USA > Illinois > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Illinois > Part 19
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" His style was singularly perspicuous-as specimens of tine writing. it is my judgment that his opinions will suffer nothing in com. parison with the best. the most distinguished jurists of this country and of England.
"In clearness of expression and splendor of diction, they are fashioned after the best models.
"Chief Justice Marshal was on the bench for a period of thirty-four years. His opin- ions, with the other members of the court, are comprised in thirty volumes, exclusive of his decisions on the circuit, many of which were written and published. Judge Breeze was a member of our Supreme Court not quite twenty-three years, and yet his opin- ions. with those of the other Justices, compose seventy volumes, including the opinions now in manuscript. Some idea of the magnitude of his labors may be obtained when it is stated as the truth, he did his full share of
the work, and that for the greater portion of the time he was on the bench the court was composed of three Justices.
" If we except one of his associates still on the bench, he has, perhaps, written more opinions than any Judge who ever occupied the bench in any of the American States. The exception, if any, is Chancellor Kent, and it is, perhaps, quite correct to say that so many opinions do not appear to his name.
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" There is scarcely a question that concerns the public welfare or the jurisprudence of this great State upon which he has not writ- ten, and almost always with great clearness and accuracy.
" More enduring than a monument of solid granite are the official reports of the State to his learning and ability as a jurist. Includ- ing the opinions now in manuscript, in which he participated, we will have eighty more volumes of reports, with every one of which his name is connected, either as a re porter, counsel or as a Justice delivering the opinions.
"The questions discussed in the sixty years he was in some way connected with the court are of the utmost importance, and are such as would naturally be expected to arise in that formative period of a rapidly grow- ing State, and especially in one that has so suddenly risen to the proportions of an em- pire in itself.
" He rests from his labors, but how truly can it be said of him his works do follow him. His fame as a judicial writer will en- dure as long as the common law is adminis- tered anywhere among the nations of the earth; and the beneficent princples his learn- ing and ability assisted to maintain will aid in establishing right and justice in behalf of the humblest as well as the most exalted
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of our race, so long as our civilization shall stand."
He was a jnrist of clear and keen per ceptions, surpassed by none and equaled by few. In politics, Judge Breeze in early life was a Whig. He was a bitter opponent of Andrew Jackson, and never lost an opportu- nity to strike. He afterward took a different view and became a zealous Democrat, and as such he died.
It is impossible for the writer hereof to paint with pen the true character of this man He was too great for any but great men to write. He was at times cross and sensitive, at times kind and pleasant; when he felt like it, he was one of the most com- panionable men, well versed in literature, always entertaining in conversation. His knowledge of Illinois and the men and par- ties of the State was, perhaps, superior to that of any other man, and it is to be re- gretted that he did not find time from his labors to put his recollections in history. He made Hon. Melville W. Fuller his literary ex- ecutor, and among his effects it is hoped that much valuable manuscript may be found.
He was extremely sensitive about his age, and seldom permitted an inquiry upon that subject. Upon one occasion a few years before his death, when asked by an old citi- zen of this county, who had known him for years and had grown old with him, how old he was, he replied by saying, "I may be fifty, sir, and I may be one hundred and fifty; it is none of your d-d business." I have heard of but one instance where he volunteered his age. In 1872, he was pressed by his friends for the Democratic nomination for Presidency, and had he been elected, he, no doubt, would have made an administration that would have been at once strong, honest, wise and popular. But, like
Clay and Webster, he was too great to be President.
Shortly before his death, he was called upon by Maj. Johnston, who, in the course of the conversation asked the Judge if he would be a candidate for re-election. The Judge's reply was: " I want to die in the harness," and so he did die, working up to the very last, and thus died one of the three great men of Illinois.
Walter B. Scates. - The eminent character of this gentleman requires more than a pass- ing notice; in fact a history of the State would be imperfect without an extended notice of him and his many public services. For more than fifty years, his life has been closely interwoven with the public affairs of the State, and we very much doubt if there is another man of Judge Scates' years that has rendered more public service than he.
