USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume I > Part 13
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
removed to Washington, D. C. General Ezra Drown came from Iowa in 1853, sailing on the ill-fated steamer Independence, which sank off the coast of Lower California. In that accident Drown's wife was lost, he swimming ashore with the two small children, and returning to within a few rods of his wife, who had been placed on a hen coop. Some human wretch pushed her off and she was soon beneath the ocean's waves and lost. Mr. Drown located in Los Angeles and practiced here until his death in the '60s.
Hon. Robert Maclay Widney, LL. D., former president of the University Bank of Los Angeles, was one of the most potent factors in the settlement and final development of Southern California who ever lived and labored on the Pacific Slope. He came to the state a poor young man ; in fact, he had only $1.60 in his pocket, as all of his earthly possessions, when he landed in Sacramento in 1857. He at- tended school, taught and finally studied law and became one of the state's most talented legal lights, and was so looked upon by the members of the Supreme Court. He saw great possibilities in the climate and general advantages here and coupled real estate business with his law practice. He established a journal called the Real Estate Advertiser, the columns of which were devoted to his own advertising. He circulated his paper freely without charges about the hotels and stage stations. He became a wonderful success in realty, here and at other California places. He it was who started the modern life and business enterprise at San Pedro harbor. He also accomplished more than any twenty other men in securing the Southern Pacific Railway for Los Angeles district. In 1871 he was appointed judge of the Seventeenth Judicial District by Governor Booth, and, greater than all else, it was he who planned the organization of the University of Southern California, finally being one of its master-builders. In 1887 the Judge organized the University Bank of Los Angeles. He it was who in the days of the Chinese riots of that city, stood off the entire mob with his revolver and after fifteen Chinese had been hanged, before he arrived, he quelled the mad rioters at the point of his revolver, with assertion that he would certainly kill any man who attempted to harm a Chinaman. The rioters "saw blood in his eye" and soon became quiet and left the scene. As an author, he was also of note. Especially was his book, "The Plan of Creation," highly interesting, as well as scientific.
Without entering deeply into the lives and characters of other lawyers of this county, it should be made a matter of record that the following practiced here and were able members of the profession in their day and generation : Judge W. P. Wade, of Indiana, a Civil war soldier from Iowa, came here in 1885.
Hon. Walter Van Dyke, judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, born in New York State in 1823, taught school in young manhood, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1846, studied law there, was admitted to the Bar in 1848, took the 1849 gold fever and came West as a cor- respondent for the Cleveland papers. He came to the coast and for a number of years edited a newspaper in Humboldt. For many years he practiced law in San Francisco, residing in Oakland. He was
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
identified with the politics of the state, being chairman of the Repub- lican State Central Committee. He came to Los Angeles in 1885, purchasing the law business of Judge Brunson. In 1888 he was elected judge of the Superior Court.
Hon. William A. Cheney, another Superior Court judge of Los Angeles County, was born February, 1848, in Boston, Massachu- setts. He was admitted to the bar in 1878, elected the same year as county judge of Plumas County and held the position until chosen State Senator in 1880. He moved from Sacramento to Los Angeles in 1882 and in 1884 was elected to the bench of the Superior Court.
PRESENT COURT HOUSE AND HALL OF RECORDS
He was a strong lawyer in many ways-an orator, a well read pro- fessional man and a good mixer with his fellow men.
Hon. James W. Mckinley, Superior judge, one of the youngest men on the bench in all California, was born in Newcastle, Pennsyl- vania, in 1857; graduated from Ann Arbor, Michigan University, in 1879, admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania in 1881, came to Los Angeles in 1883, and at once became a law partner with W. T. Williams. In December, 1884, Mr. Mckinley was elected county attorney and was appointed Superior judge on March 11, 1889.
Hon. William Hovey Clark, another of the Superior judges of Los Angeles courts, one of the youngest to serve on such a bench in the state, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1860; graduated from Boston Law School in 1881, and came to California, in the fall of 1884, in quest of health. He soon formed a law partnership with Hon.
