained him the larger and by far more lucrative practice. As between the two, it was the race between the hare and the tortoise over again, and with the same inevitable result. One of the malicious stories of that day was, that certain other lawyers became so jealous of Baldwin's popularity and business success, that they encouraged the latter's passion for drink, so that his career might be shortened as much as possible. In 1803, '4, '5 and '6, Baldwin, notwithstanding his dissipation did a large amount of professional work. But from the latter date, there is a rapid decadence of his practice apparent in the records of the court, and, by 1808, his name but rarely appears, save only as defendant in suits for tavern bills, borrowed money, And applications for the benefit of the insolvent laws. We learn from Safford's "Life of Herman Blennerhasset," that Baldwin had been the United States marshal for the State of Ohio, and that he was much embittered against President Jefferson for depriving him of that office. Aaron Burr advised Blennerhasset to retain judge Jacob Burnett, of Cincinnati, and Baldwin, for the defence of both themselves in the trials for high treason which they expected to undergo before the courts of Ohio; but which trials never took place. In a letter written to his wife, under date of December 17, 1807, Blennerhasset says: "I have retained Burnett and Baldwin. The former will be a host with the decent part of the citizens of Ohio; and the latter a giant of influence with the rabble, whom he properly styles his 'blood hounds.' " It is very suggestive of the character of Baldwin, that at almost every term of his practice we find this entry upon the journal: "Ordered, that Michael Baldwin, one of the attorneys of this court, be fined ten dollars for contempt of court, and be committed to jail until the fine be paid. Poor, brilliant, boisterous, drunken, rollicking Mike! By reason of eommitmehts for contempt and capiases for debt, he became familiar, indeed, with the inside of the old jail which stood at the northwest corner of Second and Walnut streets. He was a member of the contitutional convention, and tradition asserts that he wrote almost the entirety of the first constitution of Ohio in the bar-room of William Keys' tavern, using a wine keg for his seat, and the head of a bartel of whiskey for his desk. A queer origination, truly, for the organic law of such an empire as Ohio grew to be, before that constitution was superseded! He was speaker of the house of representatives in 1803-4 and '5. Fond of gambling, of course—for he seems to have had all the modern accomplishments—it is told that he opened a game of "vingt et en" for the benefit of such members as craved excitement. Baldwin, being banker and dealer, of course, won all their money and most of their watches. The party- broke up, and went to their several rooms, drunk, long after the "wee sma' hours of the night. Mike, used to such life, was in the speaker's chair, on time, next morning, rapped the house to order, and proceeded with business. A 10 74 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. call of the house was soon demanded, and the fact made officially apparent that there was no quorum present. The speaker sent out the sergeant-at-arms for absentees, and that officer, in the course of an hour or two, .filed into the hall and in front of the speaker's chair, some dozen or more of the half-asleep, and only partially sobered, gamesters of the night before. Thereupon Baldwin rose, and, with dignified severity of manner, began to reprimand them for their negligence of the trusts reposed in them by their constituents, and remind them of the great cost per diem to the infant State, of the sessions of the general assembly, etc., until one of the party of culprits broke abruptly in upon the harangue, with the exclamation, "hold on now, Mr. Speaker! how the h-ll can we know what time it is, when you have got all our watches!" At the June term, 1804, the tavern-keeper, William Keys, sued Baldwin upon an account which aggregated twenty-five pounds, thirteen shillings, ten pence, a copy of which account is filed. Every item in it, save three, was for drinks in one form or another—brandy, spirits raw, bowls of toddy, punch, treats to the club, etc. The three exceptional items were suppers for himself, for which he was charged one shilling and six pence for each. But with each supper there appears a charge of three shillings for a pint and a half of brandy—a proportion of drink to meat which strongly reminds one of the bill rendered by Dame Quickley to Sir John Falstaff. "Drinks for the Club" were undoubtedly Mike's treats to the Blood Hounds—an organization of the roughs and fighting men of that day, which Baldwin had gotten up, and which he controlled. The Blood Hounds did his electioneering and fighting for him ; and more than once delivered him from the jail by breaking in the door, or tearing an end out of that structure. His brothers twice attempted to relieve him from the embarrassments of his debts, and for that purpose sent him bags of coin amounting to a considerable sum. On these occasions it is said he hired a negro for porter of the money, and went around to his creditors seriatim, allowing each one, irrespective of the amount of his account, to have one grab in the open mouthed bag until all was gone. His name appears in the records of the court for the last time, in the early part of rib r, and he undoubtedly died soon thereafter. His widow survived him for many years, and when not less than seventy years old, contracted a second marriage with Adam Stewart, of this county. An old citizen speaking to us of " Kitty" Baldwin in her prime, remarked, "I tell you! she was the proudest widow that ever walked the streets of Chillicothe." THOMAS SCOTT was born on the thirty-first day of October, 1772, at Old Town, or Skipton, at the junction of the north and south branches of the Potomac river. He came of that sturdy Scotch-Irish stock which has furnished very many remarkable and valuable men to the bar, bench, army, navy and legislatures of America. His grandparents emigrated to the United States very soon after the battle of the Boyne, and settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, from whence the father of Judge Scott removed to and settled in Virginia. In May, 1796, Mr. Scott married Catharine, daughter of Robert and Catharine Dorsey Wood. He very early connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal church, and remained steadilyond devoutly a zealous Methodist throughout his long life. He was licensed a preacher when only seventeen years old, by Bishop Asbury, and was ordained at eighteen. At this period of his life, Mr. Scott fully intended to devote himself to the ministry, and he prudently learned the tailoring trade so as to be sure of the necessaries of life, while in charge of the then very poor and scattered flocks of the Methodist church. In 1793 he was placed in charge of the Ohio circuit, and in 1794 was sent as delegate to a conference held in Lexington, Kentucky. By this time he had resolved to study law, and he began reading under the auspices of James Brown, esq., of Lexington. But he was so poor that he was compelled to labor at tailoring, much the greater portion of the time. In this strait, his wife (who besides possessing, in an eminent degree, all the noblest attributes of womanhood, was an unusually well educated and intellectual lady) sat beside his work bench, and read to him "Blackstone," "Coke upon Littleton," and the other law books usually put into the hands of law students in those days. Whether licensed to practice or not—and it does not appear that he was—he certainly appeared as a lawyer in the courts of Flemingsburgh, Kentucky, and even prosecuted for the State in 1799 and 1800. Early in 1801, he came to Chillicothe, and be was licensed here to practicNaw, in June, aor. In the following winter he was clerk of the territorial legislature., In November (from the first to the twenty- ninth), 1802, he was secretary of the constitutional convention. In January, 1803, he was commissioned prothonotary of common pleas, which he held until the reorganization of the courts, in April of that year; and in April was the clerk of common pleas, pro tempore, and candidate for the permanent clerkship, but was defeated for that position by John McDougal. He was then commissioned the first justice of the peace in the county, and continued in that position for three or four years, although, meanwhile he practiced in common pleas, and was also prosecuting attorney in 1804 and 1805. In the fall of 1805 he was chosen clerk of the Ohio senate, and continued such, by successive annual elections, until 1809, when he was elected to the supreme bench of the State, upon which he remained, with good credit, too, until 1815, He was then register of public lands, from 1829 to 1845. When, after the " era of good feeling," which existed during Monroe's administration, men began to divide again upon political questions, Judge Scott took his place with the Republican party. But President Adams having made him the promise to appoint him district judge of the United States, for Ohio, and this having been prevented by the interference of Henry Clay, who obtained the place for another, Judge Scott immediately became a zealous and active Jackson Democrat. He continued his affiliation with the Democracy until 1840, when he went over again to his old partisan friends, then called Whigs, and supported General Harrison's candidacy. He remained a Whig during the remainder of his life, but strongly sympathized with the anti-slavery movement, which gave birth to the present Republican party. We must not forget to mention, that in all the vicissitudes of his long and busy life, he continued to fill the pulpit of the Methodist church whenever called to supply it as "local preacher." He died February 13, 1856, at the age of eighty-three, and at that time had been longer in the active practice of law than any other person in Ohio, and, probably, longer a preacher of the gospel than any minister in the United States. His excellent wife survived him about two years. As a lawyer, Judge Scott was painstaking, laborious and precise to a remarkable degree. Some of his briefs are marvels of patient research and also of prolixity. He had wide reputation for learning, in the laws of realty, especially, and was employed abroad in some very important cases, and for his services received a few large fees. It will be noticed in the foregoing sketch of his life, that, true to the instincts of a Virginian, Judge Scott loved official distinction. No position was too high for his solicitation, and none too humble for his acceptance. As a husband and a father, never was mortal man more gentle, affectionate and provident. WYLLYS SILLIMAN, the first president judge, was a resident of Zanesville when commissioned, and continued to reside there, so far as we know. We presume that, of course, he was a licensed lawyer when he was so appointed judge, but we find a record of his admission to the bar of Ohio in 1804. His name appears as attorney in a few cases thereafter, but we suppose his principal business was in the courts nearer his home. He lived to be over sixty years of age, and Judge Keith, in a sketch published in the Ross County Register, of January 9, 1869, describes him as being a most eloquent speaker. HENRY BRUSH came from New York State to Chillicothe in 1803. He did not acquire business very rapidly, although, after 1812, and for twenty years, his practice was pretty good. During this period he had one or two partners who were men of legal ability. Brush himself did not rank very high as a lawyer of learning. He was prosecuting attorney in 18o8 and 1809; a member of the legislature in 1810; of the Ohio senate in 1814, and of Congress from 1819 to 1821. In August, 1812, he marched in command of a company of Ross county volunteers to reinforce General Hull's command, then on the northern frontier, and in the presence of the British and Indian army. Brush and his company reached a point so near to Hull's position as to be included in the terms of that deplored " surrender," but, having no taste for the role of prisoners of war, they turned southward and escaped. Anticipating pursuit by the Indians, Brush caused the head of a barrel of whiskey to be knocked out, scatted tin cups on the ground, and left the "fire water" in his abandoned camp, rightly conjecturing that his pursuers would speedily become so drunk as to be unable to keep up the chase. The stratagem was successful. And, having destroyed wagons, supplies and all other impedimenta, the volunteers reached home without the loss of a man, although they endured considerable hardship in the retreat. Colonel Brush (this rank being afterward attained by him in the militia organization) was tall and thin, of dark complexion, had a high Roman nose, thin gray hair (as the writer remembers him), had a cataract which destroyed the sight of his left eye, and was of nervous temperament. HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 75 About 1838 he abandoned the practice of law, and for a year