Walter B. Scates was born January 18, 1808, at South Boston, Halifax Co., Va. He came from Revolutionary stock, his maternal grandfather, Walter Bennett, for whom he was named, being a Surgeon in the war of independence. In April, after his birth in January, his parents removed to Tennessee, and after a short residence in that State re- moved. and finally settled upon a farm near Hopkinsville, Ky., where Walter B. grew to manhood. The Indians had but recently been driven from that country, the car of civ- ilization had scarcely entered, and the subject of this sketch was what now would be termed "brought up in the woods." The principal amusement of the young men of that day was in riding the old, gentle horse, with a "turn of corn," some miles to the old mill, and the associations found upon these occasions were, perhaps, about the extent of his mixing with the outside world until he left home. His parents being poor, and living on what would now be termed the " borders," he had not the
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opportunities of school, yet his mind dis- pelled the cloud, and looked beyond for more educational advantages than was afforded him at home. By continued effort, and that same energy which has marked his whole life, he acquired sufficient education to enable him to read, and from this time forward it may be said that his book was his constant com- panion. At the age of nineteen, he broke loose from the attachments of home, and without his family's permission or knowledge he went to Nashville, Tenn., and apprenticed himself to a Mr. Wilson, editor and publisher of a newspaper. Wilson had a good library, and young Scates had it stipulated in the articles of apprenticeship that he should have the use of the library. When he first went to Nashville, it was his intention to study medicine, but having no money and but little education, he was unable to make the neces- sary arrangements, hence his engagement with Wilson, the printer. He continued with Wilson for about three months when his father, ascertaining his whereabouts, went to him and proposed that, if he would return home, he would find some way to send him to school. This proposition was accepted, and Walter went with his father back to the home he had three mouths before left.
Upon his return, he attended the neighbor- hood school for about one year, the latter part of which he received some instructions in Latin and Greek from a Mr. Moore. It was the intention of himself and father that he should study medicine, and an arrangement was made with a Dr. Webber, of Hopkins- ville, Ky., for Walter B. to enter his office as a student, but being unable to make satisfac. tory arrangements about board, the engage- ment with Dr. Webber was abandoned. In 1828, he entered the law office of Charles Morehead. afterward Governor of Kentucky, and became a student of Blackstone. In
1831, he was admitted to the bar, and in March of that year started on horseback to go to St. Louis to locate. On arriving at Old Frankfort, then the county seat of Franklin County, Ill., he found his money matters get- ting short, only having $12 in depreciated cur- rency of the old Commonwealth Bank of Ken- tucky. Being thus depleted in his finances. he concluded he could not maintain him- self in St. Louis, and at once settled in Old Frankfort. To this place he brought his clothes and books in his saddlebags. His father had obtained 160 acres of land near Belleville, this State, which he gave him. He went to Belleville, sold or traded the land for some old horses, shipped them to New Or- leans, working as a deck hand to pay the freight. Judge Scates remained at Old Frankfort five years, in the practice of the law in Franklin and fourteen other counties -a territory 80 by 120 miles. During this period, he came in contact with many of the strongest men of the State, many of whom afterward attained distinction in their pro- fession: among them were Breeze. Eddy, . Gatwood, Hardin, David J. Baker (father of the present Judge Baker, of the Appellate Court)-in fact, the bar of that circuit was the strongest in the State. In 1835, Judge Scates was elected County Surveyor of Frank- lin County. He participated in the Black Hawk war; was at the battle of Kellogg's Grove. In 1835, he was also a candidate be- fore the Legislature for the office of Judge of the Circuit Court of the Third Judicial Dis- trict, but was defeated by Alexander Grant. In 1836, he was appointed Attorney General for the State and moved to Vandalia, then the capital. About this time, November 21, 1836, he was married to Miss Mary Ridgway, at Shawneetown, Ill. In about 1837, Scates was elected Judge of the Circuit Court by the Legislature, in place of Hardin, resigned,
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and removed to Mount Vernon. He held his first court in McLeansboro. In 1840, a law was passed, legislating all Circuit Judges out of office, and imposing circuit duties upon the Judges of the Supreme Court. The Su- preme Bench was increased by the election of five new Judges. Under this law, Judges Douglas, Ford, Treat and Scates were elected. He occupied the Supreme Bench until 1847, when he resigned, and was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention from the counties of Hamilton, Jefferson and Marion. He was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of that body. In the convention, he was ac- tive, industrious and able. He advocated the 2-mill tax, an elective judiciary, universal suffrage, prohibition of special legislation, prohibition of banking, limited sessions of the Legislature and strongly opposed the poll tax.
