Marion County, Indiana - Chapter 8, 1884 (part 3 of 3)

Those in whom the pardoning power has been reposed unite in saying that no duty which devolves upon a Governor brings with it so great a burden of responsibility. Governor Porter has made it a rule to investigate each application for pardon through independent sources, and if he has issued pardons sparingly, it has been because the demands of justice outweighed the promptings of a warm sympathy. His agreeable manner would lead one to think that he could be easily influenced, but, though slow to express an opinion on a subject presented for his consideration, when once he makes use of his characteristic expression, " My mind is made up," his decision is irrevocable. His idea of right and his sense of responsibility are the measure of his firmness. His habit of thoroughness was never more felicitously rewarded than in the prompt and happy manner in which it has enabled him to respond to invitations of the various conventions, - agricultural, mechanical, industrial, educational, and religious, - which have all learned to expect a recognition from

Among literary men the quality of equanimity is frequently attainable, but among men in public life it is as rare. It need not mean, as it does in the minds of some, the neutralization of one salient characteristic by another, but rather the thorough blending of all in one symmetrical personality. This quality, with an habitual cheerfulness, frankness, and courtesy, is Governor Porter's in a strong degree.

Governor Porter was married in 1847 to Miss M. V. Brown, a lady of rare domestic virtues, a daughter of Hiram Brown, B-sq., one of the early noted lawyers of Indianapolis. Five of their children are living. She died in November, 1875. In January, 1881, just before his inauguration as Governor, he was married to Miss Cornelia Stone, of Cuba, New York, a lady of fine education and attainments, whose kindly feelings and refinement have won for her the regard of all who know her.

Few men in public life are more happily situated than Governor Porter. He has a suflSuient competency to be independent of the vicissitudes of politics; he enjoys the influences of a beautiful home life and the thorough friendship of the people.

Hon. John Caven. - In presenting to the readers of the History of Marion County this sketch of the life, character, and public acts of Hon. John Caven, of Indianapolis, we shall be required to introduce incidents connected with the peace and prosperity of the capital city of Indiana of the highest importance. The necessity for referring to such occurrences will at once be conceded when our readers are informed that the subjt'ct of this sketch held the important office of mayor for five terms, making in all ten years that he performed the duties of chief magistrate of the largest inland city on the continent. When a citizen is deemed worthy of great public trusts, and in their execution evinces qualities of head and heart which shed lustre upon his name and win the approval of the people, it is not surprising tliat there is a popular demand for full knowledge of all the facts relating to his career, parentage, birth, early advantages and surroundings, employments and ambitions. The desire for such information is eminently praiseworthy. It enables society, and especially the students of forces and factors which operate in the line of success and eminence, to arrive at correct conclusions, and to establish theories of life, its obligations and possibilities, of the highest advantage to reflecting people. The subject of this sketch is the descendant of Scotch-Irish and English-Scotch parentage, and was born in the State of Pennsylvania, Alleghany County, April 12, 1824, and is therefore fifty-nine years of age. His father, William Caven, was of Scotch-Irish lineage, and his mother, Jane (Longhead) Caven, of English-Scotch descent. Young Caven did not inherit wealth, nor any of the advantages which wealth is supposed to confer ; but he did inherit what was far better, a healthy body and a healthy mind. He inherited a reverence for the good, the beautiful, and the true, and upon that foundation has erected a character symmetrical in outline, embodying the grandeur of stern integrity, devotion to honest conviction, and fidelity to trusts which knows no wavering, no matter what may bo the character of the influences and obstacles thrown in his way. Generous in judgments, cautious in opinion, indefatigable in purpose, John Caven i^^ esteemed in the councils of good men a chevalier sans peur et sans reproche. Such is the exalted position Mayor Caven occupies in Indianapolis. And if we are asked, What were his youthful surroundings ? the reply is that they were such as to develop the best traits of his intellectual and physical organism, - he was required to work. His avocations brought him in direct contact with the hardy children of toil, and he has a right to be known as a " self-made man." His early educational advantages were limited. He had few books, and only inferior school-teachers, but what he learned was thoroughly learned, and as his years increased his thirst for knowledge became more intense, until at last the perfection, grace, and beauty of his public expressions, whether oral or documentary, naturally led to the conclusion that some renowned university was his

