Bristol County, Massachusetts - Chapter 70: A Sketch of the Courts and Bar of Bristol, 1883

Ox the 12th day of January, a.d. 1680, King Charles II. granted unto the inhabitants of Plymouth Colony, in consideration of their loyalty and good conduct during King Philip's war, the territory of Mount Hope, containing about seven thousand acres.

The grant was upon the condition that the Colony should yield and pay therefor seven beaver skins to be delivered at Windsor Castle every year on the feast of St. John the Baptist, or in default thereof fourteen marks to be paid into the royal exchequer.

On the 14th day of September, of the same year, the colony sold this territory to John Walley, Nathaniel Oliver, Nathaniel Byfield, and Stephen Burton, of Boston, for the sum of eleven hundred pounds. Mr. Baylies, in his "History of Plymouth Colony," says the price was three hundred pounds, but according to the deed of purchase the former sum was the amount paid. By a vote of the General Court, passed on the 28th day of the same month, "three hundred pounds of the prise of Mount Hope" was ordered to be distributed among the several towns of the colony.

The original purchasers immediately formed a settlement on their lands, and on account of their intimate relations with Bristol, in England, gave it the name of Bristol. It soon became one of the most flourishing towns in the colony.

In the year 1685 Plymouth Colony was divided into three counties, - Plymouth, Barnstable, and Bristol ; these names were given to the counties from their several shire towns. At the time of its incorporation Bristol County comprised not only its present area, but in addition the territory of the towns of Cumberland, Barrington, Warren, Bristol, Tiverton, and Little Compton, now in the State of Rhode Island.

From the records in the office of the clerk of courts, and from information from other sources, we are furnished with much that is interesting concerning the earlier judicial history of Bristol County.

The records from 1685, the year in which the county was incorporated, to 1702, covering a period of nearly seventeen years, are wanting. The first record of the Court of Common Pleas is of that term which was holclen in Bristol commencing on the 13th day of October, 1702. In this record there are references made to the courts which were held at an earlier day. From this and other reasons it is evident that the courts were in successful operation soon after the incorporation of the county.

The courts consisted of the Superior Court of Judicature, the Court of the General Sessions of the Peace, and the Inferior Court of Common Pleas.

general jurisdiction in all criminal matters, the punishment of which did not extend to life, member, or banishment. As an illustration of the business which came before this court, a few of the orders passed and the sentences imposed are herewith presented.

On the 14th of April, 1702, William Earle, of Swansea, being presented for profane swearing and summoned to appear to answer for the same, came and pleaded the province law, to wit, such offenses must be proved against the offender within thirty days after the offense is committed, was admonished therefore and dismissed.

July 14, 1702. "Samuel Waldron, of Taunton, being presented for not attending public worship of God on the Lord's day, appeared upon summons and pleaded that he was of the way of the Church of England, but did not go to hear Mr. Danforth, but to other meetings as often as he could, was admonished for his neglect, and dismissed with paying costs taxed at two shillings."

"Samuel Watfield, Keeper of the jail in Bristol, having served the year past in that office for the sum of five pounds, desires to have an order pass this Court to the County Treasurer for the receiving of the said sum ; it was passed acccordingly."

April 13, 1703. "Ordered thatCapt. Samuel Gallup have and receive of the County Treasurer eight shillings for his trouble, expense, and pains in going to Swansey to fetch the order for the Thanksgiving, and notifying the people in Bristol thereof the day before." Capt. Gallup was then sheriff of the county.

April 13, 1713. " Frank Townsend being bound by the way of recognizance to appear at this Court upon complaint of his wife, who complains that he had left her, and had taken another woman to be his wife, and he being convicted thereof by his own confession, it is ordered that he be whipt twenty lashes on his bare back, well laid on, and to stand committed till sentence be performed."

John Weaver, in court, "owning that he has been guilty of a breach of the Sabbath by husking corn on the Lord's day ; ordered to pay a fine of ten shillings as the law directs, and costs of Court."

