USA > Indiana > Howard County > History of Howard County, Indiana, Vol I > Part 30
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"Talk about thundergusts and cyclones. I never heard of such a torrent of abuse as Bennett let drive at the squire. 'I have a right,' said he, 'to be heard upon behalf of my client. I speak under the authority of the constitution and the laws of my country, and I al- low no wooden-headed justice of the peace to dictate to me what I shall say, or what I shall not say. You (turning to Moon) under- take to dictate to me what I shall say. Don't you forget, sir, that I am fully able to make my own argument for myself, and don't you think that I will let a one-horse squire dictate to me. Not another word out of you, sir.'
"These words rolled out like a tornado and were emphasized by Bennett's violent gestures and flaring eyes. Moon was scared nearly to death and was the picture of helplessness as the trial pro- ceeded. Further along in his argument Bennett said: 'Gentlemen of the jury: This sorrel-topped justice of the peace may have the audacity to instruct you as to what the law is. If he does you will pay no attention to what he may say. He knows no law, never did know any, and is not presumed to know any. Why he should attempt to instruct men of intelligence, like you, I don't know, but if he
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does, I repeat, it is your duty to disregard his instructions entirely.' " The jury decided in Bennett's favor.
IN JUDGE O'BRIEN'S COURT.
We are now in Judge O'Brien's court. The trial of a writ of habeas corpus is in progress. For the petitioner, John W. Kern. The defendant appears by attorney, Dan H. Bennett, who adminis- ters a severe excoriation upon Kern's client. Taking umbrage the client loses his temper, becomes hot headed, rolls up his sleeves, dis- plays fine muscles, as if preparing to whip Bennett. Kern and others grasp the aggressor and calm him down. During the exciting scene Bennett remains calm and unmoved, continues to address the Court and takes no notice of the occurrence. Upon being asked afterwards about the incident, Bennett said: "Did you see that chair in front of me? Had the whelp attacked me with a single blow, I would have brained him upon the spot."
During Judge O'Brien's administration upon the bench a new judicial circuit was formed comprising Howard and Tipton coun- ties. Thomas A. Hendricks was then governor of the state, and he appointed to the bench Clark N. Pollard, March 12, 1873. The special election to choose a successor to Judge Pollard was set for October, the same year.
The campaign was a hard fought one. Judge N. R. Linsday was the Republican party nominee, while Pollard, with the consent of his party, aspired to the position as an independent. T. C. Philips fought Pollard through the columns of the Tribune vigorously, while Pollard was supported ably by D. H. Bennett, then conduct- ing the Howard County Republican. The result of the election was the defeat of Judge Linsday. Pollard served until November, 1879.
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JUDGE POLLARD'S RECORD.
While on the bench Judge Pollard made an unusual record, that of reversing the Indiana supreme court, interpreting the law more accurately than the state tribunal. A man by the name of Heck, who was a subject of Queen Victoria, and a resident of Illi- nois, had bought timber on the railroad line north of Kokomo. He cut the timber into wood, under a contract with the P. C. C. & St. L Railroad Company, which company had agreed to purchase the wood. The wood was to be hauled and ricked along the railway line, then to be measured and paid for by the company. The wood was cut and ricked, according to contract, but the railroad company refused and neglected to measure and receive it, for a long period of time. In the fall of 1871, it being an excessively dry season, the wood caught on fire, and was destroyed. Although it was insured, and the policy paid by the insurance company, Heck sued the railroad company, to recover the value of the wood. Pollard held that the measure of damages was the contract price for the wood. The supreme court of the state, reversed the case, holding that the measure of damages was the market value of the wood at the time and place of its delivery. After this reversal by the supreme court, Mr. Heck dismissed his case in the Howard circuit court and brought suit in the United States court in Chicago. He was there successful, that court holding, as had Pollard. Upon appeal to the United States supreme court by the railroad company. the prin- ciple of law laid down by Pollard was again sustained.
JUDGE OVERMAN WAS GENEROUS.