At school he mastered the old English Reader and Daboll's Arithmetic, and with such a foundation for an education young Caven went forth to master all the required branches of an English education to prepare him to enter the legal profession. He came to Indianapolis in 1845, and in 1847, at the age of twenty-three, entered the law-office of Smith & Yandes, where he mastered the intricacies of the law, and in due time took his rightful place in a bar distinguished for learning and ability. Such an example of pluck and perseverance, if properly studied by the youth of Indiana, cannot fail to be productive of results of incalculable benefit to the State. Without wealth or influential friends, with an education limited to the rudiments, we see a young man steadily progressing in the right direction, overcoming obstacles, growing in knowledge and the strength which knowledge confers, growing in the esteem and confidence of citizens capable of appreciating good character and manly ambition, until he stands the recognized peer of the best. In 1863, at the age of thirtynine, the subject of this sketch was elected mayor of Indianapolis without opposition. His administration was of a character to win universal approval, and in 1865 he was again elected without opposition. During the period embraced in these two terms - four years - Indianapolis was rapidly developing her commanding advantages as a commercial and manufacturing city, and Mayor Caven was contributing by his ability and influence to give impetus to her progress. In 1868 the people of Indianapolis elected Mr. Caven to the State Senate for four years. In that body he maintained the high estimate his constituents had placed upon his abilities, and his recorded votes and speeches attest his statesmanship and breadth of views upon all matters touching political, educational, and humanitarian subjects. He voted fur the Fifteenth Amendment, and earnestly advocated the establishment of schools for colored children. In 1875, Mr. Caven was again elected mayor of Indianapolis, and the two terms following he succeeded himself in occupying the office, having been re-elected in 1877 and 1879. Such facts of history are monumental. They bear the highest testimony possible to the ability and integrity of Mr. Caven, as also to the fidelity which distinguished his public career. It is in the fulfillment of the varied duties devolving upon him as chief magistrate of Indianapolis that he has specially endeared himself to the people. We should prove entirely unworthy of the trust confided to us if, in writing a sketch of the public service and private virtues of John Caven, we should omit to bring into the boldest prominence his ceaseless labors, intelligent counsel, unflagging energy, and prudent zeal in advancing the growth of the city in population, wealth, and business enterprises. In the mere routine work of the office of mayor he met every requirement of a just and humane magistrate, and his efibrts to reform the wayward who were brought before him will forever remain fadeless credentials of his faith in human nature and moral suasion ; but in the discussion of economic problems in connection with the business expansion of the city his views are eminently conclusive of his power to grasp questions of the greatest gravity. As a business enterprise Indianapolis has just cause for gratulation over the building of the Belt Railroad and the establishment of the Union Stock- Yards, and it is no disparagement of others to place the credit of originating those great enterprises where it rightfully belongs. They are commemorative of business forecast, and will increase in importance with the lapse of years. This credit is justly due to Hon. John Caven, the subject of this sketch. An account of the initial steps taken by Mayor Caven to inaugurate the Belt Road and stock-yard enterprise was published in a city paper May 18, 1881. It is historical, and well deserving a place in any sketch of his life and public services, and is as follows :

" One day in September, 1875, I walked around the old abandoned embankment west of White River, and from the Vandalia Road to the river I walked all the way through weeds higher than my head, pushing them aside with my hands. I took ofi" my boots and waded White River, not far from the present Belt Road bridge, and, as the water was deep, I got my clothes wet. Climbing over to the partially- built abutment on the cast bank to dry, I sat there for two hours considering the question of whether the great work of a road around this city could be put in motion. It would combine all the benefits sought, not only furnish work for our laboring population during the savage year of 1876, or at furthest 1877, but also relieve our streets. It would also bring here an immense cattle business and lay down a great taxable property. As I looked over that almost^ desert-looking river bottom, the outlook for moving in the matter to furnish bread to hungry people a year or two anyway was gloomy, but I then and there determined that this was the only project that could accomplish the result, and resolved to make the effort and see what will and a good purpose could do. Having got somewhat tired out, I put on my boots and started home, and commenced an investigation of the subject of bread-riots and what makes cities, - what had made great cities. I examined a great deal of history on the subject of what had made other cities, - location, natural advantages, accidents, minerals, manufactures, and what enterprise and capital had done, and then tried to apply these principles to the city of Indianapolis. What were our natural advantages, and how might capital and enterprise develop them, and what could be done to make Indianapolis a great city, and during the winter of 1875 I proposed the Belt Road message, and read it in Council on July 17, 1876. It was published in Tuesday's morning papers, and on Thursday morning I was holding court and noticed two men sitting back among the audience for some time. After a while they came forward and asked if they could speak with me a few minutes. I suspended hearing a cause to hear what they had to say. One of them said he was president of the stockyards at Louisville, and had read the Belt Road message and at once started for Indianapolis, as he regarded it the best location for stock-yards in the country, and he wished to come here and engage in the business. I told them we wanted the enterprise very much, and asked them if they had the means to build, and they said they had not, but thought perhaps the city would aid them. I told them the city would not aid in money, but suggested the idea of the exchange of bonds, the plan which was adopted and carried out. One of these men was Horace Scott and the other Mr. Downing, the present superintendent of the stock-yards. A company was formed and the necessary steps taken to carry out the enterprise, but met with great opposition." Such was the beginning of an enterprise which, while it is making its owneps rich, is adding indefinitely to the welfare of the city.

On Monday, July 17, 1876, Mr. Caven, then mayor of the city, presented to the Common Council of the city a masterly paper relating to the local advantages of Indianapolis as a manufacturing centre. It is worthy of being known as a " State Paper." It discusses the question of fuel with a breadth of thought, argument, and illustration worthy of the most profound consideration. It is a paper entitled to the dignity of "standard authority," and should be so regarded by merchants, manufacturers, and business men generally. Indeed, we regard it of so much importance, as illustrative of the compact reasoning powers of its author, that, if our space permitted, we should reproduce it entire.

