USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Historical review of Chicago and Cook county and selected biography, Volume II > Part 8
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
But what of the man? It would be impossible, in this short memorial, to give a catalogue of his virtues, even if it were so desired. He surely would not wish it, for no man ever lived who disliked more to have his good deeds or qualities catalogued and held up to the public gaze. In whatever of good or kindly service he did, his motto seemed to be, 'Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth.' Still every man wishes to stand for something, to leave some strong characteristic impression behind him when he is gone, and this desire was surely strong in his mind and heart. What does the life of George W. Brown stand for today? If the Recording Angel were to write but one word after the name of George W. Brown it seems to us that, blotting out everything else of virtue or fault, he would write this one word, 'Optimism!' Honesty and morality are worthy of all praise, but humanity needs the helping hand, the cheery simile. the sympathizing word, even more than stern, uncompromising virtue. Thank God for that sane hopefulness that looks the world in the face with a smile, or better still a laugh, that believes things are getting better, and, if they are not, is willing to go down into its pocket or into its strength and make them better. Such Optimism was exemplified by Judge Brown in the highest degree. If a man was down he was willing to help him up, and to do it in such a cheery, hearty way that he had new life put into him."
In the nature of things, a man endowed with so bright and rich a
570
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
personality as Judge Brown would be a leader in politics, and in him Du Page county acknowledged an exemplar of the highest kind of Republicanism-the leadership of honor, of loyalty to the integrity of the community, the state and nation, and of sturdy, aggressive American manhood. He led the people because they had confidence in him. They had tried him and knew him to be safe, fearless and ever alert and zealous for their interests. At the time of his death Judge Brown had large real estate interests in Du Page county and was vice-president of the Gary-Wheaton Bank, of Wheaton, Illinois, but such facts as these seem almost immaterial in consideration of the legacy of goodly deeds and soul-worth which he bequeathed to the world.
Occasionally there comes into the world a modest but intensely earnest man who wrests from his every-day and often depression
JOHN L. surroundings the victory of a noble achievement.
WHITMAN. Few institutions can be conceived more grim, for- bidding and devoid of all inspiration for anything ideal or elevating than the jail of a great city. It is true that tender women and philanthropists have periodically brought their sunshine, kind words and good deeds to bear upon the often hardened lives of its inmates; but for the keeper of such criminals to burden himself with the moral responsibility of the criminals turned over to him, and to endeavor to send them to the penitentiary, or return them to so- ciety, as human beings with softened natures and good ambitions- this was an unheard of revelation in moral reform and municipal life until the coming of John L. Whitman as keeper of the Cook county jail. In him the old ideas of the grim, unresponsive, cold hearted and cold blooded jailer are revolutionized; for, although he has always been a strict disciplinarian, he has from the first treated his charges as men and women never beyond the pale of good influences, and there is no one in Chicago who has so won the unshaken confidence and affection of the so-called criminal classes as John L. Whitman. His splendid wife also shares with him the honor of making the John L. Whitman Moral Improvement Association of the Cook county jail a unique and far-reaching influence for good, and whose pur- poses are destined to be put in operation by similar organizations else- where.
Mr. Whitman is an Illinois man, his birthplace being Sterling,
.
John Whitman.
THENEWYORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
571
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
and his birthday July 23, 1862. He was the second child and the first son in the family, and was born and reared in the restful and strengthening shadow of a country church. From early boyhood he was vigorous, healthy but markedly sympathetic, industrious and cager for self-improvement. The family circumstances were such that his schooling was rather desultory, and at the age of fifteen he com- menced to walk an independent path in life. At that age he left his native town and made his way to Tampico, some fifteen miles away, and after working for a time at various employments saved enough money to embark in business as a contractor. The venture prospered, comparatively speaking, he married at the age of eighteen, and there- after his wife became a vital, sympathetic and ever-supporting ele- ment in whatever phase of life he entered. Although willing, even eager, to assume every responsibility which manifest duty placed upon him, by the death of his father, which threw upon him the support of grandparents, mother, wife and three younger brothers-and all when he was but twenty years of age-a greater burden was cast upon him than his young shoulders could bear, and his health becoming seri- ously impaired it became necessary for him to seek a change of climate and surroundings.
