USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 19
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 19
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1 H. C. Rolfe. 2 Twenty-five cents. $ Clerk.
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After the creation of San Bernardino County, in 1853, a different order existed, and the regular terms of the district and county courts were held whether there was official business for them to transact or not.
EARLY MEMBERS OF THE BENCHI. Daniel M. Thomas, who was elected with the first officers of the county at a special election held under the act creating the county in June, 1853, had the distinction of being the first county judge of San Bernardino County, and in the following fall, at the regular election, was chosen to succeed himself for a full term of four years. While he had no training in the law, he was a man of fair education and wielded some influence among his people, the Mormons, with whom he returned to Salt Lake in 1857. When he resigned the
EARLY SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY OFFICIALS
office he was succeeded by A. D. Boren, a farmer appointed to fill the vacancy, and like Judge Thomas a man of fair education but no legal training. A somewhat ludicrous occasion was caused in 1861, when, in the election proclamations no mention was made of the county judge. M. H. Crafts was brought forward by his friends and received a con- siderable number of votes, but failed to follow up the election with a contest and Judge Boren continued to occupy the office, to which he was regularly elected in 1862 and re-elected in 1866. He retired from office in January, 1871, after having held the judgeship for a period of four- teen years. Judge Boren's successor was Henry M. Willis, who held the office for eight years, or until the new state constitution abolished the office of county judge.
The court of sessions for many years was constituted by the county judge with two associates, John Brown and Andrew Lytle, chosen from
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among the justices of the peace of the county. The functions of this court included the trying of all criminal cases amounting to felony, except when the charge was a capital offense punishable by death. It also called and impanelled grand juries to inquire into and make presentment of all public offenses committed or tryable in the county, of which they might have legal evidence, with other duties similar to those of grand juries called by our present superior courts. The county judge alone held a county court with jurisdiction in all civil cases on appeal from justices of the peace and some other original jurisdiction. He also had jurisdiction in all probate matters. Later a change in the constitution abolished the court of sessions and the original jurisdiction was given to the county court. The act creating San Bernardino County, whether through over- sight or for some other reason, did not fix any salary for the county judge, and the salaries of those occupying these positions were paid by their own counties, those of all other judges being paid by the State. Until the salary for the judge of San Bernardino County was placed by the Legislature in 1859, the board of supervisors allowed a salary of $500, a small remuneration for a judge, but probably a fair compensation when it is taken into account that the county was sparsely settled and therefore there was little business to transact, and that the incumbents of the judgeship had little or no knowledge of the law. The Legislature designated the salary to be $1,000 per year, but at that time San Ber- nardino County's treasury was greatly depleted and in 1859 county warrants were worth but 30 or 40 per cent of their face value. The county had sufficiently recovered its credit by 1862 so that warrants were at very nearly par. Both Judges Thomas and Boren also served as post- masters while acting as judge, as their salary of $500 did not come within the designation of "lucrative positions" which forbid the holding of more than one office.
At the time of its creation, San Bernardino County was attached to the First Judicial District, previously composed of Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Each county had its regular term of district court, held about three times a year by the district judge, and this court had jurisdic- tion of all civil actions above the county courts and justices of the peace. It likewise possessed jurisdiction to try all capital offenses. When the county was created, Benjamin Hayes of Los Angeles was district judge. having succeeded O. S. Witherby of San Diego, who had received the appointment of the Legislature on the formation of the district.
In 1863 an amendment caused the state to be redistricted and San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties thus were added to the First District. At the new election for judges, Pablo de la Guerra, of Santa Barbara, was elected for the full term of six years; but in March, 1868, because of the growth in population and the general extension of busi- ness in the southern counties, caused by the general "boom," a new district, the Seventeenth, was created, consisting of San Diego, San Ber- nardino and Los Angeles, and Murrey Morrison, of the City of Los Angeles, was given the gubernatorial appointment as judge of the new district. He was elected to the office at the next judicial election, but died in 1871 and R. M. Widney was appointed to complete his unexpired term. Again, in February, 1872, a new judicial district was formed, the Eighteenth, made up of San Bernardino and San Diego counties, and Horace C. Rolfe, of San Bernardino, was appointed by the Governor as judge thereof. In 1873, W. T. McNealy, of San Diego, was elected to the office, which he held until 1880, when the new constitution went into effect, hy which district courts were abolished.
