USA > Indiana > Courts and lawyers of Indiana, Volume II > Part 6
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Charles A. O. McClellan, of the Auburn bar, was elected from the twelfth and served two terms, 1889 to 1893. He was born in Ashland, Ohio, May 25, 1835; studied law in Auburn and was admitted to practice in 1860; he died at Auburn, January 31, 1898.
The state came through the election of 1890 with only four wrecks in their congressional delegation. John L. Bretz, of the Jasper bar, succeeded John H. O'Neall from the sec- ond. Bretz was born near Huntington, Indiana, September 21, 1852; graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in 1880; located at Jasper where he is still practicing. He sat in Con- gress from 1891 to 1895, and has been on the Circuit bench since 1908.
Henry Underwood Johnson, of the sixth district, quit his practice at the Richmond bar in 1891, to devote eight years to congressional service. He was born in Cambridge City, Indiana, October 28, 1850; attended Earlham College; studied law and located at Richmond, where he has since practiced. He was in Congress from 1891 to 1899.
Dan Waugh, of the Tipton bar, was elected from the ninth district over Joseph B. Cheadle. Waugh was born in Wells county, Indiana, March 7, 1842; served in the Union Army three years; studied law and located in Tipton, where he has since practiced. . He was in Congress from 1891 to 1895, on the Circuit bench from 1884 to 1890.
The election of 1892 brought in an almost entire Demo-
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cratic delegation with four new members. From the first district, Arthur H. Taylor succeeded William F. Parrett. Taylor was born in Caledonia Springs, Canada, February 29, 1852; he was reared in Gales county, New York; studied law in Indianapolis; was prosecutor of the Eleventh circuit from 1880 to 1882, and was in Congress from 1893 to 1895. Since 1895 he has been practicing in Indianapolis.
William F. McNagny superseded Charles A. O. McClellan in the twelfth. McNagny was one of the strong men of the Whitley county bar. He was born in Summit county, Ohio, April 19, 1850 ; moved early to Whitley county ; was admitted to the bar in 1873; served from 1893 to 1895 in Congress and has since practiced at Columbia City. The other two new men were manufacturers.
The election of 1894 was revolutionary again. The panic of 1893 was a Waterloo to the Democrats and, as a conse- quence, every man on the delegation except Henry U. John- son, a Republican, lost his seat. Of the twelve men who took their places, only one had ever been in Congress before, George W. Steele, a lawyer of Marion.
James M. Hemenway, who came from the first district, later served in the United States Senate. Alexander Merrill Hardy came from the Daviess county bar to represent the second. He was born in Simcoe, Ontario, December 16, 1847, and after spending some time in Poughkeepsie, New Orleans, and Natchez, settled down to practice law at Washington, Indiana, in 1884. He served from 1895 to 1897 in Congress and then located at Los Angeles, California, where he is now practicing.
Robert John Tracewell, of the Corydon bar, was elected from the third. He was born in Warren county, Virginia, May 7, 1852; moved to Harrison county, Indiana, in 1854; graduated from Hanover College in 1874; located at Corydon, where he practiced until 1895; sat in Congress from 1895 to 1897; was comptroller of the currency from 1895 to 1913, and from 1913 until his death practiced law at Washing- ton, D. C.
James Eli Watson came from the fourth district to begin a congressional career of twelve years. He was born at
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THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
Winchester, Indiana, November 2, 1864; studied at DePauw; read law and was admitted to the bar in 1886 and located at Winchester; moved to Rushville in 1893, where he has since practiced. He was in Congress from 1895 to 1897, and again from 1899 to 1909; he is now candidate for United States sen- ator to fill the unexpired term of Benjamin F. Shively.
Jesse Overstreet, of the Franklin bar, was elected from the fifth district and began a career of twelve years in Con- gress. He was born in Franklin, Indiana, December 14, 1859; graduated from Franklin College in 1882; read law with his father in 1886, when he was admitted to practice. He served in Congress from 1895 to 1907, and died at Indianapolis, June 3, 1910.
Charles L. Henry, of the Anderson bar, represented the seventh district from 1895 to 1899. He was born in Hancock county, Indiana, July 1, 1849; graduated from the law school of Indiana University in 1872; located at Pendleton and in 1875 moved to Anderson, Indiana, where he practiced until 1899, when he went into business. He moved to Indianapolis upon becoming connected with the Union Traction Company and has since made that city his home.
