Sangamon County, Illinois - City of Springfield 563, 1881 (part 3 of 25)

Charles R. Matheny succeeded to the ottice of Probate Judge in 1822, and held the oftice for three years. Charles R. Matheny was born in Loudon county, Virginia, March 6, 1786. When a young man he went on a visit to a brother in Kentucky, and was there licensed to preach by the proper authorities in the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1805 he was appointed by that body as missionary to a portion of the Illinois, but then known as the Indiana Territory. He settled in what is now St. Clair county, and continued for some years to preach the gospel. While engaged in ministerial duties, he read law and was admitted to the bar. In 1817 he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney for the Territory. In 1821, he was induced by the tender of the office of County Clerk, County Auditor and Circuit Clerk, and other prospective advantages, to come to Sangamon county, arriving at Springfield in the spring of 1821. In Springfield and throughout the county he was very popular, and received many favors from the people. He was for several years president of the Board of Trustees of the village of Springfield, and held the office of County Clerk until his death, which occurred October 10, 1839.

James Adams, of whom mention is made in the history of the bar, was the next to fill the oflace of Probate Judge, his commission bearing date August, 1825. Judge Adams held the office until 1843.

By the Constitution of 1848, counties not organized under the Township Organization Law were governed by a Board of Justices, consisting of a County Judge and two associates. The County Judge performed under this law all the duties formerly devolving upon the Probate Judge. Under this act, Thomas Mofl[ett was elected to the office of County Judge, and served four years. (See sketch of Judge Moflfett in bar history.)

John Wickliife Taylor was elected to succeed Judge Moflfett, and commenced his official life in December, 1853. Judge Taylor was a native of Kentucky, and after his marriage, in 1833, he moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he remained one year, and then settled on a farm in Cartwright township, where he was living at the time of his ele(aion.

William D. I'ower was elected as the successor of Judge Taylur, in 1857. Judge Power was born in Bath county, Kentucky, May 2, 1821, and was brought by his parents to Sangamon county the same year. Here he grew to manhood, and so lived as to merit the esteem of all who knew him. In 1861 he was re-elected County Judge, and died in office March 2, 1863.

Noiman M. Broadwell was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Power. He served out the term. (See sketch in bar history.)

James H. Matheny was first elected county judge in 18*73, and re-elected in 1877. He has made an extremely popular judge. (See sketch in connection with the history of the bar.)

When the county adopted the township organization law the office of Associate Justice was abolished, and the legislative duties performed by the County Judge and associates were vested in a Board of Supervisors. The County Judge was still retained in office as Judge of Probate.

By the Constitution of 1870 county courts were created having original jurisdiction in all matters of probate, and made a court of record. By an act of the legislature it has been given common law jurisdiction to the amount of $1,000. A. N. J. Crook was the first County Judge under the new law.

The Bar of Sangamon county has ever been a subject of ])i-ide among her citizens. Some of the best legal minds, fairest logicians and finest orators of the age have practiced before her courts, many of whom have claimed a residence in the county. In reviewing the history of the Bar, it must be born, in mind that as the prosperity and well-being of every community depends upon the wise interpretation, as well as upon the judicious framing of its laws, it must Follow that a record of the members of the Bar must form no unimportant part in the county's history. Upon a few principles of natural justice is erected the whole superstructure of civil law, tending to relieve the wants and meet tlie desires of all alike. The business of the lawyer is not to make the laws, but to apply them to the daily affairs of men. But the interests of men are diversified, and where so many interests and counter interests are to be protected and adjusted, to the lawyer and the judge are presented many interesting and complex problems.

Change is everywhere imminent The laws of yesterday do not meet the wants and necessities of the people of to-day, for the old relations do not exist. New and satisfactory laws must be established. The discoveries in the arts and sciences, the invention of new contrivances for labor, the enlargement of industrial pursuits, and the increase and development of commerce are without precedence, and the science of law must keep pace Avith them all, nay, it must even forecast the event, and so frame its laws as will most adequately subserve the wants and provide for the necessities of the new conditions. Hence the lawyer is a man of to-day. The exigencies he must meet are those of his own time. His capital is his ability and individuality. He cannot bequeath to his successors the characteristics that distinguished him, and at his going, as a general thing, the very evidences of his A\ork disappears. Anthony Thornton,

Presidentof the State Bar Association, in l.s78,in an address before the association, thus speaks of the lawyer: "In the American State the great and good lawyer must always be prominent, for he is one of the forces which move and control society. Public confidence has generally been reposed in the legal profession. It has exer been the defender of popular rights, the champion of freedom, regulated by law, the firm support of good government. In times of danger it has stood like a rock and breasted the mad passions of the hour, and firmly resisted tumult and faction. No political preferment - no mere place - can add to the power or increase the honor which belong to the pure and educated lawyer. The fame of Mansfield and Marshall and Story can never die. 'Time's iron feet can print no ruin-trace' upon their character. Their learning and luminous exposition of our jurisprudence will always light our pathway. It is our duty to preserve the prestige of the profession. The past, at least, is secure; the present and future summon us to action. With the progress of society, and the increase of population, wealth and trade, varied interests arise, and novel questions, requiring more thought, confront us. A disregard of the law has been developed, crime meets us unabashed, and corruption stands unmasked in the high places of the land. It is no fancy picture that the law has, to some extent, lost its authority, and it is onl)' the shade of that which once was great. Hence, new duties are imi)osed. and a firmer courage is required. '-^ * * The exaltation of the profession is a duty enjoined upon us. It is a debt which only death can discharge. Lord Bacon has said, 'every man is a debtor to his profession; from the which, as men of course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavor, themselves, by waj* of amends, to be a help and ornament thereto.' Every lawyer is a debtor to his profession. If worthy, it gives him an hon- orable character and high position. The lawyer should prize and love his profession. He should value its past renown, and cherish the memory of great men whose gigantic shadows walk by us still. He should love it for the intrinsic worth and innate truth of the fundamental truths which adorn it."

In compiling a history of the Bar one is astonished at the small amount of material for a memoir of those w ho have been so intimately connected with and exerted such influence upon the country's welfare and progress. Aside from the few who have become great, whose names are emblazoned on history's page, but little is known of many who at one time were very prominent in the legal profession in the county. But the names of Lincoln, Douglas, Shields, Baker, Logan, Trumbull, Hardin, Breese, Lockwood, Linder and scores of others tiientioned in these pages Avill always And a place in their country's history, and Sangamon county has reason to be proud, not only of so many distinguished sons, but of the many others who have practiced in her courts.

First Decade

Sangamon county was organized in 1821, and in the decade following, the names of Henry Starr, John Reynolds, Sidney McRoberts, Alfred Cavarly, William Thomas, Benjamin Mills, William A. Hamilton, William Mendel, James Adams, Thomas M. Neale, James M. Strode, Jonathan H. Pugh, Thomas Moffett, John T. Stuart, S. D. Lockwood, Judge Smith, Alfred Coles, Mr. Rogers, James Turney, John L. Bogardus, David Prickett and George Forquer appeared upon the dockets of^ the court - an array of distinguished names which would be an honor even to the Bar of to-day, many of whom have since become distinguished, and few of Avhom are now living.

James Adams is the pioneer attorney of Sangamon county, having settled in Springfield in 1821, shortly after the county was organized. Mr. Adams was born in Hartford, Connecticut, January 26, 1S03, from which place he removed to Oswego county, New York, in 1809, and from thence to Sangamon county as already stated. For several years he had quite an extensive practice, being careful and painstaking in working up his cases and in his clients' interests. In 1823 he was appointed justice of the peace, and was elected successively for many years. He took part in the Winnebago and Black Hawk wars. After an exciting personal canvass, he

Jonathan H. Pugh was the second attorney to make Sangamon county his home. He arrived in Springfield early in the year 1823, and at once secured a good practice for that day. In the first decade of the Bar of this county, his name probably appears oftener on the docket than any other attorney. Mr. Pugh was from Bath county, Kentucky, and was a man of brilliant talents, a good lawyer for that time, and one whose wit never failed him on any occasion. Before a jury he was almost invincible. In society he was a prime favorite, having remarkably fine conversational powers. Before coming to Sangamon he located for a time in Bond county, and was there elected to the legislature. He also served Sangamon county in the Assembly after his removal here. In 1831 he was nominated -for Congress, and made the race in opposition to ex-Governor Duncan. At this time the question of internal improvements was being agitated, especially the building of a canal from Lake Michigan to the Illinois river. Governor Duncan was a strong advocate of the canal, while Mr. Pugh advocated the building of a railroad, and was probably the first man in the State to advocate this measure. His views upon this question were doubtless one cause of his defeat. In 1833, while in the prime of life, Mr. Pugh "laid down life's burden and passed over to the other side."

Thomas M. Neale was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, in 1796. When a mere child, he was taken by his parents to Bowling Green, Kentucky. On the breaking out of the war of 1812, he enlisted and served his country faithfully as a common soldier. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Bowling Green. In the fall of 1824 Mr. Neale arrived in Springfield, and at once commeeced the practice of law. For some three or four years his practice was good. In the campaign against the Winnebago Indians in 1S27, he was the colonel in command of all the infantry companies. After the Black Hawk war, Col. Neale was elected surveyor of the county, and one of his first acts was the appointment of Abraham Lincoln his deputy. He was also a justice of the peace for many years, and as such uniting many cou]>le in marriage, some times receiving as his fee only a saddle of venison. Mr. Neale died August 7. 1840.

man of fair talents, rather showy in dress and manners, a good story teller, and for many years was quite prominent in the courts of the State. Leaving Springfield he settled in Galena, where he died.