or two lived upon a farm he had bought, in Union township. He used to express great satisfaction in the change of employment he had thus made, and insisted that his friends should address him as Farmer Brush, in- ;Wad of Colonel Brush, as he was generally called. He finally sold his farm in this county to George Butler and purchased a larger tract of land in Madison county, to which he removed, and died there about 186o, being at his death about eighty years of age. JOHN THOMPSON came from Chambersburgh, Pennsylvania, to Chillicothe, in 1806, and entered upon the practice of law with energy and considerable success. He succeeded Levin Belt in the president-judgeship of common pleas, in aro, and held that office until the close of the November term, 1823. Within this period a number of interesting cases were tried before him, including the exciting United States bank tax case, and the trial of the Mounts for murder. Judge Thompson is represented to have been a lawyer of acute, but narrow, mind; firm to stubbornness; of considerable reading, and much readiness in the application of his learning; much influenced by his likes and dislikes; but, withal, of good morals—" a sanctimonious, religious Presbyterian," says one who knew him well—" and strictly temperate." In the last characteristic he was almost unique among the lawyers of his day. The bilious diseases to which this locality has always been subject in the past, assumed, in 1821, '22 and '23, such intensity, that by many it was thought that veritable yellow fever prevailed. Many cases were fatal. Judge Thompson had a large family at that time, and became quite nervous in his apprehensions of the appearance of the yellow fever in his own household. Being a judge, of course he formed a theory upon the subject of his fears. All common pleas judges have theories upon all possible subjects. This particular theory of Thompson's was that ammonia destroyed the germs of the fever-producing miasma. Therefore he seriously projected removing his whole family to, and living in, a tavern stable, among the horses, during the sickly season! Vigorous protests from Mrs. Thompson resulted in a compromise, however, by which the family was allowed to remain in the mansion, but were all required to spend an hour each morning standing upon the manure pile, and inhaling the ammoniacal fumes that arose from it. Soon after leaving the bench, Judge Thompson removed to Louisiana, just south of Port Adams, Mississippi, where he purchased a plantation, and a few negroes, we believe. 'There he spent the brief remainder of his life, and died in 1832 or 33. JESSUP M. COUCH came to Chillicothe, from Connecticut, in r8o8 or 1809. He attained to a fairly large practice; and, in 1815, became one of the supreme judges of Ohio, and continued in that high official position until his death, by consumption, in 182r, we believe. As none of his opinions have been preserved (the Ohio reports, except Wright's one volume, being all of dates subsequent to his decease), we have no means of forming a judgment as to his abilities. 'They were not eminent, however. He was a small, slender man; courteous, gentle in manner, and dressy even to foppishness. Although fond of the society of ladies, and gallant in his atteatians to them, he never mirried. He boarded at the old Watson hotel, and Elias Langham played upon his excessive nervousness one dark night, by slyly introducing an old gander through the window into his room. After a while, some noise made by the gander awakened the judge, who for a long time listened with wonder, not unmixed with trepidation, to the soft pat, pat, pat, of the heavy bird's feet under and around the bed. But when finally the goose rose upon tiptoe, flapped his dimly-seen long white wings, and gave forth the "eldrich" cackle, which, in ancient times, is said to have saved Rome, he sprang from his bed in uncontrollable terror, and rushed, en dishabille, through the house and into the bar-room for protection. RICHARD DOUGLAS was born at New London, Connecticut, in September, 1785, and came to Ohio in the winter of 1808-9, on an intended voyage to New Orleans. Arriving at Chillicothe, he came to the conclusion to remain here; and he finished his course of law reading—which he had begun in Connecticut—in the office of Colonel Henry Brush. He was licensed to practice in 1800, and immediately published his professional card in the Scioto Gazette of December 23, 1809, as follows: " DOUGLAS "Intends practicing law in Chillicothe, if he can get anything to do He intends to be honest, likewise," He got something to do. In fact, he did a great deal before he ceased to practice law! Mr. Douglas stuck closely to his professional work. We know of only two or three little episodes in his life by which his practice was in any degree interrupted. In 18x2 he went for a few months into the military service under General (then colonel) McArthur, and held the rank of lieutenant, performing the' duties of quartermaster and chaplain of the First regiment of Ohio volunteers. He was also, at one time, a member of the Ohio house of representatives. In 183i he was nominated by the Whigs for congress, but William Key Bond and his personal friends claimed that Douglas' nomination was unfairly and irregularly made, and Bond announced himself as a candidate also. As this state of things, if continued, must have resulted in certain defeat to both, a compromise was effected, by the terms of which both Bond and Douglas withdrew, and Governor McArthur was adopted as the Whig candidate, and was afterwards defeated by William Allen by one vote. We doubt whether Mr. Douglas ever had a thorough academic education. We know that he had spent six years as a sailor in the whaling trade, and at least one more in the study of law before he came to the west, and was only twenty-three when he came. But he possessed such an extraordinary gift of seeming to know anything and everything, that no mortal man was able to guage his real attainments. It is certain, however, that he was thorough in belles lettres; and had good acquaintance with the old text books of the law, which he much more frequently quoted in his briefs than he did the reports. In his oral arguments and speeches, his range of quotation and illustration covered pretty much everything in the English language, from the Pentateuch to Mother Gooses ,melodies. His memory was wonderfully retentive. The writer once heard him, in a temperance address made to a hill-top audience, embracing about a dozen men, fifty women and twenty babies—the babies, for the most part, crying—quote a page and a half of the seventh book of " Paradise Lost," beginning with the first of the book, to leach the lines: " But drive far off the barbarous dissonance Of Bacchus and his revellers," which he used as a sort of text for the remainder of his address. When his stock of memorized material failed to furnish exactly what he wanted to use, he readily extemporized original matter, either prose or verse, and passed it upon his audience as quotation, very frequently inventing, at the same time, author and work presumed to be quoted from. Save only in the artistic finish, melody and poetic elevation of his impromptues, Theodore Hook was not a more wonderful improvisator than was Richard Douglas; and Hook had not half the rollicking humor Douglas possessed. His "poetry," original and quoted, in the Gallia county witchcraft case, Benny Kern's jackass warranty case, and the slander suit of Jane Fardin vs. Daniel Hearne, will only be forgotten when the last man that heard his speeches, or even heard faithful report of them, has "passed that bourne from whence," etc., etc. Douglas also possessed another singular faculty. Knowing almost nothing of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, German or Spanish languages, he could nevertheless imitate wonderfully well the general sounds, inflections and terminations of each and all of them. When the attorney on the other side became troublesome to him by reason of learned quotations from the civil law, legal maxims or the classics, Douglas would retort with a perfect avalanche of seeming quotations, of point-blank authorities, in polyglot so apparently correct as to create amazement at the extent of his learning; and, of course, silence the foreign guns of the enemy, at least. The reader will at once understand why it is nearly impossible to give instances of this peculiar power—one cannot easily remember and repeat in words the rattle of a cart on the streets, the murmur of running water, or Douglas' articulation of what only seemed to be words. But a quick ear and a good memory preserved one example. In a suit for damages for malicious arrest and prosecution, Gustavus Scott, for defendant, had quoted in Latin, the maxim that "no man shall be held responsible in damages for the use of the king's writ." Douglas replied "Very true, Brother Scott, that such was the very ancient maxim. But you ought to know, sir, that the great Lord Mansfield, seeing the injustice of such rule of law, reversed it two hundred years ago, and from his day to the present the maxim stands 'Canis Kinkaidius cuntambos orus assoribas,' or freely translated 'No man shall take shelter from the responsibilities of his wrong acts, under the king's name.' " Days after the case had been won, Scott took Douglas to task for misquotation or mistranslation. Douglas denied that he had so translated it, and insisted that he had only informed the court of the very peculiar metallic formation of the tails of Kincaid's dogs! 76 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. His sharp introspection of the titles to real estate in the Virginia Military district gave vast trouble to many a land owner among his co- temporaries. It is reported that some timid ones would not purchase any land unless the conveyances included a quitclaim deed from Douglas! He played upon the nervous by having bundles of carefully sealed papers in the pigeon holes of his office desk, the visible ends of which were labeled, for instance, "papers to be opened after the death of John A. Fulton," or "after the death of Cadwallader Wallace," and many others. Men whose names appeared on such mysterious packages, would have given their ears to have known what they contained; but Douglas was deaf as a post to all questions regarding them. He was a life long member of the Episcopal church. When Bishop Chase was on his way to Chillicothe for the first time, with intent to organize an Episcopal parish here, he stopped for dinner at the farm house of Joseph Moore about ten miles north of this place. At the table Moore picked out of the conversation of the bishop, who he was, where he was going, and what he intended to do. "But," said Moore, "I know lots of Methodists, Presbyterians, and some Baptists in Chillicothe, but no ‘piscopalians. Guess you won't find any of your kind there." "Oh, yes," said the bishop, "there are Thomas James, Levin Belt, Henry Brush, Mathias Huffnagle, Jessup Couch, Richard Douglas,—" "Well, by G—d, stranger ; you'll have a hell of a church!" bluntly broke in old Joe. But our assigned space in the volume will not permit us to indulge our desire to preserve more of the multitudinous anecdotes current a few years ago, of this eccentric and remarkable man. Mr. Douglas' physical form was almost as peculiar as his mental structure. His appearance was strongly suggestive of the traditional "Santa Claus." He was short in stature, and like Kris Kringle, " His plump round belly Shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly." His legs were slight and thin in proportion to his upper body, and when in a brown-study he had a sidling, irregular and uncertain gait ; as if, thinking of quips, crotchets and oddities, his thoughts governed the movement of his legs. His hair, in his latter days, was thin, especially in front, and gray. His eyes were gray, small, and deep set in his fleshy face; and always twinkled with merriment. His brow and upper head were large—well arched and suggestive of intellect. He died in February, 1852, and it is certain, "we ne'er shall look upon his like again." WILLIAM KEY BOND was born in St. Mary's county, Maryland, in 1792. He obtained both his general and professional education in Litchfield, Connecticut, and came to Chillicothe in 1812. As he then lacked a year of his majority, and the law required one year's residence in Ohio before he could be admitted to practice, he employed a portion. of that time in taking a fleet of flat-boats, belonging to John Waddle (father of the well known person of that name now living here), to New Orleans. Mr. Bond acted as "supercargo" in charge of the venture; sold the freight and boats to the full satisfaction of Waddle [the provisions, of which the cargoes principally consisted, being taken by Gen. Jackson for the use of his army, and payment for it being afterwards made by the United States government], and soon after his return was admitted and commenced the practice of his profession, which he continued here until 1841, when he removed to Cincinnati. FOr about twenty-five years of this period he was in partnership with William Creighton, jr. Mr. Bond