Pollard was succeeded by Nathaniel R. Overman, of Tipton. He was a generous man, who worked his way up from the bottom
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round of the ladder, a man who stood by a friend to the last, and who was one of the people. One of the parties to a divorce case which he was hearing in a side room and which was thought to smack of collusion, was afflicted with a muscular trouble which caused him to contract his eye lids frequently. Chancing to glance at this individual, Overman thought he was winking at him for the purpose of influencing his decision. This made Overman "red hot". And he passionately exclaimed, "D-n you, stop that winking at me." Overman was one of Tipton's noted and public spirited citi- zens, whose career was closely identified with its best history. While on the bench he displayed an indefatigable industry, and he had a ceaseless desire to render justice to all clients. Although the edu- cational facilities of his youth were of limited enjoyment, yet the position which, at the time of his death, his native industry and in- tellect had won for him in the domain of literature and science was to be pointed to with pride. His researches and contributions to scientific and historical literature had rendered him almost if not quite as honored as his judicial career and were monuments to his intellectual achievements.
Judge Overman died in office and his unexpired term was filled by Judge O'Brien, appointed to the vacancy by the governor of the state. At the ensuing election Dan Waugh, of Tipton, was chosen judge by the people. Overman's successor in office was Dan Waugh, of Tipton. Following him upon the bench was L. J. Kirkpatrick. He in turn was followed by Judge Walter Mount and he by J. F. Elliott, the successor of whom was Lee Nash, of Tipton.
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THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
BY OTIS C. POLLARD.
When in February, 1898, the battleship Maine was sunk in Havana harbor and nearly all on board lost their lives by Spanish treachery, the soldier spirit of Howard county was again aroused and men were not wanting to answer when the summon came that soldiers were needed for the Spanish-American war and Company L of the One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Regiment Indiana Volun- teers was the answer. The history of Company L is herewith ap- pended.
This company was organized at Kokomo, February 4, 1892, by A. N. Grant, the first officers being A. N. Grant, captain ; Edward Kiefer, first lieutenant ; Charles Hansell, second lieutenant, and was called the "Grant Fencibles." The company was assigned to the Second Regiment, "Indiana Legion," and attended its first encamp- ment at Frankfort, Indiana, during the summer of 1892. The com- pany also attended and participated in the dedication exercises of the Columbian Exposition in the fall of 1892.
Upon the resignation of Captain Grant and Lieutenant Kiefer, new officers were elected in June, 1893, Albert Martin being elevated to the captaincy and Charles Hansel chosen first lieutenant. Robert L. Jacobs was also chosen second lieutenant. The company attended the encampment at Terre Haute, Indiana, during the summer, and in the fall of 1893 was ordered to Robey, Indiana, and with three companies assisted in suppressing the notorious Robey prize fights, being held at the Robey race tracks. Upon a reorganization of the state troops, which was made in 1894, the company was again assigned to the Second Regiment of the Indiana National Guard and was ordered to Hammond, Indiana, in July of 1894, to assist in
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the suppression of the Pullman strike and riots. Owing to the experience of Captain Martin in Indian uprisings and other mili- tary expeditions, while in the service of the regular army of the United States in years past, Company L was selected to head the column and had the distinction of being the first company to march into Hammond. The company was on duty sixteen days at Ham- mond and East Chicago.
OFFICERS ARE CHANGED.
Upon the resignation of Captain Martin in the spring of 1895, Will T. Meck, afterwards city clerk of Kokomo, was elected captain, R. L. Jacobs, first lieutenant, and Philip Owen, second lieutenant. This year the company attended the state camp at Indianapolis. In the fall of 1895 Captain Meck resigned and Captain Martin was re-elected and served until his death, in February, 1896. Robert L. Jacobs was then chosen captain, Philip Owen, first lieutenant, and Claude Scoven, second lieutenant.
When war was declared with Spain, Company L was ordered, with other companies, to mobilize at Camp Mount, Indianapolis, and the company left Kokomo, April 26, 1898. Lieutenant Scoven failed to pass the required medical examination and Joseph Lang was elected to fill the vacancy in office occasioned by his rejection by the medical examiners. Company L was mustered into the vol- unteer service as Company L, One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, May 10, 1898, with eighty-six men, the officers being Robert L. Jacobs, captain ; Philip Owen, first lieutenant, and Joseph Lang, second lieutenant.