William S. Hamilton was a son of the noted Alexander Hamilton, of New York. He first ^gured in the courts of this county in 1825, though he was probably here the previous year. He was a man of great intellectual powers, but was unsteady in his habits. He served the county one year in the legislatui'e.

Thomas Moffett was from Bath county, Kentucky, and came to Springfield in 182f5, where he engaged in teaching school and devoting his leisure hours to the study of law. He was admitted to the Bar in 1828, and was the first in the county to receive a license to practice. Mr. Moffett was orderly sergeant of a company in the Winnebago war, and captain of a company in the Black Hawk war. He served two years as County Commissioner, and from 1843 served as Judge of the Probate Court. Under the constitution of 1848 he was elected County Judge for four years. While not taking high rank as a lawyer, Mr. Moffett was a man of excellent judgment, and made an excellent justice of the peace. Probate Judge and County Judge. He died in 1877, at a very advanced age. He was many years a ruling elder in the Second Presbyterian Church.

William Mendel was a queer genius, not much of a lawyer, and good for little else, unless it should be for being very witty. He occasionally failed to behave himself in court with that decorum demanded of the profession, and consequently was punished therefor by the presiding judge. He once appeared before Judge Sawyer and behaved himself in an unbecoming manner. The judge sentenced him to jail for the night. The nex1i> morning on going to the court house a calf was discovered in the judge's stand and a lot of geese in the jury-box, with Mendall addressing them in an impassioned manner. The judge took no notice of the indignity.

Samuel McRoberts was one of the best lawyers that followed the circuit and making Springfield a point. He was afterwards Circuit Judge, and also U. S. Senator from this State. He died before the expiration of his term. He was an excellent man to be with on the circuit, serving to beguile the weary hours in traveling from place to place. U. F.Linder, whose reminiscences are often quoted in this work, says he could give the heartiest laugh when amused, of any man he ever saw. He relates the following incident that transpired on one occasion: ''Nearly all the lawyers of Judge Harlan's circuit met at the Edgar County Circuit Court, among the rest, Judge McKobertsand myself. In those days we nearly all roomed together. There was a man by the name of Lodge, who was a bricklayer by trade, but who had arisen to be superintendent of a large farm. Lodge was in the habit of seeking every o2:>portunity to talk with the judge and lawyers, and would generally seize and nin away with the conversation. One day he came in where we were all talking, and with great pomposity and egotism told us that he had a watermelon-]3atch adjoining the road from Danville to Paris; that he was one day sitting on his piazza, which overlooked this melon-patch. While sitting there he saw a gentleman coming along in his buggy, and when he got opposite the melonpatch he jumped out, got over the fence, pulled one of his finest melons, of which he had several thousand, and deliberately commenced eating it. He said he concluded he would go down and have a talk with the gentleman. He edified and regaled us with a fine moral lecture Avhich he delivered to the stranger, and said he told him that if he had come and asked for the melon he would have given it to him; and said that he ended by walking up to him and deliberately knocking the melon out of his hand. He said the man seemed greatly mortified, aud said to him: 'Sir, I am a gentleman; my name is Bishop, a commission merchant at Evansville, Indiana. In my native State, where we raise vast quantities of melons, it is not thought to be a serious matter or a crime for a man to help himself to a melon by the wayside, and if you feel very much concerned about it here is the pay for it,' pulling out his purse. Lodge refused, as he told us, and went on to deliver a lecture to Mr. Bishop on the rights of equality of riien, saying that he did not consider that it conferred an honor on him, that a commission merchant or anyone else should take one of his melons Avithout leave. Here McRoberts burst out in one of his great ' horse laughs,' which, to appreciate, should be heard:

" ' Ha ! ha! ha ! ' says he, ' that reminds me of a story I once heard of William the Fourth, when he was Prince of Wales. He was traveling in cog. through Canada, and at Montreal he strayed into a tailor shop, where the tailor and his wife were both sitting on the counter at work ; the tailor with crossed legs pressing a seam with his hot goose, and his wife sewing away at some garment with nimble fingers. Neither seemed to pay much attention to the disguised royal stranger, when William, stepping up to where the woman was sitting, turning his head, asked the tailor if that was his wife. ' She is a very pretty woman,' said the Prince, and pulling her head down toward him, he deliberately kissed her, and turning to the tailor very patronizingly said, 'Now, sir, you will have the honor of telling your children that your wife was kissed by the King of England. I am William, the Prince of Wales, and heir-apparent to the throne.' The tailor laid down his goose, put on his slippers, jumped otf the counter, and catching William by the shoulders pushed him to the door and gave him two or three lusty kicks on the seat of honor, and said, 'Now, sir, you will have the honor of telling your subjects that in one of your Majesty's Provinces you had your jwsterior kicked by a tailor.' ' Lodge looked like he could have crawled through an auger hole, and said : ' Judge McRoberts, I hope you don't mean to say there is the same disparity between Bishop and myself as existed between the Prince and the tailor!' Whereupon we all burst into a most uproarious lit of laughter, when Lodge left, and never visited us again."

Alfred W. Cavarly is a man well known by the elder members of the Bar. He lived in Greene county and rode the circuit of which Sangamon formed a part for many years. He was considered a good lawyer, though a little egotistic. He always rode a good horse in his travels. On one occasion he interj^osed a general demurrer to one of Mills' pleadings, and sought thus to take advantage of some matter which could only be reached by special demurrer. When Cavarly discovered that he could only reach the defect by special demurrer, he insisted that his was a special demurrer because he had underscored part of it. Judge Lockwood decided against him. At dinner the same day at which the Judge and members of the Bar were present, Cavarly sent his plate to Mills to be furnished with what he thought was a cut of venison. Mills sent him a piece which Cavarly discovered was beef, and he remarked, "Brother Mills, I wanted venison, and you sent me beef." "Oh," said Mills, "underscore it, Brother Cavarly, and that will make it venison."

Benjamin Mills was one of the ablest, most learned and accomplished lawyers of the early Bar of this State. He was from Massachusetts, highly educated, and a man of a rare style of oratory, through which there ran a rich vein of wit and irony. It was a talent he often indulged in in conversation. He rode the circuit in company with several others who have since become prominent, and had few equals to contend with. As illustrative of his wit it is related that one day when he was in his cups at his hotel, he was sitting about half asleep, when Cavarly stepped up to where he was sitting and laid his hand on Mills' bald head and remarked: "Friend Mills, you have quite a prairie on your head." " Yes, Cavarly," he said, " and do you know the difference between you and me?" "By no means, Brother Mills," said he, in quite a patronizing manner. " Well, Til tell you," said Mills, " my prairie is on my head, but yours is inside your head."

Mills was the son of a New England Presbyterian minister, and came to Illinois at an early day, when there was a law authorizing a justice of the peace, if he heard a man swear, even upon the streets, to go to his office and enter up a fine of one dollar against him. Ben was a justice of the peace, and was one day taking his glass with another justice of the peace at his hotel in Greenville, Illinois, when he happened to let slip about a half dozen oaths. His brother justice said nothing about it at the time. This was in the morning. They met again at the same place in the evening and were taking another social glass together, when his friend remarked :

" Brother Mills, you swore sereral oaths this morning, and you know the law makes it my duty to enter a fine against you of a dollar for each oath."

" I know it, my brother," said Mills, " and thought of it as I went to my office, and being a justice of the peace myself, I entered upon my docket a fine of one dollar for each oath I swore."

"Oh, well," said his friend, " that will do. Come, Brother Mills, let us have another glass." And when they were about to drink it. Mills remarked: "But you know, my brother, that the policy of the law is reformation and not vengeance, and feeling that object has been thoroughly accomplished in my case, by the fine, I am now considering the question of remitting it." After their glass and a hearty laugh they parted.

Mr. Mills was a powerful prosecutor. At Edwardsville, a lawyer named Winchester, killed a man named Smith, or at least was charged with the crime. Mills was his prosecutor. Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, then one of the greatest criminal lawyers in the southwest, was sent for to defend Winchester. The prosecution is said to have been one of the ablest, most fearful and terrible ever heard, and it required all the talent and oratory of Grundy, assisted by the presence and countenance of many of the leading attorneys and men of the place to prevent a conviction.

John Reynolds is well known to every student of the history of Illinois, having been Governor of the State, member of Congress, and Judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois. He was a ripe scholar, a man of great natural ability, yet withal modest, seeming more disposed to conceal than to blazon forth his accomplishments to the world. An amusing story is told of the Governor which occurred while holding a term of the circuit court at Edwardsville. At that term a man named Green was tried before him on the charge of murder, and was convicted. Reynolds, who was always seeking popularity, desired the ill will of no one, even of a murderer, and after the verdict of guilty had been read by the clerk in open court, turned to Green, his face all beaming Avith sympathy, said:

"Mr. Green, I want you to understand that this is none of my work, but of a jury of your own selection. I would take it as a favor of you if you would communicate this fact to your friends and relatives. The law makes it my duty to pass sentence upon you and carry out the verdict of the jury. It is a mere matter of form, Mr. Green, so far as I am concerned, and your death can in no way be imputed to me. Mr. Green, when would you like to be hung?"

