USA > Illinois > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 24
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Previous to the organization of St. Clair county there were no regular courts in Illinois. The administration of law was very im- perfect, and consisted of a mixture of the civil law as adopted by the French, the arbitrary enactments of the British commandants at Fort Chartres, and such regulations as had been instituted by the Virginia authorities.
By the ordinance of 1787, the common law of England was ex- tended over the North-west territory, of which Illinois was then a part. The French inhabitants who had professed themselves citizens of Virginia were allowed to enjoy their laws and customs relative to the descent and conveyance of property. St. Clair county, on its organization in 1790, was divided into the three judi- cial districts of Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia. The judges were John Edgar, of :Kaskaskia : Jean Baptiste Barbeau, of Prairie du Rocher ; and John De Moulin, of Cahokia. Though the judges, sheriff, and clerk, had jurisdiction over all three districts, still each district had its own grand jury, and the citizens of one district could not be sued in another. A writ dated at Cahokia would not run at Kaskaskia.
The court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions, held at Cahokia in the year 1790, had on its docket sixty-five cases, of which sixty-two were of a civil nature. The civil cases covered actions in debt, trespass, covenant, attachment, and ejectment. In seventeen of these cases Philip Rocheblave was plaintiff. In the first suit tried by this court, Bridget O'Hara was plaintiff, and John McGarr defendant. Of the three criminal cases two were for assault and battery, and one for larceny. John Sullivan and Hugh Crisholm were the unfortunate individuals against whom the proceedings were had for assault. The charge of larceny against Jean Baptiste Menard could not be sustained.
John De Moulin, the earliest of the judges of St. Clair county, was born in Switzerland ; from that country emigrated to Canada,
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
and came thence to Cahokia. He had a liberal education, and was well-versed in the civil law. For several years he was also colonel of the St. Clair county militia. He had a large and portly figure, and took great pride in his appearance on parade days, on which occasions he wore, generally, a fine military dress. His character and conduct were those of a gentleman, and he was not unfitted to lead the long list of able judges who have occupied the bench in St. Clair county.
EARLY LAWYERS AT CAHOKIA.
The first lawyer to practice before the courts of St. Clair county, was John Rice Jones, who was born in Wales in 1759, received a classical education, studied law in England, and became a resident of Kaskaskia in 1790. He was the pioneer member of the bar of this state. His practice extended from Kaskaskia to Vincennes and Louisville. Previous to his coming to Illinois he had practiced his profession in Philadelphia, and in 1787, removed from that city to Vincennes. He possessed a sound and active mind, was an ac- complished scholar, and especially fond of the science of mathema- tics. His legal attainments were profound, and he would have been conspicuous at any bar. As a speaker, his capacity for invective under excitement was extraordinary. His excellent knowledge of the French language was of great advantage in enabling him to transact business for the French population. He never permitted himself to be idle, nor engaged in light or frivolous amusements. He was a mau of strong passions, and had a high degree of personal courage. In the year 1802, he moved back to Vincennes, and in 1810, became a resident of Missouri. He was chosen one of the judges of the supreme court of that state and died in 1824, while holding that position.
The first resident lawyer of St. Clair county was Isaac Darnielle, who opened an office at Cahokia in the year 1794. His early life had been spent in Maryland. Nature had given him a strong in- tellect, and in early life his faculties had been well-disciplined by study. He was an agreeable speaker, his manners and appearance were prepossessing, and he became conspicuous and popular at the bar, though lack of attention to his profession prevented him from becoming an able lawyer. The courts and juries of that day were not, however, remarkably well-versed in technical learning, and before these tribunals he could figure with ease and safety. He became well acquainted with the land titles of Illinois, and bought and sold large tracts of land. He is said to have been educated for the ministry, and at one time to have occupied the pulpit. He had no ambition to become wealthy. He was indolent in disposi- tion. His greatest weakness was a conspicuous fondness for the fair sex. At the court of Venns he practiced with consummate art and with more studious assiduity than was given to the legal pro- fession. He never married, and yet apparently was never without a wife. He was large and portly in person, easy and graceful in manners, and paid much more attention to his dress than was com- mon at that day. He never indulged in drinking and gaming, and with the exception of his one failing, was moral and correct in his deportment. He had no malice or bitterness in his composi- . tion. His only aim seemed to be to lead an easy and luxurious life. At one time, while in the zenith of his glory, he was the beau ideal of Cahokia; but his course of life brought its inevitable con- sequences. He was compelled to abandon his profession, and when an old man, was left without means of support or sincere friends. Toward the close of his life he taught school in the western part of Kentucky, where he died in the year 1830, at the age of sixty.
