USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of representative men of Chicago, Minnesota cities and the World's Columbian exposition : with illustrations on steel. V. 2 > Part 29
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pink and green, softening the rays of numberless wax tapers. Music enhanced the pleasure of the scene, in itself a festival of radiant color, a living feast of beauty, a banquet to all the senses. Judge Thoman, as president of the State Association, occupied the chair, supported on his right by Chief Justice M. W. Fuller, on the left by Bishop Fallows. Those at the president's table were seated in the following order: L. D. Thoman, president ; Bishop Fallows, E. S. Dreyer, ex- Senator Palmer, Lyman J. Gage, Judge J. T. Harris, Charles H. Richmond, Vice-President Bryan, Mark L. McDonald, E. T. Jeffery, W. T. Baker, Chief Justice Fuller, E. W. Cotterell, W. Livingston, Jr., Judge. Gresham, Mayor Cregier,
M. H. Lane, Major C. H. Jones, Ferd. W. Peck, M. H. De Young, W. Forsyth, J. Irving Pierce. The dainty and costly menu prepared for the dis- tinguished visitors was served in truly epicurean style. After the repast was over, eloquent speeches were made by the president, Hon. Leroy D. Thoman and others. It was concluded that the success of this brilliant entertainment was · largely due to the energy, activity and arduous labors of Mr. Payne and associates, and what speakes volumes in their praise is the fact that after paying all expenses the committee were able to declare a dividend, and Mr. Payne enclosed his check to each member of the association for the amount due him.
FREDERICK J. V. SKIFF,
DENVER, COL.
T HERE are few better known men west of the Missouri river than Frederick J. V. Skiff, the subject of this biography. His selec- tion as chief of the Department of Mines and Mining was undoubtedly due to the success of his past career and his knowledge of mineral products and acquaintance in the mining region. He is a man of great force of character and in- domitable energy, and it is safe to predict that he will discharge the arduous duties of his office with the zeal and ability which has always character- ized the man.
He was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts, on the 5th day of November, 1851, and is the son of James M. Skiff and Angelina C. (Winchell) Skiff, both of whose ancestors have lived in this country since about 1620.
He is of Scotch descent on his father's side, and on the maternal of English extraction. Freder- ick received the rudiments of his education at the public schools and afterward took a special aca- demic course. Upon leaving school, actuated by the famous advice of Horace Greeley, he turned his face toward the setting sun and finally located in the Missouri Valley.
Here he entered the field of journalism, and for nine years was connected with various papers, earning by his application to his profession and the high order of his talents, a most enviable
reputation. In 1877 he went to Denver, Colo- rado, and ultimately became general manager of the Denver Tribune, which he conducted with great success for seven years, increasing its circu- lation largely, and making it one of the most influential journals in the west.
In 1884, after sixteen years of a most success- ful and notable career in journalism, he organized with other gentlemen the Colorado Land and Loan Company, formed for the purpose of re- deeming and improving arid lands, the construc- tion of irrigating canals, and promoting town sites, etc. This company was the means by which many now thriving towns were started, and lands almost utterly useless made, by irrigating and improving, of great value. It would indeed be difficult to estimate the benefit this company was to the west, either directly or indirectly, being the means of bringing much capital into Colorado and advancing the interest of the state in general. In 1886 Mr. Skiff was elected to the Colorado State Legislature. In 1888 he sold his interest in this company, and was then appointed commis- sioner of the Bureau of Statistics.
During his residence in Colorado he has been more or less interested in mining ventures, and during his journalistic career, naturally wrote a good deal on the question of mining. He has always taken a deep and active interest in indus-
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trial matters, and has addressed many notable bodies and conventions on that subject.
In his capacity as Commissioner of the Statist- ical Bureau, he made a collection of the mineral products of Colorado, which was placed on ex- hibition in Chicago in 1889, and at the exposition at St. Louis in 1890.
He was made a Mason at the age of twenty- one, and is very prominent in that body, having taken all the degrees up to and including the thirty second. He is a man of considerable literary talents. Among other productions he wrote the dedication ode for the Masonic Temple, recently erected in Denver, Colorado. A staunch Republican he takes an active interest in the
movements of the political world, aiding by word and act the interest of his party.
