USA > California > Humboldt County > History of Humboldt County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 22
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"But to come back to my story. My original intention of returning to Berkeley at the expiration of my leave of absence was soon forgotten. I have been in the harness ever since, and I do not mind confessing, confidentially, that I have a fixed and steadfast purpose to do so some more, and until the infirmities of advancing years compel me to cease, provided, always, that I am able to discharge my duties to the satisfaction of the bench and bar.
"I might add, in passing, that I have always endeavored to keep my work strictly up to date, and to this end have been continually on the watch for any new improvement that would tend to greater efficiency. I brought the first type- writer to Humboldt county, and was among the first in the State to adopt its use. I was also among the first to appreciate the advantages of the talking machine as a labor saver in getting out transcripts, and among the first to successfully use them on this coast. I brought the first graphophone to the county and was using it in my business even before many of the leading reporters of San Francisco adopted it.
"When I look around me now, and then look back over the years that have gone, I am indeed reminded of the mutability of all things earthly. There is not a lawyer practicing in the county, or a judge on the bench, who was a lawyer or practicing here when I began my official duties. There is not a single official, township or municipal, anywhere in the county who was in office when I began. Even our late lamented Sheriff, T. Brown, who came the nearest to me in length of official service, began his first term two years after I came here. I know of but one business firm in the county that was in existence at that time, and still operated by the same person. The firm name may be the same, but there are new people behind the counters. There is only one lumber firm that is operating under the same name, and though one of the partners is still alive, he has retired from its management and the other partner is long since dead.
"Eureka was then a struggling hamlet of about fifteen hundred inhabitants. Business was almost exclusively confined to First and Second streets. I do not remember a business house of any description above Second street, and most of the larger firms were on First street. The streets were not even graveled, and it was only the down town streets that had eight-foot board sidewalks.
"The Court House was an old wooden building where the Hodgson planing mill is now, and beside it was a one-story brick structure which was at that time the clerk and recorder's office, but now the detention hospital, while the site of our present magnificent Court House was a neglected square overgrown with
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bushes and a few straggling trees, and surrounded by a dilapidated picket fence. Only a portion of the county officers had offices in the Court House, the rest being scattered around town. As you doubtless remember, the old Court House was burned by the supervisors to get rid of it a number of years ago."
Mr. Strong's narrative is intensely interesting throughout. He gives many pen pictures of the men and institutions that were in the public eye during the early years of his labor as court reporter in Humboldt county. His story is worth liberal quoting and the following extracts from it are submitted :
"The Eighth Judicial District, as then organized, comprised the counties of Humboldt and Del Norte, a term of the Court being held every three months at Eureka and at Crescent City.
"The District Court had jurisdiction of all civil cases involving more than $300 and of cases of homicide. The County Court held its sessions every other month and had jurisdiction of civil cases on appeal from the justice's courts and of all cases of felony outside of murder cases, also all probate business. Of the two courts, the County Court had a great deal the most to do. The civil business did not amount to much, but the probate business was considerable, and there was hardly a term that we did not try from three to ten felony cases. There were no banks in those days, and as the woods camps shut down from November to March, the woodsmen, flocking in to Eureka with pockets full of money after their summer work, attracted here a large number of sports and bad characters gen- erally, and the result was a jail full of criminals, nearly always, waiting trial. Even with the growth of the county in view, there were three criminal trials then to one now.
"There was no road to Crescent City, and the trail along the beach and over the hills near the ocean was long and lonely. I had to go there every three months. Sometimes I would accompany the judge on horseback, at other times I went on foot by myself, but it was always a hard and lonesome trip, and never very re- munerative, and I was heartily glad when upon the adoption of the New Con- stitution, the Superior Court was organized and Del Norte county had a court of its own.
