Mercer County, Illinois - Chapter 14: The Bench and Bar, 1914

The first record of the Circuit Court found is Book A, Chancery Docket, which shows an account of court proceedings of the October term, 1839, it being the first and earliest record now found in the clerk's office. Peter Lott was the judge presiding, and the first case in the record was Joseph Crawford vs. Elizabeth Crawford, decree for divorce. The second case is a divorce case, Long vs. Long, which was granted. The third case is Rachel Vance vs. William Vance, for divorce, which was granted.

Thomas C. Brown was judge of the same court at the May term, 184.1; O. T. Skinner was judge at the September term, 1851, and entered a decree for Lewis W. Thompson, guardian of Marie McPherren and others, to sell real estate (Page 133, Chancery Record A). At the April term, 1853, H. M. Wead was judge.

The judge's docket for the May term, 1853, shows on the criminal docket, first case, indictment against Walter A. Bridgford for sale of liquor; indictment quashed. The next case, indictment against John Morris for larceny; Reynolds, state's attorney; Davidson for defendant. There were seven cases on the criminal docket. In the case of Beach and Eddy vs. Judah, Browning and Bushnell appeared for defendant. Isaac Williams vs. David Merryman, Manning appears for defendant.

Harris appears as attorney in another case; so do Madden, Beardsley, Stephen and W. Wagley and H. W. Thornton. There were thirty-seven common law cases on the docket.

At the May term of the Chancery Court, 1853, E. A. Paine appeared as attorney; also L. B. Howe. There were twenty-six cases at that term of court.

W. C. Goudy came in as state's attorney, October term, 1853. There appeared the suit of James Garner, Benjamin C. Taliaferro, John C. Pepper vs. Levi Willits, ejectment. This was for property in New Boston. At the October term, 1854, Jonn R- Deeds was indicted for murder of his father-in-law, Doctor Ditto. W. C. Goudy was state's attorney; trial and verdict - not guilty. At the special January term, 1858, there were 66 criminal cases on docket; cases in common law, 409; and 101 cases on the chancery docket.

At the time Mercer County was organized in 1835 there was not a resident attorney in the county- In 1839 Hiram W. Thornton located in Millersburg as an attorney for the practice of law. James H. Stewart was one of the early lawyers in Mercer County, being in practice there as early as 1842. John S. Thompson commenced practicing law in the county as early as 1844, when he was only about nineteen years of age. Not far from that time L. B. Howe located in Millersburg to practice law. There were attorneys, however, from Quincy, Knoxville, Monmouth, Rock Island, and other places from time to time before and after 1848. In those days quite a number of the attorneys would go around the circuit with the judge who held the court. Among those of prominence who appeared in Mercer County just before or after 1848 were O. H. Browning, Nehemiah Bushnell, Isaac N. Morrison, Archibald Williams and others from Quincy; Julius Manning, of Knoxville; S. C. Harding, Ivory Quinby, James G. Madden and E. A. Paine, of Monmouth; Charles M. Harris, William Rice, James M. Davidson, of Oquawka; Joseph Knox and Jerome J. Beardsley, of Rock Island.

One of the most prominent of these attorneys was Joseph Knox, who was regarded as the greatest advocate then at the bar in Northwestern Illinois; he was one of the attorneys who defended the men who assassinated Colonel Davenport on the island near Rock Island, but he was not enabled in that case to save his clients from the gallows. He was famous for several years thereafter at Rock Island, but only appeared occasionally in Mercer County.

Jerome J. Beardsley, of Rock Island, attended the courts of Mercer County more generally than any other attorney from Rock Island, but his attendance commenced in the early 'qos. He was a very able attorney, was well versed in the law, and could present his case to the court or argument to the jury very forcibly.

Good attorneys in those days very frequently, however, descended to pettifogging, and it is related of Mr. Beardsley that in defending a man in Rock Island County who was indicted for stealing logs from a raft of timber, Mr. Beardsley in his argument to the jury read from the indictment which charged the defendant with stealing certain logs from a raft of timber "then and there found." Mr. Beardsley argued to the jury that from the language of the indictment the defendant did not steal the logs, but found them; and, consequently, he could not be found guilty of larceny, and the jury on that argument returned the verdict of "not guilty."

of the state is well known. He was afterwards a member of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet. The last case in which Mr. Browning was connected in Mercer County was the indictment for murder against a man by the name of Hollingsworth, which was on a change of venue from Henderson County to Mercer, and was tried in Aledo at the September term, A. D. 1859, in which the defendant was found guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced to the penitentiary. It was a case that created considerable excitement and interest, as the Hollingsworth family was a very prominent one in Henderson County, the father of the criminal being a prominent Quaker, and during the trial of the case sat in court with his hat upon his head.

Mr. Browning's associate in the practice of law at Quincy, Nehemiah Bushnell, was also a very able attorney, and in the early '50s attended the Circuit Court in Mercer County, but never appeared there after 1854.

Archibald Williams, of Quincy, was regarded as one of the ablest lawyers in ejectment suits and other suits involving titles of real estate. As an advocate, his style and manner of speaking were not eloquent, but he was logical and had great power with the court and very good success with the jurors. He, however, did not attend the courts in Mercer County after 1854.

Julius Manning, of Knoxville, Knox County, was an attorney also of very fine ability, eloquent before a jury, learned in the law, and was a close and logical reasoner, and exercised great influence with the court. His co-partner, Leander Douglass, was also an excellent lawyer, and in 18^4 and thereafter Mr. Douglass appeared in the Circuit Court of Mercer County, and Manning no longer attended the Mercer County Court.