The next lawyer to establish himself at Cahokia was William Mears. He was born in Ireland in the year 1768. On coming to 12
this country, he taught school some time in Pennsylvania. While in that state he read law. He then came West, and, according to Gov. Reynolds, reached Cahokia as if he had dropped down from the clouds-without horse, clothes, books, letters, or anything ex- cept himself, a rather singular and uncouth-looking Irishman. In early days he was not a scholar, but by application and severe study acquired a sound knowledge of the law. Gov. Edwards in 1814 appointed him attorney-general for the territory of Illinois. He made an able and efficient prosecuting attorney. When the county seat was removed from Cahokia to Belleville, he moved to the lat- ter place, where he died in 1826. He was elected at one time clerk of the House of Representatives. He made a comfortable living from his practice, but had no talent for speculation or acquiring wealth. In 1809 Samuel D. Davidson, a lawyer by profession, set- tled at Cahokia. His attempts to practice law did not meet with success. He was a young man of upright deportment, but of slight force of character. A fine hand-writing was about the beginning and end of his talents. He taught school for a time in Cahokia, entered the military service during the war of 1812, and after the war left Cahokia for "parts unknown."
Among the lawyers who attended the St. Clair county courts about the year 1808, were Benjamin H. Doyle, James Haggin, and John Rector. Doyle came to Kaskaskia from Knox county, Ten- nessee, in 1805. He possessed a good address, and by careful study would have made a good lawyer. Haggin was also a Kentuckian. He settled at Kaskaskia in 1804, and practiced in the courts of Randolph and St. Clair counties. He was a young man of consid- erable promise. After trying life on the frontier for a few years, he returned to Kentucky, where he became very prominent. Rec- tor settled at Kaskaskia in 1806, but only remained a few years.
Sessions of the Court at Belleville .- The first session of court at Belleville was presided over by Jesse B. Thomas, one of the United States judges who held the territorial courts in Illinois. Judge Thomas was a man of talented mind, though his inclinations rather fitted him for the active field of politics than the dry subtleties of the law. In 1818 he was elected from St. Clair county a member of the convention which framed the first constitution of the state, and was chosen the president of that body. The same year he was elected to the United States Senate. He was a gentleman of fine appearance and address, and whether in the senate, on the bench, or in any public assemblage, possessed a dignified and respectful bearing. William Sprigg was the colleague of Judge Thomas, and with him presided over the Illinois territorial courts.
At the session of the court held at Belleville on the 12th of June, 1815, Jesse B. Thomas acted as judge, and William Mears as pro- secuting attorney. In the year 1817 the territory of Illinois was divided into three judicial circuits. St. Clair county was included in the first circuit, over which Jesse B. Thomas presided. At the term of court in 1817, C. R. Matheny attended to the duties of prosecuting attorney. At the March term, 1818, Daniel Pope Cook acted as judge, and at the July term of the same year John Warnock presided over the court. John Reynolds held his first term of court at Belleville in February, 1819, and likewise presided over the following June term. Daniel P. Gook appeared as attor- ney-general. Joseph Phillips, chief justice, held court in Novem- ber, 1819, and June, 1820. At the November term, Nicholas Hanson and W. H. Brown acted as prosecuting attorneys, and at the June term William Mears appeared in that capacity. For eleven successive terms, from August, 1820, to August, 1824, John Reynolds held court. At the March term, 1825, Samuel McRob- erts presided as judge, and at the August term, 1825, and the March and August terms, 1826, Richard M. Young occupied the bench.
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
In 1827 St. Clair county became a part of the second judicial circuit. Theophilus W. Smith held court for five terms, ending in August, 1828. Thomas C. Brown held the August term, 1829. Theophilus W. Smith then presided over ten successive terms, reaching up to April, 1834. At the March term, 1835, Thomas Ford occupied the bench in the absence of Sidney Breese. Sidney Breese presided over the terms of court from 1835 to 1842, with the exception that the November term, 1840, was held by W. B. Scates, judge of the third judicial district, in Judge Breese's absence.
