Marathon County, Wisconsin - Chapter 26, 1913

Bench And Bar

Four of the former judges of the circuit in which this county is situated are now dead, and as to them some recollections of their characteristics and incidents of their judicial career seem appropriate.

It is needless to say that none of them was ever suspected in the least of being influenced by political considerations, or held any other fealty to any party, except such as under our form of government every patriotic man voluntarily chooses. Indeed, it has ever been the policy of this state to keep judicial positions out of politics, and for that reason all judicial elections ever since the organization of the state, were and are held in the spring election, or town meeting day. It was expected that under that mode of selecting and electing candidates, only the best material would be chosen, and in that respect the people were not disappointed. As a rule, with hardly any exception in the state, and certainly without exception the judges in this circuit, were men of great ability, integrity, and honor.

But to the later generations who may know but little of the former judges, some little incidents of personal characteristics may be interesting reading.

Judge Larrabee

Judge Larrabee's name is scarcely more than a tradition at the present time, and the old settlers who might tell us something of him have gone, too. He held several terms of court here, but either because there was no courthouse to hold court, or for want of business, he adjourned two terms of court after one day, and then there is no record that he ever came back again.

Judge C.A.Te

Judge Cate succeeded him, and from that time on, the records are fairly well kept and quite a large amount of judicial work was transacted, for Judge

Cate was a hard worker himself and made the attorneys work as well. He never had the benefit of a stenographic rejx^rter, but took all the evidence himself in long hand, and old lawyers have been heard to say that they would prefer to draw a bill of exception from his minutes rather than from the stenographer's evidence, because so much shorter, only the important evidence having been taken down in writing, which answered all the purposes. Judge Cate was an excellent fast writer, and when one was fairly acquainted with his hand writing, it could be read with ease.

Judge Cate was essentially dignified and courtly in his manner, which fitted well with his distinguished appearance and classical face. He was an able and upright judge, but was essentially an advocate, and for that reason not entirely at home on the bench. He enjoyed a joke, but one would as easily have looked for one from him while presiding in court as from a Roman senator.

His mental and intellectual make-up made him a strong figure for the forum ; as an advocate before a jury he had no superior in the state, and it is to be regretted that the political complexion of the district in which he lived all his life, was averse to his political opinions, and that he had only one term in Congress where he surely would have made a shining mark, if returned for a few more terms, for the benefit of his constituents and the state at large.

His career was remarkable from many points of view. He worked as a common laborer when he first came into the pinery, hardly over nineteen years of age, wheeling dirt into the Schofield dam and working in saw mills for a while, until he earned money enough to open a law office, and began the practice of the law, which was meagre enough at that time. Soon, however, he was elected member of the assembly for Portage and Marathon county, and made one of the managers in the Hubbell impeachment trial, which ended in the Judge Hubbell's triumphant acquittal.

On one occasion an attorney who duly loved a joke, summed for the defense before a jury, and not having any facts to rely on for a favorable verdict, indulged in a good deal of criticism and ridicule of the opposing attorney, much of which was pretended for "showing up." \Mien he had done, he made a grab for his hat and cane preparatory for leaving the court room, when the opposing attorney who had to listen in silence to what seemed to him an uncalled for and nonsensical argument, got up and addressed the court, saying: "Your Honor, I want you to order Mr. to stay

A young man on his examination for admission to the bar under the old rule, having gone fairly well through the examination so far, was asked the question : "Why is it necessary that a promissory note must be in writing?" and upon his hesitation to answer, the judge came to his assistance with a knowing twinkle in his eye, saying, "You see, if the note was not in writing, you could not indorse it for a friend." Doubtless that had been one of the judge's experi,ences with promissory notes.

Judge Webb

has a shrewd, cjuiet vain of humor that was always kindly. Instances might be multiplied, but a few will illustrate not only his humor, but the justice and kindness of his nature.

On one occasion a young lawyer was arguing before him an appeal from the decision of a justice of the peace, and was endeavoring with great earnestness to clinch a nail that he had driven home to the best of his ability of one eyelid, that was a hobby of his, "you have said that ten times before." "Your honor," responded the discomfited lawyer, "I beg your pardon ; I forgot that I was not in justice court where I repeated it twenty times without being understood." The judge responded with an entire change in tone : "I am the one who ought to ask for pardon, argue your case in your own way."

