USA > Indiana > Howard County > History of Howard County, Indiana, Vol II > Part 2
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Lex J., the only living child of Stephen and Rebecca J Kirk- patrick, was born on the home farm in Washington township, Rush county. September 6, 1853. When he was four months old, his parents moved to Howard county, and located on a farm adjoining Greentown, but five years later changed their residence to Taylor township, where, in close touch with nature, amid the bracing airs and wholesome influence of rural life the future lawyer and jurist spent his youth and young manhood. His early experience on the farm tended to develop a strong and healthful physique, and while engaged in the labor of the fields he learned to place a correct value upon honest toil, besides laying broad and deep the foundation for his future course of action. Possessing an ardent temperament and a natural taste for books and study he became at the proper age a pupil of the school in the neighborhood, which was taught in a primitive log cabin with puncheon floor and but indifferently fur-
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nished, with rough slab benches minus backs, notwithstanding which unfavorable environment he made commendable progress in his studies and was soon far in advance of the majority of boys of his age. After attending the county schools until completing the usual curriculum and feeling an intense desire to add to his scholastic knowledge, he entered in 1870 a college at Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he prosecuted his studies one year when he returned to Kokomo and became a student of the Howard College, which he attended until 1873. In the latter year he yielded to a desire of long standing by entering the law office of Hendry & Elliot, to prepare himself for the legal profession, and after a preliminary course of reading under the instruction of those gentlemen he entered. in September, 1874. the Central Law School at Indianapolis, from which he was grad- uated with a creditable record in June of the following year. divid- ing the honors of his class with the late D. S. Thomas, of Rushville. After finishing his legal studies Mr. Kirkpatrick formed a partner- ship with James F. Elliot, his former tutor, the firm thus consti- tuted lasting until November. 1890, during which time the young attorney forged rapidly to the front, and it was not long until he gained a large and lucrative practice and earned recognition as one of the leading members of the Howard county bar. Meantime. May 10. 1879. he was admitted to practice by the supreme court from which date to the present time his legal career presents a series of continued success such as few lawyers achieve. As a careful and painstaking student he has availed himself of every opportunity to familiarize himself with his profession in its every detail to the end that he might the better serve his fellow men and render justice to those who appeal to the courts for redress. From 1881 to 1884 he served as probate commissioner of Iloward county and in Septem- ber. 1800. received without any solicitation on his part. the nomina- tion by the Democratic party, for judge of the thirty-sixth judi-
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cial district. composed of the counties of Howard and Tipton. which at that time had a normal Republican majority of about one thousand. Notwithstanding this formidable opposition he ac- cepted the nomination and such was his popularity with the people, regardless of political affiliation, that in the ensuing election he de- feated an able and worthy opponent by a majority of two hundred and twenty-one, running three hundred and thirty-six ahead of the ticket, and in November, 1890, entered upon the duties of the judge- ship with the hearty endorsement of the laity as well as the bar of his jurisdiction.
Judge Kirkpatrick came to the bench well qualified for its ex- acting duties and responsibilities and from the beginning his judi- cial career was characterized by such a profound knowledge of the law and an earnest and conscientious desire to apply it impartially that he was not long in gaining the respect and confidence of the at- torneys and litigents and earning for himself an honorable reputa- tion among the leading jurists of the state. From the first his labors were very arduous as many important cases were tried in his court. not a few coming before him by change of venue, in addition to which he was also frequently called to other districts to sit on cases in which large interests were involved. Among the more noted of the cases in his own jurisdiction were that of the State of Indiana versus Calvin J. Armstrong, defaulting Treasurer of Tip- ton county, who was accused of embezzling public funds to the amounty of forty-three thousand dollars: The State versus Ann Augusta Schmidt, convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term in the female prison at Indianapolis, besides others of no less interest and import. The courts of Cass, Miama and Hamilton counties profited frequently by his services on the bench and as far as known his rulings in all cases were eminently satisfactory, fair and impartial, and his decisions so in accord with the principles of
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law and practice that everybody interested was thoroughly satisfied with his course.
After an eminently useful and honorable career of six years' duration Judge Kirkpatrick, on November 4. 1896, retired from the bench, and the same year became a member of the well known law firm of Morrison & McReynolds, the style being changed with his admission to that of Kirkpatrick, Morrison & McReynolds. Later Mr. McReynolds retired from the firm, which is now known as Kirkpatrick & Morrison. Since resuming the practice of his pro- fession he has acted as special judge in different circuits and tried some of the most important cases in the state, notably, among which was the celebrated case of the State versus John C. Evans, president of the Jonesboro Bank, and John W. Crum, a prominent insurance agent, tried in the Grant circuit court in the spring of 1807, wherein each defendant was convicted of larceny on account of certain green goods transactions involving the sum of twenty- five thousand dollars, and both sent to the penitentiary. In the same court in January, 1898, he presided during the case of the State versus Noah Johnson, who was convicted of murder in the first de- gree and given a life sentence, his crime being the murder of his sweetheart, a young lady only sixteen years of age. He also acted as special judge in the Blackford, Wells and Rush county circuits. being elected by the officers of the last named court to preside at the March term, 1898, on account of the illness and subsequent death of HIon. J. C. Miller, the regular judge of the circuit. While thus en- gaged he had the honor of dedicating the fine new court house at Rushville and to him also fell the privilege of holding the first term of court in Tipton's new and imposing temple of justice.