In 1853, Judge Lyman Trumbull, of the Supreme Bench, having resigned his seat for the purpose of accepting the office of United States Senator, Judge Scates was elected to the vacancy, and continued as such until 1857, when he resigned and removed to Chi- cago, and entered into the practice of the law with William K. McAllister, John N. Jewett and Francis B. Peabody.
In 1858, Mr. Peabody withdrew from the firm, leaving the firm of Scates, McAllister & Jewett-perhaps as strong a legal combina- tion as then existed in the State. McAllister afterward became a member of the Supreme Bench, and is now on the Circuit bench in Chicago. The firm continued in a growing and lucrative practice until August, 1862, when Judge Scates, thinking his country needed his services in its hour of apparent darkness, retired from the law firm of which he was the head, and although beyond that age in life when such a sacrifice could be de- inanded, volunteered his services to the army,
and was at once assigned to duty as Adjutant on Gen. McClernand's staff, and so continned, in camp and in field, doing brave and gallant service for the land of his birth until he was mustered out in January, 1866. He was brevetted Brigadier General for bravery and faithfulness in the line of duty. Of Gen. Scates, it is but just to history to say that he, in every post assigned him, was vigilant, ac- tive, faithful, brave and zealous. He was a true and tried soldier, prompt in the per- formance of every duty, undaunted in the hour of danger, and, although comparatively an old man, full of fire, courage and energy. Upon his return from the army, he re-entered the practice of his profession at Chicago, as the senior member of the firm of Scates, Bates & Towslee; but he was not permitted to remain long in the pursuit of his private business: he had proven himself so faithful a servant, and in the same year of his return from the army, President Johnson appointed him Collector of Customs at Chicago, vice Havan, deceased, and in this capacity he proved himself the same efficient and faithful officer that had characterized him throughout life. 'Of his integrity and abliity in the ad- ministration of his duties, his regular reports to the department bear the strongest evidence, each showing an increase of receipts and a decrease of expenses. Judge Scates served his time as Collector of the Port with honor to himself and credit to the department, and it may well be said that with more men of the Judge's ability and integrity to superin- tend and handle the revenue there would not be heard so often the cry of fraud and em- bezzlement. After his retirement from public service, he again entered the law, and is still so engaged, although on account of his age (seventy-five years) and feebleness, he at pres- ent is not attempting the practice extensively, and is perhaps only engaged in some few mat-
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ters in which he has a personal interest. He recently told the writer that he expected to visit Mount Vernon at the next session of the Supreme Court, in November, and there make an argument in an important case. Judge Scates was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court several terms, and it is, perhaps, as such that he shines brightest. He has writ. ten in many leading cases, and ably written. His opinions are recognized to-day by the courts and the bar as of the highest author- ity-the peer of any, and second to none; for clearness and analytical force, learned and soundness of law, his opinions are re- markable. To Judge Scates, together with Gov. Casey, Jefferson County and Mount Vernon to-day owe a debt of gratitude that they will, perhaps, never be able to pay. It was owing to their efforts, as members of the Constitutional Convention of 1848, that the Supreme Court was established there. All of the towns in this division were appli- cants, and pressed their claims with energy; but by the skill of Judge Scates, who had been a member of the Supreme Bench, and of Gov. Casey and Maj. F. S. Casey, Mount Vernon was selected, and has so far been able to retain it. Perhaps if Judge Scates was to be measured by the standard of great- ness that is so prevalent to-day-so unjust, so short-sighted-he would not bear the test. We allude to the test of "means"-of " money." Judge Scates lived in a day when brains, not money-bags, constituted worth. He engaged in a few business vent- ures, but they were not successful, and to- day he is a poor man in money, but rich in mental results, which will remain an honor- able monument to him long after a world of money has passed away. In fact, no higher compliment can be paid the public servant who has spent a lifetime in office than to truthfully say, " He closed his career a poor
man." It is a sure record of honesty, and it might be added that, in the present day, it is a compliment too rarely deserved.
David J. Baker was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, appointed by Gov. Cul- lum to the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Breeze.