In what we have said Mr. Caven is given an i advanced position as a political economist, as a student chiefly of utilitarian enterprises. To this position he is entitled by every consideration of simple justice to his eminent thought attainments. But thj^ people of Indianapolis have found him to be remarkable in other regards than those which we have recorded. We refer particularly to his masterly control over men in times of public peril. In the year 1877 a wave of extreme danger rolled over the land. Mayor Caven was not taken by surprise. He had not been unobservant of coming events, nor had he misinterpreted the dark shadows which betokened their coming, and his early and urgent advocacy of the Belt Road and stock-yard undertaking was in part, at least, the result of hia prescience, as the building of the road would be the means of giving idle men work when other means of employment failed. It is not required to more than recall to mind the labor strike which occurred in 1877, and the terrible scenes enacted in certain localities. When the strike reached Indianapolis there was excitement, alarm, and danger. Fortunately Mayor Caven was equal to the occasion. He was calm, self-possessed, and vigilant. He understood human nature, and fortunately comprehended the human nature of workingmen, - he had been a workingman himself. He believed in suasion rather than shot-guns ; he did not adopt the policy of intimidation ; he discarded rash measures. He made no compromises with rioters, but with lofty courage he pointed out the sad consequences which must follow violations of the law, and appealed to the strikers, as men and as citizens interested in the order and peace of the community, to refrain from acts of rapine. He sought work for the idle; he provided bread for the hungry. The strikers saw in Mayor Caven a stern, courageous magistrate, devoid of fear, determined to do his duty at all hazards ; but they also saw in Mayor Caven their friend and a wise counselor. When he spoke they listened, and a terrible calamity was therefore averted, and after a few days of excitement and unrest the peril vanished, not a life was sacrificed, not a person was injured, not a dollar's worth of property was destroyed, and the good name and fair fame of Indianapolis was maintained. Nor was this all: Indianapolis in June, 1877, was threatened with a bread-riot. Public meetings were held and arrangements made for a street demonstration. The riot spirit was abroad, and danger was imminent. A vast concourse of people had assembled in the State- House ground, - idle men and hungry men. There was excitement ; passion was getting the better of judgment. Here again the fact was demonstrated that Mayor Caven was the right man in the right place. His earnest words stilled the tempest. Men ready for acts of violence gave pledges to abandon plans which were likely to result in public calamities. But Mayor Caven did not abandon the hungry people when they had determined to bear their sufferings like law-abiding citizens. He at once proceeded to relieve their immediate necessities. The circumstances surrounding that meeting on the 6th of June, 1877, are historic, and we should regard this sketch of Mayor Caven imperfect if his connection with it was omitted. There are circumstances which bring into bold relief certain elements of character of

! the greatest value. Again we quote the account as published at the time. The meeting having closed. Mayor Caven gave an account of further steps to restore quiet, as follows :

" I requested those who were willing to pledge themselves to preserve the peace and obey my orders in putting down any disturbances to hold up the right hand, and every hand went up. There were men there who, together with their families, had not tasted food for two days, and I told them they should not go to bed hungry that night, and invited the crowd to go with me, and we first went over to Simpson's bakery, south from the State-House. He happened to have a large quantity of bread on hand. I commenced handing out six loaves to each one as the hungry crowd passed by, and the supply was soon all gone. We then went to Taggart's, on South Meridian Street, but could not obtain admission, and from there to Bryce's bakery, on South Street, the hungry crowd following. Mr. Bryce was in bed, but got up when I told him what I wanted, and I directed the crowd to pass the door. Mr. Bryce handed me the loaves, and I handed them to the men, giving six loaves to each ; but as the pile became smaller we reduced the number to five, and then to four and three, and then to two, and I invited those who only received two and three to wait, and if we could give them more we would ; and they came again, and we gave them all the bread in the bakery, and succeeded in supplying them all. As soon as I had paid Mr. Bryce his bill I went out in the street, and where a few minutes before was that hungry crowd was as still as the grave, not a human being in sight. They had left for home as quickly as supplied, and the only persons were Mr. Dannis Greene and myself. At the State-House I told the men to go to the Beatty farm in the morning and they would find work. About 2 p.m. next day I went there, and about three hundred men were at work, many of them the hungry men of the night before, and it seemed as if the Belt Road, for which we had so labored to furnish work to the hungry, had thus providentially come to the rescue to the very day, almost to the very hour, of our extreme necessity. A day later and doors would have been broken for food. As I looked at the men at work, the expression of despair of the night before lifted from their faces, vividly came to my memory the cool September afternoon twenty-one months before, when I sat drying myself on the partially-built abandoned abutment on the east bank of White River, looking over into the cheerless river bottom, wondering whether it could be converted into a scene of life and activity, and whether from it could be extracted work and food for hundreds of starving laborers within the next year or two, and almost with faintness at my heart looked with more of doubting than hoping, and now it seemed as if God was with His poor, and had not forgotten them."

In the foregoing we have traced John Caven from his childhood, from poverty and obscurity, and, whether toiling in the salt-works, manning an oar on a flat-boat, or delving in a mine, always displaying the same sturdy zeal to win his way to fortune. We have observed him utilizing every advantage, educating himself, and an earnest, uncompromising devotee of the best theories of life, and animated by ambitions which always lead to usefulness, eminence, and influence. We have seen him steadily advancing in the confidence and esteem of men of wealth, education, and high character, and repeatedly chosen by them as the exponent of their political, business, and social theories, and in every instance responding to every prudent requirement, - dignifying oSice by making it subserve every interest of society, mapping out new enterprises, and finding new pathways to success. As a worker, in the costume of toil ; as a lawyer, mastering the philosophy of jurisprudence; as a senator, advocating measures of far-reaching consequences ; as a chief magistrate of a growing city ; as a man, a citizen, combining personal worth with official authority, calming popular unrest and giving peace and security in times of peril, - in all of these varied situations of life John Caven has given proof of extraordinary intellectual power, and has won a place in history of commanding prominence. As a Mason, Mr. Caven is familiar with all the mysteries of the ancient order, from an entered apprentice to the supreme lights that blaze upon its highest elevations, and his oration, delivered on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the Masonic Temple in Indianapolis in 1866, demonstrates the thoroughness of his knowledge of Masonic mysteries and his deep devotion to the principles of the order. Mr. Caven glories in seeing workingmen improving their condition by association, by giving aid to each other in times of need, and the Brotherhoods of Locomotive Engineers and Locomotive Firemen of the United States and Canada venerate him for the sympathy and encouragement )ie has given them on many occasions.

