Vigo County, Indiana - Chapter 20: Bench and Bar, 1891

WHILE Vigo county became noted for its rapid development in the lines of agriculture, manufacture and as money changers, it has not lagged behind in those things that partake more of the professional side of life. Its bench and bar have contributed from the first to extend its name and fame abroad over the face of the earth.

The first circuit court which met in Terre Haute, within thirty days after the organization of Vigo county, was held by two of its sturdy old pioneer farmers - Moses Hoggatt and James Barns, the associate judges of the circuit court. There was then no president- judge for Vigo county. The provision of the law at that time was that the court consisted of three members - a presi¬ dent-judge and two associate judges - two of whom constituted a quorum to transact any business. The president-judge was required to be a man "well versed in the law," but the associates need only be good citizens of the county where their jurisdiction lay. The judge had equal jurisdiction in all the counties comprising the cir¬ cuit, while the associates were confined to the county in which they resided and for which they had been appointed.

The law and the practice then were literally English, you know. The Common Law of England, as well as certain statute laws, was in force here the same as in England. The qualifica¬ tion, or rather the slight difference lay in the legislative enact¬ ments of the State.

The law pleadings were purely English, as laid down in Blackstone and Cliitty's commentaries and forms. The law of evidence was literally as it came to us in the standard English books on those subjects. The decisions of the English courts were the law here the same as in Great Britain, except where they were in con¬ flict with our statute laws. An English lawyer, therefore, fifty years ago, had to make but little preparation for the change if he wanted to come to America to practice his profession.

It would be the customs of the profession here that would, per¬ haps, bother him more to learn than the differences then existing in the law in the two countries.

exaggeration to say that we had many really great men in the pro¬ fession, were all of the kind that were known as "circuit riders." They had to know the law better than their English brothers. They traveled over wide circuits, going with the judge from county to county on horse-back, and in their saddle-bags were their ward¬ robes and their law libraries. Hence, as they made long trips, sometimes like sailors, only after months returning home for a short rest, when they would resume their trip and go again over the same ground. Two trips a year, as there were two courts a year in each county. The counties were then much larger than now, and often it was many miles' ride to some new county seat, and the business at that probably the first term of the court in the new county would be no more, if as much, as was that of the first session of the court in Yigo county, which is quickly told. There were two parties who asked for a writ of ad quod damnum , that is to ascertain the damage that might result if they should build a dam and mill on some creek in the county. The early legislatures were very jealous of acknowledging that even the smallest creeks were not navigable streams. The early statute books are full of laws declaring nearly every place where there was a spring, branch or a creek that had high water in the spring freshets were "hereby declared navigable streams." These men saw no future to foreign commerce, except by navigation, and therefore they hoped, no mat¬ ter how small the stream, that by locks and dams, some day they might become a part of the country's great highways. At all events it cost nothing to declare them navigable, and this would protect them from being choked and ruined by mill dams. While this was a good intention, it obstructed building water-power mills often, and the people found that they wanted something to grind their wheat and corn before they wanted transportation to foreign mar¬ kets. The writ of ad quod damnum, therefore, was the first busi¬ ness often presented to the new court. There were two cases of this kind at the first court in the county, and the trial cases on the docket were a divorce case, which was continued, of course ; then an assault and battery case was tried and the jury returned a verdict of 6 cents for the complainant.

Now this would strike a lawyer of this time as rather meager picking after, perhaps, as did these lawyers in this case, riding on horse-back all the way from Vincennes to attend the court.

But these lawyers knew what they were doing - they were lay¬ ing up future treasures in the line of their profession. Everyone who was present at the court afterward became prominent lawyers in this portion of the State, and others occupied positions on the bench.

past twenty-five years, and more particularly in the past decade. In law pleading we have parted widely from much of the old English forms, and so abundant and varied are our statutes, and the inciease of our courts and the many decisions, that now in this respect it may be called the American system. We retain the old English lules of evidence more nearly literal than anvthinsr else of the English law.

The law and the courts, in their broadest meaning, are one of the most marvelous outgrowths of civilization; evolved through the long centuries antedating the morning of authentic history. The vastness of the court machinery itself staggers the mind when it first comprehends something of it - courts, clerks, officers, lawyers, juiois, ciiminals on hand, cases dragging through generations, and cases in actual trial running through days, weeks, months and sometimes years, and are never completed. Great and magnificent buildings, and the armies of attendants, employes, the written records by rooms full, vaults full, and thousands of busy pens making every day more; the countless libraries and law schools, and offices and court-rooms are some of the palpable evidences of this institution. Behind and beyond these are the mvsteries - the learned technicalities - the Draconian Code, the black-letter and the comparatively modern Coke-upon-Littleton are some of the conjuring that have grown from what must have been a very simple beginning. Indeed, why should not the common mind reel and stagger under the glimpse of realization of the stupendous whole.

Cm bono f _ What inherent principle is it in our nature that has lendeied all this vast and involved machinery a necessity to our com¬ mon mankind? Very much the same it prevails in all organized communities or nations. Is the demand for all this an artificial creation? Appearances would indicate that it was a natural and spontaneous outgrowth, like that of marriage, or war, some form of i eligion, or the universal ideals of beauty in women or horses. It is singular that some able biologist, like Spencer, has never taken this subject in hand, and at least tried to account for its uni¬ versal outcropping in every civilization, and in substantially much the same form in all. The technicalities of the law are a plieonomenal curiosity. The most august courts, where are the longest black gowns, the biggest wigs and the stuffiest figurative wool sacks, are often the splendid arenas for the legal gladiatorial contests.'

I he causae celebres are where are decided the contests of the pen¬ nant winners among the great attorneys - simply legal tournaments where wealth and fame is in winning, "knocking out" as it were, the attorney on the other side, and where often the poor client cuts about as much figure as an ancient almanac. Then for instance, j ou look carefully over the Myra Clark Gaines ejectment case - where millions are involved, and generations come and pass away, and the case goes on and on. Or Dickens' fanciful case of Jarndyce; and the last scene, where the pale young man drags himself into court and wearily listens to learned arguments that he cannot understand what it is about, and finally gropes his way out of the court-room and lies down and dies. Another case where it was in court one hundred years, and the parties all being dead, it was then discovered that what was once a great estate was all gone, and the last penny was a little short of being enough to pay the costs.

" The curiosities of the law " ought to be some day the title of a great book that would reflame the fires of the old maxim, that truth is stranger than fiction.

The early law of this State was very particular to provide that the higher courts must be presided over by men "versed in the law." The subordinate branches they were not so particular about, and now although only the most prominent lawyers are as a rule selected for judges, yet if the people so will, in many of the States, they are not restricted to the licensed members of the profession in selecting the judges of their courts. Once in this country all judges were appointed. This was the case in the early days in this county. Then they were elected by the legislature, and now all State judges are elected, while all the United States judges are still appointed. And while, of course, there is not the same oppor¬ tunities in the local courts for fame as in the higher courts, yet the standard of men elected by the people to the bench has not been lowered by the people who vote. It is true that the people some¬ times elect the veriest demagogues, but this is unfortunately also true of presidential appointments. Our institutions are so vast and country so big that the president in his appointments can not often personally know his appointees, and he then must rely upon politi¬ cians to some extent, and often politicians have to rely upon party heelers.