Judge Baker was born in Kaskaskia, on the 20th of November, 1834, and was the third son of the late Judge D. J. Baker, of Alton. He graduated at Shurtleff College in 1854, carrying off the prize of the Latin ora- tion. He read law with his father, and was admitted in 1856. In the same year, he cast his first vote, for John C. Fremont for Pres- ident, and from that day to the present there has been no perceptible change in his poli- tics. Yet it is safe to say that the bummers and corruptionists that have so nearly wrecked the Republican party find no sympathy in Judge Baker. In 1864, he was elected Mayor of Cairo, and in 1869 was elected Judge of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit.
In July, 1864, he was married to Miss Eliz- abeth White, daughter of John C. White, of Cairo. He was re-elected Judge in 1873; re- signed, to accept the appointment of Judge of the Supreme Court, in 1878; was again re- elected to the Circuit Bench in 1879, and was, by the Supreme Court, assigned to Ap- pellate Court duty-which position he now holds.
As a Judge, he is logical, discriminating and just; in private life, he is social, kind and genial.
Judge John H. Mulkey, who now occupies the Supreme Bench from this division, is a man who has long been known to the bar of Southern Illinois.
He was born about 1823, in Kentucky, and with his father's family came to Illinois and settled in Franklin County. The family, with the exception of the Judge, were farm-
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ers. He soon discovered that he was not specially adapted to farm life. He obtained a fair education, and by persistent reading soon stored his mind with a fund of general information.
At twenty five years of age, he entered the commercial world, and opened a cross-roads store in Franklin County, but he did not continue long in this business. The " dogs of war " were beginning to growl, and the military spirit was pervading the country with irresistible force, and Judge Mulkey did not escape its attack. He volunteered as a private of Company K, Second Illinois Regiment, and took up the line of march for the land of the " Montezumas." He was afterward promoted to Second Lieutenant of his company. Upon his return from war, he taught school and began the study of the law, reading, as some of his friends have said. in " the brash." He afterward read some at Benton, Franklin County, after which he tried farming, but was not a success, and again became a merchant for a short time. His career in this direction was brought to a sudden close, however, by an unfortunate adventure; he invested largely in lumber (hoop poles), loaded them on a flat-boat and started for the market, but danger was ahead of him. His craft struck a snag, and down into the waters of the Mississippi went boat, hoop poles, and about all of the Judge's earth- ly effects, and left him in a seriously damaged condition; in fact, he was a “ busted mer- chant." He then, with ax and hoe, under- took to subdue the wild forest and make him a home; but again he failed.
In 1857, he removed to Perry County, and was admitted to the bar. It was not long un til he and his friends discovered that he at last had drifted to his element. He soon at- tained a high rank in his profession -- " rode the circuit," as was the custom in those days.
It is, perhaps, not out of place to say that his father, a prominent minister in the Christian Church, long cherished the hope that his son should follow his footsteps and likewise enter the ministry, and made some effort to prepare the Judge for clerical duties. And no doubt the son made strong effort to comply with his father's wishes in this particular, and while he was noted for his early and exemplary piety, this enterprise was no more successful than his farming and merchandising. He was plain, unassuming and fun-loving in his young manhood, and yet he must have been a close, hard-working student in order to carve out the bright and honorable career that lay before him. In 1860, he located at Cairo, and formed a partnership with the present Judge D. J. Baker, and from this time we may date his rapid rise to the head of the bar in Southern Illinois.
April 2, 1864, he was commissioned Circuit Judge of the Third Circuit; but previous to this he was, for opinion's sake, made one of the victims of arbitrary arrest, and at the suggestion of the authorities, for a time took up his residence at the old capitol in Wash- ington-a hotel conducted exclusively by the Government-and while the accommodations were not altogether of a desirable nature, yet they were regular, and all the bills paid by the Government. On June 2, 1879, he was elected to the Supreme Bench, vice Baker, and is at present filling the high position.
Judge Mulkey owes nothing to fortunate circumstances or surroundings. He has not been favored with the aid of strong and in- fluential friends; but alone, and by his own inherent strength of mental power, he has achieved, apparently without effort, the prize for which so many ambitious men have toiled and struggled.