Such is a brief and necessarily imperfect sketch of the life, character, and public acts of Hon. John Caven, of Indianapolis. Our privileges do not warrant an entrance upon the domain of his private life. If it were otherwise, our task would be embellished by charming pictures of sympathy for the unfortunate and acts of benevolence indicative of a nobility of soul that, after all, is the true standard by which to measure men. Physically, Mayor Caven is a noble specimen of manhood, standing six feet and weighing two hundred and ten pounds. His complexion is florid, eyes blue and of that peculiar type that speaks the universal language of sympathy, benevolence, integrity, and moral courage. Mayor Caven is a bachelor, but not a recluse nor a cynic. He loves home and social enjoyments ; and, above all, he is a recognized Christian gentleman, and aljfc of his acts, public and private, bear high testimony that he holds in the highest veneration all sacred things. Time has dealt kindly with Mayor Caven, and now, though on the verge of threescore years, he bids fair for many years to come to be the centre of an extended circle of appreciative citizens, whose confidence and esteem is the crowning glory of a life well spent.

William Watson Woollen. - The Woollen family are of English lineage. Leonard Woollen, the grandfather of William Watson, was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but early removed to Kentucky, and thence, in 1828, to Indianapolis. The birth of his son Milton occurred in Kentucky, in 1806. After tlie removal to Indianapolis he was married to Miss Sarah, daughter of Joshua Black, a pioneer of 1826. - By this marriage there were a number of children, the eldest of whom was William Watson, the subject of this biographical sketch, born on the 28th of May, 1838, in Indianapolis. His youth, until the age of eighteen, was spent on a farm in Lawrence township. Being the eldest son. his services early became valuable to his father, and as a consequence very limited advantages of education were enjoyed until his removal, in 1856, to Indianapolis, where he became a student of the Northwestern Christian University. Having determined upon the law as a profession, he entered the law department of that institution, and at the same time studied in the oflSce of Messrs. Gordon & Connor. He graduated from the law school, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1859. The following winter was spent in teaching, and in April, 1860, his name was added to the roll of practitioners in the capital city of the State. On the 5th of February, 1863, Mr. Woollen married Miss Mary A. Evans, of Indianapolis. He was in October, 1864, elected district attorney of the Common Pleas Court for Marion, Hendricks, and Boone Counties, and re-elected in 1866 without opposition. In December, 1881, he was chosen by the board of commissioners of Marion County attorney for the corporation, and reappointed in 1882 and 1883. Extravagant abuses which had crept into the public service Mr. Woollen attacked with courage and success. He was one of the organizers of the Indianapolis Bar Association, which, in its library and other advantages, has proved an invaluable aid to the attornej's of the city.

Mr. Woollen is a supporter of the principles of the Republican party, but not a strong political partisan. He was reared in the faith of the Baptist Church, and was formerly a member of the First Baptist Church of Indianapolis, from which, with others, he withdrew for the purpose of projecting and organizing the North Baptist Church, of which he is at present a member.

Mr. Woollen early demonstrated that he was endowed with a capacity and force well fitted to his work. His thorough knowledge of the law and logical mind enabled him speedily to take his place among the successful lawyers of the metropolis. A manifest candor and scrupulous integrity mark all his professional relations. He never encourages useless litigation nor deceives a client who has no grounds upon which to rest his case. This conscientious dealing has won general confidence and gained for him a lucrative practice.

Although there are three medical colleges in the city, and at one time or another have been two or three that lived a few years, there has never been but one law school here, and that seems to have gone out recently. In 1857 a law school was opened in connection with the Northwestern Christian University, of which the late Judge Perkins was the chief teacher. In 1870-71 a law department was formed in the same institution, with Judge Byron K. Elliott, now of the Supreme Bench, Charles P. Jacobs, and Judge Charles H. Test as professors. When the university was removed to Irvington the law school was continued in the city, Professors Jacobs and Elliott continuing with it until within a year or so.

There were two hundred and fifty-seven lawyers in the city in 1883. The profession, like merchandising, has separated itself into classes, not definitely, but with a much less miscellaneous association than once prevailed. In a few years we shall have distinctively criminal lawyers, and patent lawyers, and real-estate lawyers, and claims lawyers, as we now have the germs with a pretty plain development here and there. It is the tendency of growth and improvement to limit fields of labor and work with more elaborate care on fewer subjects, and the legal profession will some time obey the irresistible law, and make division of its labor as laborers do. A bar association manual has existed here for a number of years.

The members of both the bench and bar of Indianapolis and the State of Indiana have deservedly taken high rank in the legal profession of not only this State but of the whole country. In the chronological list of its members will be found men whose history is a part of the history of the United States, and whose names will be handed down to posterity as giants of the law in " Ye olden time."