In addition to the attorneys mentioned from Monmouth, there was an attorney by the name of Hite that attended the courts of Mercer County for about four years - from 1855 to 1858. Mr. Hite was not an attorney of very much prominence and ability, but he succeeded, bv a little pettifogging, in getting a man acquitted who was indicted for malicious mischief in killing a colt. The indictment charged the killing on a certain day and month of the year, as was usual and necessary. On the trial of the case it was shown that the defendant had shot and injured the colt, from which it died, on a day different from that stated in the indictment, but some time within eighteen months prior to the finding of the indictment. The court instructed the jury that it was not material at what time the defendant had injured the colt, except that it must be shown that he injured the colt within eighteen months prior to the finding of the indictment. Hite got the court to instruct the jury that in order to find the defendant guilty they must find that he inflicted the injury upon the animal "in manner and form as found in the indictment," and then argued to the jury that, as the evidence showed that the injury was inflicted on a different day from that charged in the indictment, therefore the defendant was not guilty, and succeeded by that argument in obtaining a verdict of not guilty. One of the jurors in the trial of that case was a bright, intelligent young man, who had been reading law for a year or two, and was quite ready to condemn the technicality of the law, as he termed it, and was an advocate of disregarding all technicalities and only to give effect to the substantial evidence produced; but, strange to say, this young man was very prominent in contending before' the jury in that case, and procured a. verdict of not guilty by reason of the evidence shown that the injuries were inflicted on a different day from that charged in the indictment, and he, with the other jurors, disregarded the instruction of the court that it was not necessary to prove the criminal act to have been inflicted on the day alleged in the indictment.

The county seat of Mercer County was removed from Millersburg to Keithsburg in 1848, and J as. H. Stewart about that time located in Oquawka, Henderson County, and after a number of years there removed to Warren County, where he practiced a number of years and died. He was elected state's attorney for the circuit in 1856, and served two or three terms. He was a very good lawyer, argued a case very strongly before a court and before a jury. In those days, that is from 1839 until 1856, there were not very large libraries, and especially not in Mercer County, to which lawyers could have access, and consequently the production of authorities and reading to the court was very limited. The lawyer would argue upon general principles, reading sometimes from a text-book and making a logical argument in support of his contention.

Among the early lawyers of Mercer County were John C. Pepper, Benj. C. Taliaferro, Lewis W. Thompson, John S. Thompson. Hiram W. Thornton also still continued to practice for a short time. Mr. Thornton had the best law library in the county from 1839 until 1855. In that year Mr. Thornton had practically retired from the law practice and had engaged in merchandise in Millersburg, and about that time became one of the promoters for a railroad from Warsaw, Illinois, to Rockford, called the Warsaw & Rockford Railway Company. Mr. Thornton afterwards became the president of the company, and during his connection with it a railroad was built from Moline Junction, a point a few miles east of Moline, to

Port Byron, the latter place being the head of the Rock Island Rapids. Work was done in other places on the line of the road and the rightof-way acquired largely from Warsaw in Hancock County through Henderson and Mercer and Rock Island counties to Rock Island, but no other part of the road was actually constructed by the company. John C. Pepper was a lawyer of excellent ability; his address was very nice, his language good, and his selection of words well chosen, presenting his case always logically and forcibly. He was really an eloquent speaker, confining his arguments almost universally to the points at issue, seldom descending to anything approaching pettifoggy. In his earlier practice he did not rank, perhaps, with John S. Thompson as a lawyer, but from 1855 until he retired from practice about forty years later, he was the head of the Mercer County bar and ranked with the best lawyers in Northwestern Illinois. He, however, in a few years after he commenced practicing became intemperate in his habits, which for a time greatly destroyed his power and usefulness as an attornev; but in later years he reformed and became a strict temperance man, and used all his energies and influence in the temperance cause. Among the cases in which Mr. Pepper was early involved was one of Jas. Garner, Benj. C. Taliaferro and John C. Pepper against Levi Willits, which was an ejectment suit against Levi Willits for the house and lot that he occupied as a residence in New Boston, being at that time the finest building in the little Village of New Boston. This suit caused quite an excitement, because if the plaintiffs in the case could succeed in that suit they would succeed in other suits against other occupants of a large part of New Boston. Taliaferro had entered the land upon which New Boston was located in 1852, and the suit was founded upon the patent given to him by the United States. It appeared that the land was patented or conveyed to Denison by the United States in 1839, and subsequently to Benj. C. Taliaferro in 1852, and it was contended by Taliaferro and plaintiffs that there was no authority for issuing the patent to Denison in 1839, but the case was decided against the plaintiffs, and the people of New Boston were relieved by the decision of further anxiety in regard to the title of their property. The case will be found to be reported in the 1 8th volume of Illinois Reports - page 455. The plaintiffs in the suit in the Supreme Court were represented by William C. Goudy, Norman B. Judd and Julius Manning, three of the most prominent lawyers in Western Illinois, and the defendant was represented by H. M. Wead, who had been judge of the Mercer County Circuit Court from 1849 until 1855.

Mr. Pepper was, during the time of his practice, employed in quite a number of murder cases, among them the defense of Doctor Stuart and his wife, who were indicted for the murder of William H. Brown in the year 1883. This case created great excitement in the Village of North Henderson, where the parties resided, William H. Brown being one of the proprietors in laying out and platting the Village of North Henderson, and he and Stuart both being physicians and brothers-in-law, their wives being sisters. Mrs. Stuart entered the house of Brown in the night; he opened the door at her call and admitted her, and while he was proceeding to light a lamp she shot him in the back with a revolver, inflicting a serious wound which caused his death a few months thereafter. Mrs. Stuart and her husband were both indicted, charged with murder; but they were tried separately, her husband being tried first and acquitted, and Mrs. Stuart then tried and also acquitted. Subsequent to that time, Stuart was shot and killed while driving on a public highway near North Henderson in the practice of his profession. There was no clue by which it could be ascertained who fired the fatal shot.

Another important case that Mr. Pepper was employed in was a suit by Richard B. Ellis, of Richland Grove Township, Mercer County, against Frank Von Ach and others, the board of health of the Village of Cable, on a charge of false imprisonment. Mr. Benj. C. Taliaferro was the attorney for the plaintiffs; Richard B. Ellis, John C. Pepper, Isaac N. Bassett and John C. Wharton were attorneys for the defendants. The suit grew out of the imprisonment of Richard B. Ellis, a smallpox suspect, by Von Ach and others, acting as a board of health for the Village of Cable. It was tried twice, the verdict of the jury being for the defendants in each case, and was appealed to the Appellate Court by Ellis, where the decision of the Circuit Court was affirmed. It created quite an excitement in the Village of Cable and in the Township of Richland Grove, and some interest in the county, involving the question as when and how a person might be arrested and, if necessary, imprisoned who was suspected of having been exposed to a contagious disease.