" Your Honor," said Green, " if I had any choice in the matter, I should not like to be hung at all; but as it seems I have not, I have no preference of one time over another."

o'clock in the afternoon, the sheriff of Madison county will take you from the jail to the place of execution, and there, Mr. Green, I am sorry to say, he will hang you till you are dead, dead, dead, and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul. And don't you forget it, Mr. Green, that it is not my work, but that of the jury which tried you."

James Turney's name appears upon the records of the Sangamon Circuit Court for several years, beginning in 1824. He was aTennessean by birth, but at this time lived in Carrollton. He was a man of fine personal appearance, of great natural, with but little acquired ability. When Attorney-General of the State, it is said, that such was the reputation which had preceded him when traveling the circuits, that many men indicted, came into court and confessed guilty rather than stand a trial with him as prosecutor. He was a natural orator, and always commanded the most profound attention. No one could fail to recognize in a moment, when hearing him speak, that he was a man of considerable genius and talent. He served the State as Attorney- General and as Commissioner of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. He was also State Senator from Greene county.

Henry Starr, at a very early day, left his native State of New Hampshire and settled in Kentucky, where he taught school and studied law. After being admitted to the Bar, he removed to Edwardsville, Illinois, from which place he made his semi-annual trips around the circuit, his name appearing on the docket of Sangamon Circuit Court in 1822. He remained in the State but a few years when he removed to Cincinnati, and soon was recognized as a leading lawyer of that metropolis.

George Forquer,a half-brother of ex-Governor Ford, was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1794. With his mother and half-brother he moved to Monroe county, Illinois, at an early day, from which place he was elected a member of a legislature. In 1825 he was appointed by Governor Coles, Secretary of State, and went to Vandalia in the discharge of the duties of that office. In December, 1828, he resigned the position, and in January following was appointed Attorney-General by Governor Edwards. Resigning this latter office the same year, he removed to Springfield. He afterwards represented Sangamon county in the State Senate, and was at one time register of the land office in Springfield. He was considered by his contemporaries a fair lawyer and had a good business. He died September 12, 18:38.

A sketch of John T. Stuart, who had his first casein the April term, 1829, of the Circuit Court, and who is at present actively engaged in business in Springfield, appears in connection with the seventh decade.

As illustrative of the way the lawyers followed the circuit, the following reminiscence by Judge William Thomas, of Jacksonville, is here given:

"My Kentucky law license is dated July 5, 182;3 (granted before I was twenty-one). My Illinois license is dated October, 1826. The first court that I attended in Illinois was held in this place, November, 1826; John York Sawyer was Circuit Judge. The attorneys in attendance were, John Reynolds, Belleville; James Turney, Attorney General, and Alfred W. Cavarly, of Carrollton; William H. Brown, Benjamin Mills and George Forquer, of Vandalia; David Prickett, Edwardsville; Murray McConnell, John Turney and Benjamin Cox, of thi^ place; Jonathan H. Pugh, Thomas M. Neale and James M. Strode, of Springfield. The business of the court was finished in less than a week, and the next and last court held by Judge Sawyer was in Springfield in the same month. With two exceptions, McConnell and Cox, the same attorneys were in attendance at Springfield, with the addition of William S. Hamilton, General James Adams, Thomas Mofl^ett, of Springfield, and John L. Bogardus, of Peoria.

" The First Judicial Circuit at that time was composed of the counties of Greene, Morgan, Sangamon, Peoria, Fulton, Schuyler, Adams, Pike and Calhoun. A week was allowed to each term of the court in Greene, Morgan and Sangamon, and half a week in each of the other counties. From December, 1826, to March, 1827, I was employed as village schoolmaster in this place. In the sjjring of 1827, I attended all the courts in this circuit. S. J. Lockwood, of the Supreme Coui't, was required to hold the courts in this circuit - Greene, Morgan and Sangamon, with the resident attorneys - Reynolds, Turney, Pugh, Strode and Cavarly from other counties being in attendance. From Sangamon we went to Peoria, Bogardus resided there and kept the tavern. There was another attorney there who resided on the lake some distance above Peoria, his name I have forgotten. The Attorney General being absent, I was appointed to represent the people. Jacob Funk and one Ogee, having been indicted for an affray, to the "terror of the people," confessed guilty, were fined a small sura, and each paid my fee of $5, with which I paid my traveling expenses around the circuit. The attorneys present at this court

" From Peoria the court Avent to Fulton county, Pugh, Turney, Adams and myself being the only attorneys, besides a resident attorney whose name I have forgotton. Judge Phelps entertained the judge and Bar, and refused pay. Here I was employed in an appeal case, which I gained, and received -$5 for my fee. John Turney was appointed to rej)resent the people. There was no criminal case for trial. From there we went to Schuyler county, our horses swimming Spoon river, and we crossed in a canoe. There we found at the county seat but two families - Hart Fellows, clerk, and Terry, recorder. Pugh was appointed to prosecute, but there was no criminal case on the docket - the grand jury found no bills - and after the trial of a few appeal cases the court adjourned on the second day.

"From that county we went to Quincy, traveling through the j^raii-ie in a day, distance sixty miles, with no roads. I think there was no resident attorney at Quincy. We met there General Hanson, J. W. Whitney and J. I. Ross, of Atlas, Pike county. Here I was appointed to prosecute. There was but one criminal case tried, the party was convicted, and paid my fee of $5. From that county we went to Pike. There we met the Attorney General and Mr. Cavarly fi'om Carrollton, and Colonel Jenkins from Calhoun county. Captain Leonard Ross, then sheriff of the county, entertained the court and Bar, refusing pay. He was one of nature's noblemen, from Massachusetts.

"Three days were occupied with the business of the court, and then we went to Gilead, county seat of Calhoun county, where I was eraployed to defend a doctor, indicted for murder - a case of supposed malpractice, but, in fact, a case of ignorance and malice. In employing me he said that |20 was all he had, that he was in feeble health, had a sick family, and was in destitute circumstances. I agreed to defend him for the $20, being satisfied of his innocence and of his extreme poverty. Upon the trial of the case and the charge of the court, the jury found him not guilty. More than twenty years after I met this doctor at Springfield, a member of the legislature. He was still in feeble health, remembered and recognized me, but I did not him, until he made himself known. There the circuit ended.

were, John Reynolds, Belleville; James Turney and Alfred W. Cavarly, Carrollton; Benjamin Mills, Yandalia; Samuel McRoberts, Edwardsville; Murray McConnell, John Turney, Benjamin Cox and William Thomas, Jacksonville; Jonathan H. Pugh, William S. Hamilton, James M. Strode, Thomas M. Neale, General James Adams and Thomas Moffett, Springfield; John L. Bogardus, Peoria; General N. Hanson, James W, Whitney and John I Ross, Pike county; Colonel Jenkins, of Calhoun, brother of Lieutenant Governor Jenkins. Of all these attorneys I am the sole survivor."

Second Decade

In the second decade, from IS-Sl to 1841, an ai'raj' of names appear, some of whom have made a reputation tliat is world-wide. For character, learning and ability the Bar during this decade has never been surpassed either in Sangamon county or in any county in the State, and perhaps not in the Union. At what Bar will be found the superior, or even the equal of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, James Shields, Stephen T. Logan, John T. Stuart, Edward Jones, Dan Stone, Samuel H. Treat Ninian W. Edwards, E. D. Baker, Cyrus Walker, Jesse B Thomas, and A. T. Bledsoe, all of whom engaged in practice and often appeared before the courts of Sangamon county during this time? Not alone as attorneys, but as statesmen, the greater number of the foregoing were prominent in after years. James C. Conkling, who was cotemporarj' with those named gays this of law and lawyers at that time:

'" Forty years ago, business was not so great in extent as to occupy the full time of the lawyer. Suits were not so numerous, or so important, as to afford a support for himself and family. He engaged in political life as an employment, and solicited office to improve his slender income. A much larger number of the prominent membei's of the legal profession then became members of the State Legislature or of Congress than at present. The people demanded their political services, and they were happy and anxious to accommodate the people. A political contest gave them notoriety among the masses, and afforded them an opportunity to display their abilities. A reputation for eloquence and skill in debate was a recommendation as lawyers in the practice of their profession. Hence we find the names of Reynolds, Edwards, Cook, Casey, Breese, Browning, Hardin, Baker, Williams, Shields, Douglas, Trumbull, Lincoln, McClernand and numerous others almost as frequently, in the political annals of our State, as upon the records of our courts. As lawyers they were eminent; as statesmen many of them became illustrious."

In addition to those named, the records of the courts show the following named as practicing here between the years 1831 to 1841: Edward J. Phillips, Henry E. Dummer, William L. May, Josephus Hewitt, Chp,rles Emerson, David Prickett, Jesse B. Thomas, D. B. Campbell, Justin Butterfield, Antrim Campbell, John D. Urquhart, John C. Doremus, James C. Conkling, Charles R. Wells, Schuyler Strong, B. S. Edwards, and W. J. Gatewood, a list of which the Bar of any county might be proud.