possessed excellent natural abilities, and they were well cultured by industrious reading and studies, both general and professional. He was thoroughly a "business man," and as successful as the limited possibilities of this legal field allowed any one to be in those days. With a high and delicate sense of honor, he united a refined courteousness of manners, and was, in the best sense of the word, a pious, christian gentleman. The only attempt to detract aught from his standing and influence, that we ever heard from the mouths of his bitterest political opponents, consisted in calling him an aristocrat, and swearing that he wore silk stockings. Yet, with all his sauvity, he could, and would, resent insult with promptitude and spirit. The writer witnessed an instance of this. Colonel Brush was engaged adversely to Bond in the trial of a cause, and repeatedly interrupted the latter's argument, although repeatedly requested to desist. Finally, a further interruption, accompanied by some offensive innuendo, overcame Bond's self-control and respect for the court. He rushed across the room, seized with his thumb and forefinger the very prominent nose of the offender and wrung it until blood flowed, then spat in Brush's face. Having inflicted this punishment upon the insulter, Bond walked back to his place and resumed his argument. He was not further interrupted. But, after the conclusion of the case, he was fined fifteen dollars for contempt of the court, and no more serious result followed, although some anticipated a bloody resentment from Brush. Colonel Bond (for he, too, held that rank in the militia) was an active partisan in politics, upon the Whig side. In those days there was as potent a " Virginia ring" as there is now; but then the Virginians and immediate descendants of Virginians were nearly all Whigs, and it was only when the issues growing out of slavery caused the dissolution of the Whig party, and the organization of the Republican, that that numerous and influential class of our people went over to the Democracy—and the " ring" was transferred. Bond was the favorite of that ring, and it was because neither he nor they would tolerate the election of a born Yankee to congress, that the nomination of Douglas for that office was nullified, in 1831, as we have related in our sketch of Douglas. In 1833 Col. Bond was elected to congress; was re-elected in 1835 and 1837, and throughout these three terms he bore a prominent part in the debates and business of the house of representatives. " Bond's eight- day speech"—so styled because its delivery occupied one hour of eight consecutive days—was much commented upon by the political papers of forty years ago. After his removal to Cincinnati, in 1841, Colonel Bond was appointed surveyor of that port by President Fillmore, which office he held for several years. About 1844 he was severely, almost fatally, hurt, by being struck when going aboard of a steamboat, by a timber of a hoisting derrick employed in loading the vessel. This injury, perhaps, and the death of his wife afterwards, certainly hastened his dissolution. He died, greatly respected, as it was proper such a man should be, February 17, 1864. JOSEPH SILL, was born in Granville, New York, in 1784. He graduated from Middlebourg college, Vermont, and entered upon the study of the law, which he completed by graduating from the Philadelphia law school. He came to Chillicothe in 1810, and, after the completion of one year's residence in Ohio, began the practice of law, which he continued here for half a century, although he survived a number of years after having relinquished his business. Mr. Sill was an accomplished scholar. He ranked second to B. G. Leonard, of all the men who have practiced at this bar, in his attainments in history, mathematics and the classics; although in law learning a number have equalled and some excelled him. It was his habit, throughout his very long life, to review daily some parts of his Latin and Greek literature, and work out some of the propositions of higher mathematics. A marked deficiency in Mr. Sill's "make-up " was his want of confidence in his own powers. He would scarcely ever try a case until forced to do so; and then would seek the assistance of other lawyers much inferior to himself in learning and ability. His conversation was often strikingly brilliant with genuine wit, and his frankness in the expression of his opinions was in marked contrast with his timidity in his practice in the courts. Mr. Sill was very frequently appointed prosecuting attorney by the courts, under the old constitution, and was elected prosecutor once after the adoption of the present constitution. He declined a renomination. He was elected to the legislature in 1818, and in January, 1819, offered a series of resolutions, which were adopted by the general assembly, and were the real initiative of the system of canals, afterwards constructed in Ohio. He was an enthusiastic Whig in politics, and a zealous Republican and Union man after the Whig party became disorganized; but, we believe, he never sought political preferment from either party. He saved a small competence only from his large practice; and when he became very old, he exhibited a little—but only a little—of the avarice which is said to be the "vice of age." A notorious old dead beat, who never paid anybody anything, but was unknown to Mr. Sill, applied to him to rent one of his little tenements, and inquired what the rent would be. "Four dollars and a half per month, in advance," said Mr. Sill. Deat Beat reflected for some time, and replied: "I can't afford it, sir. I will give you four dollars and a shilling, sir, and no more." "Sir, you shall have the house," responded Mr. Sill; and he afterward told his wife he certainly had an honest tenant, whom he could depend on; for he counted so accurately what he could and could not afford to pay as rent. That shilling did the business. Dead Beat got in, and staid for six months, for which Mr. Sill, of course, did not get one cent, beside having the expense of a forcible detainer case to incur. HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 77 Mr. Sill lived to the very great age of ninety-one; and died November 25, 1875. He was rather under medium size and weight. He had regular and pleasant features and expression of face. His eyes were dark hazel in color, and he had a curious habit of closing them when talking to any person. His hair was originally very dark, but began to grow gray forty year ago, and Mr. Sill began to dye it. This dyeing he kept up for the remainder of his life, and sometimes with ill success almost equal to that of Tittlebat Titmouse. But he was an excellent and honest man; and may ill fare the one who wrongs the memory of Father Joseph Sill ! EDWARD KING, fourth son of Hon. Rufus King of New York, who long and ably represented this government as minister at the court of St. James, about the beginning of this century, and who received fourteen electoral votes for president in 1804, forty-seven in 1808, and thirty- four in 1816, being, on these occasions, the candidate of the Federal party, was born in Albany, New York, March 13, 1793. He spent his early childhood, with his father, in London; and upon his return to this country, after proper preparation in a grammar-school, he graduated from Columbia college. He finished his professional studies in the law school of Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1815 he came to Ohio and established himself at Chillicothe, where, in 1816, he was admitted to practice, and in the same year, married Sarah, the second daughter of Governor Thomas Worthington. He soon acquired business and very great personal popularity, with all classes of our people. "Ned" King is yet spoken of by all of our citizens who are old enough to have known him personally, with positive affection. In 1831 he removed to Cincinnati, where he resided until his 'death. He attained a good practice in his new theatre of action, very speedily, and retained it so long as his health permitted him to attend to professional labor: In 1833, in connection with three other gentlemen of Cincinnati, he was efficient in organizing a law school, an.d was one of the lecturers in it the following winter; and upon the establishment of the Cincinnati college, in 1833, he was appointed by the trustees to a chair in the law department. But ill health prevented him from assuming this position. As early as October, 1834, he was attacked by a dropsical disease. In the following winter he went to the south, in hope that the change would benefit him, but did not realize any advantage from the journey. He returned greatly depressed, and thenceforward grew feebler, until his death, which occurred on the sixth of February, 1836. Mr. King, while a resident of Ross county, was four times elected to the house of representatives of Ohio, and served two terms as speaker of that body. There was a great deal to admire in Edward King's abilities, and a great deal to love in his character. He was quick and acute in perception, of active and vivid imagination, abounded in good-natured wit, was fluent and pleasant in speech, graceful and often forcible in declamation, and always gentle and polished in manners. He was "generous, to a fault," if that be possible; cheerful, frank, cordial to all acquaintances, high or low, learned or ignorant, rich or poor. No wonder then "that his praise was in all men's mouths." One little anecdote of him before we quit this sketch: "Joe! Joe' called out King, one day in the court-room; meaning to attract the attention of the late very venerable Joseph Sill.  Well, what is it, Ned?" replied Mr. Sill. "Ned?—who the devil authorized you to call me Ned," tartly replied King. WILLIAM SUMPTER MURPHY was born in South Carolina about the year 1796, and came to Chillicothe in 1818. In 1821 he married Lucinda, daughter of 'William Sterret. He entered upon the practice of the law immediately after his arrival here, and pursued his business continuously until 1843; although during all that time his interest in political affairs was such that he always postponed his legal business to political campaigning during the annual struggles of the two parties, into which the people were then divided. He never attained high repute for legal learning, but was in that regard respectable only. His eloquence as an advocate, however, and his power to move juries, caused him to be much employed, and more especially for defence in criminal cases. He made a comfortable living only by his practice, but accumulated nothing. Politically he was, at first, identified with the Democratic party; but having been defeated in 1832 by William Allen for the nomination for Congress, he became soured toward his party, and in 1836 he supported General Harrison for the presidency with all his energies and powers. He again supported Harrison in 1840; but after the death of that president, and the succession of John Tyler, he adhered to the political fortunes of the latter in the quarrel and separation which soon took place between Tyler and the Whig party. Murphy, in common with Brush, King, Allen, Woodside, John L. Taylor, and other members of this bar, had a strong passion for military affairs and display. He held the militia rank of brigadier general, and thenceforth was always called General Murphy. At the time of the controversy between Ohio and Michigan in regard tothe boundary line between those States, Murphy, with Sheriff John Tarleton and some few others of the citizens of this county, was immensely excited and eager for war. After the adjustment of the quarrel by the mediation of congress, General Murphy, by appointment of the governor of Ohio, was one of the joint commission to run the compromise lines. In 1843, having won the presidential heart, by reason of his eloquent defences of the policy and administration of Tyler, he was recompensed with a double commission, which constituted him minister extraordinary to Central America, and also charge d' affaires to the Republic of Texas. In this mission he succeeded the celebrated traveler and explorer, Stephens, whose charming volumes of travel in Central America and Asia Minor are well known to the reading public. He went first to the Mosquito coast, Honduras, where he remained but a few months, and thence went to Texas, where he engaged in secret preparations for the annexation of Texas to the United States; an object which Tyler desired greatly to achieve during his administration. A treaty was made for the designated purpose, but it was rejected by the United States senate, and so, for the time being, the project failed. On the twenty- eighth of May, 1844, the senate refused to confirm the appointments of Murphy, and he was thereby recalled; but before he could leave the country, he became a victim of the yellow fever. He died at Galveston, Texas, on the thirteenth of July, 1844, and his body was afterward brought home and interred in the old burial-ground now occupied by the Scioto Valley depot buildings. Where his bones were removed to, if removed at all, we do not know. We learn by a letter written from Galveston by an Ohio lady, that the