Benjamin C. Taliaferro, who was mentioned in connection with the last case, was a lawyer quite prominent in Mercer County for a great many years, first in Keithsburg, and afterwards in Aledo, where he died. Mr. Taliaferro was a very energetic, industrious lawyer, arguing his cases with great energy and earnestness before court and jury, but he was not a close lawyer and was not very logical or well versed in the law in many instances, but Mr. Taliaferro had a very large practice and continued to have until his death.

John S. Thompson, one of the early lawyers, commenced practice in Mercer County while the county seat was at Millersburg, and while Mr. Thompson was a very young man he was elected clerk of the County Court in 1852, and was not very active in the practice after that time. In 1855 ne was elected judge of the Circuit Court of Mercer County and the judicial circuit in which Mercer County was located, which included the counties of Henderson, Warren, Knox and Fulton.

Judge Thompson resigned in i860 and Aaron Tyler, of Knoxville, was appointed by the governor to fill out the unexpired term, which was less than a year; and in 1861 Charles B. Larrence. then residing on a farm in Warren County, formerly a prominent lawyer of Quincy, a copartner of Archibald Williams, was elected judge of the Circuit Court to succeed Aaron Tyler. Judge Larrence was elected justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois in 1865; John S. Thompson was then elected judge of the said circuit for the unexpired term, but resigned again in 1866, when Arthur A. Smith, of Galesburg, Knox County, was appointed judge of the circuit for the unexpired term, which was less than a year after the resignation of Judge Thompson.

Judge Thompson engaged in the practice of law after his resignation in i860 until his election again in 1865, and after his resignation a second time he was engaged as he had been before that time, as one of the promoters of the Western Airline Railroad Company, which, however, changed its name to the American Central Railway, and which was finally constructed in 1869 from Galva in Henry County, to New Boston in Mercer County, while Judge Thompson was president of the company.

Judge Thompson removed to California in 1872 and settled at Los Angeles, where he practiced law for a time, and subsequently engaged in promoting railroads, and died about 1903.

John S. Thompson was a very good lawyer and made a very good record as judge of the Circuit Court. He was a very ambitious politician, being a whig under the old regime and then a republican until 1868, when he succeeded in getting a nomination on the democratic ticket for candidate to Congress in the district of which Mercer was a part, and made a very energetic, spirited contest, but was defeated by Gen. A. C. Harding, of Monmouth. Judge Thompson, after his removal to California at Los Angeles, was also a candidate for Congress from that district on the greenback ticket, but some years later he identified himself again with the republican party.

however, to collections, and quite extensively before justices of the peace. In those days there was quite an amount of litigation in the courts of the justices of the peace of the county, and all of the attorneys were more or less engaged in such suits, largely confined, however, to collection cases, but frequently forcible entry and detainer suits, actions of trespass, etc. Mr. Thompson was also frequently engaged in suits in the Circuit Court of considerable importance in those days, but in those cases was most generally assisted by his brother, John S. Thompson, or some prominent foreign attorney. Mr. Lewis W. Thompson was not successful in his practice a few years later, in 1856, '157 and '58, and lost a large part of his practice, but he continued to practice law in the county until his death, which occurred April 22, 1881. Mr. Thompson was a respectable attorney, of strict integrity, but made prominent every little technical matter that he could raise, and was not very successful either in the courts or before a jury on questions of vital and great importance.

Elias Willits and Isaac N. Bassett commenced the practice of law in Keithsburg in the spring of 1855 under the firm name of Willits & Bassett. In the spring of 1856 Mr. Willits went to Chicago and entered into a partnership there with a man by the name of Johnson, but not being successful returned to Mercer County in the latter part of the year 1857. In tne spring of 1857 J°'in R- Bassett, a brother of Isaac N. Bassett, came to Aledo and commenced the practice of law with Isaac N. Bassett under the firm name of J. R. & I. N. Bassett; and on the return of Elias Willits from Chicago he entered into the said firm, which was then changed to Bassett, Willits & Bassett, and they continued to practice together until February, i860, when I. N. Bassett withdrew for a time, and Willitts and John R. Bassett continued to practice under the firm name of Willits & Bassett until February, 1862, when Mr. Willits removed to Monmouth and entered into the practice of law there, and a few years thereafter was elected judge of Warren County Court, and continued in that office for twelve years, until his death in 1881. Mr. Willits was well educated, a graduate of the law department of the University of Indiana; he was a man of fine physique, but he could not practice law successfully, not because he was not sufficiently acquainted with the law, but it seemed that when he got on his- feet that his power to express himself was gone. He could sit down in the office and argue a case with great force; he was metaphysical in a high degree. Mr. Willits made a successful and satisfactory county judge, and was well qualified to fill the office of circuit judge. He was a man of strict integrity, upright in every particular, and commanded the respect of all people.

John R. Bassett had practiced in his native state, Kentucky, for some two or three years before he came to Illinois; he was a good lawyer, could argue a case logically and forcibly before judge or jury, but he would never undertake a case unless he believed his client's case was good. He always told his client, after learning about his case, whether he thought he could succeed or not for him, and if he did not think he could succeed for him would not undertake it. He continued to practice in Mercer County in connection with his brother, I. N. Bassett, as above stated, from February, 1862, until the spring of 1869, when he retired from practice. He was judge of the County Court for two terms, and removed to Kansas in 1881, where he died in 1913, at the age of 92 years.

Isaac N. Bassett was elected treasurer of the County of Mercer in the fall of 1855, and his practice largely increased in 1856, '57, '58 and '59; he and his brother, John R. Bassett, had the largest practice in the county. The great majority of the cases were collection cases, in which there was really no defense, but in those days there would be an attempt even in defense in order to get a continuance of the case and get time. The practice was quite different then from what it is now. In those davs if a suit was commenced in which the plaintiff was bound to give security for costs without filing a cost bond, on motion of the defendant the cause would be dismissed - the plaintiff could not file a bond and proceed with the suit, but it would be put out of court and he would have to commence a new suit, or on account of anv defects, he would have to amend his declaration, the case would be continued. For these reasons and the desire to get time there was a great delay of technicality in endeavor to put the plaintiff out of suit or get the cause continued.