During the latter part of this decade, the United States Circuit Court and the Supreme Court of Illinois were removed from Vandalia to Springfield. Isaac N. Arnold, in an address delivered before the Illinois State Bar Association, at Springfield, January Y, 1881, says:

" I wish, with the graphic power, of Sir Walter Scott, I could call up a picture of the United States Circuit Court and the Supreme Court of Illinois, and the lawyers then practicing before them, as they were in 1839, and on during the following years. If we could, in fancy, enter the United States Circuit Court room in this city, in June, 1839, we should be impressed with the majestic figure, imposing presence and dignified bearing of the presiding judge, John McLean, a Justice of the Supi'eme Court of the United States. His person and face were often compared to Washington's - whom he is said to have strikingly resembled,"

"Nathaniel Pope, the District Judge, was shorter and stouter in person, more blunt and sturdy in manner, and not so familiar with the law books, the cases, and literature of the law, but of a most clear, vigorous and logical mind. If we enter their court, then held, if 1 am not mistaken, in one of the churches in this city, we should find Ferris Foreman, then United States District Attorney, prosecuting the case of " The United States vs. Gratiot,'''' then a historic name in Missouri and the Northwest, in a case arising under a lease, by the Government, of a portion of the lead mines of Galena. AVe should hear the late Judge Breese making a very learned argument for the defense. If we lingered until the next case was called, we should hear the sharp, clear, ringing voice of Stephen T. Logan opening his case. If we remained until the trial ended, we should concur in the remark that this small, red-haired man, inferior in person, but with an eye whose keenness indicated his sharp and incisive intellect; this little man, take him all in all, was then the best nisip7-k(s lawyer in the State, and it would be diflicult to find his superior anywhere. Among the leading practitioners in the court in Springfield in 1839, were Logan, Lincoln, Baker, Trumbull, Butterfield & Collins, Spring & Goodrich, Cowles & Krum, Davis, Hardin, Browning, and Archy V\"illiams." "To a contemporary of those early members of the Bar, the roll of attorneys admitted in those days bring up sad and pleasant memories. On that roll, in 1836, you find the name of Thomas Drummond, now a venerable Judge of the Northern District of our State; David Davis, late Judge, and now Senator; Archy Williams and Anthony Thornton. In 1837 I find the names of Abraham Lincoln, William A. Richardson, Lyman Trumbull, Mahlon D. Ogden, Joseph Gillespie; and in 1838, Justin Butterfield, James A. McDougall, Hugh T. Dickey, Schuyler Strong, John J. Harviin, Judge E. Peck, J. Young Scammon, and others, and from that time on, the names become more numerous."

Continuing his reminiscenses, Mr. Arnold said: " In those early days it was my habit, and that, also, of those practicing in the United States Court, to come to Springfield twice each year, to attend the semi-annual terms of court held in June and December. We made our trips in Frink & Walker's coaches, and I have known the December trip to take five days and nights, dragging drearily through the mud and sleet, and there was an amount of discomfort, vexation and annoyance about it sufficient to exhaust the patience of the most amiable. I think I have noticed that some of my impulsive brethren of the Chicago Bar have become less profane since the rail-cars have been substituted for the stage-coaches. But the June journey was as agreeable as the December trip was repulsive. A four-in-hand with splendid horses, the best of Troy coaches, good company, the exhilaration of great speed over an elastic road, much of it a turf of grass, often crushing under our wheels the most beautiful wild flowers, every grove fragrant with blossoms, framed in the richest green, our roads not fenced in by narrow lanes, but with freedom to choose our route; here and there a picturesque log-cabin, covered with vines; the boys and girls on their way to the log-schools, and the lusty farmer digging his fortune out of the rich earth. Everything fresh and new, full of young life and enthusiasm, these June trips to Springfield would, I think, compare favorably even with those we made to-day in a luxurious Pullman car. But there were exceptions to these enjoyments; sometimes a torrent of rain would in a few hours so swell the streams that the log bridges and banks would be entirely submerged, and a stream which a few hours before was nearly dry, became a foaming torrent. Fording, at such times, was never agreeable, and sometimes a little dangerous.

"I recall a ludicrous incident on our way to Springfield, I think, in June, 1842, We had a coach, crowded with passengers, most of us lawyers, on our way to the United States Court. In passing from Peoria to Springfield, we attempted to ford one of these streams which had been lately raised so that its banks were nearly a quarter of a mile apart. When we had driven half across the horses left the track, got into a bad slough, and were stalled. All efforts to extricate the coach failed, and, at length, the driver gave up the attempt in despair; said he must take off the horses and go to the next station for help; those who chose might mount a horse and ride ashore; or, if they preferred, might wade ashore or stay in the coach until he returned, or wait until another coach, which was behind, should come up; we might wait for it, provided we were not carried down the stream by the current. Some decided to try their fortunes on a stage horse; others stripped off trousers, boots ond stockings, and taking their coat-tails under ther arms, started to wade ashore. Old Dr. Maxwell was of our party, a very stout gentleman, with short legs, and weighing near three hundred pounds. The doctor sat by the window of the coach, grimly watching the various groups, and turning his eyes now to the equestrians, and now to those buffeting the current on foot, and envying some of the longlegged gentlemen who were struggling towards the shore. Seeing the doctor unusually grave, a friend called to him:

"1 don't like the aspect." said he. "The diagnosis is threatening. My legs are too short to wade, and there is not a horse in the team that can carry my weight through this current. Sink or swim; survive or perish; I shall stick to the ship."

" Well," replied an irreverent and saucy young lawyer, " if you are washed away and cast ashore by the current, 1 should like to have the opinion of Judge Dickey (not the present Chief Justice) whether you would not be flotsam and Jetsam,

"I must not omit to mention the old-fashioned, generous hospitality of Springfield - hospitality proverbial to this day throughout the State. Among others, I recall, with a sad pleasure, the dinners and evening parties given by Mrs. Lincoln. In her modest and simple home, everything orderly and refined, there was always, on the part of both host and hostess, a cordial and hearty Wes tern welcome, which ])ut every guest perfectly at ease. Mrs. Lincoln's table was famed for the excellence of many rare Kentucky dishes, and in season, it was loaded with venison, wild turkeys, prairie chickens, quail and other game, which was then abundant. Yet it was her genial manners and ever-lcind welcome, and Mr. Lincoln's wit and humor, anecdote and unrivalled conversation, which formed the chief attraction. We read much of " merrie England," but I doubt if there was ever anything more "merrie" than Springiield in those days. As, to-day, I walk your streets, and visit the capital, and your court rooms, as I ent^r the old home of Lincoln, for ihe first time since 1860, memories of the past come thronging back; I see his tall form, his merry laugh breaks upon my ear; I seem to hear the voice of Douglas, of Baker, of Hardin, and of Logan!

" That place that does contain, My books, the best companions, is to me A glorious court, where hourly I converse With the old sages and philosophers.'"

At this time the Supreme Court of the State was com])osed of four judges, three of whom were Whigs, and the fourth a Democrat. When Governor Carlin came into office in 1838, he claimed the right to appoint a new secretary before any vacancy existed. He nominated John A. McClernand; but the Senate, by a vote of twenty-two to eighteen, declared that the executive did not possess the power to nominate a secretary, except in case of vacancy, and they therefore rejected the nomination. After the adjournment of the legislature he undertook to appoint McClernand as secretary, who thereupon demanded possession of the office, but was refused. McClernand then filed an information, in the nature of a quo warranto^ before Judge Breese, in the Circuit Court of Fayette county, who decided in his favor. Field took an appeal to the Supreme Court, where the decision was reversed. Aside from the political questions involved, the case was of considerable importance. Able counsel appeared on each side. For the appellant, were Cyrus Walker, Justin Butterticld and Levi Davis. For the appellee, Steplien A. Douglas, James Shields and Wickliffe Kitchell, the Attorney-General. Wilson and Lockwood, the Whig judges, concurred, and Smith dissented. Brown being connected with the relator, declined to sit in the cause. The court decided that the Governor did not possess the power to remove the Secretary of State at his pleasure; that when that officer Avas once appointed, he continued in office during good behavior, or until the legislature limited the term or authorized some public functionary to remove him. The decision caused great excitement in political circles against the "Whig- Court," because it prevented the Democrats from occupying one of the principal offices of the government; and it had a considerable influence in causing the reorganization of that tribunal.

Edward J. Phillips, one of the first to commence here the practice of law in the second decade, was a man of fine personal appearance, above the average in scholarship, and a fine business man. He continued the practice of his profession but a short time, and then secured a position in the State bank, and as an officer of that institution was exceedingly popular as he was also in social life.

Edward Jones commenced the practice of law in Springtield as a partner of George Forquer. Edward Jones was born at Georgetown, D. C, May 8, 1811. He commenced his education at a classical academy in his native town, and made good progress in his studies, but having a strong predilection for military life, he entered a select military school at the seat of the National Government. After completing his academic studies, he commenced reading law in the office of John Marbury, and afterwards attended the Virginia Law School at Winchester. He was admitted to practice at the Bar in March, 1830, just two months before he was nineteen years of age. Being of an active and energetic temperament, he turned his face to the great West, and, in the following May, settled in Illinois, fixing his residence at Springfield.