George Washington Faris, of the Terre Haute bar, came from the eighth district. He was born in Jasper county, Indiana, June 9, 1854; was reared in Pulaski county; gradu- ated from Asbury College in 1877; read law and was admitted to practice in Terre Haute in 1877; served in Congress from 1895 to 1901, and then resumed practice in Terre Haute.
James Franklin Hanly, of the Lafayette bar, came to represent the ninth district from 1895 to 1897. He was later governor from 1905 to 1909. His sketch is given in the dis- cussion of the governors.
Lemuel W. Royse, of the Kosciusko bar, was elected from the thirteenth district. He was born in Kosciusko county, Indiana, January 19, 1848; was admitted to the bar and located at Warsaw in 1874. He served in Congress from 1895 to 1899 and then resumed practice in Warsaw, Indiana. Royse served on the Circuit bench from 1904 to 1908. This was a solid Republican delegation, all being lawyers but two, Jethro Hatch and Jacob D. Leighty.
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The presidential election of 1896 retired five of the last delegation, substituting Democratic lawyers in the second, third and twelfth districts. Robert W. Miers, of the Bloom- ington bar, came from the second district. He was born near Greensburg, Indiana, January 27, 1848; graduated from the law department of Indiana University in 1872; located at Bloomington, where he has since practiced. He was in Con- gress from 1897 to 1905; and is now Circuit Judge (1914- 1920), a position he had previously held from 1890 to 1896.
Francis Marion Griffith, of the Vevay bar, was chosen at a special election to fill a vacancy caused by the death of W. S. Holman. Griffith was born in Switzerland county, Indiana, August 21, 1849; studied law and began practice at Vevay ; served in the state Senate from 1886 to 1894; sat in Congress from 1897 to 1905; since that time he has practiced at Vevay. He was elected Circuit Judge in 1914 for a term of six years, beginning in November, 1915.
Edgar Dean Crumpacker, of the Valparaiso bar, began a sixteen-year career in Congress from the tenth district, serving continuously from 1897 to 1913. Upon the organiza- tion of the Appellate Court in 1891, Governor Hovey appointed Crumpacker as one of the first judges of the new court, and he served on the bench until January 1, 1893. A sketch of his life is given in the discussion of the Appellate bench.
From the twelfth district and the Ft. Wayne bar, James McClellan Robinson succeeded Jacob D. Leighty. Robinson was born near Ft. Wayne, Indiana, May 31, 1861; studied law and began practice in 1882; sat in Congress from 1897 to 1905; since then he has practiced in Ft. Wayne.
There were only two strange faces in the congressional delegation from Indiana in 1899. Charles L. Henry gave way to George Washington Cromer in the eighth. Cromer was born in Madison county, Indiana, May 13, 1856; graduated from Indiana University in 1882; practiced in Muncie after 1886; sat in Congress from 1899 to 1907. He is now prac- ticing at Muncie, Indiana.
Abraham Lincoln Brick, who succeeded Royse in the thir- teenth, came from the South Bend bar. He was born in St. Joseph county, Indiana, May 27, 1860; graduated from the
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THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
law department of Michigan University in 1883; began prac- tice at South Bend, where he practiced until his death, April 7, 1908. He served in Congress from 1899 until his death. All the members of this delegation were lawyers, but Charles B. Landis, who was an editor from Delphi, Indiana.
The election of 1900 displaced only one man, the least change made in any election since 1852. Elias Selah Holliday, of the Brazil bar, succeeded Faris in the fifth district. Hol- liday was born in Aurora, Indiana, March 5, 1842. He attended Hartsville College; read law and began practice in Brazil, Indiana, in 1874, where he has since practiced. He served in Congress from 1901 to 1909.
The election of 1900 set a new mark, which the election of 1902 sustained. The old delegation lost only one member, George W. Steele, who was succeeded by Frederick Landis, of the Logansport bar, in the eleventh district. Landis was born in Butler county, Ohio, August 18, 1872; studied law and began practice in 1893; served in Congress from 1903 to 1907, since which time he has practiced at Logansport.
The election of 1904 brought three new faces and special elections added two more. Lincoln Dixon succeeded F. M. Griffith from the third. Dixon was born in Vernon, Indiana; graduated from the State University in 1880; began practice at North Vernon, Indiana, in 1882, and has since practiced there. He has served in Congress continuously since 1905.
John Crawford Chaney, of the Sullivan bar, succeeded R. W. Miers in the fourth. Chaney was born at New Lisbon, Ohio, February 1, 1854 ; moved to Allen county the same year ; graduated from Cincinnati Law School in 1882; began prac- tice at Sullivan, Indiana, in 1883, where he has since practiced. He sat in Congress from 1905 to 1909.
