Green County, Wisconsin - The Bar - Past and Present, 1884

The Bar - Past and Present

The history of the bar of any county deals with men who, as a rule, rank high in intelligence, and who have been, and are among the most potent forces in shaping its intellectual and social standard. Green county is not an exception to this rule. During the last fortyfive years there have been a number of attorneys who have lived within its limits and practiced law in its courts, who have earned enviable j)laces in the annals of the county.

The Bar Of The Past

The following are the names of those who have previously practiced law in Green county, but who are now dead, have moved away, or have retired from the profession:

E. T. Gardner. Elijah Temple Gardner was born Api-il 22, 1811, at Kittery, Maine. His parents, Silas E. Gardner and Huldali Ten)ple Gardner, removed soon after to Portsmouth, N. H. In 1816 they started for wbat was then known as the "Far West." They spent the winter of 1816-17 in the Holland Purchase, State of New York, and in the early spring of 1817 removed to Olean Point on the Alleghany river, built a flat boat, and set it afloat, with the whole family, and all their earthly possessions on board, proceeded down the river into the Ohio, and thence to Lawrenceburg, where the father died, leaving the family in very destitute circumstances. The scenery along the Alleghany and Ohio rivers, then a vast wilderness made a deep impression on the mind of the boy who so many years after was to work out in another wilderness a destiny for himself.

After the father's death, Huldah managed to get her worldly treasures back to Cincinnati where she was assisted by the Masonic fratern ity, of which her husband was a member. After remaining in Cincinnati till the summer of 1818 the family removed to Madison Co., 111. Here young Elijah attended a frontier school seven or eight months.

The rest of his schooling, till his arm grew strong enough to hew down obstacles to prosperity, was in the great school of adversity, where not one course was left out and where th« reviews and examinations were more frequent tiian the many of to-day are likely to experience. Always fond of books, what time was spared from the drudgery of life was given to reading and meditation by the ambitious and energetic spirit which made a man of the boy. At the age of sixteen friends desired to send him to college and educate him for the ministry in the M. E. Church, but being the sole dependence of his mother, his older brother having left home - he i)it'ferred to do battle with his muscle and unbridled will. His motto was: "A smooth seaiiL'ver makes a skillful mariner, and a courageous soldier never shuns the battle." It was several years after he came to Illinois that the Oliio and Mississippi rivers were navigated by steamboats, the transportation of freight being by means of "keel boats" and it took them five months in those old times, to make a trip from New Orleans to St. Louis.

In the spring of 1827, having managed to get a team of ponies, young Gardner rented eighteen acres of land, planted it in corn and cultivated it, and during tiie interim between planting and harvesting he would work out, doing such jobs as lie was able, bringing home his earnings which were twenty-five to fifty cents a day. Jit. Loui.s was then a small town, but had its attractions. Thither went the young man to get work. He was unsuccessful, and, by chance, while strolling along the levee, saw a boat billed for Galena. He hired out to the captain to work his pass;ige way and gave general satisfaction. He always aimed to do his duty. On the route, and when two days below Galena, he was taken sick with fever, and was left at Galena, a stranger and with but seventy-five cents of money, the captain refusing to pay him the small wages agreed upon. He had some relatives, a half brother and a cousin, somewhere in the mining regions about Galena, whom he had the luck to find the same night that he landed.

By following an Indian trail that led to the mines, he arrived at his relative's cabin at midnight, so weak that he was obliged to lay down several times on his route to gain a little rest. This wasatthecloseof the Winnebago War. The soldiers had come into Galena under Gen. Atkinson, and as the steamer landed, the soldiers were being discharged. The fever had its run and was followed by the shaking ague, which lasted nearly a year. The next year young

Gardner and his cousin came to the " Platteville Diggings," built a cabin about a mile north of where the beautiful village of Platteville now stands. In this cabin they spent the winter of 1827-28. Being often alone at nights, Gardner spent his time reading by an improvised lamp of lard, a rag and a button. His library was limited to a few books, among them the Bible and a history of the United States, a Webster's spelling book, which the young adventurer came to know most thoroughly. .