Another time when a youngster at the bar had at last completed a long and searching cross examination in a cow case to his satisfaction. Judge Webb suggested to him dryly that there was still time to ask the witness one more question not yet asked "on \vhich side of the fence the milk pail went upon the bench with a host of wann personal friends in and out of the bar, who had been accustomed to call him "Charlie." This in no way less- ened the effectiveness of his judicial work, but it made it a little hard for him at times in quieting the controversies that will occasionally arise between attorneys, even in the trial of cases. His natural quick temper also intensified the situation. Nevertheless his success in restraining himself in such instances was remarkable.

It is recorded of him that once, when a placid phlegmatic friend counseled him in a fatherly Sunday school way that it was his duty to overcome was appointed judge of the sixteenth judicial circuit by Gov. Edw. Scolfield in the spring of 1898 and elected in the same spring; he held his first term in Marathon county in May of that year.

He had been in the practice of the law in this county ever since 1864, been a leader of the bar for many years, and it was his laudable ambition, which is the ambition of most every lawyer who loves his profession, to wind up his career as a lawyer and public man upon the bench of the circuit court, that court being the only court in the state having general jurisdiction.

He lived to see his ambition gratified, and having been re-elected after the end of his first term, showing that the people of the circuit approved of his administration as circuit judge, he voluntarily resigned the office in the summer of 1898, after fuUfilling the duties of this high office for ten years. He felt that he had done his full duty, and that after a life work of over fifty years, loaded with honor and in comfortable circumstances, he might well take a rest and spend his remaining years in leisure and caring for his health. He not only resigned as judge, but also withdrew from legal work as well, taking pleasure in travel and sightseeing. His work as secretary of the Northern Chief Iron Company in which he has a large financial interest is all that occupies his attention, which leaves him plenty of time for recreation. Next to his official duties as circuit judge, he will be best remembered here as the leader who successfully fought and defeated the bonding of the county for $250,000 bearing ten per cent interest for twenty years, for a spur track of the Wisconsin Central Railroad from Stevens Point.

A. H. Reid

was appointed and elected to succeed Judge Silverthorn and is the present circuit judge. He was admitted to practice in Madison in 1890, a graduate of the state university of Wisconsin, and immediately after admission became a member of the firm of Curtis & Curtis under the firm name of Curtis, Curtis & Reid in Merrill, Lincoln county, Wisconsin, which became the leading law firm in that city, and where he remained until his election as circuit judge. He then took up his residence at Wausau, Marathon county, being by far the largest county in the circuit, and Wausau, by reason of railroad facilities, the easiest of approach of the county seats.

Since his elevation to the bench, the work of the circuit court has immensely increased, partly explained on the general increase of all business in this county and in the northern part of the state, but largely also because a large amount of legal work is brought before him for decision from other circuits. He enjoys in an unbounded degree the confidence of the bar of other counties as well as of those in his circuit, and when for some reason, cases are removed from the county where instituted, the choice of the attorneys favors this county and this judge, because of the enviable record made by him as judge or arbiter of differences between litigating parties.

This applies not only to matters in litigation of private rights, but to criminal cases as well. The time of Judge Reid is always occupied, leaving him but little time, if any, for rest. In the few years since his election to the bench, he has been called upon to hold court for other judges in twenty counties besides his own, and there is not one judge in the state whose time is more taken up than his with the trial of cases.

There is a general feeling throughout the state that the next vacancy happening on the supreme court of this state, should be filled with his elevation to the highest tribunal which would add to the confidence which the people have for the same, and reflect lustre upon the court.

The Bar

In early years the records show that Eli R. Chase was a prominent figure among the bar. Most of the business transacted shows him connected with one side or the other. Nevertheless it could not have been very lucrative. With money as scarce as we were told it was among businessmen, it is not likely that it was more flush among lawyers. Chase was postmaster for a temi and removed from this county and practiced his profession in California, where he died in the year 191 2. About the middle of the sixties (1864) W. C. Silverthorn, then a very young man, came to Wausau to practice his profession, the law, and with Eli R. Chase divided the practice. Soon after his coming he was elected district attorney and re-elected several times, and in 1873 formed a partnership with another newcomer, M. A. Hurley, under the firm name of Silverthorn & Hurley. This firm from its beginning was the prominent finn in this county without a rival, until both members retired more or less from actual practice about the year 1890, or soon thereafter.