There is one other thing about the study of the law that is striking in its features. Perhaps as much or more than any other school, it teaches the importance and authority of precedent. Hence the perhaps gross incongruities you may sometimes meet in the courts in a democracy that have been transplanted from the ancient monarchy. Wigs and gowns are simply comical in this country, where theoretically every voter is a sovereign. The uni¬ form and tin star of a roundsman; the ceremony of kissing the Bible in making oath, about which you will find they are very particular in the older States, but which is now substituted in the west by generally holding up the right hand; the retention of the grand jury and the necessity of their formal and once hyper¬ critical bill of indictment before you could put a man on trial; the fictitious John Doe vs. Richard Roe are now about obsolete, but at one time and for centuries all ejectment suits were in the names of these unfortunates, and above all is the general faith that the older a precedent the better it is the law and the more binding its authority. There must be a close relation existing between the science of law and the science of State craft. The lawyer and the statesman are esteemed as one to a large extent.

The American law student when he commences his reading is put to the study of Blackstone exactly as is the student in England. This is the standard book on which all is based, even if Blackstone did believe that there were in ancient times swarms of witches and ghosts, but thought that modern cases needed careful looking into before believing. He writes most eloquently of the "garnered wisdom of the ages," and tells the young student in glowing sen¬ tences that in the knowledge of the law, at least the past, was the Golden Age; that here is the Pierian springs where he may drink long and deeply of the health-giving waters.

When you divest yourself of these accumulations that have gathered around the law, and think of it a moment in that mood, you can not but realize that once all this wonderful thing must have lain bundled up in the simple Golden Rule; if there is either right or wrong, justice or injustice that is not included in this short and simple rule of life you, can not imagine what it is.

Do as you would be done by , is the simple lesson easily under¬ stood by the savage or the child. To add to this statutes and laws neither extends its meaning, application, nor simplifies its terms. Simple as this is it must have been the source from whence came all this stream of law-making, law practice, law libraries, courts and officers, as well as the great and powerful profession of the lawyers.

The pioneer lawyer was, like the pioneer farmer, compelled to be a man of far greater resources within himself than his modern brother. The times are drifting away from the ancient techni¬ calities of the law 'as wrell as from the ancient severity of the church dogmas. Men have grown more liberal as they have become less and less technical. The modern lawyer fits up his office, and there is usually a court library near at hand, and he has long since ceased to ride the circuit. He stays at home with his books and practice, and no longer is every successful attorney pre¬ sumed to have Chitty's forms committed to memory. He may now write a warantee deed in fewer words than it once required lines, if not pages.

Again the profession of the law, like that governing skilled mechanics, is divided up into specialties, and this immensely lessens the labors of the preparatory work of learning the profession or trade. We now have our criminal lawyers, chancery lawyers, corporation lawyers, constitutional lawyers, etc. Dividing the necessary preparatory work after the manner, for instance, of that of the workmen in a watch factory. This division of labor is peculiarly an American innovation on the old, and while it is de¬ stroying the old-fashioned, all-around workmen or professional men, it is perhaps bettering the work as well as lessening the time required in serving an apprenticeship. In Europe a man must yet serve a seven years' apprenticeship to be a licensed watchmaker. In the American watch factories you will find girls working machines and making very perfectly the one piece of the watch to which they confine their entire labor, and two weeks' apprenticeship was all that she required to learn her trade well. In her line she can probably do more in a day than the European seven-yeartrained man can do in a week, and do it better. Striking off into specialties is the strong tendencies of modern times, found as dis¬ tinctly in the learned professions as in the trades. In medicine there is the general practitioner, the surgeon, the eye and ear doctor, the corn doctor and the horse doctor, and for nearly every disease a specialist. In theology there is the revivalist, the or¬ ganizer, the church builder, etc. It is the art of doing one thing, and thereby doing it better than one can many things.

Lawyers now gather in the great cities and work for a salary for large corporations. They seek no other employment than that of the one man or firm who hires them by the year. They simply need to know the law necessary to the business of their employer, and in that respect they are invaluable advisers.

It is these circumstances that have carried us beyond the age when the statutes required every lawyer to have a license before allowed to practice. In fact the law requiring this is a mere fashion - the relic of a past age. It is impossible to imagine how a com¬ munity or State would suffer if this ancient law should be abolished. The man in search of a lawyer never inquires as to whom it was that signed his license.

The "circuit riders" present at the first Yigo circuit court held by Hoggatt and Barns were Nathaniel Huntington, George R. C. Sullivan, Samuel Wliittlesy and Jonathan Doty. These came mostly from Vincennes and Sullivan county. They must have started as soon as they could have got word where and when the court was to be. The county was hardly a month old. Nathaniel Huntington had come to stay, and the court, in recognition of this fact, ap¬ pointed him prosecuting attorney pro tem. As there was not a criminal case yet in the county his work was not onerous. If the grand jury " assembled on a log " he could get easy access to them, and when each one arose and announced that he knew of no busi-

There is a current tradition that the grand jury, after being charged by the prosecuting attorney, retired to a log just outside the cabin in which the court was convened, and here went through the forms of their short session, but the record made by the clerk, Curtis Gilbert says they "retired to their room." It is safer, evidently, to follow Clerk Gilbert than tradition. He was one of the best circuit clerks in the State, and the exact and beau¬ tiful records he has left, the work of twenty-one years (he was the all-around clerk and recorder and auditor for Vigo county), are a splendid monument to his memory. His peculiar chirography, as even and beautiful as copper-plate, all made with the old-style goose quill, has never been equaled by any of his successors in any of all the offices he held.

He was elected clerk over John 1VI. Coleman, his opponent, it is not known by what majority, as the ancient election returns are not to be found. And it is not to the disparagement of Mr. Cole¬ man to know that he was beaten by Curtis Gilbert. There were not many men here then to select from in choosing the first officers, but had the whole world been open to the choice, the people could not have done better than they did in his selection. They kept him there twenty-one years, three terms of seven years each, and with his consent it is probable that they would have kept him his life time.

The first motion made in court was by Attorney Sullivan in be¬ half of John Beard, who desired the court to inquire according to law the damage, if any, that would result from building a mill and dam on his land, the southeast quarter of Section 33, Township 14 north, Jtange 9 west. This is now in Parke county.

Isaac Lambert and John Dickson, by the same attorney, asked for a similar writ, to ascertain the damage in the erection of a mill and dam on the northwest quarter of Section 17, Township 11 north, Range 9 west. This was the first mill erected in Vigo county.