As already indicated Judge Kirkpatrick is a Democrat. and as such has been active in public and political affairs and an influential force in his party not only in local matters but in the larger and
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more important theater of state and national politics. He comes of Democratic ancestors but he does not attribute to this fact his strict adherence to the principles which he supports, but rather to history. also to reflection, judgment and conscience, all of which have com- bined to make him not only an able and judicious counselor, but a moulden of opinion and leader of men, in what concerns the best in- terests of the body politic. While loyal to his power to promote its success he believes that a man can be an earnest and active politician and yet be strictly honest in his methods and above reproach in all that he does to advance the interests of his canse. So earnest has he been in the advocacy of honesty in party management that in 1804, when the charges were made against certain Democratic pirties in Tipton county for forging the tally sheets he gave from the bench specific and vigorous instructions to the grand jury to lose no time and spare no pains in investigating the matter and bringing indict- ments against those accused providing their guilt could be estab- lished. He has ever acted upon the principles that he who served his country best, serves his party best, and with this object in view his political efforts, although strenuous and in the highest degree in- fluential and successful, have been above the slightest suspicion of dishonor and his counsels have not only met with the approval of his party associates but commanded the respect of the opposition as well.
In the midst of his varied and strenuous duties and responsi- bilities, Judge Kirkpatrick has not been negligent of the higher con- cerns and imperative claims of the Christian religion, a matter to which he has devoted much thought and in which he has long yielded an implicit and abiding faith. In his study and investigation of this important subject which makes paramount to every other consideration, he has little regard for the doctrines of the schools and the statements of ecclesiastics or councils. but disregarding all
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
man-made creeds and accepting the Holy Scriptures alone as his rule of faith and practice he has learned to live the plain and simple life such as the Master exemplified and to repose confidence in the will of the Heavenly Father, whose instructions are so clear and explicit as to require no interpretation by priest or pope or the cunningly devised creeds conceived in an age of superstition and strengthened by centuries of ecclesiastical despotism. On Jamrury 13. 1868, when but fifteen years of age, he united with the Christian church in the village of Fairfield. since which time his life has been consistent with the faith, affording a conspicuous example of the beauty and worth of the Christian religion when made the basis of action in the affairs of men. No sooner had he made public pro- fession of his faith than he began to evince a decided interest in va- rious lines of religious work and in due time he became a participant in the affairs of the church, both local and general, and it was not long until his activity brought him to the notice of leading Sunday school workers and religious leaders throughout his county and state. On his removal to Kokomo he became identified with the Main street Christian church of which he is still a member and in which he has been honored at different times with various official positions, including among others that of superintendent of the Sunday school, in which capacity he served very acceptably from July 1. 1883, to January 1, 1800, and from 1800 to the present time, the attendance of the school ranking second in numbers among the schools of the Christian church in the United States.
From August. 1879. to August, 1881, Judge Kirkpatrick served as president of the Kokomo Young Men's Christian . Associa- tion, was chosen President of the Seventh District Young People's Society Christian Endeavors in 1880, and in November, 1803 was further honored by being elected president of the State Young Peo- ple's Society Christian Endeavors, which important position he held
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by successive selections for three terms, and the duties of which he discharged in an eminently, able and satisfactory manner, winning glowing encomium from all the churches represented in the move- ment, and earning a reputation which made his name a familiar word wherever the society has gained a footing. During his tenure of office he often visited different parts of the state, delivering ad- dresses in all the principal cities, and establishing societies in many places, besides giving a great amount of personal work which tended greatly to the strengthening of the organization and making it pop- ular among people who had previously been indifferent or preju- diced against it. The distinguished career achieved as leader of this great movement in one of the most important states of the Union, led in 1896 to the election of the judge to the high and hon- orable position of vice-president of the World's Christian En- deavor Union, in which capacity he rendered valuable service until the world's convention in the year of 1900, which added to his al- ready well established reputation as an earnest Christian worker and honored and influential official.
