USA > Iowa > Kossuth County > History of Kossuth County, Iowa > Part 49
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W. E. Morrison, in the early days of Bancroft, was an attorney, but land oc- cupied his whole attention.
W. R. Spencer rose from court reporter to be an attorney. After being with Geo. E. Clarke for a while he moved to Duluth.
A. D. Clarke was admitted to the bar, but never attempted to practice as land sales were what he was seeking to make.
Eugene H. Clarke became an attorney and after staying for a while with his brother was elected justice of the peace. He was holding that office when he died.
Charles A. Cohenour became a partner of Geo. E. Clarke's, after being ad- mitted to practice in the courts. In 1898 he was chosen county attorney and re- elected two years later. He moved from this county to Rolla, Missouri, but has again moved elsewhere.
W. C. Danson became an attorney in 1887 and was with his brother, R. J., in the practice when the latter moved away. W. C. devotes the most of his time to land matters and to legal adjustments pertaining to them.
J. W. Sullivan opened an office at the county seat in 1890. He had read law with one of the best firms at Iowa City, and after being admitted to the bar went to Sioux Falls to practice his profession. After a year or so he went back to Iowa City where he stayed until coming to this county. During the year 1894 he was joined in partnership with S. E. McMahon who had been admitted the year before. This union has proved to be a good one. They are known far and wide as successful trial lawyers and as a result have acquired an extensive practice. Mr. Sullivan's opinion, when given after research and deliberation, is always re- ceived with much weight. A potent factor in the firm's success is the pleasing and effective gift of language possessed by Mr. McMahon. Their adaptability is sug- gested by the words of a well known song, "They were made for each other-a hook and eye."
Welt Miller in the carly 'gos began his professional career at Wesley where
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he stayed for some time before locating in Whittemore. From this latter place he went to West Bend where he still resides.
J. W. Dye is located at Swea City where he has a large field in which to operate in his law practice and in the other lines of work in which he is en- gaged. He is a hustler after business and has been getting his full share of it since he made that place his home.
E. V. Swetting began his practice in this county in 1893. He had studied with Coolbaugh & Call and then gone before the supreme court, in 1886, and passed the required examination. He was in the practice for a year or so before com- ing here at Estherville. He has frequently been up against tough propositions in court and has handled them well. He works quietly and lets the other attorneys do the kicking and the blustering. When the judge suggests that a ruling is liable to be finally given in his favor he never attempts to hasten the ruling by giving the court advice. He just sits and watches the expression of agony on his op- ponents' faces. Mr. Swetting has many clients who seek his advice and help when in need of assistance. He has a reputation for being competent and reliable.
Geo. R. Cloud came to succeed Judge Quarton in the practice when the latter went on the bench in 1894. He staid for a while but the business went down. He then, in 1896, turned matters over to F. M. Curtiss who conducted the busi- ness successfully for several years before moving to Spokane. Fred was a marvel at charging and collecting big fees, as several clients can readily testify.
J. L. Bonar first opened his office in Algona, in 1895. His partner, H. H. Fellows, maintained an office first at Wesley and later at Bancroft. After a few years the latter disappeared from the county. Mr. Bonar has a practice that pays him well, several corporations being his clients. Better still, he has the ability and good judgment to take care of all the legal work that comes to him. He has a standing reputation for being the best natured lawyer in the county. He is an A. B. graduate of the State University of Iowa.
Archie Hutchison became a disciple of Blackstone in 1896. His legal educa- tion has been of much assistance to him in his real-estate business. In the prac- tice he makes a specialty of probate work and examining abstract of titles.
W. C. Dewel is a graduate of the collegiate and law departments of the State University. After being admitted to the bar in 1897, he ran a paper and practiced law for a year and a half at Goldfield and then was engaged in the same line of double work at Burt for three years. His knowledge of court procedure was much increased at the end of three terms of service as clerk of the courts. Upon his retirement from the office, January 1, 1909, he turned his attention to the editorial work of the Advance which he had purchased a couple of months before.