For many years this firm carried on its large business without any other assistance except a copyist in the office, while the number of young lawyers which came into practice about that time or soon thereafter, nearly always had Judge Cate as an assistant at a trial. The firm of James & Crosby, both young men, acquired a large practice, too, but James died young. Crosby did not survive him many years, and with the death of B. \V. James, the practice of the firm and surviving partner declined.

Kellogg & Bardeen frequently appeared in court as attorneys, but Gen. J. A. Kellogg, too, died after a few years' practice with his partner Bardeen, who then associated himself with W. H. Mylrea, who came to Wausau from Kilbourn City. E. L. Bump, who had been elected as district attorney of Marathon county, removed from here soon after the expiration of his .temi to form a partnership with E. L. Brown of Waupaca, later went to Merrill, and later still came back to Wausau, where he associated himself with A. L. Kreutzer, after the latter was admitted, which firm soon became prominent.

Xeal Brown who came to Wausau in 1880, was slowly working up his way, and was followed by L. A. Pradt, and both with Mr. C. S. Gilbert and some others who soon dropped out, fomied the Wausau Law and Land Association which took the lead in legal business (Neal Brown and L. A. Pradt attending to the legal work, and C. S. Gilbert to the real estate of the firm), after Silverthorn and Hurley had sort of withdrawn from general practice after 1890. The bar from 1874 to 1890 was exceptionally strong with W. C. Silverthorn, M. A. Hurley, C. V. Bardeen, and later T. C. Ryan. Neal Brown, E. L. Bump, and L. A. Pradt, all in actual practice, but the one whose whole time to the exclusion of everything else and without any vacation, was taken up with his practice, more so than the other 'one, was M. A. Hurley. Lawyers, no more than other professional men, love comparisons, but among the lawyers of the old Marathon county bar, hie, if any one, like A. G. Thunnan in the Senate, might well be called the noblest Roman of them all.

His whole life was devoted to his jealous mistress, the law. No man served her more faithfully. He never was a candidate for public office, not even taking much part in a political canvass, but as a lawyer he was not only the peer of any one, but as to the amount of work done he had no equal.

Usually pitted against Judge Gate in jury trials, there was no point to be overlooked, no circumstance forgotten, no defective pleading to confound either one or the other.

W. C. Silverthom shared with his partner the burden of the finn and in the success of the same, but his term as senator, and his canvass for member of Congress and later for attorney-general of the state, necessarily threw the biggest share of the work on M. A. Hurley, who seemed to thrive on work, never looked tired or fagged.

It is not often that the supreme court of this state compliments attorneys in their decisions ; rather exceedingly of rare occurrence, hardly ever going to the extent of giving the attorney's name. In the very important case of Comstock et al., vs. Willard et al., 58 W^is. 579, a case which M. A. Hurley argued in the supreme court against such eminent attorneys as William F. Vilas and I. C. Sloan, that court at the close of their opinion said : "In simple justice to Mr. Hurley, the eminent counsel for appellants, we may well say that he presented his side of the case with great ability and zeal."

After 1890 the firm's real estate in Hurley and their mining property took much of their time, and they slowly drew out of general practice, which opened a way for younger lawyers like C. V. Bardeen and Neal Brown to forge ahead. C. V. Bardeen was not very eager for jury trial practice: he preferred to leave this sort of work for his associates. His work was in the ofifice, in the preparation of cases, in getting the law applicable to the case, in presenting it to the trial and supreme court, leaving the argument to the jury to his associates, and often even the examination of the witnesses.

Before going to the bench, however, he probably felt the necessity or at least the propriety of impressing the bar with his capacity and ability for that sort of work, and being associated in his last case with Gabe Bouk, the celebrated Oshkosh lawyer, he examined every witness, plaintiffs as well as defendants, he being on the defense, and his manner of examination was a revelation to the whole bar. He was cool, always self-poised, temperate and courteous at all times, and it was his cross examination which won his client's case, the result being a verdict against his client, but for only such a small amount fcase being for breach of contract) as would have been conceded without suit.