During 1857, T 858 and 1859 the dockets were very large; at a special term held in January, 1858, there were on the docket 68 criminal cases, 409 cases in common law and 101 cases on the chancery docket; and that was about the average of the docket commencing with 1857 UP t0 i860. Among the cases in which Isaac N. Bassett and his copartners were employed was an ejectment suit for a half section of land in North Henderson Township. The suit was commenced in 1855 bv Lewis W. Thompson for a man by the name of Bragg, and had run along for several years in which there were two trials, each of the parties having gained a judgment, but under the statute each party had paid the costs and procured a new trial. In 1866 John R. and Isaac N. Bassett were employed to assist Mr. Thompson in conducting the case. When the suit was commenced the land was vacant and the suit was against James P. Erskine, a prominent land dealer in Quincy, 111. After the commencement of the suit Mr. Bragg contracted to sell all of the land to three different persons, and his vendees took possession of the land and commenced the cultivation of the same. In 1867 Mr. Bragg dismissed his ejectment suit as his vendees were in possession of the land; thereupon Mr. Erskine sent persons up in the land and invaded the possession and commenced improvements thereon; and the respective purchasers from Bragg through J. R. & I. N. Bassett commenced for a forcible entry and detainer and recovered judgment against Erskine's tenants.

Erskine then conveyed the land to a non-resident and suits were commenced in the United States Circuit Court at Chicago against the three persons respectively to whom Bragg had sold. That litigation continued for a number of years, each of the parties, plaintiff and defendant, having recovered a judgment in the United States Circuit Court, each having paid the costs under the statutes and reinstated the case.

George F. Harding and Alexander McCoy, copartners, were employed in the case with J. R. and I. N. Bassett in the Federal Court; and finally the matter was settled by Erskine upon payment of $1,000 to him by Bragg, who was defending the suit for his vendees. William C. Goudy was the principal attorney for Erskine in the United States court. At the commencement of the ejectment suit, in 1855, the half section of land, which was No. 1 prairie land, was worth $1,600. and when the suit was concluded it was worth $16,000. and at the present time it is worth over $200 an acre. The contest in that case grew out of a title for a half section of land given to a soldier of the War of 181 2 by the name of Corey. Erskine claimed under a deed commencing with Corey to some one, and Bragg claimed under the same party, and it was finally shown by evidence, the deposition of a great many witnesses having been taken in different states, proving that Corey did not execute the deed under which Erskine claimed, and among the witnesses was the deposition of Corey himself. This is given as an illustration of litigation that often arose in Mercer County over the titles of real estate; and most frequently arose in regard to the lands that were granted to soldiers of the War of 181 2; the greater part of these lands having been sold for taxes and tax titles acquired by the purchasers, and the soldier's title often being represented by conveyances of persons claiming to be their heirs; and persons purchasing through the heirs very frequently found that they did not have the title, were not able to prove the heirship, and had litigation over the title or had to purchase again.

Another important case in which Isaac N. Bassett and John C. Pepper were engaged was known as the Turner will case. William J. Turner, formerly a citizen of Baltimore, Md., bought a large quantity of land in Mercer County and settled in Warsaw, 111., about 1850, and subsequently in New Boston, 111., and later died in Aledo, about the year 1875, leaving a will, devising most of his property to Fred Mead and Rachel Mead, his wife, who had taken care of Mr. Turner in the last years of his life, as he was a bachelor. The will was contested by some nieces and nephews, heirs of Mr. Turner, alleging that he was mentally incapable of making a will, and that it was obtained by undue influence. The estate was worth some forty or fifty thousand dollars - over one hundred thousand dollars if it had not been for a banker failing who owed Mr. Turner some seventy or eighty thousand dollars, just a short time before Turner's death. In the trial of the cause in the Circuit Court Mead's attorneys, besides I. N. Bassett and John C. Wharton, were Benjamin C. Taliaferro, James H. Connell and Lewis D. Holmes, who put on the stand seventv-five witnesses, and succeeded in sustaining the will. There was subsequent litigation over the estate of Turner between Mead and other persons in different courts, among them the Federal Court of the United States, which lasted for twenty-five years.

Luther T. Ball located in Keithsburg for the practice of law in 1856, and continued in the practice until 1862, when he went into the army and was lieutenant of a company in the Eighty-fourth Illinois Infantry, and was killed at the Battle of Stone River in Tennessee. Mr. Ball was a very good, honorable, upright attorney.

Also in i8q6 Charles M. Kay located in Keithsburg for the practice of law and continued to practice in Mercer County for some ten years, part of that time being master in chancery, and then removed to Michigan. There were several other attorneys who were not very prominent and who practiced but a short time in the county. But in 1856 and 1857, after Aledo was laid out and settled, Samuel W. McCoy commenced the practice of law in Aledo and continued to practice for some fifteen years and had considerable practice, but he was a lawyer of very moderate ability. A young lawyer, John M. Shoemaker, commenced practicing in i860, entered the army in the Civil war and was mortallv wounded in the battle of Shiloh, and a young lawyer by the name of Waterbury, who entered the war from Aledo, was also killed.

Walter J. Pepper, a brother of Tohn C. Pepper, commenced the practice of law at Keithsburg about 1870 and had considerable practice for a number of years; he was an attorney of very good ability and had some important cases. Among the cases of importance that he had was one against Dr. George Irvin by Frank Smith for malpractice. The plaintiff was a boy who was injured by riding in a wagon and Doctor Irvin was called to treat him, and the result was that the young man was left a cripple; and it was charged that it was caused by the neglect of Doctor Irvin giving proper treatment. The case was three or four weeks on trial and created considerable excitement, because Doctor Irvin was a physician of good standing, a prominent man, and the physicians throughout the county almost unanimously sustained him. In fact, about that time there was a county organization of physicians, and suits against physicians on account of malpractice had been frequently brought before and judgments obtained against the physicians; and the physicians throughout the county effected the organization, among other things to unite in sustaining all physicians who were regularly licensed and were fair physicians. There was quite an amount of bitterness exhibited during the trial, and considerable between the attorneys ; Benjamin C. Taliaferro appeared with Walter J. Pepper, and John C. Pepper, brother-in-law and brother of said attorneys, appeared for Doctor Irvin. The result was that Doctor Irvin was successful.

James M. Wilson later was admitted to practice, having served a term as clerk of the Circuit Court, and entered into partnership with John C. Pepper. Mr. Wilson was master in chancery for a number of years and then was elected judge of the County Court, which he held for one term, and afterwards continued to practice alone until his death, which was very sudden.

J. E. Griffin was an attorney in New Boston in i860, was elected county judge in 1861, and served one term, and then removed to Los Angeles, California.

