USA > Indiana > Courts and lawyers of Indiana, Volume III > Part 16
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The first five years of the judicial history of Wayne county comes under the territorial regime, and during this period six Judges presided over the local court. The first three, Peter Fleming, Aaron Martin and Jeremiah Meek, were com- missioned by Governor Harrison on December 18, 1810. They were succeeded in order by William Harlan (January, 3, 1814), Josiah Davidson (April 4, 1815) and David Hoover (June 12, 1815).
CRIMINAL COURT.
The Wayne county Criminal court was established as the Twenty-first circuit by legislative enactment of March 9, 1867, and abolished by the act of March 7, 1873. Two Judges ad- judicated in this court during the period of its existence. William A. Peele was appointed by Governor Baker, March 14, 1867, and served until succeeded by George Holland, May 4, 1869, who continued in office until the court was abolished, March 7, 1873.
SUPERIOR COURT.
A Superior court was established in Wayne county by the legislative act of March 10, 1877, but it was abolished by the succeeding Legislature on February 12, 1879, the act becom- ing effective on the 15th of the following April. The Gov- ernor appointed William A. Bickle as the first Judge of the newly organized court, and he was succeeded at the first regular election by Henry C. Fox, who continued on the bench until the office was abolished.
TERRITORIAL JUDICIARY.
December 13, 1810. Justices of the peace: David Hoover, John Ire-
land and Jesse Davenport.
December 14, 1810 Prosecuting attorney : James Noble, for the coun- ties of Wayne and Franklin.
December 18, 1810 Judges of the Court of Common Pleas : Peter
Fleming, Aaron Martin and Jeremiah Meeks.
March 25, 1812 Judge of the Court of Common Pleas: William Harland.
December 22, 1812 Prosecuting attorney : James Sparks, for Wayne and Franklin counties.
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February 2, 1813 Justices of the peace: Abraham Elliott and Will- iam L. Williford.
January 6, 1814 Judges of the Circuit court : Peter Fleming, first Judge; Jeremiah Meeks, second Judge; Aaron Martin, third Judge.
September 16, 1814 Associate Judges of the Circuit court: Aaron Martin, first associate; Peter Fleming, second associate.
October 19, 1814. Associate Judges of the Circuit court : Peter Fleming, first associate; Aaron Martin, second associate.
December 10, 1814 Justices of the peace: Adam Banks and Richard Lewis.
February 5, 1815 Justices of the peace: John Cartwright, John Martindale, James Junkins, Thomas J. Warman and (February 8) Charles Royster.
April 22, 1815 Associate Judge of the Circuit Court : Joseph
Davison, vice Aaron Martin, resigned.
June 12, 1815 Associate Judge of the Circuit court : Hoover.
David
August 11, 1815 Justices of the peace: Isaac Julian, John C. Kib- by, Henry Hoover, Richard Lewis and Adam Banks.
December 27, 1815 Justices of the peace: William McClean and Jo- seph Flint.
January 30, 1816 Justice of the peace: Samuel Blake.
March 2, 1816 Justice of the peace: John Nelson.
ASSOCIATE JUDGES.
Jesse Davenport March 18, 1817.
William McLean March 18, 1817.
John Jones August 22, 1823; resigned, June, 1829.
John Scott August 22, 1823; resigned, June, 1829.
Caleb Lewis. August 8, 1829, vice John Jones, resigned.
Beale Butler August S. 1829, vice John Scott, resigned.
Asa M. Sherman August 7, 1830, to serve seven years from March 18, 1831; died, December, 1836.
Beale Butler August 7, 1830, to serve seven years from March 18, 1831.
Jesse Williams January 21, 1837, vice Asa M. Sherman (deceased), to serve seven years from March 18, 1831.
Jesse Williams August 16, 1837.
Beale Butler August 16, 1837; resigned, September, 1838.