Truman Blackman qualified as the first sheriff of Vigo county. He had been appointed to the office by the governor to hold until at the next election, when his successor should be chosen.

Then James Bennett sued out a writ of ad quod damnum as to the building of a dam and mill on his laud, northwest quarter of Section 30, Township 12 north, Range 9 west.

A jui'y was called, the case tried as toMarkle, and the jury retired, perhaps to the same log that had been used by the grand jury to consider their verdict, and soon returned and found for the plain¬ tiff, awarding him 6 cents as against Abraham Markle. There¬ upon the case as to Rice was dismissed. Markle had confessed, it seems, but stated the circumstances in such a way that the jury was not disposed to bankrupt him. The fact is that in that day the aver¬ age jury inclined to the belief in letting bygones be bygones in the average scrapping matches. They recognized that they were bound by the letter of the law, but they could get around its spirit.

The second term of the court convened on July 27, following. Present: Hon. Thomas H. Blake, president of the First circuit, and Moses Hoggatt, associate judge.

Blake's commission bears date May 14, 1818, and is signed by Gov. Jonathan Jennings. His term of office to continue with the expiration of the next general assembly.

The sheriff appointed James Cunningham bailiff. The addi¬ tional attorneys appearing at this term were Gen W. Johnston, William Prince, Lewis B. Lawrence and Charles Dewey. Jona¬ than Doty was appointed prosecuting attorney.

The third term of the court, February 22, 1819. Present: Hon. Gen Washington Johnston president judge, Hoggatt and Barns associates. Judge Johnston was appointed for the term of seven years.

Jacob Call was commissioned president judge of the First Ju¬ dicial Circuit March 7, 1822. He was sworn into office and held couit in Vigo county in March, 1822. Daniel Jenckes was admitted to practice as attorney.

The State at that time was divided into four judicial circuits. This was the First circuit, composed of the counties of Knox, Sullb an, Daviess, Vigo, Dubois, Lawrence and Monroe. Vincennes Avas of course the professional and intellectual center of the State when Vigo county was formed.

In 1824 John R. Porter was elected president judge, and held his fiist court at the October term, 1824. Amory Kinney was admitted to the Vigo bar at that term.

Judge John La\y succeeded Porter, and served from the Febru¬ ary term, 1830, until 1831, when he resigned, and Amory Kinney was appointed president judge, who held his first court in October, 1831. He was then elected, and served a full term, until 1837.

Judge Solomon Claypool was appointed in 1858, and held the special term for that year, and was elected to a full term at the next regular election. This was then the Sixth Judicial circuit.

On March 1, 1867, the Legislature made new circuits in the State, and this became the Eighteenth Judicial circuit, composed of the counties of Vigo, Parke, Vermillion and Sullivan. The new division created a vacancy in the judgeship, and Hon. R. W. Thomp¬ son was appointed by the governor judge until his successor should be elected. Sewell Coulson was elected prosecuting attorney.

March 29, 1876, Samuel F. Maxwell, in the absence, it is sup¬ posed, of Judge Patterson, was sworn in as judge. He signed the records for some time, when the regular judge it seems, resumed his place. This lapse is accounted for by the forming of the Fortythird circuit.

At the October term, 1881, the record shows that by reason of sickness Judge Scott appointed Charles Cruft judge pro tem. He held court twenty-one days.

Again, at the October term, 1882, the minutes show that Judge Scott was absent four days at the beginning of that term on account of sickness, whereupon the sheriff, Jackson Stepp; auditor, Andrew Grimes, and clerk, Merrill N. Smith, "by vertue of the statute in such cases made and provided" proceeded to elect Henry C. Nevitt, " as judge to preside until the return of said regular judge."

Judge G. W. Buff, elected as successor to Judge Scott, held the unfinished term of October, 1882. He continued to preside until 1884, when by act of the legislature Yigo county was formed into a separate judicial circuit - the Forty-third, when the present in¬ cumbent Judge William Mack was elected for a term of six years - December, 1890.

Something of the order in which the attorneys became practi¬ tioners in the Yigo County circuit is the following list that was made by Charles T. Noble, who was the successor of Curtis Gilbert as clerk of the circuit court, and held the office two full terms - fourteen years, commencing in 1849, and ending in 1863. The list is found in the waste leaf of one of the old records with no other explanation than that it was made by Mr. Noble. It is not stated why he commenced in 1824, and then brought it down no later than 1846. To the list the compiler has added such names to Mr. Noble's list as he found mentioned in the body of records as being present and engaged in causes. With this explanation it is given as fol¬ lows: In 1824, Amory Kinney, George Ewing; 1830, Joseph A. Wright; 1832, James Whitcomb, Salmon Wright; 1833, Samuel B. Gookins; 1835, Cromwell W. Barbour; 1838, Delany R. Eckles, Will¬ iam D. Griswold, Jesse Conrad; 1839, G. George Dunn, Edward Gaughey, Timothy R. Young; 1840, John P. Usher, Orson Bar-

October, 1821, Samuel W. Osborn made application to the court for naturalization, stating that he was born in 1802, near York, Upper Canada, and removed permanently to the United States when of the age of twenty-one years.

" In conformity with the 64th section of the act entitled ' an act reducing into one all the acts and parts of acts now in force in this State regulating proceedings in actions at law, and in suits in chancery,' I have examined the office of Curtis Gilbert, clerk of the circuit court for the county of Vigo, and do report that all the books in said office are kept correctly, and the entries therein executed in a masterly manner, and also the papers in said office properly ar¬ ranged and carefully preserved."

General Washington Johnston, Esq. (the " General" being a Christian name), held the office of judge from December 3, 1818, till the legislature elected, April 10, 1819; Jonathan Doty, then elected for seven years, served three, from April 10, 1819. Doty and Gen¬ eral Johnston each appended to their names in signing the record great flourishes and quereques. Jacob Call was judge from April 22 to October, 1824; John R. Porter, from October 24 to May,

1831, and General Washington Johnston, Esq., was again appointed till the legislature would elect. He served until January, 1831, when Amory Kinney was elected, and served seven years.

In January, 1837, Elisha Huntington. He resigned in 1841, when William P. Bryant was elected and served till January, 1844, when he resigned and John Law was elected. He presided until July, 1850, when he resigned, and S. B. Gookins was appointed, serving until January, 1851, when Delana R. Eckles was elected by the legislature for seven years. Under the new constitution bis term expired in October, 1852, when James Hughes was elected for six years by the people. He resigned in April, 1856, and Ambrose B. Carlton was appointed until the next October election, when James M. Hanna was elected and served from October, 1856, until December, 1857, when Solomon Claypool was the presiding judge, and held it until the election of D. R. Eckles. in October, 1864. Eckles was legislated out of the circuit in 1867, and R. W. Thomp¬ son appointed. In October, 1867, Chambers Y. Patterson was elected and served until his death, in 1881. Harvey D. Scott was appointed in January, 1881, and held until November, 1882, when George W. Buff was elected. In February, 1883, the circuit was changed, leav¬ ing Judge Buff in Sullivan county, and Harvey D. Scott was again appointed, and held until Judge William Mack (present judge) took the office in November, 1884.