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
A. W. Hutton and H. M. Smith ; was elected to the Superior bench in 1888. He was less than twenty-eight years of age when he was sworn in as judge.
Hon. Albert M. Stephens, a native of Tennessee, studied law at the Mississippi University and was admitted to the bar in 1868; practiced in Memphis and other points in Tennessee. He came to Los Angeles in 1874 and continued in his legal practice. In 1877 he was elected county judge, serving during 1878-79, when the office was abolished. He was twice presi- dent of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He was ever an honor to. the profession he loved so well.
John D. Bicknell, a native of Vermont, born in 1838, was educated in Wisconsin and Ohio, and for his health came to California in April, 1860, by the overland train methods, of which this generation has little knowl- edge. The train was attacked by Indians and suffered greatly enroute by reason of many difficulties. This gentleman was chosen the train manager, or leader, and brought all through safely. He returned to Wisconsin in 1863, was admitted to the bar of that state in 1866. He had a fine legal practice in Missouri, but on account of health returned to California in 1872, located in Los Angeles and formed a partnership with S. M. White, which lasted until 1888. In 1889, we find Mr. Bicknell attorney for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. As a legal public officer and financial manager, this man distinguished himself.
Hon. Stephen M. White, a leading member of the bar of Los Angeles County and at one time acting lieutenant governor of the state, was born in San Francisco, 1853, of Irish parents, graduated at Santa Clara College, in 1871, read law, was admitted to the bar in 1874, and at once located in Los Angeles. In 1882 he was elected on the Democratic ticket as district attor- ney ; in 1886 was elected as State Senator and became president pro tem of that body. He was one of the three counsel selected by the governor and legislature to maintain the Scott Exclusion Act before the Supreme Court of the United States. This duty was performed, and the decision filed in the Chae Chan Ping case terminated the controversy in accordance with the unanimous wishes of the people of the Western Coast.
Thomas Mitchell, born in Philadelphia 1845, served as a soldier in the Union cause in Civil war times, entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1861 and left for war service. He became second lieutenant ; was assistant acting adjutant-general of the First Brigade, Fifth Army Corps, and mus- tered out as captain; entered a law office, graduated as Bachelor of Laws and admitted to practice in 1867. Mr. Mitchell moved to Colorado in 1877 and in 1880 was appointed by Governor Pitkin judge of the First Judicial District to succeed Beck who had been elected to the Supreme Court. He came to Los Angeles in 1887 and became one of the original members of the Loyal Legion.
Hon. John Haynes was admitted to the bar in Ohio, studied at Zanes- ville, was prosecuting attorney six years ; practiced in Bay City, Michigan ; was a member of the legislature there in 1871; removed to San Francisco in 1876 for his health, in 1879, and changed climates for one in Arizona, and served in the Territorial Legislature of that Territory, in 1881. In 1886, he formed a co-partnership with Hon. Thomas Mitchell and opened his office in Los Angeles.
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
George J. Denis, former United States attorney for Southern Califor- nia, was born in New Orleans in 1859, of French parents. He was gradu- ated and admitted to the bar in his native state in 1880. He practiced there two years and in 1882 came to California. At first he served as a reporter on the Times ; also on the Herald. In 1884 he became manager of the Los Angeles Evening Express. In 1885, he resumed his law practice and was appointed deputy district attorney. In 1888, he was appointed by President Grover Cleveland United States attorney for the Southern District of California.
Henry A. Barclay, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1849. Early in his career he studied civil engineering and followed railway surveying for a number of years. He became a gauger of oil tanks and cars for con- veying oil. He then studied law, in 1871 was admitted to the practice and commenced to give his time to the profession. In 1874, he came to Cali- fornia, located in Los Angeles and opened his office in 1875. He became a member of the firm of Barclay & Wilson. He acted as chairman of the Republican Central County Committee in 1880, during the Garfield-Han- cock campaign, and was an ardent Republican ; also was one of the live wires in his party when James G. Blaine ran for president in 1884. Both as a lawyer and politician, Mr. Barclay was a man of much force and was resourceful in his methods. When one plan failed he was ever ready to take up another.