S. W. Crowell located for the practice of the law at Bancroft after his ad- mission to the bar in 1898. Three years later he moved to the county seat and established his office. For several years much of his attention has been given to work pertaining to the office of city clerk. He has a good library and is quite familiar with its contents. He is referee in bankruptcy and has given satis- faction in every case.
P. M. Barslou was admitted to practice in the courts, in 1898, and then estab- lished his office at Bancroft. Being given this license to practice at the age of about sixty-two years, he began the life of lawyer at a later period in life than any Vol. 1-21
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other member of the county bar. He is a good student and studies his cases thor- oughly and as a result has become quite familiar with the decisions of the supreme court and with the contents of the code.
Charles H. Kegley and Charles C. Thompson were attorneys who located also at Bancroft, but neither stayed very long before going elsewhere. Both were there during the time that Morrison & Mayne were at that place.
T. P. Harrington and L. J. Dickinson, both graduated from the State Uni- versity Law School in 1899, then came to Algona and formed partnership to practice their profession, and both since then have served two terms as county attorney. The demand for their services as trial lawyers has steadily increased from year to year, thus showing the confidence the public reposes in them. The board of supervisors relies upon them for legal advice, especially in drainage matters of which Mr. Harrington has made a special study. Before reading law Mr. Dickinson received a liberal education at Cornell College, graduating with the class of 1898.
W. M. Galbraith became a member of the bar of the county in 1901. He is a young man possessing elements necessary for a successful lawyer. He is a grace- ful and fluent speaker and never fails to hold the attention of an audience he addresses. Other lines of business occupy his attention a portion of the time besides the law.
C. T. Cotant hung out his shingle and opened a law office in 1901. He soon left and is now following other pursuits out in Washington.
Roscoe Call graduated from the Michigan State University Law School, in 1902, and was admitted that year at Lansing. Having other lines of work to oc- cupy his attention, he has never advertised as an attorney. His reliability and disposition to give every man a square deal are elements that would have helped him on to success, had he decided to practice.
W. D. Hinchon after being admitted to the bar, began practicing in 1892, but son located at Madelia, Minnesota, where he is editor of one of the local papers and doing well financially.
E. J. Van Ness came into the county, in 1903, and began practicing at Whitte- more. He soon had business enough to employ all his time. The confidence the public reposes in his ability was demonstrated in 1910, when he defeated reliable attorneys for the office of county attorney who had lived a long time in the county. After his election he became a resident of the county seat, where he is meeting with success, At the election in 1912, he was again chosen for the position.
I. C. Hastings is a late addition to the Kossuth county bar. While his home was at Spencer he attended the law school at the State University and graduated with the class of 1910. That same fall he became the junior member of the firm of Quarton & Hastings at Algona. He is studious and attentive to busi- ness, and gives promise of becoming a successful lawyer. During the fall of 1912, he retired from the firm and is now practicing alone.
W. Scott Hanna is the only attorney now at Lu Verne, having read law at Ann Arbor and graduating from the law school of the State University of Michigan in 1911. Coming from the parentage he does, there is no reason why he cannot succeed in his home town.
W. H. Ketcham is the latest addition to the county bar. He was admitted to the practice in Kansas in 1888, in Illinois, in 1891, in Indiana, in 1897 and in
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Iowa, in 1911. He has a good working library but devotes his whole attention at the county seat to the land business.