This recapitulation is taken nearly verbatim from a " list of cir¬ cuit judges," published in the Terre Haute Gazette, July 12, 1887. The list was made out by the present judge of the circuit court, and agrees with the record as given in the preceding page, except that it overlooks the terms of Judge Samuel F. Maxwell. Judge Patter¬ son, by election, succeeded Judge R. W. Thompson in 1867, but did not " serve from that time continuously until his death." He served, it seems from the record, his first term commencing in 1867, and was a candidate for re-election, and was beaten by Maxwell, who presided until 1878, when in the new circuit of Yigo and Sullivan, Patterson was again elected and during his term died.

Superior Court. - An act entitled " An act to establish a superior court in the county of Yigo, defining its authority and jurisdiction, providing for the election and compensation of the judge thereof, and providing for a vacancy in the office of judge of said court, and to abolish the criminal court of said county, to take effect on the third Monday in November, 1882, and to transfer the business there¬ of to the circuit court thereof at said date, and declaring an emer¬ gency, approved April 8, 1881." Clerk of the circuit court, and sheriff of the county shall be respectively the clerk and sheriff of said court. The courts shall be held on the first Mondays in March, June, September and December. The said court shall have origi¬ nal and concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court in all civil cases, and jurisdiction concurrent with the' circuit court in all cases of appeal from justices of the peace, boards of county commissioners, and mayors and city courts in civil cases, and all other appellate jurisdiction in civil cases now vested in, or which may hereafter be vested by law in the circuit courts; and said court shall also have concurrent jurisdiction in all actions by or against executors, guard- ians or administrators, provided , however, that said superior court hereby constituted, shall not have jurisdiction in matters of probate, or the settlement oi decedents' estates, but the same shall be and lemain within the jurisdiction of the circuit court, as now provided by law. A vacancy was declared and the governors ordered to appoint a judge.

^ Immediately upon the passage of the act Glov. Porter appointed Baskin E. Rhoads judge of the said superior court of Vigo county, in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit. The first session of the court convened June 6, 1881. The first order appearing on the record is as follows: " Ordered that the seal of the superior court of Vigo county shall consist of a circular stamp, in the center of which stands Artemis blindfolded holding pair of ballances in the left hand, and a drawn sword in the right." The friends of Judge Rhoads fancied they could see in this happy classical conceit his ready suggestion.

In 1882 Vigo county was made a separate judicial circuit - the Foity-tliiid, and at the November election of that year Hon. James VI- Allen was elected judge of the superior court for a regular term of four years. He was re-elected in 1886, and is the present in¬ cumbent. His term of office will expire in December, 1890.

Judge Thomas H. Blake, the first president judge of the circuit court of Vigo, lived in Terre Haute and practiced his profession with eminence for more than thirty years after retiring from the bench. He died early in the fifties in Cincinnati, and was buried in Terre Haute.

Among the earliest and for years among the most prominent at¬ torneys to locate in Terre Haute was James Farrington. He lived here to old age and for many years was regarded as one of the lead¬ ing men in Vigo county, prominent in all her public affairs, and was noted for his public spirit and enterprise.

Judge Amory Kinney was a native of Bethel, Washington County, Vt., born April 13, 1791, and died on a visit for his health at his old home at the age of sixty-eight years and six months. His education was derived from rather scant opportunities in the com¬ mon schools. Before his majority he emigrated to western New York, which was then inviting emigrants from New England, and he settled in the town of Courtlandville, Courtland county, where he commenced work at the age of nineteen in a cotton factory. The factory was burned, and he was with others thrown out of employ¬ ment. He was soon after elected constable. While in this po¬ sition he engaged his leisure hours in studying law, and about the year 1819 was admitted to the bar in the United States court, when he at once came to the west and settled in Vincennes. FromVincennes he moved to Washington, Daviess county, practicing law at both places along the counties on the Wabash from the Ohio to Terre Haute. In 1824 he became a member of the Yigo county bar. He became a permanent resident of Terre Haute in 1827. The next year he was elected justice of the peace, which office, after filling some years, he resigned. He was elected to the legislature in 1830, being successful in that contest over Judge Jenckes. He was ap¬ pointed president judge by Gov. Noble in 1831, upon the resig¬ nation of Judge Law. He held but one term of the court under the this appointment and then was elected to a full term of seven years, filling the office during the entire term with acknowledged impar¬ tiality and ability. He was a candidate for congress in 1833, his competitors being William 0. Linton, George Boone, John Ewing, John W. Davis, Hugh L. Livingston and John Law. He was again elected to the legislature in 1847-48. The court of common pleas was established in 1852, and he was elected judge of the court for a term of four years.

At the end of his term of judge of the court of common pleas for Yigo county in 1856, his robust constitution began to give way and his health was so impaired he visited his native State, in the hope of regaining his health, where he died.

Judge Kinney was the last survivor of the early lawyers at the Yigo bar. Of the long list of judges, lawyers, grand and petit jurors, officers, bailiffs and parties to suits and witnesses, all have long since departed. For years he was the head of the law firm of Kinney, Wright & Gookins, leading practitioners in all the courts in a wide extent of country.

Judge Samuel Barnes Gookins. - In 1877 he wrote: "It is only a little more than fifty-two years since I landed from the canoe at Modesitt's ferry. Indiana was then seven years old and had made quite a start in the world (1823). May 5, 1823, I set out from the home of my boyhood, Hodman, Jefferson county, N. Y., to reach the west by the new route, in company with my mother, a brother of twenty-three and myself, not quite fourteen. We traveled by wagon fifteen miles to Sackett's Harbor, where we took passage on the Ontario, the second steamer I believe that navigated the lake whose name she bore. The lake was unusually rough, and the steamer, a heavily laden and slow-going craft, propelled by a lowpressure engine, made slow headway. After contending with con¬ trary winds for a night and day we put about for Sackett's Har¬ bor. The next trial was more successful, and though encountering a heavy gale we reached the mouth of the Genesee, ascended that river to Carthage. * . * Here I saw my first railroad, in other words there I saw an incline tramway running from the wharf to the top of the hill to the storehouse - a double track worked by a windlass at the top, the motive power being the dead weight; the its perils in going from there to Johnstown, 'a little way up the Niagara river.' J The same day reached Lewistown, seven miles below the Falls, having consumed eight days in making the trip. Here we took wagons and came to a landing called Fort Slosher's, a few miles above the falls, then by open boat to Buffalo. [He tells of the difficulties they encountered here, and the change made in their intended route by the disappointment of finding no craft to take them to the mouth of the Miami of the lakes. After waiting several days for the 'Superior', the only steamer on Lake Erie, they finally embarked on a schooner for Detroit. They left Buffalo late in the afternoon in company with some forty passengers, most of them on their way to the new country, Michigan Territory. At De¬ troit they reshipped in a schooner for Fort Meigs, at the head of Miami bay. ] The next feat to be accomplished was the ascent of the Miami, or Maumee as it is called. We there found an old French trader with a canoe constructed in a style much superior to a common pirogue. His price for it was $20, which we considered too high. * * * At Fort Wayne we procured an ox-team and a ered with pond lilies, and had quite as hard work pushing through them as we had in pushing up the Miami. We reached the Wabash however after a vigorous effort, and set out upon its down¬ ward current.