In the spring of 1834, Judge Lockwood tendered him the appointment of Clerk of the Circuit Court of Tazewell county, and he removed to Pekin, the county seat of that county. After holding the office about three years and a half, he resigned and resumed the practice of law. This he continued to do honoi'ably and successfully until the call for volunteers in the Mexican war in June, 1846, aroused his patriotic feelings. He at once raised a company, which became Company F, of Colonel Baker's regiment. He first served with liis regiment under General Taylor and then under General Scott. He was engaged in the storming of Vera Cruz and the memorable battle of Cerro Gordo. The term of service of his regiment having expired, he was reluctantly compelled to return home. The remaining volunteers of that regiment have a vivid recollection of his bravery, fortitude, generosity and kindness, as well as military skill.

For some years after his return from Mexico, and until his health failed him, he was a successful practitioner. Mr. Jones had the reputation, which he richly deserved, as one of the finest men in his profession. He had a purely legal mind, and this natural aptitude he had diligently improved by his professional studies. His knowledge of the principals and practice of law was so intimate and thorough that he could give an extemjDoraneous opinion upon any case submitted to him, and it was very seldom that an after consultation of authorities made a change of opinion necessary. His fame as a special pleader was wide-spread. He was considered a Fabius in defense - being remarkably successful in delaying the contest till the most j^ropitious moment.

Edward Jones was eminently social in his nature, and was surrounded by hosts of friends who prized his society to the last. Even after his health had so far failed him as to render him unfit for his professional duties, his friends still crowded their business upon him. His attachment to the community in which he lived was ardent and unchanging. Whoever traduced it might expect to meet him as its defender,

Edward Jones died December 20, 1857, and was buried in Pekin, Tazewell county. The estimation in which he was held by the Bar in that place was embodied in a series of resolutions, one of which said : "We have found him a noble and powerful advocate, scorning to do anything unprofessional - eloquent, profound in argument, unanswerable in reasoning, and

Henry E. Dummer was a man of superior talents, a fine lawyer and scholar, and exceedingly refined in manner. He was a native of Maine, and had drifted West in 1832. In the spring of this year he was in Cincinnati, and noticing the advertisement of a boat going up the Sangamon river, determined to take passage to the new countr3^ Arriving here in due time, he soon formed a partnership with John T. Stuart, this relation continuing but a short time. After dissolution of the co-partnership, Mr. Dummer went to Jacksonville, where he remained a short time, and then drifted on to Beardstown. In this latter city he married, settled down and became eminently successful in the i^ractice of his profession. From Beardstown he returned to Jacksonville and became a member of the firm of Dummer, Brown & Kirby. He died about 1877.

Stephen T. Logan. - This celebrated lawyer and jurist, who long stood at the head of the Illinois Bai", was born in Franklin county, Kentucky, on February 24, 1800, and was descended from a good family of Scotch-Irish origin. He H-as the eldest, and, we believe, the only son of David Logan - a man of sti'ong sense and sterling integrity, who died about the year 1821. His grandfather, Colonel John Logan, was one of the leading pioneers of Kentucky, who figured prominently in the Indian wars of the period, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1799, and held, during several years, the important office of State Treasurer. His mother, Mary Trigg, was the daughter of Colonel Stephen Trigg (a native of Virginia), who was killed at the memorable battle of the Blue Licks, in August, 1782.

When Stephen Trigg Logan was two years old, his parents removed to Lincoln county, where his mother died a few years later, leaving him a half orphan at a tender age. He received his early education in Frankfort, Kentucky, where he was also employed as a clerk in the office of the Secretary of that Commonwealth, under Martin D. Hardin, father to Colonel John J. Hardin, of Illinois. In 1817 young Logan went to Glasgow, the seat of justice of Barren county, and studied law under the tuition of his uncle, Judge Christopher Tompkins. About two years afterward, and before attaining his majority, he was admitted to the Bar, but did not immediately commence practice.

Esq., of Glasgow, by whom he had eight children - four sons and fonr daughters - only two of whom survive, namely: Sarah (Mrs. Lamon), and Jennie (Mrs. Coleman), About the time of his marriage he was appointed Commonwealth's Attorney for the Glasgow Circuit, and discharged the responsible duties of his position with marked fidelity and ability.

In May, 1832, he removed with his family to Illinois, and settled at Springfield, where he ever afterward resided. Here he first formed a co-partnership with the Hon. William S. May, and resumed the active practice of his profession in the spring of 18-33, Subsequently, at different times, he was associated with E. D. Bakei, Abraham Lincoln, and Milton Hay.

In 1885 Logan was elected to the office of Circuit Judge, and remained on the bench two years, when he resigned and resumed legal practice. In 1839 he was again elected judge, but declined to serve. In 1842 he was elected a representative from Sangamon county in the Illinois Legislature, and re elected in 1844 and 1846, serving throughout with great credit and success. In 184*7 he was a leading member of the convention which formed tbe State Constitution, popularly known as the Constitution of 1848. During the latter year he became a candidate for Congress in the Springfield district, in oi^position to the late Hon. T. L. Harris. In 18.54 Judge Logan was again returned to the legislature; and in 1860 he ^ as a delegate from the State at large to the Chicago Republican Convention, which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency. In February 1861, he was one of the five Commissioners from Illinois to the National Peace Congress at Washington city, and distinguished himself by his eloquence and patriotism in that historic assembly.

Subsequent to 1861, Judge Logan, having acquired both fame and fortune, withdrew from political and professional life, and passed the evening of his days in dignified retirement. His death occurred after a brief illness, at his residence in Springfield, on July 11, 1880, in the 81st year of his age. His obsequies were appropropriately celebrated (the religious services being conducted by the Eeverend J. B. Allen of the Christian Church ), and his mortal remains were followed to their last resting place in Oak Ridge Cemetery, by a large concourse of sorrowing friends and legal associates, including many of the most distinguished men of the State.

Irom a number of able and eloquent memorial addresses, delivered by representative members of the Bar and judiciary on the occasion of his decease, we have selected that of Joseph Wallace, Esq., made before the Common Council of Springfield, which presents, perhaps, the most elaborate and comprehensive analysis of Logan's character:

Mr. W. said: - " Sir, an old and eminent citizen, a great lawyer, one whose name fills a large space in the earlier judicial and legislative annals of our State, has gone from the Sangamon County Bar to the Bar of God. This regretful event was not wholly unexpected by his family and most intimate friends, and yet it is difficult to realize that he is indeed no more. In the language of the lamented E. D. Baker, 'It is not fit that such a man should pass unheralded to the tomb ; it is not fit that such a life should steal unnoticed to its close; it is not fit that such a death should call forth no public lamentation.' Nor is it so. The public press of our own and other cities have already published eloquent and appreciative notices of the distinguished dead; the members of our Bar have met in solemn conclave and placed upon record their high estimate of his public and private worth, and now we, the members of this Council, representing the Capital City of Illinois, wherein he made his home for nearly fifty years, and with whose history and growth he was prominently identified, woixld add our brief yet sincere tribute to his memory.

" I shall not enter here upon any recital of the events of Stephen T. Logan's long and honorable life, which opened February 24, 1800, and closed July 17, 1880; but I may be permitted to oifer a hasty review of his personal and professional character, and to cast a flower on his bier, even though it has to-day been borne in sad array through the portals of the tomb.

"Whenever called upon to serve his fellow citizens in any public capacity, he responded to that call in a manner Avell calculated to reflect honor upon himself and conserve the public weal ; but at no time in his history was he a professed politician or office seeker. He never wrote out his speeches for publication, and interspersed them at intervals with the words ' cheers ' and ' applause.' He never acquired the modern art of manipulating ' primaries ' and ' caucuses.' He had ' no hired retainers, no paid letterwriters, no array of college companions to quote, commend and herald his fame to the world.' He had little taste and less aptitude for the ' out of doors management, the electioneering legerdemain, and the wearisome correspondence with local great men' - all of which, at this day, are deemed requisite to political preferment aud success. Nevertheless, his name and his deeds are inscribed in legible characters upon the official records of two States, and the inscriptions will not altogether fade.

" The controlling attachment of Judge Logan, however, was centered in the law; his mind was pre-eminently a legal one, and his political ambition was rendered subordinate to his love for this science. His active forensic career extended over a period of nearly half a century, the larger part of which was passed in the State of Illinois, and in this city. But those who saw him only as ' an old man broken by the storms of state,' can form no just idea of his appearance when, in the plenitude of his physical and intellectual powers, he stood forth the facile princep&^ the acknowledged leader of the Illinois Bar.

"A celebrated English critic (Hazlitt) has said, that ' great natural advantages are seldom combined with great acquired ones, because they render the labor requisite to attain the last, superfluous and irksome.' This remark is not inapplicable to Logan, since he made no pretensions to scholarship in any pedantic sense of the term. He never collected a library worthy of the name, and garnished it with rare and costly works. His reading was neither very varied nor classical; his researches were chiefly in the line of his profession, ' but therein they were thorough.' His superior mental endowments enabled him to comprehend on a cursory examination what would require ordinary minds protracted labor to master. His intellect was not only capacious and vigorous, but it was emphatically quick, keen and subtle, and having been early accustomed to habits of close investigation, he could seize upon the knottiest problems of law and unravel them with the greatest facility. Under his magic touch ' all doubt and difficulty were at once dispelled^ and the naked truth stood forth plainly and palpably defined.'

