History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 122

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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SAMUEL LISLE SMITH was born in Philadelphia in 1817, of wealthy parents. His early advantages, edu- cational and social, were exceptionally good. Preco- ciously talented, he had studied law at Yale and passed the examination entitling him to a diploma or license to practice before he was of sufficient age to receive it. In 1836 he came to Illinois to look after the interests of his father, who owned some choice tracts of land near Peru. With abundant resources drawn from the parental treasury, young Smith associated with the many gay pleasure-seeking young men who then thronged this Western center of speculation, and naturally fell into habits of life which somewhat marred his career. Re- turning East, he shook off this premature pursuit of pleasure, sought and obtained his diploma as a lawyer, and was married to a Miss Potts of Philadelphia. In 1838 he again set out for the West and settled in Chi- cago. He made his headquarters in the office of But- terfield & Collins, where he familiarized himself with the laws of Illinois. He gradually slipped into his

former convivial habits, and in 1839 was chosen City At- torney, a position which funished abundant occasion for the exercise of his genial and generous hospitality. Coupled with the continuous stream of his eloquence, wit and mimicry, his convivial spirit enhanced his popu- larity, while it did not seriously impair a fortune derived mainly from his father. He was at this time at the very height of his reputation as an orator. The Hon. I. N. Arnold, one of his hearers, at the Whig State Con- vention at Springfield, in 1840, thus refers to his powers: " I heard for the first time stump-speeches from Lin- coln, Harden, Baker, and others, but the palm of elo- quence was conceded to a young Chicago lawyer. S. Lisle Smith There was a charm, a fascination in his

SAMUEL LISLE SMITH.

speaking, a beauty of language and expression, a poetry of sentiment and of imagery, which in its way sup- pressed anything I had ever heard. His voice was music and his action studied and graceful. I have heard Webster, and Choate, and Crittenden, and Bates of Missouri ; they were all greatly his superiors in power and vigor, and in their various departments of excellence, but for an after-dinner speech, a short eulogy or commemorative address, or upon any occasion when the speech was a part of the pageant, I never heard the equal of Lisle Smith." In 1844, he took an active in- terest in the presidential campaign, the third attempt of the Whigs to elect Henry Clay, of whom he was a great admirer and supporter. In 1847, at the River and Har- bor Convention, at Chicago, he signally distinguished himself among some of the best speakers of the nation. Horace Greeley said he was "the star of the vast as- sembly, and stood without a rival; " and Henry Clay did not hesitate to write that Mr. Smith "was the greatest orator he had ever heard." His mag- netic power over an audience, as testified by ser- eral surviving witnesses, was something wonderful,

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his voice was sweet and clear, his fancy glowed with sublime and matchless imagery, and he was equally at home in pathos or invective. His, language was not only choice but phenomenally exact, his memory abso- lutely marvelous, and his power of mimicry no less so. His imitations of Calhoun, Clay, Preston and Webster are said to have been so curiously life-like as to mislead those most familiar with the peculiarities of these great speakers. His keen sense of the ludicrous and gro- tesque, joined to a vast fund of humor and innate as well as acquired wit, filled the measure of his phenomenal adaptability to become a great orator. He lacked but two elements of the highest possible success in that line, a more portly physique and a less ardent pursuit of pleasure. He was handsome and graceful but small of stature, rather below the middle size, with a florid com- plexion and light hair. A third drawback has been found in his inherited wealth, but had he remained mas- ter of himself, this would not have proved an obstacle, but a valuable auxiliary. Besides the speeches men- tioned, his addresses on the following occasions are singled out as specially noteworthy : At the organiza- tion of the Excelsior Association, or Sons of New York, the Society of the Sons of Penn, the Reception of Web- ster, the Irish Relief Meeting, the Obsequies of John Quincy Adams, and of Henry Clay. Short-hand facil- ities were not extensive in the Chicago of his day, and it is said, "he never wrote a single word even at his greatest efforts," in enduring form, though we are assured his ordinary preparation embraced not only a rough sketch but a critical weighing of words, phrases and quotations. What is probably correct is that not a single speech was ever written out in full; nor was he so identified with any great law case as to have had either argument or speech preserved in any court record. Altogether his career was rather brilliant than powerful, and has had no influence on the jurisprudence of the State, though it deeply affected the memory, imagina- tion and feeling of his contempotaries. He was genial, generous and hospitable ; a kind neighbor, a good citi- zen and a thorough friend ; a perfect gentleman, a ripe scholar and an eloquent advocate of whatever social, legal or political question he espoused ; a well-read lawyer and popular among his brethren, and at home a devoted husband and father. Had his self- control been equal to his talents he might have risen to eminence; as it was, a feeling of regret, if not pity, mingles with enthusiasm of his admirers. He died of the prevailing epidemic, cholera, July 30, (854, before he had reached the age of forty. His wife and two sons survived him. Mrs. Smith was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Potts of Philadelphia, and a sister of the perhaps better known Rev. Dr. Potts of New York. She died in August, 1871. " The memory of the eloquence of the gifted orator," said the Daily Press, in notice of his death, "will not soon fade from the public mind, which he could at any time sway with the wand of a magician. *

