A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa, Part 29

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 752


USA > Iowa > Mills County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 29
USA > Iowa > Fremont County > A biographical history of Fremont and Mills Counties, Iowa > Part 29


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79


233


BIOGR. IPHIICAL HISTORY.


was given but a few minutes to get her household goods out of the house when i! was ordered burned, because it had harbored the torpedo assassins of the night before. Lieutenant Stone witnessed these events, ex- cept the explosion of the torpedo that mor- tally wounded the Alabama adjutant. This cavalry regiment had been recruited and or- ganized from the Union men of Alabama by Colonel Spencer, a former lowa man, who was afterwards a United States senator from Alabama in the reconstruction days. General Sherman in his memoirs, in giving an account of this incident, seems to have forgotten the finding of the other torpedoes in the road, but the fact is well attested. It was not a big event to General Sherman, and in his busy life might easily be for- gotten.


One day as the brigade was closing up before the works in front of the city, it halted about noon, two regiments being on each side of the main road, one in front of the other. General Belknap and Lieutenant Stone were at the roadside between. The men were snatching the opportunity to take a quick lunch, and all near the road were under a heavy artillery fire from the en- emy's forts. Charles Hoag, who was either the sergeant major or principal musician of the Sixteenth Iowa, was sitting on the ground facing the rear and eating his short ration. He was struck squarely in the back of the head with a solid common shot and his brains scattered upon the persons of General Belknap and Lieutenant Stone and others who were within a few feet of him! The headless body was a weird and ghastly spectacle even to hardened sokliers familiar with scenes of blood and death.


After arriving in front of Savannah, the


soldiers had nothing to eat for a week but rice, which they had to thresh from straw the best they could. But after Fort Mc- Allister was taken, at the mouth of the Ogechee river, by General Hazen's division of the Fifteenth Corps, ship-loads of pro- visions came up Ossabaw Sound and sup- plied the hungry veterans. Lieutenant Stone's period of enlistment had expired some time before the march to the sea, but he voluntarily remained in the army until the end of that great event. In the latter part of December, near Savannah, he was discharged, after serving nearly three months over time. He, with other dis- charged soldiers, embarked in an old coast vessel for Hilton Head, South Carolina, which they reached next day, but were nearly shipwrecked on the way by reason of a terri- ble storm at sea and the weakness of the ship. At Hilton Head they embarked for New York on the steamship Arrago, a stanch ves- sel commanded by Captain Gadsden, and in eight days they were in New York. On the voyage the crew of the ship picked up sixty-five survivors, who had escaped in boats from the steamer North American, which had left New Orleans three or four weeks before, loaded with nearly five hun- dred souls, mainly discharged Union sol- diers. The ship was fatally injured in a storm and sank with all on board save the sixty-five who were in the boats. One of them was a lady school-teacher from the state of New York. Her brother, a Union soldier, was ill in New Orleans. She re .. solved to go after him. For some reason she had to get permission from General John A. Dix, who commanded at New York. The conceited martinets about his headquarters would not let her see him.


234


BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.


She tried for three days, and then, desperate, forcibly pushed herself forward into Gen- eral Dix's presence. He received her kindly and gave her permission and transportation, for she had little money. She went to New Orleans, got her sick brother, and with hint embarked on the doomed North American. When it was known the ship would sink the captain ordered her into a boat. She re- fused to go without her brother. The cap- tain said her brother could not go, but with hundreds of others must perish. She clung to her brother and declared she would perislì with him, The captain at last ordered the crew to place both brother and sister in the boat, which was done. In this way they escaped the death that overtook those who went down with the ship. There were hun- dreds of discharged Union officers on the Arrago and they made up a purse of over a thousand dollars for the penniless but heroic girl.