William Quables was accounted one of the first criminal lawyers of the State, and especially successful in the cross-examination and bewilderment of adverse witnesses. His death followed close on his exertions in defense of Merritt Young for killing Israel Phillips about 1852. Though a fluent speaker, he was not an orator, and succeeded by dint of incessant use, in every possible form and connection, of one or two strong points. He drove them into a jury by so much hammering that no amount of refutory logic or apppeal could displace them. His son John, at one time one of the best debaters of the old Union Literary Society, was the superior of his father, and if he had lived would have stood among the foremost lawyers of the nation unless thwarted by his own self-indulgence. He was killed two or three years after his father's death by falling down the stairway at College Hall and striking his head against either the raised stone sill of the stairwaydoor or the stone curb of the pavement, though there were rumors at the time of violence resulting from a quarrel. Mr. Quarles, the father, was brotherin-law of the late Thomas D. and Kobert L. Walpole, both noted and successful lawyers both in civil and criminal business. They were Kentuckians, and sons of Luke Walpole, one of the first merchants of the city. Thomas was a prominent politician of the Clay school till 1844, when he went over to the Democracy. Kobert was a Democratic candidate for Congress near the time of the breaking out of the war.

Hugh O'Neal, who was both county prosecutor and United States attorney, and one of the first and ablest members of the Indianapolis bar of any period, was raised in Marion County, educated at Bloomington as one of the two students to which each county was entitled, studied law in this city, and was admitted to the bar about 1840. He soon made himself conspicuous as a Whig orator, and was one of the most efiicient of the party champions from the campaign of 1844 to that of 1852. After that till his death he concerned himself little with politics. He went to California soon after the gold discovery, and did well there, but not so well as to prevent his return in a couple of years or so. He resumed the practice of the law here, living in his ofiice, - he was never married, - and died there, in the second-story room next to Fletcher's Bank, during the war. For some years he and the late Governor Abram A. Hammond were partners, and made the most formidable firm of the city of that time except Smith & Yandes and Barbour & Porter.

Lucian Barbour was a Connecticut man, born in 1811, graduated at Amherst, in 1837, and came West to Madison, in this State, where he studied law. He came to Indianapolis about 1840, or a little later, and soon formed a partnership with the late Judge Wick, in connection with whom he prepared a little treatise on business law and forms, known for years in the profession as " Wick & Barbour." Later he and Governor Porter formed a partnership which was maintained till Mr. Barbour went to Congress in 1855 or later. In 1851 he was one of the commissioners appointed by the Legislature to revise the statutes and simplify the pleadings and proceedings of court, as the new constitution required. The lawyers used to call this the " Carr code," from George W. Carr, one of the commissioners, who had been president of the Constitutional Convention, a sensible, good man, but no lawyer, and not a strikingly judicious selection for that service. Mr. Barbour, always a Democrat till the Kansas-Nebraska question came up to disrupt parties, shifted to tn^ anti-slavery side in 1854 and was elected to Congress, where, after one term, he was succeeded by Mr. Gregg, a Democrat of Hendricks County, and then * for two terms by his old law-partner. Governor Porter. While in partnership with Mr. Wick he married Mrs. Wick's sister, Alice, and thus became the brother-in-law of the late Lazarus B. Wilson as well as his law-partner. Mr. Barbour in the last years of his life had associated with him the versatile and widely-read Charles P. Jacobs.

Horatio C. Newcomb is entitled to all respect as one of the best lawyers, ablest publicists, and truest men that ever honored Indianapolis with a residence. He was born in Tioga County, Pa., in 1821, was removed by his parents when a child to Cortland County, N. Y., and thence to Jennings County, in this State, in 1836. He learned the sad- dler's trade there, as did Judge Martindale and Senator McDonald in their outset of life, but in two or three years ill-health compelled him to quit it, and in 1841 he began the study of the law with Mr. Bullock, the first lawyer in Jennings County. He practiced there till 1846, when he came to Indianapolis and formed a partnership with Mr. Ovid Butler. The impression made by his abilities may be judged by the fact that in 1849 he was elected the second mayor of the city in his twenty-eighth i year. In 1854 he was elected to the Legislature, and in 1860 was elected to the Senate, which he left after one session to take the presidency of the' Sinking Fund Board. He was superseded there in 1863 by the late W. H. Talbott. In the summer of 1864, after the retirement of Mr. Sulgrove, he became political editor of the Journal, and so continued till 1868, serving two sessions in the Legislature in that time. He went back to the law practice in 1869, and continued till he was appointed one of the first three judges of the Superior Court in March, 1871. This term expired in 1874, when he was elected to the same place by a popular and unanimous vote, being put on both party tickets, as was Judge Perkins, his associate, who had succeeded Judge Rand on the resignation of the latter. Soon after President Grant tendered him the assistant Secretaryship of the Interior, but he declined it. In 1876 he was nominated by the Republicans for the Supreme Bench, but beaten. Under the act authorizing commissioners of the Supreme Court to assist the judges in clearing off the accumulations of the docket, he was made one, and died while in that duty. He was all his life here a constant and devoted member of the Presbyterian Church, and one of the ruling elders. As editor of the Journal he showed a versatility of power with which he had not been credited, as well as a sagacity and sound judgment in party management that were badly needed to supplement the efforts of Governor Morton. He died in May, 1882, at his residence on North Tennessee Street.

John H. Bradley. - Although chiefly occupied with his business as banker and railroad operator after his removal to this city, the late John H. Bradley sometimes figured in the old court-house with such effect of eloquence and legal erudition as was rarely equaled by any of his associates. He was a member of the Legislature from Laporte County in 1842, and formed one of the noted quartette of that year, - he and Joseph G. Marshall, of the Whigs, Edward A. Hannegan and Thomas J. Henley, of the Democrats. Mr. Bradley retired from active business for several years before his death, and wrote a small treatise on the evidences and philo.sophy of spiritualism. Dr. John M. Kitchen and Morris Defrees are sons-in-law of Mr. Bradley.