David Hoover
October 23, 1838 (special election), to serve seven years from March 18. 1838, vice Beale Butler, re- signed ; resigned, August, 1841.
James R. Mendenhall __ September S, 1841, to serve seven years from March 18, 1838, vice David Hoover, resigned.
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Jesse Williams August 19, 1844.
John Beard August 19, 1844; resigned, June, 1848.
Abner M. Bradbury August 25, 1848, to serve seven years from March
18, 1845.
William Thompson August 23, 1851, to serve seven years from March 18, 1852.
John Crum August 23, 1851, to serve seven years from March 18, 1852.
PROBATE JUDGES.
Septimus Smith August S, 1829; died in office in 1831.
David Hoover
Appointed December 10, 1831-August 10, 1832.
Nathan Smith August 10, 1832; resigned, July 10, 1835.
Abner Haynes Appointed August S. 1835-August 9, 1837.
Stephen B. Stanton August 9, 1837; resigned in July, 1841.
John B. Stitt Appointed July 19, 1841; resigned in May, 1846.
George W. Whitman Appointed August 11, 1846; resigned in 1849.
John Curtis Appointed August 9, 1849-October 12, 1852.
The Legislature passed an act January 16, 1849, relative to the office of Probate Judge in Wayne county. It seems that George W. Whitman was in such poor health that he was unable to attend to the duties of his office and for this reason the Legislature enacted that "so long as George W. Whitman, the Probate Judge of Wayne county, shall continue sick and unable to hold any session or sessions of said Probate court, the said session or sessions of said court shall be held by Jesse Williams, one of the Associate Judges of said county, in whom the same power is hereby invested, and upon whom the same liability is imposed as appertains to the regularly elected Pro- bate Judge. The said Jesse Williams shall, during the time he may discharge the duties of said Probate Judge, be entitled to the same compensation, and be subject to the same rules and regulations in all things appertaining to the holding of such sessions of said court as the regularly elected Probate Judge." Evidently Williams began in January, 1849, to ad- minister the duties of the Probate Judge and continued to do so until John Curtis was appointed on August 9, 1849.
COMMON PLEAS JUDGES.
Nimrod H. Johnson 1852-56. William P. Benton 1856-60.
Jeremiah M. Wilson 1860-65, resigned.
J. F. Kibbey Appointed March 6, 1865-73.
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DISTRICT PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS.
William P. Benton 1852-54.
Charles H. Burchenal. 1854-56.
Jehial Railsbach 1856-58.
John H. Papp. 185S-60.
John C. Whitridge 1860-64.
Henry C. Fox 1864-68.
William H. Jones
186S-70.
John L. Rune 1870-73.
PRESIDENT JUDGES.
John Test December 1S, 1816-January 2, 1819. Third cir-
cuit.
Alexander A. Meek January 2, 1819-February 2, 1819, resigned.
John Watts Appointed February 2, 1819-January 21, 1820.
Miles C. Eggleston January 21, 1820-January 20, 1830. The act of
January 20, 1830, put Wayne in the sixth.
Charles H. Test Appointed January 23, 1830-December 11, 1835, resigned.
Samuel Bigger Appointed December 11, 1835-March 29, 1840, re- signed ; Governor of Indiana. 1840-43.
ยท James Perry Appointed March 29, 1840-January 23, 1844.
Jehu T. Elliott January 23, 1844-February 15, 1851.
Oliver P. Morton February 15, 1851-October 12, 1852.
CIRCUIT JUDGES.
Joseph Anthony October 12, 1852-February 9, 1855. The act of February 9, 1855, took Wayne out of the seventh and put it in the Thirteenth with Jay, Randolph and Blackford.
Jeremiah Smith Appointed February 21, 1855-October 20, 1855. Jehu T. Elliott October 20, 1855; resigned January 2, 1865, to ac- cept place on Supreme bench.
Silas Colgrove. Appointed January 2, 1865-November 23, 1871.