In the year 1745, John Briggs, Jr., of Berkley, petitioned the court that he might be licensed to keep a ferry at a place called the Needles, on Taunton Great River, and among other reasons stated " that it will be very convenient for those jurymen who come from the last side of the river to go to Court."

In 1746, Col. Jerathmeel Bowers, of Swansea, was ordered into the king's service by Capt. Jonathan Slade. Col. Bowers, instead of joining the troops, ran over to Rhode Island. He was afterwards brought before Peres Bradford, Esq., and entered into a recognizance for his appearance at the Court of Sessions to answer for his conduct. After his arrest, and previous to the session of the court, Col. Bowers presented to Governor Shirley a document signed by Dr. Winslow, of Freetown, which stated that Bowers had had his collar-bone broken recently, and that it was not properly set, and that he was thereby disabled and rendered unfit for military duty. Governor Shirley thereupon issued a warrant exempting Bowers from military duty. Capt. Slade then caused the affidavits of several of the neighbors of Col. Bowers to be taken, who testified that " he is quick of foot and every way able to perform military duty." These were presented to the Governor, who issued a writ of supersedeas, revoking his warrant of exemption and authorizes the court to proceed in the matter.

Col. Bowers is brought before the court, is adjudged guilty, and " ordered to be imprisoned for six months or pay a fine of fifteen shillings, to be delivered to the town of Swansey for the purchasing arms, etc., as the law directs."

Samuel Howland, Esq., of Bristol, was appointed king's attorney at each term from 1702 to 1746. This office is now known as that of district attorney.

As early as 1740 a dispute had arisen between the colonies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island respecting the eastern boundary of Rhode Island. This dispute was made known to the King of England, who appointed commissioners to visit the spot and determine where the boundary line should run. These commissioners met, and, after due examination, decided that the line should be run so as to include the present town of Tiverton, Little Compton, Bristol, Warren, Barrington, and Cumberland in Rhode Island. From this decision Massachusetts appealed to the King in Council, who confirmed the decision of the commissioners, and in May, 1746, George II. in Council ordered that Rhode Island and Massachusetts should appoint commissioners to run the lines setting off the abovenamed towns to Rhode Island. Massachusetts was so dissatisfied that she sent no commissioners on her part, but commissioners appointed by the General Assembly of Rhode Island met and ran the line.

The county seat having thus been set off to Rhode Island, " it was enacted by the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives, that from and after the 13th day of November, 1746, the town of Taunton shall be and hereby is made and established the county or shire-town of the County of Bristol instead of the town of Bristol, and that all the Courts for the County shall be held in said Taunton, and that all the records and papers of the Courts now in the town of Bristol shall be forthwith delivered to George Leonard, Esq., Mr. Thomas Foster, and Jonathan Shepard, Esq., or to the major part of them, who shall cause them immediately to be conveyed to the said town of Taunton, and there safely deposited under the care of the same persons as heretofore, or others, as the said committee shall judge best, who shall serve in their offices with full power, and shall give the same obligations and be under the like penalties as they or others had or were under heretofore, until this Court shall further order, or others shall be duly appointed in their steads."

The same act required all persons living in Bristol who have in their custody any records belonging to the county to deliver the same to the said committee, and the act also authorized the sheriff of the county to remove all prisoners in his majesty's jail at Bristol to Taunton, and there put them under safe custody in some proper place until the county shall provide a jail.

There is a tradition that the people in Bristol who had the custody of the court records refused to give them up, and that James Williams, of Taunton, was deputed to get them by stratagem. He is said to have succeeded in his efforts, brought the records to Taunten, and that he was rewarded for this act by being appointed county register, an office now called register of deeds, which office he, his son, and his grandson held successively for a period of ninety-five years.

The Rev. George F. Clark, of Norton, in his researches among old papers for materials for a history of that town, found in a house occupied for many years by the Leonard family reapers giving an account of the removal of the court records. Although there is no signature to the documents, they are in the handwriting of Judge George Leonard, one of the persons named in the act authorizing the transfer of the records from Bristol to Taunton.

