USA > Iowa > Polk County > Des Moines > Des Moines, the pioneer of municipal progress and reform of the middle West, together with the history of Polk County, Iowa, the largest, most populous and most prosperous county in the state of Iowa; Volume I > Part 67
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In passing, it is worth while to note the local lawyers and law firms whose names appear in the advertising supplement to this volume. These are: Gatch & Stewart, James Embree, McHenry & Kendall. Mitchell & Brown, Phillips & Phillips, Stephen Sibley,5 Seward Smith and William G. Hammond.6
Volume II, beginning with February. 1868, leads off with an unsigned re- view of "Maine's "Ancient Law." -- probably by Mr. Hammond. In April, T. M. C[ooley] discusses "The Constitutional Limits to the Power of Taxation"; Francis Lieber, of New York, writes on "Nationalism" and C. K. Gilchrist re- views "Washburn on Easements and Servitudes." In the June number an in- teresting account of a jury trial in Heidelberg is given by the editor.
The variety of themes considered during the remainder of the year evince the wide range of vision enjoyed by the able editor and his distinguished con- tributors.
1 Law School Building, Fourth Street, Des Moines.
2 Published by Mills & Co., Des Moines, 1867.
3 C. K. Gilchrist, of Oskaloosa, Kansas.
+ Published by Mills and Company, Des Moines.
5 United States Commissioner.
6 Editor of The Jurist, and a professor in the Iowa Law School.
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The inside history of the Iowa Law School, of Des Moines, is told in the December number.7
Volume III, 1869, has a formidable array of editors :
William G. Hammond, Iowa City, General Editor.
For Missouri: Charles C. Whittelsey, Esq., St. Louis.
For Kansas: Hon. C. K. Gilchrist, of Oskaloosa, Kas.
For Illinois: Norman L. Freeman, Esq., State Reporter of Illinois, Spring- field.
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For Iowa: Hon. George G. Wright, of the Supreme Court, Des Moines ; Thomas F. Withrow, Esq., late State Reporter, Des Moines.
For Michigan : Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, of the Supreme Court, Ann Arbor, Mich.
The fourth volume, 1870, appears with Chester C. Cole, of Des Moines, as general editor. The reader notes the disappearance of three names from the editorial staff of '69, namely: Hammond, Wright and Cooley. The periodical now presents itself in two successive double numbers and, from May to Decem- ber, in monthly numbers, thus doubling its former size. Evidently its editors and publishers had no thought of giving up simply because the state had absorbed the Des Moines Law school. The prospectus bound with the volume is signed by Mills & Company, Des Moines. In this prospectus, Chancellor Hammond is mentioned as still sharing with Judge Cole in the editorial management.
In the legal directory of 1870, accompanying the December number the fol- lowing named Des Moines attorneys not mentioned in the list three years before are given: G. A. Stewart, Brown & Dudley, H. Y. Smith, Barcroft & Gatch, C. C. Cole, S. S. Etheridge, Finch & Rivers, W. H. McHenry, C. C. Nourse, Polk & Hubbell, J. M. St. John, T. F. Withrow, G. G. Wright, Harbert & Clark and James Callanan. The only other Polk county attorney named is J. W. Weaver, Peoria City, Madison township.
The pioneer editors of old Fort Des Moines are not the only editors with a tale of woe. The March, 1870, number of The Jurist opens with an apology for "unavoidable delay" and "the miscarriage of the mails ;" and the June num- ber has its "Errata," notifying the users of its Digest of Recent Decisions that "owing to the special engagements of the editors," the copy "was handed to a young man in the office to classify under the proper headings; and, contrary to the expectations of the editors, this number went to press without their correc- tion of the proof," etc.
The firm hand of Judge Cole is seen in the leading articles and in the general editorial work of this year and the next.
The sixth volume, 1872, presents the name of Audley W. Gazzam, of New York City, as associate editor. Mr. Gazzam was an authority on bankrupt law.
An apology for delay in the issue of the February number, a note in the May number explaining that its leading article had been previously placed with an- other periodical, and that knowledge of the fact had come too late to prevent its publication in The Jurist, a July apology for the pressure of official business pre- venting the usual editorial work, indicate that the editor's lot was not altogether a happy one.
An address by ex-Judge, then Senator George G. Wright, of Des Moines, before the National University of Washington, D. C., May 21, 1872, gladdens the editor of the Jurist in that "its merits were appreciated and highly applauded by the faculty, alumni and audience."
