Buchanan County, Missouri - Chapter 15: Bench and Bar, 1881

Chapter 15: Bench and Bar

We here submit a few memorials of the bench and bar of Buchanan County and the " Platte Purchase." Every hour diminishes our recollections of by-gone days; but a few glimpses remairt, and a few short years will obliterate every view and vestige of what, in the passing pageants oi life, has been so interesting to us all.

To one of the oldest representative members of the legal fraternity are we indebted for the following sketches of the men who were the pioneer attorneys of Buchanan County.

General Andrew S. Hughes

"The first lawyer in the Platte country was General Andrew S. Hughes. General Hughes was said to have been a resident lawyer of Buchanan- County, from the fact that he was an Indian agent in the county up to the annexation of the Platte Purchase to the State.

He owned a large farm and servants in Clay County, on which his wife and only son. General Bela M. Hughes, now of Denver, Colorado, resided, and on which he spent a portion' of his time when not engaged at Agency.

I first knew General Hughes in Kentucky. He resided in Nicholas County; was a lawyer of some eminence and a brilliant advocate. Early as 1824, he represented the Senatorial district composed of the counties of Nicholas and Breckenridge in the Legislature of Kentucky. I resided at Augusta, Breckenridge County, and first met him when he was canvassing for the Senate. He was appointed an Indian agent under the administration of John Q. Adams, in 1826.

He was one of the most remarkable men, in many respects, of this or any other age. Kind of heart, cheerful, mirthful to hilarity, genial in manners, indeed geniality itself He possessed an inexhaustible fund of brilliant anecdotes, and a wit as keen and merciless as Swift's and a sar- casm as blighting as Randolph's. One of the few men. of real genius I ever met. The emanations of real genius come from the Creator. Elaboration is man's work and merely art. General Hughes was a man of real genius. I think he died in 1843, at Plattsburg, attending court. He got wet while crossing the Platte River and caught cold, and died from the effects of it, at the age of about 60 years.

William B. Almond

I think the next lawyer that settled in the Platte Purchase was William B. Almond, who first settled in Platte City, and then removed to Sparta, Buchanan County, in 1839. Mr. Almond was a Virginian by birth, from Prince Edward County, and a graduate of Hampton Sidney College. He and Sterling Price were natives of the same county, and graduated at the same institution at about the same time. He was educated with some care for a Presbyterian minister, but being of an adventurous disposition, he went with the old fur company of Smith, Sublett & Jackson, to their depot in the Rocky Mountains, on the head waters of the Yellowstone. With the wages he received, (which wp re high, as the trip was dangerous), he returned to Virginia and studied law. He then returned to Missouri, and as soon as the Platte country was annexed to the state, he settled in Platte County. He had a very good practice in Buchanan County for a few years, and in 1844 he formed a partnership with Henry M. Vories, late Judge of the Supreme Court, which continued until 1849, when Almond went to California, still following his disposition for travel and adventure. On his arrival there, through the influence of Governor Burnett, of California, he was appointed Judge. He remained in California for several years. Having accumulated about $20,000 while there, he returned and permanently located in Platte City. He was elected Judge of that circuit, comprising the Platte country, in 1854. He only held the office a short time, resigning to return to California, to attend to some pecuniary matters.

After his second return from California he practiced law in Platte City and Leavenworth until his death, which I think occurred in 1861, dying suddenly at the breakfast table in Leavenworth, while there attending court.

Almond was a fluent speaker, without approaching or approximating eloquence. He was a fair lawyer, and, while not an orator, was an honorable and successful advocate.

Theodore D. Wheaton

Theodore D. Wheaton came to St. Joseph just before or about the time Almond came to Sparta. Wheaton was from Connecticut, and was raised in the same town and educated at the same institution with Gov- ernor Phelps. When he finished his education, he went to Virginia as a. schoolmaster, seeking employment. Having taught there acceptably for some years he immigrated to Saline County, Missouri, with a colony, at the head of whom was Maj. Harney, who was afterward Speaker of the General Assembly of Missouri. He taught school in Saline and in the interim studied law and then removed to St. Joseph, where he remained for several years until he removed to Savanitah. He represented the County of Andrew once or twice in the Legislature. As a practitioner he displayed the coolness and tact incident to the Yankee character. He finally volunteered in the Second Missouri Regiment, under Colonel Price and went to Mexico, arriving while I was there. He remained in New Mexico and beckme a distinguished member of the bar of that territory, as well as a member of the House of Territorial Delegates. His success there as here was the result more of tact and shrewdness than real talent.

Peter H. Burnett

Peter H. Burnett, of San Francisco, was the first prosecuting attorney in the Buchanan County District. He has since been Governor of California, and Judge of the Supreme Court of that state. Few men . have had a more eventful life than Governor Burnett. He was a native of Tennessee. His father emigrated to Missouri when he was small, located in Clay County, which was then the extreme western county in Missouri. At about seventeen or eighteen years of age, he returned to Tennessee and acquired a very good English education, by the kindness of his mother's relative (the- Hardamans), a very distinguished family, after whom Hardaman County, Tennessee, was named. He partially studied law in Tennessee, but engaged in merchandizing as a sort of episode in his life. He was not successful and quit merchandising about as poor as he was when he began, rfe then returned to Missouri and commenced merchandising in Liberty, when he again failed. In the interim, he had read law, carefully, and was really a very excellent lawyer for his age. After a few years practice he was appointed Circuit Attorney for that district. I brought him his commission from Jefferson City in the spring of 1841. He was one of the ablest prosecutors I ever met; the most industrious and indefatigable. No defendant ever found the state napping while Burnett was prosecutor. Having become largely involved by merchandising and seeing no speedy way of paying off his debts by the mere practice of law, he determined to go to Oregon. In 1843, with a large colony from Missouri, he and his family emigrated to Oregon. After many hardships, and some accidents, he arrived in that wild country, located his land, and cut and split every rail himself that enclosed a quarter section of land that winter, and built a house etc. He engaged actively and industriously in farming. In 1846, when the Oregon question was settled between England and America, locating the new line, the British Fur Company was compelled to remove further north. They employed Burnett to wind up their business. The remuneration received enabled him to purchase cattle and go more largely into farming.