* * For those who mourn the sudden rupture of the most tender ties, there is no language to express their grief." In the Recorder's Court, a week later, the following resolutions were in- troduced by D. Mellroy and seconded by E. W. Tracy : "That in the death of S. Lisle Smith the profession have lost an eminent brother, distinguished for his superior education, his fine and practical intellect, and his elevated moral character; and the entire community, especially the poor, have lost an affectionate and sin- cere friend." " He was," says Judge Goodrich, " of me- dium height, a ruddy countenance, a large and finely formed head, a face that gave expression to the feeling

without words. His eyes were dark and shone out from under ' a square, projecting brow' luminous with the fires of intelligence, and when kindled by passion or the inspiration of his theme, they glowed with the emo- tions that stirred his soul. His motions were full of grace, his gestures eloquent in expression. In his voice there was a magic and charm beyond description. It was rich and sonorous, as flexible in tone and modula- tion as the melodies of a musical instrument, descend- ing to the lowest tones and rising to the highest pitch without a break, as clear and ringing as an Alpine horn. He could startle with the tones of an angry god. or soothe with the softest cadence of rippling waters. His eloquence was faultless, his style chaste and classical, his language rich and copious, his illustrations apt and brilliant; and when he gave the reins to his imagina- tion, he conjured up such marvelous forms of beauty, such enchanting creations of fancy, and clothed his thoughts and images in such elegance of expression, that his hearers were entranced with wonder and ad- miration. His speeches were not the mere affluence of sounding words which like the jingling of bells delight the ear, but do not move the heart. They were often full of profoundest thought, and rich in sentiment, and sometimes severely logical. He was admired by the great men of his day." A surviving admirer of Mr. Smith fully indorses this beautiful tribute of Judge Goodrich, and assures the writer that it is an entirely truthful characterization of the greatest orator Chicago has ever known.

JUSTIN BUTTERFIELD was born at Keene, N. H., in 1790. Educated in his earlier years at the common school, and prepared for college by the local minister, he entered Wiliams College in 1807, and about 1810 be- gan the study of law under the future Judge Egbert Ten Eyck, at Watertown, N. Y. During these years of advanced education he eked out his scanty resources by. teaching school in winter; and was admitted to the Bar in 1812. He began the practice of his profession in Adams, Jefferson Co., N. Y., where he soon ex- hibited that professional aggressiveness and courage so characteristic of his later career. In July, 1813, during the second British war, he sought to obtain the release by habeas corpus of his client, Samuel Stacey, Jr., a native of Madrid, in the adjoining county of St. Law- rence. Stacey was held several weeks by the military without trial on suspicion of disloyal intercourse with the enemy across the border. Mr. Butterfield served the writ on the commanding General, who evaded compli- ance, with the result to the young lawyer that his purely professional effort for a client reacted on his own repu- tation, his position being regarded as unpatriotic in the heated condition of the public mind .* It was the remem- brance of this blind prejudice which led him to exclaim, a generation later, when asked if he was opposed to the Mexican War: "No, sir ! I oppose no war ; I opposed one and it ruined me. Henceforth I'm for war, pesti- lence and famine !" He practiced some years in Sackett's Harbor, where he married about 1814. He then removed to New Orleans, where he quickly ob- tained a lucrative practice and high rank in his profes- sion. In 1826 he returned to Jefferson County, N. Y., set- tling this time in Watertown, where he remained several years. In 1834 he came here to reconnoiter, soon re- turned to Watertown to wind up his business, and set- tled here permanently in 1835, forming a law partner- ship with James H. Collins as early as July 16 of that year. Mr. Butterfield soon became a recognized leader not only at the Bar, but in the broader relations of civil

. Johnson's New York Reports, Vol. X., 327-33.

