USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical sketches of early Indiana > Part 31
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"On one occasion, in the argument on a demurrer, the law was plainly against him, and he was prepared to yield grace- fully to the decision of the court against him in accordance with the presentation of the other side by Col. Wilson. Unfortu- nately, however, Judge John Thompson, instead of confining himself to the points made by the opposing attorney, was pro- ceeding to make the ruling for other reasons, whereupon Mr. Dewey boldly spoke out, ' The law may be against me. Judge, but you are giving a -- poor reason for it.'
"'Sit down, Mr. Dewey, sit down "' thundered the Judge in excited tones. With stern dignity and folded arms, Dewey re- plied, ' I am too much of a freeman, sir, to be directed by you.
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CHARLES DEWEY.
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or any one, as to the attitude I must assume.' 'Be quiet, sir. again spoke Judge T. 'That Your Honor has the right in this court to command,' responded Mr. D., and this passage at arms ended."
In person Judge Dewey was large and commanding. He was six feet high, and weighed about 200 pounds. His hair was black, his complexion dark, his forehead broad and high, and his mouth very expressive. His features were not regular, his nose and chin being too long to be symmetrical, but this defect was more than overbalanced by the look of intelligence and dignity that always pervaded his face.
Judge Dewey's widow is living in Indianapolis at the advanced age of eighty years. Her health is good, her mind unimpaired and her body exceedingly vigorous for one of her years. She gave the author many of the incidents mentioned in this sketch, and, when speaking of her distinguished husband. her eve plainly told of the love she bore him.
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JEREMIAH SULLIVAN.
AMONG the men who impressed themselves upon the morals of the people and the institutions of the State in early days was Jeremiah Sullivan. He had much to do in laying the founda- tions of the State government and in giving character to its ju- diciary, and he well deserves a place in the list of distinguished men.
Mr. Sullivan was of Irish descent. He was born in a small Virginia town eighty-seven years ago, and was designed by his father, who was a Roman Catholic, for the priesthood. He was educated at William and Mary's College, graduating from that institution with honor. He chose the law for a profession, but before being admitted to the bar he enlisted in the army and soon earned a captain's commission. This was during the last war with Great Britain, and when hostilities ceased the young soldier laid aside his military trappings and resumed his books. He was admitted to the Virginia bar, but his chances for rising in his profession there being but meager, he determined to seek a more inviting field. So he bade his friends farewell and started West on horseback in search of a location. His destination was Louisville, Kentucky, but on arriving at Cincinnati he heard there was a good opening for a lawyer at Madison, Indiana, so he changed his mind and went to that town. It was in the fall of 1817 when he reached there, and he settled and lived there until he died.
At Madison Captain Sullivan practiced his profession with success, and it was very seldom that he left it for any other busi- ness. In 1820, three years after he came to the State, he was elected a member of the Legislature from his county. He proved to be an industrious and painstaking one, and was as
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influential in shaping legislation as any member of the House. It was he who gave Indianapolis its name, as will be seen by the following letter to ex-Governor Baker, when that gentleman was Governor of the State :
" I have a very distinct recollection of the great diversity of opinion that prevailed as to the name the new town should re- ceive. The bill was reported by Judge Polk, and was, in the main, very acceptable. A blank, of course, was left for the name of the town that was to become the seat of government. and during the two or three days we spent in endeavoring to fill that blank there were some sharpness and much amusement. General Marston G. Clark, of Washington county, proposed ' Tecumseh' as the name, and very earnestly insisted on its adoption. When that failed he suggested other Indian names which I have forgotten. They also were rejected. Somebody suggested . Suwarro,' which met with no favor. Judge Polk desired the blank to be filled with 'Concord ;" that also failed. Other names were proposed, but they were all voted down, and the House, without coming to any agreement, adjourned until the next day. There were many amusing things said during the day, but my remembrance of them is not sufficiently dis- tinct to state them with accuracy. I had gone to Corydon with the intention of proposing 'Indianapolis' as the name of the town ; and on the evening of the adjournment above mentioned. I suggested to Mr. Samuel Merrill, the representative from Switzerland county, the name I preferred. He at once adopted it, and agreed to support it. We together called on Governor Jennings, who had been a witness to the amusing scenes of the day previous, and told him to what conclusion we had come. He gave us to understand that he favored the name we had agreed upon, and that he would not hesitate to so express him- self. When the House met and went into committee on the bill I moved to fill the blank with 'Indianapolis.' The name created a shout of laughter. Mr. Merrill, however, seconded the motion. We discussed the proposition freely and fully, the members conversed with each other informally, and the name gradually commended itself to the committee, and was accepted. The principal reason given for its adoption. to wit: that its
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Greek termination would indicate the importance of the town, was, I am sure, the reason that overcame opposition to the name. The town was finally named Indianapolis.