Amos Waterman also commenced practice about i860 and located at New Boston, was county superintendent of schools for one term, and continued in the practice until about 1872, when he removed to Los Angeles, California, where he died.

Charles H. Brass was also an attorney of New Boston, commencing practice there not far from 1870, and after about ten years' practice in Mercer County removed to South Dakota.

William McK. Young, who is still living in Aledo, commenced practice in i860, but taught school, being the principal of the public schools both at Millersburg and Aledo; and then was elected justice of the peace, and filled that office for more than thirty years.

having a large farm in Millersburg Township, and practically retired from law practice. He was unsuccessful in his farming business and became badly involved financially, left his family and went to Washington Territory, as it was then. His farm property was all sold under execution, and a number of years later his family went west at his request and they were united again, and he is still in Washington, if living. Mr. Pepper, when he went out West, changed his name, and when writing to his wife urging her to come out and live with him again, he told her that he had changed his name, and to come to him as his wife under another name. She replied that if she went out to meet him she would go as Walter J. Pepper's wife, and consequently Mr. Pepper had to reveal his right name, and his wife met him, and he was thereafter known by his proper name, had a farm there, and also practiced law there.

Among the important suits in Mercer County was one against John R. Deeds in 1854. Deeds was indicted for murder, having killed his father-in-law, Doctor Ditto, and was tried in the fall of 1854, William C. Goudy being at that time state's attorney, and he was acquitted. There was a great deal of interest manifested in the case, especially in Keithsburg, the sympathy being almost entirely in favor of the defendant, Deeds. Doctor Ditto was a farmer, a verv rough; overbearing, tvrannical man, and it was through his overbearing manner and language that the altercation was brought about in which he was killed.

Another incident occurred in the fall of 1854 in the trial of a civil case. Lewis W. Thompson was attorney for the plaintiff and Leander Douglass for the defendant. Clifford J. Ungles had been a witness in the case. In the argument to the jury, Mr. Thompson characterized some one of the witnesses as being a "swift witness,'' and in reply to that Mr. Douglass, in his argument, said he did not know what Mr. Thompson meant by a swift witness, but that there had been a witness testifying for Mr. Thompson's client that was death on settlements, Mr. Ungles; and just when Mr. Douglass got that far in his talk to the jury, Mr. Ungles, who was sitting inside of the bar, jumped to his feet, called for protection from the court, and immediately proceeded to assault Mr. Douglass. Douglass, in addressing the jury then, had his back to Ungles, and knew nothing of Ungles' demonstration behind him. Ungles aimed to strike Douglass' head, but just when he delivered the blow, Douglass had bowed in addressing the jury and thereby escaped the blow. Judge Weed, who was presiding in the court at that time, was sitting inside of the bar and immediately seized Ungles, shoved him back, and went and took his seat on the bench, and fined Ungles $50.

Mr. Ungles was a man of fine character, and was very sensitive about any charge affecting his character; and supposed that the language used by Mr. Douglass was disrespectful. Ungles was never committed, and never paid the fine.

Another important case in Mercer County should properly be mentioned here. In 1897 William Drury died, leaving his property for the benefit of his wife during her lifetime, and at her death his property to be sold and converted into money by James H. Connell, who was made trustee for that purpose by his will; and all of the remaining property, except nine-one-hundredths part thereof, which he gave to certain of his nieces and nephews, was to be used and given to a college to be located in that town in the county that would give the largest amount of money for its location.

Mr. Drury had no children nor descendants of children - Ed L. Drury was a foster-child, but had never been legally adopted, and he did not give him anything in his will. This and some other things dissatisfied Mrs. Drury, and she renounced the will under the provisions of the statute and consequently took one-half of his estate. There was a contest of the will by several of the heirs of William Drury, his nieces and nephews ; but the will was sustained. In another chapter there will be given an account of the college, established by Mr. Drury's will.

Another case showing how land titles in Mercer County may be disturbed after a great many years, had its commencment in 1847. Romulus Riggs, of Philadelphia, bought a great many tracts of land in Illinois, and among them as many as thirteen quarter sections in Mercer County. Riggs made a will in 1846 in which he devised the land in Mercer County to his daughter, Illinois Riggs, and in case of her marriage to the daughter and her husband, to be held and used for the benefit of any children that might be born to them under said marriage. Romulus Riggs died in 1846 and his will was duly probated; in 1847 his daughter, Illinois, was married to Charles H. Graff, and a child, Nettie Graff, was born to them during that year. In 1853 a suit was commenced in Mercer County Circuit Court by Chas. H. Graff and his wife, setting out the provisions of the will and the birth of Nettie Graff, and praying the court for authority to sell the land by the petitioners in order to obtain money to educate their daughter Nettie. It was alleged in the petition that the land was all vacant, and that the petitioners had no money to pay the taxes levied against said land was another reason why the land should be sold.

A decree was entered by the Circuit Court in 1854 authorizing James L. Riggs, a son of the deceased Romulus Riggs, who resided in Peoria, as commissioner to sell the land, and under that decree the thirteen quarter sections of land were sold and bought by different persons in the county. The purchasers improved the land, and have been in the actual possession of each tract of land for sixty years.

There was another child afterwards in 1863 born to Illinois and Chas. Graff, who was a son and named Chas. H.; and subsequent to that time Nettie Graff died, and still later Illinois Graff and her husband, Chas. H. Graff, died, leaving the son, Chas. H. Graff, who is still living; and now, after sixty years, the real estate having been in the active possession of the persons who improved and cultivated the land for more than fifty vears, suit is threatened bv Chas. H. Graff against the occupants of all but three quarter sections of land, which had been conveyed by Chas. H. Graff prior to that time.

Chas. H. Graff is now claiming title to the ten quarter sections of land, or about that number, and suits have been entered by nearly all of the occupants of said land in' the Mercer County Circuit Court again Chas. H. Graff to quiet the title to said real estate, and the suits are now pending.

