USA > Indiana > Courts and lawyers of Indiana, Volume II > Part 2
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William Lamborn Taylor was born July 16, 1850, at Wol- cottville, Noble county, Indiana, and was the son of Venorris R. Taylor. He went from the common schools of his native village to Hillsdale College, Michigan, and later went to In- diana University, where he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1877. He then entered Central Law School at Indianapolis, and after getting the degree of Bach- elor of Laws, became associated with Henry Clay Allen and Stanton J. Peele, and, later, with Floyd A. Woods. He was elected city attorney in 1885 and was re-elected in 1887 and
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COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
1889. In 1889 he was elected attorney-general and served by re-election until 1903.
Charles W. Miller was born in Floyd county, Indiana, Feb- ruary 4, 1963. He was the son of Jacob B. and Isabelle Miller, and attended the common schools of his native county after which he spent two years in a private school at Paoli. Later he attended the Normal College at Ladoga. He then entered the University of Michigan and graduated from the law de- partment in 1884, after which he located in Goshen for prac- tice. He was elected mayor of Goshen when twenty-four years old, but held no other political office until elected attor- ney-general in 1902. He was re-elected in 1904 and served until 1907. Since retiring from the office he has been prac- ticing in Indianapolis.
James Bingham, attorney-general of Indiana from 1907 to 1911, was born in Fountain county, Indiana, March 16, 1861. In his youth he worked on the farm and railroad. He taught school six years, and was superintendent of Fountain county schools from 1883 to 1887. In 1891 Bingham became prosecuting attorney of Fountain and Warren counties. Since retiring from the attorney-general's office in 1911 he has been practicing law in Indianapolis.
Thomas M. Honan was born at Seymour, Jackson county, Indiana, August 8, 1867, and was the son of James and Mary (Giger) Honan. After completing the common school course, he entered Hanover College, and later, in 1889, graduated from Indiana University. In 1890 he was admitted to the bar and at once took an active interest in politics. He served three terms as prosecuting-attorney of the Forty-second judicial district, and four years as city attorney of Seymour. He was elected to the Legislature from Jackson county, serving in the sixty-fourth, sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth sessions, being speak- er of the lower house in the sixty-sixth session. He was elected attorney-general of Indiana in 1910 and served four years. Upon retiring from the office in 1915, he resumed his practice in Seymour.
Richard M. Milburn was born in Daviess county, Indiana, September 24, 1866. He was educated in the public and high schools of his native county and later attended the State Normal School, from which institution he graduated in 1881.
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ATTORNEY-GENERAL
He also attended the Columbia University Law School and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1888. He served as county attorney of Dubois county from 1903 to 1905. He taught for a time in the law department of the State University. He was elected attorney-general of Indiana in 1914 on the Democratic ticket but served less than a year. He died November 9, 1915.
Evan B. Stotsenburg was born in New Albany, Indiana, May 16, 1865. He is one of five children born to John H. and Jane F. (Miller) Stotsenburg. His father was a prominent attorney of New Albany until his death, June 7, 1909. Stot- senburg received his elementary education in the grade and high schools of New Albany. He then entered the Univer- sity of Louisville and later attended Kenyon College, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar, May 17, 1886, and began prac- tice at New Albany. He practiced with his father from 1886 until 1890, when the latter retired. Stotsenburg has since practiced alone. He represented his county in the fifty-ninth General Assembly, and was a senator from 1905 to 1913. In 1911 he was chosen president pro tem of the Senate. On November 13, 1915, he was appointed attorney-general to fill out the unexpired term of R. M. Milburn, deceased. He was nominated at the Democratic state convention in the spring of 1916 as the candidate of his party to succeed himself.
GENERAL COUNSEL TO THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION AND COUNSEL TO THE GOVERNOR.
The legislative act of March 1, 1913, which created the public service commission, provided for a general counsel for the commission, who was to serve in a similar capacity to the governor. Prior to this time the attorney-general had given legal advice to all of the state officials on affairs con- nected with the administration of their various offices. How- ever, the business of the public service commission was such that it demanded an attorney to advise it constantly. The governor, from March 1, 1909, to March 1, 1913, had a special legal clerk, whose salary was paid out of a special appropria- tion, although there was no specific statute recognizing such
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COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
an official. The act of 1913 combined the legal duties which might be performed in behalf of the public service commis- sion, on the one hand, and the governor, on the other, and provided for one official to serve in both capacities.