When the gold fever commenced in California in 1848-9, it afforded a good market for his cattle, and he at once engaged in business there, from which he became wealthy. Out of the first moneys made he paid off his old debts, although barred by the statute of limitation. After he resigned as judge of the Supreme Court, he accepted the position of president of the Pacific Bank, at a salary of five thousand dollars per year, being a large stockholder himself in the bank.

Last year, 1880, having grown feeble from age, and unwilling to attend to business any longer, he declined a re-election to the presidency of the bank, which was unanimously tendered him. He told them for the last year (1880) he had not rendered more than half service to the bank and declined to take but half his salary; they, however, passed a resolution tendering him all of the salary. He still declined to receive more than half Thus they parted. He then retired from business and is spending a quiet old age.

His family of four children are all in prosperous circumstances. In California, a few years ago, I met his youngest daughter, a very beautiful and accomplished woman, the wife of Chief Justice Wallace of that state, and a man of more power and vigoi' of intellect, than any man I met in California.

Henry M. Vories

Henry M. Vories was a native of Henry County, Kentucky, where he received a very common education in the common schools of that state. He emigrated to Indiana, where he led a varied life for some years, engaged in merchandising at a small village, combining farming and trading generally, and especially trading in hogs in the Cincinnati market, in which last business he declared to me that he broke three times in one week. When, growing tired of these employments, which were bootless and abortive, he studied law with Oliver Smith, of Indiana, who afterward became a United States Senator, and commenced the practice of law in a circuit abounding with good lawyers. Although he was only able to make a living, the contact with these men made him a sharp, ready practitioner, and a perfect master of the science of pleading under the old Chitty practice. He emigrated to Sparta, Missouri, in 1843 or '44, where he commenced the practice of law, in partnership with Wm. B. Almond. I practiced with him in all the courts of Northwestern Missouri. We were often together and often opposed to each other. I may safely say he was the most unhandy man as an opponent I ever met. His early vocations in life had rendered him perfectly familiar with the prejudices, the habits, and the peculiar tastes of common people, and therefore in selecting and addressing a jury he was a very formidable advocate. He was quick, shrewd, always cool and selfreliant. When the testimony of a witness happened to be the reverse of what he expected, he never showed any mark or trait of his disappointment in his face or manners. He remained in St. Joseph until 1855, moving there, I think, in 1846. He then removed to San Jose; Calinia. He remained in California two years, and, although he succeeded well in his profession, he preferred St. Joseph as a permanent home. After his return, he built a handsome suburban residence in St. Joseph, in which he resided until his death, which occurred in 1876. After a most successful practice in St. Joseph for some years, he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of the State, which office he held until just before his death. Judge Vories was essentially a lawyer. He had a lawyer's mind. Some members of the profession are good lawyers theoretically, but never successful practitioners, and others are quite superficial as lawyers, but by tact and energy succeed very well. The world rates them as good lawyers. Judge Vories was good in theory and in practice. He was a thorough lawyer and the most formidable practitioner I ever met. He knew little of politics and had but little taste for general literature.

His convictions, however, were always strong and fearlessly expressed. He was a Democrat of the old school and an unflinching Union man during the whole war. He lived as nearly up to the golden rule as any man I ever knew.

James B. Gardenhire

James B. Gardenhire came to Sparta soon after the county seat was located there, from Tennessee. Commenced the practice of law as a competitor of Almond, Vories and Hall ; was very modest and seemed to lack self-confidence, and was of a sensitive nature. He impressed me as having acquired a rather superficial knowledge of the law hastily, but had energy and industry, which soon enabled him to overcome these deficiencies of his early education.

I could form no estimate, of his early education. He used good language - pure English - and seemed to have the ordinary literary acquirements of young men of that age. He was graceful in his manners and deportment, which evinced the fact that he had seen good society, but I never heard him speak of his early life, his advantages, or want of education. He soon became a good lawyer, and was really an orator, although he occasionally failed to come up to what his friends expected. I have heard him make as brilliant speeches as any man I have heard in the Platte country. Very effective in law arguments before courts, a-nd as an advocate very effective before juries. He had considerable taste for politics and once represented Buchanan County in the Legislature, and was once a candidate for Congress. During his candidacy for Congress I heard him make two speeches, remarkable for their brilliancy, and in one of these he drew a parallel between Marshal Ney and Col. Benton. It was so thrillingly eloquent and pathetic that old men sobbed aloud. He became Attorney General of the state, and finally died at the head of some bureau in Washington, under Mr. Lincoln's administration.

Owing to his delicate health, his efforts were not always equal; indeed, frequently, dissimilar. When his physique was all right, his efforts never disappointed his friends. He was as delicately constructed as a sensitive plant, in relation to his honor.

General David R. Atchison

was the first judge of the new circuit, composed of the Platte Purchase and Clinton County. I drafted the bill forming the circuit, which was passed during the session of 1840-41. General Atchison was commissioned in February, 1841, by Governor Reynolds. I brought him his commission.

General Atchison is so well known in the history of the state and nation that much labor is saved in giving a sketch of his life. His Hfe forms an important part in the history of the state, and his name will live in his land's language.