Appellate Court .- The Constitution of 1870 provided for the creation of Appellate
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Courts, after the year 1874, of uniform or- ganization and jurisdiction in districts cre- ated for that purpose, to which such appeals and writs of error as the General Assembly may provide may be prosecuted from Circuit and other courts, and from which appeals and writs of error may lie to the Supreme Court in all criminal cases and cases in which a franchise or freehold or validity of a statute is involved, and in such other cases as may be provided by law. Such Appellate Courts to be held by such number of Judges of the Circuit Courts, and at such times and places and in such manner as might be provided by law; but no Judge shall sit in review upon cases decided by him, nor shall said Judges receive any additional compensation for such serv- ices. Under this provision of the constitu- tion, the Legislature, in 1877, created four Appellate Courts in the State; the first to consist of Cook County, the second to include all of the counties of the Northern Grand Division of the Supreme Court except Cook, the third to include all of the Central Grand Division, and the fourth to include all of the Southern Grand Division. The Judges of these Appellate Courts to be assigned by the Supreme Court from the Circuit Courts of the State, and each court to consist of three Judges thus assigned. Two terms each are held every year.
On the organization of the court in this, the Fourth District, Judges Tazewell B. Tan- ner, James C. Allen and George W. Wall were assigned by the Supreme Court to Ap- pellate Court duty. Judge Tanner became the first Presiding Justice of the court, and R. A. D. Wilbanks was its first Clerk, by vir- tue of his offices as Clerk of the Supreme Court.
In June, 1879, Judges Wall, David J. Baker and Thomas S. Casey were assigned to the Appellate Court, and now constitute that
court. While this branch of the new judicial machinery of the State has only been in prac- tical operation since 1877, yet it is in good favor by the bar of the State. Its effect has been to greatly relieve the Supreme Court in the theu rapidly accumulating business. It insures more promptness and greater dispatch in the law than could have possibly been ob- tained without it or some other relief meas- ure.
Judge Tazewell B. Tanner. -- Perhaps no member of the bar of this county became so thoroughly identified with every material in- terest as did the subject of this sketch.
He was born in Henry County, Va., and died at his residence in this place on the 25th day of March, 1880. He came to this coun- ty in 1846 or 1847, and took charge of the public schools, after which he became con- nected with the Jeffersonian, a Democratic newspaper then published here. In 1848 or 1849, he was taken with the gold fever, and crossed the plains in search of wealth. He met with some success, returned in 1850 or 1851, was elected Clerk of Circuit Court, served two years and resigned. He had taught school in Belleville before he came here, and while there read law with Gov. Matteson. While Clerk of the Circuit Court. he contin- ued the study, and upon his rosignation he was admitted to the bar, and at once entered upon the practice with the now Judge Thomas S. Casey. In 1854, he was elected to the Legislature, and while there secured an ap- propriation for the building, at this place, of the Supreme Court House, and was made one of the Commissioners to superintend its construction. In 1862, he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention. He early attained a high standing in the pro- fession as a lawyer, and while "riding the circuits " always had his share of the busi- ness. In 1867. he was a candidate for Judge
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of this circuit, but was defeated by the Hon. James M. Pollock. In 1873, he was again a candidate, and was elected over Judge Pol- lock and Col. John M Crebbs, of White County. In 1877, upon the organization of the Appellate Court, he was, by the Supreme Court, assigned to the Appellate Bench, and became its first presiding officer. In June, 1879, he was, for a time, a candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court, but withdrew before the election. Upon his retirement from the bench, he again engaged in the ac- tive practice, and so continued until stricken down by the disease which terminated his life. It is not our purpose to give an extend- ed sketch of Judge Tanner in this chapter -- his full biographical sketch will be found elsewhere-but a history of the bar would not be complete without something of him. He was a kind, social gentleman, full of in- teresting anecdotes, and always fond of relat- ing them. There are many good stories told of him, one of which the writer hereof well re- members: He was defending a man charged with shooting at some negroes. The prose- cuting witness was a colored gentleman known here as George or Capt. Scott. The Captain had sworn very positively to the shooting, and had made a rather strong case against the Judge's client ; but the cross-examination came, and Tanner took the Captain in hand to break the force of his evidence, if possi- ble. He commenced by asking him if he was in the house at the time the shooting occurred.
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