Judge Kirkpatrick's domestic life dates from 1881. on Septem- ber 22d of which year he was united in the bonds of wedlock to Emma Palmer, of Adrian. Michigan, daughter of Stephen H. and Letita ( Saville ) Palmer, natives of Michigan, and residents of the town of Holloway, that state. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was born in Ridg- way, Michigan, on the 9th day of February, 1860, and is the mother of one child that died in infancy.
The judge has ever kept in touch with the interests of his city and county and is an ardent advocate and liberal patron of all worthy enterprises, making for their advancement and prosperity. His activity in behalf of every movement for the good of his fellow citizens has endeared him to the people among whom the greater part of his life has been spent and his popularity is bounded only by
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the limits of his acquaintance ; as a lawyer he is easily the peer of any of his professional brethren throughout the state, and the honor- able distinction, already achieved at the bar is an earnest of the still wider sphere of usefulness that he is destined to fill, and the higher honors to be achieved in years to come, as he is yet in the prime of manhood and a close observer of the trend of the times and an intel- ligent student of the great questions and issues upon which the thought of the best minds of the world are centered.
As judge, Mr. Kirkpatrick more than met the expectations of his friends and the public, and so discharged the duties of the office as to receive the hearty approval and warm commendation of the bar, in his own and other circuits, without regard to party. He brought to the bench a dignity becoming the high position. and in the line of duty, was industrious, careful and singularly painstaking. which combined with his sterling honesty and fearlessness of pur- pose, made him one of the most popular and efficient men ever called to preside over the courts of the thirty-sixth judicial circuit. It is but just to say and greatly to his credit, that no political prejudice. bias or zeal, was ever allowed to deflect his mind from its honest convictions, and while discharging his official functions, personal ties and friendships, as well as his own interests and opinions, were lost sight of in his conscientious efforts to render equal and exact justice to those whose affairs were adjudicated in his court. Ilis opinions and decisions attested his eminent fitness for judicial posi- tions, being always lucid, unstrained and vigorous, his statements full and comprehensive, and his analysis and interpretations of the law conspicuous and complete. The judge has always stood high in his profession and since retiring from the bench has built up an ex- tensive practice, in his own and other counties, being frequently re- tained in important cases in courts remote from his place of resi- dence. He has argued many cases before the highest tribunal in the
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state and lost but few. No one knows better than he the necessity of thorough preparation for the trial of cases, and no one more in- dustriously applies himself to meet the issue than he, though of a warm and ardent temperament, he is always master of himself in the trial of cases and is rarely not at his best, being uniformly court- eous and deferential toward the court, and kind and forbearing to his adversaries. As a speaker, the judge is direct, logical and forc- ible, and not infrequently, truly eloquent. His treatment of his case is always full of comprehension and accurate, his analysis of the facts clear and exhaustive, and he seems to grasp without effort. the relation and dependence of the facts, and so groups them as to enable him to throw their combined force upon the point they tend to prove. He is not only an able and reliable counselor, with a thorough acquaintance of the principles, intricacies and complex- ities of jurisprudence, but his honesty is such that he has frequently advised against long and expensive litigation, and this too, at the loss of the liberal fees which otherwise he could easily have earned.
Sufficient has been said to indicate the judge's character and high standing in the community where he has so long resided, and it only remains to be said, that throughout his entire professional and official career, he has been animated by lofty motives, and made every personal consideration subordinate to the higher claims of (luty. Broad and liberal in his views, with the greatest good of his fellow men ever before him, his conduct has been that of the lover of his kind and the true and loyal citizen, who is ready at all times, to make any reasonable sacrifice for the cause in which his interests are enlisted. He is, withal, a man of the people, proud of his distinc- tion as a citizen of a state and nation for whose laws and institu- tions he has the most profound admiration and respect, while his strong mentality, ripe judgment and unimpeachable integrity, dem- onstrate to the satisfaction of all, his ability to fill honorably, im-
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portant official positions, and to discharge worthily the duties of high trusts. In point of critical legal scholarship, keen intellect- ually and professional success, he easily stands in the front rank, while in all that constitutes the upright man, the public-spirited citi- zen and the earnest conscientious Christian, his position in the social circle and the world of affairs has been firmly established, and he stands today among the leaders of thought and moulders of opinion in a state prolific of great men.
THE ELWOOD HAYNES AUTO COMPANY.
The record of a life well spent, of triumphs over obstacles of perseverance under difficulties and steady advancement from a mod- est beginning to a place of honor and distinction in the industrial world. when imprinted on the pages of a history, present to the youth of the rising generation an example worthy of emulation and may also be studied with profit by those of more mature years whose achievements have not kept pace with their expectations. Such a life is that of the inventor, manufacturer and representative citizen, whose achievements and success in the line of invention and manufacture we shall herewith endeavor to present. for our subject is the executive head and manager of the largest manufacturing concern in Kokomo.