In those days, the society about the mining regions was " rough and ready," and but little calculated to inspire the culture or intellectual improvement. There were a few among the miners, however, who inclined to the higher level, and a "debating society" was formed, young Gardner being one of the leaders, and he gained quite a reputation as a disputant. He often said that he graduated by the side of a mineral hole. In the fall of 1828, he returned home, across the country ; traveled 250 miles and more, " without seeing a human habitation." Hy says he enjoyed this journey "through God's great wilderness, with the songs of birds in the groves, the prairies decorated with the wild flowers. It seemed to me, when I had been wandering alone through those primitive groves, as though I was attended by pure and beautiful 'invisibles,' and I felt an exhilaration that neither my tongue or pen can describe." On his return home he found his little property gone, and so began again. He built his second cabin, moved in, and then began the problem of life from a new hypothesis. In a country where everybody did his own work, had little to employ labor with, and with very modest wants, it was more difficult to solve the problem thrust upon him, than any that Eaclid ever propounded. In 1829, tile Gardners removed to St. Clair Co., 111. In the fall of 1831, having been married in the meanwhile to the estimable woman who bore liim faithful company in all his journey through life, he found himself in debt $500, and thai too, after working early and late at the liardcst kind of work - at ox teaming. After disposing of his ox team, he traded a twoyear-old colt he owned for some carpenter's tools, and went to Alton, TIL, to "help build up the town." So well did he succeed that his employer at the end of six weeks settled up with him and allowed him $1 a day; the matter of wages being left entirely with the boss. This was good wages in those days. Settling up his little bills, Mr. Gardner returned home on a visii to his wife and mother. He followed the carpenter and joiner trade till 1834, when he had the satisfaction of wiping out the last of the |500, and the interest, 12 per cent. In 1835, he had succeeded so well that he removed his family to Alton, erected a shop and engaged in house building on his own responsibility.

Here he soon established a reputation for promptness, honesty and thoroughness, and his business increased so rapidly that he had to turn away some jobs. His profits often ran up to $200 a month. In 1839, he had the misfortune to be sick and unable to work for nearly a year, and came near dying. Twice he visited Wisconsin to improve his health, and was greatly benefitted by his second journey, but on returning home the malady came back. He determined to move to Wisconsin in the spring of 1840, and setting out, arrived in Green county on the 10th day of June. Monroe then existed only in name. He built a cabin and saw-mill on the Skinner, eight miles west of the spot where this city now stands, which was then a virgin wilderness. Not a dwelling in sight, and the path of the Indian only served as an indication of the presence of humanity.

This venture required so much hard labor and vigilance that it had to be given up; and shortly after, Mr. Gardner, upon the advice of John A. Bingham, of New Mexico, who proved a friend indeed, engaged in the study and practice of law. He succeeded well; and fairly earned the reputation which he enjoyed for so many years, as a conscientious, careful and honest attorney, who regarded his client's interest as his own.

always provided, he could measure his case by the square rule of justice and truth. He has been known to abandon suit and client, when he became convinced that he had been deceived as to the facts in the case. But he never aban dolled a case wherein he thought he was right. He was admitted to the bar in 1843, and practiced law until his death, a period of over thirtyfive years, in Green county, - having tried many important suits ift the State and United States courts. He was appointed justice of the peace, in 1843, by Gov. Dodge, when Wisconsin was a Territory. He held public oflice in various capacities, to his own credit and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. He carried the principles of integrity and industry, aided by experience and good judgment, into public life, and was regarded by all who knew him, as an honest, upright man. He was county clerk for four years, before the township system of collecting taxes was adopted. He was district attorney for six years. He was a member of the last Territorial legislature, and represented the eighth senatorial district in the first Slate Senate, for two years. He refused a re-nomination and has always preferred to keep out of office when he could do so, without shirking his duty as a citizen. In politics, he was always a democrat, until James Buchanan was nominated for President; after which, until his death, he had been an enthusiastic rei)ub]ican. During the war he was appointed draft commissioner for this district and discharged his duty faithfully.

He was always an anti-slavery man. He hated tyranny in any form and this made him generous to a fault, even to those who opposed him honestly and fairly. He had charity; he gave freely and made his gifts all the more generous by giving quickly to those who came to him in distress. Many a young man, just starting out in life, engaging in business, will remember his kind words of advice, and expressions of good wishes and hopes for their success. His hand and heart were in every good enterprise that needed or called for his assistance, and bis deeds bore testimony to bis sincerity. His life was filled witb interesting incidents and pleasant reminiscences and so tliorougbly identified was be with the growth and progress of Green county, and the Stale, that its history is in part bis own epitaph. Many have come and gone from among this community, and children have grown up to manhood's estate, knowing him and respecting him for his many noble qualities, so many today mourn with his bereaved family, and loss of one of the noblest of mankind.

Mr. Gardner died near Monroe, on the 3d day of February, 1879. His funeral took place from the residence in Monroe, on the 5tb day of February, 1879, at 2 o'clock p. m., and was attended by a large concourse of relatives and friends. Rev. D. R. Howe, in an appropriate and impressive manner, led the services. The Masonic fratei'nity took charge of the funeral. John IF. Stewart.