"In a court of justice, and especially a nisi prius court, Logan seemed most at home. Indeed, there was something exhilarating to him in the very atmosphere of the place. Here his exceptional talents were displayed in their best light, and here he might be studied to the best advantage. Entertaining and instructive it was to observe him before a jury engaged in the argument of some important cause. Resting one foot upon a chair, he begins with a few commonplace remarks, uttered in a clear and conversational tone. He then takes up the leadingfacts and strong points of his case, states them with singular perspicuity and force, dwells on tLiem at length, and presents them fi-om every standpoint favorable to his client. As he progresses he warms to his work. His small frame insensibly assumes a more erect and impressive attitude; his gestures become more frequent; his shrill voice is pitched to a higher key; his gray eyes glow with animation; every muscle is at play and every energy of his nature is aroused, while words, arguments, illustrations, appeals flow in torrents from his lips. At the conclusion of his speech he sinks into his seat in a profuse perspiration and well nigh exhausted. He leaves little else to be said on his side of the case, for he has covered the whole ground.

" Some French writer has observed that 'nothing is beautiful but what is natural.' This may well apply to Logan's style of speaking, which was formed after no modsl except his own, yet was beautiful because it was natural. He was accounted an eloquent speaker, though his eloquence was of a peculiar kind and difficult to describe. He seemed to have adopted Chief Justice Marshall's maxim, and 'always aimed at strength.' His forte was reassuring, but it was reason imbued with intense animation; and he drove his juries to conviction as much by the resistless energy of his style as by the lucidity and compactness of his logic. His temperament was strongly emotional; and in the defense of persons arraigned for high crimes and misdemeanors, he sometimes touched with a masterhand those secret springs of feeling and passion that lie in the recesses of every human breast. Whenever he addressed the court upon any questions of law, pleading or practice, he Avas heard with eager attention by his brethren of the Bar, because he threw a flood of light upon every legal principle he discussed.

"It might be objected to Logan's forensic efforts, particularly his jury efforts, that they were too replete with iteration, though this is a fault common to most lawyers, and arises partly from the nature of the calling itself. Moreover, juries, as a rule, are not composed of a trained order of intellects, and hence it seems necessary for the skillful advocate to repeat over and re-combine the same facts and arguments in a variety of forms, so as to impress them indelibly upon the minds of those addressed, and thus secure the desired verdict. One secret of his uniform success as a practitioner was due to the fact that, like Choate, he exerted himself to the utmost in almost every suit in which he was employed. No matter what the tribunal, the party or the fee, he put forth his whole strength, summoning to his aid

"It is a quality of superior and dominating minds to rely upon themselves, and to take the lead in whatsoever enterprise they may engage. Such was true of Logan. It mattered not what was the character and standing of the counsel associated with him in a given lawsuit, he occuined the foreground, and on him rested the chief burden of the controversy. To his clients he was faithful to a degree that knew no bounds, except the bounds of honor. He identified himself for the time with them, made their ( ause his cause, and their interests his own. It would be hard to determine in what particular branch of jurisprudence he was most proficient - whether as a criminal, a common law, or a chancery lawyer - for he seemed alike at home in all, and in all he shone without a peer. But few men in this country have ever brought to the profession of the Bar so many (ptalifications to ensure sxtccess as he. 'Logan is the best natural lawyer I ever knew,' said the late Judge McLean, of the U. S. Circuit Court, himself a jurist of the soundest judgment and ripest experience; and such is the concurring testimony of all his immediate contemporaries.

''His demeanor at the Bar was neither opinionative nor arrogant, but was characterized by a proper respect for the rulings of the court, and by an obliging disposition toward his professional associates. Still, his temper was naturally choleric, and quick to resent invidious remarks and unprofessional conduct on the part of opposing counsel. At such times they were certain to feel the sting of his retorts, keen and pungent as the rapier's thrust.

" The life of the lawyer in full practice is anything but a life of ease. It is rather one of excitement and anxiety, of patient investigation and unremitting toil, spent in the perusal of authorities, the preparation of pleas and briefs, and in the trial or adjustment of vexatious and complicated causes. Hence, in time be becomes worn out with the corroding ca^es of his clients; and when the silver thread of life is at last sundered forever, only a scanty and fragmentary record remains of his history. ' Probably in no department of life,' says an able writer, ' is there displayed so much talent which leaves no lasting record. The shrewd management and ready wit, the keen retort, the deep learning, and the impassioned eloquence of the accomplished lawyer, all come in play and tell strongly on the result, bnt they do their work and are seen no more; felt and admired at the time, they go to make up the contemporaneous estimate living at the place, but not to be reproduced for other times and other admirers.' How next to impossible, then, in a mere skeleton sketch like the present, to recall and portray those ' nice shades of character and talent, of thought and feeling, of look and gesture, of wit and pathos, that went to form the sum total of Stephen Trigg Logan's greatness and fame as a lawyer.

"During the first year of the troubled administration of the late President Lincoln, a vacancy occurred on the Supreme Bench of the United States, to be filled by a Western jurist. Whereupon, the special friends of Judge Logan recommended him as eminently qualified for the place; but the President, for reasons satisfactory to himself, ignored the claims of his old-time friend and law partner, and appointed another to the judgeship. Some have thought that Logan would not have accepted the office if it had been tendered him, but this is improbable. Conscious of the possession of superior abilities, it was but natural for him to be ambitious, and to aspire to some commanding height, whence he could make his influence felt and his power known to the whole country. Had he been raised to a seat in that august tribunal, he would doubtless have shone as a star of the first magnitude in our judicial constellation, and his recorded opinions have enriched the judicial literature of the land. But the sister Fates decreed for him a less conspicuous, though scarcely less useful destiny.

"In private life Logan was one of the most exemplary of men. Simple in his tastes, regular in his habits, unpretentious in his manners, and careless of his attire, he lived, moved and acted as if he were one of the least infiuential and observed of mankind. He was punctual and exact in all his business transactions. His maxim was to 'owe no man anything,' and to pay as he went - a most excellent Scriptural rule, but one more honored in the breach than the observance. He was also a man of unusually strong local and domestic attachments, and, while given to hospitality, preferred the quiet of his own fireside, and the society of his own family to that of all others; and, as a corrollary to this, he w^as one of the kindest of husbands and most indulgent of fathers.

" In conclusion it may be proper to say, that in his riper and declining years he experienced many severe afflictions. He outlived the major portion of his immediate family and kindred. He lost, in succession, all four of his sons, whom be had doubtless hoped would have perpetuated his name and fame to other generations. He saw his loved comi)anion, the mother of his children, borne from his bouse of mourning'to the house appointed for all living;' he followed two of his amiable daughters in sorrow to the tomb; but amid all these domestic trials, Logan was Logan still; and, at length, Avorn out by the trials and cares and conflicts of this sublunary life, he bowed his withered head in submission to the will of his Creator, and slept with his fathers. No more shall we see his slight form and sharply chiseled features on the busy thoroughfares; no more shall we meet him in the bustling courts of law, so long the theatre of his intellectual struggles and triumphs; and nevermore shall the temples of justice reverberate with the tones of his shrill, clear voice; for that heart once so fiery, and that tongue once so impassioned, now lie pulseless and still in death.

"Thus one after another these relics of the past, these tottering monuments of a former and perhaps better generation, are going home to the silent land - 'to that shore from whose sands is never heard the echo of retreating footsteps.' 'Thus,' says Irving, 'man passes away; his name gradually perishes from record and recollection; his history is a tale that is told, and his very monument becomes a ruin.' But, sir, I will

Hon. David Prickett, prominently identified with the early history of Illinois and Sangamon county, was born in Franklin county, Georgia, September 21, 1800. In early childhood he went with his parents to Kentucky, and a few yeai's later to Edwardsville, Illinois, then a j^rominent town of this State. He graduated from the law department of Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky, and was admitted to practice at Edwardsville, Illinois, November 15, 1821. Mr. Prickett served as the first Supreme Court Reporter of Illinois, was for a time Judge of Probate Court of Madison county; was elected a member of the State Legislature in 1826, when the Capitol was at Vandalia. He served as aidede-camp to General John D. Whiteside in the Black Hawk war in 1831; was elected State Attorney in 1837 for the First Judicial Circuit of Illinois, composed of Pike, Calhoun, Greene, Morgan, Sangamon, Tazewell, McLean, Macon 11 - and Macoupin counties. He served as Treasurer of the Board of Canal Commissioners during the construction of the Michigan and LaSalle canal in 1840; in 1842 was appointed Director, in behalf of the State, of the State Bank of Illinois; was Clerk of the House of Representatives ten sessions; and was serving as Assistant Clerk of the House of Representatives at the time of his death, March 1, 1847. He dealt considerably in real estate, especially city pi'operty, and was joint proprietor in laying out additions to several cities in Illinois. Mr. Prickett married Charlotte, daughter of Thomas and Christiana Grifiith, of Tazewell county, on January 24,1834. She was born March 9, 1806. Their marital union resulted in five children, Christiana G., Thomas G., Gibson R., Hannah O., living, and Susan, deceased. Mrs. Prickett died November 2, 1876. Her father, Dr. Thomas Gritiith, was one of the original proprietors of Pekin, Tazewell county.