"June had arrived and the water in the river was low. We had no pilot, and not being acquainted with the currents, the navigation of the stream was attended with much difficulty. One day we only made about five miles. When we found the water too shallow to float our craft, we went ashore, cut a hickory sapling, split it, pulled off the bark, and laying the flat side downward, mounted the canoe upon it and shoved it over into deep water. This accom¬ plished, we were in a swift current, and my place was at the bow, with a setting pole, to keep her from striking upon the rocks, of which the river was full, while the other brother officiated as pilot at the stern. One afternoon, late, we were caught aground, and lay out in the middle of the stream all night. * * * The first settler we found on the river was near the mouth of the Wild Cat, not far from the present crossing of the New Albany & Salem Bailroad. The next settler on the river was Filson, some two or three miles above the present site of Montezuma. We went ashore where is now the beautiful city of Lafayette. The Indians were friendly, often hailing us from the shore and wanting to trade, offering to exchange their wild game for cornmeal, an article always in demand by them.

" On June 18, 1823, we landed at Fort Harrison, and after hav¬ ing reconnoitered the post to our satisfaction, we again took water, and an hour later landed at Terre Haute, having made the trip in six weeks and two days." Considerably more than half the time now required to go around the globe, and with ten times the expos¬ ures and dangers.

This part of Judge Gookin's narrative is very valuable for many reasons. It is a graphic representation of how one of the pioneer families (a widow and her two young sons) came to the west in 1823, and that, too, by the new route by the lakes. This was after steam navigation had become of practical use in travel and com¬ merce between the east and the west. Even then, as is easily understood from the narrative, it required surely women of no ordi¬ nary mold to pick up their children and turn their faces toward the distant and unknown west. Such people should have bred a new race of men and women - and they did.

The true western character is a marked and strong one, and their achievements are the marvels in history. To this hour the descendants of the pioneers are distinctly characterized by strength of character, rather than by polish or finish.

Samuel B. Gookins was born at Rupert, Bennington county, Vt., May 30, 1809, the youngest of ten children of William and Rhoda Gookins. In 1812 the family emigrated to New York. The father died two years after, leaving the wife and eight children dependent upon the mercies of the world. He died in Chicago, where he made his home in the latter years of his life, June 14, 1880.

Hon. John P. Usher came to Terre Haute in 1839, and at once entered the firm of Usher & Griswold (W. D. ). Mr. Griswold had preceded Mr. Usher some time, and had begun to have some practice upon the arrival of the latter. The first acquaintance and partnership were near the same time. The partnership was in time dissolved, because of the claims on Mr. Usher of C. Y. Patterson, a relative, but the warm attachment and esteem of the two men con¬ tinued, and ended only in death.

Mr. Usher came to Terre Haute in an open buggy from his home in Chenango, N. Y., with a young man who soon returned to New York. Mr. Griswold says, at that time he was boarding at the Prairie House, kept by Theron Barnum, afterward a noted hotel man in St. Louis. He says: "That hotel was then a paradise, and there was such a charm about it as I have never felt before or since in my life. Of all those who then illuminated that place, and whose electric touch holds to the heart even now, I know of only four living, to wit: David S. and Mrs. Danaldson, of Terre Haute, and Burr P. and R. W. Noland, of Virginia."

"Here on a frosty morning in tlie fall, as I left the breakfasttable and walked to the fire-grate of the office room, I was followed, first by a young, strange guest, and meeting face to face before the bright grate we nodded our respects and opened up a talk, which was the introduction to an intimate business and brotherly Associa¬ tion and intercourse of fifty years. I had then been in Terre Haute about a year and a half (half of the time a teacher). I had a com¬ pound lodging and office in the one-story building at the corner of Second and Cherry streets. The adjoining and connecting room was the mayor's office (B. M. Harrison was mayor - by jurisdiction justice of the peace - ) by title mayor. Here I was lodged, and making my board and clothes as a lawyer. Terre Haute was a sate place. In the. summer I slept with the doors and window open, and the only intrusion I ever had was by a dog which came in uninvited and took a place on the bed by my side.

" Into this place Mr. Usher first came with me. We formed a partnership which lasted many years, and would have continued but that his brother-in-law, afterward Judge Chambers Y. Patterson who had studied in our office, bad claims upon his thoughts and interests, and so we separated in all but affection. Mr Usher almost immediately returned to New York, and by agreement after a few weeks came to Terre Haute. * * * He was my junior in age by about two months, and was then much of a lawyer, having had long education by reading and observation in the office of a lawyer of ability, and in the struggle of legal trials conducted by masters of the law. But Ins opportunities for general culture had

Mr. Griswold informs us that he landed in Terra Haute endowed with the change of half a dollar; that Mr. Usher had a few law books and a mere pittance of money, so the paid-up stock in that firm was small and nearly equal.

Mr. Usher is said to have become a national man through the political side of his life, especially when he became a member of 1 r. Lincoln s cabinet, but the truth is his genius was greatest and best as a court and jury lawyer. The official positions he held were breath¬ ing spells m his busy life as a lawyer. That here he had genius of a#7ighmrder ^aS S°OB recoSnized when he was yet a young member of the Terra Haute bar. But the moral qualities of Mr. Usher's character were distinctive features of the man, and no man is great without these qualities. His virtues were not demonstrative, but natural and beneficial to many. His nature was unselfish and kindly although he seemed unwilling that it should be recognized What ever cause lie engaged in, he went into with zeal, and his greatest stimulus was his belief of the unmerited wrongs of his client. He was a true aucl faithful citizen by a principle to which he adhered with conscientious tenacity. With no dogmas of religion and no bigoted opinions regarding the mysteries of death and eternity, he was scrupulous upon all points of practical morality, could bear no thought of wrong nor endure a knowledge of oppression or cruelty without abomination. His obligations of life .he observed with sleepless remembrance, nor was he idle or easy until all was can¬ celed and satisfied, whether pecuniary or social. He was helpful to the unfortunate, sympathizing and encouraging to the poor and needy, merciful to the wicked in distress, tolerant and charitable to the abandoned and profligate and indifferent to the proud and vain. His friendships were sincere and enduring. He was an affectionate son and brother. Soon after his establishment in Terra Haute his family followed him - father, mother, brothers and sisters. He was their patron; aided them all and severally, with his money and his interest, and with attention and solicitude, guarded and guided their movements of life. First and most notable he was a most loving and faithful husband and father. Such was John P. Usher.