William Wallace. - Among the liTing members of the bar are several who still hold foremost places in the profession, though some, as Simon Yandes, Esq., and Governor Porter, have retired, and are engaged in other pursuits. William Wallace, one of those who have been longest at the bar of the city and are still as active and conspicuous as ever, was born in Brookville, Oct. 16, 1825. He came to the capital when his father had to take up his oflScial residence here as Governor in 1837, and has remained ever since. He went to school here first to Mr. (now Gen.) Gilman Marston, and later to Rev. James S. Kemper, at the old seminary. He oscillated for some time between schooling and clerking, finally settling down to studying law and working in the office of the county clerk, then Robert B. Duncan. When the latter left that office in 1850 Mr. Wallace began the practice of the law, and has continued ever since, except during one term in the office of county clerk, from 1861 to 1865, beating Michael Fitzgibbon. His business has been of a quiet kind, not so well calculated to exhibit the striking oratorical talent which put him at the head of the old seminary boys, at the criminal and litigated civil business in which his father shone so brilliantly, but it has made him one of the foremost and most respected of the lawyers of the capital, and put him in many positions of responsibility in private affairs. His native eloquence has not been allowed to rust in probate business, however. He is one of the foremost Odd-Fellows of the State, and has more than occupation enough in making addresses for the order on formal or conspicuous occasions. No man in the city stands higher or by a better title of native gen-

Gen. John Coburn, whose life, however, presents a striking contrast of variety and incessant activity to the unvarying smoothness of the other's, is an old schoolmate and life-long friend of William Wallace. He was born in this city, Oct. 27, 1825, very soon after the removal of his father, the late Henry P. Coburn, clerk of the Supreme Court from 1820 to 1852, from Corydon to the new capital. His early education was chiefly acquired at the old seminary, whence he went to Wabash College in 1842, graduating in 1846. He served as deputy to his father and studied law till 1849, when he was admitted to the bar, practicing for some years as the partner of Judge N. B. Taylor, and later of Governor Wallace. On the death of the latter while occupying the bench of the Common Pleas Court, Mr. Coburn was appointed to the vacancy, and elected the year following. On the 18th of September he was commissioned colonel of the Thirty-third Regiment, holding the command steadily till he was mustered out, Sept. 20, 1864. The next year he was brevetted brigadier-general. The first experience of his regiment was a rough one. It left this city on the 28th of September, 1861, and on the 21st of October was fighting Gen. Zollicoffer at Wild Cat, Ky., where that distinguished rebel was killed, and our Hoosier colonel exhibited the coolness and commanding force that were needed for a serviceable and honorable military career. After this it was stationed at Crab Orchard, Ky., until early in January, and full twothirds of the men were down with the measles. After this Col. Coburn was in and about Cumberland Gap for a long time, but early in 1863 was sent to Nashville, and thence to Franklin, Tenn., where, during an engagement into which he was forced by the imprudence of a temporary superior, some four hundred of his men and himself were taken prisoners. The men were paroled, but he was taken to Libby, and was there at the time a Union force gave the city of Richmond a considerable fright. His life there was that of hundreds of others with which the country is familiar. In the Atlanta campaign his regiment was one of the foremost, and he was the officer deputed by the commander to receive the surrender of the city. In October, 1865, he was elected to the Circuit Court Bench, but resigned to go to Congress in 1866. He served four terms in Congress with a record of as good service and hard work as any man in the body, and with as high consideration from his fellow-members. He was chairman of the Military Committee, one of the most important in the House at that time, and, besides the unknown work of legislation, illustrated his congressional career by speeches of unusual force of style and familiarity with his subjects. He never spoke for buncombe or to have a little exhibit of his services to frank to his constituents, but because he knew something on the subject that needed to be told and a good many needed to learn. So strong an impression had he made that on the resignation of Secretary Belknap he was urged for the War Department. It is a pity he hadn't got it ; we have had no such man since. On the expiration of his congressional term Gen. Coburn accepted an appointment as one of the commissioners to settle the complicated disputes about the titles of land in Hot Springs, Ark. This work he completed but a year or two ago. Since then he has been constantly engaged in his profession.

Napoleon B. Taylor was bom October 18, 1820, in Campbell County, Ky., and came to this place a child with his father, the late Robert Taylor, one JiF the earliest of our brick-masons. He, like his old friends Wallace and Coburn, was an " old seminary boy," leaving the school to study law about 1842 or 1843. For some time after his admission to the bar he mixed bricklaying with law to have something to do and make something to live, but in 1849 he formed a partnership with the late John L. Ketcham, and since then has confined himself to the law. He worked his way up slowly, but he never got a foot ahead and slipped back two. What he made he held, and in a few years he came to be known over the State as peculiarly skillful and able in the preparation of cases for the Supreme Court. That reputation he has kept and increased ever since. In 1853 he and Gen. Coburn formed a partnership for about three years. In 1872 he formed a partnership with his son Edwin and Judge Rand, one of the first judges of the Superior Court, wliich was maintained till Judge Taylor's election to the Superior Bench in 1882. In 1864 he was nominated for reporter of the Supreme Court against Gen. Ben. Harrison and beaten, and he was frequently talked of for the nomination for the Supreme Bench. He stands among the first lawyers of the State for erudition and sound judgment, and among the first citizens of Indianapolis for all the qualities of good citizenship.