The October number leads with a strong paper on "The Legal Existence of the Wife," by Charles S. Schofield, Esq., of Des Moines.
Judge Dillon on "Municipal Corporations" is reviewed in the November number. The Judge's brief residence in Des Moines gave personal interest to the great work with which his name is associated.
7 The history of this school is given in another chapter entitled "The Law Schools of Des Moines."
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The January number of Volume VII, 1873, contains the "Times of Holding the District and Circuit Courts of Iowa." The district court then convened in Des Moines, January 6, May 26 and September 22. The circuit court, Feb- ruary 17, May 5, August 25 and December I.
Judge Cole heads the February number with an interesting and timely paper on "The Press and the Bench," made especially timely by the then recent killing of Fisk by Stokes in New York. The article is a protest against the prevalent journalistic abuse of the courts. The editor promises another enlargement of The Jurist, without extra price to the subscribers.
The June number contains an editorial plea for the advancement of Justice Miller, of Iowa, to the Chief Justiceship, noting the united endorsement of all the Supreme Court judges in his circuit, the federal and nisi prius judges of those states and the members of the Bar of his circuit. Answering the argument that there was no precedent for such advancement, Judge Cole cites President- Washington's nomination of Associate Justice Cushing to the Chief Justiceship in 1795, and Cushing's confirmation-and, later, his distinction on the Supreme Bench.
Some poet unknown to fame 8 has in this number the first and only rhymed contribution to the Jurist, a page of verse on "The Jolly Testator who makes his own will." The verse has two merits, humor and suggestiveness, and withal is a good piece of rhyming. The first stanza gives the key to the whole:
"Ye lawyers, who live upon litigants' fees, And who need a good many to live at your ease : Grave or gay, wise or witty, whatc'er your degree, Plain stuff or Queen's Counsel, take counsel of me, When a festive occasion your spirits unbend, You should never forget the profession's best friend So we'll send round the wine, and light bumper fill To the jolly testator who makes his own will."
The third stanza is rather severe on the proverbial testatrix :
"Testators are good; but a feeling more tender Springs up when I think of the feminine gender ; The testatrix for me, who, like Telemaque's mother, Unweaves at one time what she wove at another. She bequeaths, she repeats, she recalls a donation, And she ends by revoking her own revocation ; Still scribbling or scratching some new codicil, .
Oh! success to the woman who makes her own will."
The obvious moral is well stated in the last lines :
"And the law, when defied, will avenge itself still On the man and the woman who make their own will."
This volume and the next include a series of valuable papers on "Tax Titles in Iowa," by Judge Cole, an embodiment of much thought and research.
A. N. Porter's "Iowa Probate Manual" was announced by Mills & Co., in the November number.
In the May number of 1874, Mills & Company, announce a second edition of "The Iowa Justice," by Charles H. Conklin, late judge of the 8th Judicial Dis- trict, and Julius B. Bissell, of the Des Moines Bar. Of Judge Conklin's less known associate in this work, the editorial review has this to say: "Mr. Bissell is not so well known throughout the State, but in the Fifth Judicial District where
8 Judge Cole is unable to recall the author's name.
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he resides, and is well known, and where he has with marked ability and success discharged the duty of prosecuting attorney, he stands deservedly high, both as a lawyer and as a man." 9
The same number contains high praise from the Central Law Journal for Volume I of Judge Cole's "Reports of Cases at Law and in Equity in the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa." This new series of Iowa Reports was undertaken by the editor of the Jurist in response to a demand. The first twelve volumes of the Iowa Reports were not stereotyped, and the plates of volumes 13-21 were mostly destroyed by the Chicago fire of 1871. Hence the necessity of a new edition.
Early in the Seventies, the formation of a State Bar Association was gen- erally discussed; but nothing definite resulted until the year 1874, when the Polk County Bar appointed a committee to consider the subject and suggest a plan. The plan was adopted, and the result was a meeting in Des Moines May 27, which was attended by representative lawyers from all parts of the State. A constitution was adopted; officers were elected, and the association was launched. Its avowed purpose was to promote mutual acquaintance, to maintain a high standard of professional integrity, honor and courtesy, to encourage a thorough and liberal legal education and to improve the laws and the administration of justice.