He left Terre Haute some years ago to accept an important position offered by the Union Pacific railroad, and made his home during the remainder of his life in Lawrence, Kas.

He died in 1889 in Philadelphia from the effects of a surgical operation performed by Hr. Agnew, or rather the operation had been fatally delayed and his system never rallied from the effects of this operation, which was the only hope of prolonging his life.

A Philadelphia despatch, dated April 12, 1889, says: "Hon. John P. Usher, who was Secretary of the Interior under President Lincoln, died at the University hospital, this city, this morning. Mr. Usher came here from Florida, where he had a winter residence, about two weeks ago, to undergo an operation for the removal of a tumor from his throat.

Prof. Agnew successfully removed the growth, but the patient, notwithstanding the efforts made to save his life, died at 11 o'clock this morning. Mr. Usher was born in Madison county, N. Y., in 1816. For some years past he lived at Lawrence, Kas., where he acted as counsel for the Missouri Pacific and the Kansas Pacific railroads."

To this a local paper here added: "For years Hon. John P. Usher was a resident of Terre Haute, and was one of the ablest and best known lawyers that practiced at this bar. He lived here when he was appointed to the cabinet of President Lincoln, his residence being the one now occupied by H. Hulman, on Ohio street. Mr. Usher's wife is a sister of Mrs. Sarah Deming." morning at 6 o'clock, September 25, 1878. The announce¬ ment caused, the State to put on the emblems of mourning, and attending the funeral came special trains from all points of the compass, bearing heavy loads of people. The crowds from Indianapolis were very large, and among them were the entire State officers, staffs, guards and military commands. There was, it is said, but one occasion where an equal demonstration was ever made at a funeral in Indiana, and that was at the burial of Gov Merton.

At a meeting of the members of the bar of Vigo county, called for the purpose of taking proper steps in regard to the death of Col. W. K. Edwards, Hon. H. D. Scott was called to the chair, and J. H. Blake appointed secretary.

Col. William E. McLane seconded the motion, and in support thereof spoke feelingly of the deceased and of his long and inti¬ mate acquaintance with him, and of the many good qualities of which the deceased was possessed.

Gen. Cruft, who first met Col. Edwards December 6, 1830, gave some early reminiscences of Col. Edwards' life, and a short sketch of his life after coming to Terre Haute.

Judges Long, William Mack, John G. Crain, Charles E. Hosford, James M. Allen, S. M. Stimson and B. F. Havens all spoke of the dead in tender and affectionate terms.

We, the members of the Terre Haute bar, having assembled to pay a tribute of respect to our lamented brother, William K. Edwards, submit the following:

"William K. Edwards, who departed this life on the 25th inst had been a member of this bar for thirty-five years. During ail this time, while he was not a solicitor for general practice, he did a large amount of legal business, and for promptness, accuracy and strict probity m his profession, he had no superior. His character for integrity, not only in his profession, but in every walk in lifewas spotless. As a gentleman he was highly accomplished, and was endowed with that obliging disposition and rare urbanity of manners which made him an universal favorite in the social circle. As a friend lie was warm-hearted, self-sacrificing, and as true as steel. As a citizen he was the full embodiment of energy, liberality and benevolence, and in all the qualities of head and heart he was a man such as we shall rarely meet again." Similar resolutions were passed by the board of managers of the Rose Polytechnic Institute, of which board Col. Edwards had been the secretary, and by the Terre Haute Lodge, No. 57, I. O. O. F. All the military and civil organizations of Terre Haute and the adjoining country were part of the great pageant that bore the remains to their final resting place. Col. William K. Edwards was born near Louisville, Ky., about the year 1820. His mother was a relative of Gen. Zachary Taylor. Col. Edwards graduated at the Indiana State University at Bloomington in the fall of 1841. He attended two courses of lectures at the Transylvania University at Lexington, and was a graduate of both these schools. He located at Terre Haute in 1843, and commenced the practice of his profession. In 1845 he was, with John DoAvling, elected to the legislature, both Whigs. He served three subsequent sessions in that body, and was made speaker of the house in 1873. He was noted as one of the ablest parliamentarians of the country. Was elected the first mayor of Terre Haute after its organization as a city, under the act of 1853, and held that position two terms. And was one of the trustees of the Indiana State University nearly twenty years, and was president of the board at the time of his death. Also Avas secretary of the Rose Polytechnic Institute, and had contributed by his labors much toward organizing that school, delivering the address at the laying of the corner-stone; and Avas a director in the Terre Haute & Chicago, and the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Vandalia railroads, and of the First National bank of Terre Haute. He was for years president and manager of the Draw-bridge company. An emi¬ nent Odd Fellow, and was past grand master of that order in Indiana; a prominent Mason. He Avas one of the executors of the last will of the late Chauncey Rose. In politics he Avas an earnest and leading Republican.

Judge Patterson. - Chambers Young Patterson was born at Vincennes, July 3, 1824. He received an academic education at the State University of Indiana and at Bardstown, Ky., where Avitli high distinction he graduated in the summer of 1843. Soon after leaving school he entered the office of Usher & Griswold, Terre Haute, as a law student, and afterward graduated at Harvard University, where he enjoyed the rare privilege of being a student under Judge Story, the Gamaliel of American laAv learning; also of attending the laAv lectures of Judge Greenleaf, who Avas at that time a member of the Harvard faculty. He graduated at Harvard in 1847, and soon after entered upon the practice in partnership Avith his brother-in-law, Hon. John P. Usher.

Judge Patterson was elected mayor of Terre Haute in May, 1856; re-elected in 1857 for two years, and again in 1859, but resigned to accept the bench of the Tenth Common Pleas district composed of the counties of Parke, Yigo and Sullivan. He was a candidate for re-election to this judgeship in 1864, but was de¬ feated by Hon. Samuel F. Maxwell - the model man and judge. And this wTas the only defeat that ever overtook Judge Patterson who was the largest part of his active life in public positions. Soon after his defeat he formed a partnership with Judge James M. Allen.

In October, 1867, he was elected judge of the Eighteenth Indiana circuit, composed of the counties of Vermillion, Parke, Sullivan and Vigo; was re-elected in 1872 and again in 1878; this then being the Fourteenth Indiana circuit - Vigo and Sullivan counties. This place he was holding at the time of his death. His ambition followed closely in the grooves of his profession. The extent of his departure being that of a delegate to the National convention in New York in 1868.