Jacob M. Haynes
November 23, 1871-March 6, 1873. The act of March 6, 1873, made Wayne the sole county in the Seventeenth where it has since remained, and transferred Haynes to the Twenty-sixth.
George A. Johnson Appointed March 15, 1873-October 21, 1873. John F. Kibbey October 21, 1873-October 21. 1885.
Daniel W. Comstock October 21. 1885; resigned October 12, 1896, to ac- cept place on Appellate bench.
Thomas G. Study Appointed October 12, 1896-November 13, 1896.
Henry C. Fox. November 13, 1896; term expires November 13, 1920. Judge Fox is the oldest Judge in the state, now being in his eighty-first year.
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COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS.
Oliver H. Smith August 9, 1824-August 1, 1826, resigned. Third circuit. Smith served in Congress from 1827 to 1829.
Amos Lane Appointed August 1, 1826-December 30, 1826.
December 30, 1826-December 30, 182S.
Cyrus Finch
December 30, 1828-January 20, 1830. The act of
M. M. Ray January 20, 1830, put Wayne in Sixth.
James Perry January 25, 1830-January 25, 1832.
William J. Brown January 25, 1832-December 10, 1836, resigned.
Samuel Parker Appointed December 10, 1836-December 10, 1838.
David Macey
December 10, 183S-December 11, 1840.
Martin M. Ray December 11, 1840-December 15, 1842.
Jehu T. Elliott December 15, 1842-January 23, 1844, resigned to become President Judge of the Sixth circuit.
Samuel E. Perkins Appointed January 23, 1844-August 20, 1844.
Jacob B. Julian August 20, 1844-August 27. 1846.
John B. Still August 27, 1846-August 27, 1848.
Joshua H. Mellett August 1S, 1851-October 12, 1852.
Silas Colgrove October 12, 1852-November 7, 1854. Seventh cir- cuit.
Elijah B. Martindale __ November 7, 1854-October 20, 1855. The act of February 9, 1855, took Wayne out of the Seventh and put it in the Thirteenth. This act also transferred Martindale from the Seventh to the Thirteenth.
Thomas M. Browne October 20, 1855; resigned October 22, 1861.
James N. Templer. October 22, 1861-November 23, 1867.
Daniel M. Bradbury November 23, 1867-October 24, 1870.
Elisha B. Reynolds October 24, 1870-October 21, 1872.
Daniel W. Comstock
October 21, 1872-October 26, 1876. The act of March 6, 1873, made Wayne the sole county in the Seventeenth, where it has since remained. This act also transferred Comstock from the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth.
Henry U. Johnson October 26, 1876-October 26, 1SS0.
Charles E. Shively October 26, 1SSO-November 17, 1SS4.
John T. Robbins. November 17, 1884-November 17, 1886.
Richard A. Jackson November 17. 1886-November 17, 1890.
Henry C. Starr November 17, 1890-November 17. 1894.
R. E. Kirkham November 17, 1894-November 17, 1898.
William A. Bond November 17, 189S-January 1, 1903.
Paul Comstock January 1, 1903-January 1, 1905.
Wilfred Jessup Jannary 1, 1905-January 1, 1909.
Charles L. Ladd January 1. 1909; died August 22, 1912.
Joshua Ladd Appointed August 22, 1912-January 1, 1913.
Will W. Reller January 1, 1913; term expires January 1, 1917.
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Oliver P. Morton served as Circuit Judge for a short time during 1851 and 1852, but his fame will be forever associated with his record as Governor during the Civil War, and his subsequent service in the United States senate. Jo- seph Anthony, the first Judge elected under the new Consti- tution, was a tavern keeper of Muncie by profession, a para- lytic by nature and a Circuit Judge by accident-a political accident. His knowledge of law was very meager, and the simplest of propositions were beyond his feeble comprehen- sion. In fact, his ignorance of the very rudiments of law finally led the bar of Henry county to refuse to try any cases before him. They arranged all suits so that they were contin- ued from term to term in the hope that he would resign. But the crafty tavern keeper-Judge refused to lay aside the judicial ermine. He expressed himself as well pleased with the ar- rangement whereby cases were continued from term to term, and showed no inclination toward relinquishing an office which was far more remunerative than his tavern. Finally the Legislature redistricted the state so as to confine his sphere of uselessness to the counties of Delaware and Blackford.