The company left Indianapolis in May, 1898, and arrived at Chickamauga Park the same month. In June Corporal Lewis Bri- denstein was detailed as special recruiting officer and sent home to
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recruit the company to its maximum strength of one hundred and six men. The company was ordered to Camp Poland, Knoxville, Tennessee, in August of the same year, and went into camp there.
The One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Regiment, to which Com- pany L belonged, was ordered to Camp Mount for mustering out, arriving there in September. Company L, with other companies, was furloughed for thirty days from September 17th and arrived home in Kokomo shortly afterwards. The company reported back to Camp Mount on October 17th and was given final discharge November 4, 1898. The company did not reorganize upon the reconstruction of the Indiana National Guard and therefore ceased to exist.
RAILROADS.
BY OTIS C. POLLARD.
The Indianapolis & Peru Railroad was the first to be built through Kokomo. Its construction was started toward Kokomo as early as 1852. The New London Pioneer did excellent service in enlisting popular favor in behalf of this enterprise before the fifties were reached. Colonel C. D. Murray was the agent at Kokomo, who collected the subscriptions of stock taken in support of the enterprise. The line was first built out of Indianapolis as far north as Noblesville. The road consisted of planking, which was crowned with an iron strip. This was the kind of rail em- ployed, and which served all practical purposes for some time. Travel necessarily over such a line was very slow ; little better than a horse could jog along. The train had to move with a due regard to its ability to keep the track, and it was not an infrequent thing. say those most acquainted with the subject, that the engine jumped
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the track and had to be returned to its proper place with jack- screws, which were always carried in the baggage car, ready for any such emergency which might arise. Then there was the dan- ger of the thin iron piece which formed the top of the rail warping under the rays of the sun and the occasion was not rare upon which the train had to be stopped to permit of the track being nailed down to allow of further progress. Mrs. L. E. Harrison was a passenger over this road in its very infancy. She was attend- ing a private school at Indianapolis and returned home with her father, who was serving his first term in the legislature. After the journey to Noblesville, a tedious one at best, had been accomplished, Judge Linsday was met with his farm employe, who had brought for his use a large, magnificent horse of the breed which he (Judge Linsday) always possessed, and upon the back of this faithful steed he rode to Kokomo. Mrs. Harrison, then a young lady, was placed in a large wagon, provided for the accommodation of trav- elers north, and entered upon the trip to Kokomo. The ground was covered with ice, and the wagon wheels sank into the mud up to the hubs. After many hours the wagon drew up to the door of a hostelry at Tipton, where the party rested, feeling utterly exhausted.
It was such conditions as these which formed public opinion to welcome the advent of a railroad line connecting the north with Indianapolis and the east. It was not only the desire for speed and convenience in travel, but to quickly and easily reach various mar- kets as well. In 1852 Captain Milton Garrigus was busy in help- ing grade upon the line, boarding with his assistants at the old McClintock house in Kokomo, then the only hotel and a notable house in its day.
KOKOMO IS JUBILANT.
When the road penetrated Kokomo there was a rejoicing the fullness of which it is hard at this late day to fully appreciate. The
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MORROW'S HISTORY
old log courthouse was the scene of a jollification at which Judge Linsday, Colonel C. D. Murray and Dr. Corydon Richmond were chief speakers. The fight to get the road along its present route, Buckeye street, was won by the exertions of the merchants, who desired to save drayage bills, as they reasoned the matter in that day, being afforded the privilege of having goods, as they hoped, unloaded at their very doors. Buckeye street was then the Wall street of Kokomo, and it was believed that it would remain the heart of the business section by reason of the location of the rail- road, an expectation destined to be disappointed. Be that as it may. it was the scene of the principal commercial activity in Kokomo in its day. The farmers' wagons drew up to its stores, and produce and grain found their way to the foreign market, passing over this street, which was a commercial triumph. Kokomo was proud in those days. Her leading citizens saw the opportunity of Kokomo becoming a second Indianapolis. At any rate, the arteries of trade expanded, she felt the inspiration of the new road and started upon a career of growth which she has not since abandoned, but has ever since continued. An elevator business was not long in establislı- ment and the claims of magic change from the presence of the road were more than realized. For some months Kokomo was the ter- minus of the line. A hack carried passengers through to Peru; those who might desire to proceed to that destination. Samuel C. Mills was the first agent of the company in Kokomo, in which capacity he continued several years. He and Dr. Corydon Rich- mond donated the present depot site. Dr. Richmond surveyed it and Mr. Mills carried the chain. It was a part of the Mills & Rich- mond addition, and they donated the railroad company a number of lots. This for the reason that David Foster was a formidable com- petitor against them for the location of the depot upon property of which he was the owner. Mr. Mills built a large frame structure
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
upon the site of the Howard flouring mills, which served at first as a warehouse for the company's freight and as a passenger depot, and was so utilized until the company erected a depot upon the spot now occupied by its passenger and freight station. In time the road was extended to Peru and ultimately to Michigan City. Then the cup of joy in Kokomo was full.