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SOME EARLY ATTORNEYS OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY. The attorneys of the first several decades of the life of San Bernardino County has passed away. Of those who came to the bar during the '60s, most have long since laid down their briefs. Some survive in retirement, enjoying the ease and dignity which lives of intellectual activity have earned, while fewer still continue to participate in the struggles which the competition of younger and more vigorous men make more severe and exacting. Alden A. M. Jackson, coming to San Bernardino County from San Francisco in 1854, was the first to be considered in the light of a qualified member of the profession of law. He was given the honorary title of "Colonel," although he had had no military experience of any kind and was strictly a man of peace. He had previously had some experience as a court clerk and probably had been a notary public. Says Rolfe: "In opening his career as a lawyer at San Bernardino, he posted up notices, written-as there was no printing press here then-to the effect that he would draw up and prepare in proper and legal form, deeds, mortgages, notes or any kind of agreements or other legal documents, or attend to any kind of legal business for a reasonable consideration. His law library consisted of a book of forms and business directions called 'The New Clerk's Assistant'. By its aid and some tact in the use of antiquated legal phrases he made quite a reputation among the citizens of San Bernardino for legal ability. He was quite an adept in effecting compromises and settling differences out of court. He did a lively busi- ness for a time in divorcing people who came to him with their domestic troubles. He would write for them an agreement of separation in the usual form and endorse on it, 'Articles of Separation and Bill of Divorce,' and have the parties sign and acknowledge it with much formality, in the belief that they were regularly divorced with all the due and binding force of law. Several parties whom he had thus 'divorced' married again. And some of them found themselves in trouble when the legality of the new marriages was questioned. For many years he carried on his law business without going much into court. On one occasion he appeared for a young fellow by the name of Tom Morgan, to defend him on a charge of assault and battery in the justice's court. After the defense was in, the colonel weakened on the case and began to address the jury by admitting, tacitly at least, that his client had violated the law, but urging that he was an industrious young man and had had some provoca- tion and on account of the hard times ought to be let off easy. When Tom himself caught on to the drift of his remarks, he interrupted and pro- ceeded to make a speech to the jury himself, claiming that he had acted in self-defense. The jury took the same view of the case and acquitted him."
Another early lawyer of the city was Q. S. Sparks, who had been one of the Brannan party which arrived at San Francisco in 1847 and who settled at San Bernardino in 1853. He had only a very ordinary common school education and no learning as a lawyer, nor was he of a studious nature ; but he had gentle manners, a ready flow of language, a natural tact and gift of oratory. At the time of his arrival he had several thousand dollars, but unfortunate investments soon cleaned out his capital, and he began to appear in court for clients, although not at that time admitted to the bar as an attorney. By the time the Mormons left this locality and the filling of their places by others, Mr. Sparks had acquired :1 very good standing as a practitioner, especially in the defense of criminal cases, and after his admission to the bar in 1858, he continued to make steady advancement so that for several years he stood among the leaders of the bar of San Bernardino County. He was also in much demand as
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a speaker on public occasions and never failed to acquit himself in such addresses with much ability. One of the numerous anecdotes told about this pioneer legist is as follows: His client was charged with grand larceny in stealing a horse, and Sparks' associate counsel in the case endeavored to have a consultation with him in order to agree upon a line of defense and to prepare some instructions for the jury. When he found that Sparks could not be tided down to such routine business, his associ- ate finally asked him what he was intending to rely upon, to which he gave answer: "I rely on God Almighty, Q. S. Sparks and the jury." He doubtless knew that the facts as well as the law were against his client, but, by his tact and oratory so worked upon the jury that he secured an acquittal, despite the fact that the accused had been seen steal- ing the horse from a pasture at night and had been caught riding the animal on the day following. During the latter part of his life Mr. Sparks made his home for some years at Los Angeles, but eventually returned to San Bernardino, where his death occurred in August, 1891, when he was 75 years of age.
