USA > Iowa > Taylor County > History of Taylor County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. : a biographical directory of many of its leading citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of Iowa and the Northwest, map of Taylor County, Constitution of the United States, reminiscences, miscellaneous matters, etc > Part 45
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*Among these was the Hon. L. Lingenfelter, of Sidney, Fremont county. Mr. Lingen- felter was born near Lexington, Kentucky, in August, 1822. He was mainly educated in the State of Missouri, whither he had gone at an early age. He commenced the reading of law
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the old settlers of this county. We have already spoken of A. C. Ford. The resignation of Judge Sloan left the judgeship of the District Court open to the ambition of younger lawyers.
It is said that the resignation of Judge Sloan was brought about by inter- ested parties who were striving to foist themselves into public notice. One of the attorneys before the bar of Fremont, A. C. Ford, was to receive the resignation of Judge Sloan, secure the backing of his Whig friends, and Sloan was to present the claims of Ford to Governor Hempstead, at Du- buque, where he then resided. Sloan had in some way become related, in business matters, to a certain Orson Hyde, * who was editing a paper known as the Fremont Guardian. + In consideration of any service that Hyde might render him Ford was to purchase the press of Hyde, and in connection with Dawson should use it as a campaign organ in support of Ford as a candidate for the district judgeship at the next election. Only one thing was lacking in the chain of events as just stated-the friends on whom Ford relied for recommendations signally failed him. It appears that he had been a fugitive from justice from the State of California, and the . fact was quite generally known among the citizens of the county. Indeed, the opposition took a stronger aspect than mere refusal to recommend his
under Judge Wood, of Liberty, Missouri, and was admitted to the bar by Judge James Sloan in May, 1851, at Sidney, Iowa. He has stood high in the counsels of the Democratic party in that county. He is still living at a ripe old age in the city of Sidney.
* The great Mormon apostle.
+ The following document shows the nature of this business transaction. It is the first chattel mortgage and quitclaim deed recorded in Fremont county, Iowa:
This indenture, made the second day of March, A. D. 1852, between Jacob Dawson, of the county of Fremont and State of Iowa, of the first part, and Orson Hide, of the county of Pottawattamie, Iowa, of the second part, witnesseth: That I, the said Jacob Dawson, for the consideration of two thousand dollars, do hereby quitclaim unto the said Orson Hide all my interest in the following tract of land lying and being in the county of Pottawattamie, and State of Iowa: Beginning at a stake on the corner of Hide and Main streets in the town of Kanesville in said county, which stake is about two feet northeast from the north- west corner of the printing office, and running thence along Main street 61 feet to Riddle & Co.'s line near the warehouse: thence along Riddle & Co.'s line in a southern direction to the rear corner, being the northeast corner of Riddle & Co.'s wareroom; thence in a north- easterly direction along the line of John Gooch's lot about 68 feet to a stake on Hide street, which stake is the northwest corner of John Gooch's lot, thence in a N. W. direction along Hide street about 46 feet to the place of beginning-being known as the Frontier Guardian printing office, building and lot. And I do hereby bargain, sell and convey unto the said Orson Hide, all of the materials connected with the Frontier Guardian printing establish- ment; to-wit, one " Imperial " printing press (Cincinnati make); two news chases, one long book chase, two job chases, 15 pair cases, two double stands for cases, one cast-iron roller mould, one imposing stone and frame, five small and two large composing sticks, one inking apparatus, one bank and two tables, five brass galleys, rules and furniture, with all the news and job type belonging to and connected with the said Frontier Guardian office-hereby granting to the said Orson Hide the legal title and the right of possession thereof. The
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appointment-a meeting was called in Sidney, in February, 1852, at which were passed a series of resolutions denouncing Hyde, and not at all compli- mentary to Ford. Copies of the resolutions were sent to papers in the east- ern portion of the State, in western Missouri, and to Governor Hempstead. Accompanying them was sent a recommendation to the Governor to appoint Allen A. Bradford as the successor of Judge Sloan. Their petition was heard and granted. Bradford received the appointment and entered upon the duties of his office. Before the expiration of his first term his official acts met with such general approval, and his integrity of character was so well known, that there was scarcely any opposition in electing him for the next term. But the matter did not end here. "Hyde employed Ford and and A. W. Babbitt to institute a suit for libel against the ten citizens who reported these resolutions to the meeting. Ford brought the papers for the suit down to Fremont from Mr. Hyde, and filed them with the clerk, and had the sheriff to serve the parties defendant with notice of suit. * But when the court was held in the spring of 1852, by Judge Bradford, a demurrer was filed to the statements in the petition, alleging that to charge a man with selling his printing press, and using his influence to have a man elected to an office, was not defamatory nor libelous, as the fact imputed was not a crime. The demurrer was sustained, the suit was ended, and everything went along smoothly after that."-Lingenfelter.