His religious belief is Episcopalianism. He was married in 1876 to Miss Mary Richardson French, daughter of Dr. Otis Everett French, formerly of Boston, and niece of Judge James J. French, of Toledo, Ohio. They have two bright children, Frederick Clifton Walcott and Ilma French Skiff, aged respectively ten and six years. Mr. Skiff is a domestic man and never happier than when in the bosom of his family, to whom he is most devotedly attached.
An excellent public speaker, with a very logical and philosophical mind he has great powers of con- versation, is an admirable host and welcome guest.
MICHAEL BRAND,
CHICAGO, ILL.
T HE subject of this sketch is numbered among Chicago's successful business men. Beginning his business career while yet a boy, he has risen from comparative obscurity to a posi- tion of affluence. He is a native of Germany, and was born at Odernheim, Rheinhessen, on the 23d of March, 1826, the son of John and Sibilla (Bauer) Brand. His father was a farmer by occupation, and for many years was the adjunct of the town of Odernheim. Michael was edu- cated in the public and private schools of his native town, and, closing his studies at the age of sixteen years, he became an apprentice to a Mr. Goldbeck, a brewer in the city of Worms, with whom he remained two years, learning the brew- ing business.
During the several years next following, he trav- eled about through Switzerland and France, per- fecting his knowledge of brewing, by entering the employ of various brewing companies.
About the year 1848 he returned to his native town, and established himsef in the brewing busi- ness on his own account. Independent by nature, resolute, self-reliant and a lover of liberty, his sympathies instinctively were with the oppressed, and during the exciting times of the German re- volution in 1848-49 he took a decided stand on the side of the revolutionists. After this trouble had subsided, those who had taken part in the re-
volution were subjected to continued annoyance, and being tired of such, and seeing no hope of realizing anything towards freeing his country, he decided to leave the country of his birth and start for the United States to establish a new home, where he arrived early in July, 1852.
He spent his first year in Detroit, and in 1853 settled in Chicago, and became associated with Mr. Valentine Busch, under the firm name Busch & Brand, in the brewing business. This partner- ship continued until the decease of Mr. Busch, which occured in 1872. During the first five or six years of the firm's existence their main plant was located at Blue Island. They also had a plant at Nos. 29 and 31 Cedar street, Chicago, whither they moved their principal office in 1863. Before the great fire in 1871 and the death of Mr. Busch in 1872, a division of the firm's property was made, and the Blue Island plant went to the heirs of the deceased partner, while Mr. Brand retained the plant on Cedar street. He conducted the business under the name of the Michael Brand Brewing Company. In 1878 the Cedar street brewery was changed to a malting establishment, and Mr. Brand built a new brewery the same year at Elston avenue and Snow streets. In 1889, he sold this brewery (retaining the Cedar street property, which he now owns) to the United States Brewing Company, from which it after-
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ward passed into the hands of a syndicate, known as the United States Brewing Company. Hav- ing amassed a handsome fortune Mr. Brand, upon selling his brewing interests, retired from active business, and lives in elegance and comfort, enjoy- ing the fruits of his labors and dispensing gener- ous hospitality, in his home at No. 32 Cedar street.
Mr. Brand's life has been one of activity and influence, and he has been called to numerous im- portant positions of trust, in all of which he has fulfilled his duties in a manner alike creditable to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents.
He was a member of the general assembly of Illinois for the years 1862-63 and ten years later, 1873-74, represented the nineteenth ward of Chicago in the common council. His official con- duct was that of an upright, honorable business- man, and he retired from his office as he had en- tered-with the confidence, respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He was one of the stockholders of the Inter-State Exposition Company, of Chi- cago, and is now (1892) a director of the Inter- national Bank of Chicago; also a member of the Board of Trade since 1882.
He is a man of fine social qualities, and loves good fellowship, and heartily enjoys the com- panionship of his friends. He is a member of the Germania Society, and also of the Iroquois Club. From his extensive travels, both in this and foreign countries, he has acquired a vast fund of valuable information, and is an interesting talker. His political affiliations have, as a rule, been with the Democratic party.
In religious faith he is a Protestant, and holds liberal views, asking for himself that perfect free- dom of thought which he cheerfully yields to others.