Immediately on coming out of the army Mr. Stone resumed the study of law. Dur- ing the lulls in campaigns he had, in camp and garrison, kept up a systematic course of study in language, mathematics, history and general literature, and to some extent of the law. He mastered many of the text-books of the schools as effectually as if he had studied at college. On his return he went into the law office of Hon. William . Hale. an able lawyer of Glenwood, who died in 1885, while he was governor of the territory of Wyoming. Mr. Stone was admitted to the bar in the latter part of 1865 at Glen- wood, by Judge Day of the district court, the same man whom, dangerously wounded. Corporal Stone had assisted at Shiloh. In 1867 he was taken into a law partnership with Mr. Hale, which continued till Hale


was appointed to the governorship of Wyo- ming in 1882, by President Arthur. They had a large business and before many years were regarded as one of the strongest firms of the state. In 1874 S. V. Proudfit was associated with the firm, thereafter known as Hale, Stone & Proudfit. Mr. Proudfit remained in the firm until 1881, when he was appointed to a position in one of the departments at Washington. He has long- been in the law office of the interior depart- ment, and at this writing is assistant attor- ney-general in that department, a position earned by his intrinsic merits and ability. In 1884 Mr. Shirley Gillilland, a brilliant young lawyer, was associated with Mr. Stone under the firm name of Stone & Gillilland. This firm was dissolved soon after Mr. Stone was elected attorney-general, some years later. Without removing from his home and practice in Glenwood. Mr. Stone formed a law partnership with Jacob Sims, at Council Bluffs, in 1886, under the firm name of Stone & Sims. Mr. Sims was and still is one of the ablest lawyers at the Iowa bar. This relation continued till soon after Mr. Stone became attorney-general. About 1890 he and T. C. Dawson formed a law partnership at Council Bluffs, under the name of Stone & Dawson. In 1897 Mr. Dawson was appointed by the president as secretary of the United States legation at Rio Janeiro, a position he still holds. About the Ist of January, 1898, Mr. Stone formed a law partnership with Emmet Tinley, at Council Bluffs, which is still existing. Mr. Tinley is a young man of much ability and high character, and the firm has a large and increasing practice.


During the past twenty-five years Mr. Stone has been engaged in many large and


235


BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.


important cases and has had conspicuous success in achieving many notable victories. He maintains his practice at Glenwood. where he lives, but spends much time at his office in Council Bluffs, which can be reached in forty minutes after he starts from his home. His investigation of a case is search- ing and thorough, and in his preparations for trial he is industrious and exhaustive, though he possesses tremendous instanta- neous power of thought and action, and can readjust or wholly change his line of battle on the trial as readily as a great military tactician can on the field of battle.


A distinguished judge of the state, be- fore whom he has long practiced, writes of him as follows:


"To hear Mr. Stone in court upon some important legal question one would conclude that his understanding is pre-eminently a legal one. His arguments have the vivid freshness and virility which frequently char- acterize new investigation, and at the same time are supported by such careful analysis and profound knowledge of legal principles as to show that his researches have not been confined to the narrow scope of that par- ticular case. but have covered the wide field of legal learning.


"In the last twenty-five years legal litera- ture has increased tenfold, which makes it possible for the ordinary lawyer, in most instances, to support his contention with the decisions of some court, when he would be powerless if called upon to sustain his posi- tion by original thought and research ; but it can be truthfully said of Mr. Stone that if all of the books were burned, the decisions of the courts blotted out, he would still be an eminent lawyer,-one of the few whose task would be to rebuild the fabric of the law and write its history. 14


"Many years ago an eminent judge told the writer that in his opinion Mr. Stone had the strongest grasp of legal questions of any lawyer in his district.


"From his boyhood Mr. Stone has been recognized as an eloquent and very effective public speaker. He has great power in an- alyzing complicated and _apparently contra- dictory states of facts.


"An eminent judge said to the writer that Mr. Stone was the only lawyer who had ever led him to change his conclusion after he had fully made up his mind upon the facts in a case, and that he did this by his keen anal- ysis of the facts. To this power of analysis is added the beauty and fervor of a poetic imagination and of strong emotion. His speeches are arguments, based on fact and reason, frequently interspersed with out- bursts of the finest oratory. He is a reasoner and logician first ; closely following this he is an orator of high rank.


"Mr. Stone has been very successful be- fore juries and as a trial lawyer, and has won a wide reputation as an eloquent and very convincing public speaker. In great cases he has always succeeded in the end.