Judge Bradford was a worthy man, and merited the confidence reposed in him by the legal fraternity and court officials generally. He was a native of Maine and retained many of the peculiarities of his native State. In court he was stately and dignified, permitted no gross violence of court decorum, was prompt in his decisions, and taken altogether, was a worthy occupant of the bench of the district judgeship.
above conveyance to be void upon condition that I pay well and truly, according to the tenure thereof, a certain promissory note bearing even date herewith, calling for one thousand one hundred and and fifty-three dollars and ninety-two cents ($1,153.92) executed by Jacob Dawson and A. C. Ford, and payable to O. Hide twelve months after date, together with ten per cent interest from date until paid. And upon the further condition that I will well and truly supply to such of the present subscribers who have paid in advance for the Frontier Guardian the Frontier Guardian and Iowa Sentinel to the amount which each subscriber may have so paid in advance as will appear by reference to the subscription-book of said Frontier Guardian, amounting in the aggregate to the sum of three hundred and eighty- four dollars and eight cents, or otherwise satisfy such subscribers, releasing O. Hide from any liability in reference to said advance payment as aforesaid, otherwise to be and remain in full force, to have and to hold the above described premises hereby quitclaimed, and the said above described material hereby bargained and sold, together with all and singular the appurtenances thereunto belonging or in any manner appertaining.
In testimony whereof, the said Jacob Dawson hath hereunto set his hand and seal the day and year first above written.
JACOB DAWSON [SEAL].
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"Judge Bradford had some peculiarities-some eccentricities. His dress, though it might be made of the costliest broadcloth, hardly ever fit his per- son; his coat, pants and vest, were nearly all the time either too large, too small, too long, or too short, and sometimes one garment might be too large or too short, when at the same time as to the fit of the others it was vice versa. He hardly ever combed his hair, and would frequently let his beard grow two or three weeks without shaving; and it frequently happened that when he had about half shaven himself he would suddenly stop, pick up a newspaper and read it, and then neglect to complete his toilet. And, when thus half shaven, one foot slipshod, and otherwise slatternly attired, he would go to church, to court, or around among his friends. But with all his eccentricities he had many warm friends, for he was ever a true friend to the virtuous, the industrious, and the necessitous; no poor man ever went from his house hungry." -- Lingenfelter.
Judge Bradford did not complete the term for which he was elected. In some difficulty with a man near Nebraska City, he received a severe wound on the head by a club in the hands of the same, which necessitated his res- ignation of the judgeship. The difficulty seems to have been occasioned by the boundary lines of the respective claims of Judge Bradford and his assail- ant. It was during the judicial career of Judge Bradford that the first rules adopted by any District Court in Fremont county were spread upon the pro- ceedings and made a part of its record. They comprise eleven distinct specifications, and cover nearly all the ordinary business of a session of court. With the November term of 1854 the connection of Judge Bradford with the judicial history of the county ceases.
The successor to Judge Bradford was the Honorable E. H. Sears,* whose first court in this district was opened the 19th day of February, 1855. There seems to have been a change in the policy of political parties since that date. Judge Sears, as had been his predecessor, was at that time a Democrat, but the application for his appointment was made on the basis of ability and moral worth. His first term oc- curred at a time well calculated to test his judicial powers and his legal ability. New laws-for the most part obnoxious in themselves to many- had been enacted, and the first causes in the county under these enact- ments were tried before him. They were causes relating to the sale of in- toxicating liquors, in their very natures requiring the greatest judicial care
*Judge Sears was born at Ballston Springs, Saratoga county, New York, May 3, 1815. He was admitted to the bar in 1847. In the fall of 1853 he became a resident of Fremont county, Iowa. He was appointed to the district judgeship to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. A. A. Bradford, January 9, 1855. He died at his home in Sidney, January 20, 1880.