General Atchison was born in August, 1807, in Fayette County, Kentucky, a few miles from Lexington, at a locality bearing the euphonious and poetical appellation of Frogtown. He was a graduate of Transylvania University, in its palmy days, under President Holly. His father afforded him every advantage in acquiring a very liberal education. He was a very ripe scholar ; of fine literary taste and very familiar with all the English classics. He emigrated to Missouri in the Spring ol 1830, and located at Liberty. He commenced practicing law at the same bar with me, and so continued until he was appointed judge. After I removed to Liberty, in 1833, we kept our offices together, although never partners, and were very warm personal friends, although politically, we were as wide apart as the poles. He was a strong State Rights Democrat, while I was a Whig of the most orthodox school.

Judge. I was in the Court House engaged in a case, at Platte City, when he received his mail on the bench. I suspended the case in which I was engaged for a moment, until he could look at his letters, and I saw at once from his face, that there was something very unusual in one of them. He is too honest and straight-forward to have any concealments, and his face is of the same tell-tale order, suffusing readily under any excitement. I proceeded with the case, and when court adjourned for dinner, the Judge handed me a letter from Governor Reynolds, tendering him the U. S. Senatorship, for the unexpired term of Dr. Linn, who had died. This tender was made, I know, from subsequent conversations with Governor Reynolds, who was from the same county with me from Kentucky, without any request from Atchison or his friends. It was a spontaneous tender from an intellectual and patriotic Governor, to a man who was in every way worthy of the high position of United States Senator.

I know that the Judge hesitated honestly and candidly in his acceptance of the position, and offered reasons which were candid and, to him, were forcible. After his having submitted them very fully to me, I said : "Judge, fortune does not shower her favors on us very often, and a man should not turn his plate bottom upwards when it does happen, but should turn the right side up and catch all he can. Your refusal will mortify Governor Reynolds, and as you have some political ambition, you ought to accept. It is your duty to do it. We have never had any Senator from the western half of the State."

The Judge and I were rooming together at the hotel. I do not know that he did or did not, consult any other person on the subject. He wrote a very modest letter to the Governor, thanking him and accepting the position.

He served not only acceptably in the Senate for twelve years, but served in that august body as its President, and acted as Vice-President of the United States, after the death of King. While practicing law in Liberty, he was fond of hunting, and very successful as a hunter, fond of social life, and indulged in the excitement of politics, so that with a portion of the community who do not know what it takes to constitute a lawyer, he did not rate so high as he would have done if he had stayed in his office, although not professionally employed. He had a clear, bright, logical mind ; had studied law well, and kept up with his profession by constant reading, when he was not engaged actively out of doors.

The position he took in any case he sustained with ability, and when /he was on the right side he rarely failed of success. I deemed him one of the best lawyers, and consulted him more frequently than I did any one else. As a judge he was quick, expeditious and industrious ; seemed to arrive at his conclusions almost intuitively, and his high sense of justice always enabled him to decide equitably. I never knew a judge who gave such universal satisfaction, and although his friends were glad ta see him elevated to a higher sphere they regretted to see him abandon the bench.

General Atchison went into the Southern army and remained until he became dissatisfied, not with the cause, but the rrjanagement of the army. He was essentially a State Rights Democrat of the Calhoun school.

General Atchison was never married, and since the war has been living on his farm in Clinton County, enjoying the privacy of quiet life, deriving his enjoyment from the associations of numerous warm personal friends and a large library. He has warm patriotism enough to make him anxious for the future welfare of his country, and is Cincinnatus enough to be satisfied with his herd, his fields and his household gods.

'Was born in Jefferson County, Virginia, at Harper's Ferry, in 18 - , and' is, therefore, sixty years of age. He was educated partly in Baltimore, and graduated at Yale College. His education, of course, was very thorough and ample, coming from such an institution. The family, (his father having died,) removed, shortly after he graduated, to Randolph County, Missouri. He studied law, probably with his brother. Judge William Hall, Judge of the Circuit Court in Missouri. He was very industrious and energetic and devoted his energies, physical and mental, to his profession. I am not aware that he ever practiced law before he came to Sparta. He was then a very ripe lawyer for his age, and one of the best lawyers I ever met.

System and order and logical arrangement were natural with him. His eyes soon became diseased and annoyed him for some years. This, I always supposed, came from intense over-study, using his eyes too much by lamp or gas light. He succeeded at once. Plain and simple in his manners as a child, naturally frank and easy with every one, he soon became a favorite, and from his youthful appearance, even a pet with his older friends. He succeeded, I think. Governor Burnett, as Prosecuting Attorney, and was a very efficient officer. He prevented grand juries from presenting anything that could not be sustained and prosecuted with great energy those he believed guilty. He was as an^ officer very conscientious. In 1844 he was selected by the State Democratic Convention as one of the Electors, and I was a candidate for Elector on the Whig side. I met him often. He conducted the canvass with marked ability for one so young.

He had the criminal law, and especially the statutes of the State, at his finger ends, and could readily refer to them in a.moment's time. During this canvas Governor Hall's speeches would greatly astonish those who have only known him in the past twenty years. He then, not without success, essayed the higher realms of oratory, and, although he occasionally let the eagle loose, he was clear, bright, logical and concise. For the last twenty years his style has been but little rriore than conversational, still, marked with even more of its original' terseness, vigor and logical conciseness. He never thinks of indulging in pathos, or poetry or mere decoration. He gained a very high rank during the canvass, of which I have spoken, as a public speaker and as a well informed politician. To this, added to his high reputation as a lawyer, he was indebted for his iirst nomination'to Congress, over many older and able politicians of his party. This was in the spring of 1846, and during the canvas Col. James H. Birch (late Judge Birch,) was his opponent as an Independent Democrat. Governor Hall volunteered as a private in the First Regiment of Missouri Cavalry. This he was induced to do, because he had been a strong advocate of the annexation of Texas, and the Mexican War having grown out of that annexation, he was taunted as not being willing to incur the consequences, which his course and that of his friends had brought on the country.