"For more than one-third of a century upon the stump and in the councils of his party he has been an earnest and powerful advocate of the equal rights of all men be- fore the law: of the protection of Ameri- can labor, and of honest money ; one of the sowers of the good seed from which not only Americans but all men are now reap- ing a bountiful harvest. Long service has not weakened his excellent natural powers as a lawyer and speaker, but has added to them strength and wisdom,-the gifts of long years of experience and thought."


Lieutenant Stone has always been a Re- publican in politics. Even before the Civil


236


BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.


war when a mere boy he made speeches in the neighborhood on Silver creek. He cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1864, at Marietta, Georgia, when his regiment was in camp preparatory to the march to the sea. In 1867, when but twenty-four years of age, he was elected a member of the house of representatives from Mills county to the Iowa general assembly. He was the young- est member of that body and was re-elected in 1869. In 1871 he was elected to the Iowa senate from Pottawattamie, Mills and Mont- gomery counties as its youngest member. He served four years in the senate, which included the period of the making of the code of 1873, in which he took an active part. In 1875 he was returned to the house from Mills county, was a candidate for speaker, but was defeated by Hon. John H. Gear, of Burlington. He then became chair- man of the judiciary committee, and the unquestioned leader of the house. He was re-elected to the house in 1877, and in Janu- ary, 1878, was made speaker without op- position from either party. In this capacity he gave great satisfaction and ruled over the house with firmness and justice. He was then and is yet regarded as one of the ablest parliamentarians in the country. Be- fore he became speaker he had been chair- man of many important committees and had served upon others. He secured the passage of many important measures, among them the first law in Iowa to regulate insurance companies. He introduced and over great opposition secured the passage of a bill for establishing the Institution for Feeble Mind- ed Children at Glenwood, his home city. This was in 1876. He carried it easily through the house of which he was a mem- ber, but when it went to the senate it was de- feated, lacking three votes. With his usual


energy he went about the work of resurrect- ing and passing it. With the assistance of his friends in the house and senate, of whom he always had many, the vote was reconsid- ered two days later and the bill passed. This institution has now grown to be one of the greatest in the country, and is conceded on all sides to be one of the most meritorious. When Mr. Stone was pressing the bill in the general assembly few people had any confi- dence in its merits and it was supported more through personal friendship for him than from any other motive. But they have long since seen his judgment vindicated. He was the first man that ever carried through an lowa legislative body a bill providing for the appointment and then the election of commissioners to regulate the railways of the state and vesting them with power to fix railway freight charges. This measure he prepared, introduced and carried through the Iowa senate in 1874. Though the meas- ure was defeated in the house, part of the principles of it were carried through four years later when he was speaker of the house. In 1888 all the principles of Mr. Stone's measure became engrafted into Iowa law. They have given complete satisfaction to the people of the state and even railway com- panies now recognize their justness and merit, and are content with them.


We cannot follow the record of this active man through his legislative career. During the course of twelve years, from 1868 to 1880, he was a leading factor in Iowa legislation. No important measure was enacted that had not received his care- ful consideration and his views of public law and policy have been impressed upon the statutes of the state.


In 1876 Mr. Stone was elected as a dele- gate at large to the Republican national con-


237


BIOGR. IPHIIC.IL HISTORY.


vention at Cincinnati, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes. Mr. Stone supported the nomination of Hon. James G. Blaine for president. The names of great men like James G. Blaine, Roscoe Conkling and Oliver P. Morton were before the convention. Hon. Robert G. Ingersoll, one of the great orators of the world of any time, made the presentation address in behalf of Mr. Blaine. In immediate effect and startling power the speech was never excelled since the world began. It is doubtful if in these respects it was ever approached. If the vote could have been taken at its close there would have been no doubt of the nomination of Blaine, but by the rules of the convention that could not be done, and intervening time and things turned the attention of the delegates.


Mr. Stone was here elected as the low: member of the Republican national commit- tee, and, by Zachariah Chandler. its chair- man, was appointed on the executive com- mittee. He was thus an active factor in the management of the campaign. The struggle ended in such doubt that congress appointed an electoral commission to decide who had won the presidency.