Mr. Brand was married in 1859 to Miss Philli- pena Darmstaetter, a daughter of Mr. Michael Darmstaetter, a prominent brewer of Detroit, Michigan. Mrs. Brand is a woman of refined and cultivated tastes, and presides with true womanly grace over her happy home.
In personal appearance Mr. Brand is somewhat below the medium height, of a robust build and fair complexion. His success is the result of persis- tent effort, careful business methods and judicious investments.
HON. FRANCIS A. HOFFMANN, JR.
CHICAGO, ILL.
W ITH a large and increasing practice, the firm of Brandt & Hoffmann has the unique distinction of being the oldest law firm in the city of Chicago. Both members of the firm are well known and able lawyers, in the prime of physical strength and mental vigor.
Francis A. Hoffmann, Jr., is about forty-five years of age, having been born December 26, 1845, at Addison, Du Page county, Illinois. His father was a clergyman of the Evangelical Luther- an Church, well versed in the classic authors of Greece and Rome and in modern literature. Having, through ill health, given up his pastorate in the church, he became one of the founders of the Republican party, and was elected Lieutenant- Governor of Illinois. Governor Yates, in his message to the legislature, January 2, 1865, says of him: " I cannot fail here to refer in kindness and gratitude to Lieut .- Governor Hoffmann, who has been my constant adviser and counselor, and
who has acted as governor in my absence with great ability and efficiency." His mother was Cynthia, née Gilbert, a descendant of the Huguenots, who left France soon after the Revo- cation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685.
When Francis was only five years old his parents removed to Chicago, where, with the ex- ception of his school days, he has resided ever since. His elementary education he received at a private school and at the academy, Bloomfield, New Jersey. At thirteen years of age he was entered at Wheaton College as freshman, and remained two years, giving evidence at that early age of both ability and application. He then went to Knox College where he was graduated in the class of 1865 with the degree of A. M.
Having decided to fit himself for the legal profession, he entered the law department of Michigan University, and devoted himself to the study of law. His ability, application and
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advancement was such that he was admitted to practice in March, 1867. He was also admitted to the bar in this State the following month, and has been actively engaged here ever since in the practice of his profession. In order to gain a thorough knowledge of law, Mr. Hoffmann con- nected himself with the distinguished firm of McAllister, Jewett & Jackson, of Chicago. When, in 1868, that partnership was dissolved, the firm became McAllister & Hoffmann, and continued until Mr. McAllister was raised to the bench in 1869. The fact of having been student and partner of so able a jurist as the late Judge McAllister is sufficient guarantee of Mr. Hoff- mann's high standing at the bar. In the Spring of 1869, the young lawyer became a member of the firm of Harris, Hall & Hoffmann, but in the fall of the same year he left that firm and entered into a partnership with Mr. Geo. W. Brandt, which still continues under the title of Brandt & Hoffmann and is now the oldest law firm in Chi -. cago. Mr. Brandt is the author of a legal work on "Suretyship and Guaranty" which has attracted much attention and received very high encomiums from the profession both in this country and abroad.
As a lawyer Mr. Hoffmann is a man of great in- dustry and of extensive knowledge. He is pains- taking and exact in his preparation of a case, simple and laconic in his statement of facts and clear and logical in his deductions. With an ex- cellent knowledge of the principles of law, he is ready and exact in their application. His ease, fluency and grace of expression, combined with a thorough mastery of his subject, render him an able advocate and a great power both with judge and jury. He seldom uses the art of rhetoric, but when he does his sentences glow with beauty of expression and originality of thought and sparkle with wit. In discharge of his professional duties, he sets for himself a high standard of ethics and adheres to it rigidly. If any of his brethern at the bar forget the usual courtesies of the pro- fession, gentlemanly but severe chastisement will most certainly follow. The practice of the firm is principally litigated cases. The celebrated and well-known fire insurance case of Huchberger, which was tried in the United States Court, before Judges Drummond, Dyer, Davis and Blodgett, and in which such men as Gen. U. F. Linder, Emory
A. Storrs, Thomas A. Hoyne, Wm. K. McAllister ·ex-Judge Knowlton, Robert Hervey, ex-Judge Waite and others were engaged, was one of the many famous cases won by Mr. Hoffmann.