This official known in the act as "General Counsel for the Commission and Counsel to the Governor" is appointed by the governor for a term of four years at an annual salary of six thousand dollars. Burt New has filled the office since its creation.
CHAPTER XIV.
FEDERAL COURTS OF INDIANA.
A history of the courts of Indiana would not be complete without reference to the federal courts which have jurisdic- tion in the state. When Indiana was organized as a territory in 1800, it was provided that the President should appoint three Judges, who, with the governor, also an appointee of the President, were to constitute not only the Judiciary, but also the legislative body of the territory. During the terri- torial period of sixteen years the Judges all came under fed- eral supervision.
The first United States court in Indiana was the Terri- torial Supreme court, whose three Judges and prosecuting attorney were appointed by the President as officers of the federal government. During the sixteen years (1800-1816) that Indiana was a territory, these Judges appointed by the President were the highest judicial body in the territory. Immediately after the Territory of Indiana was set off by the congressional act of May 7, 1800, President Adams ap- pointed William Henry Harrison as the first governor of the newly created territory and at the same time appointed the three Judges, who, with the governor, were to constitute the judicial and legislative body of Indiana Territory. These three Judges were William Clarke, Henry Vanderburgh and John Griffin.
William Clarke served only a short time, dying suddenly on November 11, 1802, after attending but two sessions of the governor and Judges. The identity of the William Clarke who served as one of the first Territorial Judges is shrouded in more or less obscurity. He has been confused with William Clark, a brother of George Rogers Clark, who was with Lewis in the famous Lewis and Clark's expedition, and also with the William Clark who was a cousin of George Rogers Clark, and at one time surveyor of Clark county.
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COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
Upon the death of Judge Clarke, in 1802, President Jeffer- son appointed Thomas Terry Davis, who likewise remained on the bench until his death, at Jeffersonville, Indiana, November 15, 1807. Judge Davis also served as chancellor for the terri- tory from March 1, 1806, until his death.
Benjamin Parke was appointed in the spring of 1808 to succeed Judge Davis. Parke had served in the ninth and tenth Congresses as a delegate from Indiana Territory and the vacancy in the Judgeship was held open until Congress adjourned in the spring of 1808. Judge Parke continued on the territorial bench until the state was admitted to the Union and was then appointed Judge of the United States District court, a position he held until his death, July 12, 1835. An extended sketch of Judge Parke is given elsewhere.
Henry Vanderburgh was born at Troy, New York, in 1760 and served in the Revolutionary War. He rose to the rank of captain in the Fifth New York Regiment, Continental Line. Shortly after the Revolution he located at Vincennes, Indiana, and married into the Racine family. When the Legislative Council was organized in 1805, President Jefferson appointed Vanderburgh as one of its members and he continued to serve until the state was admitted to the Union in 1816.
John Griffin, the third Territorial Judge appointed in 1800, was born in Virginia. Upon the organization of Michigan as a territory in 1805, President Jefferson appointed Griffin, December 23, 1805, as one of the first Judges of the new terri- tory, his name being confirmed by the Senate on the ninth of the following month. When Judge Griffin was transferred to the Territorial court of Michigan, the President appointed Waller Taylor as his successor, and Taylor served until the state was admitted into the Union in 1816. Judge Taylor was one of the first United States senators from Indiana, and his sketch may be found in that connection.
The congressional act creating Indiana Territory provided for an attorney-general, who was to be attached to the Terri- torial court. The first attorney-general appointed by the gov- ernor was John Rice Jones, who received his commission January 29, 1801. Jones was born in Wales, February 10, 1757, and came to America when a young man. He was with
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FEDERAL COURTS OF INDIANA
George Rogers Clark in the Northwest Territory as early as 1785 and appears to have been identified with the history of the territory from that time until his death. Jones resigned his position as attorney-general prior to August 4, 1804, as is evidenced by the record in the Executive Journal of Indiana Territory, which states that on that date "Benjamin Parke Esqr. was appointed and Commissioned by the Governor, at- torney-General of Indiana Territory, vice John Rice Jones Resigned."
Parke held the office of attorney-general until he was ap- pointed one of the Territorial Judges in the spring of 1808. As his successor, Governor Harrison appointed Thomas Ran- dolph on June 2, 1808. Randolph made an unsuccessful race against Jennings as delegate to Congress in the fall of the same year. The career of Randolph was cut short by his untimely death at the battle of Tippecanoe, November 7, 1811.