When he came to San Bernardino in 1857, from Los Angeles, Samuel R. Campbell had already gained something of a reputation in Texas, where he had been a lawyer of considerable prominence, a member of the State Senate and an active participant in public affairs. Almost immedi- ately after his arrival he was appointed district attorney of San Ber- nardino County by the board of supervisors, to fill a vacancy, and, with his excellent education and his great natural abilities, seemed destined for a most successful career. However, he had an uncontrolled liking for strong drink, and it was probably due to this that he lost his life. In the winter of 1862-63 he started from San Bernardino on horseback to visit the western part of the county. It was one of the stormy days of that winter of rain and flood, and a few days after his horse had returned riderless, Campbell's body was found on the plains beyond Slover Mountain.
One of the syndicate that purchased the balance of the San Bernardino ranch unsold from Lyman and Rich was Bethel Coopwood, who came to San Bernardino in 1857 from Los Angeles as a young man of about thirty, with a fair education, some legal learning and much energy. He had been a lawyer at Los Angeles and continued to carry on his profes- sion at San Bernardino in connection with his realty business. In the latter connection he probably lost as much as he was able to make in his legal practice and in 1861 he disposed of his interests and returned to Texas, his native state. While still in practice at San Bernardino he stood well up in the ranks of his calling and as he had an excellent knowledge of the Spanish language a number of his clients were Mexi- cans, of whom there were many here at that time, the greater number of them being very well off.
An arrival at San Bernardino of the year 1858 was William Pickett, who came from San Francisco, where he had been a pioneer from the East. Mr. Pickett, who was possessed of more than the average ability, had been brought up to the trade of a printer, but adopted the lawyer's vocation, to which he devoted much study, it being a fact that he brought to this city from San Francisco the first law library of any consequence to arrive at San Bernardino. Suitable office rooms were not to be found in great numbers at that time, and Pickett, so the story goes, secured an office in a little one-room shack on Third Street. While occupying this apartment he gave permission to a newly-elected justice of the peace to hold his court in the same room and transact his business there until he could secure space of his own. It was not long thereafter that Pickett
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was attorney in a suit before this justice, who made several rulings against him in regard to the admission and rejection of testimony. Pickett, be it understood, was inclined to be somewhat aggressive in a court which did not know how, or did not have courage enough, to keep him within bounds, although before a competent court capable of maintaining its dignity he knew how and always did keep within the bounds of decorum. The rulings in the case mentioned above, however, were more than he could stand in his own office, particularly as the case was going against him on its own merits, and in his wrath he ordered the court out of his office, a demand to which the court meekly submitted. Picking up his docket and hat, the magistrate directed the jury to reconvene at another place, but there was not much re-convening done. Some of the jury followed the justice's instructions ; but some tarried by the wayside, some went the other way, and that was the last of the case in court. Mr. Pickett continued in practice at San Bernardino for about four years, then going to Los Angeles and finally to San Francisco.
Albert H. Clark was another who came to San Bernardino about 1858. A man of fair ability as a lawyer, he had a good standing in his profession during the time that he practiced here, and was elected district attorney of San Bernardino County in 1859, but left in 1860.
A graduate of the State University of North Carolina, Henry M. Willis migrated to San Francisco in 1849, with his parents, studied law in that city, and entered practice. For a time he served as prosecuting attorney in the police court of that city, but in 1856 came to the vicinity of the San Bernardino Valley with his mother, then a widow, who had considerable property interests in the eastern end. With a younger brother, he at first engaged in farming, but occasionally appeared in court for clients, and eventually located in the city, opened an office, in which he installed his large law library, and began practice in earnest. He was a forcible speaker and always accounted a lawyer of more than ordinary ability, and for a short time acted in the capacity of district attorney, elected to that office in 1861. In 1871 he was elected county judge for the term of four years, and re-elected for a second term in 1875. In 1879 he returned to the bar and carried on an active practice until the Legislature of 1885-86 created a second superior judge in San Bernardino County and Judge Willis was appointed to the position by Governor Bartlett and served until the expiration of his term in January, 1889. He then resumed practice, but his health failed a year or so later and he retired from active labor. His death occurred at Oceanside, in the autumn of 1895.