Another suit affecting the interest of quite a number of persons, illustrating the insecurity of real estate titles, arose in the county some years ago. In 1854 Harrison Riggs was residing upon a half section of land in Millersburg Township, and in that year, with two of his sons, went to Texas, leaving his wife and ten other children on the farm in Mercer County. Harrison Riggs afterwards sent one of his sons back to Mercer County with instructions to make sale of some property and then to return to Texas, and bring the mother and family along if she would come; but the mother refused to leave the place and go to her husband. In 1802 the wife of Harrison Riggs died, and thereupon Harrison Riggs wrote to Isaac N. Bassett, authorizing him to sell the half section of land. The children of Riggs in Mercer County set up title to the land and brought suit for partition, making the children of one of Harrison Riggs' sons, who died in Texas, and the wife of the son, parties defendant. Riggs was at that time living with the widow of his deceased son in Texas; thereupon Riggs conveyed the land to his daughter-in-law, and the heirs in Mercer County then set up that Riggs was incompetent mentally to convey his real estate, and that the deed was obtained under undue influence. They also alleged that the land was bought with the money of their mother, and also that when Riggs left Illinois in 1854, he had made a contract with his wife in and by which she was to remain on the farm, take care of the children, give them a common school education, and when each of them became of age, give them a horse and $100. They made proof of the compliance with this contract substantially by the wife and mother. One of the other points made in the case was that the father was mentally incapacitated to make a deed to his daughter-in-law; the proof sustained the mental capacity and right to make the deed.

Mr. Isaac N. Bassett and his co-partner, Thos. W. Bassett, were employed by Mr. Riggs and later by his daughter-in-law, who was married to a man by the name of Erringdale, to defend the suit brought by the heirs in Illinois. The judge of the Circuit Court entered a decree for the children in Illinois for partition; and Mrs. Erringdale appealed the case to the Supreme Court, and the case was reversed, the Supreme Court holding, among other things, that the contract between Mr. Riggs and his wife in 1854 was illegal; that a married woman at that time could not make any valid or binding contract; and this decision of the Supreme Court settled the title in Mrs. Erringdale. The case may be found on page 403, 148 Illinois Reports.

The common law has since been changed by the statutes so that a married woman now can make a valid contract with any person, including her husband, and can sue and be sued, and hold property in her own right, which she could not do in 1854.

Lewis D. Holmes and James H. Connell both commenced the practice of law in Mercer County about the year 1869. Holmes continued to practice until about 1887, when he removed to Omaha, Nebraska, and died there some two or three years ago. He was a very good lawyer and had very good success both in Aledo and Omaha.

James H. Connell became associated with Isaac N. Bassett and practiced with him from 1869 until 1874; removed to Colorado about 1879, and after some three years returned to Aledo, and was elected county judge, in which office he served eight years, and thereafter continued to practice in Aledo until his death in 1906. Mr. Connell was engaged in some important cases during his practice, but he was not a very close lawyer nor a pleasant speaker to a jury. He gave fairly good satisfaction as county judge and was an honorable, upright lawyer. When Mr. Connell returned from Colorado and became a candidate for judge of the county court, it was charged against him that he was not eligible, the statutes requiring five years' residence previous to election as a qualification for the office of county judge, and Connell had only been in the state since his return from Colorado a little over a year. Mr. Connell contended that he was eligible, and after his election his title to the office was contested by James M. Wilson, who was the candidate opposed to him. On a trial it was proved that Connell, with his wife, had gone to Colorado, having sold his house and other property in Aledo; and under the statutes of Colorado, in order to obtain a license to practice law, a person must either be a citizen of Colorado or take and subscribe an oath that he intended to become a citizen within six months from the time of his application. Mr. Connell took such an oath and then received license to practice, entered into a partnership with an attorney there and continued to practice between two and three vears under that license, and then returned to Mercer County; and testified that he did not go to Colorado with the intention of becoming a citizen of Colorado only upon conditions; that is - that his wife's health was poor, and that if he found it necessarv to remain there for his wife's health, he would remain, and if not, he would return; and upon that evidence the Circuit Court held that he had not lost his citizenship in Illinois, and on appeal to the Appellate Court the judgment of the Circuit Court was sustained. The case created a good deal of interest among political parties in Mercer County and the friends of the respective candidates, and also in the legal fraternity on account of the question involved; it being contended that Judge Connell was estopped from saying that he did not intend to lose his citizenship in Illinois by going to Colorado by the oath he took there, and remaining to practice under that license for two years and a half after obtaining the same.

The later attorneys in Mercer County who took any prominent part in litigation were Benj. F. Brock, James M. Brock, Guy C. Scott, Alex. McArthur, Creighton Hayes, George A. Cooke, William J. Graham, Thos. W. Bassett, Leander Thomason, David A. Hebel, Oscar E. Carlstrom, Henry E. Burgess, Robert Watson, William T. Church, Friend Church, George Wens, Frank Carnahan, L. D. Kirkpatrick and some others whom it is not necessary to note in this connection.

Benj. F. Brock and James M. Brock, his brother, practiced law for a number of years in the county, and were both very good lawyers, and each of them filled the office of state's attorney.

Creighton Hays also filled the office of state's attorney and removed to Denver and practiced there a while, and at present is located in Philadelphia.

George B. Morgan, who has not been mentioned heretofore, commenced to practice in Mercer County about 1880, and was for a number of years a co-partner of Benj. F. Brock, and was master in chancery for some twenty years, which office he filled with ability and satisfaction to the courts and legal fraternity. Subsequently, he was a co-partner of Isaac N. Bassett for the practice of law, and then with I. N. Bassett and D. A. Hebel, under the style of Bassett, Morgan & Hebel, but on account of ill health he removed to Los Angeles, California. Mr. Morgan was a very popular man, a man of undoubted integrity and a lawyer of fair ability.

Guy C. Scott and George A. Cooke both were elected to the office of justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, Guy C. Scott in 1903, and upon his death in 1909, George A. Cooke was elected to succeed him, and upon the expiration of the term in 191 2 Cooke was again elected and is now serving as one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the state, and both of them acquired an excellent reputation as justices of said court.

Henry E. Burgess and William T. Church have both filled the office of county judge of Mercer County, Burgess being the present incumbent. Robert L. Watson is now master in chancery of the Circuit Court and county surveyor.