Charles H. Burchenal, a resident of Wayne county from 1838 until his death in 1896, and a practicing lawyer for near- ly half a century, was born in Greensboro, Maryland, on Sep- tember 18, 1830. Left an orphan at the age of eight, he was taken by his grandmother to Wayne county, Indiana, and made his home in this county the remainder of his days. At the age of twenty he entered the law office of Newman & Sid- dall at Centerville and the following year was admitted to the bar. At that time the best legal talent in Indiana was prob- ably collected at Centerville, the county seat of Wayne county. In addition to the firm of lawyers with whom young Burche- nal had studied, there was Oliver P. Morton, George W. Ju- lian, Nimrod H. Johnson, James Rariden, Charles H. Test and Joshua H. Mellett. While all these men were regularly engaged in the practice of their profession in Wayne county, there were a number of others who frequently appeared be- fore the local bar during court time. Among these worthy lawyers from adjoining counties may be mentioned Caleb B. Smith, Samuel W. Parker and Jehu T. Elliott. Judge Elliott
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COURTS AND LAWYERS OF INDIANA
presided over the Circuit court from 1844 to 1851 and again from 1853 to 1865, when he resigned to take a seat on the Supreme bench of the stae.
After his admission to the bar in 1851, Burchenal advanc- ed rapidly in his profession. He served as District Attorney of the Common Pleas court from 1854 to 1856, the only public office he ever held. In 1861 he moved from Centerville to Richmond and entered into a partnership with William A. Bickle, afterwards Judge of the Superior court of Wayne county, and retained this connection three years. He prac- ticed alone from 1864 to 1865, when he formed a partnership with John L. Rupe, a partnership which continued until Au- gust, 1895, a short time before his death. Burchenal was for many years the leader of the local bar, being engaged on one side or the other of nearly every important case, his practice becoming the largest and most lucrative of any lawyer in the county. In knowledge of the general principles of the law; in skill in pleading and readiness in practice, he had no superior in Indiana.
Burchenal was married in 1860 to Ellen Jackson, who died in 1863, leaving one son, John. In 1871 he married, at Balti- more, Mary E. Day, and to this second marriage five children were born, three daughters and two sons.
After his death, December 7, 1896, Judge Comstock, at a bar meeting, in speaking of his career, said: "There has never been at this bar anyone of his fine mental fibre, nor of his learning in law, history and general literature. I have heard members of the bar say that they had more confidence in his first impressions upon a legal proposition than in the mature judgment of most lawyers. He was a versatile man. He might have succeeded in literature and art. He had the taste and touch of a true artist, and knew more of painting and music than many professionals."
He was a self-educated man, yet so extensive and thorough was his reading that there was no branch of literature which he left unexplored. He was a great lover of poetry and the drama. He wrote verses of no mean ability, but he never disclosed this fact except to his intimate friends. Among his
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papers, after his death, the following stanza was found, added to Tennyson's poem "Crossing the Bar":
Dawn and the morning light,
That shines above the deep ;
And there will be rare visions of delight When I awake from sleep. What, though through dark and gloom my bark shall sail On its strange quest,
So in the morning I the goal may hail-
The Islands of the Blest.
REMINISCENCES OF A LAWYER'S PRACTICE.
By William Dudley Foulke.
I began practice first as clerk in the office of one of the leading firms of New York City and afterwards formed a partnership with one of the students in my class at the law school, a middle-aged man, one Francis Malocsay, a Hungarian refugee. We opened our offices in very modest little rooms at the corner of Broadway and Liberty streets.