Another member of the bar here was Julius Brousseau, a native of New York, and born in Franklin County of French parentage. Young Brous- seau early wanted to become a lawyer. He read law in the office of Judge Flint of Michigan and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1861. He practiced in Michigan and Illinois for about a dozen years, and in January, 1877, with his family he started for California and located in Los Angeles. He soon became a member of the law firm of Howard, Brousseau & How- ard. From 1880 until 1886 he practiced alone in the Baker block. In the latter year he associated himself with Judge David P. Hatch, after which the firm was known as among the most successful and able law firms in Southern California.
Henry T. Gage, a native of York State, born 1853, commenced the law practice in Los Angeles in 1877. He mixed well in politics and was a bad man to contend with on the platform or before a jury, as he was well- posted and ever fearless of other men's arguments, having studied well both sides of his case before entering the courtroom.
Hon. Charles Silent, of the firm of Houghton, Silent & Campbell, was born in Germany in 1843. He came with his parents to Ohio, but when twelve years of age left home to make his own way through the world. He borrowed money from a friend and embarked from New York City for California, via the Isthmus of Panama, arriving in San Francisco during August, 1856. He taught school and in 1862 entered the University at Santa Clara. He worked his way through a legal course by teaching school. In the fall of 1868 he was admitted to the California bar and became junior member of the law firm of Laine & Silent in San Jose. President Hayes made him Supreme Court judge in Arizona. In 1886 he moved from San Jose to Los Angeles, where his career is well known to the older citizens.
James Monroe Damron, a native of Illinois, came to the bar in 1879,
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
and in 1880 was elected state's attorney in his native State. In 1883 he came to Los Angeles, since which time he has practiced law, and served in the California Legislature and as district attorney.
Hon. Aurelius W. Hutton, a well-known lawyer of the county, was born in Alabama in 1847. Both parents died before he was eight years of age. In 1886, he commenced the study of law in his home state, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1868. In April of the next year he was num- bered among the residents of Los Angeles. There he was elected to a seat on the Superior bench, was county attorney, drafted the first charter for the City of Los Angeles and revised the charter in 1876. Judge Hutton was one of the original incorporators of the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association-Indiana Colony-which really founded the city of Pasadena.
Allen W. Bentley, a native of York State, was born in 1816. First the subject learned the printer's trade in his native state and worked in Michigan on the Free-Press. In 1858, he moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa; then to Burlington, that State, where he edited the Gazette. Later he settled in Compton, California, and was elected justice of the peace and read law. He was in the lumber business ten years at that place.
Hon. Cornelius Cole, ex-senator, a native of New York, was born in 1822 ; was admitted to the bar in his home state in May, 1848, and, with a small company, crossed the western plains to Sacramento in 1849. In the gold mining and washing work he made frequently in one day $100 in gold. The following year he commenced the practice of law in San Fran- cisco, but he lost his office by fire and then he located in Sacramento. During the political campaign of 1856 he edited a campaign paper there known as the Daily Times. He later resumed his law practice there, yet dabbled much in politics. In 1859 he was elected district attorney for the city of Sacramento. In 1863 he was elected as a member of Congress, serving with much ability. In 1866 he was chosen United States Senator, serving six years and gave the best kind of service to the citizens of the commonwealth.
Another firm, away back in the earlier years in Los Angeles, was Chapman & Hendrick. Both came here about the Civil war period.
Christopher North Wilson, born in Ohio, 1830, son of a Methodist Episcopal minister, attended Quaker schools in Ohio, and later, Allegheny College, Pennsylvania. In 1855 when Minneapolis, Minnesota, was just starting up, he was attracted to that section and was engaged in govern- ment surveys. He returned to Pennsylvania and studied law. He held an appointment in the treasury building in Washington, D. C., during the Civil war, studied law in the spare moments and was admitted to the bar in 1869. Soon he moved to Los Angeles, where he ever afterward lived. He had much to do with starting the first street car line in Los Angeles and was for many years a large bee keeper.