THE PENNSYLVANIA LINE.
But the pride of the citizens in the future was further increased in the announcement that the Pennsylvania line was to pass through Kokomo. During the fifties this road was built and Kokomo enjoyed still a wider field of commerce than ever before, as did the county. For a few years the road was called "the jerk water road," due to the fact that the territory over which it passed between Windfall and this city was swampy and undrained, and in the spring of the year, in particular, the heavy weight of the train passing over the line would throw the mud and water up against the car windows in streams. The instances are numerous where locomotives were de- railed, owing to the unsafe condition of the tracks. Milton Gar- rigus was a passenger in the first train which passed over the new line going from this city to Logansport. He describes the trip as rough and perilous and exceedingly tedious.
THE MOST IMPORTANT ROAD.
Perhaps the most important railroad acquisition of late years was the Cloverleaf line, which gives markets to the extreme West as well as to the Eastern seaboard. In the start this great road con- sisted of a small line between Frankfort and Kokomo, and the road was known as the F. & K. line. It was a standard-gauge line, with
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Frankfort and Kokomo as terminal points. The original depot in Kokomo stood upon Elm street for several years, a small frame structure. A leading spirit in the promotion of the building of this road was Henry Y. Morrison, of Frankfort. A. Y. Comstock was a lieutenant in Kokomo. The road was voted a subsidy of about four thousand dollars a mile, only about three thousand dollars of which was collected. In the end the promoters of the enterprise turned over the rights of way, subsidy and all assets to the contractors, who decided to advance further money, upon condition of completing the road, which was effected. The road was started in 1873 and finished in the spring of 1874. The road being a short line with no feeders, and depending alone upon local custom, had a hard pull for a period of several years. Finally, in 1880, negotiations were started for a road from east to west, the line being known as the Toledo, Bloomington & Western. The Frankfort & Kokomo line was in the path of the new road, but this property had been pur- chased by the Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, which sold the line to the new corporation, but reserved the right of way through Frankfort, making it necessary for the new company to pass through that city by an independent route. The road was changed to a narrow-gauge. It was operated in this manner until it passed into a receivership, being later bought by the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Railroad Company, which changed the line back to the standard-gauge. The line from the east reached Kokomo January I, 1881.
Kokomo's commercial prosperity was further advanced and enhanced by the construction of a street railway line, which has developed into the Kokomo, Marion & Western Interurban Rail- road Company, with a line from Kokomo to Marion, a profitable property, while a line between Kokomo, Lafayette and Terre Haute iis in its incipiency, but a certain thing of the future in all prob- ability.
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INTERURBAN LINES.
Perhaps as great a stimulus as Kokomo has experienced from railroad building was in the advent, a few years ago, of the lines of the Indiana Union Traction Company through the city. It is the peoples' road, and freight service is as handy as the groceryman's delivery wagon, while the passenger patronage is remarkable.
Kokomo's railroad facilities are little short of remarkable, the size of the city considered, and by reason of them she has thrived as a manufacturing point after the virtual depletion, if not relative failure, of natural gas, which is no longer to be had as the "cheap fuel for factories in unlimited amounts."
North, east, south and west, Kokomo is conected by rail with the busy marts of trade, and thrives in consequence of excellent and perfect railroad facilities and reasonable rates.
PROBATE AND COMMON PLEAS COURT.