At the Republican national convention in Chicago, in 1880, Mr. Stone, as a member of the national committee, took an exceedingly active part. There had long been a conflict among leading Republicans over what was known as the "unit rule," by which was meant that if a majority of a state convention or of a state delegation should be favorable to a candidate the majority could cast the vote of the whole delegation ; and thus dele- gates elected from districts who might be for some other candidates could have no voice for their preference. The question had long been one of contention. It was determined by the faction to which Mr. Stone belonged


to bring the matter to an issue and settle it forever, if possible. New York, Pennsyl- vania and Illinois had large delegations, the majority of each being against Blaine, but there being also a very large minority of cach for him. The members of the national committee who were most active against the un.it rule were Senator Chaffee, of Colorado; William E. Chandler-since senator- from New Hampshire ; Representative, now Sen- ator, Aldrich, of Rhode Island; Steplien B. Elkins, of Arizona, now senator of West Virginia; and John Y. Stone, of Iowa. The most active against them were Senator Don Cameron, of Pennsylvania-then chairman of the committee after the death of Zacha- riah Chandler; Chauncey 1. Filley, of Mis- souri ; George C. Gorham, of California ; and Powell Clayton, of Arkansas. The fight was long and bitter. Thirteen or fourteen of the committee were in favor of the unit rule and a larger number against it, but the minority almost made up in boldness, cour- age and audacity what they lacked in num- bers. The point was over the selection by the committee of a man for temporary chair- man who would hold to unit rule or against it. The chairman of the committee finally refused to put questions proposed by mem- bers of the majority. He refused to allow an appeal from his decision. After several ineffectual efforts a recess was taken and the members of each faction assembled by them- selves. In the majority faction a resolution was introduced by Mr. Elkins and unani- mously adopted to remove Mr. Cameron as chairman of the committee and elect Will- iam E. Chandler. Mr. AAldrich was selected as leader to carry this daring though neces- sary scheme into effect. Motions were pre- pared and the precise lines of action agreed


238


BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.


upon. It was expected there would be resist- ance, more or less forcible, to the removal of Chairman Cameron, and preparations were made to meet that. But the expected con- flict did not come about. Chicago was full of the spirit of the controversy and the ex- citement was great, for upon the result de- pended the nomination for the presidency. If the unit rule prevailed Grant would be nominated. If it failed probably Blaine would be, though it was not certain. After the secret proceedings above mentioned the committee began to reassemble. In the meantime it had leaked out that the major- ity had resolved to remove the chairman of the committee. This broke down the unit- rule entrenchment. The minority gave up the fight they had so audaciously kept up be- fore. But here entered upon the scene a new feature. Thomas C. Platt was the New York member of the committee, but he now for the time being gave place to Chester A. Arthur, who at that moment had no concep- tion of the fact that he would in a few days be nominated for vice president. He was a diplomatist and gentleman, and he was ever magnificent. He came to the majority with an olive branch. He carried the scroll of submission. Mr. Arthur captivated the victors. He stated that his faction would give up the unit rule, but in the interest of harmony he urged that some man be selected who was satisfactory to all, and who would still hold against the unit rule. This was agreed to and Senator George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, a grand old man even then, was unanimously agreed to as temporary chairman. And thus one of the most troublesome and dangerous questions that ever came up in the Republican party was finally settled. A few days later James A.


Garfield was nominated for president, and Chester A. Arthur for vice-president. In but little over a year the captivating peace- maker in the committee was president of the United States. This was probably the most interesting convention ever held in America. Roscoe Conkling, John A. Logan, Benjamin Harrison, James A. Garfield, William Mc- Kinley and many other great men were del- egates.


In 1884 Mr. Stone was again a delegate at large from Iowa to the national Republi- can convention held that year in Chicago. He was the chairman of the Iowa delegation and was an active participator in the debates and proceedings of the convention. He was, with the others of the delegation and most of his party in the state, for the nomination of Mr. Blaine. He was efficient and active in the secret meetings and work of the friends of that illustrious man, who had the great satisfaction of seeing him there triumphantly nominated.