The first president was James Grant of Davenport. The following residents of Des Moines were among the other officials chosen: first vice-president, C. H. Gatch; corresponding secretary, Crom Bowen, and the eighth judicial dis- trict member of the executive committee, W. G. Hammond, then of Des Moines.
In the October, 1874, number, Judge Grant announces his standing committees, among whom are mentioned the following well-known members of the Polk county bar : John Mitchell, on amendment to laws; J. R. Barcroft, on judiciary ; D. O. Finch, on grievances, and J. B. Bissell, on legal education.
The publishers' department of the December number announces that a new attorney, Ed. R. Munck, has hung out "his shingle at No. 2, Mills Block," face- tiously adding: "Mr. Munck has a legal phiz and comes well recommended."
Volume IX, 1875, drops from the list of editors C. C. Whittelsey and C. H. Gilchrist. It adds Hon. O. M. Conover, as editor for Wisconsin, and Hon. J. S. Runnells, of Des Moines, reporter of the Supreme Court of Iowa.
This volume includes a series of timely papers on "Prohibitory Liquor Laws," by Judge Cole.
The July, 1875, number reports the meeting of the State Bar Association in Moore's Opera House, Des Moines, May 14, of that year. The Polk county bar was liberally represented in the list of officers elected. Col. C. H. Gatch was vice president, Crom Bowen, corresponding secretary, and C. C. Nourse, treasurer ; also in the make-up of the standing committees, as follows: John Mitchell, J. R. Barcroft, D. O. Finch, and J. B. Bissell. Judge Wright and Crom Bowen were on a committee to collect facts, history and statistics of the legal profession in Iowa. The event of the session was the annual address by the eminent jurist, Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, of Michigan.
In the same number, one "P. N. B." published a paper on the implication in the resolutions passed at this session of the Bar association that the association was "manipulated in the interest of Des Moines attorneys." He objected vigor- ously to the exclusive sittings of the court in Des Moines and the rule against oral arguments, rendering it impossible for the bar of the state to attend the long protracted terms, "thus necessitating the employment of local attorneys."
The tenth volume, 1876, adds A. N. Porter, author of the "Iowa Probate Manual," as associate editor.
The June number of the Jurist, 1876, contains a brief report of the meeting of the State Bar Association in the Federal court room May II. Chancellor Ham-
9 Mr. Bissell removed to Colorado, and was there made a judge on the Court of Appeals.
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mond was elected president; Colonel Gatch was re-elected as vice president, Crom Bowen, corresponding secretary and C. C. Nourse, treasurer. Capt. J. S. Clark was elected recording secretary. Other members of the Polk county bar were appointed committeemen as follows : On executive committee, E. J. Goode ; on the several standing committees : John Mitchell, George G. Wright, Galusha Parsons and J. B. Bissell.
The evening session was given up to addresses by Hon. J. M. Love of Keokuk and Hon. E. H. Stiles of Ottumwa.
The Jurist notes with satisfaction that Professor Hammond, one of the founders of the Des Moines school has been made chancellor of the Law Depart- ment of the State University.
The November number publishes Judge Cole's resignation from the supreme bench of the state. The judge is prompted to resign because of the inadequacy of the salary to the support of his family. He states that during the last ten years or more, he has been able to meet his family expenses only by adding to his salary as judge the sums received for his services as a professor of law, as editor of the Jurist, as editor of a series of Iowa Reports, and by other labors. But the business of the court has so increased as to occupy all the time and capacity of all the judges, and his health and nervous energies have already been impaired by the undue amount of work done by him. He recommends an increase of the supreme court judge's salary to $5,000-a recommendation too long unheeded by the state. He also recommended an additional judge on the supreme bench, that the business of the court might be expedited.
The once celebrated "Brandt case," appealed from the Polk district court obtained a hearing in the December term, 1875. From the Jurist report of the case, the following outline is condensed :
The supreme court overruled the petition for a rehearing which had been filed by the attorney general in the case of the State vs. Brandt. In brief, nearly seven years prior to the hearing, Isaac Brandt of Polk county, was appointed by State Treasurer Rankin as his deputy. On the expiration of the treasurer's second term in January, 1873, every dollar officially received by the treasurer and his deputy, as such, was turned over to his successor. But Rankin, as treasurer of the State Agricultural College, was confronted with a deficit of $38,500. Brandt was not charged with any responsibility for the shortage. The charge against him was that he loaned state money to the banks of Des Moines and elsewhere, and that, under the name of bonuses, he received over $40,000 interest on such money, and that no part of this interest money was turned into the state. The outcome was that a Polk county grand jury in April, '74, found seven indictments for embezzlement; but the defendant was acquitted on them all. Judge Maxwell overruled two motions to set aside. Brandt appealed, and the supreme court reversed the decision on each point. The petition for rehearing was overruled, and so the case closed.