"In 1876 there were seven lawyers practicing in Eureka and one in Ferndale, and although the number was small, in legal ability the bar at that time ranked as high as any in the State, and would compare favorably with San Francisco itself. Practicing law in those days was a different thing from what it is today. There were no digests or encyclopedias, no West system of reports or annotated codes, no references or cross references, and none of the thousand and one labor- saving devices that we have today. There were a few volumes of our State reports, and these, with a few of the standard text books, constituted the modest library of the ordinary practitioner. If I remember right, the forty-ninth volume of Cali- fornia reports was just out when I began. Now we have just had the one hundred and forty-seventh.
"The codes had been adopted two years before, and the change of practice from the old practice act to the codes had not as yet become entirely settled, and many code questions were yet for future decision. If a lawyer had a case to prepare or a legal proposition to look up, he had four or five times the work to perform that a similar matter would entail nowadays, to say nothing of having to write out all his pleadings by hand with a pen, and often to make several copies of them in that laborious way.
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"There were only two fairly well kept up libraries in town, those of S. M. Buck and Chamberlain & De Haven, and when any proposition was to be briefed, one of these libraries was used. Nowadays the pleadings in an action are entirely settled before the trial by demurrers, motions to strike out, etc., but then, those questions were disposed of as the trial progressed, and it was no uncommon thing to see a whole panel of jurors and two or three dozen witnesses airing themselves and swapping yarns on the steps of the old Court House, while the lawyers upstairs were pounding the table and threshing out some question of pleading or evidence, which would today be settled long before the case was set for trial.
"Of the bar the unquestioned leader, as well as the oldest member, was the late Hon. James Hanna. At the time I first met him he was bordering on his sixty-fifth year, a little, slight, white-haired old man, but withal a courteous, courtly, old-fashioned gentleman. He was equally at home either as a pleader or a trial lawyer. Educated in the technical schools of Pennsylvania, his knowledge of legal principles was most profound, and he had the faculty, more or less rare among attorneys, of being able almost instantly to correctly apply the law to the facts before him. As a trial lawyer I have never seen his equal. As a cross- examiner his keen, incisive questioning, his witty side remarks and sarcasm not only kept an adverse witness upon the anxious bench, but often turned what seemed certain defeat into a victory. I have seen him arguing a case when he had the whole audience, jury, bar and all, in tears, and whenever he was scheduled for the closing argument in any interesting case, the old court room would be crowded to the doors, long before the hour of opening court. He was an honest, honorable, upright citizen, his word was as good as his bond, and no antagonist ever asked a written stipulation from him when once his word was passed. I have often wondered what brought a trained and brilliant mind like his away from the courts of the East to settle in a little lumber town like Eureka in the early '60s, because he would have been an unquestioned leader anywhere. He has been dead for many years. Peace to his memory.
"Of the remaining lawyers, S. M. Buck and Hon. J. J. De Haven came next. They were both comparatively young men at that time, both able lawyers, and I hardly need to add generally on opposite sides of a case. Both were relentless fighters, and neither would yield an inch while there was a point to stand on. I remember one case in particular that they had which well illustrates these quali- ties. It was the case of Bohall vs. Dilla, involving the right to a homestead claim on Dow's Prairie, perhaps worth $1,000 when the fight began. Bohall located the claim and before completing his title leased it to Dilla, who promptly repudiated the lease and jumped the claim. They fought the case through the local land office and all the way up to the Secretary of the Interior, and then began in the District Court and tried and appealed it, reversed it and tried it again a number of times, with one or two criminal cases between whiles, growing out of assaults made by one party on the other, and it finally wound up in the United States Supreme Court sometime in the '80s, where the decision was in Judge De Haven's favor, and when it was ended both sides had paid more than the value of the place in costs, and the case had run its checkered course some fifteen years.
"The late S. M. Buck was as able a lawyer as we have had in this State. While he could not be called a brilliant orator, he had what we term a legal mind to a very marked degree, and he possessed the most untiring industry of any lawyer I ever met. He not only thoroughly briefed up his own case, but his adversary's, and I never knew him to be caught unprepared in Court. I have seen
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him frequently win cases which at the start seemed absolutely hopeless. His practice was largely along the lines of corporation work, and suits involving large interests, and he rarely bothered with small business. He was almost invariably on one side or the other of every important case.