Mr. Whitman's introduction to Chicago, with those depending upon him, was as-a street railway conductor ; and he was a wide- awake, polite and model employe. Holding this position from April 15 to December 1, 1890, the active, out-of-door work rapidly rebuilt his shattered health. On the latter day he received the appointment of guard at the Cook county jail, and carried his manliness and his kindliness to his new post. His considerate treatment of prisoners and fellow guards was a revelation to both. At first they were in- clined to make sport of it, but the straightforwardness and bravery of Guard Whitman soon won respect, and when it was demonstrated that he had a stronger influence upon his charges than those who had followed the old-time methods of invariable sternness and surliness, the jailer himself marked him for promotion and appointed him as his office assistant in the management of the entire institution. There his inborn nature of quiet, kind authority continued to assert itself, and the jailer himself before long came to realize that any trouble or in- subordination among thie prisoners could not be more promptly or permanently quieted than by an appeal to his assistant.
572
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
John L. Whitman was placed at the head of the affairs of the great Cook county jail on the Ist of May, 1895. He at once im- pressed upon the guards the necessity of implanting the idea in the minds of prisoners that the keepers were not their natural enemies, but rather their friends called upon officially to perform certain neces- sary duties. He personally devised entertainments for the inmates, making the national holidays occasions for special effort in this direc- tion. But the culmination of his good work was the formation, by his suggestion, of the John L. Whitman Moral Improvement Asso- ciation. It is an organization of the prisoners themselves, each tier in the jail electing a special representative. The association was formed in the spring of 1901, its proceedings being at all times sub- ject to the approval of Mr. Whitman. The means by which the organization aims to accomplish the moral improvement of its mem- bers are books (of which there are already some six hundred vol- umes), music, lectures, readings, recitations and debates. Entertain- ments are given on Tuesday and Friday evenings. The talent usually comes from the prisoners, but now and then is volunteer. Numerous instances might be given showing the improved moral condition of the inmates as a result of such influences. The work of the associa- tion also practically manifests itself in the frustration of at least one attempted jail delivery through the warning of a sympathetic mem- ber of the organization to Mr. Whitman. Thus, as intimated at the outset of this article, has been placed in effective working order an agency for moral improvement, whose effects are practical and whose influences are immeasurable; and the work has been accomplished by an earnest man and woman virtually unknown beyond an ever grate- ful and widening circle of characters whose lives might have been far more creditable to themselves and society had they come in con- tact with more sympathetic and charitable Christians like Mr. and Mrs. Whitman.
After a continuous service of over sixteen years as jailer of Cook county, Mr. Whitman was appointed by Mayor Busse, June 1, 1907, as superintendent of the House of Correction of the City of Chicago, to succeed Andrew M. Lynch. This appointment was a worthy recog- nition of the eminent fitness of Mr. Whitman for the position, and it may be safely assumed that his record in the Cook county jail was the basis for the promotion. As superintendent, Mr. Whitman now
573
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
exercises direct supervision over the House of Correction and the John Worthy School for Boys. The majority of citizens are little more than aware that these institutions exist, and yet among the institutions, whose object is to restrain and soften the evil of human nature before it can expend its violence on society, none have more far-reaching effects when properly administered than the two that are now under the superintendence of Mr. Whitman. The House of Correction is one of the largest institutions of the kind in the coun- try, its average number of inmates being 1,800, the average number of women being 160. The grounds of the institution comprise sixty acres, and the appropriations for expenses during the year 1906 were over three hundred thousand dollars. In the John Worthy school from two hundred to four hundred delinquent boys are constantly inmates, the average period of detention for 1906 being 267 days. This school supplements the juvenile court and other organizations in the great work of reclaiming Chicago boys to honesty, industry and wholesome living, and with such a humanitarian as Mr. Whitman in charge some very important results may be expected from the school during the next few years.