In addition to the following document, which we copy verbatim, there is another paper, giving a summary of their expenses. Each charges £5 for horse and horse hire; Leonard charges £9 for himself; Foster, £10 10s.; Shepard, £12; making the whole expense of removing the records, £53 4s.

"An account of the charges of the Committee in going to Bristol, By order of the Great and General Court, and removing the Records from Bristol to Taunton, November, 1740.

li Nov. 18th, 1746, Delivered the Records of ye County, -viz. of Deeds, &c. to mr. Thomas Troop, the Late Registre of Deeds, at ye house of ye Honorable Seth Williams, Esqr. at Taunton, * have taken bonds with Surtys for his keeping ye books & his office also at Taunton till ye further order of ye General Court, or till a Registre be chosen, ye Same day Committed the Books of Record and papers belonging to ye Probate Register to Stephan paiue, Esqr., at the house of Samuel white. Esqr., and have taken Bonds with Surties for ye Safe keeping sd. Books & papers in sd. Town.

"ye same day appointed mr. Nathaniel Fales Clerk of ye Inferior Court of Comon pleas & Court of General sessions of ye peace, who yus sworn to ye fathful dishard of sd. office & Committed ye Books & papers belonging to sd. Courts to ye sd. Nath'll Fales, at ye House of ye Honorable Seth Williams, Esqr., & have taken Bonds with Surtys for his Safe keeping sd. books in the Town of Taunton, &c, the same day appointed James Williams, Esqr., Treasurer for sd. County, who has Recod the papers &. all accounts, & was Sworn to ye faithful discharge of sd. office.''

The first session of the Court of Common Pleas held in Taunton was on the 9th day of December, A.D. 1747, the Hon. Seth Williams, George Leonard, and

Stephen Paine presiding. The Court of Sessions, which consisted of all the justices of the peace, held its first session on the same day, the following justices being present: Seth Williams, Thomas Terry, George Leonard, Timothy Fales, Samuel Willis, Thomas Bowers, Stephen Paine, Ephraim Leonard, John Foster, Edward Hayward, Samuel Howland, Samuel Leonard, John Godfrey, Stephen White, Sylvester Richmond, Jr. Timothy Fales was appointed clerk of both courts and was duly sworn.

The first object to be accomplished was to prepare and erect suitable buildings for county purposes. It was ordered by the court " that the school-house be made as secure as may be for the safe custody of all persons that may be committed thereto, with the utmost dispatch, and that Seth Williams, the second, shall take care to secure the two prisoners now in custody, and all others that shall be committed in the mean time."

It was also ordered " that Seth Williams, George Leonard, John Godfrey, and Samuel White, Esquires, be a committee to look out a suitable place for the standing of a gaol and county-house in the town of Taunton, and know what the land for erecting said house on may be purchased for, and make a report of their doings thereon at the adjournment of this court."

At the Court of Sessions held on the second Tuesday of January, a.d. 1747, this committee made the following report: "We the subscribers, appointed a committee to look out a suitable place for the standing of a gaol and county-house in the town of Taunton, have pursuant to the written orders looked out a suitable place as we apprehend, which is towards the upper end of the old training field, a little below where they used to dig graves, and is sixty foots square, which we look upon to be the most suitable for setting a county-house upon, provided the town's proprietors committee give a legal conveyance thereof with a suitable and convenient way to pass to and from said place; and also that the most suitable place for setting a gaol and gaol-house be on the land of Samuel White and Mr. Simeon Tisdale, at a place near the spring (so called), adjoining the way that leads from said Tisdale's to Mr. Crossman's grist-mill, provided the said White and Tisdale give a legal conveyance thereof."

The site designated by this committee for the county house is the front yard of the present courthouse, and for the gaol, upon the land now occupied by the Bristol County National Bank.