"JER. SULLIVAN."
In early life Judge Sullivan had a taste for politics, but it left him as he grew older. He once made an unsuccessful race for Congress against William Hendricks, and this defeat seemed to have cured him of politics and caused him to adhere more closely than ever to his profession. I believe he never was a candidate for office before the people after this until the year he died. He was appointed by the Governor of the State a com- missioner to adjust the land question between the States of Ohio and Indiana, growing out of the construction of the Wabash and Erie canal. After this he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana, and he sat upon the bench of that court from 1837 to 1846. It was while a judge of this court that he earned his fame, and it is as a Supreme judge that he will be best re- membered. During the nine years he sat upon the Supreme bench he graced and honored the place. His associates were Judges Blackford and Dewey, and it is only saying what is well known that at no time since the organization of the court has it stood so high as when Blackford, Dewey and Sullivan were its judges. These men were different in their mental make-up, but they were all able. Sullivan was the ablest writer of the three, as may be seen by reading the reports of the court of that era. His opinions, as recorded by Blackford, are models of legal composition. There are a grace and perspicuity in his style but seldom found, and had he chosen to be a writer of legal books, he would, unquestionably, have won a reputa- tion even exceeding that which he earned upon the bench.
In 1869 a criminal court for Jefferson county was created, and Judge Sullivan was appointed its judge. At the first elec- tion afterwards he was chosen judge for a full term, but on the very day he would have taken his oath of office he died. He had been in bad health for some time, but notwithstanding this, his death was unexpected, and it greatly shocked the com- munity where he lived. He had resided so long at Madison. and had been so closely connected with public affairs, that
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when the end came his old friends and neighbors keenly felt the loss.
In his early life Judge Sullivan was an active Freemason. In January, 1818, representatives for the different Masonic lodges in the State met at Madison and formed the Grand Lodge of Indiana. Judge Sullivan was a member of this body, and was elected grand orator of the lodge. He continued his connection with Masonry for many years, but about the time of the Morgan excitement he withdrew his membership from the order, and never afterwards renewed it.
Judge Sullivan was a member of the Presbyterian church, and in his daily walk and example was a Christian man. On the division of that church he allied himself to the New School branch. He was an active member of the church and a regular attendant upon the services. He was a ruling elder, and ever demeaned himself as should one who occupies that high posi- tion.
There were two places which Judge Sullivan always entered with reverence, the church and the temple of justice. I re- member an incident which occurred many years ago that will serve to illustrate his respect and reverence for the latter. A store-house and stock of goods, belonging to William Brazleton. were burned by incendiaries. Suspicion fell upon a couple of men in the neighborhood, and, on following it up, sufficient evidence was obtained to secure their indictment. They were in due time put upon their trial, and Mr. Brazleton appeared as a witness against them. While the trial was going on, and the Court-house was filled with people, a pistol in Brazleton's coat-pocket exploded. It was loaded with buckshot, but for-
tunately no one was hurt. Brazleton's coat-tail was badly shattered and the chair in which he was sitting was filled with shot, but no other damage was done. The unfortunate witness, who was frightened almost to death, drew the pistol from his pocket, but no sooner had he done this than Judge Sullivan snatched it from him, and, seizing him by the arm, demanded of the court that he be sent to prison. "He comes into court." said the Judge, " a walking arsenal, and must be punished. I ask Your Honor to maintain the dignity of your office and pro-
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
tect the lives of those whose duty it is to be here." Judge Downey, or Judge Chapman, I have forgotten which, was upon the bench, and no doubt would have complied with Judge Sul- livan's demand had not one of the lawyers present asked to be heard in Mr. Brazleton's behalf. He read a letter to Brazleton. without signature, threatening him with death if he appeared as a witness in the case. The judge considered this a sufficient reason for the witness's arming himself, and therefore excused him. Judge Sullivan acquiesced in this decision, but said the witness should have left his pistol outside the court-room. He declared the court-room to be a place where controversies were decided by the law, and not by violence, and that its precincts should never be profaned by the presence of a deadly weapon.