THE GROWTH OF LEGAL ETHICS
The present members of the bar of the county move upon a much higher plane than did most of the lawyers who were at the county seat practicing thirty or forty years ago. It is much to their credit that charges of dishonesty and other irregularities have not been urged against them. Rumors that exorbitant fees have been charged or that clients have been unduly urged to become court litigants are seldom heard. No one on the above list of attorneys has acquired a reputation for having "spiked" professional witnesses who are always on hand and ready to testify concerning important matters, in any case, at any time and place. An honest endeavor is manifested all along the line to determine what in fact is the law governing the issues involved. Cases are tried with the absence of all trickery and other unprofessional conduct, and the arguments to the court are to the point and usually of a high order. The attorneys even in the most hotly contested cases never assume a domineering attitude towards the opposing counsel. Physical force is never called into action to settle legal con- troversies, nor are feuds among the members of the bar known. Court work proceeds from the beginning of the term until its close without the least friction between the attorneys and the judge. The confidence that each lawyer has in the others is such that when a pleading is missing from the files the charge of theft is never made, nor is that idea for a single moment entertained. Should it become known that any one of them had embezzled his client's money, the others if called upon would gladly assist in prosecuting the guilty party and would have the public back of them in their effort to purge the bar from corruption. The old- time practitioner, with his peculiar habits and methods, has given way to the new order of things which a better civilization has not only demanded but has fortunately introduced.
The coming of the Milwaukee road to Algona, in 1870, caused a rush of lawyers to locate at the county seat during the next few years. There was an over abundance of them to do all the legitimate court work required to be done at that time. Some of them had been for a considerable time in the practice elsewhere and had learned all the tricks known to the profession. Others were young men, full of ambition to acquire a reputation for being the leading lawyers in the county. It soon became not so much a matter of the survival of the fittest as it was a matter of the survival of those who could in any way most often defeat the opposing counsel. In order to acquire a standing they had to have cases in court. They readily found clients who were willing to go into litigation as often as they could get a chance to crowd in. Steve Sherwood, a cattle man in Cresco, for instance, was one who was perfectly at home in the court room. The same thing could be said truthfully of many others. Since cases could not be won with- out the aid of testimony. the necessary witnesses could usually be procured with little effort. One Hall, who used to live in town but later west of the river. had the reputation for having personal knowledge of every event or transaction over which parties were litigating. He was familiarly known by the appropriate name of Old Alcohol. He had a good "stand-in" with some of the lawyers and
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was a frequent witness. At first he was feared by opposing counsel more than any other witness, because he usually remembered of hearing the litigant on the other side make an admission that was fatal to that side of the case. Sometimes at- torneys would laughingly say to the opposing counsel: "What are you going to do? We have Old Alcohol with us." Jealousy among the bar members was much in evidence. Feuds existed which often brought on fistic encounters out- side of the court room. Antagonists had to be defeated, so the court records sometimes became mysteriously altered and the pleadings in cases lost beyond recovery. Occasionally the judge was deceived into signing some document which placed him in an embarrassing position. The practice of framing a series of questions in such a way as to induce a witness to testify contrary to what he knew to be true, was a pernicious one. One young man had to serve a term in the penitentiary for answering such questions. The attorney was the one who ought to have been made to serve the term. Where different cases in court had the same attorneys attending them, sometimes bad work was done at the clients' expense. That was done by one dismissing an important allegation in the petition in one case, and then the other dismissing an important one in the petition of another case. That made it possible for each to win a case when per- haps both ought to have been defeated. The most wicked practice, however, in- dulged in during that period was in swearing to false statements in applications for continuance. A majority of the practitioners did not resort to this criminal method of procedure; but there were some who always did when they could gain anything by so doing. They ought to have been landed behind the bars for the rest of their lives.
The people now would think it a strange condition of affairs if, after a case had been tried to and decided by the court, the defeated lawyer or client and wit- nesses should sue the judge for damages and make him defend against them. As strange as it may seem, such an instance actually occurred in connection with one of the most remarkable cases ever docketed on the court calendar of the county. So great was the interest in the proceedings and so complicated were the issues that each of the litigants had a strong public following, owing to the divided sentiment. In the legal fraternity the same division was made, and brother rose against brother.