At the same session of the court it was " ordered that John Foster, Sylvester Richmond, Jr., and John Godfrey, Esquires, be a committee to provide materials, and build a County House and gaol, and gaolkeeper's house, with suitable despatch. The gaol to be thirty foot long and fourteen foot wide, two story high and fourteen foot stud, to be studded with sawed stuff of six inches thick, to be framed close together, with a chimney in the middle, suitable for a jail. The house for prison-keeper to be seventeen feet wide and twenty-three feet long, two story high, besides the entry between the gaol and dwelling house, and to be fourteen feet stud, with a suitable chimney and cellar."

At an adjourned session of the court held on the twenty-eighth day of the same month, Samuel White, Esq., was appointed on the committee for building the jail instead of Sylvester Richmond, who was appointed sheriff. Mr. Richmond lived in Dighton, and was the first sheriff appointed after the removal of the shire town to Taunton.

On the 9th of June, 1774, the court received a subscription from the inhabitants of the town of Taunton amounting to £922.15 for building a court-house.

The first county tax of four hundred pounds was ordered by the court on the 8th of September, 1747, to be levied on the inhabitants of the several towns.

Soon after the assessment of the county tax in 1747 work was commenced on the first court-house erected in Taunton. The edifice stood directly in front of the present structure, and served the purpose for which it was built for nearly a quarter of a century. On the 17th of December, 1771, the court ordered " that a new court-house be built, to be forty-eight feet square and twenty-four feet post, and George Leonard, Jr., Benjamin Williams, Robert Treat Paine, and Daniel Leonard, Esquires, or either two of them, are appointed a committee to proceed and erect a court-house, and to dispose of the now standing court-house by sale thereof or by taking it down and disposing of the timber." This committee was instructed " to make application to the selectmen of the town of Taunton to call a town-meeting to see whether the town will grant twenty feet more of the town's land back of the now court-house to the county to set the new house on." The town of Taunton in 1772 conveyed to the county the land desired, and thereupon the committee sold the old house, which was removed across the street and converted into a dwelling. This committee proceeded to erect the second court-house upon the site now occupied by the present court-house. This house, like its predecessor, was built of wood. The lower story was appropriated to offices, and a flight of long broad stairs led from a platform in front of the court-room doors to the level of the street. In after-years it was pronounced to be too small and inconvenient to accommodate the growing business of the county, and it was sold and removed to the foot of Court Street, where it now stands, and is occupied by several tenants, and upon its site was erected the present brick edifice, a substantial structure.

The first gaol which was built was used for that purpose till 1785, when it having become so insecure that a number of the prisoners escaped therefrom, the court directed a new jail to be built, and the legislature authorized the assessing of a county tax of £1500 to meet the expenses. The second jail was erected upon the same site as the first jail, and cost £621.7. It was built of wood and painted red, and is remembered by many persons now living. The stone jail on the corner of Court and Washington Streets was erected in 1821. The stone used in its construction were quarried in Fall River. The jail now used as such in Taunton was completed in 1873, and cost one hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

We now pass over for a number of years the records of the courts, which are replete with interest and instruction, stopping only to give a description of the chief justices, as drawn by John Adams when on a professional visit to Taunton on the 8th day of June, 1762: "Went to Taunton Court, the land of Leonards, three judges of the Common Pleas of that name, each of whom has a son who was bred at college. The Hon. George Leonard, the first justice, seems to me arbitrary. He committed two old gentlemen who were nearly eighty years old to the custody of an officer only for speaking loud, when they were both deaf and not conscious that they did speak. A check, a reproof, an admonition would have been enough."

" He was unwilling that the sessions should adjourn for an hour to take the verdict of the jury in a trial upon a presentment for a riot, but would have that jury kept together all night, till the court should set again the next morning. No other court in the province, superior and inferior, would have thought of keeping the jury up. He broke in most abruptly upon Bob Paine: ' He did not think it was right to run out against the king's witnesses ; for his part he did not like to hear it three or four times over.' Thus the haughty tyrant rules the county."