It is sometimes a valual)ie service to the community and the public at large to call attention to strong, able and practical men of the more retiring kind whose example, services, and possibly leadership, it would be much better to have in demand than that of the more forward kind. A man of this retiring kind, strong, able and practical, is Hon. John W. Stewart, formerly of Monroe, now of Chicago. Few men in Chicago are better known among its active citizenship and leading spirits. A man of sterling character, thoroughly acquainted with the ways of men, the public wants, governmental methods and machinery, active, resolute and progressive, men say of him: here is a man who would make a capital head official for almost any important department of public affairs - national, State or municipal. All the while such men quietly attending to their own business well out of official range. It is, however, as has just been intimated, well worth while for the public to turn its attention to them ; even if in so doing, attention is entirely withdrawn from other directions. Something

The son of Rev. -John Stewart, a Methodist minister, who was for fifty years a member of the Ohio conference. Mr. Stewart was born at Vincennes, Ind., in 1822. He is of Scotch blood, pure enough to be a Scotchman, although three generations of his family preceding him were born in this country. On account of the itineracy of his father his early childhood was spent in various places; but what was thus lost was compensated for by quickened powers of perception and observation. At the age of twelve he earnestly solicited the privilege of learning the art of printing. Entering the office of the Times at Troy, Ohio, he remained there for two years, gaining a large amount of practical knowledge, and laying the foundation for his subsequent useful life. After leaving the printing and newspaper office he entered the preparatory department of the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, and subsequently entered Augusta College, Kentucky, where he was a student for three years. In the winter of 1840-1 be obtained permission of his parents to come into the great undeveloped northwest. Arriving at Prairie du Chien by steamer, by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in the spring of 1841, he immediately found new friends at Lancaster, in Grant Co., Wis., and entered the office of Messrs. Barber & Dewey for the purpose of studying law. Shortly afterwards he was appointed deputy clerk of the United States district court. Soon after this he was appointed postmaster -of Lancaster, which office he held for one year, when he located at Monroe, Green Co., Wis. Here he was admitted to the bar and entered on the practice of law. He also commenced in this place in May, 1851, the publication of a weekly newspaper, the Monroe Sentinel, which he disposed of before the close of the first volume. The paper is still one of the leading papers of the State. But Mr. Stewart bad formed a distaste for close office work; he had become interested in land speculations going on in the new region. In 1846, at the age of twenty-four, he was elected in the large and, for tliat time, old district composed of Dane, Green and Sauk counties, to the Territorial legislature, and elected again to tlie succeeding and last Territorial legislature as a whig, when the district was largely democratic. In 1860 he was elected to the Senate of the State and was an influential and active participator in the initial war legislation. About this time he was also elected on joint ballot of the legislature a regent of the State university for a term of six years. In 1862 he was commissioned by President Lincoln, commissioner of allotment for the State of Wisconsin, and in the performance of his official duties visited the greater part of the Wisconsin regiments scattered throughout the east, west and south. He lived in Wisconsin in all twenty-nine years.

In 1869 he moved to Chicago, and has here become one of its most substantial and influential citizens. Against his inclinations and wishes he was taken up by some enthusiastic friends and elected alderman of the fourth ward, and served with distinction as an active member of the "reform city council" during the term of Mayor Health. He was the originator among other important measures of the abolition and re-organization of the boarJ of public works and the health department of the city, and of the initial steps for building the City Hall. In 1878 he was elected county commissioner of Cook county, from the city district, by a majority of 7,796. He was chairman of the county board in 1879-80. Concerning the long public career of Mr. Stewart one fact can be recorded which can scarcely be claimed for the record of any other man of equal prominence and whose public services have been so long and varied: Of the thousands of votes which he has recorded as a member of various legislative and other deliberative bodies never has there the slightest ground for fault or criti cism been found when time has been given to weigh the results of his votes and the reasons which determined the way in which they were cast. So careful, deliberate, conscientious and discreet has he always been in discharging the public duties, aiul serving the public interests committed to his hands.

Mr. Stewart was a whig of the Henry Clay school before the organization of tiie republican party, of which he has been a member ever sijice. Of both these parties he has several times been a member of the State central committee in Wisconsin.

Mr. Stewart has also been a sagacious and successful business man. He is a man of broad, hearty and most generous nature. Conscientious and resolute, of the strongest integrity, with enlarged practical ideas of life, he is a genial, affable gentleman of unostentatious habits and life who delights greatly in his family and home, besides being a man of broad, enlightened views and large public spirit.

Edwin E. Bryant, of Madison, was born in the town of Milton, Vt., Jan. 10, 1835; received an academic education and was two years at the New Hampton Institute, supporting himself by teaching or working on a farm; left Vermont in 1856 and went to Buffalo, N. Y-, as reporter on the Buffalo Courier; came to Wisconsin in 1857; finished a course of reading law in Janesville, and went to Monroe, where he commenced practice in 1858. During the campaign of 1860 he was partner and one of the editors of the Monroe Sentinel. In May, 1861, he entered the military service as a private; was 1st lieutenant and adjutant of the 3d regiment, Wisconsin Infantry; served in Virginia, participating in the battles of Bolivar Heights, Va., Oct. 16, 1861; Winchester, May 1862; Cedar Mountain, Aug. 9, 1862; and the several engagements of Pope's campaign in Virginia; Antietam, Sej)t. 17, 1862; Hooker's battle of Chancellorsville, May 2 and 3, 1863; Beverly Ford, Va., June 5, 1863; Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, 1863; Falling Water, July 14, 1863; was in brigade sent from the field to suppress the draft riots; went west with