United States government has erected a monument over the spot where he was temporarily buried. William S. Murphy was frequently called by his party friends "the Patrick Henry of the West," and, indeed, the designation was no disparagement to the great orator of the Revolution. He was, on sonic occasions, sublimely grand in his eloquence. It is, in our opinion, a real loss to the world that some of his speeches were not preserved. But there were no stenographers iri this part of the west in those days, and nothing is left of them now but the impressions he made upon the few who yet remain of those who heard them. No man can reproduce them, or do justice to them by description. We will not attempt it. In person General Murphy was above medium stature, and would have weighed, perhaps, one hundred and seventy pounds. His eyes were grayish blue in color, and were full and prominent, with strongly lined crow-feet at the external corners. His forehead was full and finely arched upward, but not broad. His hair was of a dark chestnut color, with a slight inclination to curl. His complexion was colorless and parchment-like. On the streets his manner was slouchy and inobservant, and he was rather careless of dress. In beginning a speech, he was, for a few minutes, apparently dull and emotionless, and being somewhat deaf, was often unintelligible to auditors a little distant. But, shortly, the inspiration came ; his voice rose and became wonderfully full, resonant and flexible; his face lighted up ; his figure grew erect and grand in its pose and action, and he won sympathy, rapport and assent to all he said, from audiences which had just been determined to differ with his conclusions and to defy his influence. BENJAMIN GREENE LEONARD, the son of Colonel Nathaniel Leonard, of the Revolutionary army (who was much censured for the surrender of the miljtary post at Buffalo, New York, to the British forces), was born at Windsor, Vermont, November 8, 1793, and in due time graduated from Dartmouth college. He began his professional life at Canandaigua, New York, but when about twenty-seven years old came to Chillicothe to reside. Among the notable men who have practiced law at this bar, B. G. Leonard was the most remarkable for activity of intellect, accumulated learning—not only in the law, but also in many of the ancient and modern languages, and exact sciences—irregularities of habits, eccentricity, and finally in his melancholy end of life. He was from the first an intense and absorbed student of law and the sciences. He habitually remained locked in his office—which, bythe-by, was always located as far as possible from the business center of the city—and would scarcely ever admit clients when they called to see him, but would, if the knocking was persistent enough to get any 78 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. response from him at all, open the door sufficiently to see who it was, begin with a volley of curses, and end by making an appointment with him at the Madeira hotel or one of the public offices of the county, when he would consult. and advise. He seemed to avoid, rather than to seek, practice; and yet he loved money, at least in his latter days—charged large fees and hoarded all he could of his money. He was facile princeps and acknowledged leader of the bar here for Years: and he lorded it over his brethren with rough and careless manners. Yet this man's heart was like the Ata fruit of tropical America, which, within its rough, hard, scaly rind has a delicious pulp, likened to "rich, perfumed cream." In his earlier years here, he sought and enjoyed with a zest the society of ladies; but later, he became less a society man, and somewhat notorious for coarse and indiscriminate amours, which he took but slight pains to conceal. He used opium in the form of camphorated tincture, or paragoric, habitually, but not to a very great excess. The old books of N. W. Thatcher show that he bought about six ounces of th;t tincture per week. He also, at intervals, indulged to excess in spirituous liquors, which, as he grew older, became more frequent. In 1840 he went to Washington city to try an important case before the supreme court of the United States, and in doing so he displayed such wealth of learning and ability as attracted marked attention to him from the bench, bar and statesmen of that day, and especially elicited from Chief Justice Marshall the very highest compliments. Upon his return from Washington, he manifested a degree of elation of spirits altogether unusual with him, and very soon symptoms of insanity became apparent. In a little while, confinement became imperative, and with great difficulty he was taken to Columbus, and placed under the treatment of the celebrated Dr. Awl, then medical superintendent of the insane asylum at the capital. 'Then the violence of his mania was modified somewhat, but the malady continued, and he died in the asylum in January, 1845; and so large a stock of intellectual forces has rarely gone to the grave leaving so little of monumental value to the world as in this instance. Leonard was of medium height, say about five feet, eight inches tall, slender, bony and angular. He had a dark complexion, and dark hazel eyes; was very near-sighted, and always wore gold-rimmed, concave spectacles. His hair was black. He had an eager, restless, impatient, nervous; figgety look and manner. His voice was shrill, and when speaking excitedly, rose almost to a scream. A good old Methodist describing him to me, added: "And Mr. Leonard swore just awful!" SAMUEL ATKINSON came here, from Connecticut, in 1816. He first formed a partnership with Edward King, and two or three years afterwards with Allen Latham. The latter arrangement lasted but a little while. 'Then Atkinson practiced by himself for a few years, with but indifferent success. He left here about 1826, and went to Wheeling, Virginia, where, it seems, he abandoned the practice of law, and joined a brother in speculations in sheep and wool. This was also a failure. We know nothing of his history for twenty years after this, except that he lived most of the time in Licking county, Ohio. In 1851, he was appointed warden of the Ohio penitentiary, and died in that office in 1852. Mr. Atkinson—nicknamed "Black Sam,- because of his very dark complexion—was, undoubtedly, a good lawyer. The few cases in which his preparation and presentation of causes can be examined now, show that he possessed both learning and talents. He was studious, attentive to such business as he obtained, did not meddle with politics, was a sober, moral, and very religious man. His failure to attain even business enough to support himself and family comfortably, therefore, illustrates the fact that tact, in impressing others with a sense of one's importance—which Mr. Atkinson utterly lacked or disdained to use —is an important factor to a lawyer's success. "Vertus laudatur, et alget." JONATHAN F. WOODSIDE was born May 3, 1799, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He came of patriotic stock, his father (of the same name) having served throughout the Revolutionary war. His father died when he was young, and, thenceforth, he was compelled to fight the battle of life for himself, without assistance. While yet bin a youth he came to Chillicothe, and obtained a position as clerk in the "store" of John Carlisle, whose niece—Eleanor Bailey—he afterwards married. In 1820 or 1821 he removed to Portsmouth and engaged in the dry goods trade for himself, but after a short period of success, he lost all his means by the sinking of a flat-boat on the Ohio, which was laden in part, with a stock of goods just purchased by him. He returned to Chillicothe and devoted himself to reading law—pursuing his studies under Edward King, at the same time that William Allen was reading in the same office. Stimulated by the very desperation of poverty, he worked hard day and night. Being admitted to the practice in 1827, he soon acquired considerable business, and the grave struggle for the bare necessaries of life was ended. But strangely enough, considering these early hardships, Woodside always was prodigal, extravagant and careless of such money as he earned through life, and often felt the uncomfortable pressure of debts he could not pay when payment was demanded. He ranked well up among the lawyers of his day for erudition, and very high for natural abilities and oratory. Next to William S. Murphy, he was, we think, the most eloquent man at Ross county bar, between 1829 and 1835, when he went to Europe. A Jackson Democrat in political convictions, his oratorical powers made him a prominent and important man to that party. In 1833 he was elected to the Ohio house of representatives, and in the following session greatly distinguished himself by a speech against the United States bank, which seems to have attracted the attention of the president of the United States; for, in the beginning of 1835, General Jackson appointed him charge d'affaires of the United States at the court of Denmark, which office he held until a change of adminstration in 1840 recalled him in 1841. While in Denmark, he made himself proficient in the Da nish, German and French languages, and upon his return, we remember, he was able to make fluent speeches from the rostrum, to German political meetings in the German language. He was an aspirant for the congressional nomination of his party in 1843, but was defeated by Allen G. Thurman. 'This defeat greatly affected and depressed him. Thenceforward he yielded, to an extent that impaired his health, to the use of alcoholic stimulants, and died June 25, 1845. A prominent incident in the life of Colonel Woodside was, that in the course of a political quarrel with J. C. Melcher, the editor of the Chillicothe Post, in the fall of 1830, the latter stabbed and cut him severely with a knife. His right hand was so much injured by the cuts, that he was compelled afterwards to learn to write with his left. For this act, Melcher was indicted for stabbing with intent to kill, tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for three years, at hard labor. In our opinion, the highest honor we can pay to the memory of Woodside is to reprint and preserve the following quotations from a Fourth of July oration delivered by him in 183o. After a fitting prologue, he said: "My fellow citizens! the cause of the poor African slave is the cause of humanity—the cause of justice! The charter under which we hold our freedom, declares his equality of birth—his equality of rights. As freemen, you are bound to liberate them; as masters, you owe them their freedom. Long and patiently they have served you. In peace and in war they have stood by you. Their blood was mingled with yours as the purchase price of the liberty we now enjoy and deny to them!" And he next most eloquently appeals to the women of America "to band themselves for the emancipation of the slaves of the United States," and prophetically speaks of emancipation as "slumbering in the energie of a strong arm, yet to be exerted with irresistible power." The writer, until now, has thought himself to be the earliest public denunciator of slavery and advocate of its abolition in this county. He remembers well what courage and what utter abandonment of all hopes of political preferment were involved in the utterance of his convictions on this subject, even in 1845, and onwards as late as 1854. Yet it is undoubtedly true that Jonathan F. Woodside, from his high position in the Democratic party, too, dared to utter such sentiments as we have quoted above, to the assembled cititizens of the Virginia Military district of Ohio in 183o! We most reverently honor his memory for it! In person, Colonel Woodside was of medium height and weight, straight, full in the chest, and bore himself gracefully and somewhat proudly. He had a magnificent suit of raven-black hair, always most carefully dressed. His eyes were large, dark-hazel, and full of expression. His complexion may be best described as being rosy brunette. His smile was peculiarly pleasant. No society belle could be more careful and painstaking in the use of beautifiers and dress, than Woodside was. In short, he was a talented man, a good lawyer, a fine orator, a warm-hearted philanthropist, a spendthrift and a fop. JAMES MCDOWELL, son of Dr. William McDowell, one of our earliest pioneers, was born about 1800; and practiced law here, with but little success, from 1824 to 1828. From here he removed to Columbus, this State, where he again tried practice, but with no better success. HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 79 McDowell was not without talents, but indulgence in drink was his bane and the cause of his failure as a lawyer. From Columbus he removed to Mt. Carmel, Illinois, where his father had some lands; and there James "turned over a new leaf.' He joined the Presbyterian church, became a temperate man, and entered, we believe, upon mercantile business. He lived a good many years in Illinois in at least comfortable prosperity, raised a family, and died at Mt. Carmel. FREDERICK GRIMKE was born and reared in South Carolina, and came to Chillicothe about 1820. He was