James Semple was judge at the May term, 1843. At the Octo- ber term, 1843, and the May and October terms, 1844, James Shields was on the bench. From 1845 to 1849 the sessions of the court were held by Gustavus Koerner; from 1849 to 1855 by Wm. H. Underwood; from 1855 to 1857, by Sidney Breese; from 1857 to 1861, by William H. Snyder; from 1861 to 1873, by Joseph Gillespie; and since 1873, by William H. Snyder. St Clair county now forms part of the twenty-fourth judicial circuit. Judge Watts and Judge Wall of that circuit have presided over occasional terms of court at Belleville.
Prosecuting Attorneys .- 1815, William Mears; 1817, C. R. Ma- theny; 1819, Daniel P. Cook ; 1819 (November term), Nicholas Hanson and W. H. Brown; 1820, William Mears; 1821, Samuel D. Lockwood; 1822, Adam W. Snyder; 1823-25, James Turney; 1825-32, Alfred Cowles; 1833-34, James Semple; 1834 (Septem- ber term), Ninian Edwards; 1835-37, Jesse B. Thomas; 1837-38, Usher F. Linder and Josiah Fisk, who was appointed prosecuting attorney pro tem .; 1838, G. W. Olney; 1838 (prosecuting attorney pro tem., in place of G. W. Olney, attorney general), Joseph Gil- lespie ; 1839, Wickliffe Kitchell; 1839 (prosecuting attorney pro tem. in place of Kitchell, attorney general), William C. Kinney; 1840-44, William H. Underwood; 1844-48, William H. Bissell ; 1852-54, Philip Foulk; 1854-56, William H. Snyder; 1856-58, William C. Kinney; 1858-60, A. W. Metcalf; 1860-68, John B. Hay; 1868-72, Robert A. Halbert; 1872-76, C. P. Knispel; 1876- 80, George W. Brockhaus; 1880-84, Robert D. W. Holder.
THE EARLY STATE COURTS.
The first judges of the supreme court of the state were all young men and without long practice at the bar. Reynolds observes that the law was administered at that day with less form and ceremony, yet with as much equity and justice as at a more modern date.
"The first court I held," says Gov. Reynolds, " was in the spring of 1819, in Covington, Washington county, and it was to me a strange and novel business. I commenced my official business among my old comrades with whom I had been raised-ranged in the war with them, and lived with them in great intimacy and equality, so that it was difficult, in my situation, to assume a different relation- ship than I had previously occupied with them. And, moreover, I utterly detested a kind of mock dignity, that sometimes is assumed. Both the sheriff and clerk of the court of Washington county were rangers in the same company with myself, and it seemed we were still in the United States service, ranging on equal terms in pursuit of the Indians. And it appears that the sheriff, Bowling Green, entertained the same opinion, as he opened the court in a very fa- miliar manner. While sitting astride a bench in the court-house, he proclaimed without rising, that 'the court is now opened, John is on the bench.' This was my familiar name in the war.
"Not long after, in Union County, the deputy sheriff opened the court, (myself presiding), by saying : 'Oh, yes !' three times, and then in a solemn manner proclaimed : 'The Honorable Judge is now opened.' He mistook the judge for the court. This mistake crea- ted much merriment, when the occasion should have been serious.
I knew that a solemn, serious dignity and decorum were necessary and proper in the proceedings of courts, but in my case, and the offi- cers generally, it was almost impossible to assume that character."
Gov. Ford in his history of the state relates the following of Rey- nolds : "This same judge presided at a court in which a man named Green was convicted of murder, and it became his unpleasant duty to pronounce sentence of death upon the culprit. He called the prisoner before him, and said to him : 'Mr. Green, the jury in their verdict say you are guilty of murder, and the law says you are to be hung. Now, I want you and all your friends on Indian Creek to know that it is not I who condemn you, but it is the jury and the law. Mr. Green, the law allows you time for preparation, and so the court wants to know what time you would like to be hung.' To this the prisoner replied, 'May it please the court, I am ready at any time; those who kill the body have no power to kill the soul ; my preparation is made, and I am ready to suffer at any time the court may appoint.' The judge then said: 'Mr. Green, you must know that it is a very serious matter to be hung; it can't happen to a man more than once in his life, and you had better take all the time you can get. The court will give you until this day four weeks. Mr. Clerk, look at the almanac, and see whether this day four weeks comes on Sunday.' The clerk looked at the almanac, as directed, and reported that 'that day four weeks came on Thursday.' The judge then said, 'Mr. Green, the court gives you until this day four weeks, at which time you are to be hung.'