Hooker's corps in October, 1863, and joined the Army of the Cumberland-; served there till July 1, 1864; was then appointed commissioner of enrollment of the third district of Wisconsin July 1, 1864; served as such till February, 1865; then returned to the field as lieutenantcolonel of the 50lh regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers; was iti w-estern Missouri in pursuit of guerillas when hostilities closed; was then detailed as judge advocate of a military commission at headquarters, department of Missouri, to try the boat burners employed by the confederate government to fire the shipping on the Mississippi river; completing this duty he resigned his commission and returned to Monroe and resumed the practice of law in April, 1866; was president of the board of directors of public schools in Monroe from 1866 to 1868; removed to Madison in 1868; was private secretai-y to Gov. Lucius Fairchild from 1868 till the close of his term in 1872; was chairman of the board of supervisors of the town of Madison in 1871; was adjutant-general of Wisconsin in 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1876, 1877, 1878 to 1882; was member of the legislature in 1878 and chairman of the assembly committee on the Revision of the Statutes, in which capacity he assisted in the work of incorporating the laws of 1878 into the revision, and bringing out the statutes. He was in partnership with Col. William F. Vilas in the practice of law from 1872 till 1882; assisted in the revision and annotation of eighteen volumes of the Supreme Court reports, prepared the thirty-seventh volume for publication, and, with J. C. Spooner, published a compilation of town laws in 1869. In 1884 he brought out a Treatise on the Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace in the State of Wisconsin, being a work in the nature of Cowen's treatise on the same subject. In 1883 he purchased an interest in the Madison Democrat, prompted thereto by desire to devote himself to literature, journalism and the writing of books on legal topics.

Few men have had a more varied and adventurous experience than the subject of this sketch, and the necessarily condensed and incomplete record of the leading events of his life read more like fiction than a chapter from real life. Aside from the thrilling character of its personal narrative, the sketch possesses peculiar interest and value, as furnishing, incidentally, an authentic history of the rapid rise, the reckless and depraved character of the class of men and women who throng to the frontier settlements of the west. The moralist and historian may herein find much material on which to employ their respective vocations.

Edmund Bartlett was born in Northampton, Mass., Oct. 4, 1822, and is the son of Edmund Morris and Laura (Randall) Bartlett, the former a native of the same town, tlie latter of Worthington, Berkshire Co., Mas&. His father was born July 25, 1795, was a soldier of the War of 18 12, entering as a private and passing through the intermediate grades to the rank of first sergeant. He subsequently took much interest in military matters, became an enthusiastic student of military tactics, and was afterward colonel of a regiment of Massachusetts Light Infantry, at the head of which " he escorted Gen. LaFayette into Northampton in the last visit of the distinguished nobleman to the United States, (1824). He was a very active, consistent and useful member of the Congregational Church from boyhood till his death, and was recognized by all classes as a leader in every good work. He was a diligent reader of history, and, with a tenacious memory, acquired an extensive knowledge of its general details. He was also a man of remarkable industry and enterprise, and generous and noble in all his impulses. In 1832 he removed with his family to Ohio, and settled in the township of Brecksville, Cuyahoga county, some twelve miles south of Cleveland - at that time a wilderness - and known as the "Western Reserve;" but Col. Bartlett was a strong and resolute man, and with his ax he soon subdued the forest, and made his farm of 180 acres one of the best and most highly cultivated in that section of the country, with an orchard of over 1,000 of the choicest varieties of apple trees, besides smaller fruits in abundance. He was for several years president of the county agricultural society, and was well known throughout the region for his valuable efforts to advance the agricultural and horticultural interests of his neighborhood. His intimate friends and associates included such men as Hon. Louis P. Harvey, late governor of Wisconsin; Prof. E. H. Nevin; Hon. E. S. Hamlin; Hon. John C. Vaughan, editor of the "Cleveland Leader-^'' Prof. Jared P. Kirtland, Cleve land Medical College, celebrated as a lecturer on agricultural chemistry and as a scientist; and others. In politics he was raised a whig, but on the dissolution of that organization afhliated with the free-soilers; and later became identified with the republican party.

On the 6tli day of December, 1821, he married Laura Randall, a lady of superior education and many accomplishments, who was born July 2, 1795. Before her marriage she moved in the society of which William Cullen Bryant was a member, and was well acquainted with that distinguished poet, many of whose youthful sayings and doings she w^ell remembers, and can at this period (December 1876) relate in the most intelligent and interesting manner. The fruit of this marriage was two children - Edmund, the subject of this sketch, and Lucy B., wife of W. W. Wright, Esq., of Monroe, Wis. Col. E. M. Bartlett and wife followed their children to Wisconsin, where the former died at Monroe, April 24, 1868; the latter, at the age of over eighty-one years, is in good health and in full posession of all her mental faculties.