No man as president judge of our courts was ever held in higher esteem than Judge Patterson, and this was true of all people. At the bar meeting Senator Vorhees among other things said: " I did not expect to speak here to-day, as I should desire to at some future time. * * I can not do justice to myself to-day, but I thought that my friends and neighbors here would justify me in leaving my post of duty to come and share in the general grief. We can not do anything for the dead - they are beyond our help. * * When I shall have returned to my post of duty I shall have traveled 1,600 miles to attend Judge Patterson's funeral, and that is some of the evidences of the respect I had for him. I formed his acquaintance nearly thirty years ago, and during that period lie was a delightful person to me, and when we parted last fall we parted with as affectionate and sunny atmosphere between us as we ever had in our lives. It is a pleasure for me to say this. He was a man of strong and vigorous intellect; of great individu¬ ality and of robust temperament. Few men ever had more local influence, and there is scarcely a man in Terre Haute whose death could be more regretted. He was a man of public enterprise; he noted everything that was going on which concerned the community in which lie lived."

"In conclusion, gentlemen of the bar, I want to say that I conscientiously believe that if there is such a thing as an upright and impartial judge; if there are strictly honest and conscientious men in this world, Chambers Young Patterson was one of those men; and that the highest eulogy that can be paid to the honored dead, is to be able to say truthfully that he lived and died an up¬ right honest life."

Hon. Bayliss W. Hanna concluding his remarks on this occasion said: "In this solemn presence, brethren, let us stand together in tender remembrance - every passion still, every harsh resolve forgotten, every trace of envy changed to reverence, all ambition melted into tears, and feel as we say, this is the last of earth."

Judge Patterson left to mourn his loss a wife and two sons, John and Ewing, and a daughter, Margaret, a brother, James Patterson, of Parke county, and three sisters, Mrs. Deming, Mrs. Usher and Mrs. Linton.

John Pierson Baird. - In any future time the historian of this part of Indiana, will, as he continues to delve in the lore of the past, be sure to find one name that will at first, perhaps, make but little impression on his mind, yet, before he finishes his story, that name will grow and grow upon him, and he will come to love and rever¬ ence it. I imagine the one name that will pre-eminently thus act on his mind will be that of Col. John P. Baird. He was born January 5, 1830, and died March 7, 1881, aged fifty-one years, a native of Spencer county, Ky., on the old Baird farm on Simpson creek, eight miles from Taylorville, the son of Stephen and Sarah Baird. His father was a native of Ireland ; his mother of Spencer county, Ky. In 1832 his father sold his Kentucky property and removed to Vigo county, and purchased his farm in Pierson town¬ ship, where he resided until his death, about 1841. On this farm John spent his youth, with the exception of a short time clerking in a store at Lockport. His entire educational opportunities were in the neighborhood schools. When eighteen he attended school at Franklin College, Indiana, two years. He then came to Terre Haute and was given employment by Charles T. Noble, circuit clerk. In 1851-52 he attended the law school at the Bloomington State University, paying his own way all the time, assisted only by the noble generosity of his employer, Mr. Noble, which kindness he never forgot. March 10, 1852, he was admitted to the bar, and in the April following to a partnership with W. D. Griswold. He at once took a place among the foremost of the then able bar of the county. Mr. Griswold retired from the practice in 1854, and turned over to Mr. Baird the office, library and extensive practice. Soon after Salmon Wright and Mr. Baircl entered into partnership in the practice of the laV, this continued three years. Afterward he was associated with Edward E. Bassett.

In the summer of 1885 Col. Baird was elected on the Republican ticket a member of the legislature, serving in the call session of that body.

September 1, 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the Eightyfifth Indiana, and went at once to the field, first to Covington, Ivy. , then to Falmouth, Lexington and Danville. In February 1863, lie' with liis command, went to Louisville, and from there by water to Nashville, and from there to Franklin, Tenn. He was brigaded with the Thirty-third Indiana, Twenty-second Wisconsin and Nineteenth Michigan, under. Gen. John Coburn.

March 5, at Thompson's station, Gen. Coburn met Gen. Forrest, and his entire command was captured. The prisoners, Col. Baird among them, were marched to Tullahoma, under great hardships, and from there the officers were sent to Libby prison, the rank and file being released. After being in prison a little more than two months he was exchanged; returned, and again organized his regi¬ ment and returned, to Franklin, Tenn., where nearly constant skir¬ mish engagements with the enemy occurred. It was during his stay heie that occurred the notable capture, trial and execution, under his command, of the spies, Williams and Peter. This was one of the stern and awful circumstances of war, and there is not much doubt it affected Col. Baird during the remainder of his life. He and command participated in the Atlanta campaign, engaged in the many battles of that campaign, and notably at the charge at Resaca. During this campaign his health gave way, and he had to resign June 20, 1864, after which he returned to Terre Haute and resumed the practice of the law. He soon after formed a partnership with Gen. Charles Cruft. For the next ten years this firm had an im¬ mense practice, and probably as much from overwork as anything else^ but from various causes, his health again failed him, and in 1875 it was painfully evident that impairment of the mind had taken place.^ He continued at home under medical treatment until April 1, 1876, when he consented, under the advice of friends, to be taken to the Indiana Hospital for the Insane for treatment. He went pleasantly, never to return alive. With varying hopes to be again dashed, he would improve, and at one time his health so im¬ proved that the greatest hopes were encouraged, but " Canst thou minister to a mind diseased?" An ac ute attack of the kidneys set in and in three weeks thereafter the end came. He was in the hos¬ pital five years, lacking a few days, and his friends think that in all that time his clouded mind experienced little or no suffering.

Col. Baird left no lineal descendant to bear his name. An infant son, born to him in March, 1876, after his mental infirmities, survived him but a few months. His widow and a brother and a half brother were all that were left behind him of close kith or kin.

While more of him is said in the foregoing as a soldier than as a jurist, yet it is in the latter that is all the real man. He was a born lawyer, and no training nor circumstances could have ever made him a soldier. Full of idiosyncracies, this many-sided man was peaceful, kind, benevolent, and his mere physical nature was more of a nurse, succoring affliction, rather than destroying or maiming and killing.

He was twenty-two years old when he became a member of the Vigo county bar. Among those in full practice at that time were William D. Griswold, John P. Usher, Richard W. Thompson, Amory Kinney, Salmon Wright, Samuel Barnes Gookins, Cromwell W. Barbour, and among the younger members, Harvey D. Scott; Newton Booth, afterward senator from California; Blackford B. Moffatt, Charles Dewey, Jr., Thomas H. Nelson, and others who have since made national names and fames.