William L. May is a Kentuckian by birth, removing from that State to Edwardsville, Illinois, from thence to Jacksonville, and from there to Springfield, in 1829, having received the appointment of Receiver of the Land Office in the latter place. Here in 1838 he formed a partnership with Stephen T. Logan. Mr. May was much more of a politician than a lawyer, and was a man of good address and a capital stumpspeaker. In 1834 he was elected to Congress, and again in 1836. In 1838 he failed of receiving the nomination, which went to Stephen A. Douglas. In the course of time Mr. May removed to Peoria, and from thence to California, where he died.

Dan. Stone became a member of the Bar of Sangamon county in 1833. He was a n3tive of Vermont and a graduate of Middlebury College, in his native State. He afterwards went to Cincinnati, studied law with his uncle, Ethan Stone, and practiced in that city for several years, and during that time was a member of the legislature, and also a member of the city council. On his removal to Springfield he at once took rank with the best lawyers. He was elected a member of the legislature in 1836, and was one of the famous "long nine" members of that body from this county. "While a member of the legislature he received the appointment of Judge of the Circuit Court, and was assigned to duty in the northern part of the State and moved to Galena. In 1838 he rendered a decision with reference to the vote of an alien, which so displeased the party in power that the courts were reorganized by the legislature, and Judge Stone

Josephus Ilewett came to Springfield al)Out ls:30, at which time he was a Christian preacher, an eloquent "defender of the faith once delivered to the Saints." He read law with Judge Logan, and was admitted to the I>ar al)out 183 4. In 183 3 he formed a partnership witli Cyi"»s Walker, of Macomb, Mr. Hewett remaining in Springiield and Mr. Walker in Macomb, but practicing together in the various courts of the State. Mr. Hewett became one of the most noted lawyers of that day, and is spoken of by the older members of the profession as a man of strong mind and very eloquent in his pleadings. He removed from Springfield to Mississippi, where he died since the war.

David B. Campbell came to Springfield in 1838, from New Jersey, his native State. He was a fair lawyer and a good prosecutor, serving as Prosecuting Attorney from 1848 to 1856, dying in office in the latter year. He was a fairminded man, and while Prosecuting Attorney would never prosecute one charged with crime unless thoroughly convinced of his guilt.

Dave Campbell was quite a joker, and a good story is told of him and one Benedict, of which he is responsible, it appearing in his "Reminiscences" as follows:

The hotels, in those days, I remember, being scarce of beds, used frequently to put two of us lawyers in one bed; and it frequently fell to the lot of Campbell and Benedict to occupy the bed between them. One day I heard Campbell say to Benedict, with a smirk on his face:

" Confound you," replied Campbell, " I never did sleep with you, but I have lain with you. To sleep with you would be impossible. You snore like a cyclops, and your breath smells so of mean whisky that I would as soon breathe the air of a charnel house and live in reach of its eternal stench."

"Well," said Benedict, "General Campbell, I will show you that you shall sleep with me, and if either of us has to sleep on the floor or go to the hay-mow, it will be you and not me."

So that night Dave Campbell -went to bed earlier than usual, and so about twelve o'clock at night along comes Benedict, pretty much " howcome-you-so." Addressing himself to Campbell, who feigned to be half asleep, he said:

Before going to bed that evening Dave had armed his heel by buckling on it one of his spurs. When Benedict got undressed, even to the taking off of his drawers, he jumped into bed and began to fondle on Campbell. Dave quietly drew up his heel that had the spur on and planted it about six inches above Benedict's knee, and gave it a turn downwards, crying, " Get up there 1 get up there! " as though he was speaking to his horse. Benedict gave a sudden leap and landed about the middle of the floor, crying out in great agony:

Antrim Campbell, a brother of David, was born in New Jersey in 1814. He came to Springfield in 1838, and entered upon the practice of his profession. In 1849, he was appointed Master in Chancery for the Circuit Court of Sangamon county, and resigned the same in 1861, when he received the appointment of Master in Chancery for the United States Cii'cuit Court for the Southern District of Illinois. While never taking high rank as an attorney, he Avas recognized as a good Master in Chancery and an excellent business man. He died August 11, 1868.

A. T. Bledsoe was a worthy member of the Sangamon County Bar during the last year of its Second Decade and extending nearly through the third. He came to Springfield from Greene county in 1840. While a young man he graduated from West Point, and shortly after resigned his position in the army, studied for the ministry, was ordained a minister in the Episcopalian Chui'ch. BecoTiiing disatisfied, he resigned his charge, studied law and was admitted to the Bar before coming to Springfield. On his arrival here he formed a partnership with Jesse B. Thomas, which continued about a year, when he became a partner of E. D. Baker. Major Stuart says that for real logic he was the strongest man at this Bar at that time. But content- ment was not w ith him a cardinal virtue. He could remain in one position but a short time. He was an author of several scientific works, which were well received by the learned. Mr. Bledsoe about 1850 drifted South, was President of a college in Mississippi for a time, and at the breaking out of the war was professor of mathematics in a college at Charlotteville, Virginia. Espousing the Southern side, he was made Assistant Secretary of War, but becoming convinced that the Southern Confederacy was about to collapse, shortly before the close of the war, it is said that he applied to his old friend Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, for a pass through the lines, receiving which he came within the Union lines and soon embarked t"or Europe, where he remained until the close of the war. Returning, he visited his old friends in Springfield, then again went South, and has since died.

Charles R. Willis was from Connecticut, was Avell educated, but done little business in law. Soon after coming to Springfield he engaged in the real estate business, in which he accumulated a large fortune. He died many years ago.

Schuyler Strong was from New York, and well advanced in years before coming to Springfield. In his native State he was regarded as no ordinary lawyer, and was recognized as the peer of any when he arrived here. If it had not been for one grevious faidt, so common, success would have crowned his every effort. He died about 1845.

Ninian W. Edwards is the son of Ninian Edwards, the first and only Territorial Governor of Illinois. He was born April 15, 1809, near Frankfort, Kentucky. His father at that time was Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, but, receiving the appointment of Governor of the Territory of Illinois, he removed with his family in June following, to Kaskaskia, its capital. When the proper age, Ninian W. Avas sent to Transylvania University, and graduated in the law department of that institution in 1833. Previous to his graduation, and in 1832, he was married to Miss Elizabeth P. Todd, in Lexington, Kentucky. Returning home after his graduation, he commenced the practice of law. In 1834, he was appointed by Governor Reynolds, Attorney General of the State, and was shortly afterwards elected by the legislature. The law requiring the Attorney General to reside at the capital, and Mr. Edwards not liking a residence in Vandalia, he resigned the office in February, 1835, and shortly afterwards removed to Springfield. In

1836, Mr. Edwards was elected one of the Representatives in the legislature, and was also one of the "Long Nine," and is now, in 188 1, the only one living of the number. From 1836 to 1852, Mr. Edwards served in the legislature, either in the Senate or House of Representatives, being a very efficient member. He was also a member of the Constitutional Convention which formed the constitution of 1848. In 1852 he was appointed Attorney before the Board of Commissioners to investigate the claims of canal contractors against the State, amounting to over #1,500,000. In 1854 he received the appointment of State Superintendent of Public Instruction by Governor Matteson, and was the first incumbent of that office. He was retained in this office by the legislature until 1857. Mr. Edwards has always been a champion of free schools, and drafted the law in regard to them which was first adopted in the State. In 1862, he was appointed by President Lincoln, United States Commissary. Aside from his official duties, Mr. Edwards has found time to prepare a history of the State of Illinois, including the Life and Times of Governor Edwards, written on the invitation of the Illinois State Historical Society. It is a valuable work, and is regarded as a standard on the subject on which it treats. As a lawyer, Mr. Edwards ranked high while an active member of the Bar, and even at this day on some subjects his views are often sought by the fraternity.

Cyrus Walker was a Kentuckian by birth; studied law and was admitted to the Bar in his native State, where he became very prominent, especially as a criminal lawyer. On account of his defense of a murderer, and his acquittal, whom the people generally thought should have been hung, Kentucky became uncomfortably warm for him, so that he came to Illinois and settled in Macomb, in 1833. He was a man of strong mind, an excellent lawyer, and withfil very conscientious. In 1835 he was a partner of Josephus Hewitt, and in 1839 with James C. Conkling. His business was very extensive for many years in the various courts of Illinois. He died near Macomb, in 1876.