As far as is known, the governor appointed no immediate successor to Randolph. In fact there is no mention in the Executive Journal of the appointment of any one to the office although the Vincennes Western Sun in its issue of August 21, 1813, states that Elijah Sparks had been appointed attor- ney-general of Indiana. It is evident that he did not fill the position very long, since the Executive Journal, under date of September 14, 1814, records that a commission was issued to him as Judge of the Third judicial circuit. Sparks evi- dently received his appointment from the President, as did his successor, William Hendricks, who followed him in the fall of 1814. Hendricks continued to serve as attorney-gen- eral until the organization of the first Federal court upon the admission of the state to the Union.
Indiana was organized as a separate Federal court dis- trict by the congressional act of March 3, 1817. The statute creating the court provided that the Judge should "in all things, have and exercise the same jurisdiction and powers which were, by law, given to the Judge of the Kentucky dis- trict, under an act entitled "An act to establish the Judicial courts of the United States." The act in question was the congressional act of September 29, 1789, which provided for the organization of United States courts. The Kentucky court had been given powers in addition to those prescribed by the
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act of 1789, and these were, as above mentioned, in turn con- ferred upon the Indiana court when the latter was established in 1817. The Indiana court continued to exercise these spe- cial powers until the act of Congress, approved March 3, 1837, reduced it to the rank of an ordinary District court.
The Federal court was to meet twice each year, the first Monday of May and the first Monday of November. This court transacted very little business prior to the Civil War. While there was a great deal of public land in the state, the court was occupied chiefly in the trial of timber thieves and trespassers on the public lands. In the decade prior to the Civil War, fugitive slave cases came up quite frequently.
Some random cases will show the nature of this early legislation. The first case in Record Book I is entitled the United States vs. Andrew Hilton. Hilton was charged with vending and selling to a certain Charles Dewey domestic dis- tilled liquors in a less quantity than twenty gallons at one time, without having first secured a license for selling at re- tail. Benjamin Parke was Judge, Moses Tabb defended and Thomas H. Blake was United States attorney. The said Hilton threw himself on the mercy of the court and the court, through its distinguished jury, John Douthit, Andrew P. Hay, Samuel L. Tate, John Carr, William Bacon, Nathan Mars, Charles B. Naylor, Thomas Given, George Graham, Edward Davis, James Bruce and John Harbison, twelve good and law- ful men, found the defendant not guilty. Notwithstanding the verdict of the jury, the court added "that it be considered that there was probably cause for the said prosecution."
In May, 1818, Prosecutor Blake sued James Ward, post- master, and William McFarland, his bondsman, of the Lexing- ton postoffice, for money they had failed to turn over to the postmaster-general. McFarland, of "wild cat" banking fame, was not apprehended, but Ward, through his attorney, Henry P. Thornton, threw himself on the mercy of the court.
In 1817, William Bell, of Harrison county, was sued in debt for the revenue due on one hundred and fifty gallons of whisky, which he had in his possession and was using for his own private purposes without paying the revenue. Again twelve good and lawful men, to wit: Amos N. Howland, Will- iam Baird, Marston G. Clark, Nathaniel Kimball, James
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FEDERAL COURTS OF INDIANA
Milroy, Henry DeWalt, John Lindley, Walter Pennington, David B. Rhodes, James Bruce, Edward Davis and George Grisham, found that the defendant did not owe the United States any revenue, and the court ordered him "to go hence without date." These and other similar cases show that it was not easy to secure a conviction for this kind of law- breaking. Certainly no fault can be found with these juries -on the part of those acquitted.
Daniel Bell was tried for the same offense at the same term with similar results. John Butler, of Pike county, on the other hand, was convicted and fined. There follows a score or so of cases for debt, the delinquents owing for lands.
At the November term, 1819, a libel case of Benjamin F. Stickney vs. The Whitewater Gazette of Brookville. The paper had charged the Indian agent, Stickney, then at Ft. Wayne, with fleecing the Indians in the usual style. The plaintiff was given a verdict.
Here is a typical case, drawn by the famous lawyer, Charles Dewey, for trespass on the case: "The United States complaint of Brazil Meek on a plea of trespass for that the said Meek, on the first day of May in the year of our Lord, 1823, did with force and arms, break and enter the domain of the United States of America, situated, etc., cut, fell and carry away divers trees, etc." The indictment covered about two thousand words. A jury of twelve men, several of state- wide reputation, decided the said Meek was not guilty and he departed without day. The act, perhaps, was patent, but who could steal timber when no one recognized that it had any value ?