He went with us as far as Santa Fe, New Mexico, doing duty as a private faithfully. Soon after we arrived in Santa Fe I received a letter from my father-in-law. Colonel Thornton, giving a sufficient number of the returns to ensure the election of Mr. Hall by a very large majority. I showed that letter to Mr. Hall and to General Harney, and General Harney at once, as a matter of courtesy, and as he should have done, released Governor Hall from all involuntary duty. General Harney having orders to go to New Mexico with a part of the troops, in the discharge of an order he received from Washington, to devise temporary laws for the people of that territory, requested Governor Hall and myself to prepare laws for that territory to conform to the conditions of the territory, and to be in conformity with the civil institutions of our own country. We organized a Legislature consisting of Governor Hall and myself, and about six clerks, and the work of legislation was never more rapidly performed, each of us frequently dictating to two or three clerks at a time. In a few days we were able to present to General Harney a code of laws, which he was kind enough to approve, sign, as military Governor, and promulgate for the government of the people. It is astonishing, considering the short time we had been there and our limited means of information, that we should have written a code that Congress, after the annexation of the territory, re-enacted, and whi^ch after thirtyfive years I found still in vogue in 1881. Governor Hall determined not to return to the states until after he had seen more of the west, so that he might be more capable to legislate for its wants.

Mormon soldiers and conduct them to California as soon as they arrived and were outfitted, now took up the line of march and Hall accompanied Colonel Cbok to the Pacific Ocean, going by the route of the Heyla River. He came back with Kearney the next spring to the states. It is a fact not generally known that the first gold discovered in California was discovered by two of the soldiers under Cook's command at Sutter's Mills. Hall returned and took his seat in Congress in the winter of 1847 and remairifed there till March, 1853, having been elected three times.

He made' a very industrious, efficient and popular representative of his district and at the end of his third term declined to become a candidate for re-election. He remained in private life, devoting himself assiduously to the study and practice of his profession, and attained as high a reputation as a lawyer as any man in the state.

Iti February, 1861, he was elected to the state convention, which convention was called by an act of the General Assembly for the purpose of ascertaining the position the state should take in reference to the secession of the cotton states. He was elected and took his seat as an avowed Union man, and after Governor Jackson had abandoned the state, that convention proceeded to form a provisional government, and proceeded to elect state officers. Hamilton R. Gamble, of St. Louis, was elected Governor, and Willard P. Hall, Lieutenant Governor. Governor Gamble died during his term and the office of Governor was filled by Mt. Hall. Times were exceedingly exciting, as the war was still raging in Missouri, as well as elsewhere, and much trouble and anxiety necessarily devolved upon the Governor. It is imposible to give any detail of his aets while Governor, as any one month of which would more than fill this sketch.

His administration was as satisfactory as it could have been to all conservative men. At the expiration of his term of office, he resumed the practice of law in St. Joseph, which he has followed ever since. He has been employed in all the important cases since his return to the practice, and has added greatly to his well earned reputation as a lawyer before the war. He has sought no office or position since. On the contrary. Governor Hardin told me that he had twice offered him the position of Supreme Judge since the death of Judge Vories, but that Mr. Hall had declined both times.

Solomon L. Leonard

was one of the early immigrants to the Platte country. He had been engaged in teaching school at the time of his coming. He was in moderate circumstances, indeed might be termed poor, but he had pluck and perseverance enough' for two. men, but succeeded rather slowly at the practice of law. He lived on a small farm two miles from Platte City, about twenty acres of which he cleared and cultivated. From these two sources he made barely a comfortable subsistence. In 1843, I think, the state was entitled to five hundred thousand acres of public land, and Solomon L. Leonard was appointed a commissioner to select land for the state. The compensation he received for the same enabled him to purchase the land on which he resided and on which his wife now resides., east of St. Joseph.

In 1844 or '45, he was appointed judge of that circuit to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Henderson Young, who had been judge for about one year after General Atchison's resignation. He continued in office until 1852, when he declined being a candidate for re-election. In most respects he was a model judge ; commencing court every morning early at the very moment to which it was adjourned. Every day he got through the docket of that day, if it could be done by dark.

Lawyers had to work hard, and those who were not fond of hard work found fault. I always found him courteous and respectful to all members of the bar. The hard work imposed on the bar was not the result of any arbitrary feeling on his part, but a determination and an honest purpose to subserve the interest of the public properly. It would be better for the bar and public if more judges would follow the same course.

After he retired from the bench he formed a partnerthip in the practice of law with General Bela M. Hughes. It was a very able firm, and while it continued it had as much practice as it could attend to. Judge Leonard's wealth gradually increased, and the property he left made all his family rich. The increase of his property and the business consequent upon it, induced him to abandon the practice almost entirely.

During the first year of the war, in 1861, he went south, whether to carry his negroes south or to engage in the Southern cause, I do not know. He was drowned at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, in Grand River, in that year.

Judge Leonard had as much will-power as any man I ever knew, and a large volume of brain power. He was a man of strong prejudices - his enemies could hardly do right, and his friends could scarcely do wrong. He was aware of these prejudices, and brought his strong will- power to control them on the bench, which he did successfully. He was devoted to his family, and educated his daughters with a great deal of care, regardless of expense. Rather impatient by nature, yet he was fond of legal and logical discussion, and listened with patience to lawyers of any ability. We were warm personal friends, and I deemed him a just and able judge.