In politics, Mr. Hoffmann is a Democrat, active, earnest and uncompromising. When only twenty. one years old he declined a nomination as repre- sentative to the General Assembly of Illinois, but his work was so able in support of the ticket that he received the name of " The Boy Orator." He seeks no office and has accepted such only in the interest of his party. When the Board of Elec- tion Commissioners was formed, Judge Prender- gast named Mr. Hoffmann as one of its three members. He was chosen first president of the board. During the first six months of the board's existence, he sacrificed that period of his life to its organization, and much of its good work is due to the forms and methods introduced by him at that time. The motto of the board : "To avoid ignorance, know the law; to avoid penalty, obey the law;" was furnished by Mr. Hoffman. He re- signed his position at the end of six months and was appointed soon after Corporation Counsel by the Hon. Carter H. Harrison, then mayor. He re- signed this position to accept, under President Cleveland, the office of United States Appraiser, which position he held for fifteen months, and then resigned it. Every means was used by the Hon. Daniel Manning to induce him to retain the position, which he had filled with great satisfac- tion to the public and many and high encomiums were expressed by individuals and by the press touching his ability and success in the discharge of the onerous and difficult duties of his office. Before he resigned he formed the plan and origin- ated the " Board of General Appraisers," the mem- bers of which form a court of final appeal ranking as high as our Circuit Court judges. The plan was adopted and has worked excellently. The Hon. De Witt C. Cregier, mayor of Chicago in 1889. appointed Mr. Hoffmann City Collector, an office which he filled with credit to himself and benefit to the people. In the discharge of the duties of these offices, he never allowed them to break up his law practice which has gone on uninterrupt- edly and continues to-day.
Mr. Hoffmann's success both in his profession and in public office is largely due to his business method, power of organization and the happy
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faculty which he has of managing men. Courteous and kind in manner, dignified in demeanor, firm in conviction and independent in action, he is a man who gains the respect of all with whom he comes in contact. He dislikes controversy, but when the necessity requires does not hesitate to state his principles and convictions.
On May 14th, 1870, Mr. Hoffmann, married a German lady, Miss Emma Bierwirth, and was blessed with four children whom it is their
father's delight and constant endeavor to surround with every pleasure and comfort.
Mrs. Hoffmann died in 1889, and since then Mr. Hoffmann married Mrs. Mary E. Taylor, an ac- complished lady of Chicago. In the pleasures of home and in the enjoyment of the family circle, Mr. Hoffmann finds the necessary relaxation after his professional and public duties. An affection- ate husband and an indulgent father, he finds peace and rest in the bosom of his family.
THEODORE G. CASE,
CHICAGO, ILL.
C ONSPICUOUS in the long roll of eminent names that have conferred honor upon the legal profession in the west is that of the subject of this biography. He is conceded to be one of the most eloquent and powerful advocates of the Chi- cago bar. He has great versatility of talents-ex- actness and thoroughness characterize all of his attainments. Vigilant, zealous and industrious ; how could he be otherwise than successful? A perfect command of the English language, com- bined with histrionic ability of a high order, has placed Theodore G. Case by the side of the finest American orators. In illustration he is peculiarly happy, and vision, personification, hyperbole, simile, contrast and antitheses succeed each other in rich and varied profusion. His manner and ac- tion are energetic, without verging on extravagance.
Mr. Case was born in Castleton, Rensselaer county, New York, July 13, 1853. He was pre- pared for college at the Collegiate Institute, New- ton, New Jersey, after which he entered the Uni- versity of Michigan, took a special course, and graduated in July, 1870, having conferred upon him the degree of pharmaceutical chemist. Upon his graduation he became interested with several New York capitalists, and was by them sent, with others, to construct the Houston and Great Northern Railroad, of Texas, in which employ- ment he was engaged until 1873, when he re- turned to New York city. In the fall of the same year he commenced the study of law, with Messrs. Lum and Babbitt, at Jersey City, New Jersey. Remaining with this firm two years, he then en- tered the law school of the University of the City
of New York, meanwhile attending as a student at the law office of the Hon. William M. Evarts. Immediately after graduating he engaged in gen- eral practice in New York City, but making a specialty of corporation business, remaining in that city until April, 1878, at which time he went to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to enter upon the duties of general counsel of the Green Bay and Min- nesota Railroad Company, to which position he had accepted an appointment. Upon the re- organization of this railroad company into the Green Bay, Winona and St. Paul Railroad, he was elected, on June 7, 1881, its general solicitor. In April, 1884, he was retained by the bond- holders of the St. Louis, Hannibal and Keokuk Railroad Company, to foreclose a mortgage on the railroad of that company in the United States circuit court at St. Louis, Missouri. Owing to the onerous duties involved in the foreclosure suit, Mr. Case resigned his position as general attorney of the Green Bay, Winona and St. Paul Railroad Company, in March, 1885, and moved to St. Louis, engaged in the general practice of his pro- fession in that city, and attended to the foreclos- ure suit against that company, which, after a great legal fight, in which were arrayed against him many of the great legal celebrities of the south and west, he succeeded in obtaining a judgment against that railroad company for more than a million dollars. During his residence in Missouri he was associated in the trial of several cases with the late Hon. B. Gratz Brown, ex-United Senator from Missouri.