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and more than ordinary legal ability in the court before which they were tried. There was added another fact requiring good powers of discrimina- tion-that of the nature of the bar of the county, at that time composed of the strongest legal talent. in western Iowa. Judge Sears gave such general satisfaction and proved so admirably his fitness for the judgeship that to his election the second time was presented no obstacle, which was accord- ingly done. He was a careful man and a wise judge-taking the greatest pains to insure justice to all parties to a suit-civil or criminal. This care- fulness is evidenced by the following address to the grand jury, delivered in 1859, showing the measures he adopted to insure no errors on the part of the jurors:
JUDGE SEARS' CHARGE.
" Gentlemen :- Before entering upon the important duties which you are called upon to discharge, it may be well for you to make and answer the following inquiries: What are the uses of a grand jury? Why was it in- stituted? And did the people demand it?
" The people of England, our ancestors, did demand it, and thought they had made a great advance in personal security and individual liberty when they had obtained it from the reluctant and unwilling hands of despotism. Prior to its institution the courts were looked upon by the mass of the peo- ple as engines of cruelty, injustice, and oppression, and not as the protect- ors of innocence and punishers of crime. Who does not remember the his- tory of the bloody assizes and the judicial act of a Jeffreys? And it was to prevent fraud, oppression, favoritism, bribery, and all manner of corruption in the administration of criminal jurisprudence, that the grand jury was instituted. And how can you assist by your action as grand jurors, in the accomplishment of this great object? It can only be accomplished by lay- ing aside every personal or party consideration; by rising above hatred or affection, and by knowing no person, friend or foe, in the discharge of your duties. To vindicate the law and mete out simple-handed justice, should be your only motive. No one can be arraigned before this court for a crime but on your presentment. You are responsible to your country and to your God for the wrongful arraignment of the innocent, and for the non- arraignment of the guilty.
" Courts and juries should never permit mere technicalities, evasions or subterfuges to pervert the truth or thwart the administration of justice. The temple of justice is no place for evasion and falsehood. And this re- mark applies alike to the bar, the jury and the court. The court, imbued with the spirit of equity, should hold with even hand the scales of justice.
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The jury, rising above every personal consideration and disregarding every subterfuge and evasion, should find the simple truth. And the member of the bar who feels the responsibility and real dignity of his position, will have a stronger regard for the faithful administration of the law than suc- cessful evasion; and more pleasure in the triumph of truth and right than in falsehood and injustice. He will feel that his duty to himself as a man, to his country as a citizen, to his God and his own conscience as a respon- sible being, are infinitely higher in their nature than the duty he owes his client. And when all of us feel our responsibility and act up to the high duties which it imposes, may we not hope that our courts (if it be true that they have lost it) will regain the public respect, and enjoy the public confi- dence; and that men will not feel called upon on account of any imagined inefficiency or uncertainty of the courts, to take what they deem justice into their own hands, and administer it summarily and in violation of all law. But are our courts wholly to blame for this loss of confidence and growing disrespect for their decisions? Has not the citizen a sacred duty to perform in relation to the courts and in maintaining their character and authority? A decision of a court having authority to make the same is as much the law of the land as a statute can be; and until the same is reversed in a le- gal way and constitutional manner, should be respected and obeyed. He who creates a disrespect for the courts of our country is doing an irrepara- ble injury by shaking the confidence of the people in the faithful adminis- tration of justice. While the courts themselves should not only be pure, but should be above suspicion, and should avoid the least shadow of party or personal bias, they should also be respected and sustained by that con- fidence which alone can enable them to successfully perform the important function for which they were instituted, to mete out simple handed justice between man and man, protect the innocent and punish the guilty.
" But your special attention is called to your duty in regard to all county officers. Gentlemen, let your inquiry into your county affairs and the man- ner in which your officers have transacted their duties, be strict, thorough and uncompromising; bold them to a strict account of their stewardship and this court will give you all the assistance in its power to enable you faithfully to perform this, as well as every other part of your duty. Pursue these investigations, gentlemen, with diligence, not urged thereto by a spirit of persecution or party prejudice, or personal ill-will, and not deterred therefrom by favor, fear or personal friendship. Give to all complaints against your public agents a patient hearing; and let all come here with these complaints, if any they have, or hereafter hold their peace.