In March, 1773, a cause was tried wherein Nehemiah Liscome, of Taunton, sued Jerathmeel Bowers, of Swansey, in a plea of trespass, " that whereas, on the 11th day of March last past, at Taunton, a certain discourse was had between the said Nehemiah and Jerathmeel concerning the election of the person who should be chosen to represent the town of Taunton at the next election," Bowers promised that if Liscome was elected representative he would give him one hundred gallons of Jamaica rum, and if Liscome was not elected he was to give Bowers fifty dollars. Liscome was elected and demanded the rum of Bowers, who refused to pay, and this suit was brought to recover the same or the value thereof in money. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant.

Upon the breaking out of the Revolution the colonial courts were dissolved, and more than a year elapsed before the courts were reorganized. This want of courts of justice was in some places supplied by the establishment of local tribunals. As an illustration, at a town meeting held in Attleborough it was voted to have a Superior and Inferior Court in that town, and four men were chosen to serve as superior judges, and seven as judges of the Inferior Court.

There was a large number of the inhabitants of the American Colonies who did not espouse the popular cause in the war of the Revolution, but adhered to the crown. They were called Loyalists or Tories. Some of these persons remained almost neutral, and looked upon the changing fortunes of their country with the coldness of a stoic, while others took up arms in support of the king, and endeavored by every artifice and stratagem to defeat the plans of the colonists. On the 12th day of March, 1776, a large number of these persons with force and arms prevented the court from meetiug at the court-house in Taunton, and other quarters had to be provided in which to hold the session of the court.

During the Revolutionary war the courts were busy in the examination of persons who were in any way disposed to favor the side of the mother-country. If any one was supposed to be an enemy, he was brought before a Committee of Correspondence and Safety which was in every town.

The committee would send the suspected persons to the Court of Sessions, where they would be ordered to enter into a recognizance in the sum of two hundred pounds, not to join the enemy or render any assistance thereto.

In 1777, Jerathmeel Bowers, of whom we have heretofore spoken, and who was at this time one of the justices of the Court of Sessions, was convicted before the Committee of Correspondence and Safety, " for undervaluing the paper currency of the United States and refusing to take the same, and for saying that he had rather give one thousand dollars than to have any soldiers raised in Swansea. He was ordered to be committed to the gaol and there remain till he was discharged by the order of the State; at the next term of the Court of Sessions he was ordered to be discharged on his own recognizance.

Col. Bowers was elected a representative from Swansea to the General Court in 1783. The selectmen of Rehoboth and sundry inhabitants of Swansea petitioned that he might be excluded from a seat, on the ground that " he had not shown himself friendly in the late struggle with Great Britain," and also that he was disqualified by virtue of a resolve of a former General Court. This petition was referred to a committee of the house which subsequently reported that " by a resolve of the General Court passed April 7, 1777, the said Jerathmeel Bowers was disqualified from holding any post of honor or profit in the commonwealth, which resolve in the opinion of the committee was still in force, and that Mr. Bowers was therefore disqualified from holding a seat." This report was accepted by the House and Bowers quitted his seat accordingly.

In the year 1785, during the Shays rebellion, the courts in this county were again interrupted. A large number of persons armed with clubs and stones assembled at Taunton, intending to prevent the Court of Common Pleas from doing any business. At this time Gen. David Cobb, of Taunton, was one of the justices of the Court of Common Pleas. Geu. Cobb had been an aid to Gen. Washington, and was then major-general of militia of the Old Colony. During the riot Gen. Cobb made his way through an angry mob to the court-house, uttering the memorable words, " I will either sit as a judge or die as a general." This bold and determined attitude, of Gen. Cobb carried dismay and fear to the rioters, they imdiately dispersed, and the court proceeded with its business without further molestation. Gen. Cobb afterwards became the chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas in Maine.

In the colonial days, and in the earlier days of the republic, Samuel White, Robert Treat Paine, Daniel Leonard, Seth Bradford, Nicholas Tillinghast, Daniel L. Barnes and others, who were residents of the county, with James Otis, Timothy Ruggles and other distinguished lawyers now residents, were members of the Bristol bar and practiced in the courts at Taunton.