In May, 1886, Mr. Case removed to Chicago,
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where he has continued to reside ever since. Since his advent in Chicago, he has been counsel for the complainant in the celebrated Bowman divorce case, which has attracted so much atten- tion among the legal fraternity throughout the United States. In the defense of Peter Madden, who was indicted upon what is know in Illinois as " the habitual criminal act," he raised legal points in his defense which completely revolutionized the practice in the criminal courts of Chicago, by compelling the prosecution to try prisoners at or before the second term after their commitment to the county jail. The Chicago Times, the fol- lowing day, in mentioning the case, said: " The State's attorney was surprised, and a jail delivery almost took place, so many prisoners were re- leased under Mr. Case's legal points." His de- fense in the celebrated case of Henry Schwartz, who was charged, in connection with Newton Watt, with the murder of Kellogg Nichols, the express messenger on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad, and for the robbery of the safe of the United States Express Company, con- taining $22,000, was a masterpiece. The trial, which took place in Morris, the county seat of Grundy county, in March and April, 1887, lasted for six weeks, and will be known and pass into history as one of the most remarkable trials on circumstantial evidence on record. The prosecu- tion was conducted with a spirit and energy sel- dom witnessed. Mr. Case was the leading coun- sel for the defense. His cross-examination of the witnesses for the prosecution was most searching and effectual, and during the progress of the trial he displayed the greatest legal acumen ; his re- sources were most fertile ; he grappled all the dif- ficulties of the situation with facility and boldness ; he pushed every argument to the uttermost. His closing address, which was of four hours' dura- tion, was brilliant, eloquent and fervid. At the time of the opening, the excitement was tremen- dous ; hundreds of people were turned away from the court room for lack of space; the aisles, benches, chairs and windows were packed almost to suffocation. He was, at times, eloquent, pathetic and logical ; he spoke with keen and cutting satire upon the character of the witnesses for the prosecution, and the great danger of convicting on circumstantial evidence. The tenacity of mem- ory, the acuteness and accuracy of hearing and
observation of the witnesses, were commented on with the most sagacious skill. He showed him- self to be an advocate, uniting the rare gift of oratory with the most convincing logic-a thor- ough knowledge of human affairs. He aroused the emotions of all present, and held the court, jury and auditors spell-bound hour after hour. The peroration drew tears from the eyes of more than half the vast audience in the court room. It was a very able, touching and pathetic appeal for mercy. It is conceded that Mr. Case's brilliant, skillful and powerful defense saved his client from the gallows. The fact that Mr. Case has been identified with criminal cases must not be sup- posed to mean that he has no abilitites as a civil lawyer ; on the contrary, as we have already shown, some of the most difficult cases, involving the most important and intricate legal questions ever tried in Wisconsin and Missouri, were con- ducted by him, as were many of the reported cases adjudicated in the federal courts. Mr. Case is not merely a brilliant advocate, learned in the law and deeply skilled in its dialectics ; in the less showy walks of his profession he is uncommonly powerful. Whether drudging at the business of his office as a common law attorney and equity pleader, or shining as a leader in a great nisi prius cause, he is equally admirable, ever ready and perfectly suited to the place he is filling. He has but one rule, a thorough preparation of the evidence and law of every case, diligence in en- forcing both, with the tone, manner and conduct of a gentleman. He is not only a great lawyer, but a brilliant advocate, combining the dual qualities of both. The greater the occasion, the greater his capacity to master it.
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