Hon. David P. Hatch was born in Maine in 1846. He graduated, in 1871, from the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, entered the law school at the University of Michigan and was admitted to practice at St. Paul, Minne- sota, in 1872. He served as district attorney in Minnesota and resigned to come to California in the spring of 1875. He settled in Santa Barbara. In 1880 he was elected city attorney in that city, and was soon appointed a Superior Judge. He resigned, in 1886, to become a law partner of
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
Julius Brousseau, of Los Angeles. He was an expert authority on bees and honey production, imported many high-priced bees from Palestine and other distant countries and was a successful producer, having on hand one year as high as forty tons of excellent honey.
A list of other Los Angeles County lawyers, of other times, include these : Messrs. Graves, Shankland, O'Melveny, Frank P. Kelly, Richard Bryan Treat, William T. Glassell, Frank R. Willis, Hon. R. F. Del Valle, Hon. Anson Brunson, Hon. Guilford Wiley Wells, C. E. Thom, William P. Gardner, Henry T. Lee, J. R. Scott, James A. Anderson, A. J. King, A. C. Brodersen, John C. Morgan, of Santa Monica, and possibly a score more whose names have been overlooked with the passage of years.
ATTORNEYS OF 1922
Ordinarily, it is customary to give a list of present lawyers in a county history, but so numerous are the members of the Los Angeles Bar that it is not practicable to insert so long a list. Suffice to say that the latest telephone directory of the city of Los Angeles gives the names and addresses of more than thirteen hundred attorneys in the city alone, to say nothing of those living in outside cities within the county. These are certainly enough to care well for the legal interests to be transacted in the numerous courts of city and county.
THE LAW AND THE COURTS
HISTORICAL AND NARRATIVE
Los Angeles having been originally a Spanish pueblo or town, founded by order of the King, it was, of course, governed in a general way by the laws of Spain in common with all Spanish colonies in the New World. It was a simple, direct code based on the Roman law under which Spain had lived for centuries. The compilation was called the "Laws of the Kingdoms of the Indias."
Concerning this compilation we can do no greater service to our readers than to quote Dr. Charles F. Lummis, undoubtedly a high authority on things Spanish-American. Doctor Lummis says :
"Probably the most extraordinary amendment and amplification of a civil code in history was that by which the Roman Law (under which Spain had lived for centuries) was revised to cover the new problems of the New World. The problems of colonial government on a large scale were for the first time brought up to statesmen-for even the colonial administration of Rome was child's play compared to that undertaken by Spain more suddenly.
"The amendments were in the spirit of the code. But that code has never had any such extraordinary revisions.
"This revision began with Ferdinand and Isabella immediately upon the return of Columbus from his first voyage, in which the New World was discovered. The most active century of adaptation was that to which we may relate the real geographical understanding of the three Americas -namely, from about 1550 to 1650. But before and after this century, the
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
special legislation, elastic to the needs of new human and geographical and political conditions, were of a magnitude to challenge attention."
"A recognized authority has said that of all the 'Indian Policies' in history, none compares for humanity with the Spanish-American policy. It may be added that no other expansion of the Roman law along logical lines is at all comparable with this. For the first, if not for the only time, it was recognized by statesmen that the first wealth of the new wilderness was not in its lumber, nor its land, nor its mines, but its men. After more than three and a half centuries of this legislation-this projection of the Roman law-the result is that in Spanish America the conquered aborigine is as numerous as he was in 1492 and much better off. And the modern school of scientific American history has proven this fact, sur- prising to earlier scholars and to popular opinion.
"The Laws of the Indies are accessible in dignified volumes in every important public library in America. The extent to which the American adaptations of Roman law, through Spanish statesmanship come, are indi- cated by these marginal readings :
" 'Indians shall not be separated from their parents.'
" 'Indians shall not be removed from their native places-not even to a reservation.'
''Indians shall be civilized without being oppressed.'
" 'Since they are necessitous people, care must be taken that the Indians should be educated in the price of foods and other things. They must be taxed with justice and moderation, and things must be sold to them much cheaper than to other people.'