an exceedingly quiet, reticent and studious man; and somewhat slowly grew into an ultimately good practice, which he retained and constantly increased until he was elected by the general assembly president judge of the common pleas of this judicial district, in 1829. In 1836 he was promoted to the supreme bench of the State, and served in that capacity until 1842, when he resigned his position, having throughout his term shown himself to be a painstaking and very competent judge. In 1848 he published a volume of some five hundred and fifty pages on "The Nature and Tendency of Free Institutions," a work which, although somewhat dry and monotonous in style, is full of learning and good sound sense, and may be read with profit by any student of political science. Judge Grimke lived and died a bachelor, and we never heard of his having, at any period of his life, mixed with general society, His reserve and seclusion caused him to be regarded by the vulgar as a "woman hater," whatever that may mean, but it was something awful in the opinion of the 'oi polloi, as the writer well remembers. He was of medium height, rather meagre and angular, but of excellent health, strong and elastic of gait. His complexion was quite dark, his eyes black and overhung with heavy gray and black brows. His hair, originally very dark, and always worn short, had become quite gray in his latter years. His nose was thin and aquiline. In a quiet way, he was very charitable to the poor. For years he was in the habit of taking long and rapid walks, or rides upon horseback, always alone, for exercise; and he was almost ludicrously awkward in the saddle. Judge Grimke boarded, for many years (and until it was burned down in the great fire of April, 1852), in the excellent hotel kept by Colonel John Madeira. From 1852 until his death, on January 8, 1863, he boarded at the Valley (now Emmitt) house. With all his exclusiveness and seclusion, it is said by the few who were upon familiar terms with him, that the old bachelor judge kept himself wonderfully well posted in all the gossip and scandal of the town. This he accomplished through the fulness of the knowledge of such matters of old Harvey Hawes, the barber, who spent an hour each morning in shaving and posting the judge. We have heard from one who ministered to his last wants, that but a little while before he ceased to breathe, he indicated to his attendant a certain black cloth suit of clothes, and desired that he should be buried in them; "and," said the dying man, "I want you to see to it that they are well aired before you put me in thetn." ALLEN LATHAM was born in Lyme, New Hampshire, July r, 1793. He was admitted to the bar at New Philadelphia, Ohio, and came to Chillicothe, with the purpose of practicing law, about r815, and formed a partnership with Samuel Atkinson. Atkinson did some legal business under the firm name—Mr. Latham very little, if any—for the latter at once saw the opportunities for speculation in the lands of the Virginia Military district, and turned all of his attention to that branch of business, in which he built up a very considerable fortune in the course of a few years. Mr. Latham, from 1824 onwards, at least until 1848, took a deep interest in politics and was active in service and lavish of his money on the Democratic side. He was very positive in his opinions, and not easily controlled by his confreres in the party. He more than once created schisms in the Democratic ranks, and twice bought materials and established newspapers with which to fight the established organs of his own party. Mr. Latham removed to Cincinnati in 1854, and died there March 28, 1871. He represented this senatorial district in the Ohio legislature in 1841-2, and was an unsuccessful candidate for congress in 1838, being defeated by Colonel Bond, by one hundred and seventy-six votes. ALLISON C. LOOKER had been an officer in the war of 1812, and was, we believe, one of General Hull's staff. He came from Cincinnati to Chillicothe in 1816, as nearly as we can ascertain, and was, at that time a practical surveyor. Governor Tiffin being then surveyor-general of the whole northwest, gave Looker a district of Indiana to work, but, soon after he entered upon that field, the death of his father-in-law, Benjamin Hough, occurred, and Looker returned here to undertake the administration of the estate. While so engaged he also read law, and in due time he was admitted to the practice. He started well, for he had talents and pleaSant manners. Had his life been prolonged to the full " threescore and ten," he probably would have made a prominent figure among the lawyers of his generation. In 1822 he was elected to the legislature. In the slimmer of 1824 he was taken sick while engaged in the trial of a law case in Columbus, and was injudiciously brought home by stage coach while very sick. He died almost immediately upon arrival here, in July, 1824. Captain Looker (he was captain of the fine old military company which, under the name of " Chillicothe Independent Blues," existed for many years, and had among its captains Edward King, Looker, William Allen, Allen G. Thurman, and other distinguished citizens of Chillicothe) was a very handsome man of about five feet nine inches stature, full round figure, rather large head, brown curly hair, blue eyes, fair complexion'and frank, happy, pleasant expression. He was very popular, and his premature death was greatly deplored. HENRY MASSIE was the youngest child of Colonel Nathaniel Massie, the founder of Chillicothe. The father died about the time of Henry's birth, and he was reared by his maternal grandfather, Colonel David Mead, of Jessamine county, Kentucky. Mr. Massie received a good education, and in May, 1828, he returned to this, his native place, studied law the requisite time, and was admitted to practice. He was an excellent business 'lawyer, and was particularly a good special pleader under the old common law practice. He gradually turned his attention, however, from the practice of law to money- brokerage and banking; and, for some years before his death, rarely appeared in the courts as a lawyer. He became moderately wealthy, and died of disease of the liver, in 1862. Mr. Massie was tall, somewhat stooped about the shoulders, hollow- chested and thin of flesh. He had large and bright black eyes, prominent brows, cheek bones and chin. He had sunken cheeks, which were brightly marked with the hectic flush in his later years. His hair was very dark, fine and lank. For some years prior to, and up to the time of, his death, he was president of the Chillicothe bank. GUSTAVUS SCOTT was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, about 1799, and came to Chillicothe in 1826. Mr. Scott, very fortunately for Mr. Scott, possessed some money when he came here; and this he used prudently and economically; and so lived and accumulated more money, slowly. He was not possessed of brilliant talents or much law learning, and his practice was never large. He was a gentleman of unexceptionable morals, cordial in his friendships, and an amiable, pleasant egotist. For a lawyer, he was strangely ignorant of the wickedness of this wicked world, and was the most credulous of men. The result to him, of course, was that he was made the butt of many of Creighton's, Green's, Douglas', and other torturers' practical jokes. Like most Virginia lawyers we have known, Scott longed for the day when he could quit the practice and become a gentleman farmer and stock-grower. Creighton and others encouraged these bucolic dreams, and Scott bought a tract of land in Madison county. Mule-raising was thought, by his advisers, to promote best returns upon capital invested in it, and Scott made a beginning in that direction, by sending a number of fine brood mares to his farm. Then he was persuaded to buy, from Benny Kearns, an old, worn-out, sway-backed, barrel- headed, impotent jack, which was represented to be of Spanish royal assinine family, the pedigree of which was only lost in the mists of prehistoric times. Benny, being posted, asked a price commensurate with the blood and pedigree of the incomparable animal; but, after much bargaining, the sale was effected at a considerable reduction be !ow the original demand. Scott drew a bill of sale, which included all possible warranties, and the jack was sent to Madison. After two years of fruitless trial, Scott sued Kearns upon the covenants, and, regardless of the old proverb about the lawyer who tries his own case, he appeared for himself, while Richard Douglas defended for Kearns. We cannot report the case. Scott never recovered entirely from the effects of the argument for defendant. Thenceforth his antipathy to donkeys at least equalled that of Betsy Trotwood. 80 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. When Scott was a candidate for the prosecuting attorneyship, it is said that Bob Lewis, a noted wag of forty years ago, then clerking in Thatcher's drug store, impressed him with the brilliant idea that the way to get at the men's hearts was through the favor of their wives and sweethearts, and their favor could be engaged by presents of fine perfumed soap; and that, thereupon, Bob sold him two or three boxes of such soap, for campaign purposes—and told the joke. Another, and more cruel trick, was played upon this worthy man. A certain lady engaged herself to marry him, and within one or two days of the time anticipated by the transported lover, as that on which his bliss was to culminate, she married another! Poor Scott could stand no more; so, within a week or two, he found and married another, more faithful, woman, and soon after moved away from here. He went, first, to the neighborhood of Terre Haute, Indiana, where a purchase of lands proved fortunate, and its subsequent sale realized him a handsome profit. From Indiana Mr. Scott moved to Jackson county, Missouri, and died there, we think, in 1867. His widow still survives. WILLIAM ALLEN was born at Eatonville, North Carolina—according to the best authorities—in 1806, and came to Chillicothe, a'lad of about sixteen, m 1822. He studied law; first, in the office of. Judge Thomas Scott and afterwards in the office of Edward King. After his admission to practice, he was for a while a partner of Mr. King. Mr. Allen practiced but a few years, principally in partnership with other lawyers. His temperament, intellectual constitution, and ambition all led him away from the monotonous drudgery of a law office, and into the field of political conflicts. There is but little to record of his brief career as a lawyer, but a very great deal of his long and distinguished career as a politician. We deem it unnecessary to go into any details in regard to his life in this chapter; because a sketch, much fuller and more satisfactory than any we could insert here, will be found in another part of this volume. GEORGE R. FITZGERALD came from Maryland to this place in 1820, and, in partnership with Colonel Brush, practiced law for some eight or ten years. He was a portly, good-looking man, and of first-rate legal abilities and attainments. He was studious and attentive to business, and moral and temperate in habits. But he was moody, often depressed in spirits, and melancholy. Whether this condition arose from chronic dyspepsia or love, we do not know, but he was overwhelmingly enamored with one of the daughters of William Creighton, jr., and his suit was unsuccessful. Upon Miss Creighton's marriage to a more favored lover, poor Fitzgerald' returned east, to Washington city, where he, soon after, committed suicide. " Eheu! Amare simul et sapere, ipsi jovi non datur!" ROBERT BETHEL was a queer little fellow, who came from Philadelphia to Chillicothe in about 1836, to practice here. He obtained but little business—as neither his learning norabilities were remarkable. We remember him, principally, as a good story-teller and mimic. He took an active part, as a Whig, in local politics, and was elected prosecuting attorney in the fall of 1841, but upon his renomination, in 1843, he was beaten before the people by Joseph Miller. Not long after this defeat he returned to Philadelphia, and died a year or two ago, at the age of seventy, or more. JAMES D. CALDWELL came here from Circleville, in 1837. The time and place of his birth we have been unable to ascertain. He was of middle age when he came. Without much talent or learning, he, nevertheless, got into a fine practice, which he kept for a few years. He bought the larger part of out-lot number six, of this city, which he subdivided into building lots, and Caldwell street is named after him. He was an ardent and bright Free Mason, and was master of the lodge here for some time. He used to take sprees of drunkenness, but rarely while here at home. When he began to drink, it was his custom to go to Circleville to "have it out," and used to say "the d--d town was only fit to get drunk in." He was stricken with paralysis, while at Circleville, in 1851 or 1852. He lingered, a paralytic for three or four years, and died at Franklin- ton, whither he went to have the care of a sister who lived there. He never married. JOHN L. TAYLOR, born in Stafford county Pennsylvania, on