Case after case of this kind appear and many of them were fined. In general, these cases were quickly and satisfactorily disposed of.
Turning to Record I, District Court, United States Cases, May term, 1854, one gets a glimpse into the fugitive slave period. First is an indictment against Sullivan U. Clark. This was followed by two more against the same person, all of which were quashed. Several cases in succession for con- cealing fugitives were quashed, presumably for lack of evi- dence.
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The following fugitive slave case was one of the last tried by Judge Parke. It came up at the May term, 1834. Goodale Dare, of Kentucky, seemed to have located his runaway slave, a woman named Zoar, at Indianapolis. He accordingly pro- cured a writ from Judge Parke and had Joseph Roberts, United States marshal, take the colored woman in charge. Goodale intended to take her to Kentucky to prove his title. At this point John Little, "in company with and in confederacy with certain other evil-disposed persons, with force and arms, to wit: with hands, fists, feet, knives, clubs, sticks, pistols and dirks, violently and forcibly rescued said Zoar" against the peace and dignity of the Fugitive slave law of 1793. At the last moment the plaintiff dismissed the suit and paid the cost. Goodale was, no doubt, a kidnapper.
On November 20, 1854, the grand jury returned an indict- ment against Benjamin B. Waterhouse. Waterhouse had har- bored three persons of color, to wit: Tom, Jim and Alfred, belonging to Daniel M. Payne and Mortimer W. Roberts, of Kentucky. Waterhouse was found guilty by a jury of "forci- bly and knowingly, wilfully and unlawfully, harboring and concealing Tom, Jim and Alfred." His punishment was fixed by Judge Elisha M. Huntington at one hour's confinement and a fine of fifty dollars. It is noteworthy that the jury recom- mended mercy.
At the same term James and John Johnson were charged with "unlawfully and feloniously passing and uttering as true to one Charles Cooper one piece of false, forged and counter- feited coin, in the resemblance and similitude of the silver coins called quarter dollars." The defendant, for there was only one, was given one year at hard labor. A second, third and fourth indictment charged Johnson with uttering counter- feit half dollars. He was found guilty and received a sen- tence of one year at hard labor for each of these.
During the decade from 1850 to 1860 fugitive slave, count- erfeiting and postal service cases constituted the bulk of the business before the court. Mail robbery and counterfeiting cases increased in frequency throughout the period, but the fugitive slave cases diminished in number rapidly until about 1857, when they practically disappeared.
The following is the first federal grand jury on record. It
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FEDERAL COURTS OF INDIANA
met at Corydon, May 7, 1821: John Vawter, of Vernon, was United States marshal. Joseph Bartholomew, of Columbus, was foreman, and Joseph Holman, of Brookville; Patrick Baird, of Wayne county ; Enoch D. John, of Brookville; Joseph Hanna, of Brookville; John Gray; William Cotton, of Vevay; Nathan B. Palmer, of Madison; John Tipton, of Corydon, Marston G. Clark, of Salem; Samuel Chambers, of Lawrence- burg; David Robb, of Princeton, and Elisha Harrison, were the other members.
The petit jurors of the same date (1821) were Benjamin Ferguson, Lemuel Ford, Alexander Henderson, John M. Simon, Evan Shelby, Joseph Gibson, Charley Paxton, Stephen Beers, Apollis Hess, John Conner, Davis M. Hale and W. Hale. This jury heard a damage case-James Paul vs. S. M. and Zebulon Leavenworth-and returned the plaintiff a verdict in the amount of $1,479.40, for debt and $201.56, damage.
One is continually impressed with the personnel of the early grand juries of the court. The following panel was sworn in at Indianapolis, November 7, 1831: Isaac Howk (foreman), Allen D. Thom, E. E. Morgan, William C. Brom- well, Joseph Hanna, John Wishard, Benjamin V. Beckes, Joseph Wilson, Alexander F. Morrison, John Lemon, Richard Weaver, William Connor, Larkin Simms, Jesse Dailey, James L. Scott, David Jerkin, Rankin Posey, Samuel Wert and John Paggett, nineteen in all. One conversant with the early his- tory of the state at once recognizes at least half the panel.