Of the judges of the Circuit Court Charles B. Larrence was considered by the bar as the finest judge that occupied the bench in Mercer County, and he acquired a fine reputation as one of the justices of the Supreme Court, and afterwards practiced law in Chicago until his death. George W. Pleasants, of Rock Island, who subsequently was judge of the Circuit Court for many years, was considered universally by the bar as being next in ability to Judge Larrence, and by many claimed to be fully equal to Judge Larrence. And Judge William H. Guest, who filled the office for a number of years and died while occupying that position, was universally considered as a very able judge. The other judges of the Circuit Court of Mercer County were John J. Glenn, of Monmouth; Hiram Bigelow, of Galva; Frank D. Ramsey, of Morrison; Emory C. Graves, of Geneseo; Robert W. Olmsted, of Rock Island, the three last mentioned being the present incumbents.

The judiciary of the county has stood as high as any of the surrounding circuits, and the bar of Mercer County has always maintained a verv excellent reputation in the adjoining counties and with the judges who presided in the Circuit Court of said county.

burg, who was a lawyer of excellent ability, and who attended the courts in Mercer County for about ten years, from about [866 to 1876 - the exact dates are not known. He assisted in the trial of some cases of considerable importance, afterwards removed to Chicago and had a large practice there, and died while living in Chicago.

There was one attorney in Mercer County that has not been mentioned who was very prominent. Mr. Cox, who was a bachelor ami resided with his brother near the line in Knox County, attended the circuit courts of Mercer County, commencing with 1856, for about ten vears. Mr. Cox was also a verv prominent political speaker, being a republican, and would frequently, during a term of court, speak in the evenings on some political question, and especially during the period of the Civil war. He was not a good lawyer, but he was a good orator; full of wit; and could tell a story either in a political speech or in an argument to a jury with all the ease and facility and appropriateness with which Abraham Lincoln could always illustrate his points by a story. Mr. Cox, in addressing a jury, would nearly always during his address turn to the audience in telling his stories, and the old farmers and others who would listen to him would stand with open mouths, thinking that he was the greatest lawyer that thev had ever heard. He would bring down the house, both in his political and jury speeches, with roars of laughter. He was not a deep lawyer, did not often make a logical speech, but could make a very good point with his stories. In preparing his pleading he did not show any great versatilitv in the law, and was defeated in the points that he raised in regard to his pleading in a great majority of cases.

Another lawver I have mentioned heretofore as attending the courts of Mercer County was Charles M. Harris, of Oquawka. Mr. Harris was a regular attendant of the circuit courts of Mercer County from early in i8qo until about 1869, when he removed to Chicago. Mr. Harris was a large, heavy-set man, heavy-jawed and had a strong voice, and argued a case with great energy, and he was quite a good lawyer; not only a good lawyer, but a careful lawyer. Among the cases that he had in Mercer County was one for a client in New Boston. His client was Mrs. Sabra Ann Sink, an heir of J. R. Denison of New Boston. J. R. Denison owned a large portion of land in the vicinity of New Boston, all of which was sold by the administrator for the payment of debts, and the land was improved, farmed and held by the following persons, to-wit: William Drury, Courtney Drury, Pettis Finch and Thos. Willits; some of the farms had been verv highly improved. Separate suits were brought against each of the defendants in ejectment, and judgment given in the Circuit Court in favor of the plaintiffs; and the several defendants appealed to the Supreme Court, which reversed the decision of the Circuit Court and held that the defendants had a good title. Chas. M. Harris was assisted in the Supreme Court in the trial of the cases by Blanchard & Leland, and the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court, being the defendants in the Circuit Court, were severally represented as follows : William C. Goudy, J. R. and I. N. Bassett. John C. Pepper was the attorney in all of the cases for the defendants in the Circuit Court, except Courtney Drury. The case will be found to be reported in the 46th volume of Illinois Reports. The property involved in the suit against William Drury was that which contains the fine residence occupied by William Drury when he died.

Among the attorneys of Mercer County, John M. Wilson has been practicing law for some ten years or more, and is now state's attorney, serving his second term in that office.

A very prominent young attorney practicing in Mercer County for some four or five years was George Burnett, also his father. They both came from Michigan to Illinois and the father had been a Methodist minister there, and engaged with others in tearing up the Michigan Central Railroad, and the elder Burnett had resigned from the ministry and barelv escaped the state prison, and removed to Mercer County. He was quite an intelligent man, but was not a successful lawyer, for he seemed to have the idea that the law was based upon such technicalities that it was not created to promote justice but to defeat justice; but the younger man was a well-read lawyer and could make a fine, logical argument. He afterwards removed to Madison County at Edwardsville, and was for many years chief counsel in St. Louis of the Wabash Railroad Company; and his father removed to Montgomery County from Aledo.

John C. Wharton was another attorney in Mercer County and held the office of state's attorney for eight years. He was educated at the college at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, read law there with Woolson & Babb and then read law with Isaac N. Bassett in Aledo, and in 1875 commenced the practice of law in Aledo as a co-partner with Isaac N. Bassett, and was elected state's attorney in 1876 and again in 1880, and continued to practice law with I. N. Bassett until 1888, when he removed to Omaha, Nebraska, where he is still living, being at the present time postmaster of Omaha. Mr. Wharton was a fine trial attorney and tried a great many cases in the Mercer Circuit Court, and was an excellent prosecutor as state's attorney. He was

Frank Martin was another Mercer County lawyer who read law with John C. Pepper, and was married to Mr. Pepper's oldest daughter. Mr. Martin removed to Fall City, Nebraska, and engaged in practice there, and some years later removed to Omaha and was an attorney of prominence and ability- He is now dead.

Of the other attorneys mentioned in Mercer County who are now living, it is not deemed proper to say anything particular in regard to their ability. But the Mercer County bar still maintains a high position and has taken a very active part in endeavoring to have the members of the bar of the county take high, ethical positions.

There was a local bar association formed more than forty years ago which had for its object the purpose of encouraging all the members of the bar in becoming proficient in their profession, and especially in observing the ethical rules applicable to the members of the profession; and its further object to cultivate kindly, social feelings between the members of the bar, and to adopt some rules in reference to the fee bills in the trial of costs. It is very difficult, however, to adopt any rules fixing the prices to be charged by attorneys for their services, and any fee bill that was fixed by the association would be only to fix the minimum fee to be charged, and it was of very little service to the bar or to anyone else.

The association, however, has been of great benefit otherwise to the bar, to the court, to the litigants, and to the people of the county, by arranging the dockets and arranging the time when a jury was to be called, and having their cases fixed so that the litigants did not have to remain with their witnesses for several days awaiting trials, and so as not to kee.p jurors and other officers on expense awaiting jury trials while the pleadings were being settled and the cases tried that were submitted to the court.