General- Bela M. Hughes

in Nicholas County, Kentucky. His mother was a sister to Thomas Metcalf, who was a captain in the war of i8i2, a Member of Congress for many years, Governor of the State, and then a United States Senator.

Coming from such a stock on the respective sides, it would naturally be supposed that General Hughes would be a man of high order of intellect. Those whose anticipations were the highest have not been disappointed. He graduated at Augusta College, Kentucky.

Immediately after he graduated he went to Wisconsin Territory as a private secretary of the Territorial Governor. He was introduced into social and political life under favorable auspices. While there he improved his learning, much from men and books. Coming to Missouri, he commenced the study of law, but having married when he was very young, and having six or eight thousand dollars in his own right, he thought it would be better to accumulate a fortune rapidly by engaging in merchandising and commerce. He located at Weston, Platte County. As he knew nothing of business, it did not take him long to lose half of his fortune. He sold out, re-engaged in the study, and finally in the practice of his profession.

He succeeded very well from the start ; was elected to the Legislature from that county ; and appointed Receiver of Public Moneys at the United States Land Office at Plattsburg, Missouri. He remained there until General Taylor was elected in 1848, and although his uncle, who was then a Whig Senator from Kentucky, and myself and others, who knew General Taylor well, assured him he would not be removed, his delicate sense of propriety induced him to resign (he being a Democrat), saying that he " would not hold an office which, under the custom of parties, belonged to some Whig." He removed to St. Joseph, and lived there as long as he remained in the State. He formed a partnership, first with Solomon L. Leonard, and afterwards with Silas Woodson. Both these - partnerships were remunerative. Governor Woodson was appointed Judge of that circuit, and General Hughes went to Atchison, Kansas, more for the purpose of attending to the varied interests of his cousin, Benjamin Holliday, the distinguished pioneer in steamship lines, railroads, and overland mail. This business required many long and dangerous voyages to Colorado, Salt Lake, and San Francisco, in connection with the Holliday mail route. Selecting Denver as a central position for the route, he finally located there, removed his family and made it* his permanent home. When his connection with Holliday had terminated, he resumed his profession, and at a bound placed himself at the head of the able bar of Colorado, which position he maintains now (1881). He is employed in all the important suits arising from railroads, mines, telegraphs, and stock operations. He has acquired a fortune by his close attention to business, and with'the wonderful sucess with which he has met. I have spent six summers in Colorado ; have often heard him in courts, and was there when he was nominated by the Democrats -of that state for Governor, and during his brilliant canvas. His speeches were marked by the caustic wit, sharp repartee, and boundless humor that characterized his father, with much more learning and general - attainments. He may be deemed an eminent jurist and orator, and I know personally of his receiving a letter from one of the most distinguished jurists in New York asking his opinion in relation to his construction of a very ambiguous statute, saying "that he would rather have his opinion than any other lawyer, and that his clients would pay him liberally for it."

His great ability, integrity, and attention to business, assures us that he will always retain his business and practice as large as he desires.

Silas Woodson

My first acquaintance with Silas Woodson was at Plattsburg, in the fall of 1854. I was then attending court and was employed to assist Hughes and Leonard and General Loan in the defense of Wm. Langston, charged with murder. The case had been pending some time in Buchanan County, and finally had been taken to Clinton County; but I was only employed in the case at the term at which it was tried. Governor Woodson had recently emigrated from Knox County, Kentucky, to St. Joseph, and some of the citizens of St. Joseph had employed him to assist in the prosecution of Langston. We had been several days engaged in examining the testimony and had closed on both sides. While I was writing some instructions at my room. General Loan and Judge Leonard came in and told me Mr. Woodson complained of being sick, and desired to make the closing argument in the case instead of the opening. I told them that I had an invariable rule that I would not depart from, that the circuit attorney must make the closing argument in every criminal case in which Lwas engaged. In a few minutes after they left Mr. Woodson came in, and told me he was not well, and being a stranger did not like to address a jury under disadvantageous circumstances. It was a strong appeal to my courtesy and I felt somewhat inclined to accede to his request, but I had read the trial of Dr. Baker, who was tried and convicted for murder in Kentucky, and a Mr. Woodson had been the prosecuting attorney. It occurred to me me that he might possibly be the man. I asked him if he had been prosecuting attorney when Dr. Baker was tried. He said he had. I said, " Mr. Woodson, 3. prosecutor who was able to meet and gain a victory over the most eminent attorneys and advocates in the Union, is able to prosecute against such lawyers as Langston has, even though he is sick. I regret that my dutj'- to my client compels me to be apparently discour- teous. You cannot make the closing argument in this case." An hour afterward, the instructions had been given by the court, and Mr. Woodson commenced his address, which for ability, brilliancy and pathos I have never heard equaled. I regret that I have not language that will convey even the faintest idea of this torrent of eloquent invective.

In i860, he was elected judge of the 12th Judicial Circuit, in which position he gave universal satisfaction, and at the expiration of his term,, with a most enviable reputation, again resumed the practice of law.

As a practitioner, he takes rank among the leading lawyers of the state, and his professional associates cheerfully concede his eminent ability in criminal cases. The vital interests of the largest corporations, the equally important rights of the humblest citizen, alike command his services, and whether the fee is a fortune or a farthing, he devotes hisbest abilities and his constant attention to the success of his client.

In August, 1872, quite unexpectedly to himself, he was nominated by the State Democratic Convention as candidate for Governor of Missouri, and was elected to that office by a large majority, and served for two years with distinguished ability.