Newton Whiting Gilbert, of the Angola bar, succeeded James M. Robinson in the twelfth. Gilbert was born in Wor- thington county, Ohio, May 24, 1862; moved to Indiana in 1875; read law and began practice at Angola, Indiana, in 1885; was lieutenant-governor from 1900 to 1904. He repre- sented Steuben and Lagrange counties in the Senate of the sixtieth and sixty-first General Assemblies. When war was declared between Spain and the United States in 1898, Gilbert
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joined the United States Volunteer Infantry, and was appointed captain of Company H, One Hundred and Fifty- seventh Indiana Regiment, and served until the regiment was mustered out. Gilbert took his seat in the fifty-ninth Con- gress on March 4, 1905, and served until he resigned, Novem- ber 6, 1906, to accept an appointment as Chief Justice of the Philippines. Gilbert's place was filled by the election of Clarence C. Gilhams, a school teacher, of Lagrange county.
James A. Hemenway resigned in 1905 to become United States senator and his place was filled by the election of John H. Foster, of the Evansville bar. Foster was born in Evans- ville, Indiana, January 31, 1862; graduated from the State University in 1882 and from George Washington Univer- sity in 1884; began practice in Evansville in 1885, and sat in Congress from 1905 to 1909. Since 1909 he has practiced law in Evansville.
Three new recruits were the result of the election cam- paign of 1907. William Elijah Cox, of the Jasper bar, suc- ceeded Zenor in the third district. Cox was born in Dubois county, Indiana, September 6, 1865; graduated from Lebanon University and from the law school of Michigan University ; began practice at Jasper, Indiana, in 1889 and has since prac- ticed there. He has served in Congress since 1907.
John Alfred McDowell Adair, of the Portland bar, suc- ceeded George W. Cromer in the eighth. Adair was born in Jay county, Indiana, December 22, 1863; studied law and began practice at Portland, Indiana, in 1895. He has served in Congress since 1907. He is the Democratic candidate for governor to succeed Ralston.
George W. Rauch, of the Marion bar, succeeded Fred Lan- dis in the eleventh. Rauch was born in Huuntington county, Indiana, February 22, 1876; studied law at Valparaiso; began practice in Marion, Indiana, in 1902. He has served in Con- gress since 1907.
The Republicans had been gradually losing ground in the elections since 1894, but the landslide came in 1908. After the battle was over and the roll was called it was found that only two Republicans, Edgar D. Crumpacker, of the tenth district, and W. O. Barnard, of the sixth, a new man, could
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THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
answer. The slaughter had been heartrending. Not all of the new men, however, were lawyers.
William Allen Cullop, of the Vincennes bar, defeated Chaney in the second. Cullop is a native of Knox county, born March 28, 1853; graduated from Hanover College in 1878; studied law and began the practice at Vincennes in 1880, and has practiced there since. He has sat in Congress since 1909.
William Oscar Barnard, who succeeded James E. Wat- son from the sixth, came up from the New Castle bar where he had served as prosecutor, 1886-1892, and Circuit Judge from 1896 to 1902. He was born in Union county, Indiana, October 25, 1852; was educated at Spiceland Academy, studied law and has practiced all his life at New Castle. He sat in Congress from 1909 to 1911 and then resumed the practice.
Charles Alexander Korbly, of the Indianapolis bar, suc- ceeded Overstreet in the seventh. Korbly was born in Madi- son, Indiana, March 24, 1871; worked on the Madison Herald three years and then moved to Indianapolis, where he studied law and has practiced all his life at NewCastle. He sat in in Congress from 1909 to 1915.
Martin A. Morrison, of the Frankfort bar, succeeded Charles B. Landis in the ninth. Morrison was born in Frank- fort, Indiana, April 15, 1862; graduated from Butler College in 1883; studied law and has practiced all his life at Frank- fort. He has been in Congress since 1909.
Cyrus Cline, of the Angola bar, succeeded Gilhams in the eleventh. Cline was born in Richland county, Ohio; gradu- ated from Hillsdale College, Michigan, in 1876; was county superintendent of schools of Steuben county, 1877 to 1883; studied law and was admitted to the bar; began practice at Angola in 1884. He has sat in Congress since 1909.
The election of 1910 took one of the two remaining Re- publicans from the Indiana delegation. Finley H. Gray, of the Connersville bar, took the place of Barnard in the sixth. This also was the only change in the Indiana delegation. Gray was born in Fayette county, Indiana, July 24, 1864; was admitted to the bar in 1893 at Connersville, where he has since practiced. He has sat in Congress since 1911.