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life. He was one of the trustees of Rush Medical Col- lege at its incorporation, March 25, 1837. The firm immediately attained a front rank in the profession. Col- lins was already well known, and it soon became evident that the new accession was fully his equal. Both were fine lawyers, in the maturity of their powers, the breadth of their experience and the depth and variety of their legal attainments. Nearly all the other members of the early Chicago Bar were young men, awaiting opportu- nity to flesh their maiden swords, and win reputation and power. Butterfield & Collins came to be recog- nized as at the head of the Bar, not alone in ('hicago but in the State. Against the movement for the sus-

JUSTIN BUTTERFIEL.I.

and in virtue of which the holders of canal bonds were induced to advance $1,600,000 wherewith to complete the canal. In 1843, through a misunderstanding about the division of income from his official position, the partnership between him and Mr. Collins was dissolved; and after the close of his official relations with the ad- ministration he took into partnership his son, Justin, Jr. In 1847 Erastus S. Williams, a law student of the old firm, and of late years better known as Judge William- of the Circuit Court of Cook County, was added to the new firm. June 21. 1849, after the re-accession of the Whigs to power, he was appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office by President Taylor. A com- petitor for the position at that time wa-

Abraham Lincoln, who was beaten, it is said. by the superior dispatch of Butterfield in reach- ing Washington by the northern route, but more cor- rectly by the paramount influence of his friend Daniel Webster. In fact, Lincoln was then, or had recently been, in Washington as member of the Thirtieth Con- gress, and had the indorsement of the Illinois delega- tion, but the pressure of Mr. Webster was irresistible. While in this office he. co-operated zealously with Senator Douglas toward securing for Illinois the land grant which became the subsidy of the Illinois Central Railroad, and indirectly through the seven per cent of its gross earnings made payable by its charter to the State. an efficient aid in restoring the credit of the common wealth and finally extinguishing its indebtedness. He held the position of Land Commissioner until disabled by paralysis in 1852. On his retirement he received from President Fillmore the highest praise for efficiency and ability in that office. He had introduced system and industry in the transaction of its business. He lingered some three years in an enfeebled condition. when he died at his home in Chicago, October 23, 1855, in his sixty-sixth year. His wife-before marriage Eliz- abeth Pierce, of Scoharie, N. Y .- and four children survived him. Two sons, Justin and Lewis, who had been bred to his own profession, had gone before. Lewis, born in 1817, and admitted to the Bar December 16, 1840, died in Chicago October 27. 1845. Justin. born in 1819, and admitted to the Bar June 10, 1840. died of consumption in Washington, March 5, 1852. His oldest son, George, an officer in the navy, died about 1850. The survivors were William, the first graduate of Rush Medical College; and three daugh- ters, Mrs. Sidney Sawyer, Mrs. Frances Gelatly, and Mrs. William S. Johnston, Jr. Mrs. Johnston died January 7, 1875. Mr. Butterfield had always been ex-

pension of the Municipal Court in .1837, Mr. Butter- field, in common with nearly all the lawyers in the city. threw the weight of his influence. And in the conflict . ceptionally happy in his domestic relations, and was between the Bench and Bar of Chicago, which signal- deeply mourned by his family and friends. It the memorial Bar-meeting held two days after his death, his associates thus expressed themselves: " Possessed of great clearness and sagacity of judgment, cautious and steady energy, a well-balanced independence, a just re- spect for authority, and at the same time an unflinching adherence to his own deliberate opinion of the law, he secured great respect as a lawyer. * * .And the services of the deceased * entitle him to the gratitude of his adopted State." says Arnold, "was one of the ablest, if not the very ablest lawyer we have ever had at the Chi- cago Bar. He was strong, logical, full of vigor and resources. In his style of argument, and in his per- sonal appearance he was not unlike Daniel Webster, of whom he was a great admirer, and who was his model. He wielded the weapons of sarcasm and irony with crushing power, and was especially effective in inver- tive. Great as he was before the Supreme Court, and " Justin Butterhekt." ized the incumbency of Judge Pearson, 1837 to 1840, he took an active and characteristic part. It was he that in open court, November 11, 1839, held out to the indignant Judge the alternative papers, a bill of excep- tions against his own rulings, to sign, or the mandamus of the Supreme Court of Illinois to obey. He was fined $20.00 for contempt ; but he was not to be cowed or browbeaten, and, with his associates of the Bar, the case was carried before the State Senate. where the political bias, if not the greater calmness of that quasi- judicial body, saved the Judge from the sentence and penalties of impeachment and the wrath of his enemies. In 1841 Mr. Butterfield was made Prosecuting Attorney for the United States Judicial District of Illinois, which he held until the election of President Polk. In 1842 he drew up the canal bill, the main provisions of which had been previously settled in conference by Arthur Bronson, William B. Ogden, I. N. Arnold and himself,