BY OTIS C. POLLARD.
Nathan C. Beals, the first probate judge in the county, was a plain, good-natured, unsophisticated farmer, and a man of average intellect. He never had a legal education.
Benjamin Lesoura, successor to Beals, was an honest, upright and industrious man of ordinary powers of mind. He was a farmer by occupation and not a lawyer. At one time he lived near Alto and was in moderate circumstances.
N. C. Beals was elected again and followed in office by Associ- ate Judge Robert Ervin.
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May 14, 1852, an act of the legislature was approved by the governor which abolished the probate courts and established com- mon pleas courts. All business pending before the probate courts, and all business transferred from such to the circuit courts, and all business commenced in the circuit courts by virtue of any local law, was, by an act of 1853, transferred to the courts of common pleas in the proper counties.
E. S. Stone was the first judge of the common pleas court. Stone was a quiet, modest, and intelligent lawyer of fair ability. He was tall, slender, and cadaverous in appearance. Stone had a habit of parting his coat tails and thrusting them forward. In this position he would hold them by ramming his hands into his pockets. After one Jonathan William Evans, of Hamilton county, had made a somewhat sophomoric argument and had sat down, Stone went through his customary performance of so arranging his coat tails, and then observed: "If the gentleman had only plucked a few feathers from the wings of his imagination and stuck them in the tail of his judgment, he would have fared better."
STONE'S SUCCESSOR.
Nathaniel R. Linsday succeeded Stone. He was twice elected judge of this court, but resigned before the end of his second term. Before he was eight years of age he was left, by the death of his father, to orphanage and penury in a wilderness home, and without property, or a father's counsel, commenced the battle of life, in his early youth, in the midst of circumstances that seem to the present generation very unpromising. And he gave evidence of his ability and trustworthiness to be elected justice of the peace at the age of twenty-four years, considering the fact that at the time of his selec- tion to the office, 1839, the position was very important. He was
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
a member of the legislature, engaged in codifying the laws of the state after the adoption of the present constitution, and arose to be a leader among the people where he resided, and was best known, and had a reputation throughout the state as an able lawyer, a sound, safe and conservative legislator. In the last years of his life he was engaged in the advocacy of a system of a reform of the mode of trials by jury and to enlarge the amount of property to be held exempt from execution. As a lawyer he was distinguished for his ability as an advocate and tact in the management of a trial of a cause and for his fidelity to his clients and courtesy to members of the profession and the courts.
JUDGE GREEN.
Judge Green, of Tipton, was the third judge of the court. Extending his hand, Judge Green greeted an acquaintance with a cordial smile and was social with everybody. The duties of his office he performed in a plodding but conscientious manner. Prin- cipally and essentially a pioneer lawyer, he tried a case in a plain matter-of-fact style, exactly as our rough-and-ready forefathers felled the trees of the forest and drained the large swamps with which our land was covered. He clothed his thought generally in unembellished and commonplace language and exemplified it with the most simple and homely illustration. His heart beat with mu- nificent impulses. Kind, benevolent and obliging, he so endeared himself to the younger attorneys, who practiced before him, whom he would aid and assist in a hundred little ways, that they, advanced to years of age, remembered him with deep gratitude.
Green was a jolly man and very fond of a joke. It is told of him that during the prevalence of high water in Tipton-and in an early day high water prevailed there nearly all the year-he was
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seen one day floating around his yard in a craft of rude construc- tion, pushing himself with a pole.
"What are you doing, Judge?" was asked of him.
"I am tired of drinking this damned pond water and trying to find my well!"
LAST COMMON PLEAS JUDGE.
William Garver, the last common pleas judge, lived in Hamil- ton county, where he began the practice of the law. His preceptor in the law was Isaac Blackford, later judge of the supreme court of Indiana, and annotator of the Blackford reports. From this pains- taking master, who bore the reputation of being a keen criticiser of his students, Garver became quite thoroughly grounded in the rudi- ments of the law. While Garver never made anything more than an ordinary reputation in the law, he developed considerable strength when it came to taking a common-sense view of a case. He was a state senator and a state attorney, but as a candidate for circuit judge and congressman he was defeated.
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