No blemish mars the purity of his private life. He is one of the few men, who, through a long public career, have never once neglected or betrayed any trust reposed in them. His motto is, and his action has alwEtys been, to do what right and justice demand, leaving consequences to take care of themselves.

He possesses an earnest nature, great energy and firmness, a clear judgment, with comprehensive and analytical mind and a heart full of true charity and noble impulses.

Robert M. Stewart

The name of Robert M. Stewart has been familiar not only to the people of Buchanan County, but of the State of Missouri, for over forty years. In fact it has been completely indentified with the history of the state. He was born in Truxton, Courtland County, New York, on the 1 2th day of March, 181 J. His parents being in limited circumstances, he was compelled to depend upon his own exertions for an education, a task faithfully performed. From the time he was seventeen until twenty-one years of age, he taught school part of each year, devoting the remainder of his time to preparing himself for the practice of the law. At the age of twenty-one he graduated in the legal profession and was admitted to the bar. In the spring of 1837, he removed to Louisville, Kentucky, and engaged in the practice of his profession, but suffering from sickness most of the summer, he removed to his old home in New York and remained during the winter, returning to Louisville again in the spring of 1838. During that summer, in addition to the practice of the law, he was engaged in the newspaper business with James Birney Marshall. In the fall of that year he removed to St. Charles, Missouri, where he remained some two years.

In 1839, Governor Stewart came to Buchanan County, and located at what was then known as Bloomington, but is now DeKalb, where he entered a claim. Here he continued the practice of his profession, at the same time taking an active part in every movement to advance the prosperity of the country, until 1845. He then removed to St. Joseph, and was shortly thereafter elected a delegate from the Senatorial District to the Convention to amend the State Constitution, over Jesse B. Thompson, one of the best men in the county. In the proceedings of that body his fine talents and excellent judgment gave him a prominent position. In 1846, he was elected to the State Senate, again beating Mr. Thompson, and continued to hold the office until 1857, when he was elected Governor of Missouri, to fill a vacancy, occasioned by the selection of Governor Trusten Polk to the United States Senate. The duties of the latter office he discharged with ability for three years. In 1847, Governor Stewart raised a company for the "Oregon Battalion," for service in the Mexican war, and was elected as its Captain over the late Colonel Samuel Hall. He went with the battalion as far as Fort Kearney, but was compelled to return on account of ill-health. For some two years thereafter he suffered from severe illness, but managed to discharge his duties as State Senator. In 1848 he was appointed Register of the Land Office at Savannah, but resigned the position in a few weeks, for the purpose of engaging in the preliminary survey of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, a task which he completed at his own expense.

In 1861, he was elected member of the convention called to consider the question of secession, in which body he took strong grounds in favor of retaining the state in the Union. His last appearance in political life was in 1862, when he announced his name as a candidate for Congress in this district, but withdrew from the race shortly after the announcement.

Almost immediately after his election to the Senate, Governor Stewart was appointed chairman of the committee on internal improvements, a position he continued to occupy as long as he remained a member of that body. He was the first to inaugurate the grand system of public improvements which has contributed so much to the prosperity of our state, and devoted himself particularly to the railroad interests. It is principally owing to his exertions that the construction of the Hannibal & St. Joseph road is due, and he was also the author of the "Omnibus bill," under which the railroad system of the state was projected and built up. Every measure looking to improvement and the development of the resources of Missouri received his hearty support, both while in the Senate and in the executive chair.

Governor Stewart was a man ofa high order of intellect. His prospects at one time were by no means limited to this state. It was within his grasp to have not only made his influence more powerful in Missouri, but felt throughout the Union. In a national point of view his unrelenting hostility to Colonel Thos. H. Benton, effecting his defeat for the Senate, and his decided stand against secession when the great contest seemed to hinge upon the action of Missouri, were the most important passages in his history.

General J. M. Bassett

J. M. Bassett was born in New Haven, Connecticut, February 7, 1817. He came with his father, when a small boy, to Ohio, and at the age often years removed to Springfield, Illinois, where he completed his -education. He read law with Governor Cailin, and was admitted to the bar by Judge Stephen A. Douglas. Afterward he opened an office in Illinois, and after several years of successful practice came to Plattsburg, Clinton County, Missouri, in 1844, where he remained two years. While here he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and came. to St. Joseph shortly after the labors of that convention were closed.

He soon became one of the leading lawyers of the Platte country. He served four years as prosecuting attorney of this judicial district. Was elected Mayor of Bt. Joseph in 1855. At the breaking out of the Var he espoused the cause of the Union, and did much to rally the loyal -sentiment of Northwest Missouri. He was captain of a company of militia and was for two years Provost Marshal of this district.

General Bassett was a ready and powerful writer ; generous, pleasant, social and charitable. He was a fluent speaker, and strong in argument, and his success before juries and judges was proverbial.

Keen, cool, shrewd and cautious, his speeches in court often veined with glowing sarcasm, were not only models of terseness and force, but revealed a background of study, reflection and special preparation, which stamped him as one of the foremost lawyers of Northwest Missouri. He seemed to rise with the occasion when the subject in hand intellect and power. Then it was he would pour forth argu- -ment, and hurl invective and eloquent appeals to the jury, sweeping -everything before him.

Whenever he devoted his full powers to a case, no client in the West had a more safe, competent and successful advocate. General Bassett died in 1871.

Benjamin F. Loan History Of Bucha-Nan County

at the old home in Kentucky until 1838, when he came to Missouri and settled in Platte County. He commenced reading law in Platte City with Isaac N. Jones, in 1842. After two years spent in close study, he obtained a license and located in Buchanan County. He was an active, industrious, painstaking and conscientious, attorney. He was a deep thinker and a ripe scholar in legal and political lore, and possessed great personal honor and integrity, and was admired by not only his brother attorneys but no one spoke of him but to praise.