The case was prosecuted by James Turney, the Attorney General of the state, who here interposed, and said: ' May it please the court, on solemn occasions like the present, when the life of a human being is to be sentenced away for crime, by an earthly tribunal, it is usual and proper for courts to pronounce a formal sentence, in which the leading features of the crime shall be brought to the recollection of the prisoner, a sense of his guilt impressed upon his conscience, and in which the prisoner should be duly exhorted to repentance, and warned against the judgment in the world to come.' To this the judge replied, 'O! Mr. Turney, Mr. Green understands the whole matter as well as if I had preached to him a month. He knows he has got to be hung this day four weeks. You understand it in that way, Mr. Green, don't you?' 'Yes,' said the prisoner; upon which the judge remanded him to jail, and the court then adjourned."
It should be said, however, that Reynolds in his work entitled " My Own Times," denies this story, and calls it a "silly fabrica- tion." He says, "I may not have acted in that rigid, unfeeling and mechanical manner that would please heartless and superficial men, who generally write and detail these tea-pot slanders. * * I considered them both (alluding also to Bennett, sentenced at Belleville) guilty, and the judgment of the court was so understood, that they were both to be executed.
FORMER RESIDENT LAWYERS AT BELLEVILLE.
Two of the early members of the bar at Belleville were J. W. Whitney and John Turner, both of whom became residents of the county-seat about the year 1816. Whitney bore the soubriquet of "My Lord Coke,") whether from his physical or mental resemblance to the great English lawyer, is not stated) and removed from Belle- ville to Pike county. Turner became a resident of Galena, and in 1826 was a member of the state legislature, then in session at Van- dalia. He was a gentleman of agreeable disposition and fine talents, but died while yet a young man. Alphonso C. Stuart, a lawyer by profession, settled in Belleville in 1816. He was born at Claremont, New Hampshire, in 1789. He received a collegiate education, graduating from Dartmouth College about the year 1812. On coming to Belleville he entered on the practice of his profession, but
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
was killed by Timothy Bennett in a sham duel in February, 1819.
David Black well became a member of the Belleville bar about the year 1819, and was a resident of the town till his death. He was a lawyer of good mind and excellent abilities. He was active inhis opposition to the proposed introduction of slavery into Illinois, and during the campaign of 1824 edited a paper at Vandalia, in which he earnestly fought the movement to change the state constitution.
John Reynolds, for many years a conspicuous figure among the Belleville lawyers, opened a law-office at Cahokia early in the year 1814. He was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, in Febru- ary, 1778. When he was six months old his parents moved with the family to the vicinity of Knoxville in East Tennessee, when, in the year 1800, they emigrated to Illinois. Reynolds was sent back to East Tennessee, to be educated, and there attended Knox College. In 1807 the family moved to the Goshen settlement, in Madison county, and settled at the foot of the bluff, three or four miles south- west of Edwardsville. He relates that, as a youth, he was active and energetic, attended all the house-raisings and other gatherings of the people, and never missed a horse-race nor a Fourth of July frolic. He was fond of racing, and in his book, " My Own Times," he records that in November, 1811, he made a wager to run a quarter-race at Cahokia for five hundred dollars, an amount equal to several thousand at the present day. The whole country at- tended to see the sport. He was assisted in making up his stake by Thomas Carlin, afterward governor of the state, and won the bet. Reynolds, when eighteen or twenty, was also passionately fond of foot-racing, and by incessant practice became a rapid runner. The first foot-race he ever ran for a wager was at Kas- kaskia, in the summer of 1808, against John Scott, of Ste. Genevieve, afterward representative in congress from Missouri. The last foot- race he ran was in Tennessee, for a hundred dollars. He began the study of law at Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1810, under the in- struction of John McCampbell.