the seventh of March, 1805, was admitted to the bar in 1828, and came to Chillicothe in 1829. Being a gentleman of good appearance, suave and polished manners, excellent moral character, and considerable intelligence and industry, he acquired sufficient business to support himself comfortably, enable him to indulge his taste for dress, and pursue the two governing ideas of his life—which were, first, the acquisition of a rich and aristocratic wife; and, second, the attainment of political preferment through the favor of the Whig party. He failed in his manifold attempts to secure such a wife, and, therefore, lived and died a bachelor, and a gallant one to the last. But he, measurably, realized his ambition for office. He was elected by the Whigs, to congress in 1845, and re-elected for the second, third and fourth terms. Although " Lanman's Congressional Biographies" disposes of him, and all the eight years of his congressional career, in four lines of the book; nevertheless, it is true that Taylor was most attentive to the interests of his constitutents, of both parties, and in committee work and in routine, was a useful man to the Whigs. He was for a quarter of a century, or more, indefatigable as an organizer of conventions and meetings of his party at home; was always present at them when possible, and rarely failed to address each one if there were as many present as enabled him to use the plural "Fellow Citizens." Ever mindful that he was a Virginian by birth, he voted always with the southerners upon all questions involving the existence, perpetuity and extension of slavery. His votes for " Root's resolution," adverse to the Wilmot proviso, and for the fugitive slave law effected his defeat in 1854. As his pro-slavery prejudices forbade his co-operation with the Republican party, he acted with the American or Know Nothing party so long as that organization lasted. But finally his loyal feelings prevailed, and during and after the war he quietly supported at the polls the men and measures of the Republicans. In 1844 Taylor was commissioned major general of militia, and geratly enjoyed the occasions when, in full and gorgeous uniform, and mounted on the finest horse the livery stables of the town could furnish, he commanded—we cannot say manoeuvred—the tatterdemalion, cornstalk-armed battalions, which were supposed to be the bulwarks of the country. After his congressional term was ended he endeavored to regain the practice at law which he had enjoyed before he was elected ; but this was impossible to him, and he became very poor. In the spring of 1870 Hon. Jacob D. Cox, then secretary of the interior, kindly conferred upon him a clerkship in that department, and in this humble capacity he served for a very few months, and died September 6, 1870. General Taylor was probably six feet tall, slender, and rather graceful in carriage. His features were good, except that there was a singular expression of the mouth, as if he had half a mind to whistle, but thought that the overt act was not compatible with his dignity. His eyes were dark, small, wide open and round. He was entirely bald, save a rim of hair about the base of the head, all the rest being as smooth and shiny as a billiard ball. His bachelorhood, finical manners, and habit of scolding the Democracy in his speeches caused them to bestow the sobriquet of "Miss Betsey" upon him ; and such he was often called in the Advertiser and other Democratic newspapers, to his infinite disgust. JOHN L. GREEN was born in Richmond, Virginia, about the beginning of this century. He came to Ohio, locating for practice at Circleville, about 1830, and thence removed to Chillicothe in 1838, we believe, where he soon formed a partnership with William Creighton, jr., which continued for several years. He was a member from this county, of the constitutional convention of 1850-51, and after the adoption of the constitution submitted by that convention, was elected a judge of common pleas for this district, serving one term. About 1860 he removed from Chillicothe to Columbus, and in 1865 was elected one of the common pleas judges of the Franklin district, which position he yet holds. Judge Green being yet alive, it is not within the intended scope of these sketches to attempt to give an analysis of his character or an estimate of his ability or learning. ALLEN G. THURMAN, who has attained to more varied and distinguished honors than any other man who has resided in Ross county, was born in Lynchburgh, Virginia, on the thirteenth day of November, 1813. In the following year his parents came to Chillicothe to reside, and here Allen G. was reared, 'educated, and fitted for the battles of life, in which he was to achieve so many splendid triumphs. His parents were very poor, and the son had no other advantages for attaining education than were afforded by the inferior private schools here fifty years ago. But his eager and unremitting pursuit of knowledge; in school and out of school, was noticed, and became the subject of common and eulogistic comments at the time. Many a one of our now gray-headed citizens have been disgusted time and again by the paternal contrast of his idleness with Allen Thurman's studiousness. At the proper age he entered upon the study of law in the office of his uncle, William Allen, and in due time he was admitted to the bar, and became the partner of his preceptor. As Allen was making politics the first object of his interest, and HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 81 political office the objective point of his desires and ambitions, Thurman very soon took the lead and precedence of him as a lawyer. Of course he acquired the lion's share of the practice in this county and on the circuit then attended by this bar. When Leonard's health failed, Thurman was acknowledged leader of the profession here, and continued such until his elevation to the supreme bench, in 1852, and his removal to Columbus in 1853. He was elected to congress from this district in 1843, and did not seek a renomination after serving one term. Nor did he attract any attention to himself while in the house of representatives—then he was a lawyer only. His subsequent election and re-election to the senate of the United States; the large place he has filled and yet fills in the political world, is matter for the future historians of the United States—not for us in this limited chapter. JOHN H. KEITH was born in the State of Delaware in 18o4, and was brought to Zanesville, Ohio, when but a child. He was fitted for college in the schools of Zanesville, and afterward graduated in the Ohio university of Athens. The writer remembers that even in 1839 the prominence of Keith as a student and scholar was not altogether forgotten in the college. After graduating, he studied the law in the office of Judge Stillwell in Zanesville, and, in due course, was admitted to practice. We believe he tried two or three points for business, without finding prospects that satisfied him; and so finally settled down to his professional work at Zanesville. We have heard from himself that he first visited Chillicothe in 183o, to become acquainted and seek a portion of the legal business of our courts. His next appearance here was as judge of common pleas, to which he was elected by the general assembly in 1834; and he continued to preside as such until 1848; in the meantime, making his permanent residence here. While yet a resident of Zanesville, he was elected representative of Muskingum county in the Ohio legislature, and was chosen speaker of the house, in 1832, we believe. After leaving the bench, he resumed practice, which he continued up to his death, which took place May 4, 1875. He died of acute pneumonia. When Judge Keith first came to Chillicothe in 1834, he was quite a beau, and was exceedingly careful of dress and personal appearance. He had bright grey and prominent eyes; good features, except that his nose was a trifle short, and his chin somewhat "double." He had a superb head of curly and almost blonde hair; and a good, medium sized figure. He, in those days, always wore blue swallow-tailed dress coats, and huge ruffles to his shirt bosoms; and sported a small ornamental cane. In his latter days, he became fleshy, both in face and figure, and grew careless as to his dress. He was of kindliest and most genial nature. He knew everybody, was friendly with everybody, and, consequently, was liked by everybody. No man of this community was so constantly the center of a group of sidewalk talkers as he; and, although his love of society and out-door life had, at least for many years, drawn him away from close reading and study, there was scarcely any subject upon which he did not talk entertainingly and well. He was literally "Sir Oracle" to Huntington township and Harrison township people. His remarkable vitality and freshness of feeling—retained to the last—made him an enthusiast in all things. In conversations upon law, politics, personal history, or any other subject, the judge dealt largely in superlatives; but particularly was such the case when making set speeches before political meetings or juries—for his "arguments" in the court room, and his speeches to the Democracy were "all of a sort." No man could so pettifog a case to a jury when pettifogging afforded the only hope of a favorable verdict. Some years ago, for example, an old, ignorant and most woe-begone looking fellow, named Shultz, had brought suit before a justice of the peace, by Keith as his attorney, against a furnace company, for money alleged to be due him for chopping cord-wood prior to a certain date. The plaintiff had gotten judgment for all he claimed, and the case came into common pleas by appeal. Judge Safford, for the company, answered, alleging payment, and on the trial, proved an account stated at the date referred to, by which it was made certain that the company had not only paid Shultz in full, but that Shultz was indebted to the company some thirty dollars for which he gave his note at the settlement; and there was a memorandum under the note stating all the facts of the settlement, signed by Shultz and two other witnesses, who were produced and testified to the whole matter. The plaintiff had no witness but himself; and he was almost unintelligible by reason of his uncertainties of memory. Judge Keith coolly assumed that the furnace company and all their witnesses had conspired, by forgery and perjury] to cheat his "poor, old and ignorant, but most worthy and honest client " out of his "hard earned wages." He kept forlorn looking Shultz in full view of the jury, and made such use of him as that the jury, in spite of Safford's argument and the court's charge, promptly gave a verdict for every cent the plaintiff claimed. This verdict Judge Sloan set aside before the jury had left the box. A second trial resulted the same way, and the verdict was again set aside by the judge. But when the third trial resulted in a verdict of exactly the same kind, the court was compelled to enter up judgment upon it, and did so. Our present city marshal, James Conley, when a boy, was the principal witness against a certain negro charged with petit larceny, and was at the same time himself under arrest, charged with participating in a riotous assemblage of boys about the house of the same negro. Keith defended the negro before Esquire Taylor, and in doing so, took occasion to attack poor Conley mercilessly. "Look at this infernal elephant-eared, freckled-faced Irish spalpeen, your honor, who comes here to swear this poor, honest and respectable colored man into jail! Who is he? ̊Why, sir, he brought his old father's grey hairs in sorrow to the grave! He is 'beyond the control of his old mother; growing up to be a leader in vice of all the other Arabs of your streets! He ought to be in the penitentiary to-day, young as he is!" etc., etc., for quantity. The terrified Conley next day raised five dollars, with which he employed the judge to defend him before the same justice. "Your honor," exclaimed the judge in this speech, "Look upon the bright, honest, frank open face of this poor Irish lad; an orphan., struggling day and night to support his widowed mother; a proverb in the city, sir, for filial affection and tireless industry! Ah, sir, he has such a face as Raphael loved to paint as the youthful Saint John in his cathedral pictures! Is it possible, sir," etc., etc., for quantity again. With the close of a case, all interest in it, and all feelings awakened by it, seemed utterly effaced from the judge's recollection. He was, indeed, a singular compound, both intellectually and morally. THEODORE SHERER was born in Chillicothe, October to, 1818. After receiving a tolerably good academic education, he read law in the office of Allen & Thurman, and, when licensed, became junior member of that firm. After Senator Allen withdrew, the firm became Thurman & Sherer, and continued such until Thurman was elected to the supreme bench of the State, in 1852. Mr. Sherer then, for three or four years, tried to practice alone, but had no success. He had utterly obscured himself and lost all confidence in his own abilities as a lawyer, by reason of his long