Samuel White was appointed king's attorney in 1747, and at every term of the court thereafter till his death in 1769. He was an eminent lawyer, and " famed for his accuracy in making writs." He was Speaker of the House of Representatives during the period of the stamp act, and as presiding officer of the House he signed the circular which called together the first Congress that assembled in New York in 1765.

Robert Treat Paine settled in Taunton in 1761, and continued to reside there for nineteen years. He was one of the ablest lawyers of his day, and his practice was probably not exceeded by that of any attorney in the State. In 1770, the prosecution of Capt. Preston and others "for the Boston massacre was conducted by him with marked ability, and he won a wide reputation. As a signer of the Declaration of Independence he rendered his name immortal. In 1779 he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and one of the committee which prepared the draft of the Constitution. In 1780, upon the acceptance of the constitution, he was made the first attorney-general of the State, which office he retained for ten years, when he was appointed one of the justices of the Superior Court. He was a member of the court for fourteen years when he resigned.

Upon the death of Samuel White the court appointed Daniel Leonard king's attorney. Mr. John Adams, his contemporary, has given us a graphic description of Mr. Leonard. Mr. Adams says, " He was a scholar, a lawyer, and an orator, according to the standard of those days. As a member of the House of Representatives, even down to the year 1770, he made the most ardent speeches in that House against Great Britain, and in favor of the colonies. His popularity became alarming. He married a daughter of Mr. Hammock, who had left a portion, as it was thought in that day. He wore a broad gold lace around the rim of his hat. He had made his cloak glitter with laces still broader. He had set up his chariot and constantly traveled in it from Taunton to Boston. Not another lawyer in the province, of whatever age, reputation, or station, presumed to ride in a coach or chariot."

Robert Treat Paine and Daniel Leonard were colleagues as representatives from Taunton, and on one occasion, as they were going to Boston together to attend to their legislative duties, when approaching the summer residence of Governor Hutchinson, in Milton, Mr. Leonard remarked to Mr. Paine that he was desirous of calling on the Governor, and requested Paine to accompany him. Paine declined the invitation and added, " If you stop I shall proceed to Boston without you." And there they parted company. Of what was said and done at this interview between Governor Hutchinson and Mr. Leonard history is silent, but from that hour Mr. Leonard ceased to support the American cause and became a bitter Tory. He commenced a series of articles, which were published in the Massachusetts Gazette and Post-Boy. These articles attracted much attention, and were afterwards answered by John Adams.

Mr. Leonard lived in the dwelling-house which adjoins the court-house on the east. A mob attacked his house, and a musket-ball was fired through the window into a room in which Mr. Leonard was seriously ill. He fled to Boston, and in 1776 he accompanied the British army to Halifax, and was prohibited from returning to the State, by the statute of 1778, under the penalty of death. He was appointed by the British government chief justice of the Bermuda Islands, and died in London in 1829, aged eighty-nine years.

Samuel Fales, of Taunton, was the second clerk of the courts ; afterwards he became chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas ; he was subsequently an executive councilor of the commonwealth. His eldest son, Nathaniel, succeeded him as clerk of the courts in 1804.

James Sproat, Sr., followed Mr. Fales in the clerk's office. " Mr. Sproat was a man of ready wit. While at the bar Daniel L. Barnes, Esq., was at one time addressing the jury, he had occasion to quote the following passage from Scripture, the address of Satan to the Lord, ' Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath will he give for his life,' adding, in his ignorance of authorities, ' saith our Saviour.' Sproat in an instant was on his feet, and turning to the court said, ' He may be Brother Barnes' Saviour, but he is not mine.' '

James Sproat, Jr., succeeded his venerable father, and performed the duties of clerk of the court till June, 1856, when he resigned, and his brother, William A. F. Sproat, was appointed by the court.

Mr. William A. F. Sproat continued as clerk till January, 1857, when the office, by an amendment to the constitution, became elective. John S. Brayton, of Fall River, who was elected at the November elec- tion in 1856 clerk of the Courts, assumed the duties of that office on the first Wednesday of January, 1857. Mr. Bray ton was re-elected in the autumn of 1861, and resigned January 5, 1864. He was succeeded by Simeon Borden, Esq., of Fall River, who has held the office by successive elections till the present time, and has proved himself to be an efficient, able, and accomplished officer.