Only a mind of unusual strength, persistent grasp and broad sweep of abilities can earn signal success in a special field already
EPHRAIM crowded with keen competitors, and at the same time BANNING. retain fresh and balanced faculties for the considera- tion and advancement of great public and social problems. The character of the late Ephraim Banning was there- fore cast in no ordinary mold, for he not only stood among the lead- ing lawyers of the country in the construction and application of pat- ent law-a legal domain surcharged with countless details and of such vast importance to the ingenious, practical American-but dur- ing the later years of his life he achieved a national reputation as a clear and broad exponent of many of the most vital questions of in- dustrial and social reforms which agitate thoughtful citizens.
Mr. Banning was a native of McDonough county, Illinois, born on the 21st of July, 1849, son of Ephraim and Louisa Caroline (Walker) Banning. When the boy was six years of age the family removed to Kansas. As the father was a stanch Whig and arrived upon the soil of Kansas at the height of the Pro-slavery agitation, lie at once became active in the politics of tlie day, and it is said to be
574
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
well authenticated that the committee of the convention which gave the state to the Free-soilers held its meeting at the house of the Ban- nings near Topeka. When Ephraim was about ten years of age the family again made a change of homestead to Missouri, and two years later when his brothers joined the Union army as soldiers of the Civil war he was left as his father's chief assistant on the home farm. His education in the common schools progressed satisfactorily with his agricultural training until he was sixteen years of age, when he obtained higher educational advantages in the academy of Brookfield, Missouri. Subsequently he taught school for a time and then as- sumed the study of law with Hon. Samuel P. Huston, of the town mentioned. He remained thus faithfully and profitably employed until 1871, when he located in Chicago as a student and clerk in the office of Rosenthal and Pence, then among the leading firms of the city. In June, 1872, he was admitted to practice at the bar of the supreme court of Illinois, and in October following opened an office and entered upon his career of professional advancement and public honor.
Mr. Banning's first five years in Chicago were devoted to general practice, commercial, real estate, corporation and criminal law all finding him a ready and successful exponent. Incidentally, he handled several cases involving questions of patent law, and he speedily ac- quired a decided preference for the intricate and scientific points of this special branch of jurisprudence. It was in 1877 that he made his first argument in a patent case, and in the same year formed a partnership with his brother, Thomas A. Banning, who had been ad- mitted to the bar two years before. From the first the resulting firm of Banning and Banning confined itself almost exclusively to patent law, with trade marks as a division, and in the prosecution and de- velopment of their extensive professional business Mr. Banning, the senior member, argued many important cases in the United States supreme court and in the federal courts of Chicago, New York, Bos- ton, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City, St. Paul and Des Moines. In 1888 he made an extensive tour to Europe, and by observation and special investigation greatly extended his already thorough knowledge in his chosen field of study and practice.