One of our first occupations was the selection of an office boy. We chose him by a very imperfect kind of natural selection, a most primitive sort of competitive examination, to-wit, merely upon his looks. We had advertised in one of the daily papers and when we came down in the morning there was a long line of boys arrayed en queue along the hall, up the staircase, and all the way from the street. It was an aggregation containing much physical deformity and mental imbecility. After a brief inquiry into the respective disquali- fications of one after another of these numerous applicants, we took George upon the strength of a pair of bright eyes, a cheerful, merry voice and intelligent, handsome features. But we soon learned
"There is no art To find the mind's complexion in the face."
George was bright enough, intelligent to a degree rarely found in boys of twelve, but he was one of the greatest little rascals on the face of the earth. At first I thought he was a marvel. He could serve a summons better than any one I
!
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have ever known. Once I was desirous of serving papers upon Daniel Drew, who was a well-known "financier," but evidently in hiding, since nobody could find him and a number of suits against him by various parties were hanging fire because no one could reach him to serve process. According to the law of New York, the summons had to be served per- sonally, but this could be done by the plaintiff's attorney or anyone in his employ. One of my clients had a claim and I dispatched George after Daniel with the papers. After a few hours he returned and cried triumphantly, "I've served him." I asked him how he had done it. "I went to his house and they told me he was sick, but I sat down in the hall and said I'd wait till he got well. They tried to put me out, but I wouldn't go. When they went into a back room to talk with somebody, I felt sure he was there, so I followed and opened the door and served the summons on him in bed." Our claim was among the few that were paid. It is easy to see that such a boy was valua- ble in a practice which, like that of most beginners, largely consists in claims against decrepit financiers and other lame ducks.
Moreover, George seemed to have a great number of cli- ents of his own whom he brought to the office. We could not understand how it was that he had so many friends who de- sired to engage in various forms of litigation, until one day one of these clients related to us George's accounts of our wonderful influence with judges and control of juries which inevitably induced victory to perch upon our banners. I had noticed that whenever George brought a new client, there was pretty sure to come a request for an increase of wages, so that the little scamp had his own interest in the general prosperity of our business.
I caught him, however, several times in flagrant derelic- tions. Once when I sent him to copy a record at the regis- ter's office, I spied him playing billiards, and when he came back to the office there was a cock-and-bull story of some one else using the book so that he had to wait for it. He got in trouble at last with the police and we had to discharge him. Whereupon a little Frenchman, the keeper of a restaurant near by, appeared with a long bill for lunches furnished to
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George and claimed that he had given him credit because he worked for us and wanted to know if we would not pay. It was monstrous that such a bill should be thus repudiated. "If I were a tailor it would be different. A man pays his tailor when he will! But for food !"
The clients of young lawyers (if they be so fortunate as to have any) are often queer fish, and ours were no exception to the rule. I was sitting at my desk one afternoon after everybody else, office boy and all, had gone home. A faint tap was heard at the door. "Come in," I cried, and there entered a small, young man with a thin, pale face, pointed at the chin, with a sharp Hebrew nose, greasy black hair and soft, dark eyes. He was none too clean in appearance. He was close shaven, though the marks of a very black beard were upon his cheeks and chin. He wore a shabby fur cap and a long caftan trimmed with fur, reaching nearly to his feet. He walked in very quietly-you could not hear his step upon the velvet carpet. "Is Lawyer Foulke in?" "He is." "Is this Lawyer Foulke?" "It is. What can I do for you?" "Mr. Foulke," he began in a sing-song voice, "I belong to de Congregattion Chebra Kadisha Ahaveth Joseph, vitch has a synagogue at de corner of Eldridge unt Division streets, in a beelding vitch is owned by Felix Marx, unt de synagogue is in de tird story of de beelding, at de top. Unt vat you tink dat Felix Marx does? He rents de second story of de beelding to the congregation Chebra Kadisha Ahaveth Israel and sometimes dere is some strangers dat come and dey voud gief a leetle monish to de synagogue, but dey stops on de vay up at de odder congregation, for dey don't know de difference, so ve don't get none of de monish at all; und den Felix Marx he promised us dat he put in a great big vide iron staircase up to de synagogue, but instead of dat, he leave in a dirty little vooden staircase, unt if der vas to be a fire in dat beelding not a soul voud escape alive. Unt de place vair he say he vill put dat new staircase he rent dat place to a butcher. Mister Foulke," he concluded, in an insinuating voice, though some- what exhausted by the above recital uttered all in one breath, "Mr. Foulke, don't you tink you could get injunction against dat butcher?" I confess that the thought of seeking retri-
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bution at the hands of the butcher for the sins of Felix Marx struck me as original, but the remedy happened in this case to be an easy one. So I told my man Cristolar to leave the matter with me and I would see what could be done.