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"And now, gentlemen, remember that the position you occupy is one of vast importance to your county, and to the entire State. Interests as dear as life, as personal liberty, and on the right of property, depend upon your action. It is for you to say whether the law shall be maintained and en- forced and its violator receive the reward he merits; whether human life and the person of the citizen shall be safe under its protecting care; whether the rights of property shall be inviolate and the sovereignty of the law main- tained and order secured within your county; or whether the law shall be trampled upon with impunity, every principle of justice and good order outraged, and the violator, with unblushing front and in open defiance of all law, go unwhipped of justice. And, gentlemen, is the oath you have taken a mere form, a judicial farce, a solemn mockery before high heaven, or is it binding upon your conscience, imposing the highest obligation under which the human being can act in the discharge of important duties, to himself, to his country and to his God. Acting, then, in view of these high and solemn responsibilities, enforced by an oath administered by the authority of law, in the temple of justice, to the searcher of all hearts, I cannot doubt but that you will so act as to redeem this, your solemn pledge, main- tain the dignity of the law, secure its supremacy, and give a sense of security to the citizen in all his rights of person and of property within your county."
Judge Sears always appeared to be dignified and equal to any emergency that might arise. He felt that the suffrage of his constituency called him to execute justice upon the guilty and to protect the rights and liberty of others. The following incident may serve to illustrate this feature of his character, and the fidelity he exercised as a judge:
"I recollect," says Hon. L. Lingenfelter, "of a very exciting time in his court in this county in 1859. In 1857 the new constitution of Iowa pro- vided that a negro might testify the same as another person in all courts of judicature, federal or State. Under its provisions and the statute made thereunder it happened, at the September term of the District Court for 1859, there were three free blacks; to-wit, Green Garner, Henry Garner and Thomas Reed, subpoenaed, and were in attendance to testify in a certain case against somne parties who were wealthy, respectable and influential. When the case came on for trial the court-house was crowded with men full of excitement, who were intent upon interruption should these witnesses be put upon the stand. Threats were audibly made against the lawyers, the parties interested, the witnesses, the officers of the court, and even against the court itself, should they attempt to testify. But Judge Sears quailed not; he was firm, fearless and unmoved. He called upon the sheriff to bid the
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spectators to be seated and be quiet, stating that they should have a good opportunity to hear all the evidence; that what was now transpiring was something new, to be sure, but it was now the law, and he hoped no man who loved the enforcement of the law would see it violated. This had a good effect. The witnesses were all sworn, testified and subjected to a cross- examination, and then retired without molestation, and no one either in- jured or insulted."
The successor to Judge Sears was James G. Day. He graduated from the law school of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857, and came to western Iowa in the same year. He served as judge of the District Court with distinguished ability for two terms, and afterward became one of the judges of the Su- preme Court of the State, a position he now holds. He was succeeded by Judge J. W. McDill.
The successor to Judge Day was the honorable Samuel Forry, who served two terms, elected October 11, 1870, and re-elected October 13, 1874. He filled the office with entire satisfaction, and was considered an excellent jurist.
Judge R. C. Henry, of Mt. Ayr, Ringgold county, is the present incum- bent of the district judgeship. He was born in Harrison county, Ohio, December 14, 1841, and in 1844 came with his father's family to Iowa, of which State he has since been a continuous resident. His legal education was received in the law school of the State University at Iowa City, from. which he graduated in 1869. By his graduation he was admitted to the bar and immediately began the practice of his profession. Actively en- gaged in politics, he received the nomination for the district judgeship in 1879, and was duly elected in the fall of that year. He is a careful judge, weighs his opinions with great care, and commands the fullest respect of the barristers who practice before his bar. His term expires in 1883.
AN INCIDENT OF THE DISTRICT COURT.
In the early days not every lawyer was a Wm. M. Evarts or a Jeremiah S. Black, but all were good natured and jolly and many of them practical jokers. Cases were few and fees were small, and when the attorneys could not entertain themselves in work pertaining to their profession they sought to divert themselves in other ways.