In 1837, Abraham Lincoln was admitted to the Bar, and for the first time wrote in connection with his name, "Attorney and Counselorat-Law." While living in Salem, he had borrowed books from the law library of John T, Stuart, which he read and returned as the opportunity occurred. When convinced that he could stand an examination, he presented himself for that purpose, and was duly licensed to practice his profession. He immediately formed a partnership with Mr. Stuart, which relation continued about two years. During this same year, Stephen A. Douglas became a citizen of Springfield, having received the appointment of Register in the Land Office. He soon afterwards formed a partnership with John D. TTrquhart for the practice of law, and here commenced the rivalry of these two great men - Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas - men whom the world delights to honor. In the address already quoted, by Isaac N. Arnold, he says:

"When, forty years ago, the Bar used to meet here at the capitol, in the Supreme and United States Courts, and ride the circuit in our different sections of the State, Lincoln and Douglas did not occupy a position of such overshadowing importance as they do to-day. They did not beat us in our cases when law and justice were with us, and we did not realize that they were so greatly our superiors. But these two men have passed into history, and justly, as our great representative men. These are the two most prominent figures, not only in the history of Illinois, but of the Mississippi Valley, and their prominence, certainly that of Mr. Lincoln, will be increased as time passes on. I will, therefore, endeavor to give such rough and imperfect outlines of them as lawyers, and advocates, and public speakers, as I can. We, who knew them personally, who tried causes with them and against them, ought, I think, to aid those who shall come after us, to understand them, and to determine what manner of men they were. In the first place, no two men could be found more unlike, physically and intellectually, in manners and in appearance, than they.

"Lincoln was a very tall, spare man, six feet four inches in height, and would be instantly recognized as belonging to that type of tall, large-boned men produced in the northern part of the Mississippi Valley, and exhibiting its peculiar characteristics in the most marked degree in Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois.

" In any court room in the United States he would have been instantly picked out as a Western man. His stature, figure, dress, manner, voice and accent indicated that he was of the Northwest.

"In manner he was always cordial and frank, and although not without dignity, he made every person feel quite at his ease. I think the first impression a stranger would get of him, whether in conversation or by hearing him speak, was, that this is a kind, frank, sincere, genuine man, of transparent truthfulness and integrity; and before Lincoln had uttered many vi^ords, he would be impressed with his clear good sense, his remarkably simple, homely, but expressive Saxon laTiguage, and next his wonderful wit and humor. Lincoln was more familiar with the Bible than with any other book in the language, and this was apparent, both from his style and illustrations, so often taken from that Book. He verified the maxim, that it is better to know thoroughly a few good books than to read many.

"Douglas was little more than five feet high, with a strong, broad chest, and strongly marked features; his manners, also, Avere cordial, frank and hearty. The poorest and humblest found him friendly. He was, in his earlier years, hale fellow well met with the rudest and poorest man in the court room.

"Those of you who practiced law M'ith him, or tried causes before him when on the bench, will remember that it was not unusual to see him come off the bench, or leave his chair at the Bar, and take a seat on the knee of a friend, and with one arm thrown familiarly around his friend's neck, have a friendly talk, or a legal or political consultation. Such familiarity Avould have shocked our English cousins, and disgusted our Boston brothers, and it has, I think, disappeared. In contrast with this familiarity of Douglas, I remember an anecdote illustrating Colonel Benton's ideas of his own personal dignity. A distinguished member of Congress, who was a great admirer of Benton, one day approached and slapped him familiarly and rudely on the shoulder. The Senator haughtily drew himself up, and said, 'That is a familiarity, sir, I never permit my friends, much less a comparative stranger. Sir, it must not be rejicated.'

"Lincoln and Douglas were, as we know, both self-educated, aud each the builder of his own fortune. Each became, very early, the recognized leader of the political party to which he belonged. Douglas was bold, uiifiinching, impetuous, denunciatory and determined. He possessed, in an eminent degree, the qualities which create personal popularity, and he was the idol of his friends. Both Lincoln and Douglas were strong jury-lawyers. Lincoln, on the whole, was the strongest jur^^-lawyer we ever had in Illinois. Both were distinguished for their ability in seizing and bringing out, distinctly and clearly, the real points in a case. ]5oth were very happy in the examination of witnesses; I think Lincoln the stronger of the two in cross-examination. He could compel a witness to tell the truth when he meant to lie.

He could make a jury laugh, and, generally, weep, at his pleasure. Lincoln on the right side, and especially when injustice or fraud were to be exposed, was the strongest advocate. On the wrong side, or on the defense, where the accused was really guilty, the client with Douglas for his advocate would be more fortunate than with Lincoln.

"Lincoln studied his cases thoroughly and exhaustively. Douglas had a wonderful faculty of extracting from his associates, from experts and others, by conversation, all they knew of a subject he was to discuss, and then making it so thoroughly his that all seemed to have oi'iginat>ed with himself. He so perfectly assimilated the ideas and knowledge of others that all seemed to be his own, and all that went into his mind came out improved.

" The ablest argument I ever heard him make was in the case of Daniel Brainar vs. The Canal Trustees, argued at Ottawa, June, 1850, reported in 12 111. Reports, 488. The question involved the extent of the right of pre-emption by settlers upon canal lands, within the city of Chicago. The judofes were Treat, Trumbull and Caton. Judges Treat and Trumbull concurred in deciding the case against Douglas, Judge Caton dissenting. He made, in this case, one of the ablest arguments I ever heard at any Bar.

"In 1841, Mr. Douglas, being then not quite twenty-eight years old, w^as elected one of the Judges of the Supreme Court. He was not a profound lawyer, but with his clear common sense and incisive mind, alter a case was well argued, he always knew how to decide it. He held the position of Judge for about two years, and was then, after a very active canvas, elected to Congress by a small majority over O. H. Browning. From this time until his death, in the early summer of 1861, he remained in Congress, serving in the House until 1846, when he was elected to the Senate, of which he continued a member to the time of his death. His ablest speech in tbe House was made on the 'Zth of January, 1 844, on a bill to refund to General Jackson the fine imposed upon him by Judge Hall, during the defense of New Orleans. In this masterly argument he took the then bold and novel ground that the fine was imposed in violation of law. It is a carious fact that, in this speech, Douglas claimed for General Jackson many of the war-powers exercised by President Lincoln and his generals during the rebellion, and for which the President was so bitterly denounced by his political opponents. This speech gave him a national reputation. After the death of the hero of New Orleans a pamphlet copy of this speech was found among his papers, with an endorsement in Jackson's hand-writing, and signed by him, in these words: ^'This speech constitutes my defense. Hay it aside as an inheritance for my grand-children.'''' .

" Mr. Lincoln remained in active practice at the Bar until his nomination for the Presidency in 1 860. His reputation as a lawyer and advocate was rising higher and higher. He had a large practice on the circuit all over the central part of this State, and he was employed in most of the important cases in the Federal and Supreme Courts. He went on special retainers all over Illinois, and occasionally to St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Indiana. His law arguments addressed to the judges were always clear, vigorous, and logical; seeking to convince rather by the application of principle than by the citation of authorities and cases. On the whole, I always thought him relatively stronger before a jury than with the court. He was a quick and accurate reader of character, and understood, almost intuitively, the jury, witnesses, parties, and judges, and how best to address, convince, and influence them. He had a power of conciliating and impressing everyone in his favor. A stranger coming into court, not knowing him, or anything about his case, listening to Lincoln a few moments, would find himself involuntarily on his side, and wishing him success. His manner was so candid, so direct, the spectator was impressed that he was seeking only truth and justice. He excelled all I ever heard in the statement of his case. However complicated, he would disentangle it, and j^resent the turning point in a way so simple and clear that all could understand. Indeed, his statement often rendered argument unnecessary, and often the court would stop him and say, "If that is the case, we will hear the other side." He had in the highest possible degree the art of persuasion and the power of conviction. His illustrations were often quaint and homely, but always clear and apt, and generally conclusive. He never misstated evidence, but stated clearly, and met fairly and squarely his opponent's case. His wit and humor and inexhaustible stores of anecdote, always to the point, added immensely to his power as a jury advocate.

The last case Mr. Lincoln ever tried was that of Jones vs. Johnson, tried in April and May, 1860, in the United States Circuit Court, at Chicago. The case involved the title to land of very great value, the accretion on the shores of

Lake Michigan. During the trial, Judge Drummond and all the counsel on both sides, including Mr. Lincoln, dined together at my house. Douglas and Lincoln were at the time both candidates for the nomination for President. There were active and ardent political friends of each at the table, and when the sentiment was proposed, "May Illinois furnish the next President," it was, as you imagine, drank with enthusiasm by the friends of both Lincoln and Douglas.

Jesse B. Thomas, Jr., was a nephew of the eminent statesman of that name, a former United States Senator, and well known in the early day. He was an attorney of more than ordinary ability, and succeeded Ninian W. Edwards as Attorney General of the State in 1885. In 1837 he was appointed Circuit Judge, but resigned after the expiration of two years. He was at one time a partner of David Prickett, in Springfield, and afterwards of William L May. He finally went to Chicago and died there.

E. D. Baker came to Springfield in 1835, from Greene county, Illinois. He was born in London, England, February 24, 1811, and emigrated with his parents to America shortly after the close of our late war with England, and after remaining for a time in Philadelphia he came west and settled in Indiana, and from thence to Illinois. He early manifested a strong passion for books, reading with avidity everything on which he could lay his hands, particularly history, biography and poetry. Possessing a rare aptitude for acquiring information, a ready and highly retentive memory, his mind soon became stored with the rich treasures of literary lore, from which, in after years, he drew copiously as from a perennial fount. At Carrollton, Greene county, Mr. Baker studied law in the office of A. W. Cavarly, serving at the same time as deputy in the office of the County Clerk. As soon as he gained a superficial knowledge of the science of law, spurred on by necessity, he procured a license and commenced practice. Owing, however, to his youth, limited legal attainments and the absence of influential friends, during the first years of his professional life, he met with indifferent success.