Antelope County, Nebraska - Chapter 41, 1909

By F. L. Putney Of Tilden

AS the population of the state increased, the work of the supreme court accumulated until in 1900 there were eighteen hundred undecided cases before the court. Many interests were jeopardized by this condition, as it necessarily required about five years between a decision of a district judge and its being reviewed by the supreme court. This subject was so much discussed that the commissioner system was evolved which from its incipiency was neither satisfactory to courts nor litigants. Last November the electors voted favorably on an amendment to the constitution increasing the number of supreme court judges. As late as 1875 three judges discharged the combined duties of supreme and district court judges. At this time there are seven judges of the supreme court and twenty-eight district judges in fifteen judicial districts.

As associate justice of the supreme court, Samuel Maxwell convened the first term of district court in Antelope County. Thomas L. Griffey succeeded him in 1876. The old settlers will remember that there was a very bitter contest between Mr. Griffey and E. K.Valentine, the repubhcan nominee. On the face of the returns Mr. Griffey was elected ; Mr. Valentine, contested the election and his contention was sustained. Mr. Valentine succeeded Mr. Griffey in 1 8 7 7 . Frank Welch, member of Congress, died at Neligh in 1878 and Mr. Valentine was elected to that position, J. B. Barnes advancing from the office of district attorney to district judge. Judge Valentine made his last order January 30, 1879, and Judge Barnes his first, March 3, 1879. In 1883, owing to a change in the boundaries of the district, F. B. Tiffany was appointed judge and was reelected in 1 88 5 . In 1887 J. C. Crawford and Isaac Powers, Jr., were associate judges and in 1888 Isaac Powers, Jr., and W. F. Norris were similarly associated. William V. Allen was judge in 1892 and resigned his office to accept a seat in the United States senate. In 1893 Governor Crounse appointed N. D. Jackson to succeed Mr. Allen. At the November election, 1893, John S. Robinson defeated Judge Jackson. In 1898 Mr. Robinson was elected to Congress and William V. Allen again elected judge. He served but a short time before United States Senator-elect Hayward died, and Mr. Allen was appointed to fill the vacancy, and Douglas Cones was appointed to the judgeship in 1900. In November, 1900, J. F. Boyd was elected over Judge Cones, and in 1903 was reelected and served until he resigned to take his seat in Congress in 1907. A. A. Welch was appointed by Governor Sheldon to succeed Mr. Boyd, and in 1907 was elected to both the short and long terms as judge.

District Attorneys

M. B. Hoxie was district attorney in 1874; J. B. Barnes, 1877-79; C. C. McNish, 1879-83; E. M. Coffin, 1883-85; N. D. Jackson, 1885-87. The legislature of 1885 aboHshed the district attorney system and inaugurated that of county attorney.

Clerks Of The District Court

Jeptha Hopkins was elected sheriff in June, 1871; was reelected in October, 1871, and served continuously until January, 1880. A. M. Cool was elected in 1879 and served until January, 1884. At the election in 1883 M. B. Huffman was elected, aftei-ward leaving the state. The office was declared vacant and W. H. VanGilder was appointed August 15, 1885. At the election of 1885 W. A. Elwood was elected and served two terms, giving way to George P. Haverland, who was elected in 1889 and who succeeded himself in 1891. J. G. Crinklaw was selected at the election in 1893, completing his two terms in January, 1898. J. H. Stevenson, elected in 1897, died soon after taking the oath of office, and John Maybury was appointed August 6, 1898. At the election of 1898 Nial Brainard was elected for the unexpired term of Mr. Stevenson. C. B. Van- Kirk was elected in 1899, serving one term, and was succeeded by E. E. Frisbie in 1901, reelected in 1903, and his successor was J. D. Miller, the present sheriff, who was elected in 1905 and 1907.

With the exception of the bailiffs and court stenographers, this includes the officers of the district court froia the organization of the county, omitting J. W. Skiles, who served from June, 1871, to October, 1871, but who performed no official act.

County Judges

D. V. Coe was judge from the organization of the county until May, 1875. Judge Coe was a good man in every respect, but had no special fitness for this office, and his acceptance of the same was more to please others than himself; in fact, he resigned before the end of his third term. R. G. King was appointed May 26th to succeed Judge Coe. Mr. King's history in Antelope County is known to all the pioneers. He gave way in January, 1876, to W. M. Lawrence, who was elected in 1875. S. D. Thornton succeeded Mr. Lawrence in January, 1878. Mr. Thornton was the first lawyer to serve as judge. He retired in January, 1880, giving way to M. A. Decamp. Mr. Decamp was a farmer living near Clearwater, and was held in high esteem by the early settlers. He discharged his duties satisfactorily but tired of the office and resigned in November of the same year. His successor, S. A. Sanders, was immediately appointed and entered upon the duties of his office and served until January, 1882. Mr. Sanders had been admitted to the bar and was also at one time editor of the Neligh "Journal." G. C. Palmer succeeded Mr. Sanders in 1882. Mr. Palmer was one of the old settlers. He had been a merchant and was for some time in the county treasurer's office. He was a man of good brain power, quick to discern, and of good impulses. His life was one of almost continuous suffering from rheumatism, which eventually caused his death. He was succeeded in January, 1884, by J. H. Gurney. Mr. Gumey was an attorney of much experience and was deemed a good lawyer. His usefulness was impaired by a stroke of paralysis and he never reached that prominence at the bar that was due him. S. D. Thornton's first administration of the office and the fact that he was an attorney secured for him the election in 1885. He qualified the following January and served until January, 1888, when he was succeeded by W. H. Holmes. Mr. Holmes had practiced law in Iowa, but at the time of his election lived on a farm south of Oakdale. He was well qualified and discharged his duties conscientiously. M. M. Case was a farmer. He took the oath of office in January, 1890. He had no special qualifications for the office, his son-in-law, B. F. Bomar, doing the clerical work. Mr. Bomar was elected in 1891 and served two terms with credit to himself and surrendered the office to B. F. Admire. Mr. Admire served from January, 1896, to November, 1897, when he resigned. He was an attorney of many years' practice in Oakdale, but was given more to the accumulation of property than to the law and directed his energies in that direction. Ill health caused him to resign. J. S. Fields was his successor by appointment and was twice elected, retiring from office January, 1902. Mr. Fields had hved in Antelope County nearly all of his life; he is a son-in-law of the first county judge, D. V. Coe. His business was that of a barber but he served many years as a justice of the peace, which work prepared him in a measure for his new duties. His career as a judge was along the course of his predecessors, and he acquitted himself with credit. J. M. Finch, who succeeded Mr. Fields in January, 1902, was a school teacher and a conscientious judge. He was alive to all the advanced ideas of the times and refused to become a candidate for the third term. In fact, he resigned December 23, 1905, and R. Wilson, who had succeeded him at the election, was appointed the same day. Mr. Wilson has been in the public eye since he located on his farm near Clearwater in 1873. He taught the second term of school in Oakdale, is a man of liberal education and a good logician. He was appointed county superintendent to succeed J. E. Lowes in 1874, and served until January, 1876, when he succeeded W. W. Putney as county clerk and served as such officer for ten years. He was admitted to the bar in 1890. He gave his attention mostly to examining real estate titles and probate work. At the time of his appointment as judge he was well equipped for the office. His methodical habits and general disposition to do things right has made him a valuable officer. The first of next January he will be fifteen years in office. He is the historian of the court-house and has the events of all of the offices well in hand.