Judge Sullivan seldom took an active part in politics. He was a Whig while that party existed, and afterwards a Repub- lican, but he usually contented himself with voting his party ticket. The only exception to this which I remember was in 1850, when the Whig candidates for the constitutional conven- tion were nominated. He was very anxious that delegates should be sent to the convention from Jefferson county who would not be under the control of corporations. He declared that the people were in danger from corporations, and if they were not controlled by constitutional provisions the time would come when they would dictate the legislation of the country. He op- posed the nomination of William McKee Dunn, a personal friend, because he was a son-in-law of Mr. Lanier, a gentleman who had large interests in banks and in railroads. His oppo- sition to Mr. Dunn was unavailing, that gentleman being nomi- nated and elected.
Judge Sullivan was a humorist of the first water. His humor seldom showed itself, but when it did it sparkled like a gem. Just before the breaking out of the Mexican war Thomas J. Henley, then a representative in Congress, and Senator Bright made speeches at Madison, in which they ridiculed the idea of war, and said if it came they would undertake to clean out Mexico with a regiment of women armed with broomsticks. When the war came, and blood commenced to flow, Judge Sul- livan wrote a series of articles for the Madison Banner, over the signature of " Colonel Pluck," that were the perfection of
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humor and ridicule. In them he called on Messrs. Bright and Henley to make good their promises at once, or he would take the field with his "Invincibles " and mop up Mexico before the women with their broomsticks could get into the field. He and Senator Bright were personal friends, and fearing, if the author- ship of the letters was known, the Senator would be offended. he had the papers copied before they went to the printer.
Soon after the adoption of the constitution of 1850 he wrote some papers ridiculing the provision prohibiting the immigration of negroes and their employment in the State. In one of these papers he gave his reflections as he sat in a barber's chair get- ting shaved. These papers were inimitable, and no one who read them will question that they were written by a master hand. I do not think Judge Sullivan ever had a superior in this State as a humorous and satirical writer, and I question if he ever had an equal. He wrote so little, and so few knew what he did write, that I doubt not this statement will be questioned by many who knew him well, but nevertheless it is true.
While Judge Sullivan was upon the Supreme bench he was particularly intimate with Judge Dewey, one of his associates. Judge Dewey used to come to Madison and stay with Judge Sullivan for days. It was understood that they met for confer- ence and consultation, but I suspect that friendship and con- geniality of tastes had more to do with bringing them together than the law.
In 1852, when General Scott was making his Western tour, he was invited to Madison and given a grand reception. Judge- Sullivan made the welcoming address, and it was a model one of the kind.
In 1861, on the breaking out of the rebellion, Judge Sullivan entered actively into furthering the interests of the government. His oldest son had been an officer in the war with Mexico, and his youngest son, Jere, raised a company and entered the ser -. vice in the war for the Union. He was afterwards promoted to a colonelcy, and subsequently to a brigadiership, and he served in all these positions with bravery and distinction. Another son, Algernon S., an eminent lawyer of New York, was ar- rested early in the war and imprisoned at Fort Lafayette. It will be remembered that the administration of Mr. Lincoln at
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first determined to treat Confederate privateers as pirates. It denied them counsel and notified lawyers not to undertake their defense. But notwithstanding this order, Mr. A. S. Sullivan accepted employment as counsel for the captured privateers, and commenced to prepare for their defense. He sent to Rich- mond for copies of the. commissions under which they acted, but his messenger was arrested before he crossed the lines. For doing this Mr. Sullivan was arrested and sent to Fort La- fayette, and for some time confined as a prisoner of state. Judge Sullivan was an ardent patriot, and, like Abraham of old, would have offered his son as a sacrifice had it been neces- sary, but he was also a lawyer, and had decided notions as to the duties of lawyers to their clients. He believed his son's employment legitimate and his arrest an outrage. These things he did not hesitate to say, and in a short time, through his influ- ence and that of his friends, his son was released from impris- onment and restored to his family.