The members of the Polk county bar whose names appear in the Jurist's legal directory for 1876, show the following additional names since 1870: L. F. An- drews, P. F. Bartle, Charles Beckington, P. N. Bowman, W. Connor, Jr., E. J. Goode, C. P. Holmes, A. G. Kingsbury, George H. Lewis, W. E. Miller, A. N. Porter, J. S. Runnells, John D. Rivers, B. A. Williams, R. W. Barger and J. A. Harvey. Several new firm names appear, as Finch & Sickmon, Gatch & Wright, Nourse & Kauffman, Bannister & Phillips, Bryan, Maxwell & Seevers, Crane & Bissell, Macy & Sweeney, and Williamson & Williams.
The June number, 1877, contains a brief report of the proceedings of the Fourth annual session of the State Bar Association, held in the Federal court room, Des Moines, May 17. John Mitchell of Polk reported 52 applicants for membership. The association elected Judge Trimble of Keokuk, president, J. S. Runnells, corresponding secretary, re-elected J. S. Clark recording secretary and C. C. Nourse treasurer. G. G. Wright was named the local member of the execu- tive committee ; Colonel Gatch was on the standing committee on legal education
JUDGE DAVID RYAN
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and William Phillips on amendments to laws. The afternoon session was held at Moore's opera house. The question of petitioning the next legislature for a reasonable fee-bill, or system of costs, to be taxed against the losing party in civil actions was discussed, but no action was taken. A two-year term as precedent to admission to the bar was discussed and action postponed. In the evening at the Opera house, a scholarly address was delivered before the association by Presi- dent Magoun of Iowa College, Grinnell.
At the fifth annual session of the State Bar Association held in the Academy of Music, Des Moines, May 15, 1878, the two-year term period question came up again and a resolution carried committing the association to a two years' course, also a resolution declaring that the power of admitting candidates for the bar ought to be vested in the supreme court. John N. Rogers, of Davenport, was elected president, G. G. Wright, vice president; George F. Henry, corresponding secretary ; J. S. Clark, recording secretary ; C. C. Nourse, treasurer, and D. O. Finch, local member of the executive council. Among the new members voted in were A. B. Cummins and William M. Montgomery, of Des Moines. Hon. John F. Dillon delivered the annual address on "Inns of Courts and Westminster Hall," an address of great interest and historical value.
The Jurist of May, 1880, publishes the address of Judge George W. McCrary before the Iowa Bar Association, prefacing his address on "Professional Ethics" with an expression of his appreciation of the honor done him on this his first judicial visit to Des Moines.
Among the officers of the Association, for 1880, were the following from Polk county : George G. Wright, president; John Mitchell, vice president ; J. S. Clark, recording secretary ; George F. Henry, corresponding secretary; C. C. Nourse, treasurer. The fifth district executive committeeman was W. S. Sickmon. The local committeemen were W. E. Miller on amendment of laws, and James G. Berryhill on admissions.
Volume 16, 1882, appears with Seymour D. Thompson, "editor of Leader de- partment," and Nathaniel B. Raymond "resident editor."
In 1883, Nathaniel B. Raymond appears as editor. The February number of that year contains a feeling tribute to Levi G. Brown, of the Des Moines bar, whose sudden death occurred on the fifth of January. It reports a meeting of the Polk county bar on February 10, in which memorial addresses were delivered by Judge Mitchell, C. A. Dudley, A. B. Cummins, George F. Henry, H. S. Wil- cox, W. F. Conrad, J. M. St. John and C. C. Nourse. Resolutions were read and Judge Josiah H. Given, of the supreme bench, accepted them with a beautiful tribute to the memory of the deceased and ordered them spread upon the records of the court.
Referring to a petition for a rehearing in the prohibition amendment case, prepared by Judge Nourse of Des Moines, the Jurist says: "Prohibition in Iowa is fortunate in having for its friend so able a counsellor as Judge Nourse, who has so generously contributed his services in its behalf."