For eighty-two years all the courts of this county were held in Taunton. The Legislature of 1828 authorized the holding of one term of the Supreme Judical Court and two terms of the Court of Common Pleas annually in New Bedford. In June, 1828, the first term of the Court of Common Pleas was held in New Bedford, in what was then the town hall, now the District Court room. The present court-house and other county buildings in New Bedford were subsequently erected. The last term of the Court of Common Pleas for Bristol County was holden in New Bedford, the term ending on the 27th day of June, 1859. Regular sessions of that court had been held either at Taunton or New Bedford, with the exception of the interregnum heretofore alluded to, for one hundred and thirteen years. From the time of its organization to the year 1810, the Court of Common Pleas was strictly a County Court, its justices, three in number, being residents of the county. All the justices were present at its sessions and participated in the business of the court. In 1810 the State was divided into circuits, the Southern circuit being composed of the counties of Norfolk, Plymouth, Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, and Nantucket. In 1821 the courts were again reorganized and the Court of Common Pleas became a State Court, like the Supreme Judicial Court. On the 1st day of July, 1859, the Court of Common Pleas was abolished, and was succeeded by the Superior Court.

The Bristol bar, as we have seen, during the colonial era and the earlier days of the republic, had among its members distinguished men, who stamped their characters upon the times in which they lived, and who gave to the bar a reputation for ability, intelligence, and statesmanship second to none in the commonwealth. The reputation thus early established has been maintained to this day. During the present century the Bristol bar has furnished to the several courts of the commonwealth judges, who as jurists have become noted for their broad, general knowledge of jurisprudence and for their sound judgment and legal acumen.

Samuel S. Wilde, of Taunton, was an honored member of the Supreme Judicial Court for thirty-five years, the longest term of service of any judge in the State ; and for twenty years there sat by his side Marcus Morton, another member of this bar. These two jurists, with their associates, Shaw and Putinan, gave weight and character to the decisions of our Supreme Judicial Court, and its decisions have been adopted as the common law of our country and are

Judge Merrick, who was a justice of the Supreme Court for eleven years, commenced the practice of his profession in this county. He first settled in Swansea, and afterwards removed to Taunton.

And now Marcus Morton, the junior of that name, born and bred in this county, fills with distinguished ability the seat upon that bench which has been graced by a Parsons and a Shaw.

John Mason Williams, a native of New Bedford, an honored member of this bar, was upon the bench of the Court of Common Pleas twenty-four years, five years of which he was chief justice. Charles H. Warren, Harrison Gray Otis Colby each have won here enviable reputations, and, having acceptably filled the office of district attorney, were promoted to seats upon the same bench.

The present chief justice of the Supreme Court, Lincoln Flagg Brigham, for six years discharged, with eminent ability the duties of prosecuting officer of this district, and was, upon the organization of the court, appointed one of its associate justices, and in 1869 commissioned chief justice. The late Ezra Wilkinson, of Dedham, upon his admission to the bar, settled in Seekonk, and afterwards removed to Assonet. He subsequently became a resident of Dedham, was for many years district attorney of his district, and when the Superior Court was established he was appointed a judge, and remained on the bench till his death, in 1882.

Chester I. Reed, of Taunton, who was cut off by death in the midst of his usefulness, was taken from the office of attorney-general and placed upon the bench of the Superior Court. One of the present eminent judges of that court is the Hon. Robert Carter Pitman, who was in full practice at the Bristol bar when appointed to the bench.

Besides the two attorney-generals of whom we have spoken in another connection, the Bristol bar has furnished that office with one who, by his marked ability and great forensic powers, has given even to the bar of Massachusetts a broader and more enviable reputation, the late Hon. John Henry Clifford, of New Bedford.

George Marston, of New Bedford, was for eighteen years the prosecuting officer of the Southern District, and was then elected attorney-general of the commonwealth. He held that office for four years, and it is sufficient to say he maintained its high reputation for ability, learning, and character.