In person Judge Sullivan was tall and commanding. His height was over six feet, and his body was well proportioned. He had a good head and a good face. His eyes were dark brown, his hair light and thin, and usually long, and his com- plexion was ruddy. His carriage was good and his manners dignified. He was always polite-was always a gentleman. He was not an aggressive man, and did not have the influence of Marshall or of Bright, but he was a good citizen and an up- right judge, and had the respect of all who knew him.
A HISTORICAL TRIO.
POLITICS ran as high in Indiana seventy-five years ago as it does to-day. William Henry Harrison was appointed Governor of Indiana Territory July 4, 1800, and early in 1801 he entered upon the duties of his office. On the 6th of February, 1801, he appointed William McIntosh Territorial Treasurer, and about the same time he commissioned John Rice Jones Attorney- General of the Territory. These men occupied very close rela- tions with the Governor, and for some time had his confidence. They, however, became jealous of Benjamin Parke, a warm friend of the Governor, and one of the purest men Indiana has ever had. Seeing that Mr. Parke was supplanting them in the Governor's favor, they determined to break him down, and at the same time destroy the Governor. Their quarrel with the latter was ostensibly on account of his position on the question of the Territory's entering the second grade of government, but in reality it was because others enjoyed a greater share of his favor than themselves.
The contest was a bitter one. Mr. Parke ably defended Gov- ernor Harrison with his pen, and challenged McIntosh to mortal combat for traducing him. McIntosh refused, but, with Jones and Elijah Bachus, a newspaper writer, continued to abuse the Governor. That the reader may know something of the viru- lence of the fight between Governor Harrison and his enemies. I copy the following from the Western World, a paper published at Frankfort, Ky. It was written at Vincennes, and appeared in the World in its issue of March 3. 1808.
JOHN RICE JONES.
" The pieces which appeared in your paper of the 3Ist ult. and 7th inst. over the signature of Philo-Tristram. and Tristram
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
are the productions of William McIntosh, John Rice Jones and Elijah Bachus, of this Territory, a triumvirate worthy of each other and the vile cause of slander and detraction in which they are engaged. I feel, most sensibly feel, the humiliation of entering into a controversy with men who have no char- acter to lose, and who have long since (if they ever possessed them) bid adieu to those sentiments of honor which characterize the gentleman. Convinced that from a victory over such oppo- nents I could derive neither triumph nor consolation, I shall confine myself to the relation of some circumstances and the exhibition of a few documents to show the credit which ought to be attached to this respectable fraternity. The existence of a combination to write Governor Harrison out of office was com- municated to me by a gentleman of veracity, who had it from Jones himself. To the industry and ingenuity of Jones was as- signed the task of hunting up the charges ; these were to be reduced to form by the classical pen of Bachus, and the Scotch- man (McIntosh) undertook to usher them to the world. From a conversation which Jones had with a gentleman of this place. it appears that his exertions in finding a proper subject to com- mence the attack were for a long time unsuccessful. After in- dulging himself in some violent and indecent abuse of the President of the United States, he declared in general terms his dissatisfaction with the conduct of Mr. Harrison as Governor, and his determination to commence a decided opposition to all his measures. The gentleman expressed a favorable opinion of Mr. Harrison's character and conduct, and requested him to mention an instance of maladministration on his part. After frequent evasions, he asserted that his treatment of a Mr. Jen- nings was most cruel and tyrannical. Mr. Jennings was re- ferred to, who expressed the utmost astonishment, and declared, from his first acquaintance with Governor Harrison he had only received from that gentleman friendship and politeness. From this anecdote we may with certainty conclude that the worthy associates will never be in want of materials for their slanders.
" The following queries, published upward of two years ago in the Farmer's Library, contain a few anecdotes of Jones's life. The name of the author (.one of our most respectable citizens ) was left with the printer, but no attention has been paid to it by
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Jones. It is hinted that a new edition, with additions, is shortly to be given to the world by the same author :
.. To John Rice Jones, one of the Legislative Council of Indiana Territory :
·· By answering the following queries you will not only satisfy an inquiring public, but relieve yourself from the load of infamy which your conduct through life has heaped upon you :
" Did you come with General Clark's expedition to Vincennes in the fall of the year 1786? Was Bazadonne not robbed of merchandise to the amount of $6,626?