When the late civil war broke out he took an active part in military affairs, and was appointed Brigadier General. In 1862 he was elected to a seat in the Thirty-eighth Congress, and served as a member of the committees on Pacific railroads, and Freedmen, and Debts of loyal states, and other committees. During the Fortieth Congress he was chairman of the committee on revolutionary pensions and on that of Freedmen's affairs. In 1869 he was appointed visitor to West Point. He was the Republican candidate for Congress in 1876, and was defeated by Hon. David Rea. These in brief are the salient points of one of the most popular, one of the ablest and best known lawyers in the "Platte Purchase."

General Loan died at his home in St. Joseph on the 30th day of March, 1881, at the age of sixty-two years. The St. Joseph bar held a meeting on the occasion of his death, the proceedings of which we here give :

" The adjourned meeting of the Bar Association of St. Joseph was iheld in the Circuit Court room yesterday afternoon at half-past four. -General Craig, as chairman, called the meeting to order, and requested the chairman of the committee, appointed to wait upon the family of General Loan to ascertain their desire as to the funeral arrangements, to report. Mr. Allen H. Vories then informed the meeting that General Loan's family had expressed their wish that the bar should take charge the funeral, which was to take place at two o'clock this afternoon. Mr. Vories suggested that the bar should not monopolize the funeral arrangements, but should invite a number of citizens to assist in the

It was moved and seconded that six members of the bar be appointed pall bearers, with authority to select four citizens to act with them in the -same capacity.

Messrs. Vories and Vineyard were appointed by the chair to select the legal pall bearers, and made choice of the following gentlemen : Gov. Woodson, Gen. Craig, Judge Tutt, Gov. Hall, John D. Strong and A. H. Vories.

Resolved, That we, the members of the bar of St. Joseph, bear witness that through the crucial test of a long and active practice in a profession which, more than any other, tries and makes known to his fellows the real character of a maw, Benjamin F. Loan has passed, without an imputation of the slightest neglect of a client's interest or of the courtesies and fair dealings due to an opponent ;. that his life is a noble illustration of the truth that untiring industry and unswerving honesty are the essential elements of real success in our own, no less than in the other avocations of life ; and we direct the attention of every young man who wvuld gain an enviable distinction in the legal profession tO' the course and career of the deceased as worthy of the highest emulation.

Resolved, That our departed brother was true to the interests committed to him in all the relations of life ; that he was a. faithful public servant, a steadfast friend, a devoted husband, an estimable citizen and an honest man.

Resol'ped, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, we request the Judge to adjourn the Circuit Court of this county, now in session, during the day of the funeral, and that the members of this bar attend the funeral in a body.

Resolved, That the secretary of this meeting furnish a copy of these resolutions to the press of the city for publication, also a copy thereof to the family of the deceased, and also- a copy thereof to Alex. D. Vories, by him to be presented to the Judge of the Buchanan Circuit Court, with a request that they may, with other proceedings of this meeting, be spread in full upon the records of said court.

At a meeting of the directors of the Merchants' Bank, with which General Loan had long been identified, held yesterday, the following resolutions were adopted r

Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God, in His divine providence, to remove from our midst our valued friend and associate, the Hon. Benjamin F. Loan, therefore be it

Resolved, by the Board of Directors of the Merchants' Bank, that in the death of the Hon. Benjamin F. Loan, this board has lost a member whose counsels were of the utmost value to the interests of the institution, and that we, individually, have lost a friend and associate whose death is deeply and sincerely deplored ; and be it further

Resolved, That we sympathize most sincerely with t-he family and relatives of our deceased friend in this hour of their sad bereavement ; and be it .further

Resolved, That these resolutions be spread at length upon the minutes of the board, and that a copy signed by the president be sent to, the family of our deceased friend.

After reading the resolutions Mr, Vineyard said that it seemed strange to him to stand among his professional brethren and miss the form of General Loan. Only two days ago he was engaged in the active duties of bis profession, and now he was no longer among us. Not very long ago General Loan had said to him that he would go soon and go suddenly, and his foreboding had proved true. He had known the deceased since 1866, and had enjoyed his disinterested friendship. Of his military and congressional record, he would let others speak, but as a lawyer he had found him frank, upright and sincere. General Loan never made a promise to a brother lawyer that he did not faithfully keep.. His zeal for his clients was unbounded, while he was ever an indefatigable worker. To pronounce this eulogy was a sad task, not because the subject did not deserve it, but because he was no more.

The chairman here suggested that the youngest member of the bar be selected to present the resolutions to the Circuit Court. The suggestion was adopted.

Mr. R. T. Davis then addressed the meeting and recalled his last conversation with General Loan. It was the opinion of the deceased that young lawyers should stick to their practice and avoid politics. He had such a high appreciation of the bar of St. Joseph that he told the speaker that nothing could induce him to reside away from this city. Free passes to Chicago- and New York, a large income and nothing to do would have no temptation to him, compared with the society of his friends, if he had to give up the latter to enjoy the former.

Mr. Allen Vories next addressed the meeting ; General Loan's death had not been altogether unexpected by him, but by that death he had lost his most confidential friend and he could not reconcile himself to his loss. For thirty years a close friendship had existed between himself and the deceased. If ever there was an honest man General Loan was that man. Ever faithful to his clients he was the soul of honor in his dealings with all men. Among the members of this bar he had not one enemy. Outside of his professional career he had no enjoyments, and was so attached to the members of the St. Joseph bar that he had determined to spend all his days among them. Of his proficiency as a lawyer it was not necessary to speak. The harder the case the better lawyer General Loan proved himself to be. His courtesy to other attorneys was remarkable. "By his death," concluded Mr. Vories, "I have lost my best friend," found him gracious and courteous. Wtiether opposed to him or associated with him, he always exhibited a courtesy which was extended to all the attorneys with whom he cams in contact. His loss will be greatly felt. Mr. Thomas endorsed the sentiments of the resolutions.