Mr. Bartlett claims lineal descent from Adam Bartlett, a Norman gentleman and an officer in the army of William the Conqueror, who accompanied that monarch to England, fought under him at Hastings, and was subsequently granted a large tract of land (entailed estate) in Stopham, Sussex county, England, which remains in the [)ossession of his descendants to this day, having passed to them in the regular order of primogeniture; the present head of the family being Col. Walter Bartlett, a member of the British parliament. Robert Bartlett, a younger scion of that family, sailed from England in the ship Ann, in the year 1623, and landed at Plymouth, Mass., in July of that year.

He subsequently married Mary Warren, daughter of Richard Warren, and from that union our subject is descended. John Bartlett a member of the Sussex family, received distinguishing honors from the "Black Prince," for his capture of the castle of Fontenoy in France at the head of the Sussex troops. Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was from the same ancestry, as was also Richard Bartlett of Newburyport, Mass., a representative in the colonial legislature, 1679-80-81-84. The grandfather of our subject was Preserve Bartlett, also a native of Northampton, Mass, who married Mary Parsons, from whose family sprung Theophilus Parsons, L. L. D., the author of "Parsons on Contracts," and other valuable standard law books.

Until ten years of age Edmund Bartlett enjoyed all the educational advantages of his native England village, was a good reader and declaimer, and had made considerable proficien cy in Murray's grammar and other studies; but for several years after his removal to the wilds of the then "Far West," he had very few educational advantages. The schools of that day in the "backwoods" were generally presided over by incompetent teachers, while their terms were limited to three months in the winter. During one of those terms the "master" each day detailed a squad of the boys to practice the manly art of "self-defense," wrestling and other physical exercises, which, rude and barbarous though they may seem to the present generation, were not without beneficial results to the muscular system. The other exercises consisted of reading, spelling and declamation. The schools, however, improved with the country, and subsequently teachers were generally more competent; but the only academic advantages our subject enjoyed were about six months attendance at an institution presided over by the Rev. Samuel Bissell, at Twinsburg, in Summit Co., Ohio. But lie was a diligent student and delighted in literaiy pursuits, and studied at home, aided by his parents, especially bis mother. At the age of sixteen he procured elementary works in the Greek and Latin languages, which he studied with great avidity under the direction of the Rev. Newton Barrett, a learned Congregational minister of his town. He studied in the field and in the forest; wherever he went, or in whatever labor engaged, a book was his constant companion. At the age of eighteen he commenced teaching school, and for twelve consecutive years taught not less than three months each year and became one of the most thorough and accomplished scholars of his day, whose talents would have shed luster upon any profession or avocation upon which they might have been concentrated. On May 23, 1844, he married Catharine A, Righter, and turned his attention to farming, an occupation at which he continued for ten years. In the spring of 1854 he removed his family to Monroe, Wis., expecting to continue farming, but being governed by circumstances, he clerked for a time in the office of the register of deeds, and in the year following became deputy clerk of the circuit court, and in the fall of 1856 was elected to the position of clerk of the circuit court, which office he filled till the end of 1858. He next served two years as cashier of the Monroe Banking Company, and in 1861 was appointed postmaster of Monroe by Abraham Lincoln, his commission, which was signed by Montgomery Blair, bearing date April on March 6, 1860, admitted to the bar of the State, and subsequently licensed to practice in the United States courts. In January, 1861, Gov. A. W. Randall, in anticipation of the threatened rebellion, commenced organizing the militia of the State, and presented to Mr. Bartlett a colonel's commission; and in the latter part of that year, and during nearly all of 1862, he canvassed the counties of southern Wisconsin, making patriotic speeches, and under a recruiting commission enlisting men in the service, until the work of obtaining recruits became difficult, and men expressed a strong repugnance to being asked to enter the service by those who were themselves staying at home. Col. Bartlett then pledged himself to enlist as a private soldier, and at once wrote the following patriotic and self-sacrificing letter to the postmaster-general:

