USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 78
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Fortunately, he was a man of wonderful physical capacity, else the constant strain upon him of an immense practice, so full of toil and care as he made it, would have insured an early death. It was very fortunate, too, that Mr. Bradley was blessed with a fund of good spirits, a buoyant disposition, and a self-reliance that always stood him in good stead through the changes of a life full of activity and never- ending variety. He never held a public office, but was more than once urged by the members of the bar and his fellow-citizens for a position upon the bench, and at one time he probably would have accepted it, but he was not selected by the power having the appoint- ment, and he died as he had lived, in private station. During his whole life he was an idol of the public, and his death was most seri- ously mourned.
James Mandeville Carlisle was the contemporary of Mr. Bradley, and the two not only stood for many years side by side in their position at the bar, but for many years their names appeared upon one side or the other of every case of importance that came before the courts of the District. Born in Alexandria while it was a part of the District of Columbia, he came to the city of Washington when a mere boy and really had no other home. Mr. Carlisle may be said to have been a self-made man, and all that he was and all that he became were the results of his own application and determination. He made himself an excellent classical scholar, and was always noted
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for his familiarity with the Latin authors, he acquired the French and Spanish languages so that he not only spoke them with ease, but what is very rare, wrote them with great facility and correctness. His education as a lawyer was acquired in the offices of William Wirt and Richard A. Coxe, and he came to the bar at a very early age. It is rare to find so many of the good qualities of a lawyer combined as presented themselves in Mr. Carlisle's character. Every- thing he touched he adorned. Bright, witty, magnetic, he won the hearts of all with whom he came in contact. Before the court, dealing with nice questions and construing the authorities that sustained and strengthened his arguments, and before the jury, demonstrating the strength of the facts that he arrayed before them, he was alike excel- lent. For many years his practice was almost confined to the Supreme Court, and it is not saying too much to say that no lawyer ever more completely won and held the esteem, confidence, and respect of that great court than did Mr. Carlisle. ' Through nearly the whole of his professional career he was the retained counsel of several of the embassies to this country from foreign courts, and was thoroughly competent for the service required of him in that department of his practice. As a man he had those manners and qualities that always win friendship and admiration. To young men he was particularly gracious and kind, and many a tyro has gained courage and conso- lation at a kind word from him at a moment when it seemed as if he must resign all expectation of professional success. Of course such a man must be popular, and he was, until the latest hour of his life, beloved by his fellow-citizens of all classes.1
1 Mr. Carlisle was particularly clever in clothing in prose or verse some witty thought that occurred to him in the course of an argument or trial at the bar, and not unfrequently he created great amusement by giving to what was else very grave and uninteresting an amusing aspect. As an example of this happy talent, the following may be given by way of illustration. One day, in the Supreme Court of the United States, a case involving in some way the Cliquot champagne was under argument. A Mr. Eaton being of counsel, and it is presumed rather uninteresting in his presentation of his case, Mr. Carlisle wrote upon a slip of paper the following amusing epigram :
"The widow Cliquot, oh ho! oh ho! The widow Cliquot, oh! ho! We're all of us thinkin' Right good is your drinkin', But really your Eatin' so! so! so! so! But really your Eatin' so! so!"
The slip of paper upon which this was written was afterwards found among some papers sent to the clerk of the court by Chief Justice Taney, who had evidently taken it home with him to enjoy it at his leisure.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
Henry May, son of Dr. Frederick May, was born in Washington, and received a classical education. He studied law in the office of General Walter Jones, was admitted to the bar, and attained a high rank in the profession. Among the important cases in which he appeared was the trial of George Gardiner for forging a Mexican mine elaim. In this case he was employed for the Government by Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State. He removed to Baltimore in 1850, was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1854, and was reelected in 1860. Although he was a Union man, he advocated com- promise measures on the prospect of civil war, and in 1861, with the sanction of President Lincoln, left his seat in Congress and visited Richmond, to confer with Confederate authorities on peace measures. During his absence an effort was made to expel him from the House on the charge of disloyalty, and on his return he was for several weeks imprisoned in Fort Lafayette. He was subsequently released on parole, and completed his term in the House of Representatives. He died September 25, 1866, in the city of Baltimore, which he had adopted as his home, leaving many friends in the city of Washington who remember his many excellent qualities as a man and his brilliancy as a lawyer and advocate.