The election of 1912, though a presidential year, brought
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only two new recruits to the Indiana delegation. It removed the last Republican, leaving a solid Democratic representation from the state. Only one of the two was a lawyer. John B. Peterson, of the Crown Point bar, who succeeded Crum- packer in the tenth, was born in Lake county, Indiana, July 4, 1851. He studied law and began the practice at Crown Point in 1870 and has practiced there continuously since that time.
In the election of 1912 the Republicans had touched bot- tom, but two years later had begun to come to the surface again. Two new men appeared in the Hoosier delegation to the sixty-fourth Congress, both Republicans and both widely- known lawyers.
In the seventh district, Merrill Moores, of the Indianapolis bar, succeeded Korbly. Moores was born in Indianapolis, April 21, 1856; graduated from Yale in 1878; was admitted to the bar at Indianapolis in 1880, and has since practiced there. He has sat in Congress since 1915.
In the tenth district, William R. Wood, of the Lafayette bar, succeeded Peterson. Wood was born at Oxford, Benton county, Indiana, January 5, 1861; graduated from the Law School of Michigan University in 1882, and began practice at Lafayette the same year; served in the state Legislature eighteen years ; has served in Congress since 1915.
A casual glance over the first century of our history is all that is necessary to convince anyone that the lawyers all but monopolized the representation of the state in Congress. A few, only, of those not lawyers who occasionally broke into the delegations remained long enough to gain any influence, and not more than five can be said to have achieved a con- gressional career. There were Ratliff Boone, of Boonville; Dr. John W. Davis, of Carlisle; Schuyler Colfax, of South Bend; Charles B. Landis, of Logansport, and Benjamin F. Shively, of South Bend. The last named acquired a good reputation as a lawyer before he took up journalism.
On the other hand, not less than thirty-five of these, Will- iam Price, John Test, Thomas H. Blake, George H. Dunn, William H. Wick, Richard W. Thompson, Samuel C. Sample, John Pettit, Elisha Embree, James Lockhart, Ebenezer M. Chamberlain, John U. Pettit, William E. Niblack, James
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THE NEW BAR (1852-1916)
Hughes, David Kilgore, William S. Holman, John Law, John Coburn, Simeon K. Wolf, Henry B. Sayler, Jeptha D. New, George A. Bicknell, Robert Lowry, William F. Parrett, Charles A. O. McClellan, John L. Bretz, Alvin P. Hovey, Daniel Waugh, Robert W. Miers, John H. Baker, William T. Zenor, Francis M. Griffith, Milton S. Robinson, Lemuel W. Royse, Thomas R. Cobb, William O. Barnard and Edgar D. Crum- packer, and perhaps others, earned the right to be called Judge by actual service on the bench. At least three judges on the Circuit bench today have sat in Congress, Francis M. Griffith, John L. Bretz and Robert W. Miers. Congressman John Pettit, William Niblack and Alvin P. Hovey served on the Supreme bench and Milton S. Robinson and Edgar D. Crum- packer served on the Appellate bench and in Congress. John Pettit, of the Supreme court Judges, served in the Senate. The record is most interesting.
CHAPTER XVI.
INDIANA STATE BAR ASSOCIATION.
So far as is known, no State Bar Association was organ- ized in Indiana until June 23, 1896. It should not be inferred from this that there had been no fraternal or professional communication among the lawyers during the ninety-seven years since they first made their appearance on Indiana soil. The so-called "great lawyers" of the old Supreme bench were well acquainted with each other personally. Each and all of them frequently attended the sittings of the Supreme court at the capital, where, while causes were being tried, they mingled in good fellowship. On many occasions they sat together and listened to the eloquent tributes paid by the brothers to departed members. Some of the finest traditions of the profession have come down to us from those occa- sions. We are apt to forget in reading of the active oppo- sition of these old lawyers, one to another, that underneath it all there was a professional spirit and personal attachment not unlike that which in the older times permeated knighthood.
Then there was no occasion for the annual meeting which is the one great feature of the present Bar Association. Twice each year a large proportion of the lawyers met at the ses- sions of the Supreme court-a larger proportion than now attends the annual meetings of the association. On the cir- cuit in the early days it was not unusual for a score of the lawyers, all those perhaps in a fourth part of the state, to be together for a fortnight. From this it can be seen that while the formal organization of the Bar Association is a compara- tively new thing, the underlying sentiment which supports it is as old as the state.