Sir: - I have long chafed under the restraints of home and official responsibilities, and desired to be among the number of those who are plucking honors from the points of rebel bayonets. I can endure it no longer. I therefore respectfully tender to you my resignation of the office of postmaster at Monroe, and recommend the appointment of D. W. Ball as my successor. His resignation was accepted and the appointment made as recommended, and on Feb. 17, 1863, he enlisted as a private soldier in company B, 31st Wisconsin Volunteers, and on March 1, 1863, marched with his regiment into Dixie's land. He served faithfully and w^ell to the close of the war, and was honorably mustered out of the service in May, 1865, never having been home during the entire period. He was appointed and served for several months as captain of company L, 3d United States Heavy Artillery. After his return from the war he was employed as book-keeper for a large commission house in Chicago, which position he held but a short time, when he was induced ''to take the stump" in behalf of Gen. Ed. W. Salomon, republican candidate for the office of clerk of Cook county, and addressed the people on the political issues of the day in every ward and precinct of the city of Chicago. Gen. Salomon was elected, and our subject became his chief clcik. About the same time, however, he received overtures from the quartermaster and commanding officer of the troops stationed at Julesburg, in Colorado, to accept the position of chief clerk of the quartermaster's department of tliat post, and being fond of adventure, and desirous of seeing the country, hn accepted the flattering offer, and in November, 1865, removed to Fort Sedgwick, a military post just establislied on the south bank of the Platte, and adjacent to the "ranch" of Jules Bernard, in Colorado, and named Julesinirg. The original town consisted of only three or four sod houses, used as telegraph offices and stables of the Overland Stage Company. He entered at once upon his duties in the quartermaster's department, where he continued for about a year and a half; and during that time he traveled more tha 2,fi00 miles on horseback, his only companion being a scout in the employ of the government - through a country swarming with hostile Indians, visiting nearly every military post l)etween Idaho and the Missouri river, and collecting material for reports required by the government. 'I'hese journeys were full of wild adventures ami hair-breadth escapes from the Indians. He traveled nearlv all the summer of 1S66 with his single comi)aiiion, stopping occasionally at ranches or military posts over night, but generally camping out. It had been customary to accompany such expeditions by a military escort of twentyfive men, but his experienced scout considered that they would be safer alone, dispensed with the escort. In July, 1867, when the Union Pacific Railroad had arrived within four miles of Fort Sedgwick, :\[r. Bartlett left the quartermaster's department for the purpose of embarking in trade in the new and notorious city of Julesburg - where in the preceding April he had killed the timid antelope, and where no signs of human habitation appeared - now a city of over 1,200 houses, with a population of 6,000 inhabitants. It was the terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad, and there all goods in transit for the Pacific States and Territories, military posts and mining towns west of that place, must be unloaded froin the train and transported to destination by mule and ox teams. The business transacted was immense. Hundreds of portable buildings were brought from Omaha; many were of adobe, many of sod, and scores of people carried on an extensive and profitable business under canvas tents. There were no family residences, as few men would dare to take a family to such a place. There were many high-minded, honorable men engaged in legitimate business, but the city was crowded with saloons, gambling houses and bagnios, and pickpockets, thieves, murderers and desperadoes of the worst kind flocked there from every part of America. The original ranch of Jules Ijernard was known to be in Colorado, but near the line separating that Territory from the State of Nebraska, but it was not at this time known to any one in which Territory the pres ent Julesburg was located. It was at first a city without a government, laws or officers to protect those engaged in business, and it was found absolutely necessary to adopt some measures of safety and protection. The business men of the town therefore held a meeting and adopted ordinances for the government of the city, and resolutions pledging themselves to such taxation as should be necessary to sustain an efficient city government. They elected a mayor and a council of five members, a clerk and treasurer. A vigilance committee of 150 members was also organized. The mayor was empowered to appoint such number of policemen as he might deem necessary, and draw ad libitum upon the treasurer for their payment, amenable only to the people for an abuse of his power and jjunishable by removal. He was also declared ex-officio judge of the police court. The first mayor was a gentleman named Cook, but he soon retired from the office,and Mr.

Bartlett, who had become consjjicuous among the "vigilants," was appointed his successor. An arrangement was effected with the commanding officer at Fort Sedgwick by which, in the event of resistance to the constituted authorities, the aid of troops could be procured. But the military authorities, while sustaining the city government in the protection of business and in maintaining order, would permit the exercise of no civil function by that organization; hence there were no means of enforcing contracts or collecting debts if parties concerned refused to pay.