Mr. H. K. White said that General Loan had attained the high degree of philosophy which enabled him to endure differences of opinion without giving up personal regard. In his adherence to the ideas of the past upon legal matters, General Loan had many sharp conflicts with the rising generation, but from these antagonisms an unkind personal feeling had never once been developed.

Mr. John S. Crosby, as a younger member of the bar, paid an earnest tribute to the friendliness toward young members of his profession, which characterized General Loan. He also referred to the .strong domestic affections of the deceased, which he had had occasion to witness. ' Carrying with him a heavy and constant burden of disease and suffering which would have made most men morose, he was always cheerful and good natured.

Mr. P. V. Wise said that he had so long associated with General Loan that he did not consider it inappropriate on his part to make a few remarks. The deceased was a man who took for his motto "deeds not words.'' He acted justly from a principle of right and not from the hope of future reward. He was satisfied to practice the golden rule. Notwithstanding the industrious habits of the deceased he enjoyed philosophical contemplation, and believed that the best of all lives was to so live here that when the great change came there would be nothing to repent of He fulfilled William Cullen Bryant's noble lines :

"So live that when ihy summons come to join The innumerable caravan which moves To that mysterious realm where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry sfave at night. Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave. Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."

The chairman then said that he first knew General Loan thirty-five years ago, when he was struggling to earn his first town lot. In those days he had traveled the circuit with him, had observed his course during the war, and had known him intimately as -a Congressman, and he had always found him honest. During the days of political corruption that followed the war, no man had ever dared to say that General Loan had taken a dollar that was not his own. His home life was full of tender affection, one long honeymoon. It has been said that he was not without a presentiment of his approaching end, and on Tuesday called at the bank and transferred some bonds from his own name to that of his wife. In all the relations of life he, General Craig, had never known a better man than Benjamin F. Loan.

Mr. J. F. Fitt said that he was with the deceased in his last labors, and gave .some details of his sudden illness. Mr. Mosman paid a brief tribute to the worth of General Loan, and the meeting adjourned to meet at the funeral to-day at 2 o'clock."

General A. W. Doniphan

who was born in Mason County, Kentucky, July 9th, 1808. His ancestors on both paternal and maternal lines were of English extraction. His father and mother were natives of Virginia, his father being a revolutionary soldier. His mother was a woman of extraordinary mental powers and sparkling wit. He graduated at Augusta College, Kentucky, at the early age of eighteen years, with distinction, especially in the classics. He studied law in the office of Martin P. Marshall, of Kentucky. After a period of two years he was licensed to practice law by the Supreme Court of Ohio. In March, 1830, he came to Missouri, and was licensed to practice by its Supreme Court, at Fayette, in the succeeding month. On the 19th of April, 1830, he settled in Lexington, Missouri, and began his long, successful and brilliant forensic career. At the age of twenty-two, without experience, he was placed in collision with Abiel Leonard, Robert W. Wells, Peyton R. Hayden and others, gentlemen eminent for ability and legal attainments.

His maiden speech at the bar was made in 1830, in defense of a man indicted for murder. His conduct in this trial was modest, and gave evidence of the dawning of that reputation as a criminal lawyer which he afterward attained.

In 1837, he removed to Liberty, Missouri, which he made his home for the succeeding thirty years. There he found, already established in the practice of law, those distinguished lawyers, D. R. Atchison, Amos Rees and James M. Hughes. His experience at Lexington had been preparatory ; at Liberty his reputation attained its zenith. Doniphan was young, ambitious, highly cultured, and his mind expanded with ease to meet the magnitude of each new occasion. The faculty of ready, powerful and tempestuous speech - the flashes of brilliant thought had come to him, and the people of the state at once recognized him as an orator.

In 1836, 1840 and in 1854 he represented Clay County in the Legislature without opposition. He was a member of the Peace Conference of 1861. In 1846, occurred the war with Mexico, and in May, 1846, he was elected Colonel of the First regiment Missouri Mounted Volunteers.

The laurels won by Colonel Doniphan and his men during the Mexican war are among the brightest that grace the American arms, and the memory of them will be as enduring as time itself.

In the varied circumstaraces of life Colonel Doniphan has exerted a great influence. In parliamentary bodies he has done this mainly through social impress and personal contact. He is fascinating in conversation, and his society is sought wherever he goes. His mind acts with quickness 'and precision. His temperament is poetic, even romantic, but is guarded by fine taste and the most delicate sense of] the ludicrous. His mind is so well organized, so nicely balanced, its machinery so happily fitted, its stores of information so well digested, and so completely made a part of the brain, that its riches, without apparent effort, flow or flash forth on all occasions, and it places each subject or object it touches in a flood of light.

Nature has endowed him munificently. He now leads a quiet life at Richmond, Missouri, devoting himself entirely to the amusements of reading, correspondence and converse with his myriad of friends.

We have given short biographical sketches of only those members the bar who came to St. Joseph and the " Platte Purchase " at an early day. In addition will be found below a short and incomplete list of names of other members of the St. Joseph bar. There have been many itinerant lawyers and journeymen counselors, many of whom are doubt- ,less still living and known to the reader, and others are dead or have removed elsewhere, that have practiced a,t the St. Joseph courts. We should be glad to give them all, but our limited space will preclude us from doing more than merely chronicling their names.