"The firm of Chamberlain & De Haven, which then enjoyed probably the largest practice here, was dissolved shortly afterwards, and Judge De Haven practiced by himself for a few years, in the office now occupied by George D. Murray. He was then elected Superior Judge to succeed Hon. John P. Haynes, and before finishing the term was elected to Congress and resigned the bench, being succeeded in 1889 by Hon. G. W. Hunter, the present incumbent. He was afterward a Justice of the Supreme Court and now United States District Judge for the Northern District of California, but I doubt not that often- times his memory goes back with pleasure to the little old court room in the old Court House, the scene of so many of his early triumphs.
"J. D. H. Chamberlain's forte was as a trial lawyer, although as a pleader and brief writer he was well up in the first rank. As a jury lawyer his services were always in demand and he took a leading part in almost every important case in early days. He was gifted with a most wonderful command of language, which he had increased by wide and varied reading, and he delighted to show it when- ever the occasion offered, either in Court or as a story teller. Warm hearted and impulsive, he would often say things in the heat of debate which he would regret and afterwards make amends for. During the latter years of his life he was in partnership with Frank McGowan and C. M. Wheeler, and afterwards practiced alone for several years.
"P. F. Hart was located at Ferndale, which was then a little town of a hun- dred people or so. The dairying industry which has so marvelously built up the Eel River Valley was not then developed, and as a rule the farmers were poor, but Mr. Hart ranked well up with the leaders of the bar in learning and ability and did nearly all the legal work in the valley. He was engaged in many im- portant cases, civil and criminal, and was an antagonist not to be despised.
"All the leading civil business at that time was confined to the five I have named. George A. Knight was the District Attorney, and was just entering upon his second term. Although but a young man, he even then showed those qualities which have since made him one of the leading lawyers of the State. He was a magnetic orator and an able prosecutor and seldom lost a case. His practice, of course, was largely criminal, and he left here, if I remember correctly, in the early '80s. It was both interesting and amusing to see him try a criminal case with Buck and Hanna or Chamberlain & De Haven for the defense, and often throngs would be turned away from the court room through inability to enter, especially in the winter time, when the town was full of idle men.
"The list would not be complete without mentioning the late G. W. Tompkins. Mr. Tompkins' practice was largely in the Justice Courts, but he had more than he could attend to of that sort of business. Prior to taking up the law he had kept a saloon and filled the office of Justice of the Peace, and they used to say of him that he would load a man in his saloon and then fine him in his court for being drunk. He knew every man, woman and child in the county, and when any litigation was started that would require a jury trial he was the first man taken into the case on the side that could first secure his services. When it came to picking out a jury from a large panel, and then after court adjourned, marshal- ing them singly or in twos or threes up to some neighboring bar and between
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drinks gently insinuating the real facts of his client's case, without appearing to do so, there were none that could come anywhere near him. I can see him yet, a tall, powerfully built man, with a big cane hooked over his arm, the only plug hat in the county on his head, and his dog Schneider, like his master, a fighter from the ground up, following at his heels. He was of Irish descent, and, as I have intimated, a fighter both legally and physically. I think he had more personal altercations with the other attorneys than any one else, because once in a case his client's wrongs were his own, and he personally resented them. I remember once in the assessor's office in the old Court House he had a slight difference of opinion with a brother attorney, and to emphasize his argument he picked his adversary up and threw him through the window, taking out sash and all. He died many years ago.
"Mr. Swinnerton, whom I have mentioned before, was a newcomer in Eureka, and a man of brilliant promise, but an unfortunate social entanglement handicapped him as a lawyer and he drifted into journalism. He was an able orator and much in demand in political campaigning. He afterwards went to Stockton to edit a paper. began practicing law there, and served a term as Superior Judge of San Joaquin county. He died in Oakland a number of years ago.