The trouble referred to was what is known as the Geo. E. Clarke disbarment case, and the cases that grew out of that proceeding. This trouble began early in the year 1875. At that time Geo. F. Clarke had been in the county over five years and had a remarkably strong following of personal friends. He and C. G. Jones had some trouble and there was an antagonistic feeling between the two afterwards. Jones was fiery and wild in his remarks and had as a result been named Blizzard Jones. J. R. Zuver was circuit judge and he too had some friction with Clarke about that time. The latter in those days was an inveterate smoker, and when Zuver prohibited smoking in the court room while court was in session, Clarke interpreted the order as being a personal thrust at him. Jones had no office, but made the back room of his wife's millinery store his head- quarters. On the top of his letters he wrote in red ink, "Law Office of C. G. Jones." Clarke twitted him about that kind of cheap advertising and about how his wife had to support him. Jones threatened to bring a suit in Judge Zuver's court demanding that Clarke be disbarred from the practice. Clarke in reply
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told him to crack the whip and give Zuver his best compliments. Jones was as good as his word and had an action in the March term of Zuver's court, entitled "The State of Iowa against Geo. E. Clarke," where he was demanding that Clarke should be prohibited from practicing in any of the courts in the state. Jones him- self was the complaining witness. He set out six causes of action, all of which referred to irregularities in Clarke's practice. As his petition was stolen from the files years ago the specific charges cannot be definitely stated now. Cravath & Birge were appointed to prosecute and then Clarke began filibustering. The case was finally brought on for trial but Clarke was not to be found. A. W. Lynn, the telegrapher, had received some message which the prosecution sup- posed were from the hiding attorney and throwing light on his location. Against his will he was brought and placed upon the stand and asked to tell the con- tents of the telegrams. This he refused to do. Judge Zuver ordered him to comply with the request, but still be refused. He was then sent to jail for con- tempt of court. O. J. Hack was supposed to know where Clarke was, so he too was forced to appear, but the prosecution got no satisfactory answers from him. On the theory that an attorney is an officer of the court and that Clarke was skulking to avoid the court's orders, the case proceeded without him-that is he as criminal was to receive a sentence in his absence. Judge Zuver found him guilty of four of the six charges and decreed "that Geo. E. Clarke, an attorney at law, be suspended for one year from date (September 17, 1875) from practicing in any of the courts in the state," and that he pay the costs amounting to $188.93.
After the trial was over Clarke arrived. He was met at the train by the band which headed the procession up town. It was a greater welcome then he had ever received before. The first to throw their arms around him in loving embrace were the victims, Lynn and Hack. Clarke then gave notice of appeal to the supreme court, filed his $500 bond and ordered a transcript of the oral testimony. It came to the express office in November, but he did not take it out until March, 1876. In the meantime he had procured an order from the supreme court suspending the judgment of the court below until the appeal could be de- cided. That order, of course, was good eternally if not revoked. That honorable body had not the least idea of the nature of the case when the order was granted. Jones, getting scared at the long delay, got an order commanding Clarke to send up all the papers in the case. He complied but did it so late that the case did not get docketed in time for trial. When the papers were received, Attorney General Cutts, was surprised to find that it was a state case. The title of the case was ordered to be renamed. "The State of Iowa on relation of C. G. Jones vs. Geo. E. Clarke," was the long name by which it was thereafter to be known. Jones was also appointed to prosecute. Clarke asked time to prepare an abstract, and then the case was continued until the Council Bluffs term. Judge J. N. Weaver succeeded Zuver in office and began his official work in January, 1877, while the case was pending in the supreme court. The new judge on the showing presented to him, annulled Judge Zuver's disbarment order and removed the restrictions from Clarke to practice. This proceeding was sanctioned by many and con- demned by as many more. By this time A. L. Hudson had come into the case and was assisting Jones. They petitioned the supreme court for a writ of certiorari, directing Judge Weaver to send up for review the whole record of the
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disbarment case. That court refused to grant the writ and held that Weaver had jurisdiction to set aside a former judgment of the court. Thus ended the only dis- barment case ever instituted in the county.