There are other attorneys that have not been mentioned that were perhaps of equal importance, some forgotten or overlooked ; and many of those not mentioned, as well as those mentioned, who were not prominent in practice and were not identified with cases that were deemed of great importance.

Alexander McArthur, however, who has not been mentioned, served as clerk of the Circuit Court, and afterwards settled at Washington City, and practiced at Denver for a few years and came to Aledo, was quite a prominent attorney, being at one time a copartner of George A. Cooke, the present Supreme Court justice, and served for a number of vears as master in chancerv.

John C. Pepper, Benj. C. Taliaferro and Isaac N. Bassett were delegates to the Illinois state convention that inaugurated and formed the Illinois State Bar Association at Springfield in 1877; Mr. Pepper and Mr. Taliaferro both being dead, and Mr. Bassett still being a member of the association. Robert L. Watson, William T. Church and William J. Graham are also members of the Illinois State Bar Association.

The Illinois State Bar Association at its first meeting appointed a committee to procure an enactment of a law creating the Appellate Court of the State of Illinois, and through the efforts of that committee the Appellate Court act was passed. The Illinois State Bar Association has been active in procuring other legislation; among the acts was one reforming the practice act. Another act has been before the Legislature for two years; an act proposed by the Illinois State Bar Association to make a sweeping change of the practice act, but the act has never been passed upon by the Legislature.

Among other attorneys in Mercer County was Charles J. Bartleson, who read law with John S. Thompson, and was admitted to practice about 1870, and removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, some five or six years later and became a prominent attorney there, and subsequently removed to Spokane, Washington, where he died in 19 1 2. He was a very able lawyer and had some very important litigation while remaining in Minneapolis.

Among other important cases in the Circuit Court of Mercer County was one against John Valentine in the April term, 1865. Valentine was indicted for murder for killing a woman in Richland Grove Township, and in the first trial in the Mercer Circuit Court the jury disagreed, on second trial he was found guilty of murder, but on motion a new trial was granted and then the defendant took a change of venue to Henry County. George W. Pleasants was one of his attorneys, and was elected judge of the Circuit Court, which included Henry County, and consequently the case was continued for a time on account of the judge not being competent to sit on his trial, and the only witnesses that could testify against him died or left the State of Illinois so that they could not be procured, and he was acquitted. Subsequently this same John Valentine killed a man in Henry County, and was tried, convicted and hung for the crime.

In the spring of 1856 there was a conspiracy entered into by four men - David Bradbury, Frank Folmsby, Walter Hatch and James Pullen - to burglarize a gun shop in Keithsburg, get arms, and then proceed to rob indiscriminately the people in the Village of Keithsburg. One of the conspirators, however, entered into the agreement under the advice of some friends in Keithsburg. James Pullen, who was acquainted with the persons and to whom they proposed for him to be a party in the burglary and robbery, made the agreement with them on the advice of friends, and time was fixed in which they would go in the night and enter the gun shop, arm themselves, and then proceed to the robbery. Pullen informed the authorities in Keithsburg of the time fixed for the burglary, and with the other three he came from the Iowa side in a skiff to Keithsburg at a late hour in the night and proceeded to enter the gun shop; Pullen being among the first to enter there, and another one entering, when the police, who were secreted near by, appeared on the scene. Bradbury and Pullen were arrested; the other two got in the skiff and escaped, but Hatch was arrested a day or two afterwards. Bradbury was subsequently tried, convicted and sent to the penitentiary; Hatch took a change of venue to Rock Island County, and was imprisoned there in the jail with a provision that he might be released by giving bond for $1,500 for his appearance for trial. In lieu of giving bond the sheriff accepted $1,500 and let Hatch go free and he never appeared. Subsequently the board of supervisors authorized Isaac N. Bassett, who was then treasurer of Mercer County, to proceed against Rock Island County to recover the forfeiture, but the board of supervisors of Rock Island County refused to pay the same, and thereupon suit was brought against the county and judgment recovered for the amount of money deposited, the same having been paid by the sheriff of the county into the county treasury of Rock Island County.

At the December term, 1859, there were on the docket 133 chancery cases; at the April term, 1859, there were 778 common law cases, and the firm of Bassett, Willits & Bassett was engaged in 242 of these cases. The docket was larger than it otherwise would have been on account of the arbitrary position that Judge Thompson took in calling the dockets for trial. He refused to call the docket of the return cases at the first term after the suits were brought, consequently all the cases brought at the term preceding April, 1859, went over to that term, unless thev were voluntarily dismissed. There was no authority for the judge to pass the cases over, and if he had called the docket perhaps there would have been 100 cases disposed of on default and as many more tried at the previous term. This resulted also in an injustice to the people of Mercer County especially. The merchants of the county almost universally bought their goods in the market of Chicago, St. Louis or in the eastern cities of Boston, New York and Philadelphia. The non-residents of the state could bring their suits in the Federal Court and proceed to get judgment at once against the merchants for the non-payment of their debts; and the statute then provided that a suit in the state courts might be brought against the defendant in the county where he resided or was found, and also might be brought to the county where the contract of indebtedness was incurred. Consequently persons indebted to merchants in Chicago for goods could be sued in the Chicago courts, where no such arbitrary rules prevailed in regard to calling the docket. The result was that the merchants in Mercer County were prevented from getting judgment and enforcing payment against those indebted to them, while they could be sued in the Federal or Cook County courts, and judgment taken against them. In the foregoing list of attorneys there were some omissions, among them John F. Main, who was born in this county and was admitted to practice law here and engaged in the active practice for some three or four years in Aledo. He was well educated and about ten or twelve years ago moved to Seattle, Washington, and subsequently was elected judge of the Circuit Court there and in 1913 was elected one of the justices of the Supreme Court of Washington. The following is the list of attorneys who are members of the bar in Mercer County in active practice, including those on the bench, to-wit: Isaac N. Bassett, George A. Cooke, justice of the Supreme Court; Henry E. Burgess, judge of County Court; John M. Wilson, state's attorney; Robert L. Watson, master in chancery; William T. Church, Friend L. Church, William J. Graham, Paul G. Graham, Oscar E. Carlstrom, David A. Hebel, Homer D. Dines, George W. Werts, L. D. Kirkpatrick, and James A. Allen.