continued association with those eminent men. In 1852 be was nominated for congress by the Democrats, but was beaten before the people by John L. Taylor. In 1856 he was appointed receiver of public moneys in the land office here by Buchanan. In 1861, he, in common with a great many other patriotic Democrats, became a zealous supporter of President Lincoln's policy and the Union cause. In 1862 he was appointed postmaster of this city, which he kept until 1866. In the summer of 1869 he obtained an appointment as bearer of government special dispatches to the American minister at Paris, and this enabled him to make a three or four months' tour of Europe, which he greatly enjoyed. In 1870 he was the Republican candidate for the State senate, but was defeated by John H. Putnam. In 1872 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination as delegate to the constitutional convention, but was defeated by Hon. M. L. Clark. In 1876 he went back to his old Democratic associates, and supported Tilden's aspirations for the presidency. In 1874 his health began to decline, and continued to fail slowly until, on October 7, 1877, he died of consumption. Mr. Sherer was a small, light man, weighing about one hundred and twenty-five pounds. He had a high and well developed forehead, with curly dark brown hair which formed a point high up over the center of his forehead, and a similar curled point over each ear. His eyes were large, prominent, and grey. His nose was large and strongly Roman, giving a decidedly Jewish cast to his countenance. His complexion was fair, and he constantly wore a chin beard about two inches in length, at which he had formed the habit of picking incessantly. Dore, as he was habitually called by his intimates, was never a close student or hard worker in his profession. He made some money in real estate speculations in association with John Hough, but none in the law practice. But he was one of the best companions beside a winter fire we ever knew. A first rate narrator, witty, and possessed of a peculiar voice—with a sort of metallic tremulo in its tones—his listeners always enjoyed listening, and he was never tedious. He enjoyed telling jokes of which he himself had been the butt. 11 82 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. He had most carefully written and committed his first political speech, in the campaign when he was a candidate for congress—a speech about fifteen minutes long—which limit he rarely exceeded. The next day after its delivery, he, while in company with the writer, was accosted by Father Sill: " Well, 'Dore, I happened into the court house last night just in time to hear your little speech." "Ah, did you?" replied Sherer. "Now, Father Sill, I want you to tell me frankly just what you thought of it." "O! well, 'Dore, if it was entirely impromptu, it did pretty well; but if you had half an hour to think it up, it was all d—d poppy-cock!" "And just to think" (Sherer used to add, when telling the story), "that I had spent nearly a week on it!" Riding to Bainbridge on the turnpike, some years ago, Sherer (who lived and died a bachelor) was much struck with the rustic beauty of a young girl who received his toll. Politely asking for a drink of water, he got down from his horse, in her absence, and seated himself on the porch, determined to "scrape acquaintance" with her. Upon her return, 'Dore observed that she seemed to recognize him, and remarked: "You look at me as if you knew me, Miss." "And I do, too," she replied. "Oh, no; you are mistaken. You never saw me before." "Yes, I have. I never will forget you, either." "Ah!" replied the flattered 'Dore; "then who am I?" "Why, you are that infernal little Jew who sold me the pinchback set of jewelry for gold, last summer. That's who you are." Sherer protested that she was mistaken, but protested in vain. He cut the interview short ; and came home by another road. JOSEPH MILLER was born in Chillicothe, in September, 1819, and was admitted to the bar in 1841. He was prosecuting attorney in 1845-'46, and as such prosecuted Henry Thomas, for the murder of Frederick Edwards. In 1856, he was elected, by the Democratic party, to represent this district in the Thirty- fifth congress, and to this day, has been the only man born in Ross county, who ever represented a district, of which Ross county formed a part, in the congress of the United States. During his term, the contest for and against the extension of slavery into Kansas and Nebraska was raging. Miller voted with the south on this subject, and as a considerable number of his party had, by this time, become heartily tired of pro-slavery pretension and arrogance, his re-election became obviously impossible. But after he had been defeated, President Buchanan, in March, 185o, appointed him chief justice of Nebraska territory. In 186r, his successor was appointed by President Lincoln, and Mr. Miller returned to Ohio, in very bad health, and died, May 27, 1862. EDWARD LEWIS was born in Chillicothe, August 27, 1826. He graduated at Nassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, in 1845; read law with the late Joseph Sill, and was admitted to practice in 1847. He was elected prosecuting attorney, by the Whigs, in 1855, and died, of acute dysentery, on May 14, 1856. Mr. Lewis had been a good student in the grammar-school and college, and gave fine promise of taking high rank in his profession; but, like many other promising young men, he fell an early victim to an uncontrolled passion for drink and opiates; and ah! how many an unfolded bud of hope died with him. ALEXANDER ST. CLAIR BOYS was born in Stanton, Virginia, about 1817, and came to Chillicothe in 1842. His attempt to get practice in our courts was almost a total failure, principally because of his nervous timidity when in the presence of a court or jury. It seemed to be absolutely impossible for him to talk to either; and yet, as a conversationalist in his office, or in society, Mr. Boys was one of the most fluent and pleasant we have ever known. His attainments in professional learning were at least respectable. After he had resided here a few years, he became despondent, and grew to be intemperate in the use of liquor. He was quite popular, especially, with young men, and was elected to the legislature from this county, about 1849; but in Columbus he drank harder than ever, and before the session closed, some of his friends and relatives took him to Hillsborough, where he lived for the remainder of his life. Mr. Boys was about five feet eight inches tall, and slender. He had thin, light-colored hair, decidedly blue eyes, and good features. His manners were those of a polished gentleman. SAMUEL LOGAN WALLACE was born in Green township, Ross county, August 5, 1824, and was educated in the schools of his neighborhood only, and a short period in the academy of Westerville, Ohio. But he made good use of his limited opportunities, such as they were; and taught himself much by unaided study of all the English branches. He supported himself by farm work and teaching for some years before his admission to the bar. He read law in the office of Hon. M. L. Clark, and was licensed to practice in 1851. Mr. Wallace was of Scotch descent, and had all the sturdy laboriousness and perseverance which characterized the Scotch. Almost from the day he opened an office, he worked as industriously at his profession as even a day laborer did at his manual task. The result was, of course, a large business and pecuniary success. ,He was an earnest and strong man, rather than a bright one; and his tenaciousness of purpose was remarkable. These were his distinguishing characteristics and the elements of his success. No sketch of Mr. Wallace would be complete unless it mentioned also his zealous devotion to the cause of the Republican party. This feeling amounted, with him, to a passion, and to work for the success of a Republican ticket he would turn aside from his legal business, when nothing else would divest him from it for a day. During the years of his hard work, he gave little time to mere social intercourse with acquaintances, and was therefore considered phlegmatic and cold of feeling. But such was not the real truth. He was a warmhearted man, with strong affection for his family especially, and those acquaintances whom he esteemed. After a laborious practice of more than twenty years, and early in November, 1872, his family noticed with alarm his strange talk and unusual, restless nervousness of manners, and a few months later, symptoms of insanity became apparent. It was thought best to take him to Philadelphia, where he remained some time under the treatment of the world-renowned specialist, Dr. Ray. Although Dr. Ray at once diagnosed the case as one of softening of the brain, and therefore remediless, yet the result of his treatment was such that the violence of the manifestations of the disease greatly abated; and Mr. Wallace was returned to his home, to go about our streets at his pleasure, unattended, and he recognized every one he had ever known; chatted pleasantly with such, and even seemed to enjoy life again, although he made no attempt to resume practice. This condition of things continued until about the first of February, 1876, when he began a rapid decline. Paralysis soon closed the scene, and he died February 19, 1876. Mr. Wallace was a large framed man, a little upward of six feet in height. When in good health, he was thin of flesh, and weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds; afterwards he became fleshier, and probably weighed two hundred and tea. He was not graceful in carriage, but had a long swinging gait in walking. His hair was abundant, quite light, brown in color, and with a tendency to kink, rather than curl, which made it appear bushy. His nose was rather large and strong; his mouth straight cut, with thin colorless lips. His eyes were small, very light grey in color, and had an expression of looking intently—or rather of looking afar off. He wore a light chin beard. A post mortem examination abundantly confirmed the diagnosis made of his case by Dr. Ray. CHARLES WARD GILMORE, second son of William Y. Gilmore, was born in Chillicothe on the third day of April, 1827. He graduated from Miami University (where he was class-mate of Oliver P. Morton and George E. Pugh) in 1846, and read law in the office of Scott & Caldwell. He was admitted to practice in 1849. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1856, and held that office for twelve years thereafter by successive elections, and it is universally conceded, we believe, that he was the best and most successful prosecutor the county ever had. He was also city solicitor several terms. He died suddenly of apoplexy, superinduced, we have no doubt, by drinking and the use of chloral on the the night of October 31, 1873, within an hour of the close of a trial in common pleas, in which he was counsel. The writer prefers to let others speak of the intellectual character and attainments of a brother. At the bar meeting, held upon the occasion of his death, Judge Keith said, "in philology, belles letters, and general reading he was head and shoulders above us all. * * * In some departments of knowledge I felt like a child alongside of him. " * * * He had a fine, clear, and discriminating mind, and was remarkably well up in the science of law. In criminal law he was very superior." Judge 'Thaddeus A. Minshall said that he "could bear testimony of the high order of Mr. Gilmore's intellect. He was, indeed, a ripe scholar, and of most cultivated taste, and in these respects was far superior to any member of this bar." Poor Charley! His death was a crushing blow to his aged parents, at least. SAMUEL M. PENN was born in Batavia, Clermont county, Ohio, in HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO- 83 the month of February, 1828, and came to Chillicothe about 1854. He formed several partnerships, and moved several times to Cincinnati, Bainbridge, and other places, but returned each time, save the last one, to Chillicothe. He always industriously avoided the study of law, and gave most of his energies to political work, and staked his hopes of success in life upon the chances of getting office—and failed. Penn was a genial "good fellow" among "the boys," and just popular enough to run excellently well, up to the day of the nominating conventions. He was about medium height and full figure. His hair was quite red, and his head bald in front. His complexion was florid, his eyes hazel, and he wore a long red chin beard. He died rather suddenly in Brainbridge, October 5, 1878. ALFRED YAPLE was born in Colerain township, Ross county, July gith, 183o. He was educated principally at home, by his father, who was a professional school teacher. Alfred himself obtained a position as teacher of a country school when he was but seventeen years old, and thereby earned the means to support himself as a student of the excellent academy at South Salem for nearly two years. After leaving the academy he again engaged in teaching for three years. In the meantime, having determined to become a lawyer, he used all his leisure in the study of his chosen science, his