Zuver was soon made defendant in several cases. In Judge Lewis' Novem- ber term of the district court, Clarke had a suit against Zuver and C. G. Jones for $10,000 damages for injury to his business. Lynn sued Zuver for $5,000 for false imprisonment, and Hack had a suit against him for a large amount for damage in being compelled to attend the trial and testify. Zuver asked for a change of venue and the cases were sent to Cerro Gordo county. Clarke then caused Hudson to be made one of the defendants in the cases. After a while Lynn and Hack dismissed their suits and Clarke's was sent to Franklin county where it finally vanished.
In their endeavor to have the cases tried at some point where Clarke did not wield an "undue influence" two affidavits were filed to procure a change of venue or forum. One was sworn to by Zuver, Jones and Hudson and the others by Frank Harrison, John Hutchison and A. M. Horton. Both of these of course, named counties in which it was claimed that Clarke wielded an undue influence over the inhabitants. After all the cases had been disposed of, Clarke used these affidavits for an advertisement to show what a mighty lawyer he was in wielding an undue influence. In his flaming advertisements he said, "I will give special attention to the practice in the counties of Kossuth, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Palo Alto, Emmet, Dickinson, Clay, Winnebago, Hancock, Wright, Hamilton and Webster. I respectfully refer the public to my standing and influence in the coun- ties to the certificates of character given by Hon. J. R. Zuver, judge of the fourth judicial district and others in the following affidavits."
The advertisement appearing in this form caused a great surprise, because both affidavits in naming the counties stated that Geo. E. Clarke's undue influence over the inhabitants in them was so great that Zuver could not obtain a fair trial in any of those counties. This bold scheme brought Clarke a large amount of business from counties where he had previously had but little or none at all.
The disbarment case might have had a far different ending had anyone else but Jones instituted the prosecution. Being unpopular with nearly all classes he found much opposition to his movements. Most people looked upon the matter as being an attempt to settle some private differences by the way of prosecution. They did not discuss the merits of the case, owing to their pre- judice. Many also had sympathy for Clarke, for they believed Zuver went out of his way to encourage Jones to begin the action. Most of those who were pleased when Zuver disbarred Clarke, changed their minds suddenly when they learned that Jones had presented his bill to the board for several hundred dol- lars for conducting the prosecution. Quite a number, however, continued to be- lieve that Clarke should have been disbarred.
AN ELEPHANT FOR ATTORNEY FEE
Lawyers sometimes have monkeys for witnesses and sometimes clients find they have an elephant on their hands after they have started in to litigate, but Geo. E. Clarke was the only lawyer who ever got an elephant for a court fee. In the summer of 1868, Orton Bros. brought to the county seat the first circus.
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Miles Orton, one of the brothers, later owned the aggregation alone. He rented his show to R. W. Weldon who wanted to make a southern trip with it during the winter of 1884-5. When the show came north in the spring the name "Miles Orton" on the cages, wagons and cars had been painted out and that of Weldon substituted. Orton after failing to get possession came to Algona and consulted Clarke & Call. At that time the show was out in the Dakotas, but dates had been made at points to reach which would necessitate the show's coming across the river into Iowa. A close watch was kept on Weldon's movements. Finally it was learned that the show was coming through Sioux City. Clarke was there with a full supply of officers when the circus train arrived and took possession of the whole circus equipment. A series of legal battles followed between attach- ing creditors, those who had been having possession and the owner. The papers in that region were filled with the accounts of these suits. Out of the wreck Clarke & Call got away with an elephant, about twenty horses and some other stock. Or- ton took most of the animals recovered back to his home. Geo. E. Clarke kept for his own use a chestnut sorrel parade horse. He also brought home with him the elephant which he kept in the barn during that winter. In order to keep the curiosity from freezing to death he had to keep the barn heated with a stove. After caring for his pet for several months he disposed of it, and never after- wards expressed a desire to have another elephant on his hands.
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CHAPTER XX
THE COUNTY MEDICAL PROFESSION
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