The call for a meeting to organize a State Bar Association was issued by the Marion County Bar Association. Pursuant to this call, one hundred and twenty-one lawyers met in the
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hall of the House of Representatives at eleven o'clock a. m., June 23, 1896, and organized the association. Samuel Pickens, chairman of the Marion County Bar Association, called the meeting to order, and Judge John H. Baker, of the Federal court, presided. Nothing was done at this meeting beyond the formal organization. John R. Wilson, of the Indianapolis bar, submitted the following articles of association, except that section three was changed slightly to admit to member- ship all members in good standing of the bar of the state of Indiana.
ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE BAR ASSOCIATION OF INDIANA.
(Adopted, 1896.)
1. The name of this association shall be "The State Bar Association of Indiana."
2. The objects of this association shall be: To advance the science of jurisprudence, promote the administration of justice, uphold the honor of the profession of the law, and encourage social intercourse among the members of the Bar of the State of Indiana,
3. Any person shall be eligible to membership in this association who shall be a member in good standing of the Bar of the State of Indiana.
4. There shall be elected by ballot annually the following officers of this association : A president, a vice-president, a secretary and a treas- urer.
The following committees shall be annually appointed by the president for the year ensuing. On jurisprudence and law reform, consisting of thirteen members, one from each congressional district; on judicial admin- istration and remedial procedure, consisting of thirteen persons, one from each congressional district ; on legal education and admission to the bar, consisting of thirteen persons, one from each congressional district; on publication, consisting of thirteen persons, one from each congressional district ; on grievances, consisting of thirteen persons, one from each con- gressional district ; on admission of members to the association, consisting of one person from each judicial circuit of the state.
A committee of three, of whom the secretary shall always be one, shall be annually appointed by the president, whose duty it shall be to report to the next meeting of the association the names of all persons who shall have dled during the year, with appropriate notice of the deceased.
There shall also be an executive committee, consisting of the presi- dent, the secretary, the treasurer (all of whom shall be ex-officio mem- bers), together with four other persons to be annually chosen by the As- sociation. The president shall be chairman of the executive committee.
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COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
The executive committee shall select the ersons to make addresses and read papers at the next annual meeting of the Association, and fix the time and place of the annual meeting of the Association, and have charge of its business and prudential affairs.
There shall be also such special committees appointed by the president or selected by the Association as may be deemed necessary.
A majority of the members of any committee, including the executive committee, who may be present at any meeting of the committee, shall constitute a quorum of such committee for the purpose of such meeting.
5. All nominations for membership of the Association shall be made in writing to the committee on membership; the latter committee shall by ballot determine the fitness of all persons presented ; when such a commit- tee has approved of a name presented. it shall report such person to the As- sociation, who shall thereupon become a member; provided. however, that if any member of the Association demand a vote upon any name thus presented, the Association shall vote thereon by ballot, and five negative votes shall be sufficient to reject such person.
6. By-laws may be adopted at any annual meeting of the Association by a majority vote of those present. It shall be the duty of the executive committee first chosen, without delay, to frame suitable by-laws, which shall be in force until rescinded by the Association.
7. Each member of the Association shall pay five dollars to the treasurer as annual dues, and no person shall exercise any privilege of membership who is in default. The time of payment and mode of en- forcing the same shall be provided for by the by-laws.
8. The president of the Association shall open each annual meeting with an address.
9. The Association shall meet annually at such time and place as the executive committee may select, and those present at such meeting shall constitute a quorum.
10. All the persons signing and acknowledging these articles, and all the persons duly elected to membership of the Association shall become members upon the payment of the annual dues for the current year.
In testimony whereof. the undersigned have hereunto affixed their names this, the 23rd day of June, 1896 (it will be noticed that thirty-five of these were from Indianapolis) :
Leander J. Monks, Winchester.
Timothy E. Howard, South Bend. Leonard J. Hackney. Shelbyville. James H. Jordan, Martinsville. John G. Hogate, Goshen. Enoch G. Hogate, Danville.
Theodore P. Davis, Noblesville.
George L. Reinhard, Indianapolis, John W. Kern, Indianpolis, Lewis C. Walker, Indianapolis.
Adam A. Beecher, Terre Haute. Joseph H. Shea, Scottsburg. John R. Brill, Evansville. James L. Mitchel, Indianapolis. Theodore J. Louden, Bloomington. Duane H. Bowles, Indianapolis. E. P. Richardson, Petersburg. V. H. Lockwood, Indianapolis. Charles C. Spencer, Monticello. Truman F. Palmer, Monticello.
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