"Of the early lawyers I should also mention E. H. Howard, who probably was the earliest member of the bar to settle here, coming, I think, with the first party of white people that landed on this bay. He had retired from active practice before my time, but served as a Justice of the Peace until some time in the '80s. He was a graduate of Harvard, I believe, and had at one time been a partner of Justice Stephen J. Fields in San Francisco.
"During the later '70s and early '80s many new lawyers came to the county. Some stayed; others did not. Of those who first came, I might mention J. F. Steck, A. Mckinstry, W. F. Jones, W. H. Brumfield, H. L. Smith, E. W. Risly and many others, but it would merely be a catalogue of names, for nearly all have either moved away or died years ago. Many who are at present leaders of the bar were admitted to practice long after my advent, and I can remember when every one of them first commenced their Blackstone. Of the earliest comers after me, I might mention J. H. G. Weaver and Hon. E. W. Wilson. Mr. Weaver, I think, came in the summer of 1876 and Judge Wilson in the early part of 1877.
"In 1895 an additional department of the Superior Court was created, and I then took Mrs. Strong into the business as the senior partner of the firm, a state of affairs which has continued ever since, and which I trust will continue while I occupy the office.
"In conclusion, I assure you that the past thirty years, although it slipped by so quickly, nevertheless, when I stop to look back at it, is a long time. Only two reporters in the State have ever held office as long, and today, so far as I know, I have the distinction of being the oldest reporter in length of service on the Pacific coast, still holding the same appointment.
"During the whole of my official tenure I have never kept the Court waiting but once, have never been incapacitated from personally attending to my duties by sickness but once, have never had a transcript questioned by a member of the bar, have never met with anything but kindness and courtesy from them, and am confident that each and every one is my friend.
"While no one realizes better than I that I am surely and certainly approach- ing the end of my official career, and that in a few years at most I must give way to others, still no matter what I do, or where I am, the memory of our old
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associations will linger with me long after the newer generation shall have forgotten, and I assure you that it is from the bottom of a grateful heart that I wish each and all of you peace and prosperity."
The bench and bar of today has well in hand the business of the bay cities, and the members of the fraternity stand high in popular esteem, and among the members of the bar elsewhere there is sincere respect for the learning and probity of the followers of the great forensic profession in Humboldt county.
Pioneer Days in Humboldt County
One of the daughters of the late W. J. Sweasey, a woman of prominence, writes as follows :
The party of which I was a member arrived in Humboldt county in August, 1855, coming overland from San Francisco, and being the first party that ever came across the mountains with wagons and families. About the last of May we left San Francisco county, crossed to Benicia and then passed through Napa county to Russian river. There was not a settlement between Russian river and Humboldt county. We traveled on to Round valley, a beautiful camping place where the families stayed while some of the men, including my father, W. J. Sweasey; and my brother, Tom Sweasey, went ahead to find a way across the mountains. They marked a trail by blazing the trees, then came back and reported we could make it, but it would be a very hard trip. We, all being young, did not mind hardships and were willing to undertake the journey.
The families residing here at the time of our arrival had come by water. We brought with us a band of cattle and were seeking good pasture. This we found in Eel river valley and so determined to settle there. We certainly realized that we were pioneers. There were no churches or school houses.
The families were so few they could easily be remembered. Several of them are now living in Eureka. They were Dr. and Mrs. Felt, Mr. and Mrs. Burnell, Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Sevier, Mr. and Mrs. Stringfield, Mr. and Mrs. S. Palmer, Mr. and Mrs. Huling, Mr. and Mrs. Myrick, Mr. Jameson and Mr. Showers. In the course of three years the number of families had considerably increased ; all, however, coming by water.
In 1860 we concluded we must have a school house which could be used also for a church. So I took a paper and started out to see what I could get toward building the house, and was quite successful. Some donated lumber split from logs, others shingles, hand made, others money and not a few labor. In this way the first school house was built at the foot of the mountain where the town of Alton now is. Alton is built on part of the farm Mr. Axton and I owned at that time.