William B. Webb was born in the city of Washington September 17, 1825; received his early education at the private schools of Wash- ington and at a boarding-school near Baltimore; in 1840 he entered the freshman class at Columbia College, now Columbian University, at Washington, and graduated in 1844, taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts from that institution, which afterward bestowed upon him the degree of Master of Arts. He studied law and was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia in 1847, and commenced the practice of his chosen profession in his native city. On the breaking out of the War in 1861, he was elected captain of a company of volunteers, and offered the services of himself and his company to the Government, but there being no organization of troops at the time to which his company could be assigned, his offer was not accepted. In the fall of 1861, upon the formation of the metropolitan police for the District of Columbia, he was elected by the board of police super- intendent of the force, which office he accepted. After successfully organizing the force, he resigned his position in 1863, and resumed the practice of his profession, which he quietly pursued until 1885, when he was appointed by President Cleveland the Republican commissioner of the District of Columbia under the law creating a permanent gov- ernment for that Distriet. He was, at the expiration of his term of
Mm F. Mattingly
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service, reappointed by the President, but the Senate failing to act upon his nomination, he again, in 1889, returned to the practice of his profession.
William F. Mattingly, one of the prominent lawyers of the city of Washington, was born in Washington May 30, 1837. His education was received in the public schools of the city, and at Columbia College, from which institution he graduated in 1857. He has occupied numerous positions of trust in his native city, having been one of the trustees of Columbian University since 1872; and since 1888 he has been leeturer in the law school of the same university, on practical commercial law. He studied law in the office of William J. Stone, Jr., on leaving college, and was admitted to the bar of the old Circuit Court in October, 1860, since which time he has been constantly and successfully engaged in the practice of law in Washington.
What has been said of the members of the bar of the District of Columbia in the foregoing pages has been said only of men of the past. It must not be supposed, however, from this that the worth and excellence of the bar of the District are things of the past. On the contrary, it may be safely said that the bar of to-day loses nothing by comparison with its former history. The men of to-day have no occasion to hang their heads; they are worthy successors of those who have preceded them. It would be out of place to attempt sketches of men whose future is yet before them. The present day accords to them, not only in its applause, but in ways that are of much greater present value, the rewards that come from the possession of talent, industry, and ability. The future will crown their record in the praise accorded them by some future historian.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CLAIMS.
The Prosecution of Claims against the Government-Claims Growing Out of the Wars of the Country -The Board of Commissioners on Mexican War Claims - Nature of These Claims Requires Lawyers of the Highest Standing and Ability -The Court of Claims- Amounts Paid Out in Pensions-Importance of the Profession - George E. Lemon's Building- Names of Some of the Attorneys Engaged in the Prosecution of Claims.
T' HE business of the prosecution of claims against the United States for amounts due because of services, civil, military, or naval, for balances unsettled on contracts, and for property impressed and used for the Government during the wars that have occurred, has become one of the professions of the country. As such cases must be prose- cuted at the Capital, before the departments and the courts and commissions established for their adjudication, and as many of them must be argued before the Supreme Court of the United States, this profession is not only one of the largest in the city of Washington, but its members have a standing second only, if not in every way equal, to that of the regular profession of the law. There are many members of this profession who are exclusively devoted to its demands, while others are connected also with the regular practice of the law in the courts of general jurisdiction. Some of these are men who have occupied the highest positions in the service of the country as officers of the military, naval, judicial, and executive departments, as bureau officers, or as members of either branch of Congress.
From the very beginning of the history of the country these claims have existed, arising in greater numbers after the prosecution of the wars in which the Government has from time to time been engaged. The War of the Revolution gave rise to a very large amount of these claims, many of which required for their proper prosecution the aid of men competent to construe the acts of Congress under which the claims arose, and to understand and present the principles governing contracts in all their various forms. Prominent among the claims were those for half pay granted by Congress to the men who had fought in the Revolutionary armies, and the various methods of commutation of that half pay. It is not worth while to
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dwell upon this matter, as it is a part of the history of the country with which every well-read American citizen is familiar.
Following the course of the history of the country, we find that from time to time every class of claims that has arisen has been prosecuted by men specially fitted for such duty. The French spolia- tion claims, as they are familiarly known, which from the beginning of the present century have been presented to the Government, have recently been presented (to the Government) in such form as to gain a settlement, the act providing for such payment being approved March 3, 1891. During all these years of struggle to secure justice at the hands of the Government in the matter of these claims, they have had in their proseention men of the highest character and ability. Besides these there were the Florida claims, the claims arising out of the various Indian wars, and the occupation of the Indian Territory, the settlement of the public lands, of the Virginia military bounty lands, and the claims arising out of them, involving large interests in what was known as the Northwest Territory, now occupied by great and flourishing States, - all of these may be men- tioned in connection with this business of the profession of the prosecution of claims against the Government. After the conclusion of the Mexican War a commission was created before which claims for the adjudication of large sums were presented. And again after the conclusion of the War of the Rebellion the Government consti- tuted a commission, called the Southern Claims Commission, which held its sessions in every respect as if it were a court, and heard arguments of counsel and adjudged the cases that came before it in the most careful and judicial manner conceivable. In this connection reference may be made to the Alabama Claims Commission, before which came a multitude of claims arising out of depredations upon the commerce of the United States during the War of the Rebel- lion. This commission was composed of lawyers of the highest standing, one or more of them having been judges in the States from which they were appointed. It was assisted in its investigations by a lawyer of the very highest standing, who had been a Senator of the United States and at one time Postmaster-General. Before this commission came many of the most distinguished lawyers of the country, and the cases in court were heard upon records and briefs as carefully drawn as those of the highest court in the land.