" Did you not receive the merchandise so taken from Baza- donne, and did you ever account to Bazadonne, to General Clark, or to any other person else for them?
"' When Bazadonne was about to commence suit for the re- covery of damages for the merchandise thus fraudulently taken from him, did you not, in order to secure to yourself that safety which you knew your guilt would not entitle you to, tell Baza- donne General Clark 'was the only person against whom he could maintain an action ; that your testimony was all he wanted to reinstate him in everything he had lost, and until he gave vou a release General Clark might, and would, contend that you were an improper witness, being the person who seized the goods (though by his order), therefore, interested, and deprive him of your testimony ?
"And did you not, through your intrigue, swindle Bazadonne out of a release ?
"Did General Clark ever receive one cent of the merchan- dise taken from Bazadonne, but yourself the only person bene- tited by them?
" Was not your general character so infamous in the govern- ment of Spain as to induce an officer of that government to for- bid you putting foot on his Catholic Majesty's dominions?
" Did you not. during the period in which you acted as At- torney-General for the Indiana Territory, receive testimony of acknowledgments from I. B. Laplante and 1. Barron, against whom there were public prosecutions. to enter a nolle prosequi to these indictments, and thereby filch the country out of its revenue ?
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" Did you not, to answer your own sinister views, prevail upon Mr. Clark to have the Judge's library appraised and sold at private sale for their appraisement? Did not your intrigues procure you the appointment of appraiser, and did you not value such of his library as you wanted 300 per cent. less than they could be purchased in the city of Philadelphia? Did any per- son know the manner your vile imagination had suggested for the disposal of the Judge's books until you were seen loading them off? Were you not met by a gentleman who offered you $18 for ' Coke on Littleton,' which you had valued and taken at $6, and you refused to take it? For shame! Will you, clothed with the garb of friendship, deprive the widow and fatherless of their property?
" Were you not frequently at the loo-table, in a circle of your neighbors, discovered hiding cards, and, in consequence of that vile disposition, were you afterward admitted to the loo-table?
" Did you not cheat James Sullivan and Lee Decker out of £50?
" Have you ever settled your account with the administrator of Judge Clark? Don't you dispute payment because you know it can not be proved ? PETER, PAUL AND POMPEY."
John Rice Jones was a Welchman, and was born in 1750. He emigrated to America soon after the Revolutionary war, and came to the Northwestern Territory in 1786. He was the first lawyer in Illinois, and one of the ablest she ever had. He was a classical scholar and an accomplished linguist. His prac- tice extended from Kaskaskia to Vincennes, and even to Clarks- ville. He was not, like most pioneers, a hunter, but devoted his whole time to the practice of his profession and to politics. He was a brilliant speaker, a perfect master of satire and in- vective. He removed to Vincennes previous to the Territorial organization, and in 1805 was appointed by President Jefferson a member of the Legislative Council of Indiana Territory, hav- ing, in the meantime, served as Attorney-General of the Terri- tory. In 1809 he and John Johnson revised the laws of the Territory, most of the work being done by him.
Soon after the organization of Indiana Territory there was born to John Rice Jones a son who became eminent in the poli-
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tics of the country, and who still lives in the city of Dubuque, Iowa. He was called George Wallace, after a son-in-law of General Gibson, then Secretary of the Territory. He was bred to the law, but never practiced it. He was Clerk of the United States District Court of Missouri in 1826, and was aid-de-camp to General Dodge (who was also born at Vincennes) in the Black Hawk war ; was subsequently a colonel, and then a ma- jor general of militia, and then a judge of a county court. In 1835 General Jones was elected a delegate to Congress from the Territory of Michigan, and subsequently was elected to Con- gress from the Territory of Wisconsin. Afterwards, he served as Surveyor-General of the Northwest, and in 1848 he was elected to the United States Senate from Iowa, and in 1852 was re-elected. Mr. Buchanan appointed him Minister Resident at Bogota, which office he held until 1861, when he was recalled by President Lincoln. Soon after his return home he was ar- rested, and for sixty-four days he was a prisoner of state at Fort Lafayette. No reason was ever given General Jones for his arrest, but it is supposed that it was made on account of one of his sons going South and entering the Confederate service.
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