Throughout his life Mr. Banning was one of the most active and honored members of the American, State and Chicago Bar associations,
575
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
and through the local organization has accomplished much good not directly connected with his profession, as well as many reforms of great benefit to bench and bar. He was a member of the committee appointed by the Chicago Bar Association by which the city secured several additional United States judges, and by virtue of his promi- nence in his special field of practice was a leading figure in the great work of the World's Columbian Exposition. He served as chairman of the committee on organization of the Patent and Trade-inark Con- gress, and at the close of its session was appointed one of a committee to present to Congress various matters connected with industrial property, particularly in its international aspects. In 1896 his broad usefulness and prominence as a Republican was signally acknowledged by his selection as a Mckinley presidential elector, and a like honor was bestowed upon him in 1900, when he again represented his state in national convention. From 1897-1901 Mr. Banning ably and con- scientiously served as a member of the State Board of Charities, and while holding this office accomplished one of the greatest works of his life for the present and future good of Chicago. Through his work on the state board he became interested in the sad condition of delinquent and defective children and their crying need of segregation from hardened criminals, both in the investigation of their cases and the punishment of their offenses. After many conferences with Timothy D. Hurley (then of the Visitation and Aid Society, now chief proba- tion officer of the Cook County Juvenile court) and with the late Judge Harvey B. Hurd, as well as with legislative leaders in Spring- field, Mr. Banning presented the matter to the Chicago Bar Associa- tion in October, 1898. He was appointed one of a committee of five to investigate the entire subject, was chosen its chairman, and after Judge Hurd had drawn up what became known as the Juvenile Court Bill, represented the State Board of Charities in the appeal of promi- nent Chicago citizens for its passage by the legislature. The bill was approved by the governor April 21, 1899, and went into force on the Ist of the following July, no one reform of recent years having met with more carnest commendation or more unanimous support. To have been one of its chief founders, as was Ephraim Banning, is proof positive of a humane and high nature, as well as of a clear insight into the needs of a great progressive community. The dis- tinction between the radical work accomplished by Mr. Hurd and
576
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
Mr. Banning in this splendid reform is thus well delineated by the Chicago Legal News: "In the sense of authorship the late Harvey B. Hurd has been justly called the Father of our Juvenile Court Law ; but in the sense of practical, constructive work, as distinguished from authorship, the title belongs to Ephraim Banning. This is clearly recognized in the official programme of the dedication of our new Juvenile Court building, which took place August 7, 1907." More in detail, Mr. Hurley brought out these points in his address at the dedi- catory exercises, and the News condenses as follows: "After detail- ing these early steps, Mr. Hurley gives an interesting account of pro- ceedings at Springfield-how the bill was introduced in both houses of the legislature, considered in committee, amended in various par- ticulars and finally passed. In all of this Mr. Banning is shown to have taken an active and leading part: As author, Judge Hurd brought into its provisions the result of profound study and large experience in legal and philanthropic work. As organizer of the movement which resulted in its passage Mr. Banning brought into action powerful constructive forces, and this in a practical way-the influence of the Chicago Bar Association, governor of the state and speaker of the house of representatives. Judge Hurd and Mr. Ban- ning are therefore each entitled to credit; in his own way each was the Father of our Juvenile Law."
Mr. Banning's last public honor was the appointment as a member of the Deep Water Way Convention held at Memphis. For many years he had been an enthusiast on the subject, holding to the position that the improvement of navigable rivers throughout the country so as to develop their full carrying capacity was the most important business question before the American people. To his mind the work was not second in importance to the building of the Pacific railways and the Atlantic cable of half a century ago, or the present completion of the Panama canal. His selection, therefore, as a delegate to the Memphis convention was but a just tribute to his consistent attitude on this subject.
Mr. Banning was twice married-first, on the 22d of October, 1878, to Miss Lucretia T. Lindsley, who died February 8, 1887, leav- ing three sons, Pierson W., Walker and Ephraim, Jr. On September 5, 1889, he chose for his second wife Miss Emilie B. Jenne, daughter of the late O. B. Jenne, of Elgin, Illinois. Both the deceased and his
THENEWYORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
TIMOTHY D. HURLEY.
577
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
family were long attendants of the Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Banning was an elder at the time of his death, December 2. 1907. The cause of his decease was a fall, causing concussion of the brain. He is survived by his widow and children, his second son being a member of the firm Banning and Banning.
Timothy David Hurley is a substantial and honorable practitioner at the Chicago bar, and was for many years one of the best known
TIMOTHY D. justices of the peace on the south side. In the field
HURLEY. of practical moral reforms, as relates to the improve-
ment of juvenile lives and conditions, he has a wide reputation throughout the state and the west for unflagging earnest- ness and effective work. Born, in Maysville, Mason county, Ken- tucky, on the 3Ist of August, 1863, he is a son of Timothy and Ellen (McNamara) Hurley. He was educated in the Catholic parish school of his native town of Maysville, and in that place also learned the printer's trade.