In recognition of the importance of the proper prosecution of claims against the Government, Congress, in August, 1856, established the Court of Claims, a court as well known throughout the country
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as the Supreme Court itself. This tribunal is presided over by judges of the very highest ability, and so dignified and important is the position of judge upon this bench that it is sought after by the best lawyers in the land. Before it appear at each term of its sessions lawyers of the highest position from every part of the country, and especially from the District of Columbia, to argue cases embracing within their scope and requiring for their settlement a construction of the most abstruse principles of law, and requiring at the hands of the lawyers managing them the most careful study and investigation. Cases from this court go to the Supreme Court of the United States upon appeal, and their argument in that court is attended with as much necessity for ability as the argument of any cases that come before it. The Government is represented before this Court of Claims by the Solic- itor-General and by one of the assistant attorney-generals. The great advantage of this court is, that by its organization the Government is protected against a multitude of cases or claims that would otherwise be presented, having no real foundation either in law or in equity. Persons coming before this court are obliged to support their claims by the strictest proof, and with witnesses and depositions, all of which are submitted to the closest scrutiny. Therefore, educated and experi- enced lawyers, within a comparatively recent period, have become a greater necessity than in earlier times.
Within the last few years, Congress has made the most ample provision for the reward of those men who imperiled life and limb in the defense of their country during the War of the Rebellion, having created pensions to so great an extent that the amount appropriated each year for their payment amounts to many millions of dollars. In these acts, too, for the better protection of those to whom these pensions are donated, Congress has thought best to limit the compensation to be paid to agents for the prosecution of such claims. This of itself is the highest recognition of the necessity and value of the services of these practitioners. The extent to which the prosecu- tion of these claims has grown in the past few years is a matter of sufficient interest to enlist the attention of every citizen, and it must be in every way best for the Government and the claimant that this multitude of claims should be presented in such a way as to effectuate their proper and speedy determination. That this is accomplished best by a class of men who have given their attention to the law under which these claims arise, and who, from their experience and educa- tion, have the facilities for preparing the papers necessary in present- ing the claims in the proper form, no one can reasonably doubt.
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Everything seems to indicate that this profession will increase in importance as time progresses. There can never come a period in the history of our country when claims against the Government will cease. The very fact that Congress is, year after year, making larger and larger appropriations of publie moneys for the purpose of satisfying these demands of the citizens of the country, serves to render the existence of the profession of which we are treating a necessity.
The largest private claim ageney in Washington is doubtless that of George E. Lemon, whose magnificent building, at 1729 New York Avenue, has the appearance of a Government department building.
It has been stated above that the lawyers engaged in the practice before the Court of Claims and before the departments are, many of them, exceptionally able men. The following list, though selected in a semi-random manner, is, notwithstanding, believed to contain the names of a considerable proportion of the ablest lawyers who have been, and are now, engaged in this practice:
Charles Alert, Robert J. Atkinson, Clifford Arrick, Lewis Abra- ham, Oliver D. Barrett, John S. Blair, William Birney, A. C. Bradley, A. T. Britton, George S. Boutwell, Richard S. Coxe, James M. Carlisle, Samuel Chilton, John A. J. Creswell, N. P. Chipman, Joseph Casey, James Coleman, C. C. Cole, Jeff Chandler, Charles Alphonse de Chambrun, W. D. Davidge, T. J. Durant, J. W. Donglass, W. W. Dudley, Thomas Ewing, Jr., George Earle, W. E. Earle, C. J. Ellis, P. R. Fendall, F. J. D. Fuller, John E. Fay, R. II. Gillett, John B. Goode, L. G. Hine, George E. Lemon, C. P. Lincoln, James E. Pad- gett, J. Randolph Tucker, Theodore W. Tallmadge,1 Eppa Hunton, Frank A. Carpenter, Arthur S. Denver, S. J. Fague & Son, Allen C. Clark, Harvey Spaulding & Sous, and James Tanner.
1 There is a tradition that the name of Tallmadge originated in Wales in the following manner: Persons of a tall stature living on the border of a marsh were called tulle-muche (muche in the Welsh language meaning marsh ). In the progress of the language, muche changed to madge; hence the name Tallmadge.