Byron K. Elliott, judge of the Supreme Court from the central district of the State, was born in Butler County, Ohio, Sept. 4, 1835, lived in Hamilton till 1849, then removed to Cincinnati, and on the 21st of December, 1850, to this city. He studied law here, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1858, and in May, 1859, was etccted city attorney, - a most creditable proof of ability and character to command such a place in the first year of professioual life, and at the early age of twenty-four. He went into the hundred days' service in May, 1864, in Col. Vance's One Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment, as captain, but was put upon Gen. Milroy's staff in two or three weeks as assistant adjutant-general. On his return to the law he was elected city attorney again in May, 1865, and re-elected in 1867 and 1869. His four terms in that office enabled him to make it a position of importance, worth a good lawyer's tenure and attention, and it had been a mere party makeweight previously. In October, 1870, he was elected judge of the Criminal Court, and resigned the office of city attorney. In November,

1872, he resigned the judgeship to take the city solicitorship unanimously tendered him by the Council. He was elected city attorney again in May,

1873, and in October, 1876, one of the judges of the Superior Court. He was again nominated for the place by acclamation in March, 1880, but receiving the Republican nomination for Supreme judge in June of the same year, he accepted that and was elected in the following October. He was made chief justice at the November term, 1881, and served through that term. In and out of the profession he is regarded as one of the purest, fairest, and most clear-sighted judges that have occupied the appellate bench in this generation, and in no rulings

Fabius M. Finch was born in Western New York in 1811, and came to Ohio in 1816, with his father, Judge John Finch, and from Ohio came to this county in 1819, being the first family in the New Purchase, except possibly the Whetzels, at the Blufis. The settlement was made near Noblesville, which for some time was made a part of Marion County. Several families came with the Finches. In 1828 the future judge came to this place and studied law with Judge Wick, whose first wife was his sister. He was admitted to the bar in 1831, at the age of twenty, showing unusual maturity of intellect, and settled at Franklin, Johnson Co., where he remained till 1865, when he removed permanently to this city. He was elected judge of the Fifth Circuit in 1842 by the Legislature, and in 1859 was elected to the judgeship of this circuit by the people, serving one term. For some years he and his son, John A , have confined their business largely to insurance cases, and have made a very high reputation in that branch of the profession. John A. was the State commissioner at a national meeting of insurance men in New York some years ago, and has published several elaborate articles on insurance organizations, methods, and law, which have attracted wide attention and commendation.

Gen. Ben. Harrison was born in February, 1833, in Cincinnati, where he received his early education. He graduated at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and studied law with the celebrated Judge Bellamy Storer. He came to Indianapolis in 1854, and practiced law by himself for some years. About 1856 he made a more" conspicuous place for himself by convicting a negro cook at the Ray House of poisoning some of the boarders. His management of that case was universally commended by the profession, which before that had been a little disposed to regard the tow-headed youngster, who looked younger than he was, as possessing his best claim to attention in the fact that he was the grandson of his grandfather. He soon showed, when the chance came, that he could build broadly and solidly enough on his own foundation, and he has done it most effectually. His first public position was that of reporter of the Supreme Court in 1861. In August, 1862, he accepted the command of the Seventieth Regiment, and remained with it till it was mustered out at the close of the war in June, 1865. A sketch of the history of that regiment will be found in the chapter on the City and County in the War. Gen. Harrison was associated with Governor Porter and William P. Fishback, as Porter, Harrison & Fishback, for several years. Mr. Fishback, who came hero in 1856 from Ohio and soon established a good practice and reputation, left the firm in 1870 to take control of the Journal, and later of the St. Louis Democrat, and never rejoined his associates, first accepting the clerkship of the United States Court for a couple of years, and then resigning that and confining his work to the mastership in chancery of the same court. The firm then became Porter, Harrison & Hines, by the accession of Judge Hines, and remained so till Mr. Porter retired a few years later, when Mr. Miller, of Toledo, came here to take a place in the firm in 1874, which then became Harrison, Hines & Miller. This has only recently been changed by the accession of John B. Elam.

In 1876 the Republicans deemed it best to remove Godlove S. Orth, their nominee for Governor, and put Gen. Harrison in his place. It was a very embarrassing situation, but Mr. Harrison made as much of it as any man could, and so fixed his hold on the regard of his party that his nomination to the United States Senate, when the Republicans gained control of the Legislature in the election of 1880, was a foregone conclusion. There was no serious contest made against him. Now his judicious course in the Senate has given him no inconspicuous chance for the Presidential nomination.

Judge Hines, so long a partner of Gen. Harrison, was born in Washington County, N. Y., Dec. 10, 1836, whence his mother, who was left a widow with her young family , went to Lonsdale, Conn., where Cyrus worked for several years in the cotton-mills. Then for a year or two he studied and taught in the Normal Institute at Lancaster, Mass., and thence he came to Indianapolis in 1854. He studied law with Simon Yandes, Esq., and became a partner in December, 1855, continuing until the latter retired from the profession in 1860. Mr. Hines went into the three months' service as sergeant of Company H, P]leventh Regiment, and when that was through went into the three years'service, attaining the position of colonel of the Fifty -seventh Regiment, in which he is described in the adjutant-general's oflScial history of the regiment as " an ofiicer of great and acknowledged ability, who had chiefly formed the character of the regiment." He was so severely wounded at Stone River that he had to resign. In 1866 he succeeded Judge Coburn in the Circuit Court, and held the place till 1870, when he was succeeded by Judge Tarkington. Mr. Miller, who entered the firm with Gen. Harrison and Col. Hines in 1874, was born in Oneida County, N. Y., September, 1840, studied law with Chief Justice Waite in Toledo, then practiced for eight years in Fort Wayne, and came here in 1874. John B. Elam served through the war as a private soldier in an Ohio regiment. When the war was over he studied and graduated at Oxford (Ohio) College, where Governor Morton and Senator Harrison were once students, then studied law in the law department of the Ann Arbor University, and came to this city in 1874. In 1878 he was made prosecuting attorney, and convicted the first three men ever hung in Marion County, William Merrick, John Achey, and Louis Guetig. He is regarded as one of the foremost of the younger members of the bar, aii^ as prominent politically as professionally.