Mr. Bartlett at once entered upon the duties of his office, increasing force to twenty-five,agreeing to pay each man |125 per month, and otherwise improved the apparatus of government. He caused a log jail to be erected, and kept a well armed guard around it day and night. Rioting and murder were of daily occurrence, and he was compelled to hold court seven days of the week. The punishment of all but capital offenses was by fine and imprisonment, but in case of murder the culprit was ordered to be imprisoned till the United States marshal at Denver or Omaha could be notified; the vigilants, however, generally disposed of him the first night, so that the marshal was in a great measure relieved. By fines the mayor collected money enough to defray nearl)^ all the expenses of the city government, so that resort to taxation was seldom necessary. A single case will suffice as an illustration of the character of those brought before him^ for trial, and his manner of administering justice. His court room was a rough board building 20x50 feet. Behind a rough table sat the judge upon a rough bench. Around his waist was a belt, hanging from which were two heavy Colt's revolvers. Two desperadoes, named Jack Hayes and "Shorty," arrived in the city from Cheyenne, and soon made their presence known by rioting among the saloons and gambling houses, destroying property, discharging their revolvt'rs, threatening life, and assaulting and maltreating several persons, and swearing they would kill any man who attempted to arrest them. The two roughs were soon brought before the mayor, however, in charge of half a dozen stout policemen, 'i hey had a large number of friends and sympathizers in the city, over fifty of whom were in the court room, each heavily armed with knives and revolvers; threats were freely made that the prisoners should never pay a fine nor go to jail. The vigilants were also present in considerable force, and well armed. The judge summoned a jury of business men, permitted the defendants to be heard by counsel, examined a large number of witnesses, and gave them a fair trial. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, whereupon the judge arose, with a cocked revolver in each hand, and proceeded to render the judgment of the court, which was that each pay a fine of $250, and be iniprisoned until the fine and costs were made. Revolvers were drawn all over the room, but the judge coolly added: "I have heard your threats and understand your intentions, and if you are disposed to resist the execution of the sentence, the best time for you to commence is now, and the best place is here; and I give you notice that there is room enough in the sand-hills for every man of you. Police, remove these prisoners to the jail." Over 200 revolvers were in the hands ot" those present, but not a shot was fired, and the prisoners were removed to jail. In less than two hours they had paid their fines and were at large again. In a short time they returned to Cheyenne, and were soon after hung by the vigilants for murder. ^ The mayor did not often find it necessary to telegraph to the fort for troops. On one occasion a detachment of cavalry dashed into the city and reported to him for orders half an hour from the time he dispatched for them. At another time a comi^any of infantry in army wagons drawn by mules reported within an hour.

his father, hastily returned to Monroe, and in the following spring opened a law office, and continued in the successful practice of liis profession until the autumn of 1^69, when lie received a flattering offer to edit a republican newspaper at Thibodeaux, the capita! of Lafourche parish, in the State of Louisiana,which he accepted, repaired to the place and entered upon liis labors. A republican press association was organized at New Orleans while he was editing the Lafourche Repuhlican - the first organization of the kind in Louisiana - of which he was made secretary. In April, 1870, he resigned the editorial chair to accept a situation in the New Orleans custom house, but during the summer, his health failing, he resigned his position, returned to Monroe, and after a season of sickness resumed the practice of his profession. In 1874 he was again elected clerk of the circuit court of Green county, and re-elected in 1876, and now iiolds that office.

In January, 1857, he received the first degrees in Masonry, by dispensation, and soon after look all the chapter degrees. He has several times been elected master of Smith Lodge, No 31, F. <fc A. M., located at Monroe. He is also an Odd Fellow; received the degrees of the subordinate lodge in 1855, and has passed all the chairs in Monroe Lodge, No. 72. He also received the encampment degrees in Odd Fellowship. He is not a member of any Church organization, but holds to the orthodox faiih, and is generous in his contributions to religious and benevolent objects. In personal appearance Mr. Bartlett is what rnay be called a tine looking man - fair complexion, sanguine countenance, with brown hair and hazel eyes, five feet nine inches in height, good breadth of shoulders, measuring forty-two inches around the chest, and weighing 185 pounds. Reared as he was, in the backwoods, he excelled in all athletic sports; he was swift of foot, and found but few equals at wrestling and all the various muscular efforts to which youth is addicted. He is a superb horseman, and most fearless and daring rider; an unerring marksman with rifle and pistol. His skill with the former weapon was known to many of the hostile Indians of the plains, not a few of whom he sent to the happy hunting grounds of their fathers. He killed more than fifty buffaloes from the saddle during the season he remained on the plains.

As a writer and public speaker he has a few superiors. His pen is trenchant and graphic. His letters from the seat of war during the Rebellion were of the most thrilling and vivid character, his descriptive powers being of the highest order, while his style is scholarly and ornate. He is also favorably known in the regions of fictitious literature, and as a poet has produced a volume of verse, which, for brilliancy of conception, beauty of language, depth of thought and fineness of fancy, is excelled by few of the laureates of these days, and which is destined to perpetuate his name for all time. As a fluent and ready speaker, graceful, complacent, and commanding an exhaustless flow of language, he is the peer of any "stump" orator in the country. His marriage with Miss Righter - still in the prime and grace of womanhood - was blessed with a family of four children, two of whom - Edmund Morgan, born April 8, 1849, and Ellen L., born Oct. 16, 1846 - survive. The son studied law in the office of Judge Dunwiddie, of Monroe, was admitted to the bar of the State at the age of twenty-one, and three years later to that of the United States courts. He subsequently attended the law school at Albany, N. Y., oire yfear, and graduated from that institution. On Sept. 14, 1875, he married Lida L. Filkins, a beautiful and accomplished lady of that city, and entered into partnership with the Hon. A. J. Colvin, one of the oldest and best lawyers of Albany. Miss Bartlett, the only daughter, is a young lady of rare beauty of person, amiable and engaging manners, of the highest mental endowments, and superior culture and refinement.