In 1888 Mr. Stone was nominated and elected on the Republican ticket as attorney- general of the state. He was re-elected in 1890 and again in 1892. He was the first attorney-general in the state to receive three terms, though he did not solicit or desire the last. During his incumbency of that office many questions wholly new to .the jurisprudence of the country arose. The railway statutes of 1888 came up for judi- cial interpretation. Scores of suits in both federal and state courts were instituted under these laws. Many of them involved the con . stitutional power of the state to enact such statutes. The powers of the state railway commission had to be considered and deter- mined, and during the six years Mr. Stone was obliged to constantly meet the


239


BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.


greatest railway lawyers of the country in these courts on these important questions. The work of the office increased four-fold The best test of his ability to perform these complicated and laborious duties is found in the fact that none but words of praise were ever elicited for his conspicuous services.


Before the close of his last term as at torney-general he was elected by the house of representatives as one of the code com- missioners to revise the Iowa code. This extensive and laborious undertaking was completed by the commission in the latter part of 1895, and the work thus wronght. together with the revisions of it made by the general assembly at its special session it 1897. constitutes the present code of lowa laws. This was the second code he helped to make.


In 1894 he was a candidate for United States senator, but was defeated in the cau- cus by Ex-Governor John H. Gear, his old- time antagonist for the speakership.


In 1880 he was a candidate for the nom- ination for congress at the Republican con - vention at Council Bluffs. There were four candidates, Mr. Stone, Colonel W. F. Sapp, then congressman, Colonel W. P. Hepburn and Major A. R. Anderson, all prominent men of the state. The convention was in session six days and ballotted hundreds of times. On the last ballot Colonel W. P. Hepburn was nominated. He has. in a changed district, been in congress ever since, save during the four years he was solicitor of the treasury department during the ad- ministration of President Harrison. Mr. Stone would undoubtedly have been sent to congress at different times, from the new district of 1882, if he had consented ; but


he has uniformly declined to be considered in that connection. The intensity of his political aspirations has been greatly modi- fied in his later years, though he is as earnest and active as ever in conventions and cam- paigus in support of his party and party friends. But his friends have noticed that while he has steadfastly refused to be con- sidered for governor or representative in congress, he has never been heard to say he would refuse an election to the United States senate, where his many friends hope to see him yet.


There arose in Iowa long ago many seri- outs controversies among the people along the Des Moines river as to the title to lands along that stream claimed by carly settlers on them under acts of congress. The old Des Moines Railroad & Navigation Com- pany got title from the state through an old contract with certain state commissioners. The title to about three hundred thousand acres was involved in the controversy between the settlers and this company and its grantees. Some early decisions of cases between claimants through the dif- ferent sources of title were in favor of the company and persons to whom it had sold some of the lands. Settlers were being evict- ed, much distress was occasioned and great excitement arose and some serious personal conflicts followed, and many were threat- ened. In 1889 Governor Larrabee requested Mr. Stone, then attorney general of the state, to go to Washington and endeavor to get the attorney general of the United States to institute a suit, on behalf of the government, to forever settle these disputed titles. After protracted arguments by Mr. Stone and Sen- ator Allison of Iowa, who freely assisted him, on the part of the settlers, and eminent


240


BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.


lawyers on behalf of the company, the attor- ney general of the United States made the order directing the suit to be brought. Mr. Stone was appointed by the attorney gen- eral as special attorney on the part of the government to institute and conduct the cause. It was argued by Mr. Stone for the United States before Judge Shiras, United States judge at Fort Dodge, in 1890. The cause was decided against the government and appealed to the supreme court., Mr. Stone was again appointed as special attor- ney to prepare and prosecute the appeal. He and the attorney general of the United States argued the cause in the supreme court. That court adhered to the declara- tions of the early cases, and decided that, in view of the long period of time that had elapsed during which the old cases had been relied upon as the law of the matter, it would not overturn the previously an- nounced doctrines. The result of the suit, however, had the effect to induce congress to make an appropriation partially compen- sating the settlers for their losses.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.