Mr. Hurley came to Chicago in 1882, when nineteen years of age, and after working in various job printing offices saved sufficient money to warrant him in enrolling himself at the Union College of Law, graduating in 1887 with the degree of LL. B. In the same year he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice alone, later forming a partnership with Victor K. Koerner, which continued until his election as justice of the peace in 1891. He remained thus engaged until the establishment of the new municipal court system. in 1907, when he resumed a general civil practice.
Mr. Hurley has devoted special attention to children's legislation and has been recognized for fourteen years as the representative of the Chicago Charity Institution at Springfield in matters relating to children's law. He prepared the first Juvenile Court Law in 1891, but the bill was defeated in the legislature on the ground that the measure was advanced legislation. He assisted in preparing the Juvenile Court Bill and other juvenile laws. In addition to this other work he finds time to edit and publish the Juvenile Court Record, a monthly juvenile publication devoted solely to juvenile court news and circu- lated throughout the world. It has a circulation of 25.000 and is recognized as authority on juvenile court practice. He is president of the Visitation and Aid Society, and ex-president of the Illinois State Council of the Catholic Benevolent Legion and Illinois Confer-
Vol. II-6
578
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
ence of Charities. He served as the first chief probation officer of the Juvenile Court of Chicago, in 1900-1, and is at the present time presi- dent of the St. Charles School for Delinquent Boys, as well as a di- rector of the Chicago Industrial School for Girls. He is vice-president of the Chicago Charity Directory, a director of the Bureau of Chari- ties, secretary of the Cook County Child-Saving Legislative League, and secretary of the Cook County Child-Saving Conference, as well as a member of the executive committee of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections, and a member of the executive committee of the Juvenile Court Committee. Mr. Hurley is a leading Repub- lican and Roman Catholic. His office is in the Unity building.
Few are left of the old-time lawyers who gave Chicago a stand- ing at the national bar. They were men of strong, sometimes stern characters, and were not specialists even in the sense
OLIVER H. HORTON. of confining themselves to their professions; for, whatever their regular vocations, the greedy, grow- ing city would have the services of its best men. As a municipality it had not been brought into any sort of clear order, so that each capable citizen, who loved it and took a pride in its achievements, was ordered to report to various assigned duties connected with its public, social, educational, religious and other activities. Judge Oliver Harvey Horton is a soldier of the Old Guard and has never been a closet lawyer or judge, for although his profession for more than forty years has felt the beneficial influence of his acts and service, he has been liberal in the donations of his energy, ability and wise counsel to the uplifting forces of education and religion. He has shown his faith in the city both by the enthusiasm and firmness of his spirit and by the multitude of his good works.
Oliver H. Horton was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, on the 20th of October, 1835, and is a son of Rev. Harvey W. and Mary H. Horton, the father a native of Vermont and the mother of Connecticut. The elder Horton was a Baptist minister. After Ic- ceiving a good education in the public schools of Rochester, New York, and Kingsville, Ohio, the youth of nineteen placed the east be- hind him and came to the typical city of the west. His first experi- ence with Chicago business was in connection with a lumber-yard, and although he was in poor health he continued to be employed in this line and at other active work for some five years. In 1859 he
Istarten
,
WYORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
579
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY
went south for a change of climate and after a few months returned to Chicago so much improved that he decided to carry out his long- cherished desire to enter the law. In 1860 he became a student in the office of Hoyne, Miller and Lewis, remaining associated with that firm both as student and clerk until the dissolution of the co-partner- ship in January, 1864. In the meantime Mr. Horton had gradu- ated from the Union College of Law and been admitted to the bar (in 1863). In 1864 he was admitted as a partner to the business of Hoyne and Ayer, the firm of Hoyne, Ayer and Horton being dis- solved in 1865 by the retirement of Mr. Ayer. The resulting firm of Hoyne and Horton was changed to that of Hoyne, Horton and Hoyne, in January, 1867, by the admission of the son of the senior partner. Thomas M. Hoyne. That connection was continued until the death of the elder Hoyne by a railway accident in 1883, when the name of Horton and Hoyne was adopted. Four years later the partnership was broken by the elevation of Mr. Horton to the bench of the circuit court.
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.