When upon the bench, he showed himself familiar not only with the law, which was expected, of course, but with the rules of evidence and of practice to an extent not expected of one who like him had shown no predilection for jury trial practice.

Judge Silverthorn has voluntarily retired after serving ten years on the bench; so has M. A. Hurley who has not lost, however, his interest in legal tournaments, and frequently attends court and enjoys to see a case well tried. W. H. Mylrea embarked in real estate, in land and lumbering soon after his term of attorney-general expired. Neal Brown took the lead, seconded by L. A. Pradt, and for some 3'ears was considered the Achilles of the bar, but he, too, saw other fields more profitable, and in a sense more important than legal practice, and devoted his talents to the combination of smaller capitalists for the uniting in large industrial enterprises, which bore fruit in the erection of the Rothschield paper mills, the \\'ausau street railway, and other enterprises, and he is now out of practice.

So is A. L. Kreutzer as president of the \\'isconsin Valley Trust Company. L. A. Pradt spent eight years in Washington as assistant attorneygeneral of the United States, and then returned to his desk in the law and land association, where he has charge of the important legal business arising out of the laws regulating public utilities and new legislation relating to water powers. He may be said to be the only attorney of the older set still in actual practice. In addition he has a large practice before the court of claims at Washington.

Louis Marchetti as judge of the municipal court cannot practice law and has enough to do to administer it; and the same may be said of Clyde L. Warren, the county judge. Charles F. Eldred, John Livermoor, Charles H. Mueller, Alexander Craven, and E. B. Lord and others have gone to the land from which there is no return, and so has Joseph Coates, who came after 1900.

G. D. Jones, who entered the firm of Silverthorn, Hurley & Ryan as fourth partner in 1886, did much of the office work of the firm, and after practicing a few years in courts, was probably the first of the Wausau attorneys to see the great future of this and northern counties after railroads had traversed the territory and the mines on the Gogebic range were opened. Under his lead Wausau lumbermen began to interest themselves jointly in larger enterprises, and instead of moving singly often at cross purposes, he was instrumental in uniting their strength in making combined efforts to form new industrial enterprises, and by his own personal effort sought to settle the vacant farming lands with industrious settlers, in which he was highly successful. It is mainly through his work that large areas of the farm lands in Marathon county, which lie vacant and unused and idle, are

Of the younger set, now becoming the older set, coming after 1890, C. B. Bird is the unquestioned leader. Like M. A. Hurley he was never looking for political preferment, sort of independent (if such a thing is ijossible for a person having opinions of his own) and inheriting a legal mind from his father, Col. George W. Bird, lately deceased, which he broadened and strengthened by undeviating devotion to study. He is as conversant with the law as any lawyer in the state, perfectly at home in every court, state or federal. In the last decade from 1900 hardly an important case was tried, whether it originated in this circuit or came in from other circuits, but what he was connected with either as attorney of record or as counsel.

Others not quite so long in practice, but having made a record of which any attorney might be proud, are Franklin E. Bump, son of E. L. Bump, M. B. Rosenberry and Fred. Genrich. They all belong to the second generation of lawyers of Marathon county ; now in actual practice. F. Genrich divides with L. A. Pradt the large practice of the Law and Land Association, of which both are members or partners.

H. H. Manson has not been in court as often as he might well have been since his terms as district attorney expired, in which office he made a fine record, he having allowed his political predilections to interfere somewhat with his practice, having given four years to the service of the Democratic party as chaimian to the state committee.

Of the youngest set appearing on the stage since 1900, F. P. Regner was elected three times as district attorney, in which office he made a good record, and with his partner, O. Ringle, established an enviable practice. The bar of Marathon county is a large one, but the majority came after 1900 and are all young men, starting out in practice in Wausau, or coming here soon after their graduation, and they have hardly had time to make a great record for themselves, although every one has more or less work in actual practice. It takes a longer time in the profession of the law to become a shining mark than in any other one, especially among so many old practitioners, but it can be truthfully said that each and every one is able to take care of the interests of their clients and is faithful to their cause, and they are men of character and integrity. No one can say what the future may bring forth, but there is no doubt that these young lawyers will in time and when opportunity comes, make their mark in their honorable profession and will fully come up to the high standard of the profession set by their seniors.