There was none of the polish in either his professional or literary training and education, but strength in every direction. His memory and also his knowledge of human nature were extraor¬ dinary. He quoted the law from memory, giving volume and page, and it is said could for months after a trial give the impor¬ tant details of every witness' testimony; having scant imagination and none of the arts of oratory, yet so well did he know the jury that in his peculiar interrogative way of conversational addresses, he would, in an incredibly brief time make, as he would sometimes call it, his same speech twelve times over, once for each juror. The rock on which this great lawyer's life was wrecked was the army. He watched and studied himself; in the latter time of his practice he must in his lonely musing have looked the coming madness in the face. He realized the seeming lack of adjustments in his mind that would come upon him, felt the opposing forces at work there, and to his most inward friends he sometimes spoke of it, and then referred to the subtle forces in that pathetic humor that would have pierced the heart of a stone as his " wild cats '' - pointing at his head. The first kindling of the fever, and when it came in its resistless force, the same pathetic, gentle humor kept him so often conscious of his condition, and ever willing to hearken and obey the advice of his friends. He told his friends that he was ready to go to the asylum, and was to his dying moment always talking of getting well in a few days, often, " I'll be well to-morrow." That "to-morrow" did come at last - the end of liis sickness and of his pilgrimage on earth.

D. Lee, late of Riley township, born on the old homestead, April 17, 1875, and was but twenty-eight years old at the time of his death. He was educated at Asbury University, but his health failed him while there and compelled him to leave before completing his course.

Judge Eandolpli Wedding, died of pneumonia, December 10, 1866. He was born in St. Charles county, Md., April 15, 1798, a son of Thomas Wedding, who was one of the revolutionary fathers, who had a large family of children, of whom Eandolpli was the eighth and the last surving member of his father's immediate family. In 1817 he was married to Mary De Puy, August 28. Of this union there were seven children - four daughters and three sons - of whom three daughters and a son survived their father. Mrs. Harriet, wife of Judge James M. Allen, and Mrs. Roach, wife of Judge Roach of Indianapolis, Mrs. Cullin, and Oliver Wedding. Judge Wedding came to Indiana in 1817, immediately after his marriage. His first wife died in 1833, and in 1834 he married Jane Stringham, sister of Rear Admiral Stringham. Judge Wed¬ ding spent half a century of his life near Terre Haute, and was a prominent factor in advancing the material prosperity of the city and county.

Judge Ballard Smith died at the residence of his father-in-law, Curtis Gilbert, in the forty-second year of his age. He became a member of the Terre Haute bar in 1861. A meeting of the bar was convened on the occasion of his demise at the office of Judge Mack, Hon. Thomas H. Nelson, presiding, and W. K. Edwards, secretary; Gen. Charles Cruft, Judge William Mack, Judge James M. Allen, J. T. Scott, and Gen. W. E. McLean were appointed a committee on resolutions. And Judge William Mack was appointed to pre¬ sent the resolutions to the circuit and the common pleas courts. The resolutions expressed the universal sorrow at the untimely death of Judge Smith.

Hon. James Farrington was born in Boston, Mass., December 6, 1798, and died at his family residence, Terre Haute, 1870, aged seventy -two. He completed his academical and professional educa¬ tion in his native State, and immediately came west, and located in Vincennes in 1819. In January, 1822, he made his permanent location in this place, and was by some years the senior member of the Terre Haute bar at the time of his death, being a resident of the place forty-eight years. During the first twelve years here he devoted himself closely to the practice. He soon gained an ex¬ tensive practice, being a careful lawyer and prompt and attentive to business, well versed in the principles of the common law, and always laborious in the preparation of his cases. He was elected to the legislature in 1825, and in the sessions of 1831-32 and

1833-34, he represented this district in the State senate. In these bodies he was conspicuous as a hard worker, and an able parlia¬ mentarian and valuable especially on all questions of finance. He bad much to do in laying the foundation for Indiana's public school system, and was one of the originators of the charter of the old State bank. In 1834 he retired from the law firm of Farrington, Wright & Gookins, and wholly relinquished the practice of law. He became cashier of the branch bank of the State in Terre Haute, and then became president of that concern. During the entire existence of the bank he was one of the directors and the financial adviser. For a number of years he was heavily engaged in pork packing as the senior member of the house of H. D. Will¬ iams & Co.

In September, 1862, on the establishment of the Seventh United States Internal Revenue district, he was appointed assessor thereof. He filled this position to within a few days of his death, when he resigned, being convinced that his sickness was fatal.

Horace B. Jones departed this life January 24, 1890, at noon. He was taken sick only on the Saturday previous at his room at Mrs. Lewis' on Ohio street, and from the hour of the attack seemed to sink to the last moment. The cause of his death was neuralgia of the stomach.

Mr. Jones was born at Harrisburg, Penn., December 14, 1841, and was but forty-one years of age at the time of death. He was the last of the family except a nephew, Horace B. Jones, Jr.

Mr. Jones was a clerk in the quartermaster's department during the war, and had lived in Cumberland previously. At the close of the war he was for some time a claim agent at Washington. In 1868, in company with his brother, he located in Terra Haute, and they formed a partnership in the agricultural implement trade on South Third street, in this they were very successful when Horace B. retired from the business and commenced the practice of law, for which he had fitted himself before coming west. After practicing several years alone he formed a partnership with Judge John T. Scott, which firm existed fifteen years. Mr. Jones was a carefully educated scholar as well as lawyer, and in his miscellaneous reading kept well with the latest and best literature of the day. As a law¬ yer he had the confidence of his brethren and the community. He was the sole legal adviser of some of the leading business firms of the city; wras popular and a society favorite. He never married. He was a member of Terra Haute Chapter No. 11, R. A. M., and Terra Haute Lodge No. 19, F. & A. M., also of the I. O. O. F. and the G. A. R.

his is the first on the record. The particulars of his life and death are not now attainable. It is the few facts of incidental mention that are found on the old records that are all that remains. The county officers called him in for counsel on legal subjects. In the arranging of the machinery of the county he was the authority and the law - the county's adviser and attorney. The administrator of his estate was Lucius H. Scott, and it is recited on the court records that at a special session of the board, March 3, 1821, was allowed said administrator the sum of $150 for services of the said deceased (Lewis B. Lawrence) "rendered the county in col¬ lecting and for advice." There was no learned bar then here to hold a meeting of the brethren to pass resolutions in memory of the deceased. There was no newspaper to publish them, had there been a bar to pass them.

Welton M. Modesitt was a schoolmate of Cromwell W. Barbour. They attended the law school together, and were admitted to prac¬ tice about the same time. Mr. Modesitt was in the practice at Terra Haute for about the period of two years. When under the ministra¬ tion of the noted Henry Ward Beecher in Terra Haute, he joined the church, and at once began preparations to become a Congrega¬ tional minister. He attended the Beecher-Stowe Theological Semi¬ nary at Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, was duly ordained, and lias been in the ministry since; is now making his home in Buffalo, N. Y.

Vigo Law Library Association was formed in February, 1890. Nearly all the practicing attorneys became members. An organi¬ zation was formed after one or two informal meetings, and articles of association adopted. William Eggleston, president; Joseph Davis, treasurer, and Addison Scott, secretary. A room was secured in the court-house building, and already about 1,000 volumes have been collected.