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everywhere on questions of law, he lacked the tact and skill to be equally successful before a jury." " Mr. Butterfield's success in the profession," says Judge

John M. Wilson, "resulted from what may be called the power of adaptation, always seizing upon the most effective mode of subserving the interest of his client. * * * He possessed an intuitive appreciation of the strength and resources of his adversary, and was the last man to attempt to laugh a case out of court, unless the prosecution was feeble or the plaintiff and his case were open to the assaults of ridicule and sarcasm. * * * He rarely indulged in flights of fancy, though he never failed to lighten up his addresses to court or jury with a caustic humor which was always effective, his manner giving a point and force to the words. The high posi- tion he attained was owing, as intimated, to his intuitive apprehension of the questions upon which cases must be decided, and by adapting his mode of attack nr de- fense to the peculiar circunstances of each case." Mr. Butterfield possessed readiness in reply and aptness in retaliation, which with his professional skill and knowledge made him a formidable adversary and a desirable advocate. Many stories are told of his wit and humor, which need not be here repeated, as they only illustrate traits of character and manner already described.

ISAAC NEWTON ARNOLD was born in Hartwick, Otsego Co., N. Y., November 30, 1813. His parents were Dr George Washington, and Sophia Mason Ar- nold, who had removed thither from Rhode Island some fifteen years before. Besides the subject of this sketch they had two sons and four daughters, all of whom grew to maturity, except one boy who died in infancy. 1. N. Arnold got his early education at the district school and the local academy. While procuring his later education after the age of fifteen, when he was thrown upon his own resources, and during his studies for the Bar, he made a frugal living by copying in the office of the surrogate, teaching a neighboring school, by office services for his law teachers, and finally by an occasional trial before a Justice of the Peace. He first studied law under Richard Cooper, of Coopers- town, and then under Judge E. B. Morehouse. He was admitted to the Bar in 1835, at the age of twenty- one, and became the partner of his late teacher, Judge Morehouse. He soon found opportunity for his first triumph in a role in which his success afterward hecame quite marked, that of advocate for persons charged with capital offenses. A negro named Dacit was under indictment in Otsego County for fratricide, an unjust presumption of guilt seizing the public mind because the two brothers were believed to be rivals in love. Mr. Arnold became satisfied of the innocence of his client and secured his acquittal. AAs he approached his ma- jority he concluded to go West, and in pursuit of this purpose he arrived in Chicago in October. 1836. He published his card as a lawyer as early as November 19, of that year. His chief source of income at first was his skill as a writer of real estate contracts, trans- fers and abstracts, in the office of Augustus Garrett, auctioneer and dealer in lots and lands, and afterward Mayor of the city. In those early days of almost frenzied activity in that line of speculation, Mr. Arnold often earned ten dollars a day in that capacity. He