I reported the premises to the department of buildings as dangerous. An inspection showed that the complaint was well founded. Marx was ordered either to tear down the building (an ancient wooden structure almost ready to fall) or else to put in a fire-proof stairway up to the synagogue. Within two weeks the butcher was summarily ejected and the work begun. That any lawyer in New York could reach such a result so quickly was a marvel to the congregation Chebra Kadisha Ahaveth Joseph, and our firm soon became the recipient of the greater part of the business of the mem- bers of that congregation. This business was of a motley character. Poor Cristolar himself was overtaken not long afterwards by a great misfortune. He had been engaged in the fur business as the vender of cheap caps, gloves, muffs and similar articles. In this business he had a partner, one Harris Leir, who bought and sold the goods and furnished the experience in the trade, while Cristolar supplied the capital. But the affair ended with that exchange of capital for expe- rience, which is not uncommon in such cases.
One day Cristolar, who had committed some trifling mis- demeanor, had been arrested by the police, ready enough to pounce upon some poor devil of a Jew, and had been locked up in the station over night. Next morning when he was set at liberty and went back to his little shop, he found it entirely empty-caps, gloves, muffs, every vestige of anything saleable had disappeared, together with his thrifty partner. He came to me, tearing his hair in mad despair, and besought me to rescue him from ruin. I told him nothing could be done till we had first discovered where the little stock had been hidden. It seems he suspected a certain pawnbroker in Center street, but he had no proof and the pawnbroker vigor- ously denied ever having seen such a thing as a stock of furs. Some detective work was necessary and as there was no money with which to employ one, I undertook the task myself. I prepared the papers in a replevin suit against the delin-
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quent partner and the suspected receiver of the goods, alleg- ing fraud and conspiracy, and, pocketing the summons and complaint, I went to the shop of the pawnbroker, clad in a rather shabby suit of clothes and with as guilty a look upon my face as I could manage to put on. There were one or two other persons in the shop. I called him aside and told him I wanted to speak to him particularly on some private business. He answered gruffly, "Ve didn't do no private beesness here," but when I pulled out of my pocket some jew- els of considerable value and showed them to him he added in a lower tone and with a suggestive smile, "But I vill see you," and thereupon he conducted me through a dark pas- sage leading to a little room in the rear of the store. On the way through the passage I noticed that there were some shelves on the right hand side and as I followed him slowly I managed, with my hands along the wall, to find out what they contained. I felt the soft touch of fur against my fingers and suddenly striking a match and taking one of the caps in my hand I found in the inside the name of the firm, "Leir & Cris- tolar." The pawnbroker turned upon me and asked what I was doing. Whereupon, quickly putting back the cap upon the shelf, I produced from my pocket the copy of the summons in the suit brought by Cristolar. The pawnbroker was wild with rage, jumping up and down in his excitement. I did not stop to listen to his incoherent ravings, but made my way back to my office where Cristolar was awaiting me, and com- municated to him the happy result of my inquiries.
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