books being obtained, and his course of reading being directed by the late Edward Lewis, of Chillicothe. He was admitted to the bar in November, 1851, and in March, 1852, opened his office here for practice. His energy and industry soon attracted attention, and brought him business. In 1854 he was elected city solicitor for a term of one year, and in 1855 was elected by the Whig party to the legislature, and served two years, from January, 1856. He then uninterruptedly followed his professional labors here until April, 1867, when he removed to Cincinnati, where he still resides, and is in the enjoyment of a lucrative practice. In April, 1872, he was elected a judge of the superior court of Cincinnati, to fill two years of the unexpired term of Judge Alphonso Taft —who had resigned—Mr. Yaple having, at this election, eight thousand majority over his opponent. In 1874 he was the nominee for all political parties in that city for the same position, and was, of course, elected. He served with great credit to himself, and to the full satisfaction of the Hamilton county bar through this full term of five years also, and was renominated for still another term. But owing to the rigidity of party lines in 1879, and the defeat of his party ticket by a large majority, Judge Yaple was defeated also then to the great regret of the profession, both here and in Hamilton county. He is now the senior member of the firm of Yaple, Moos & Pattison, of Cincinnati; and what a capital subject for an extended sketch Judge Yaple deprives us of, by reason of his being yet alive! It is just a shame to miss it! WILLIAM RENICK MADEIRA was born in Chillicothe, December, 8, 1833. He completed his general education by graduating from Kenyon college in 1855. He then read law in the office of William T. McClintick, and was admitted to practice in 1857. Soon after his admission to the bar he formed a partnership with Judge W. H. Safford, and continued to practice with very fair success until 1865, when in consequence of the necessity of giving his whole attention to the estate of his deceased uncle, fudge Owen 'F. Reeves. and the business of his then infirm father, Colonel John Madeira, he relinquished law practice altogether, and has not since resumed it. THOMAS BEACH was born in Adams county, Ohio, February 14, 1814. He graduated at Delaware, Ohio, and read law in Columbus, and was admitted at Circleville about 1839. He began practice in Greenfield, Highland county, from whence, a few years afterwards, he removed to Hillsborough, in the same county. From Hillsborough he removed to Cincinnati, and in 1857 again removed to this city. His career as a lawyer did not discredit the old adage that "a rolling stone gathers no moss." In 1861 he joined the Seventy-third Ohio volunteer infantry, and reached the rank of captain in December of that year, and in December, 1862, was mustered out of the service for physical disability. Mr. Beach was three times married—the last time to Miss Rachel Welsh, of this city, who survives him. He died of acute dysentery, September 23, 1875, leaving no children, we believe. CHARLES E. BROWN was born (of Quaker parentage) at Cincinnati, July 4, 1834. He graduated at Miami university with the class of 1854, and afterward went south, where he was employed as a tutor in a private family near Baton Rouge, Lousiana, at the same time reading law under the direction of Judge Thomas Morgan (father of Philip H. Morgan, now—r88o—United States minister to Mexico). In 1859, anticipating the Rebellion of the south, he returned to Ohio, and read for a time in the office of Alfred Yaple, then of this city, and was admitted to practice in the fall of that year, and opened an office for business. On the second of September, 1861, he enlisted in the Twenty-second Ohio volunteer infantry—afterward consolidated with and designated the Sixty-third. On the twenty-third of October, 1861, he was commissioned a captain; March 20, 1863, promoted to major, and on the seventeenth of the May following to lieutenant-colonel of that regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel Brown commanded the Sixty-third throughout the Atlanta campaign, and on the twenty-second of July, 1864, in front of Atlanta, lost his left leg, which was amputated close up to the hip. He was commissioned a colonel June 6, 1865, and was subsequently brevetted a brigadier-general, to date from March 13, 1865. After the close of the war General Brown opened an office again for the practice of his profession here, but in February 1866, he was appointed postmaster of this city by President Grant, and re-commissioned in 1870. In the early part of 1872 he was appointed United Sates pension agent at Cincinnati, which place he held until the consolidation of the agencies, in June, 1877. General Brown is now in the practice of law at Cincinnati. For obvious reasons, we cannot write such detailed sketches of the members of the Ross county bar who are yet living and in practice. Of these we subjoin simply a roster. THOMAS WALKE was born in Chillicothe, in 18—(being yet a bachelor, Mr. W. won't tell his age). He was graduated from Jefferson college in 1836, admitted to practice in 1839, and was probate judge of Ross county from 1867 to 1876. ALLEN O. HEWITT was born in Highland county, Ohio, January 16, 1816; admitted to practice in April, 1844. Mr. Hewitt lives in„ Bainbridge. WILLIAM T. MCCLINTICK was born In Chillicothe, February 20, 1819, graduated from Augusta college, Ky., in 1837, and was licensed to practice in 184o. He was prosecuting attorney for Ross county in 1849-5o, and has been the attorney for the M. & C. R. R. Co. since 186o. MILTON L. CLARK was born in Clarksburg, Ross county, April 21, 1817. He was admitted to practice in November, 1844, was elected prosecuting attorney for Ross county in 1845, and to the legislature in 1849. He was the member from Ross county of the constitutional convention of 1873-4. SELDON S. COOK was born in Parkersburg, Va., January 8, 1820, graduated from Allegheny college, Pa., in 1841, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1843. SAMUEL F. McCOY was born in Chillicothe, March 5, 182o, graduated from Miami university in 1839, was admitted to the bar in 1843. He was probate judge of Ross county from 1852 until 1861. WILLIAM HARRISON SAFFORD was born in Parkersburg, Va., February 19, 1821, and admitted to practice in 1845. He was State senator from this district in 1848-9, and also judge of common pleas. Mr. S. is author of " Safford's Life of Blennerhasset." J. RALPH WHITNEY was horn in Essex county, New York, in 1822, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He resides in Bainbridge. WILLIAM EDWARD GII.MORE was born in Chillicothe, November 3, 1824, was educated at the Ohio university, graduated at the Cincinnati law college in 1848, and admitted to practice in April of that year. He was colonel of the 22d O. V. I. for the three month's service, and lieutenant colonel of the 63d O. V. I. Amos SMITH was born at Lancaster, Ohio, August 18, 1829, and licensed to practice in 1850. JONATHAN LOYD THROCKMORTON was born in Colerain township Ross county, in October, 1830, and was licensed in September, 1867. THOMAS KELLY was born in Liberty township, Ross county, in March, 183o, and admitted in 1854. Lives in Liberty township. JOHN MARSHAL VANMETER was born in Pike county, Ohio, in September, 1836, educated—and admitted to the bar in September, 1857. Mi. Vanmeter was judge of common pleas from January 1st to October r, 1876, by appointment of Governor Allen. JOHN ISAAC THROCKMORTON was born in Colerain township, Ross county, February zo, 1832; admitted to practice in April, 1867. He 84 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO.was a first lieutenant in the Seventy-third Ohio volunteer infantry. ROBERT D. MCDOUGAL was born in Chillicothe, March 3, 1833, graduated from Marietta college in 1855, was admitted in September, 1859. Mr. McDougal was city solicitor 1871—'72, and was auditor of Ross county, 1872-3. WILLIAM V. LAWRENCE was born in Green County, Ohio, November 8, 1834; was admitted to practice in October, 1859. He was in the Twelfth Ohio Volunteer infantry, Third New York cavalry, and Eighth Ohio Volunteer caValry, and held the rank of captain. Mr. Lawrence published a volume of his own poems. THADDEUS ARMSTRONG MINSHALL was born in Colerain township, Ross county, January 19,1834, and was admitted to the bar in April, 186x. He was prosecuting attorney for Ross county 1865-66, and judge of common pleas from November, 1876. He is still on the bench. He was captain in the 'Thirty-third Ohio Volunteer infantry. ARCHIBALD MAYO was born in Oxford, Ohio, June 11, 1834, educated at Miami university, and admitted to practice in 1862. He was elected to the legislature from Vinton county, Ohio, in 1864, and was prosecuting attorney of Vinton county in 1865-'66, and of Ross county in 1873-'74. WILLIAM ABBOTT GAGE was born in Ross county, March 28, 1838, and admitted to practice in May, 1866. He held the rank of colonel of the Twenty-first United States volunteer infantry (colored). Colonel Gage resides in Union township, and attends principally to farming. He is commissioner of insolvents for this county. ALLANIAH B. COLE was born in Adams county, Ohio, in March, 1842, and was admitted to practice in May, 1864. JOHN B. SMITH was born in Chillicothe, February 27, 1842, and was admitted to practice in April, 1877. He was in the Seventy-third Ohio volunteer infantry, a first lieutenant and adjutant. REUBEN F. FREEMAN was born in Boone county, Kentucky, in July, 1843, graduated in Lebanon academy, Ohio, in 1869, was admitted to practice in 1872, was elected city solicitor here in 1877, and still holds _ that office. CHARLES FREY was horn in Chillicothe in July, 1843, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1875. JOHN C. ENTREKIN was born in Greene township, Ross county, February 11, 1854, graduated from Ohio Wesleyan university in 1867, and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He was city solicitor from 1872 to 1877. Was in the legislature in 1875-6, and is now State senator. He is also colonel of the 6th 0. N. G. Mr. E. was in the — with the rank of . JAMES QUIN was born in Ross county in May, 1844, and admitted to the bar in September, 1871. He was prosecuting attorney for Franklin county in 1874-5. Mr. Q. was in with the rank of —, and lost an arm in the serVice. He resides in Bainbridge. LAWRENCE TALBOTT NEAL was born in Parkersburg, Va., September 22, 1844. He was admitted to practice in February, 1866, and was a member of the Ohio legislature in 1868-9, prosecuting attorney of this county in 1871-2, and representative in congress from this district from 1873 to 1877. GEORGE W. HOLLAND was born in McArthur, Vinton county, Ohio, January 26, 1846, and admitted to practice in September, 1871. He was clerk of Vinton county common pleas from 1873 to 1875. Mr. H. was in the army as a private, serving with the 181st 0. V. I. EDWARD T. DELANY was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in October, 1846, and was admitted to practice in May, 1865. He was prosecuting attorney of Franklin county in 1870-1. ROBERT SWINEHART was born in Adelphi, Ross county, June 27, 1846, and was admitted to practice in September, 1875. Mr. S. resides in Adelphi. WILLIAM EDGAR EVANS was born at Frankfort, Ross county, Ohio, on July 16, 1847, graduated from Miami university in 1869, was admitted to practice in September, 1871, and was prosecuting attorney of Ross county in 1875-6. HENRY WILLS WOODROW was horn in Chillicothe, in March, 1847. He followed merchandising for some years, and was admitted to practice law in October, 1878. HUGH M. WARE was born at Frankfort, Ross county, in 1851, and admitted to the bar in 1876. SILAS FRANKLIN GARRETT was born in Ross county, February 23, 1851, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1877. THOMAS W. WALSH was born in Cincinnati, August 25, 1852, and 'as licensed in NoVember, 1875. GEORGE BEAMON BITZER was born in Adelphi, Ross County, April 5, 1852, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1878. ALBERT DOUGLAS, JR., was horn in Chillicothe, April, 22, 1852, raduated from Kenyon college in 1812, and from the Harvard law chool in 1874. He was admitted to the bar in November, 1874, and elected prosecuting attorney of Ross county in NoVember, 1876 and till holds that office. MARCUS GASTON EVANS was born in Frankfort, Ross county, in )ctober, 1853, graduated from Wooster, Ohio, academy in 1877. He vas admitted in September, 1879. FRANKLIN PIERCE HINTON was born in Mercer county, Ohio, January 19, 1854, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1877. CHARLES HOWARD PATTERSON was born in Adelphi, Ross county, n June, 1857, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1879. JAMES VAUSE was born in Ross county in November, 1857, and was admitted to practice at the bar in April, 1879. In concluding this chapter, the writer desires to say, ;hat whether well or ill done, it is certain that if the writing of the sketches of the older members of the Ross county bar had been delayed ten years longer, much of ;heir history would have been lost irretrievably.