The following is one of the first grand juries under Judge Holman: William W. Wick, foreman; John Wilkins, James Blake, Robert Patterson, Douglass Maguire, Alfred Harrison, Alexander F. Morrison, Austin W. Morris, Nathaniel Bolton, George Porter, Nathan B. Palmer, Caleb Scudder, Samuel Henderson, William H. Wernweg, Aaron Johnson, Obadiah Harris, Moses M. Henkle, and William Puett. This grand jury sat ten days at the December term of 1836.
At the end of the May term, 1835, there appears for the last time the signature of B. Parke. In the earlier years it appears as a bold, heavy scrawl, but during the later years it shows the effect of the paralysis that afflicted the Judge dur- ing his later years. The last signature is traced out slowly and painfully.
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COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
When Horace Bassett became clerk, about 1835, this significant note was spread of record: "Ordered that it be entered of record that the appointment of the present clerk has not been made in consequence of any supposed want of qualifications or neglect of duty in the former clerk, for as far as appears to the court from an inspection of the books and papers, he has heretofore discharged faithfully the duties of his office." This statement was authorized by Judge Holman who succeeded Parke on September 16, 1835.
Here and there an interesting bit of history appears in the unpublished records of the District court. In a suit for the ejectment of James Hughes by Joseph Bartholomew and others, owners of property in Clarksville, a detailed history of that ancient village is given. This suit came up at the May term, 1830. During the panic of 1837 suits on assumpsit, or for debt, are numerous, outnumbering all others combined.
It might be interesting to note the cost in the cases before this court. The following cases from Fee Book C, covering the period 1844 to 1848, are probably a fair average of the costs of administration of justice in the Federal court during this period. The total costs in the first case in the record were $21.66, of which the marshal received $1.90 and the at- torney (O. H. Smith was one), $10.00. The Judge invariably allowed the attorney $10.00, and there is no record which shows any attorney receiving a greater or less amount. The following schedule of fees illustrates the cost of justice in this court :
Declaration of case
$ .16
Minute Docket Entry
.34
Bond for Cost
.58
Capiases
.67
Two Appearances
.16
Motion and Rule to Plead
.34
Filing General Issue
.41
Continuance
.43
Another Continuance
.43
Two Entries in Minute Docket
.50
Recording Verdict
.17
Judgment
.37
Filing Note
.08
Subpoena
.67
I
6
I
1
1
1
1
1
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FEDERAL COURTS OF INDIANA
Final Record
4.50
Bill and Copy .88
Fee of Marshal
12.00
Attorney's Fee
10.00
Indiana has been a separate United States court district for nearly one hundred years and during that time only ten Judges have sat on the bench. The first six Judges-Parke, McDonald, Huntington, Smith, White and Holman-served from the time of their appointment until their death. Gresham, who served from 1869 to 1883, resigned to become postmaster- general in President Arthur's cabinet. Woods, his successor, resigned in 1892 to become Judge of the Seventh United States Circuit court. Baker, who succeeded Woods in 1892, resigned after ten years' service on the bench. Anderson, the present incumbent, has served since December 18, 1902.
The sketches of seven of the ten Judges have been given elsewhere and it remains to notice briefly the careers of three -Huntington, Gresham and Anderson.
Elisha Mills Huntington, the youngest son of Nathaniel and Mary (Corning) Huntington, was born in Otsego county, New York, March 29, 1806. He came with his parents in 1822 to Terre Haute, Indiana, and shortly after settling in the town, began to study law in one of the lawyer's offices of the village. It seems that he must have been admitted to the bar shortly after reaching his majority, since at the age of twenty- three he was appointed prosecutor. Two years later (1831) he was elected to the Legislature and served during the ses- sions of 1831, 1832 and 1833. From 1830 to 1832 he appears as prosecuting attorney of the Seventh circuit. In 1837 he became President Judge of the Seventh circuit and served on the bench until he resigned to accept an appointment as com- missioner of the general land office. This position he resigned in the following year upon being appointed (May 2, 1842) Judge of the United States District court of Indiana. He held the office until his death, at St. Paul, Minnesota, October 26, 1862. In 1848 Judge Huntington bought a large tract of land on the banks of the Ohio in Perry county and built a fine home on his estate. He sold the whole tract in 1858 to the Swiss Colonization Society, which immediately platted the town of Tell City on a part of it. The Judge then returned to Terre
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