Britton's Journal of Spiritual Science, Literature, and Art published in Jannary, 1873, an article notieing the death of Nathaniel Potter Tallmadge, of Columbia County, New York, containing the following from the history of the Tallmadge family in England:
" All the Tallmadges in the United States are descendants from one of two brothers, Thomas and William, who emigrated from England in 1631, on a vessel named The Plow. William died without issne. Thomas, with his two sons, in 1639, located in Southampton, Long Island. These two sons were named Thomas and Robert. Some of the later generations have moved to the Western States, Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, who served two terms as a Senator from New York, became distinguished when Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and other great men were likewise in the Senate of the United States. Major Tallmadge has a conspicuous place in the history of the
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Revolutionary War, from having charge of Major Andre after his arrest. General James Tallmadge has a prominent place in the history of New York City. The famous Brook- lyn divine, T. De Witt Talmage is a descendant from Thomas, aforesaid, who dropped one of the I's and the d from the family name, which spelling has been adopted by all his descendants. Robert's descendants have retained the original spelling of the name."
It will be clear, therefore, from the spelling of the family name, that Theodore W. Tallmadge is a descendant of Robert Tallmadge. He was born in Maysville, Ken- tucky, January 25, 1827, and received a liberal education through the generous heart of his father, Darius Tallmadge, who, from his own experience, realized the necessity of the education of the young. He at first attended Howe's Academy, at Lancaster, Ohio, and for two years, 1841 and 1842, he attended the college of Augusta, Kentucky. He passed his freshman year, 1843, in the Ohio University, at Athens, and the remaining three years of his college life were spent at Princeton College, graduating therefrom in 1846. He studied law at Columbus, Ohio, in the office of Henry- Stanbery, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Ohio and the Circuit Court of the United States in 1848. In 1849 he commenced the practice of law with Hon. John T. Brasee, and in January, 1852, he opened a private banking house in Lancaster, Ohio, pursuing the banking business for several years, during which time he was president of the Wabash Bank, at Wabash, Indiana, which had a note circulation of $200,000, and he was also a director in the Hocking Valley Bank, at Lancaster.
He became engaged in the real estate business at Columbus, Ohio, to which place he moved in April, 1859.
On April 18, 1861, when the Governor of Ohio, William Dennison, called for vol- unteers under the proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Tallmadge was placed as quartermaster on the staff of Henry Wilson, major-general of the Ohio militia, and at once commenced active duty in receiving and placing into quarters the troops arriving at the general rendezvous, Columbus, Ohio, designated by the Governor. The following May, when the militia of the State was reorganized under act of the leg- islature, Mr. Tallmadge was commissioned for five years assistant quartermaster and commissary of subsistence by the Governor of Ohio, with the rank of captain in the Ohio volunteer militia, being first sent to the camp of the Seventeenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Lancaster. When that regiment was ordered into active service, Captain Tallmadge was placed in charge of a steamboat with supplies and arms sent by the Governor of Ohio for the use of the Ohio troops under General MeClellan, who was preparing to make an advance into West Virginia. Arriving at Parkersburg, and deliv- ering said supplies to General W. S. Rosecrans, then in command of thirteen regiments of three months' volunteers, Captain Tallmadge was detailed to serve on the staff of that general as quartermaster, marching with the brigade ria Clarksburg, until the battle at Rich Mountain, July 11, 1861, the first battle of the War. He continued on active duty as assistant quartermaster and commissary for one year, having been or- dered to various points where Ohio troops were in rendezvous and in service needing arms and supplies. He accompanied the hospital boats sent by the Governor of Ohio with physicians and nurses for taking care of the wounded at the battle of Shiloh, arriving two days after the battle, and was placed in charge of the detail which con- veyed the wounded to the boats. In July, 1863, Governor Tod ordered the State militia to Camp Chase, four miles from the Capitol, and Captain Tallmadge was placed on duty as the quartermaster. This call was occasioned by the raid then being made through Indiana and Ohio by the Confederate General Morgan.
In March, 1862, Mr. Tallmadge established the business of prosecuting soldiers' claims at Columbus, Ohio, which proved so successful as to render necessary several
V. M. Tallmadge
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branch offices and the employment of a large force of clerks. Having advertised exten- sively, and being found adapted to the business as well as successful in the prosecuting of cases, he became, at the close of the War, the most prominent claim agent in the State of Ohio. In October, 1878, he moved his main office to Washington, District of Columbia, still retaining one in Columbus, Ohio, and in other places throughout the United States.
He is a member of the Federal Bar Association of Washington, District of Colum- bia, practicing in the Court of Claims and all the Government departments. He is a member of Burnside Post No. 8 of the Department of the Potomac of the Grand Army of the Republic, having been elected for three terms as chaplain, and has served as aid- de-camp on the staff of Colonel Charles P. Lincoln, department commander, also in that capacity on the staff of Commander-in-chief William Warner and Wheelock G. Veazey. During most of his life he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, serving for ten years as trustee of the Wesley Chapel, in Columbus, Ohio, and in the past nine years leader of the strangers' class meeting in the Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington City.
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