Gen. Fred. Knefler has long held an honorable position at the bar here, and was known for years as deputy clerk before he entered the bar. He is a Hungarian by birth, and when a mere boy served in the revolutionary army of 1848 under Gen. Bern, one of Kossuth's best leaders, and was wounded. He came to this country with his father. Dr. Knefler, in 1849, and learned the carpenter's trade first. Then he got a place in the clerk's oflSoe, and so worked his way into the bar. In 1861 he served in the Eleventh Regiment of three months' men as lieutenant. In the three years' service he was captain of Company H in the Eleventh, and in August, 1862, was appointed colonel of the Seventyninth, which led the way in the charge at Mission Ridge, Col. Knefler leading the regiment. He re- tired from the service at the close of the war with the brevet of brigadier. He formed a law-partnership with the late John Hanna, which was only terminated by the death of the latter. He succeeded William H. H. Terrell as pension agent here, as noticed in the list of government ofiScers resident here.

The partners of ex-Senator and ex-Governor Thomas A. Hendricks have been among the foremost members of the bar of the State and city for many years. Ex-Governor Baker went into the firm in 1873, when Mr. Hendricks became Governor. He had been one of the most prominent of the lawyers of the State for years in Evansville before he came to Indianapolis to act as Governor while Governor Morton was in Europe in 1865-66. He remained here thenceforward, and took as commanding a place at the bar here as at his old home. In 1864 he was provost-marshal of the State on duty here, and arrested a mob of re-enlisted veterans of the Nineteenth Regiment who attacked and proposed to demolish the Sentinel ofiice for some allusion in the paper that they disliked. He met the angry men on the stairs, with their guns in their hands, and held them back till he brought them to reason. Two of the most conspicuous features of his administration were the payment of the State debt of 1836 and the official proclamation of the stoppage of interest in 1870, and the recommendation of asylums for the incurable insane, now just put in the way of accomplishment.

Oscar B. Hord, attorney-general of the State from 1862 to 1864, and for twenty years a partner of Governor Hendricks, was born in Kentucky, near Maysville, where he was brought up. He studied law with his father, and came to Greensburg, in this State, in 1849. In 1852 he was made prosecuting attorney, serving two terms. Some years later he and the late Col. Gavin, his partner, made a digest of the statutes of the State, which was greatly needed, and gave its authors a substantial professional reputation at once. In 1862, Mr. Hord was elected attorney-general and removed to Indianapolis, forming a professional connection with Mr. Hendricks which has never been sundered since, except during the latter's term as Governor (from 1873 to 1877). Mr. Hord is one of the hard-working men of the Indianapolis bar, and stands second to none in the care he gives his cases and thoroughness of his investigation of the law. He is one of the steadiest of friends and most genial of companions, as well as one of the first lawyers of the State. He was born in 1829.

Mr. Abram W. Hendricks, a cousin of the ex- Governor, is well up towards sixty, but none the less a close student and indefatigable worker. He is held by the profession to be one of the most thoroughlyread lawyers in the country, and was so well esteemed twenty-six years ago that he was nominated by the Republican party for the Supreme Bench. He was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., and came to Madison, to his uncle, in 1839. He studied law with Governor William Hendricks, and graduated at the Lexington (Kentucky) Law School. For some years he was a partner of William McKee Dunn, late judge-advocate-general. He came to Indianapolis in 1866, to join his cousin, Thomas A., and Mr. Hord, when the firm became Hendricks, Hord & Hendricks, now Baker, Hord & Hen'tiricks.

John C. New, though he never figured as a lawyer, was for a good many years clerk of the county, and as well known a figure of the court as the judge. He was born in Jennings County, in 1831. His father, the late John B. New, was a cabinet-maker by trade and a Christian preacher by preference, and renloved to Greensburg when John was still a child. After a course of country town schooling he went to Bethany, Va., where he took a four years' course under the late Alexander Campbell, graduating fairly in 1851. His cousin, Jeptha D. New, member of Congress two terms from the Jennings County District, was at the same college at the same time. Rev. John B. New removed to this city about the time his son graduated, and here the latter studied law with Governor Wallace, was admitted to the bar in 1852, and having a good memory, an aptitude for system, and a naturally good business disposition, with a neat, legible chirography. Clerk Stewart made him deputy soon afterwards; and when Stewart died, leaving a year of his term vacant, the County Board put the deputy there, and at the next election the people elected him over George McOuat by a slender majority. Here he laid the foundation of his fortune, and left the office a young man, but already a rich one. Governor Morton made him quartermaster early in the war ; then he served a term in the State Senate; then, in 1865, went as cashier into the First National Bank, and remained there ten years, till he was made treasurer of the United States in Spinner's place. A year here sufficed him, and he returned to the bank as vice-president. A little later he bought out William H. English, and became president. In 1880 he was made chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, and bought the Journal. He was also the Indiana member of the National Republican Committee. He has been the First Assistant Treasurer of the United States for several years, which position he has recently resigned. Mr. New has been twice married, - first to Melissa, daughter of the late Joseph Beeler, and next to Miss McRae, daughter of a son-in-law of Dr. J. H. Sanders.