The publisher, with well-founded self-complacency quotes the What Cheer Reporter as astonished at the number of presses at work in the old Exposition building at the State capital. The building which is described as "to Des Moines what Printing House Square is to New York City," was then the home of the widely known firm of Mills & Company, printers of the Jurist, the Des Moines Leader and other periodicals, "with all their stereotyping, lithographing and print- ing machinery."
The Jurist approached its end "as one who lies down to pleasant dreams !" As the last number of the seventeenth volume, October, 1883, went to press, it announced that arrangements were "under contemplation," by some of the leading members of the bar of the state, whereby a change would be made in the management, the magazine would be "considerably· enlarged and improved and made at least double its present value to the profession. Contributions to the several departments of the journal, including legal articles of practical value,"
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would "be secured from the leading law writers of the country, some new features added, and no effort nor means practicable be spared to meet all the wants of the profession in a journal of its kind." Its editor regrets his inability to make a positive announcement of the whole plan contemplated, but says due announcement will be made upon the consummation of the negotiations then pending. Evidently the negotiations stopped short of consummation. Apparently Mills & Company, wearying of the load it had long carried, declined to carry it farther.
When the present-day reader goes back in mind to the Seventies and the early Eighties and considers the slender support this pioneer western law journal must have had, and runs his eye over the seventeen volumes of the Jurist, commenc- ing in 1867, and closing in 1883, noting the quantity of good work done, and the consistency with which, from first to last, its several editors adhered to the orig- inal plan evolved by its pioneer editors, Judges Wright and Cole, the wonder grows, not that the journal should have suspended after seventeen years, but that it was able to live so long and do so much.
JUDGE C. C. COLE In middle life
1
JUDGE C. C. COLE Taken about 1864
JUDGE C. C. COLE In 1885
CHAPTER IV.
THE DES MOINES BAR ASSOCIATION-1885-191I.
As has already been noted there was a bar association in Des Moines in the Sixties, with several notable members. But, unfortunately, it left no record, be- yond an occasional newspaper mention.
The Des Moines Bar Association of a later day, was organized February 14, 1885, with a membership of about one hundred. Its first officers were : president, E. J. Goode; vice presidents, C. H. Gatch and J. C. Macy; secretary, George F. Henry ; treasurer, J. D. Whisenand; executive committee, E. J. Goode, B. F. Kauffman, J. S. Runnells, R. N. Baylies, A. B. Cummins, W. F. Conrad and Crom Bowen. The charter members included several members of the pioneer bar association, and most of the younger members of the Des Moines bar. Its constitution indicated that the association was formed "to promote reform in the law, to facilitate the administration of justice, to elevate the standard of integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession, and to cherish a spirit of brotherhood among the members thereof."
An important standing committee on law reform was created, whose duty it was to consider and report such amendments to the law as in its opinion should be adopted ; also to scrutinize proposed changes in the law and report upon the same ; also to observe the practical working of the judicial system of the state, and recommend, from time to time, any changes which observation or experience might suggest.
The association provided for an annual meeting on the last Thursday of January and such adjourned and special meetings as should be deemed necessary.
Mr. Sweeney reported rules of practice in the circuit court, which were adopted and referred to the judges of the court without recommendation. The judges themselves took a hand in preparing rules of practice. At a called meet- ing on March 21, there was a lengthy discussion of a draft of rules of practice in the circuit court, prepared by the judges of that court.
At the annual meeting held January 28, 1886, the old officers were reelected. There was an extended discussion which resulted in the adoption of a resolution, offered by Mr. Cummins, that a committee be appointed to urge the General Assembly "to secure for Polk county a sufficient judicial force to dispatch its rapidly growing business." A resolution was also adopted, that "no less than three judges of general jurisdiction should be provided for this county."
On motion of Mr. Lehman, the committee on legislation were directed to re- port a plan for reorganizing the judiciary system of the State, and the senator and representatives of the county were invited to be present. The chair an- nounced as that committee Messrs. Kauffman, Lehman, Runnells, Cummins, and Baylies ; and, on the president's suggestion, Judge Given was added to the com- mittee.
At a special meeting held February 4, the legislative committee presented ·a report which was adopted, that in its judgment, jurisdiction of all classes of business, civil, criminal and probate should be vested in the District court, in- creasing the number of districts and the number of judges. Specifically, it recommended that Polk county be constituted one judicial district, and that there should be not less than three judges in the district.
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