Among the early members of the San Bernardino County bar, one who has been a resident of the city for many years is Horace C. Rolfe. From 1850 to 1857 he was variously employed in different parts of Cali- fornia, did some Indian fighting in the southern part of the state and for several years worked at mining in Nevada County. In 1858 he com- menced the study of law in the office of William Pickett, mentioned above, was duly admitted to the bar, and in 1861 was elected district attorney, all office to which he was later re-elected for another term of two years. Into the "cow counties," as they were then known, there had drifted many lawless and some desperate characters, and during the Civil war the office of prosecutor was anything but a sinecure. Mr. Rolfe discharged his duties in an entirely capable and greatly courageous manner, and many of these hard citizens were either driven out of the county or given enforced vacations in the state's prison. On his retirement from office Mr. Rolfe re-engaged in practice, and upon the creation of the Eighteenth Judicial District, composed of San Bernardino and San Diego counties,
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in 1872, was appointed judge of that district by Governor Booth. At the ensuing election he was a candidate, but was not elected, and again returned to practice. At the special election in June, 1878, for members of the state constitutional convention, he was elected joint delegate from the same two counties and served as a member of that body through its session. In 1879 he was elected judge of the superior court of the county, and at the expiration of his term of office retired from the office and resumed the practice of his calling.
One of the earliest as well as one of the most highly respected of the pioneer lawyers of the state was Benjamin Hayes, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, who served as district judge in 1857-58, when San Bernardino County was a part of the district that included all of Southern California. He came overland in 1850, when thirty-five years of age, arriving at Los Angeles in February, and in 1857 was elected as district judge, an office which he filled in all for eleven years. In 1867 he was appointed district attorney of San Bernardino County and in 1868 was elected to the State Legislature. He died at Los Angeles, August 4, 1877. He was a man of wide learning, a student of the Spanish language, and was deeply inter- ested in the history of this country. Not the least of his services was that which he performed in the preserving of much valuable historical matter.
Of the numerous other legists of prominence who have added to the fame of San Bernardino County, the reviews of many, both of the past and present, will be found in the biographical section of this work. They form a body of men who have honored their profession as well as being honored by it and whose labors and influences have played a prominent part in making the history of Southern California.
MEMBERS OF THE BENCH. The following judges have occupied the various courts of San Bernardino County since the establishment of the county in 1853 :
(County Judges)
1853-57
Daniel M. Thomas
1858-71 A. D. Boren
1871-79
H. M. Willis
(District Judges)
1853-63.
Benjamin Hayes
1863-68
Pablo de la Guerro
1868-71.
Murray Morrison
1871-72.
R. M. Widney
1872-75
H. C. Rolfe
1875-79
W. T. McNealy
(Superior Judges)
1879-85
H. C. Rolfe
1886-91
James A. Gibson
Department One
1886-89
H. M. Willis
Department Two
1889-1902
John L. Campbell
Department Two
1891-97
George E. Otis
Department One
1898-1914
Frank F. Oster
Department One
1902-14
Benjamin F. Bledsoe
Department Two
1914-18
H. T. Dewhurst
1918-22
Rex B. Goodcell
1914-22
J. W. Curtis
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
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(District Attorneys)
The district attorneys of San Bernardino County from the time of its creation in 1853 have been as follows:
1853-55
William Stout
1856-57
Ellis Ames
1858
Samuel Surrine
1859
A. H. Clark
1860-61
S. R. Campbell
1862-65
H. C. Rolfe
1866-71
Hewlett Clark
1872-73
J. W. Satterwhite
1874-77
W. J. Curtis
1878-79
W. A. Harris
1880-82
C. W. C. Rowell
1883-85
R. E. Bledsoe
1886-87
J. L. Campbell
1888-89
A. B. Paris
1890-91
T. J. Fording
1892-96
F. F. Oster
1897-1900
F. B. Daley
1901-02
J. W. Curtis
1903-07
.L. M. Sprecher
1906-08
H. T. Dewhurst
1909-10
W. E. Byrne
1911-14
Rex B. Goodcell
1915-22
T. W. Duckworth
(Attorneys of San Bernardino County)
San Bernardino-Chas. L. Allison, D. Wayne Richards, A. S. Maloney, Geo. H. Johnson, Frank T. Bates, Henry Goodcel!, Daley & Byrne, Swing & Wilson, N. C. Peters, Lester G. King, Grant Holcomb, Byron Waters, C. C. Haskell, Jno. Hadaller, Leonard, Surr & Hellyer, Cecil H. Phillips, Jerome Kavanaugh, A. D. Trujillo, T. W. Duckworth, M. O. Hert, Jno. L. Campbell, McNabb & Hodge, H. W. Phipps, R. E. Bledsoe, E. C. Gridley, Stanley Mussell, Wm. Gutherie, John Brown, Jr.