soon obtained a share of the limited law business of the period, and in the American of February 18, 1837, he advertised that certain notes and accounts were in his hands for collection. in March he was chosen the first Clerk of the new city, a position which he soon found more onerous than remunerative; and which he resigned before October, to give his attention to his growing professional business. He had, meanwhile, formed a law partnership with Mahlon D. Ogden, of which the first mention made is dated August 16, 1837, though known to have been established some months earlier in the spring. With a colleague at headquarters, Mr. Arnold was now free to broaden the relations and spread the reputation of the firm by riding the circuit of the adjoining counties and attending the State and United States courts at the capital as elsewhere sketched in this work, chiefly from his writings. Arnold & Ogden soon came into public recognition, and were en- gaged on one side or the other in a very considerable proportion of the more important cases in this section. In those dark days of illinois history, from 1836 to ' 1846, when men were sometimes elected to the Legisla- ture on a more or less outspoken platform of repudiation, Mr. Arnold's position and views on the opposite side came to be recognized. He was known as an earnest pleader for saving the credit of the State by accepting in good faith the whole burden which had been so un- wisely laid upon them by their representatives. Thence- forth he was universally regarded as a champion of public honor, a principled opponent of repudiation and of whatever else tended to weaken the purpose of the people to manfully pay the penalty of the internal im- provement mania, which had been the cause of the mis- chief. In January, 1840, Mr. Arnold purchased for $400, a lot in Fort Dearborn addition, which is perhaps worthy of mention in illustration of the great growth in value of Chicago real estate. With the not very expensive building erected thereon since the fire it now brings a rental of $2,500. In the same year he was elected a member of the first board of inspectors under the school act of 1839, a position which his increasing public responsibilities soon forced him to relinquish. January 18, 1841, a public meeting was held in Chicago to promote direct taxation for the payment of interest on the State debt. Mr. Arnold was one of the signers to the call, as well as a prominent speaker at the meet- ing and chairman of the committee on resolutions. Notwithstanding these and similar evidences of an earnest solicitudle, on the part of some of the best people of the State to maintain or repair the public credit, the Legislature, in February, passed a law which gave a right of redemption in all cases of land sold under mort- gages and deeds of trust, whether in virtues of decrees at law or in equity, and provided that before any such sale the property should be appraised and should not be sold at less than two-thirds of such appraisal. As this legislation practically suspended the collection of debts, Mr. Arnold at once took the ground that it was unconstitutional, and carried two test cases to the Supreme Court of the United States where his views were confirmed and the obnoxious laws declared void. In April, 1841, he was appointed Master in Chancery by Judge T. W. Smith, a position he held until his election to the Legislature. Four months later, August 4. he was married at Batavia. N. Y., to Harriet Augusta, daughter of Dr. Trumbull Darrance, of Pittsfield, Mass. He was formally admitted to the Bar of Illinois, De- cember 5. 1841, at one of his many professional visits to the capital, though he had been licensed some time before, and his New York license had secured him full

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recognition from the first as a member of the earlier Chicago Bar. At the Democratic State Convention in 1842, he introduced a resolution committing that body to an explicit declaration against repudiation. It was seconded by Mr. Swan, of the Rock River district, but failed to receive the indorsement of the majority. Mr. Arnold received the nomination for representative of his district in the General Assembly and was elected. He resigned the office of Master in Chancery August 6. He had about this time received a letter from Arthur Bronson, of New York, a creditor of this State to a con- siderable amount, and informally representing the views of other creditors, which outlined the method of paying the canal deht by borrowing enough to complete it and pledging its future revenue to the payment of interest and principal of the old and new debt. At a confer- ence some weeks later in Chicago between Mr. Bron- son, William B. Ogden, I. N. Arnold and Justin Butter- field this design assumed more definite shape and was drafted by Mr. Butterfield as the famous canal bill, which contributed so effectually to restore the State credit and enhance the prosperity of Chicago. The principles involved and the sustaining arguments were represented fully and forcibly by Mr. Arnold before the Mechanics' Institute, November 16, in a lecture on " The Legal and Moral Obligations of the State to pay its Debts, the Resources of Illinois, and the Means by which the Credit of the State may be Restored." in the session of 1842-43 he was chairman of the com- mittee on finance, and introduced the canal bill already mentioned. By persistent efforts he was enabled to carry it through, hut by only a very small majority. In 1844 he was again nominated and elected to the Legislature, and was presidential elector on the Demo- cratic ticket. Toward the close of the year, upon the resignation of Justin Butterfield, his friends petitioned the administration for his appointment to the vacant place of District Attorney for Illinois, while another section of the party favored Mark Skinner. To promote harmony the appointment was given to D. L. Gregg, of Joliet. Meanwhile the loan of $1,600,000 provided by the canal bill of the year before was delayed through the cautious hesitancy of the money lenders, who required additional and clearly specified guarantees from the Legislature, in all of which subsidiary work Mr. Arnold took an active part, having at length the satisfaction to see the whole matter amicably adjusted in 1845. At the close of his second term in the Legislature by its ad- journment, March 3, 1845, he resumed the practice of his profession with new interest and increased success. In 1847 he dissolved partnership with Mr. Ogden, and after some months became associated with George W. Lay, Jr., in 1848. In that year, too, he threw his polit- ical fortunes and talents into the new Free-Soil party, and was a delegate to its national convention at Buffalo, and its State convention at Ottawa. He tonk an earnest and active part in the anti-slavery campaign, being one ot the chief orators of the party of Illinois, In all the succeeding biennial campaigns his voice and influence were consistently opposed to the aggressions of the pro- slavery party, and in 1856 he was elected to the Legislat- ure on that ticket. In that year, too, the firm of Arnold & Lay became Arnold, Larned & Lay by the accession of Edwin C. Larned. In the single session of

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 122

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340