The Bartlett "arms," which are now in some of the families in America, is a device consisting of three open gloved hands on a shield, gold tassels pendant from the wrists, a swan couched, with wings extended. In the English branch of the family these "arms" have been "quartered" with some eight other noble families who have become extinct in the male line - the female representatives of whom have intermarried with male members of the Bartlett family. Mr. Bartlett is now a resident of Omaha, Neb.

Andrew J. Brundage came from Andover, N. Y., in 1855, and practiced law until 1859, in Monroe. He was taken with consumption and died on the road to California, and was buried in a solid rock coffin, on the plains. He was a man of great promise, but his healih was poor. He was jovial and and full of fun - was bound to ride on top, and was never discouraged. He was an honorable and upright man, and was quite a politician. He was always ready to speak when called upon; being sometimes unable to get on the stand, he was frequently placed there by others. After Mr, Brundage's death, his widow returned to Andover, and thence to the city of New York where she died. They had tvyo sons born to them, one of whom - Maynard K. - is now an operator in a telegraph office in Kansas.

William C. Fillehrown was born in Winthrop, Kennebec Co., Maine., in the year 1800. During his youth, he received a good education, as thorough as his native town afforded. His father was a wealthy farmer on the Kennebec, and William was looked upon as a man of more than ordinary abilities. In 1826, he removed to Penobscot county and engaged in a hotel, as clerk for a time, and was appointed deputy sheriff - -which office he held twenty years. He was town clerk and treasurer of Oconto county for many years. In 1832, he married Ann Maria Reed, of that town. With his wife and two children, he removed to Monroe, Green Co., Wis., in 1840, a distance of 1,500 miles, in an emigrant wagoji. He died, Nov. 9, 1876, and was buried in Monroe. He had the entire respect of his fellowmen - and was very faithful to any trust imposed on him. He had a family of ten childrtMi - three sons and three daughters are now living.

Mr. Fillehrown practiced law to a limited extent in Monroe and was a justice of the peace. He was a strong republican and temperance man. He started the first temperance society on the Penobscot, in 1830.

He had the respect of his fellow men in Maine, as well as in Wisconsin. He was a good talker and very social. He was a Universalist in belief.

John B. Perry ^ one of the pioneers of Green county, was born at Elizabeth town, Essex Co., N. J., Dec. 11, 1812. His father, Nathan Perry, was born in the town of New Ipswich, N. H., and was there married to Rebecca Brown, of the same town. They soon after, moved to York State and settled in Essex county, where he bought unimproved land, lived on that a few years, then moved to Elizabethtown. He soon became prominent and was appointed under sheriff, and held that office for many years. He served in til War of 1812, and participated in the battle of Platlsburg. He died in Elizabpthtown in 1847. The subject of our sketch grew to manhood in Elizabethtown, securing liis education in the public schools. In 1838 he came west and located at Dundee, III., where he engaged in teaching school. In December, 18o9, became to Green county, and engaged in minini^ lead ore at Exeter. In 1842 he was appointed justic of the peace by Gov. Doty. He ri'ninined in E.xeter until 1844, when he returned to Dundee and there engaged in farming. In December, 1841), he returned to Green county and engaged in teaching at Albany, January, 1S47. In the fall of 1847, he went to Monroe and read law in the office of J. W. Stewart, until the fall of 1848, then again went to Exeter and was elected justice of the peace there in 1849. In 1850, he was elected town clerk, and the same year, he was appointed United States marshal, to take the census of Green county. In 1851, he removed to Albany, and in 1852, was elected justice in that town, and has held the office contiiniously since that time, lie has also iield other offices of trust. He served as town clerk and deputy town clerk eighteen years. He has filled the office of county commissioner, two years; has been notary public, twelve years, and school director, fifteen years. In 1881, was sergeant at arms of the assembly at Madison. He was joined in marriage, in 1840, to Amy M. Kellogg. She was born in Chautauqua Co., N. Y. They have seven children - Rebecca J>., Nathan A., Cora A., Amy M., Oliver II., Martlia A. and Edwin R. In 188.3 Mr. Perry acted as attorney for the village of Albany and secured the incorporation of the village. He was admitted to the bar, in Monroe, in 1854.

The Bar Of To-Dav

P. J. Clawson, A. S. Douglas, Brooks Dunwiddie, Biram Medbery, A. N. Randall, C. N. Carpenter, Colin W. Wright, B. S. Kerr, S. W. Abbott, John 13. Perry, Burr Spragiie, O. S. Putnam, John Luchsinger, C. A. TofHemire and P. C. Lam pert.