The office of attorney-general was re-established in 1849, and it is a fact to be named with honest pride that for fifteen of the thirty-four years, which have since elapsed, the attorney-general has been a member of the Bristol bar.

In the national councils this bar has been ably represented by William Baylies, for many years its acknowledged leader ; by his brother, Francis Baylies, the author of the " History of Plymouth Colony," and who was at one time the United States minister to Brazil ; hy Lemuel Williams, of New Bedford, and Henry Williams, of Taunton ; by Laban Wheaton, of Norton ; and by Thomas Dawes Eliot, of New Bedford. Mr. Eliot was in Congress thirteen years, and has left his impress upon the legislation of his country.

William Wallace Crapo, also of New Bedford, has just closed a successful career of eight years in Congress, and has made for himself a national reputation.

Mr. George T. Davis, recently deceased, and Mr. Kasson, of Iowa, formerly belonged to this bar, and have each been members of Congress, Mr. Kasson from the State of his adoption, and Mr. Davis from one of the districts in this State.

Two chief magistrates of the commonwealth, Governors Morton and Clifford, as has been previously stated, were members of this bar, and David Cobb, of Taunton, who was Lieutenant-Governor in 1809, was for a time a judge of the Court of Common Pleas.

If we had the space and time we would speak more fully of Professor Theophilus Parsons, who practiced at Taunton ; of Timothy G. Coffin, who obtained the foremost rank in his profession as a nisi prius lawyer; of that able advocate, Nathaniel Morton ; of the two Hathaways, Elnathan B. and Joseph ; of the two Cushmans, Apollos and Hercules ; of the genial Stone, the judge of the Court of Insolvency ; of Charles J. Holmes, A. Bassett; of Messrs. Battelle, Williams, Lapham, Boomer, Pratt, Bacon, and others, who have sustained the honor and added lustre to the Bristol County bar.

Governor Emory Washburn enunciated an axiom when he said " that a free people, for an impartial administration of justice, and the security of personal rights, depend upon the labors of an honorable, enlightened, and independent bar." The bar of Bristol County is, to-day, what it has been in the past, honorable, enlightened, and independent.

By the statute approved March 19, 1877, the justices of the Superior Court were authorized to adjourn any of the established terms of that court from Taunton and New Bedford to Fall River. The county commissioners thereupon made arrangements to have the large and eligible hall in the Borden Block, in Fall River, which block had just been erected and fitted up for the accommodation of the Superior Court. This hall and the adjoining rooms are now used for that purpose, and in their appointments and convenience are not surpassed by any court-house in the commonwealth.

The first session of the Superior Court convened in Fall River was held in the afternoon of the 27th day of June, 1877, the Hon. P. Emory Aldrich presiding. The session of that day was devoted to the dedication of the hall. Addresses were made by several gentlemen of the bar, and were responded to by the presiding judge.

We bring this article upon the history of the courts of Bristol County to a conclusion by quoting the closing portion of the historical address delivered on the occasion of the dedication of the hall in Fall River :

" How fitting and proper it is that we should be here and for the purposes of this day. The land upon which this stately edifice stands was once the property of Col. Benjamin Church, the famous warrior and conqueror of King Philip, and who during the administration of Governor Andros was one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas for this county. As we look out of these windows to-day we can behold the scene of his brilliant exploits, the place where by his strategy and prowess the blow was given which put an end to that bloodiest of bloody wars, and finally resulted in the downfall of a great Indian empire.

" It was here that that Spartan band, under the lead of Col. Joseph Durfee, the son of Hon. Thomas Durfee, who was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, on that ever memorable Sunday morning repulsed the British in their cowardly attack upon the then little hamlet. Upon this spot the first blood was shed by the English in this county in the Revolutionary war. Once a part of the broad acres of a judge, defended with heroic valor by the son of another judge, the present clerk of the courts and his kinsmen, the worthy children of an honored sire, have erected this edifice, whose halls we this day dedicate to justice and to truth."