He was induced to settle at Cahokia by the fact that a relative of his resided there, Joseph A. Beaird, a wealthy and respectable man. He made his house his home, and rented a room in the village for his office. He says all his law-books could have been easily packed in a common carpet-bag; they were ranged on the mantel-piece over the fire-place in his office, without filling it. He had con- siderable business, mostly arising from a traffic in land. He made his first appearance as a practicing lawyer before Judge Jesse B. Thomas, at Belleville, in 1814. He relates that diffidence was with him a chronic disease, and that he was never entirely able to cast it away ; that his first effort to address the court was exceedingly painful, and the more philosophy he exerted to discard this foolish sensibility, the worse the effort made it. At first he also did some business in the way of surveying lands; but his principal occupa- tion was trading in lands, with his partner, Mr. Beaird. His specu- tions were so profitable that in four years, he states, that he bought two stores of dry goods, amounting to ten thousand dollars.
He makes the following reference to his election to the supreme bench on the organization of the state judiciary : " At the time of the session of the first legislature I resided in Cahokia, and had not the least intention to visit the seat of government at all. I cared very little who was elected to any office,-one thing was certain, I courted nothing for myself. My friends urged me to visit with them the General Assembly in session at Kaskaskia, and I did so. When we reached the legislature, there was a great excitement and turmoil in relation to the election of officers by the General As- sembly. I had been in Kaskaskia only a few days when it was urged on me to know if I would accept of a judgeship, if elected.
This broke in on me like a clap of thunder. I was in truth per- suaded to become a candidate for the office. I had a great many personal friends, both in and out of the legislature, who urged me much to consent to offer. The material for the bench was not as good as it ought to be. Human nature is easier persuaded to mount upward than to remain on the common level. I was elected a jus- tice of the supreme court, which entirely changed my life, as will be seen hereafter."
Reynolds served on the supreme bench till the reorganization of the judiciary of the state in 1824. His previous knowledge of the law had not been comprehensive, and many criticisms were made as to his ability to discharge the important duties of the judicial office. Ford, in his history, remarking on the reluctance of the judges of that day to decide questions of law, and stating that they never gave instructions to a jury unless expressly called for, nor ever commented on the evidence, or undertook to show what inferences and presumptions might be drawn from it, makes the following rather ill-natured reference to Reynolds: "I knew one judge who when asked for instructions, would rub his head and the side of his face with his hand, as if perplexed, and say to the lawyers, 'Why, gentlemen, the jury understand this case; they need no instruc- tions ; no doubt they will do justice between the parties.'"
In the spring of the year 1825 he resumed the practice of the law. He says: "I entered into a tolerably large practice immedi- ately ; but it was not very profitable, and I must be permitted to say, that I never knew a lawyer in the state who ever became wealthy by his practice alone. It is speculation and the rise of property in the West that has made so many lawyers and others wealthy. I was lean, active and energetic, and could ride horse- back days and nights together, without much sleep or rest. But I had been so long on the bench, where public speaking was not practiced, that when I appeared at the bar as a lawyer, my old diffidence also appeared with me, and it was an effort at first to address the court or jury. For some time in the courts I was quite a silent member, and knew well that my silence, in many cases, injured the interest of my clients; but by repeated efforts, I suc- ceeded, to some extent. During my practice of law I was familiar with the people, got acquainted with almost everybody, and became somewhat popular."
The following sketch of Governor Reynolds' character is from an address of the Hon. Joseph Gillespie before the Chicago Historical Society : "The governor's dislike to appear educated grew out of the contempt the early settlers had for ' book-larnin.' The great aim of his life seemed to be in unison with the multitude. With him, the voice of the people was the voice of God. If he could be on the popular side, that was enough. He never lost sight of his object. It was his guiding star. He always catered to the popular clamor, and indeed went beyond it in most cases. He at one time introduced a bill into the legislature to constitute every man a jus- tice of the peace. He consulted Justin Butterfield, who was a great wag, about it, and he said it was a capital measure, only he did not know where the governor would get his constables. He was a very inaccurate man, and paid little attention to forms and precedents, so that it was a common remark with him that when he filed a declaration, 'in would come a demurrer, and out would go your humble servant.'"
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