"Under the provisions of Spanish law, it was absolutely impossible to evict an Indian from the land he was born in or lived on. It was impossible to herd him on reservations like a Cuban reconcentrado. It was impossible to violate as to the aborigine any of the human rights which the proudest and most punctilious Caucasian would value for himself. The stories of oppression have no documentary foundation in the records or in the old books. The only hardship imposed was the same which the laws of every state in the American Union impose on our children-compulsory educa- tion, non-vagabondage."
In further elaboration of this very remarkable code of laws, I have the honor to quote an eminent Los Angeles legal authority, Willoughby Rod- man, Esquire, from a book written by him entitled "History of the Bench and Bar of Southern California," and published in 1909 by the late William J. Porter.
No code could be more comprehensive than the Recopilacion, says Mr. Rodman. Provision is made for every department of government, down to the smallest political subdivision. Every relation between state and subject or among subjects, is covered by the most explicit and minute regulations. The smallest details are provided for. A most elaborate system of official inspection and accounting is established. Responsibility of officials is not only fixed in unmistakable terms, but is required to be strictly enforced.
The settlement of new countries and the welfare of their native peoples are the principal objects of these laws. Colonization is made the subject of extensive and detailed provisions. Settlers are to be induced to come to new colonies by promises of liberal grants of public lands to be made upon
.
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
small payments and easy terms. Not only do these laws seek to obtain set- tlers of European birth, but provision is made for making settlers and citizens out of indigenous people. The protection, kind treatment, educa- tion, religious conversion and civilization of Indians are insisted upon, and rules for the promotion of these objects are to be enforced with great strictness.
Not only is the Indian to be protected from foreign invasion, and from oppression by his new masters, but he is to be protected against himself, his civil and ecclesiastical guardians being charged with the duty of inculcating principles of industry, economy and sobriety, and enforcing their observa- tion.
A few examples will illustrate the laws last referred to.
Governors, judges and alcaldes were required to see that inns and taverns be provided in Indian pueblos, so that inspecting officials should not be quartered upon Indians against their will. It was also made the duty of such officials to instruct the Indians in the methods by which they could secure justice ; to respect the habits and social systems of the Indians so far as these are not contrary to (Roman Catholic) religion.
They were also charged to "see that the Indians are not idle nor vaga- bond, but that they work in their fields or at other labor on work days; that they improve the land for their own benefit, and that they attend church; that these officials should not take from citizens or Indians, nor anyone whatever, personal service without paying them."
As to governors, judges, advocates and alcaldes, the laws provided that they "must give bond before being qualified ; must hear all persons equally and with benignity so that their grievances may be settled easily and without trouble ; must hold court in public places and not in the closets of notaries ; must inspect all territory under their jurisdiction-but only one time (though frequent inspections were required to be made by other officials) ; shall not receive fees for their inspections ; shall not quarter themselves on citizens against their will."
"They shall see that the lands of their jurisdiction are improved and the public works kept in good repair-that meats, fish and other foods be sold at reasonable prices. That fences, walls, streets, bridges, sidewalks, fountains, slaughter-houses and all other public works and edifices be kept clean and in repair."
A law of 1583 provided that "Governors who are not college graduates (licentiates) shall name lieutenants who are; these must give bond and must also pass an examination."
Governors, judges, advocates, mayors and their lieutenants were included in the prohibition against and penalties imposed upon ministers trading or being in commerce in the Indies.
They were also required to present inventories of all their possessions at the time of taking office-presumably for the purpose of enabling higher officials to determine whether or not the close of their terms showed an undue increase of worldly goods.
A law of 1570 required the formation of a corps of "Medical directors- general." This corps was sent by the king to the colonies to study medicinal plants, herbs, etc., and publish directions concerning their use. It was their duty to test everything, to examine experts, whether Spanish or Indian,
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"sending to Spain samples and seeds of those plants found beneficial ; writ- ing fully and clearly the natural history of the country ; taking residence in one of the cities in which there is a chancellery, and with a jurisdiction for five leagues around their residence; they shall examine and give license to persons desiring to practice medicine. They shall proceed against any per- son practicing medicine without proper license."
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