Elwood Haynes is a native of Indiana, born in Portland, Jay county, in the year, 1857. His father. Hon. Jacob M. Haynes, of that city, long one of the able lawyers and distinguished jurists of the state, was a prominent figure in the public life of Jay county. and at the time of his death, at the advanced age of eighty years. while still on the bench, is said to have been the oldest judge in
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active service in this country. Elwood Haynes was reared in the county of his birth and at quite an early age became an active participant in civic affairs. In 1886 he turned his attention to the natural gas industry and the same year organized the Portland Gas & Oil Company, which under his direction developed the Jay county field and supplied the city with an abundance of this ideal fuel. Later he was made superintendent of the Chicago natural gas lines and after holding the position until 1890, came to Howard county to engage in the business upon his own responsibility in this part of the state. It was while thus engaged that Mr. Haynes be- gan studying the question of locomotion by other than horse power, a matter to which he had previously devoted considerable attention. and which, from his investigations, he felt sure was feasible and could be made practicable. In due time he reduced his ideas to facts and a series of experiments, but the most difficult problem which confronted him, was the matter of motive power for his car, a prob- lem, which for considerable time, appeared impossible of solution. He first considered steam and electricity, but after careful investi- gation abandoned both and began experimenting with gasoline. During the time in which he carried on his investigations and ex- periments, Mr. Haynes kept his work from the eyes of the prying world and it was not until the end of his second year that he suc- ceeded in solving the problem of motive power, and fixing upon definite plans for the further development of the car which within a comparatively brief period was destined to revolutionize hitherto existing means of locomotion, and in time come into general use. He was enabled to conduct his experimental work under more favor- able circumstances after he removed in 1892 from Greentown to Kokomo, and in the fall of that year purchased an engine and mak- ing patterns after plans, developed in the meantime, addressed him- self to to the task of constructing a car, which he had every reason
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to believe would meet his expectations, and mark the beginning of an era in mechanical invention. It would be interesting to note in detail the various stages in the evolution of the automobile and the many difficulties, embarrassments and discouragements under which the inventor labored ere his ideas became facts, but to do this would far transcend the limits accorded to a sketch of the character of this review. Suffice it to say, however, that he continued his experi- ments and labors with renewed vigor and zeal, making changes when and where necessary, testing new theories, adopting new and improved appliances, proving by practical experience the value of everything which a strong mind and fertile imagination could sug- gest, until finally on July 4th, of the year 1894, the first automobile to be operated by gasoline was completed and ready for the trial by which its success and utility were to be demonstrated, and published to the world. Up to that time the work was carried on privately. but no sooner was it known that a test would be made than a large number of people assembled to witness the new and novel spectacle of a vehicle moving along the highway with no motive power in view. After several satisfactory trials within the enclosure of the shop the machine was taken to more favorable ground about four miles from the city where everything being in readiness, the first public test was made, the car on its initial trial running about one and a half miles with two persons beside the proprietor aboard. Turning the car about it glided with ease over the entire distance to the city, thus demonstrating to the satisfaction of inventor and spec- tators the success of the experiment and solving a problem that had long engaged the attention of the mechanical and industrial world. The engine which supplied the motive power was a small affair of about two hundred and forty pounds in weight, and at its best the car's speed did not much exceed seven or eight miles an hour. Subsequently it was replaced by a larger and more powerful
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engine, which, with the improvement of the wheels by pneumatic tires, an average speed of twelve miles per hour was obtained, the car on one occasion making a record of five miles in twenty-six min- utes, and during the summer and fall of the year in which the trial was made running in the aggregate something over one thousand miles. The anto which is still in good running order is an object of interest to every visitor to Mr. Hayne's establishment and being the first machine of the kind in the world to prove the efficacy of gasoline as a motive power, it was accorded the place of honor at the New York exhibit of automobiles and in due time it will be placed in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C., along with other great products of American genius where it is destined to immortalize the inventor and place his name among the really great benefactors of the race. The success attending the first ex- periments with the auto car encouraged Mr. Haynes to engage in the manufacture of the machines under more favorable circum- stances and upon a greatly enlarged scale. Accordingly in 1895 he entered into partnership with Mr. Apperson. of Kokomo, and in the latter part of that year the firm began to make what is known as the double cylinder or double opposed engine, which was greatly superior to all other types and with which the autos made at their factory could successfully compete with those from any other es- tablishment in the land. In the Chicago Times-Herald contest of 1805 for the best automobile the Haynes machine was duly entered and notwithstanding the brief period of preparation it was awarded the first prize of one hundred and fifty dollars over five competi- tors, three from Germany and two from the United States. To this victory was largely due the reputation of the Haynes double engine among the manufacturers of automobiles, and it soon came into general use, its superiority to all others being universally con- ceded.
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