The county being new lawyers were not very abundant, and so it was customary for nearly all the attorneys of the district to accompany the judge from place to place where court was held and pick up clients when and where they could. This practice was not very remunerative, but it had its bright side nevertheless.
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A good story is told of a prank played by the attorneys in the district north of this, about the year 1850 or 1851. The judge for that district was - Williams, quite a character in his way, but withal an excellent judge and one learned in the law. He combined the legal acumen of Lord Coke with the proportions of Falstaff, and the tendency to abjurgation of a trooper of the army in Flanders. To speak alliteratively, he was profound, prodigious and profane. The lawyers of his court were constantly annoy- ing him and he was condemning them and fining them for contempt. Yet Judge Williams was a kind man at heart, and many is the good deed set down to his credit in the book of the recording angel.
On one occasion the judge and his retinue of lawyers set out on horse- back from the county seat of Grundy county for Eldora, the capital of Hardin county. On the way the judge grew athrist and as they neared the Iowa River was reminded by one of the lawyers, informed as to the facts that about half a mile from the road an Irishman kept whisky for sale in his cabin. Leaving the party, his honor went in quest of the enlivening fluid for which he had an enthusiastic fondness. The attorneys rode on and soon reached the banks of the lowa. A light rain had fallen the evening and morning preceding, and the stream was muddy, turbid, and to all appearances deep. One of the party made a reconnoissance, however, and found that at the worst the water was only " mid-sides," and the party, laughing at their first apprehensions, were soon on the west bank of the river safe, sound and dry, and then halted to wait for the judge.
At once the idea of a joke on his worship occurred to the waggish bar- risters, and they proceeded to carry it out. Hastily denuding themselves, some of coats, some of boots and some of other articles of apparel, when the judge arrived on the opposite bank-which was in a few minutes- they presented all the appearance of men who had just disrobed and who were now re clothing themselves. The judge took in the situation at once (?) and was further informed by the lawyers that if he wanted to reach town in a dry suit he must strip off all his clothes, put them in his saddle-bags and with the latter about his neck swim the raging current! The profanity that followed was fearful. His honor anathematised the weather; the stream, the county commissioners, the attorneys (of course) -everything-until the air was almost blue and the atmosphere smelled of sulphur. He would remove an article of clothing, and then shake his first at the irreverent wags across the river who were visibly enjoying the spectacle immensely, and objurgate. At last he stood forth, in puribus naturalibus, a " man of unbounded stomach" and of wrath. The spec- tacle can only be imagined; it can never be described! Mounting his
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steed he timidly ventured into the stream, appealing to the frantic attor- neys to watch him carefully and come to his assistance if necessary. He had proceeded but a few feet when the real condition of affairs became apparent, for, in addition to the suspicious, or auspicious circumstance of the shallowness of the water, the lawyers hurriedly bestrode their horses, and as hurriedly galloped away.
It is needless to say that his honor made the passage in safety. He also reached the hotel at Eldora in safety, and when he confronted those attor- neys in the little bar-room-but let us draw a veil!
THE CIRCUIT COURT.
With the establishment of the Circuit Court, Judge James Gamble Day, judge third district, Iowa, on the first day of December, 1868, in compli- ance with the requirements of section twenty-four of the act establishing Cir- cuit and General Term Courts, and defining the powers and jurisdiction thereof, designated February 8, 1869, as the date of holding the first session of said court in the county of Taylor. This county belongs to the second cir- cuit of the third district. The records of the court open with the date last above mentioned, court being held by Judge J. W. McDill; the clerk was E. T. Smith, and the sheriff M. V. King. The first business before the court was the calling of the petit jurors, who were the following: Crayton Tomlinson, H. G. Underwood, L. B. Huston, Jesse Evans, J. W. Bates, Samuel Gant, S. J. Gallison, C. C. Hyatt, Daniel Propst, P. H. Pearce, S. K. Amaime, George Vanhouton, A. W. Campbell, E. Cook, and J. M. Reynolds. All answered to their names except C. Tomlinson, " who being thrice solemnly called, answered not." The court then proceeded to the adoption of rules, and with few slight modifications adopted " so far as the same may be applicable," the rules of the District Court, as then practiced.
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