In 1858 a Methodist minister, Rev. Mr. Burton, with his family, arrived in Eel river valley. They took passage from San Francisco on a sailing vessel and were six weeks on the way. The vessel encountered such fierce storins that they were unable to cross Humboldt bar the first time they tried, and were compelled to return to San Francisco for provisions, and when they finally arrived here there was no church, so services were held in the private houses and all attended. We looked forward to these meetings with pleasure, as we met all our friends and the strangers who were always made welcome, although our accommodations were limited. Many a time I have made beds on the floor to try to make them comfortable and happy, while myself and family had no bed, but with some covers slept on a lounge or any place we could. In pioneer days nothing seemed impossible and even with sufferings and hardships there was much happiness and
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comfort, for the natural privations taught the lessons of charity, good will, and unselfishness, and after all the greatest happiness in life comes from helping others and in those days there were constant opportunities for helping each other.
At this time the Indians were giving the settlers much trouble. One case I remember as if it were yesterday, that was when the Indians attacked one of our neighbor's (Mrs. Johnston's) little girl and an Indian girl that the family had raised. They were picking blackberries a short distance from the house when the Indians began shooting arrows at them. The Indian girl ran away to the house, but the other little girl they knocked down and dragged a long way. The news spread like wild fire, and in a short time every man was getting ready to pursue the Indians and find the little girl. The men started for the hunt well armed. We women, Mrs. Zane, and all the neighbors, went to Mrs. Johnston's home for safety, to care for one another and to provide for the men as they came in, as we were uncertain what condition they might be in. About daylight, after hunting all night, they found the child. The Indians had not shot her, but had struck her head with a rock and threw rocks on her and left her for dead. She had lain in that condition all night and was nearly dead. As soon as the men gave the signal and fired the gun she moved and Mr. Axton gave loud shouts of joy, in which many of the men joined, to think she was alive. They picked her up and carried her home. Then we found that we needed one another. We com- menced bathing her with warm water, but she could not stand that, so we took cold water and kept rubbing her with warm flannels until the blood began to circulate. When we began she was purple and badly swollen. She got well, how- ever, and is still living and I understand is married and living in Oregon.
The Indians got out of the way and did no more damage at that time.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Eureka Free Library
By H. A. Kendal
The first successful effort to maintain a public reading room in Eureka originated among the members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In response to a call of the pastor. Rev. Dr. Haswell, twenty members of the congregation agreed to subscribe $1 each per month for that purpose. The movement met with a hearty response from the people in general.
Fifty or more people met in the Methodist church on Wednesday evening, February 13, 1878, for the purpose of establishing a library and reading room in the city. The secretary's report of this meeting makes mention of a previous meeting, when a constitution was adopted and provision made for raising money by subscriptions. This was the first meeting of the kind of which we have any written record.
J. J. De Haven, who later rose to prominence in the judicial field, was chosen president; Mrs. W. W. Taylor, vice-president; J. H. Kimball, secretary and librarian, and Fred Axe, treasurer. Fifty votes were cast for president, of which Mr. De Haven received twenty-six. The organization which they then formed . was called the Eureka Library Association. Other names connected with the earlier meetings of the association are: S. Cooper, H. Axton, G. C. Sarvis, H.
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Sevier, N. Bullock, Mr. Haswell, C. W. Long, J. W. Freese, G. R. Knott, Mrs. J. E. Wyman, Dr. Cabanis, E. A. Rice, Mrs. J. H. D. Chamberlain, J. B. Brown, C. C. Strong and A. J. Monroe.
The library and reading room were opened in the Jones building, corner of Third and F streets. The dedication ceremonies took place in the library rooms on the evening of March 25, 1878, Rev. Dr. Haswell delivering a very eloquent address, besides which remarks were made by Reverends Githens and Brier. A volunteer choir and the Eureka cornet band furnished music for the dedication. The meeting, so the secretary records, adjourned in peace and harmony.
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