Ontario-Pollock & Mitchell, Warmer & Jones, E. H. Joliffe.
Upland-A. W. Burt.
Chino-R. C. Homan, A. O. Dillon.
Needles-Benj. Harrison, C. H. Marks.
Redlands -- Walter J. Hartzell. U. F. Lewis, Halsey W. Allen, Burton F. Hales, Earl D. Finch, C. E. Chapman.
THE SAN BERNARDINO LAW LIBRARY. In 1891 the California Legis- lature passed an act entitled "An Act to Establish Law Libraries." This act provides that on the commencement in, or removal to, the Superior Court of any county in the state, of any civil action, proceeding or appeal. on filing the first papers therein the party instituting such proceeding, or filing for first papers, shall pay to the clerk of the court the sum of $1, to be paid by the clerk to the county treasurer who shall deposit the same in the Law Library Fund. This fund is to be used for the purchase of books, journals, publications and other personal property, and is to be paid out by the county treasurer only on orders of the board of Law Library trustees. By the terms of this act it is made discretionary with the board of supervisors of any county to provide by ordinance for the application of provisions of said act to such county.
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On June 2, 1891, the board of supervisors of San Bernardino County unanimously adopted Ordinance No. 34, making said act applicable to this county, and on June 25 appointed ex-Judge H. C. Rolfe and W. J. Curtis as trustees of said Law Library to act in conjunction with the two superior judges, Hon. George E. Otis and Hon. John L. Campbell, and the chairman of the board of supervisors. J. N. Victor, who were by the terms of said act ex-officio trustees. The first men constituted the first board of Law Library trustees of San Bernardino County and held their initial meeting July 3, 1891, but apart from a general discussion on the purposes and work confronting them, and the appointment of Judges Rolfe and Otis as a committee to draft by-laws, and of Mr. Victor as a committee to procure a room in the court house for a library, did nothing at the first meeting except to elect F. W. Richardson deputy county clerk, and acting clerk of the board of supervisors, as permanent secretary of the board for the first year.
Four days later another meeting was held, at which Mr. Victor reported that he had secured the storeroom in the Hall of Records as a library, and, inasmuch as a storeroom was all that was then required, this report and the room were accepted. The next meeting was held August 26, 1891, when Judge Otis was elected president of the board for the current year. The fourth meeting was held December 30, 1891, at which the organization was completed by the adoption of a code of by-laws and the election of Mr. Richardson as librarian, in addition to his other duties. This organization continued without change until May 3, 1893, when T. C. Chapman was elected librarian, with the understand- ing that he was to occupy the library as his law office and to keep the library open during the business hours of each day. At this time the library was located in the room originally constructed for the use of the board of supervisors, above the landing of the stairway of the old court house. At this time, also, the library began to assume character, and for the first time might be said to be something more than an empty name. The board of library trustees had entered recently into a contract with the West Publishing Company, of St. Paul, Minnesota, for the purchase, on credit of its Reporter System, embracing eight separate sets of reports, and covering decisions of courts of last resort all over the United States. This contract called for all continuations of these reports, including the bound volumes and advance sheets. At this time also the library contained the American Decisions, American Reports and some of the American State Reports, as well as Morrison's Mining Reports, a set of general digests published by the West Publishing Company, and a miscellaneous collection of textbooks donated principally by Judge Otis, Judge Rolfe and Mr. Curtis; but, when all was said, it was still a crude and rather rudimentary library, used only by members of the local bar, and to.no great extent even by them. In the meantime, the $24 which was being paid the librarian, while not a great remuneration, was sufficient to keep the library from acquiring any new volumes.
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